A small sign of life

[Gil R.]

It is still a bit too early to be sharing screenshots from "Brother against Brother," but over in another forum I was manipulated into showing at least SOMETHING after I mentioned that three of the 100% finished maps had been added to today. So what I've decided to do is show details from each of the three finished maps, but ones that focus on unimportant areas (which nonetheless will certainly give you a good idea of the maps' quality). Since these are not screenshots of the game they show no units or user interface -- that will have to wait until the time is right. But it's been a while since I've posted an update, and having three finished maps is a very big deal. (If you only knew...) So, I'll celebrate by giving a small glimpse. And after doing this I'll get back to work, because posting images of the game takes away from finishing it!

First, here is Redoubt 1 from Williamsburg, the southernmost of the line of fortifications meant to hold off a pursuing Union army. This part of the battlefield didn't come into play, though the Union briefly did recon in the area. As you can see, that's probably a good thing for them, since forcing a crossing of that bridge while being fired down upon from the redoubt and adjacent trenchwork would not have been an enjoyable tactic.

[Gil R.]

Second, I am showing the Union's uppermost encampments at Mill Springs, more than a mile from where the fighting began. If fighting is going on there at any point the Union player (or A.I.) has done not just something wrong, but a lot wrong.

[Gil R.]

Third and last, here is the "real" Mill Springs, an area south of the Cumberland River which was the Confederate army's encampment area until they decided to cross the river and set up at Beech Grove (which occupies most of this map), and to which they ultimately returned after getting whipped in the Battle of Mill Springs, which was fought in the area of Logan's Cross Roads near the Union encampment I'm showing. Due to the river being impassable terrain in BAB it is impossible for any fighting to occur in this part of the map, but we included it for the sake of alternate-history scenarios and modders. And because it makes the map more appealing to have this area in addition to the fortified encampment above the river's north bank.

[Gil R.]

I'll add that you've already seen screenshots showing at least two of the three maps, so what makes these different is that they're finished. (In another thread Zakblood posted a brief AAR set at Beech Grove, which shows more of that. And I know I've shown Williamsburg images. Perhaps the main Mill Springs map will be new, though.)

[budd]

whats the hex scale again? I'm not a Civil War guy but i am looking forward to this.

[Gil R.]

Hexes are 75-yard, and our biggest map is 5 x 10 miles.

The game is regimental level officially, but no unit is too small for inclusion, so we have a number of small companies running around, too.

[Capitaine]

This looks really good. I love the maps. So tired of tiled mapsets, these custom renderings are a joy to behold.

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: Capitaine

This looks really good. I love the maps. So tired of tiled mapsets, these custom renderings are a joy to behold.

The maps are very nice indeed!

rick

[Gil R.]

Thanks!

So, here's another image to share, more for fun than illumination. Today we got the final art for the load screen, which Matrix no doubt was planning to share with the promotional materials at a later date. Well, I'm going to leak it now, so you can see the way the graphics for a game come together over time, as this image illustrates. Here you see how our programmer, Eric, has solved the problem of having the load screen but not yet having the mini-maps that dynamically switch as one clicks on each scenario.

(That depends on my first being satisfied with where units are positioned at the start of each scenario, since the maps will show that as well as terrain, and therefore Eric's completing the mini-maps has been held up by my wanting to be sure of the scenarios. We don't want Eric to spend time generating the images, only to have me shift a brigade over, or some such thing.)

[lparkh]

Is there no respect for historical accuracy? Everyone knows that those exuberant caps went out at first Bull Run.




Thanks for sharing