I'll Pass

[Plainian]

WW2RTV and CWIE2 are actually similar from what GJK has said. Both use simple terrain tiles to map things. The only difference appears to be the coastlines. CWIE2 appears to have made up individual bitmaps for each coastline hex......ie basically they are individually hand drawn or so it appears. So when the map is generated each coastline will have to be loaded to its correct place.

Thats a lot of bitmaps and memory to store everything, plus more memory/processing power to load and maintain it. I'd hate to count how many costline hexes there would be in a map of Europe at this scale but it sounds like a huge task to me. I can appreciate why the RTV team did not attempt to do this.

By the way I'm just guessing that this is the case after spending a lot of time in the World in Flames forum following their mapping progress.
Maybe GJK or Comrade could jump in here to correct me?

[comrade]

You're right. There's two main problems with the map as a single huge bitmap:
1) Much more memory needed.
2) To create any other scenario you have to draw the whole map again.

Judging from this screenshot the coast hexes are also tiles (you can see the same coastal hexes repeating) but they must've created tiles for all combinations of the coast. I was also considering this for WW2RTV but eventually went with bit simpler solution.

[Plainian]

ORIGINAL: comrade
Judging from this screenshot the coast hexes are also tiles (you can see the same coastal hexes repeating) but they must've created tiles for all combinations of the coast. I was also considering this for WW2RTV but eventually went with bit simpler solution.

Mmm well spotted I didn't notice this. I assumed that it was all individual. There are duplicates. Still a lot of extra work though making up the tiles and getting them loaded properly.

Being pretty isn't everything though. CWiE might have the looks but its basically a converted boardgame. Think dumb blond. RTV might be the intelligent brunette.

[GJK]

I'm not exactly sure how Karl (Lean, programmer) did it for CWIEII. There is a single file that holds the basic tiles - clear, forest, desert, hill, etc. It's a full hex in size. There's 5 rows of each set of tiles, one for each of the weather zones, so you can have a clear hex that is green in one weather zone and 'snowy' in the arctic zones or as the weather changes.

The coastlines are interesting. There is no tileset for them and they aren't included in the one .bmp (StandardTerrain.bmp) that makes up all the other terrain tiles however, if you change the water in the StandardTerrain.bmp file, the coastlines all reflect that change and the same goes for the land areas. So, not sure how he did it but I like it (from a modder's perspective).

I won't go into comparisons of the gameplay between the two games. They are unique though and I will say that CWIEII has a lot of detail that it nicely enforces while playing. There is no AI though, and that is a major downside however I have been having fun pbem'ing it and solo'ing it. I'm also looking forward to the updated patch for R2V so that I have an AI opponent to play against.

[SeaMonkey]

GJK have you ever been approached by Hubert Cater with Fury Software about doing Strategic Command graphics?

[GJK]

No, I have not. Not sure that I could "do" diamonds. (I'm kidding)

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Chris Trog

When I saw this game available and read the promos I was HOT to buy this game.

Then I started reading threads.

I was hoping for some kind of computer version of Advanced Third Reich. This is not it from what I read in the forums.

I'LL PASS.

You would think there are enough of us Third Reich fanatics out here to get a game company to cater to us.............