Count me in - learning curve?

[Adam Parker]

Just wanted to say break a leg on the release and more than break even too guys [;)]

If between now and the release I took out my HTTR manual how well prepared would I be for launching straight into COTA?

Duties have taken me away from the hobby and the forums for a little while but I do look forward to seeing the fruits of the all your hard work.

This hobby needs some more releases from this engine. So war gamers, get behind this title for what looks like a unique set of scenarios and gameplay.

Adam.

[MarkShot]

There's a "What's new?" doc installed. Read that and you can jump right in and begin reading the other docs later on.

Of course, you should note it is not just simply new features. Differences from HTTR will change how the game plays and feels:

- Supply
- Mixed mode movement
- Greater fatigue rate

But you'll figure it out.

[goodwoodrw]

[quote]ORIGINAL: MarkShot
- Mixed mode movement
- Greater fatigue rate

g'day again, mixed mode movement, in the words of that imfamous Qld woman "please explain" [:D]

[MarkShot]

Here ...

[Arjuna]

A word of clarification. While slope is an important addition, the real significance and hence the difficulty in simulating mixed mode movement, lies in the ability to plot routes for forces consisting of both foot and motorised units on a map where foot may be able to pass but motorised cannot. New force groups ( FGs ) can be formed by the player selecting a number of units and giving them an order. Similarly the AI will allocate units to a task thereby creating its own FG. These may consist of units of both motorised and foot - two modes of movement ( hence the term mixed mode ). 
 
Now if they all start and end their route on terrain that is passable to both, then it's a no brainer to calculate the route. However, you need to handle a myriad of other cases including where the FG Subject - ie the boss of the FG - is foot and starts in terrain that is impassable to his motorised subordinates ( and vice versa ). Also the objective location or end of the route may be impassable to one and not the other. This is handled in the game by creating rendevous ( RV ) points to form up near the start of the routeand to deploy near the end of the route.
 
Further, some units of a FG may start on a map island ( ie an area of the map that cannot be reached from some other area of the map due to intervening impassable terrain like rivers or woods ). Special code either moves these independently or aborts the task and forces a replan and reallocation of forces. In some cases units may be "trapped" on a map island with no way of exit. Again special case code handles these.
 
Handling Mixed Mode Movement is a very complex issue within our system. This is so partly because of the high fidelity of movement grids used ( ie 100m ) but also because we use routes very heavily within the AI to react, reassess and plan.
 
I'm not going to go into more detail here, suffice to say that more time was spent on mixed mode movement and its associated effects than on any other bit of my development time during the last two and half years and that includes on the infamous out-of-sync bug.
 
 

[Adam Parker]

Sounds very, very interesting. Much less of the "click and sit back let the AI do the rest" phenomena I came across in HTTR during my lazy moments.
 
As far as I can tell this long weekend for us non-west coast Aussies coming; there's no Brady Bunch marathon on Foxtel, there'll be plenty of World Cup Soccer to watch out of the corner of one's eye, so HTTR pending COTA it is.

[Arjuna]

Yeh but the Socceroos are not playing their first game till Monday, so you can afford to look out the corner of your eye on those other World Cup matches. Moreover, by Monday you will be so proficient at COTA you can afford to hit the Run Until button while you focus both eyes on the Australia v Japan match. Can't wait for it - should be a terrific match.[;)]