Sneak Peeks, Coming Attractions, Works-In-Progress

[Jason Petho]

Keep in mind, the above is still in DRAFT, there will be corrections and revisions.

[carll11]

ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

Keep in mind, the above is still in DRAFT, there will be corrections and revisions.

Just a reminder, as I did not see it(?), the leadership/sub-unit highlight issue where in selecting a sub unit does Not highlight a 'mounted' parent HQ unit or its carrier.

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: carl11

Just a reminder, as I did not see it(?), the leadership/sub-unit highlight issue where in selecting a sub unit does Not highlight a 'mounted' parent HQ unit or its carrier.

That will have to wait until 1.03, we're under a code freeze at the moment.

Jason Petho

[budd]

are those new scenarios AI capable?

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: **budd**

are those new scenarios AI capable?

C01, C02 and D01 could be played against the AI, with the intention of practicing your tactics.

I am unsure about the Arab Israeli War scenarios, they seem to be listed as H2H, but I am sure some of them could be played against the AI.

[carll11]

ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

ORIGINAL: carl11

Just a reminder, as I did not see it(?), the leadership/sub-unit highlight issue where in selecting a sub unit does Not highlight a 'mounted' parent HQ unit or its carrier.

That will have to wait until 1.03, we're under a code freeze at the moment.

Jason Petho

When would that be, approx., the 1.03?

[Jason Petho]

Christmas?

[carll11]

ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

Christmas?

seriously?

[Jason Petho]

We have Vietnam to work on as well, so yes, once 1.02 is released we will be focusing strictly on that.

[berto]

That is not to say there won't be a 1.03 Open Beta UPDATE before Christmas (like the one we've been having for 1.02); there might be. It all depends if there are truly serious game breaking bugs discovered before then. A fix for the loaded passenger org highlight might go in such an UPDATE.

But, yes, we need to prioritize work on future game titles, like VN. Work on "perfecting" ME will never end, but we really must move on.

[carll11]

*shrugs* I appears to me, that HQ units not highlighting, is and was a built in tried and true part of all John Tiller games( well actually every tactical strategic game on the Matrix site) and is pretty much a necessity and imho, should be part of an update before moving on or 'Focusing' on/to a new game? I know VN is coming, but we have a game in being now, I am sympathetic to the work load, but first things first, right? [&:]

[Jason Petho]

Tranports never highlighted when carrying an HQ

In the JT system, there were HQ vehicles that didn't need transport, since they could drive on their own. We went a different route and made all HQs foot (well, not all, depending on the quality of the army, but most). This means it is up to the player to keep track of their HQs.

Simplest solution would be to keep them dismounted until you want to move them.

[carll11]

ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

Tranports never highlighted when carrying an HQ

In the JT system, there were HQ vehicles that didn't need transport, since they could drive on their own. We went a different route and made all HQs foot (well, not all, depending on the quality of the army, but most). This means it is up to the player to keep track of their HQs.

Simplest solution would be to keep them dismounted until you want to move them.

We went a different route and made all HQs foot (well, not all, depending on the quality of the army, but most). This means it is up to the player to keep track of their HQs.

did you intend it that way?[&:] Doesn't sound like it as a HUUUUUGE proportion of HQs were self ported( ALL mobile/armored/mech./ etc. units HQ for example) , and I think we both realize now that this present set up, re: no highlight is not very efficient, why make the game any harder..[;)]can we please highlight the Hq's?

[Jason Petho]

The HQs do highlight, you're talking of the transport for them. Two different things.

And yes, it was intentional. The better quality armies will have mobile HQs for appropriate sized formations, especially in future games (NATO vs WARSAW PACT).

[Crossroads]

I notice it's been a bit quiet here at our Sneak Peeks thread... Not for any lack of activity, we've been very busy working towards the new game titles. The 3D guys have been extremely busy, churning out new terrain and unit graphics for CS Vietnam, so I as our resident 2D geek have used the time to look at our 2D graphics as a whole again.

With CS Middle East the 2D terrain was a bit of a compromise between a classic boardgame map look, and of keeping up with how 3D views the CS world. No longer. I am now keeping 2D more closely in sync with our 3D, and at some stage will release a Boardgame 2D Mod as a no-compromises option for those of us who love our classic boardgames.

This has meant I need to wait still a tad before fully commencing with CS Vietnam, so I have looked at the CS biomes more closer now as they are with CS Middle East; namely the Desert and Mediterranean biomes that ship with the game.

For instance, the marshes are different between the two, for marshes in Desert terrain are salt marshes, not wet marshes. So here goes:



Spot the wooden houses there still? Not very Mediterranean, let alone Desertish (is that a word LOL). So keeping the design goal now set in a manner that supports our new uber cool Mouse Wheel Zoom (how did we ever manage without it!), I nowadays opt for a certain cohesity between the 2D and 3D views.

Here's an early example of Desert and Mediterranean 2D views in comparison to our existing 3D (city blocks still have dark grey little industrial buildings, redoing them later). Gone are the wooden village homes!



...which, incidentally, don't look that bad set in the Tropical terrain in Vietnam:



As you might have noticed, the three biomes have their own clear hex tiles as well, all created anew based on their respective 3D terrain hexes. (There's the three ground conditions as well: Normal, Soft, and Mud. More of those later).

All this remains very much work-in-progress, but we've not really worried about showing incomplete stuff so far so here goes. Just remember, this is all incomplete stuff at the moment [:)]

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads
I am now keeping 2D more closely in sync with our 3D, and at some stage will release a Boardgame 2D Mod as a no-compromises option for those of us who love our classic boardgames.

Haven't really got into that one at all yet, besides some very quick and innocent fun to see how different it might look, from the stuff I showed above.

Here I've changed only the basic clear terrain hexes to a white(ish) boardgame hex grid, and then put in some new marsh and swamp mock-up tiles in a manner they might appear in an old boardgame map.

[:'(]

[Crossroads]

Mouse Wheel's been a revelation. I am continuing to provide 1.03 with more of a feel so when the Mouse Wheel switches from 3D to 2D, it would feel like switching from a low flying aircraft to a high-flying one.

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

... marshes in Desert terrain are salt marshes, not wet marshes ...

Desert also's got sand colored Rough, not gray, rock-like colors like Mediterranean. Tweaking the tiles later too, but let us color them similar first. New Shrub and Vineyards get a first new feel as well. Previous Vineyard tiles in the left pic above.

[Crossroads]

Here's another little update report on 1.03 terrain.

[berto]

Despite our recent reticence (I like the sound of that [:)]), nobody should think that we at the CS Legion are resting on our laurels, sitting on our hands. No, we are working furiously behind the scenes on Series improvements.

All will be revealed in the fullness of time. Until then ...



[:'(]

[zakblood]

it's looking good[&o]