Small update to start off the month of December. Balancing is fun. Really fun. Really, if I had a choice between a colonoscopy and balancing I'd pick the colonoscopy twice, because I feel like I'm having too much fun. For starters, I've realized that despite my best efforts there's no real way to make these play 'authentically' and have them be a match against real-life tanks. Instead of worrying about how a Silverhand would face a Sherman, or what year these tanks should come out, I've been focused on keeping it how it would act in Foxhole. That means each year is a tier, and each tier brings new goodies to keep the war churning.
Secondly, I've found it best to keep a spreadsheet of all the weapons so I can balance things like vehicle armor around them. There are a lot of weapons.
Thirdly, in an attempt to keep my sanity I've started doing 'stream of consciousness write-ups'. As I balance a vehicle, squad, or weapon I write why I'm balancing it, how I'm balancing it, and how it'll react to the other vehicles / weapons. This'll allow me to go back later and violently chastise myself for not thinking as hard in the past.
Overall progress? Pretty good, I think. I just have to sweep over everything with the magical balance fairy, and then.. Do the maps. Oh boy. Alright, maps, let's talk about that real quick.
When I initially started the mod I wanted to add each map from Foxhole as a 120x120 map, one going E-W and one going N-S. Now I realize this is incredibly time-consuming even with a heightmap generator, so instead my plan is simple: Take core locations from each map and turn them into big areas. Abandoned Ward in the Deadlands, for example, or Jade Cove or the islands of Godcrofts. Eventually I hope to transmute the actual maps, but for now I think this is a fair compromise that'll allow me to actually push this mod out before I'm putting candles on my birthday cake.
To wrap up this blog / newsletter / rant, apologies for the delays. My work schedule up until last week was hellish, but I now have a whopping -2- days off in a row, which is nice. Additionally having to deal with worker's comp over an injury I sustained at work has been keeping me on my toes, as is working around said injury. I'll try and expedite this mod for the whole five people actively waiting for it. I hope it'll be worth the effort.
P.S: Is there a way to change the name of a faction? I know the Civil War mod did it.
P.S.S: Thanks for this awesome game. After playing it for thirteen years I can't believe I'm getting close to actually releasing a mod for it.
P.S.S.S: Yes, I know the HE kill / accuracy values for handheld guns are odd. That's part of the balance
tm