We could animate folding/unfolding of these anchors, but each animation eats up extra time, so not sure if it's worth it.bebro wrote: ↑Sat Aug 04, 2018 8:28 am One thing I'm wondering regarding towed equipment like the nebelwerfer or the other arty in that pic: they always seem to have the carriage *folded* like they're on transport, attached to a truck or so?
I mean those anchors (if that's the correct term) would be folded out into V form in firing position except for a number of older guns still having a fixed carriage. Or is the anchors going into V form animated here?
Not sure I understood what "alter the size of units from a scale of 1 to 3 or 1 to 5" means. Can you explain in a couple of sentences, so that I don't need to search for that video?
Guys, you direct the discussion, I only respond.13obo wrote: ↑Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:35 am Agree with zakblood. For me, graphics is all pretty and good enough, but the main thing is gameplay and AI providing suitable challenge. Hopefully, all this discussion around graphics won't mean that development time gets taken away from what really matters in these games.
If you mean an option to tweak unit size on your end, then it will be added. Separate option to tweak the size of strength plates under units will exist too.Cablenexus wrote: ↑Sat Aug 04, 2018 1:29 pm I like small units so setting unit size would be nice (and counters eventually).
I also hate sluggish UI personally, so we'll make sure it is responsive.Cablenexus wrote: ↑Sat Aug 04, 2018 1:29 pm I'm very curious how the UI will fit. So far I did not had any good 3D strategy game in Unreal engine with a good integrated UI. I hope it will be practical and usefull and not specially for showing the 3D capabilities of the engine so we get a sluggish and slow UI.
We kicked off AI implementation about 1.5 years ago, so we are taking our time with it. I think, new AI will be smarter, but I doubt it will be on par with chess. There are many reasons why Panzer Corps AI cannot be as effective. The sheer number of possible moves in a single turn is one reason (in chess you move just one piece, here you move them all, and possible number of combinations is staggering). Fog of war and random nature of combat is another.verstaubtgesicht wrote: ↑Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:44 am 1) Is the AI going to be smarter? One of the most frustrating aspects of PzC was the clueless behavior of the AI, which after some practice could be ridiculously exploited. A good comparison is chess. PzC is like one of those weak early programs (or lowest levels of difficulty), which even I could beat with ease. Now even the simplest chess programs (I am not talking DeepMind Alpha Zero here) can shred me to pieces. Why can't the AI play better in PzC? If it's the computer power (I am not an expert, but I can't believe it is), better use the CPU on the AI brain than on the graphics
There are other steps we are taking to improve game replayability, and the next dev diary will discuss them in more detail. As for deployment randomization, I have some doubts that it can improve replayability significantly enough. A different difficulty level, for example, might affect scenario much more than a couple of enemy units moved to other places, especially since the AI is not deterministic. But you can create a topic about it in Panzer Corps 2 forum, and there we can discuss this in depth.verstaubtgesicht wrote: ↑Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:44 am 2) Can we get variability in AI's deployment/OOB each time so that scenarios are not static and can be replayed with some level of novelty each time?
We have only started to publish dev diaries. There will be many more before game's release, and all game aspects will be thoroughly explained. First three entries will give you guys a general overview, and then we'll dive deeper into each individual aspect.
In "Panzer" games units always took up the whole hex, we are simply following the traditions of the series here. But, as I said above, if you are not happy with unit size, you can always adjust it yourself.
We have of course considered this, but so far I incline towards leaving the crews out. There are two main reasons for this:Sourdust wrote: ↑Mon Aug 06, 2018 1:30 am I think the artillery guns should have crews. They look so lonely, and inoperative, without some guys to fire them!
It's like representing infantry by a pile of rifles and grenades...
Ditto for open-topped vehicles, you should see some crew inside.
In fact, even the tanks should be unbuttoned, in my opinion. Would liven it all up a bit.
- If you show the guys on the map, they need to be same size, or it will look incredible weird. Since the scale of units (infantry, small guns, huge guns, vehicles) is very different in this game, it will be very hard to satisfy this requirement. Something will inevitably look out of scale.
- If you show the guys, you also need to animate them. And these animations will take a lot of extra time. My goal in this game is to make combat animations very fast and streamlined, because combats happen all the time, and I don't want to slow down game pace. I think that animation speed on Panzer Corps was close to perfect, so this is my reference point.
I don't think any previous "Panzer" game showed the crews, so this should not be a big deal, but let me know if you guys don't agree!