A thought about variables
Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:43 am
Ok this is just a vague observation, but I wonder what you think of it.
WitP AE, more so mods like DB, brought the game so close to real as the game engine
is able to handle.
When observing what is left concerning issues (most of them located at the extremes of certain
situations) I began to get the impression, that the difficulty faced when trying to adress those
issues, comes down to a few simple problems in the way of how variables are implemented compared
to the RL state, or count, it tries to describe.
The main problem is scale. The lower the resolution is, the less flexible is the system.
Let me give you an few examples:
Pilot aggression is rated on a scale of 0-100, with a single integer being the the smallest
possible step. Real human beings would never differ as much in aggression as the game calculates
by using either a value of 57 or a value of 88.
With a scale from 0-100 you cannot express finer nuances that probably describe differences in aggression
between trained pilots better, like 0-1000 with the huge majority falling into the 400-600 range.
Similar example could be given for any skill attribute, as well as leader attributes or ship´s crew experience.
Another one is DL:
We have a scale from 0-10.
For everything which can happen in a 40 square mile hex, every unit composition in that hex, we are only
able to express how much is known in 10 huge steps, each action increasing the value by at least 10%.
Another one is disablement of devices:
We have 0, 1.
Damage or injuries to men and material are gradual, and can be inflicted gradually.
I know this will never happen in WitP AE, also not in the mods. This has to much impact on the games´ code.
I only want to know if you agree with this observation. I believe many of the small issues at the extreme
ends of the war could be adressed easier if the scale of variables is increased to enable better abstraction
to RL situations and reduce the neccessity to use minima and maxima of the scale which often are responsible
for producing the results we experience as "off the scale".
WitP AE, more so mods like DB, brought the game so close to real as the game engine
is able to handle.
When observing what is left concerning issues (most of them located at the extremes of certain
situations) I began to get the impression, that the difficulty faced when trying to adress those
issues, comes down to a few simple problems in the way of how variables are implemented compared
to the RL state, or count, it tries to describe.
The main problem is scale. The lower the resolution is, the less flexible is the system.
Let me give you an few examples:
Pilot aggression is rated on a scale of 0-100, with a single integer being the the smallest
possible step. Real human beings would never differ as much in aggression as the game calculates
by using either a value of 57 or a value of 88.
With a scale from 0-100 you cannot express finer nuances that probably describe differences in aggression
between trained pilots better, like 0-1000 with the huge majority falling into the 400-600 range.
Similar example could be given for any skill attribute, as well as leader attributes or ship´s crew experience.
Another one is DL:
We have a scale from 0-10.
For everything which can happen in a 40 square mile hex, every unit composition in that hex, we are only
able to express how much is known in 10 huge steps, each action increasing the value by at least 10%.
Another one is disablement of devices:
We have 0, 1.
Damage or injuries to men and material are gradual, and can be inflicted gradually.
I know this will never happen in WitP AE, also not in the mods. This has to much impact on the games´ code.
I only want to know if you agree with this observation. I believe many of the small issues at the extreme
ends of the war could be adressed easier if the scale of variables is increased to enable better abstraction
to RL situations and reduce the neccessity to use minima and maxima of the scale which often are responsible
for producing the results we experience as "off the scale".
