Me- Domaithianus, an introduction, and another fan made campaign

[Domaithianus]

1 hour ago, Cm_blast said:

At least in my campaigns I always add the originals, so reverting is easy. But if you want to have a second instalaction just in case that's fine.

I have it this way in my "data/bin" folder:

But that's up to you, if you want a separated one it's ok, I have another Dune-folder to do my own tibed tests and weird stuff :P.

If you create the units with the "unit spawn" or "reinfocement" could be two problems.
1: The AI is not active, so those units don't do anything.
2: In the AI tab, there is a line "Guardgroupsize". This define how many units wander around the base. If it's too small, or if you are trying to do it in mid-game (so by that time the AI have the guardgroupsize filled with the units he builds, then it's not possible to make them move like this (the AI will consider those new units as "new groupo to attack", so they don't move).

Yeah, they're 'free' unit spawn at the moment, that arrive 20 minutes in (the player has to clear the way in that time).  The 'base' consists of 1 Outpost, 1 Wind Trap and 1 Seitch, so they can't build to fill up.  But I'll check guardgroupsize, which is... 100.  Also, the units that are already there are a separate, turned off AI...
At the moment, it seems pretty random as to whether they move or not.

[Cm_blast]

39 minutes ago, Domaithianus said:

Yeah, they're 'free' unit spawn at the moment, that arrive 20 minutes in (the player has to clear the way in that time).  The 'base' consists of 1 Outpost, 1 Wind Trap and 1 Seitch, so they can't build to fill up.  But I'll check guardgroupsize, which is... 100.  Also, the units that are already there are a separate, turned off AI...
At the moment, it seems pretty random as to whether they move or not.

That number is a variable. I can't tell "100 = X units", because heavily depends on the units itselft and the size of the base.

With only 1 outpost, 1 wind trap and 1 sietch, you need to place a high number, place 2000 or so.

Now; I am guessing you are using fremen and, more important. Stealth Fremen. If that's the case, then there is a problem. The St.Fremen work on ther own way.

The AI treats these units in a different scale. The AI simply waits to have 5 or more St.Fremen and send an attack with those units (that's the way the AI do with the ones spawed by the Atreides Palace; doesn't count timing attacks at all), so placing St.Fremen on the editor or by any kind of "unit spawn" they will attack as soon as the game start.

Even worst, depending if the player was Atreides or Harkonnen in one test the St.Fremen wander the base and in the next test they attack. I have not yet been able to fully understand their behavior.

If the problem is really with the Stealth Fremen unit (since at this point I am only guessing), then you need to redo your idea with usual fremen, or desactivaten the AI which contain St.Fremen so they don't move (but other units won't move either).

They are tricky, that's for sure.

 

Edited July 19, 2017 by Cm_blast

[Domaithianus]

2 minutes ago, Cm_blast said:

That number is a variable. I can't tell "100 = X units", because heavily depends on the units itselft and the size of the base.

With only 1 outpost, 1 wind trap and 1 sietch, you need to place a high number, place 2000 or so.

Now; I am guessing you are using fremen and, more important. Stealth Fremen. If that's the case, then there is a problem. The St.Fremen work on ther own way.

The AI treats these units in a different scale. The AI simply waits to have 5 or more St.Fremen and send an attack with those units, so placing St.Fremen on the editor or by any kind of "unit spawn" they will attack as soon as the game start.

Even worst, depending if the player was Atreides or Harkonnen in one test the St.Fremen wander the base and in the next test they attack.

If the problem is really with the Stealth Fremen unit (since at this point I am only guessing), then you need to redo your idea with usual fremen, or desactivaten the AI which contain St.Fremen so they don't move (but other units won't move either).

They are tricky, that's for sure.

 

They're regular, non st Fremen, I had noticed building previous missions, st Fremen AI can get very annoying.  They need to be visible for the enemy blockade to work properly anyway though.  I've increased max groups to five, set attack groups to zero, but have yet to try the guard group size above 300...  I'll give that a try, thank you.

[Domaithianus]

18 minutes ago, Cm_blast said:

With only 1 outpost, 1 wind trap and 1 sietch, you need to place a high number, place 2000 or so.

 

That did it!  That's a massive relief, thank you.

[Fey]

If you're using stealth fremen, good freakin' luck. They're finicky as hell. Perhaps you could use allocation index tweaking and a berserk AI to make the reinforcement units run places. In that case, you'll also need to play around with alliances and use the "Leave" event when units get places. Otherwise, an AI should make its free units patrol around places, so maybe if you put a few walls or something belonging to the berserk AI there in the base, then make some spawned enemies on the other side of the map cause your fremen friends to send their units back...

If you want some examples, the bonus fremen mission in the smugglers campaign WIP thread and S2V2 both have friendly AI units you are tasked with escorting.

By the way, I found my tech tree notes. Here:

Spoiler

TECH LEVEL 0: Essentials!
 - Only the essentials are unlocked in TL0.

Structures:
Construction Yard:
 - Base construction.
 - Essential.
 - Requires MCV.
Concrete:
 - Base construction.
 - Essential.
 - Requires construction yard.
Wind Trap:
 - Power.
 - Essential.
 - Requires construction yard.
 - A lot of structures demand more power, meaning you'll need more of these.
 -- A side-effect of this is that the enemy will be more vulnerable to power-down.
Barracks:
 - Infantry production.
 - Requires wind trap.
 - You need something to attack with, after all.
Refinery:
 - Economy.
 - Essential.
 - Requires wind trap.
 - Refineries are more expensive. Creating a new one will take planning.
Silo:
 - Economy.
 - Supplementary.
 - Requires refinery.
Heavy Factory:
 - Vehicle production.
 - Requires refinery.
 - Only Harvesters can be produced at the low tech levels.
 -- This is important due to the new refinery price.

Upgrades:
None.

Units:
Light Infantry:
 - Anti-infantry infantry.
 - Requires barracks.
 - Heals over time.
Harvester:
 - Economy.
 - Essential.
 - Requires heavy factory.
 - Harvesters are less expensive to build.

TECH LEVEL 1: Basic combat tech!
 - Enough combat technology is available to have an interesting fight at TL1.
 - You may notice that the new units added are useful against each-other.

Structures:
Light Factory:
 - Light vehicle production.
 - Requires refinery.
Outpost:
 - Radar.
 - Supplementary.
 - Requires barracks.
 - Useful now that you have units fast enough to zip around!
Wall:
 - Base defense.
 - Requires construction yard.
 - Can only block tank fire, but can obstruct movement.

Upgrades:
Barracks:
 - Enables the production of troopers.
 - Like most upgrades, this is more expensive.
 - The expensive upgrade encourages careful allocation of early funds.

Units:
Trooper:
 - Anti-vehicle / structure infantry.
 - Requires upgraded barracks.
 - Complementary unit introduced with trikes as a priority target.
 - Heals over time.
Trike:
 - Anti-infantry vehicle.
 - Requires light factory.
 - Available only to Atreides, Harkonnen, Imperial, and fremen forces.
 - Complementary unit introduced with troopers as a priority target.
Raider:
 - Anti-infantry vehicle.
 - Requires light factory.
 - Available only to Ordos, smuggler, and mercenary forces.
 - Complementary unit introduced with troopers as a priority target.

TECH LEVEL 2: Light warfare!
 - At TL2, all infantry and light vehicles are unlocked.
 -- The exception to this is the engineer, a support infantry.
 - Like TL1, the new units have weapons geared towards opposite goals.
 - This tech level is characterized by fast-paced combat with fragile units.

Structures:
None.

Upgrades:
Light Factory:
 - Enables the production of quads.
 - Like most upgrades, this is more expensive.
 - The expensive upgrade encourages careful allocation of early funds.

Units:
Grenadier:
 - Anti-infantry infantry.
 - Requires upgraded barracks and outpost.
 - Introduced with quads as a complementary unit.
 - Area-effect attack.
 - Explodes on death.
 - Heals over time.
Quad:
 - Anti-vehicle / structure vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded light factory.
 - Introduced with grenadiers as a complementary unit.
 - Light factory upgrade required.

TECH LEVEL 3: Combat Tanks!
 - Just combat tanks.
 - Although only combat tanks are added, they seriously change up the game.

Structures:
None.

Upgrades:
None.

Units:
Combat Tank (Balanced):
 - Armored assault vehicle.
 - Requires heavy factory.
 - Balanced in speed, armor, and firepower.
 - Deployed by Atreides and fremen forces.
Combat Tank (Agile):
 - Armored assault vehicle.
 - Requires heavy factory.
 - Favors superior speed and rapid firepower over armor.
 - Deployed by Ordos, smuggler, and mercenary forces.
Combat Tank (Armored):
 - Armored assault vehicle.
 - Requires heavy factory.
 - Favors massively boosted armor over speed and firepower.
 - Deployed by Harkonnen and Imperial forces.

TECH LEVEL 4: Support units!
 - Tech level 4 makes no combat changes. Instead, support units are added.
 -- The exception to this is the medium turret, a basic defense structure.
 - This tech level is characterized by the ability to create proxy bases and solidify defenses through turrets and unit repairs.

Structures:
High Tech Factory:
 - Carryall production.
 - Requires refinery and outpost.
 - Can unlock high-tier technology later on.
Repair Pad:
 - Vehicle repair.
 - Requires upgraded heavy factory.
Medium Gun Turret:
 - Base defense.
 - Requires construction yard.

Upgrades:
Heavy Factory:
 - Enables the construction of Repair Pads.
 - This upgrade is notably much more expensive than it originally was.
 - The expensive upgrade encourages careful allocation of early funds.

Units:
Engineer:
 - Support infantry.
 - Requires upgraded barracks and repair pad.
Mobile Construction Vehicle:
 - Support vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded heavy factory and repair pad.
Carryall:
 - Support vehicle.
 - Requires high tech factory and outpost.

TECH LEVEL 5: Advanced warfare!
 - This tech level focuses on common higher-tier units.

Structures:
Starport:
 - Support structure.
 - Requires high tech factory and outpost.
Research Center:
 - Support structure.
 - Requires upgraded high tech factory.
 - Available only to Atreides, Harkonnen, Imperial, and fremen forces.

Upgrades:
High Tech Factory:
 - Enables access to advanced technology.
 - This upgrade is less expensive than it was originally.
 -- The reason for this is because all factions can upgrade their HTF.
 - Available only to Atreides, Harkonnen, Imperial, and fremen forces.

Units:
Fremen Warrior:
 - Elite fremen infantry.
 - Requires upgraded barracks and sietch.
 - Unique. Its prerequisites cannot be constructed.
 - Heals over time.
Imperial Sardaukar:
 - Elite Imperial infantry.
 - Requires upgraded barracks and Imperial palace.
 - Unique. Its prerequisites cannot be constructed.
 - Heals over time.
Siege Tank:
 - Anti-infantry / structure vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded heavy factory.
 - Notably stronger than it originally was.
 - Area-effect attack.
Missile Tank:
 - Anti-vehicle / structure vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded heavy factory and research center.
 - Available only to Atreides, Harkonnen, Imperial, and fremen forces.

TECH LEVEL 6: Super tanks!
 - This tech level unlocks the various special tanks available to the different Great Houses.
 - The special tanks are nice, but various additional units are added to each (sub-)faction's arsenal.
 - The missile tank acts as the mercenaries' special tank. Durant canonically favors them over Deviator tanks.

Structures:
Concrete:
 - Base construction.
 - Essential
 - Requires upgraded construction yard.
 - Like concrete, but 9 tiles instead of 4.
Large Gun Turret:
 - Base defense.
 - Requires upgraded construction yard and research center.
 - Significantly tougher than it originally was.
Research Center:
 - Support structure.
 - Requires upgraded high tech factory.
 - Available only to Ordos, smuggler, and mercenary forces.

Upgrades:
Construction Yard:
 - Improves concrete foundation laying and allows the construction of the best turrets.
 - This upgrade costs exactly the same as it originally did.
High Tech Factory:
 - Enables access to advanced technology.
 - This upgrade is less expensive than it was originally.
 -- The reason for this is because all factions can upgrade their HTF.
 - Available only to Ordos, smuggler, and mercenary forces.

Units:
Imperial Sardaukar:
 - Elite infantry.
 - Requires upgraded barracks and high tech factory.
 - Available only to Harkonnen and Imperial forces.
 - Heals over time.
Stealth Raider:
 - Cloaked anti-infantry vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded light factory and high tech factory.
 - Available only to Ordos, smuggler, and mercenary forces.
Ornithopters:
 - Special airstrike units.
 - Requires upgraded high tech factory and outpost.
 - Available only to Atreides and fremen forces.
Sonic Tank:
 - Elite Atreides vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded heavy factory and research center.
 - Available only to Atreides and fremen forces.
Devastator:
 - Elite Harkonnen vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded heavy factory and research center.
 - Available only to Harkonnen forces.
Deviator:
 - Elite Ordos vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded heavy factory and research center.
 - Available only to Ordos and smuggler forces.
Missile Tank:
 - Anti-vehicle / structure vehicle.
 - Requires upgraded heavy factory and research center.
 - Available only to mercenary forces.

TECH LEVEL 7: Superweapons!
 - The final tech level unlocks the unique weapons for each Great House except Corrino.
 - Despite each palace requiring TL7, they can be captured and used at TL6.
 -- This is because several factions will not advance to TL7 ever since they're not supposed to have a palace.

Structures:
Atreides Palace:
 - Special Atreides structure.
 - Requires research center and Atreides construction yard.
 - Available only to Atreides and fremen forces.
 - Provides access to fremen Fedaykin.
Ordos Palace:
 - Special Ordos structure.
 - Requires research center and Ordos construction yard.
 - Available only to Ordos forces.
 - Provides access to saboteurs.
Harkonnen Palace:
 - Special Harkonnen structure.
 - Requires research center and Harkonnen construction yard.
 - Available only to Harkonnen forces.
 - Provides access to the Death Hand.

Upgrades:
None.

Units:
Fremen Fedaykin:
 - Cloaked elite infantry.
 - Requires Atreides palace.
 - Heals over time.
 - Actually available at TL6, but can only be accessed from the TL7 palace.
Saboteur:
 - Cloakable elite infantry.
 - Requires Ordos palace.
 - Heals over time.
 - Actually available at TL6, but can only be accessed from the TL7 palace.
Death Hand:
 - Super weapon.
 - Requires Harkonnen palace.
 - Area-effect attack.
 - Actually available at TL6, but can only be accessed from the TL7 palace.

Anyway, hope those examples help you learn more, if you decide to check 'em out.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Fey

[Cm_blast]

34 minutes ago, Domaithianus said:

They're regular, non st Fremen, I had noticed building previous missions, st Fremen AI can get very annoying.  They need to be visible for the enemy blockade to work properly anyway though.  I've increased max groups to five, set attack groups to zero, but have yet to try the guard group size above 300...  I'll give that a try, thank you.

I never tried before reducing the max attacking or defending groups, but if works for you then better, it's something to explore.

22 minutes ago, Domaithianus said:

That did it!  That's a massive relief, thank you.

You're welcome.

Is really hard to measure that number. A huge base with 100 requires several tanks to fill that number, a very small base with 1 tank is enough... and a small base with 20 light infantry is not enough to fill the number. If you are planning to make an AI to only defend, place 1000 or 2000 just to make sure, but if you found a way to be sure that the AI never attack whatever the circumstances would be beneficial.

 

[Domaithianus]

This seems to be working perfectly now!
This is what I was working on...

ACo2.zip

[Cm_blast]

2 hours ago, Domaithianus said:

This seems to be working perfectly now!
This is what I was working on...

ACo2.zip

I just did a quick look at your maps (didn't want to spoil too much my self. You know, to play it a bit blindy), but I can see interesting map decissions over there (both maps).

But I can tell you something quick. You don't need to create a script "namefile.aud". In the mission setting window (F10) there is a place where said "Music". If you write it there is enough, or you can place a "*" to make it random.

Also, you don't need either the "show timer" script. In the same window as before, there is a line to the left that said "time limit" with "-1" on it. Just write a number there and the clock will appear. 

Edited July 20, 2017 by Cm_blast

[Feda]

New missions, that's cool  Saw some mercenary campaign as well, gotta try that as well, same for Fei's new hark missions.

 

On topic, when it comes to what you should play, I would recommend all missions included in the mission launcher (including the featured campaigns like War of Assassins etc.), they are all pretty neat. If you want to improve your mapping skills, I really recommend opening the missions in the editor and checking how we did things. That is the best way to improve. Back in 2011 or 2012, whatever the year when the first mission editor got released by mvi, there were barely a few custom missions created, so the way I learned mission making was to look at the original missions to see how Westwood/Intelligent games did things. (not to mention it was much more difficult back then, the editor was nowhere close to how advanced it is today). For complex and more advanced stuff, have a look in my, Fei's and blast's campaigns, you might get some ideas from them and also learn how you can achieve some interesting effects in your campaigns

[Fey]

2 hours ago, FedaYkin said:

I really recommend opening the missions in the editor and checking how we did things. That is the best way to improve.

Yeah! Nothing better than example, and then after some work you'll have some of your own for whoever drops by next asking for advice. Such is the circle of modding.

2 hours ago, FedaYkin said:

gotta try [...] Fei's new hark missions.

I REALLY need to work on those more. I haven't worked on D2k maps in far too long but I think about it often. lol

[Cm_blast]

2 hours ago, FedaYkin said:

On topic, when it comes to what you should play, I would recommend all missions included in the mission launcher (including the featured campaigns like War of Assassins etc.), they are all pretty neat. If you want to improve your mapping skills, I really recommend opening the missions in the editor and checking how we did things. That is the best way to improve. Back in 2011 or 2012, whatever the year when the first mission editor got released by mvi, there were barely a few custom missions created, so the way I learned mission making was to look at the original missions to see how Westwood/Intelligent games did things. (not to mention it was much more difficult back then, the editor was nowhere close to how advanced it is today). For complex and more advanced stuff, have a look in my, Fei's and blast's campaigns, you might get some ideas from them and also learn how you can achieve some interesting effects in your campaigns

Hey man. We can tell that the Klofkack editor is amazing.

This is the first campaign done by Domaithianus and Fey's (the smuggler's one), but in terms of terrain edition and scripting they already surpass most of the firsts works we did back in time: They are already using custom messages, showing time, alliances, "leave", revealing map, flags... 

I mean, I think I remember one mission of yours with only a win condition and a loose condition and that's it... and I reused original campaign/skirmish to create my very first campaign. But look what things they do with ease now.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Cm_blast

[Feda]

Yea, standards were very different back in the days  I remember in the first days after the old editor got launched, everyone was amazed to see starport reinforcements and carryall reinforcements along with functional AI, which is now a basic  If I look at my Atreides campaign (which was the first custom campaign ever created from scratch) today in 2017, the quality is terrible, but at that time it was amazing  About events and conditions, I'm that type of guy who doesn't use plenty of them unless I have a certain thing or cinematic in mind (such as the War of Assassins: Sandstorm mission 4 for all houses). In fact, if I were to evaluate myself, probably the only campaign that is good for today's standards is the War of Assassins and its expansion. Why? Well because it was done with the new editor And that's the expansion, the normal ones were done with the first release of Klofkack's editor, which didn't support modifying AI, no different House Palaces and other things from the latest version. Conclusion: the power of the tool sets the standard, if you ask me.

 

I still remember hex editing a .mis file to change starport reinforcement unit spawn in 2011.. There was a list of hex values for units posted somewhere around here.. It was crazy back then

[Cm_blast]

1 hour ago, FedaYkin said:

Yea, standards were very different back in the days  I remember in the first days after the old editor got launched, everyone was amazed to see starport reinforcements and carryall reinforcements along with functional AI, which is now a basic  If I look at my Atreides campaign (which was the first custom campaign ever created from scratch) today in 2017, the quality is terrible, but at that time it was amazing  About events and conditions, I'm that type of guy who doesn't use plenty of them unless I have a certain thing or cinematic in mind (such as the War of Assassins: Sandstorm mission 4 for all houses). In fact, if I were to evaluate myself, probably the only campaign that is good for today's standards is the War of Assassins and its expansion. Why? Well because it was done with the new editor And that's the expansion, the normal ones were done with the first release of Klofkack's editor, which didn't support modifying AI, no different House Palaces and other things from the latest version. Conclusion: the power of the tool sets the standard, if you ask me.

Yeah, We learned the hard way xD (I did it by looking your firsts tutorial videos), Took me a while to make a script like this:
When the player kills some enemy infantry/trooper, you recieve a reinforcement of 2 quads. Lots of errors for too many deliveries were given xD.

And now you only need two clicks. I even learn (finally) how the flags are used.

I don't want to belittle those other campaigns. Several of them are simple and with little scripts, but that's fine too. Sometimes (or for some people) is better to play maps that are more classic. You with your CY (and maybe one/more allies) against 1/several enemies. No surprises, no weird tasks, no "winning because I did X thing, but I wanted to destroy everything", no missions like "here, take this 10 tanks and go on", no "defeat enemy before time runs out", no defensive "survive until I said it" type of mission, etc...

Also, some guys have some interesting concepts or ideas in their campaigns too. The Smuggler time based one have 1 Heavy factory with the entrance being blocked (so building tanks is useless). You need to capture an enemy repair pad so you can use a carryall to move the MCV away and deploy your base. I liked this idea, so I used some similar later for myself. Luminar made a night type of mission in his fremen campaign that surprised me.

Come on, even you on your mercenary campaign, that mission which the Harkonnen deploying a Base from a MCV meanwhile you are defending them; I literally copied that concept in my most recent mercenary campaign (because I like that map and that idea).

Enlarge the imagen and search the seven differences xD (Then you can sue me for copyright).

The terrain is simple, the script is short (11 events, half of them for deliveries), but I like the mission.

1 hour ago, FedaYkin said:

I still remember hex editing a .mis file to change starport reinforcement unit spawn in 2011.. There was a list of hex values for units posted somewhere around here.. It was crazy back then

Fortunately I join later, so I skipped the hex editing part :P.

[Fey]

There's beauty in simplicity. It's great that the new programs allow more complicated pursuits with much greater ease, but complicated ain't always better! That's the way I see it, at least. Like, I add some stuff for flavor, transmissions and occasionally a twist and all, but my maps almost always fall back on player choice and the core strategy elements of the game. That's the root of it all.

Like S7V1 - the traitor tells you "wehh stop pushing your way north" every now and then, and there are two potential endings, but the map still amounts to "build your base, kill your enemy." No special reinforcements, just your starting units and structures and you have to decide how best to approach the rest of the map! And, of course, the non-linear design and various exploitable weaknesses help. That's kind of a stylistic design choice, I guess.

I still enjoy making the more complicated ones, though. Usually when I edit C&C I'm restricted for one reason or another, but D2k allows you to change the briefing, the in-game text, the game mechanics, the maps, and more. Feels very liberating. So stuff like S3V1 is fun to have in the middle of the more intense combat-oriented missions! I have plenty of ideas for how to continue with the various campaigns I have yet to do, once I get around to doing them. And despite modern tools making it easier to design D2k maps, there's no way in hell I could've done so well without y'all helping me out!

From the sound of it, things were really restrictive not long ago even for D2k. I'm glad they changed; I really enjoy the modern tools.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Fey

[Domaithianus]

16 hours ago, Cm_blast said:

Also, you don't need either the "show timer" script. In the same window as before, there is a line to the left that said "time limit" with "-1" on it. Just write a number there and the clock will appear. 

Ahh, I'd assumed the time limit would cause the mission to end or something when it ran out.

8 hours ago, FedaYkin said:

On topic, when it comes to what you should play, I would recommend all missions included in the mission launcher (including the featured campaigns like War of Assassins etc.), they are all pretty neat. If you want to improve your mapping skills, I really recommend opening the missions in the editor and checking how we did things. That is the best way to improve.

So far I've played some of the War of Assassins missions - looks very cool.  For reference I've mostly been using Original Campaign missions so as not to spoil missions I haven't played - so I don't know what's coming etc.
My missions would have sucked without referencing though, and I expect there's a lot I could learn from your missions that aren't in the Original Campaign.
 

 

2 hours ago, Fey said:

There's beauty in simplicity. It's great that the new programs allow more complicated pursuits with much greater ease, but complicated ain't always better! That's the way I see it, at least. Like, I add some stuff for flavor, transmissions and occasionally a twist and all, but my maps almost always fall back on player choice and the core strategy elements of the game. That's the root of it all.

Deffinitely agree there.  A lot of the time what's on the map is enough.  You start putting too many events in it can get messy.  9a and 9b in my Merc campaign are very light on the events.  Just massive, terrifying bases.

[Cm_blast]

56 minutes ago, Domaithianus said:

Ahh, I'd assumed the time limit would cause the mission to end or something when it ran out.

Only the mission win/loose can end a game.
But for example, if you place "-2", the game will count up instead down, in negative, but will count up :P.

Oh, and this is a trick if you need to look at certain areas of the map (like spying what the AI is doing). If you create a reveal map with "0", all the game will be reveladed. The radar from the outpost is not going to show the map until you save and load the map.

1 hour ago, Domaithianus said:

9a and 9b in my Merc campaign are very light on the events.  Just massive, terrifying bases.

I am replaying my campaign, since I like to do a final run to be sure that all is ok and not doing any more changes, but your's will be the next one. Those 9a, 9b are suppose to be two variants of the final vision or first I need to play "a" and then "b"?

[Domaithianus]

32 minutes ago, Cm_blast said:

Only the mission win/loose can end a game.
But for example, if you place "-2", the game will count up instead down, in negative, but will count up :P.

Oh, and this is a trick if you need to look at certain areas of the map (like spying what the AI is doing). If you create a reveal map with "0", all the game will be reveladed. The radar from the outpost is not going to show the map until you save and load the map.

This should be very useful, I've been using the switch house debug tool to spy, but that would be much better.

 

 

33 minutes ago, Cm_blast said:

I am replaying my campaign, since I like to do a final run to be sure that all is ok and not doing any more changes, but your's will be the next one. Those 9a, 9b are suppose to be two variants of the final vision or first I need to play "a" and then "b"?

9a and 9b are different options for the same mission.  Eventually I plan to add b missions to more of the campaign (once that's done, I'll probably create a separate dedicated thread for the campaign).  Really looking forward to hearing what you think.
Is it a run through of a new one, or checking and updating an old one?

[Domaithianus]

The main difference is 9b starts out a little gentler, but builds up into a harder overall mission.

[Cm_blast]

22 minutes ago, Domaithianus said:

This should be very useful, I've been using the switch house debug tool to spy, but that would be much better.
 

That's usually my first script :P.

22 minutes ago, Domaithianus said:

9a and 9b are different options for the same mission.  Eventually I plan to add b missions to more of the campaign (once that's done, I'll probably create a separate dedicated thread for the campaign).  Really looking forward to hearing what you think.
Is it a run through of a new one, or checking and updating an old one?

Get it.

It's just an old one, more than updating is like small tweaks.

Just out of curiosity. At what speed you play the game? I play at real time speed, but others play the game at max speed.

[Fey]

1 hour ago, Cm_blast said:

Oh, and this is a trick if you need to look at certain areas of the map (like spying what the AI is doing). If you create a reveal map with "0", all the game will be reveladed. The radar from the outpost is not going to show the map until you save and load the map.

That's very interesting! What if you have the reveal map trigger happen before an Outpost is built?

28 minutes ago, Cm_blast said:

Just out of curiosity. At what speed you play the game? I play at real time speed, but others play the game at max speed.

Yeah Domaithianus, what speed do you prefer?

[Cm_blast]

22 minutes ago, Fey said:

That's very interesting! What if you have the reveal map trigger happen before an Outpost is built?

It's the same. Technically only 1 to 7 can be use, and if I remember well back in time if you make a reveal map and forget to place any number (so 0 by default) the game crashed.

I have a map using this as a feature and not for debug. The whole map is revealed at the beginning, so the player can choose 1 of the 4 possible options beforehand. In the briefing I said something about needing to save and load the map to make the outpost to work effectively (which you will have later).

Edited July 20, 2017 by Cm_blast

[Fey]

3 minutes ago, Cm_blast said:

It's the same. Technically only 1 to 7 can be use, and if I remember well back in time if you make a reveal map and forget to place any number (so 0 by default) the game crashed.

I have a map using this as a feature and not for debug. The whole map is revealed at the beginning, so the player can choose 1 of the 4 possible options beforehand. In the briefing I said something about needing to save and load the map to make the outpost to work effectively (which you will have later).

Damn. Well, that's really great to know for testing. While I was running S2V1 tests, I had to start as the Atreides and then switch over to smugglers to have the whole Imperial base revealed, and that would always cause the first reinforcement wave to arrive since they start with a little more funds... and that sucks!

[Domaithianus]

1 hour ago, Cm_blast said:

Just out of curiosity. At what speed you play the game? I play at real time speed, but others play the game at max speed.

 

43 minutes ago, Fey said:

Yeah Domaithianus, what speed do you prefer?

It's all about the slow groove.  You don't wanna finish up too quick or - oh, yeah, the game...
<_<
>_>
I play at normal speed.  Too fast and you loose a lot of control of your units.  I also tend to see it as I'm playing to enjoy myself, not to get it over as fast as possible.

[Fey]

41 minutes ago, Domaithianus said:

It's all about the slow groove.  You don't wanna finish up too quick or - oh, yeah, the game...
<_<
>_>
I play at normal speed.  Too fast and you loose a lot of control of your units.  I also tend to see it as I'm playing to enjoy myself, not to get it over as fast as possible.

Aha! Yeah, I feel ya. I actually really like putting it down a bit, preferably just a bit below max where it's not lightning fast, but also not too slow, but I've been playing at max for a while now for the sake of testing my own campaign. Since I've gotten used to it, it's now my preference. And it's fun! It's challenging to see how effectively I can control my units with such a fast pace. If the levels are intense enough, it makes up for them being over so quick, in my opinion!

[Domaithianus]

On 20/07/2017 at 11:53 PM, Fey said:

Aha! Yeah, I feel ya. I actually really like putting it down a bit, preferably just a bit below max where it's not lightning fast, but also not too slow, but I've been playing at max for a while now for the sake of testing my own campaign. Since I've gotten used to it, it's now my preference. And it's fun! It's challenging to see how effectively I can control my units with such a fast pace. If the levels are intense enough, it makes up for them being over so quick, in my opinion!

Yeah, I often speed it up for play testing too.  Really, everyone's got their own way of enjoying the game.  Probably if you saw me play you'd find it pretty bizarre and inefficient.  Over the years due to my OCD, I've picked up numerous rituals and restrictions I always have to play by.  Like my base - has to be neat, concrete exact, etc.  I know full well it's not actually a very effective way to play, but it pleases me... or possibly it just bugs me not to.  Also adds to the challenge.  A lot harder to beat a game when I can't take the most effective route to victory.