Matrix Games Forums

Hello everyone! Recently I came up with a really nice idea, which will greatly improve the gameplay of the upcoming Armoured Brigade. And this feature is the ability to draw deployment (setup) zones on a map or in a separate image file, which will be loaded into the mission.

As it was stated by Veitikka: "A scenario can have a .bmp image file where the scenario designer can paint "no-go zones" to limit unit placement and movement." However, the deployment zones remain rectangular in their shape have fixed map position (north, south, east or west).

My proposal is to make deployment zones drawable either on a map itself (in the mission setup screen) or in a separate .bmp file. You may ask "why?" First of all, standard deployment zones create a lot of limitations for mission makers. For example, what if a player wants to create a small town besieged by enemy from from ALL the directions, or, maybe an ambush on the enemy convoy? In this case, a player may just draw deployment zones for A and B using shape he prefers more.

I hope that the game developers will like my proposal.

First, let me say that in the future there may be more options for customizing the setup zones.

That being said, in AB the AI tries to organize and synchronize its units in as realistic, unpredictable and challenging manner as possible. It must happen with every map and force combination, so we need to introduce certain limitations. In some other wargames that have generated battles you have a bunch of individual units going solo, but that's not the case in this game.

However... you can use the current 'no-go zone' system to channel movement. Let's say you want to have the town in the center of map, and the besieger should approach from north and south. Ok, so you set his setup zone rectangle to be in west. You adjust the size, and then you paint the center part (between the north/south edges) to be a 'no-go zone'. That forces him to place his units to the opposite sides of his setup zone, and that's probably where he'll be approaching the town from.

Creative ideas can make scenarios more interesting. More testing is needed to see what people can come up with.