DBoutwell
Posts: 41
Joined: 3/14/2004
Status: offline
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Harry,
Sorry for the delayed reply. I, myself can't really change the terrain attributes without having access to the game code. During play testing, I did not find fences to provide an unrealistic amount of cover to a size 2 company of 50 men (no, the unit sizes don't necessarily correlate exactly with SPWAW unit sizes. I had to reduce the sizes to decrease casualties to a more accurate level (Remember that it practically took a man's weight in bullets to kill him). I think that I've finally gotten it right to where a volley from a company can fly high or low and infict no casualties, while most of the time at medium range and less you'll inflict an average of 1 to 2 hits, and then there is the well-aimed volley that takes out 5-8 men! That is still historically high, but it "feels" right for this game. If you look at the fences around Gettysburg National Battlefield, you realize that for many of them, wood blocks easily over fifty percent of the "air space" behind them. Which explains to me why a fene line, despite what we might think, was a very desirable cover compared to standing in the open. At the Sunken Road at Antietam, the Confederate soldiers (three of my ancestors among them) most likely had to step up out of the road bed to a fence that lines the road in order to fire (as the fence had to block their field of fire unless they fired between the rails directly to their front). Although many a soldier was hit, that fence, along with that road bed provided a fabulous defensive position. In another instance, both sides occupied fencelines on each side of Hagerstown Pike and blasted away at one another for a lot longer than they would have out in the open at that range. So I don't think that the defensive bonus provided by the old hedge defensive benefit is too great, in the absence of the ability to do anything about it anyway. Fences played too important a battlefield cover to leave them out totally, and the hedge option seemed to me to be my best approach to modelling them. A typical American hedge is about navel high. That would probably have no more line of site impact on a company of standing men than a chest-high, wooden rail fence. So, I think that I can live with the hedge line-of-sight, as it is, for now. But hey, mayne someone will do some additional work with the code in the future, huh?
As for the houses, I take the original roofs from SPWAW and modify them to incorporate American architectural styles for roof lines, chimney locations, and traditional locations for additions. In America, people often built a house in the style of the day, Federal, for example. Then, as their family grew, they added on to the old "box" shape. In addition, they might add things like an attached kitchen, or storage room. By the end of the life of the house, you migh hardly be able to identify the original part of the house! So, I've added things like that. I never thought I'd be spending money on architecture books, but I have!
Regards,
David Boutwell
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Printable Version
magnifications to terrain shps (size ratios for other z... - 
The figures in my Word doc file are rough estimates and I figured these values out mostly by trial and error until they looked right in proportions! 
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