Quick, dumb question

[Pascal_slith]

Hi,

when the computer is calculating the turn, what do the large red circles with a red slash across an aircraft over bases and certain units mean? Sorry, couldn't find the symbol in the manual.

Regards,

Pascal

[mogami]

Hi, No fly hex. No take off/ no attack.

[pasternakski]

Mog, for once I'm disappointed in ya.

The "ghostbusters" no-plane symbol is Matrix's idea of a way to depict weather effects on air missions. When you see one, it means (supposedly) that no flights in or out are permitted ... of course, you can still fly transports in or out, and naval search and recon don't seem to be affected. They change from phase to phase during the turn, too, so it's impossible to figure out what their real effect is (other than to screw you when you least expect it).

The weather model is one of my biggest gripes with the UV engine, and this is one evidence of why. It seems that bad weather pops up randomly, and your forecasters have no idea what tomorrow's weather might be (just like the TV talking heads today).

I wanted fronts and some degree of predictability so that strategic planning (hey - strategic planning. That was supposed to be part of this game, wasn't it?) could take weather effects into consideration.

Someone (I forget who) created an alternate symbol that looks like either a cloud with rain underneath or a sheep with stilt legs. Someone else improved on that to show Jabba the Hutt with lightning coming out of his nostrils.

Gimme a real weather system, willya, fer chrissake? I already know that WITP's system won't be much of an improvement.

[Drongo]

Posted by Pasternakski

Gimme a real weather system, willya, fer chrissake? I already know that WITP's system won't be much of an improvement.

Due to the esteem in which you are held....

We are about to start testing a new feature in WitP Alpha which is intended to show a location's weather forecast for the following turn. It will most likely be part of the finished game.

The "ghostbusters" no-plane symbol is Matrix's idea of a way to depict weather effects on air missions.

Since you seemed dissatified with the existing "no fly" symbol, 2x3 are considering a change to that as well.

Cheers

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Originally posted by Drongo
Posted by Pasternakski
<snip>

We are about to start testing a new feature in WitP Alpha which is intended to show a location's weather forecast for the following turn. It will most likely be part of the finished game.

<snip>

Great!

BTW, will this be in manner of weather wront (high pressure / low
pressure) or just local forecast for the next day for each HEX?


Leo "Apollo11"

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

The local forecast, only. Although there are eight weather zones and we account for malaria, temperate and seasonal cold climates, the weather front calculations are somewhat limited.

In the area covered by UV, there was little in the way of weather fronts. Just a lot of small swirling fronts that came and went in a matter of hours, except in the far western and southern regions of the map. In WIP, the map covers half of the planet. Trying to account for all the currents, wind patterns, rain shadows and thousands of other phenomenon is quite daunting.

If any of our posters feel the weather routines are not "realistic" enough and have a complete set of the thousands of equations, optimized to run at an acceptable speed, we would consider recoding the weather routines to include them.

Thanks...

Michael Wood

[Pascal_slith]

Hello,

thanks for the answers.

BTW, the game 'Carriers at War' had weather (i.e. cloud groups) on the screen if you wanted, with movement in a weather type pattern during the game. How about trying this as an option for WitP?

Regards,

Pascal

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Originally posted by Mike Wood
Hello...

The local forecast, only. Although there are eight weather zones and we account for malaria, temperate and seasonal cold climates, the weather front calculations are somewhat limited.

In the area covered by UV, there was little in the way of weather fronts. Just a lot of small swirling fronts that came and went in a matter of hours, except in the far western and southern regions of the map. In WIP, the map covers half of the planet. Trying to account for all the currents, wind patterns, rain shadows and thousands of other phenomenon is quite daunting.

If any of our posters feel the weather routines are not "realistic" enough and have a complete set of the thousands of equations, optimized to run at an acceptable speed, we would consider recoding the weather routines to include them.

Thanks...

Michael Wood

Thanks again for info Mike!


Leo "Apollo11"

[pasternakski]

Originally posted by Drongo
Posted by Pasternakski


Due to the esteem in which you are held....

We are about to start testing a new feature in WitP Alpha which is intended to show a location's weather forecast for the following turn. It will most likely be part of the finished game.



Since you seemed dissatified with the existing "no fly" symbol, 2x3 are considering a change to that as well.

Cheers

Bless you, drongo, and all the rest of the Inquisition. Now, could you please arrange to send me something other than swill down through the oubliette to my cell, considering the "esteem in which I am held?"

[pasternakski]

Originally posted by Pascal
Hello,

thanks for the answers.

BTW, the game 'Carriers at War' had weather (i.e. cloud groups) on the screen if you wanted, with movement in a weather type pattern during the game. How about trying this as an option for WitP?

Regards,

Pascal

Yep. I mean, even silly old "War in the South Pacific" had a depiction of weather systems moving across the map, and a way (based on cloud area overlaps) of showing storm areas. It was crude, but it was workable and gave you some idea of "actual" weather. It seemed to be based to a degree on the system from the old board game "Flattop," which had a lot wrong with it, including the need to move cardboard cloud counters across the map that represented weather systems. Now that we have entered the computer age, maybe the electronics could take care of that part for us ...

[pasternakski]

Originally posted by Mike Wood
Hello...

The local forecast, only. Although there are eight weather zones and we account for malaria, temperate and seasonal cold climates, the weather front calculations are somewhat limited.

In the area covered by UV, there was little in the way of weather fronts. Just a lot of small swirling fronts that came and went in a matter of hours, except in the far western and southern regions of the map. In WIP, the map covers half of the planet. Trying to account for all the currents, wind patterns, rain shadows and thousands of other phenomenon is quite daunting.

If any of our posters feel the weather routines are not "realistic" enough and have a complete set of the thousands of equations, optimized to run at an acceptable speed, we would consider recoding the weather routines to include them.

Thanks...

Michael Wood

Well, Michael, I've only been asking (and not very often or vociferously) for basic depictions of weather systems moving in the general way (and possessing the generic characteristics of) those seen in real Pacific and surrounding land mass meteorology. I don't need an "ask the weather man" game, but I sure would like to see a way of sending my main body toward Midway under the cover of a weather front ... that might evaporate at any time and spoil my plan ...

I think "squalls" and "fronts" would be enough for detail purposes, with the possibility of the occasional "typhoon."

Thanks for the weather system improvements, though. I really appreciate the effort and the addition to the game they will make.

[Mike_B20]

I can appreciate the strain on game speed that a complex weather system could cause.
However, I believe there is a simple way of improving the weather system which would not entail too much development time or put much of a strain on the user's computers.

I was thinking of using a random series of 'seed' hexes when the game begins.
Depending on what types of weather these hexes contained, there would be a probabilty of certain weather types in adjacent hexes.
The adjacent hexes would then affect the probabilty of weather in their adjacent hexes, etc.

Every turn the seed hexes would move a random distance, depending on what weather they contained, until they moved off map, when new seed hexes would be generated on the opposite side of the map.

Weather tends to move in certain directions, but a few opposite direction weather seeds could be generated occasionally for variety.

Maybe it's a crazy idea but it makes sense to me

[rich91a]

Maybe it's a crazy idea but it makes sense to me

Crikey that is a crazy idea. But I like it.

One thing the current model does well is let you make the decision on whether you want the flyboys up in the nasty stuff and hence take operational losses.

Whatever changes are made, I like to keep this part of the decision making as is.

[cave_45]

I have to say that I am not too concerned as to how accurate, or true to real life, the weather is. I would just like to know a weather prediction or forecast.

For example; you may have the predicted weather for the next turn in UV, and on that you can decide whether you want to fly or not, and this can vary from region to region on the UV map. I would like to see a summary for a particular hex, or series of hexes, for maybe 3 or so days in advance (obviously the further in advance it goes, the greater the chance that the weather could actually change or be different from the report).

This would just provide the scope for a bombardment that would be hard to detect because of storms etc... or a carrier engagement where you know that your planes shouldn't be grounded because of poor weather.

Just food for thought maybe??

Owen