Weather 'tis nobler..

[PoorOldSpike]

I swear I saw a sentence in the OOB manual saying something like "Weather has no effect on gameplay", yet it DOES have an effect, or have I misunderstood somewhere along the line? (sniffle).
For example 'Winter' climate gives a white wonderland where rivers are frozen and units can therefore walk or drive across as if they don't exist.
And the 'Sandstorm' weather option has sand blowing across the map cutting down spotting distances.
Is there a chart listing any other effects on gameplay that we need to know about, or must I take OOB into my laboratory and light my Bunsen, crank up my oscilloscopes and attach electrodes etc to conduct a series of exhaustive tests?

Below- the vanilla Editor 7.1.6 options-

[bru888]

Spike, you need to differentiate between "Weather" and "Climate." I believe it is correct to say "Weather has no effect on gameplay" but Climate sure does.

To get an idea, take a look in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Slitherine\Order of Battle - WWII\Order of Battle - WW2_64_Data\Content\Data folder. There are a set of CSV files (which I believe have superceded their TXT equivalents) for chassis (movement) and terrain (all other effects) which are appended with "arid," "wet," and "winter" labels (nothing for "default" because with that climate, everything is probably straight up and normal). Open up a few of those CSV files and see for yourself what may be the effects of certain climates.

So I guess we are saying that a Winter Climate has an effect on gameplay, but whether there is Snow in the Weather forecast does not. That said, however, there may be one aspect that is affected by weather that was introduced recently. From looking into weather.csv, it appears there is a Speed and Line Of Sight reduction for Sandstorm but that is it; no other effects listed for Weather here:

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[bru888]

For example, if you want to launch an attack from a rice paddy, there's a price to pay normally (Default Climate):

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but not if it's Winter Climate and the rice paddy is frozen (I guess. Sounds like Korea!):

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Whether 'tis raining or snowing at the time, though, doesn't seem to matter.

[PoorOldSpike]

Thanks mate but if there are two things that terrify me, its files and women, for example that Sandstorm file says speed 0.5, and LOS 0.1, which could mean anything.
NO PROBLEMO, I'll run hands-on tests to get to the bottom of all weather and climate effects, it's what I do..

[bru888]

Thanks mate but if there are two things that terrify me, its files and women, for example that Sandstorm file says speed 0.5, and LOS 0.1, which could mean anything.
NO PROBLEMO, I'll run tests to get to the bottom of all weather and climate effects, it's what I do..

Good. At least you're headed in the right direction. Yes, those alpha and numeric codes are all supposed to mean something, but do they? As we have seen, the developer can leave things undone, purposely or not, or merely change his mind while leaving the rubbish behind. Good luck and perhaps you will be so good as to let us know what you find.

[PoorOldSpike]

Yes mate, I'll get on it tomorrow and post my findings in this thread in due course,it's 2:20 a.m. here in the UK and I'm falling asleep in front of The Waltons so will hit the sack shortly, can't miss the ending- "Olivia bakes a cake for the County Fair and granma knits a shawl", hmm riveting stuff..

[GabeKnight]

From looking into weather.csv, it appears there is a Speed and Line Of Sight reduction for Sandstorm but that is it; no other effects listed for Weather here:

Horst made some tests with the weather.csv in this thread. Maybe it'll save you some time.

In short: only the LOS settings seem to work here.

[PoorOldSpike]

Well here's my first batch of tests conducted today, pure vanilla 7.1.6, no mods/ addons/ file tweaks or specialisations of any kind-

TANKS MOVEMENT IN DIFFERENT 'CLIMATE' SETTINGS
I used the stock Pz IVH as the test models and started them on the barbed wire (for reference) and ordered them to move due north to see how many hexes they travelled in one turn. (X means prohibited)-




Below: These are the results in a nutshell chart, the main effect of Climate on movement is that Rice and Swamp freezes in Winter, giving tanks an extra hex of movement. (Rivers also freeze in Winter allowing units to skate across with no delay as we already know).
And in 'Arid', tanks moving on Beaches are not slowed at all, presumably because it's the hard crusty type of sand.



Below: here are the other 'Climates', I was too lazy to add numbers and stuff-
Note how Wet/Arid are browner than greeny Default-

[Mojko]

You know that Unit Navigator shows you the effect of climate on unit movement and line of sight, right?



Comparison of these attributes is also supported.

[GabeKnight]

PLease don't forget that different units have different "chassis" and thus, again, various movement speeds on different terrains and climates. Like foot, wheel, half-track and track.

[Horst]

You only have to load the *.csv files from the Content\Data folder in a spreadsheet program and many things will become much clearer over time, especially if you start modifying settings and check these changes in the game. There are also a bunch of *.txt files that can be very quickly checked and changed. Don't forget to make backups first!

[PoorOldSpike]

You know that Unit Navigator shows you the effect of climate on unit movement and line of sight, right?

PLease don't forget that different units have different "chassis" and thus, again, various movement speeds on different terrains and climates. Like foot, wheel, half-track and track.

Yes guys, my hands-on approach is simply an alternative to the excellent Nav Tool..
As I've said before, we can browse a 'Russian Brides' catalogue looking at their pics and reading all about them, but nothing beats actually importing one so we can get our hands on her to see if she performs as expected..

(PS- but of course if this thread is unnecessary I'll be glad to discontinue it and save myself a lot more work)..

[PoorOldSpike]

You only have to load the *.csv files from the Content\Data folder in a spreadsheet program and many things will become much clearer over time, especially if you start modifying settings and check these changes in the game. There are also a bunch of *.txt files that can be very quickly checked and changed. Don't forget to make backups first!

Ah, but if people begin tweaking files, it means they'll be playing a totally different game than the rest of us, that's why I only play vanilla OOB so everybody will know exactly which song sheet I'm singing from..

[Horst]

My point was rather that you learn for what each setting/stat is, how the mechanics work in that matter. But you can also ask questions here, as I have already wasted enough time figuring most things out. Bru has already shown nicely enough how checking something in a spreadsheet program can help to understand how the game works.