From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 3375 invoked by alias); 15 Oct 2003 01:01:12 -0000 Mailing-List: contact xconq7-help@sources.redhat.com; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: xconq7-owner@sources.redhat.com Received: (qmail 3368 invoked from network); 15 Oct 2003 01:01:11 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO garm.central.cmich.local) (141.209.15.48) by sources.redhat.com with SMTP; 15 Oct 2003 01:01:11 -0000 Received: from leon.phy.cmich.edu ([141.209.165.20]) by egate1.central.cmich.local with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713); Tue, 14 Oct 2003 21:01:09 -0400 Received: from localhost (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by leon.phy.cmich.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C95970021 for ; Tue, 14 Oct 2003 21:01:05 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 01:28:00 -0000 From: Eric McDonald To: xconq7@sources.redhat.com Subject: Compound Terrain Effects Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-OriginalArrivalTime: 15 Oct 2003 01:01:09.0776 (UTC) FILETIME=[D214E100:01C392B7] X-SW-Source: 2003/txt/msg00506.txt.bz2 Hello, Currently, unit visibility is determined by several factors in Xconq. One of these factors is the terrain of the cell upon which the unit is positioned. However, this factor is limited only to the primary terrain of the cell, and does not take into account connectors (such as roads) or coatings (such as snow). The same limitation is also true regarding a unit's attack and defense advantages. After reviewing the code, I think it would be fairly simple to also factor in the effects that connectors, coatings, etc... could have on visibility and ability to attack/defend. As an example, suppose that a unit is sitting on a forest cell that has a road running through it. Now, if the unit is on the road, it should be more vulnerable than if it is just in forest. Under my proposal, a game designer could say that the unit has a 25% chance of being seen in forest, but a 200% chance of being seen on road, and the aggregate effect would be 25% * 200% = 50% chance of being seen on a forest road. Another example would be a unit affected by a sandstorm coating in a desert environment. As I previously stated, I think the proposed changes would be simple and straightforward. They primarily involve iterating through subterrains associated with cells, and making sure that tables such as visibility can have values greater than 100%. (Of course, if the final calculated chance is >100%, then it just means that being seen is guaranteed.) So, my questions are: (1) Are any gamers interested in playing game modules with these compound effects? (2) Are any game designers interested in using them? (3) Is it too late to add a "semi-feature" to Xconq as the release is coming up? Comments welcome. Thanks, Eric