Newbie Editor Questions

[hoplitis]

reverend said:
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5) Are fields always a rectangle north by east, or can the be placed slanted like roads? The reason is the hedgerows or roads on the outline of fields can't be placed in a smooth north-south line.
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You can build “straight” roads” in the Up/Down direction if you click the road “start” (hex A)hex and then go to the adjacent hex (hex B) and click again ( road “end”hex). Now use the “end” hex (hex B) as a new road “start” hex and choose your next “end” hex (hex C). If hex A and C are on the same vertical your kinked three hex road will become straight! The same technique for hedgerows results in a wavy pattern, though.

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6) What is the commonly accepted representation of an airfield runway? So far I use pavement hexes with a primary road placed on them. For smaller airfields (non concrete runways) I'm a bit undecided what would look best. Bare earth with a secondary road maybe?
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First things, first. Game maps are Up-Down, Left- Right. You choose if the upper map edge is North, South or Northwest. Why do I say (remind you) this? Runways are exceptionally linear (and usually long) terrain features. If you are trying to “map” an actual location you must rotate the “game map” so as to preserve the linearity of the runaway (at least the “main” one) through all its length. I would use pavement hexes for all permanent airfields oriented in Up/Down or Left/Right Direction. For improvised/“dirt” airstrips I’d use clear and /or “red or bare earth” hexes depending on the rest of the map, with a width of two hexes (or one if you want a more “stealthy” effect). The latter airstrips can be also oriented towards the primary diagonals of the hexagon grid without any “kinks” or adverse visual effect.
No roads. Pavements act as roads (movement cost) and are a good aesthetic approximation for permanent airstrips. I prefer to use “road terrain” as roads.

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7) Is the AI better at assault or defense? I guess that for a proper assault I have to use waypoints to guide the AI, can I define 'hold' points for defense as well?
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Look …the AI is an “item” of the game engine. The adjective “dumb” is almost a standard qualifier for “AI” in the gaming community. As a player who plays almost entirely against the AI, I’ve concluded that this so called dumb AI in the hands of a good designer can produce interesting scenarios. But you must utilize all the tools you have at your disposal:
A Good Map, Judicial unit selection (both in quality and quantity), Victory objective placement and value, Initial deployment of forces, Reinforcements (position & turn of arrival), Reaction turns, Op Fire filtering (CD version), playing around with unit or even OOB parameters. and finally Waypoints. You’d better go first to the manual, then do a post “search” and then come back with more specific questions.
For “starters” a small to medium sized map, with the AI on the defense would be fine, I think.

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9) Any rule of thumb about the length of a scenario, based on force and map size?
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Scenario Length depends a lot on what you want to do. A short scenario doesn’t allow the player to do proper reconnaissance and/or probing nor long flanking moves etc. It “favours” the AI (on the defense). It is a fundamental designer decision.

I hope the questions aren't too dumb,
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How does the saying go?… No dumb questions only dumb answers
Mine included!

I tried reading through the various posts on the SPMBT and SPWW2 scenario boards. It seems that with every question I see answered, two more pop up when I think about what I could do on a specific map.

And as Johnny Walker says “Keep Walking” !!!!

[reverend]

hoplitis said:
You can build “straight” roads” in the Up/Down direction if you click the road “start” (hex A)hex and then go to the adjacent hex (hex B) and click again ( road “end”hex). Now use the “end” hex (hex B) as a new road “start” hex and choose your next “end” hex (hex C). If hex A and C are on the same vertical your kinked three hex road will become straight! The same technique for hedgerows results in a wavy pattern, though.

Interesting. Doing it hex-by-hex indeed places straight road. The automated function (end hex several hexes away) produces wavy patterns.


Perhaps I shouldn't have used 'north-south' as a qualifier. It was meant more as an orientation on the game map than actual directions. Sometimes, however, no matter how you rotate a map, you end up with a straight pattern that should run up-down ingame. And since some features (fields, pavement, roads) have straight up-down sprites, I thought I was simply doing something wrong.

You're right: Makeshift airfield made of bare / red earth look indeed a lot better than with a central road down the runway.



I know the AI isn't the most intelligent in this game. Still, the basic coding either works in favour of attacking or defending - for one mission I have to do more during scenarion design, for the other less. I'll try defending first, though.

[hoplitis]

reverend said:
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I know the AI isn't the most intelligent in this game.
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Maybe... but it's getting better all the time. AI creation, testing and fine tuning isn't a priority in most commercial games (believe it or not). One reason is that you have to have an almost complete game engine and player interface to develop and test the AI. And having those usually means that the "release date" is approaching fast.
But this game (long past its initial release) continues to evolve, its AI included.

[reverend]

Well, thankfully there are exception, such as Stardocks Galactiv Civilisations. By not including multiplayer, they could focus on building the (IMO) best AI yet.

I just found out something incredible helpful: The copy/paster function of the map editor not only works on the same map, but you can also copy stuff from one map to another!

That should allow me to build a couple of features alone (such as airfields) and when needed, copy them to the 'real' map. That feature alone was worth the CD order.

[PanzerBob]

You can build “straight” roads” in the Up/Down direction if you click the road “start” (hex A)hex and then go to the adjacent hex (hex B) and click again ( road “end”hex). Now use the “end” hex (hex B) as a new road “start” hex and choose your next “end” hex (hex C). If hex A and C are on the same vertical your kinked three hex road will become straight! The same technique for hedgerows results in a wavy pattern, though.

Thanks for the info, always something to learn. I love this game!!!