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New Year...new updates :) ??? - 1/2/2003 11:21:58 PM   
DavidW75

 

Posts: 99
Joined: 10/9/2002
From: Alabama
Status: offline 		I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. I figured since it's a new year maybe we could get a progress report:D
Patiently waiting :cool:

David
Post #: 1
- 1/4/2003 1:43:11 AM   
Sabre21


Posts: 8231
Joined: 4/27/2001
From: on a mountain in Idaho
Status: offline 		Yea..I've been out of it too for the last couple weeks. One of my kids unexpectedly showed up for the holidays:) Didn't get much of nothing done during that time.

Andy

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 2
- 1/18/2003 10:53:52 PM   
DavidW75

 

Posts: 99
Joined: 10/9/2002
From: Alabama
Status: offline 		bump.

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 3
- 1/21/2003 12:46:17 AM   
IronManBeta


Posts: 4132
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Burlington, Ontario
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by DavidW75
[B]bump. [/B][/QUOTE]

Ah, yes, thanks for jogging my memory!

I had gone to great lengths to line up as much free time over the holidays as possible to put on the final push to get Flashpoint to beta. For a variety of reasons this didn't work out as planned, but I made tolerable progress none the less. If I understand David Heath (long may he prosper) correctly then we are now quite close to opening things up a bit more. ("Rob, I ought to biff you in the head - this thing was ready to beta months ago - oh look, I just nuked something and I didn't even know how!" which I interpret as New York-ese for "Congratulations on a job well done Robert, you many consider pre-production and alpha testing to be complete in just a couple more weeks - get cracking on the documentation".)

The illustrious Ross Moorehouse who is in charge of the beta testing also gave it a whirl recently and wrote to me saying "Man I had fun playing this". "Fun" is something that is hard to find from my perspective just because I have been so close to the project for so long, but this has to be a good sign too. He also appended a list of no fewer than 17 exceptions thrown by the game as it played out. 16 of them though were identical string handling faults in the pathfinder where it checks for water obstacles, so that was a relatively easy fix.

To properly go into beta either the AI or PBEM have to be working. I elected to go PBEM to start and all I need is one more clear day to properly debug it once and for all. There are a lot of complicated state changes involved so I can't just do 20 minutes here or there. I have to do one continuous session to make sure I don't create more bugs than I solve, and finding the time has been a daily battle for the last three weeks. Soon though.

Apart from that, there is a ton more documentation to do and then the actual criticism and feedback will start from an increasing number of people. The exact timing will be up to David and Ross of course.

I have a fairly long list of unfinished features and rewrites to do, but they can pretty much be done during beta testing. David is eager now to expose the basic game engine and garner feedback so that we can figure out what parts to jazz up next.

There, feel any better now?

Cheers, Rob.

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 4
- 1/21/2003 5:31:20 AM   
DavidW75

 

Posts: 99
Joined: 10/9/2002
From: Alabama
Status: offline 		Great to hear. How about some new screenshots. I heard there was a new map done, sure would love to see that one. :rolleyes:

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 5
- 1/21/2003 9:03:07 AM   
IronManBeta


Posts: 4132
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Burlington, Ontario
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by DavidW75
[B]Great to hear. How about some new screenshots. I heard there was a new map done, sure would love to see that one. :rolleyes: [/B][/QUOTE]

Hey, it was a good coding day - the PBEM is now done. As an added bonus the latest version of the third party UI skinning component was updated today and the new skin engine is a lot faster and less buggy then the previous couple. That plus a page and half of other fixes and I'm feeling pretty good!

It is high time for more screen shots. I have been gently hinting about this for several weeks now and I will just keep trying. It might be possible to post a few here on my own too. The old shots used a completely different skinning engine as well as the maps. Only the unit counters look the same (sorry Swamp Yankee!) plus of course, the general layouts of the screens.

Iain had posted parts of map 2 I believe - I'll look in a minute. He was grabbed for other work and never completed the hand coding of all the underlying terrain values (1200 data points per layer, 7 layers per map plus 3 more that are computer generated). Not all 1200 have to be done for each layer and we worked out some shortcuts to speed things up, but it is a lot of drudgery for him nonetheless. When he is free again I hope to finish up map 2 pronto. I believe we are still looking for other map candidates too.

It would be nice to do some screen shots now because we will start dropping in the final art (and sound) before much longer and then it will really start to come together. I'd like to document this stage a little more for posterity!

Picture attached. Let's see if it works.

Rob.

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 6
- 1/21/2003 9:03:53 AM   
IronManBeta


Posts: 4132
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Burlington, Ontario
Status: offline 		Try again!

Attachment (1)

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 7
- 1/21/2003 9:04:34 AM   
IronManBeta


Posts: 4132
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Burlington, Ontario
Status: offline 		The updated staff reports screen:

Attachment (1)

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 8
- 1/21/2003 9:06:28 AM   
IronManBeta


Posts: 4132
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Burlington, Ontario
Status: offline 		Revised entry to game setup:

Attachment (1)

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 9
- 1/21/2003 9:06:56 AM   
IronManBeta


Posts: 4132
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Burlington, Ontario
Status: offline 		page 1 of battle generator featuring flying M1:

Attachment (1)

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 10
- 1/21/2003 10:04:40 AM   
DavidW75

 

Posts: 99
Joined: 10/9/2002
From: Alabama
Status: offline 		:D :eek: :D

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 11
- 1/21/2003 1:56:15 PM   
Mac_MatrixForum


Posts: 295
Joined: 4/11/2000
From: Espoo, Finland
Status: offline 		Outstanding. I hope it plays half as good as it looks :D.

_____________________________

Markku "Macroz" Rontu
"Understanding is a three-edged sword, your side, their side and the truth." - Captain John J. Sheridan, Babylon 5

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 12
- 2/1/2003 1:47:50 AM   
lentullus

 

Posts: 6
Joined: 9/24/2002
From: Canada
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Revised entry to game setup:[/QUOTE]
Very pretty, but I don't suppose you could dig up some appropriate quotes from Lenin and NATO manuals to set the tone?

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 13
- 2/1/2003 2:16:42 AM   
IronManBeta


Posts: 4132
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Burlington, Ontario
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by lentullus
[B]Very pretty, but I don't suppose you could dig up some appropriate quotes from Lenin and NATO manuals to set the tone? [/B][/QUOTE]

The quote from Sun Tzu was from the original SimCan game setup screen so I had a sentimental attachment to it. I like how it is set against a group of Russian tank crews preparing for an exercise of some sort. We always felt we were the threatened ones, but it was the Soviets who really felt threatened and I always figured that their invasion would be some sort of pre-emptive strike against a perceived threat to them elsewhere. It was kind of interesting to take their viewpoint for a moment.

Anyway, do you have any suitable quotes in mind? If we could find a bunch, maybe we could have them come up at random.

Everything I have read of recent vintage was a total snore though. Getting something pithy is harder than it looks! Your help is welcome here.

Cheers, Rob.

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 14
- 2/1/2003 7:30:43 AM   
byron13


Posts: 1589
Joined: 7/27/2001
Status: offline 		I'm not volunteering to do any research, but I'll bet Patton has a juicy quote about how it was inevitable that the U.S./Commonwealth forces would go to war against the Soviets. Wrong (so far) but, for game purposes, proved correct.

A good one would be the standard U.S. tanker fire command:
"Gunner, sabot, tank!" or the last words spoken before a round is launched "On the way!" Another one that would resonate among people that were stationed in Europe was the code word given on the telephone when an alert was called: "Lariat Advance!" Dumb code, but whenever you were awakened by the phone, you dreaded hearing those words. 'Course none of that will mean much unless you know what it is.

Actually, you could have a scenario named Lariat Advance - especially some kind of meeting engagement that assumes the engagement starts while the good guys are moving to their GDP positions.

If you want, I'll come up with something dramatic, claim that I said it on a GDP recon in 1985, and you can attribute the quote to me. How about:

"I don't know about those limp-****s in 3rd ID, but they ain't gettin' through here!"

or

"Reinforcements? Hell, I've got fifty rounds of sabot and 2,000 meter shots. Unless they send more than a tank regiment, I'm fine!"

or

"HOLY S**T!"

or

"All Alpha elements, this is Alpha-6. Run away! I say again: Run away!"

or

"All Alpha elements, this is Alpha-6. You guys keep shooting. I'm going to go recon the escape route!"

or

"There's never a Cobra around when you need one!"

or

FIST to the Arty battery: "Screw the grid coordinates. Just shoot in my direction. There's so many of them, you're bound to hit something!"

On the Soviet side:
Division Commander: "Colonel Smirnoff, what do you need to break through their lines?"
Colonel Smirnoff: "A company of M1s!"

(alright, so I stole it from the Battle of Britain)

or

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

or

you could just tell me to shut up.

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 15
- 2/1/2003 7:43:58 AM   
byron13


Posts: 1589
Joined: 7/27/2001
Status: offline 		Wait! How about a portion of the Law of the Jungle by Kipling:

Now this is the Law of the Jungle --
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.


As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.


The last two lines are the best!! Any self-respecting tanker/Cobra pilot/TOW gunner that sees himself as the hunter and not the hunted ought get fired up by those last two lines. Me thinks the Law of the Jungle applies on the North German Plains.

Alright, I'll shut up now.

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 16
- 2/1/2003 8:05:40 AM   
byron13


Posts: 1589
Joined: 7/27/2001
Status: offline 		Sigh. Sorry, guys, I'm back. Found a web site with Patton quotes, including the one I was thinking about with the Russians:

"Give me 10 days and I'll start a war with those God****ed Reds and make it look like their fault. Then we can push the motherf****** back into Moscow where they belong!"

- probably not as appropriate as I was thinking! But the rest are timeless.

"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."

“Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.”

“I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.”

“In case of doubt, attack.”

“Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. ”

"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.”

“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.”

"Attack rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, without rest. However tired and hungry you may be, the enemy will be more tired, more hungry. Keep punching."

"In war the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of the offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it."

"Nobody ever defended anything successfully. There is only attack and attack and attack some more."

"Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction."

"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change; it is, 'To use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time.' "

Really now, Robert, are these a total snore?

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 17
- 2/1/2003 11:02:04 AM   
Sabre21


Posts: 8231
Joined: 4/27/2001
From: on a mountain in Idaho
Status: offline 		There are a few others I know of but I am not sure of the exact wording.

This one was said my a Japanese Commander to his subordinate Army commander...think it was in Burma: "Lack of weapons is no excuse for failure!"...pretty hardcore there.

This next one was said by General Foch WWI at the beginning of the first battle for the Marne in 1914 to Marshall Joffre: "Hard pressed on my right; my left is in retreat. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking. Attaquez!". I love that one.

This last one was said by a German General in WWII: "War is chaos...and the reason the US Army does so well in war is that they practice chaos on a daily basis!"

Sabre21

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 18
- 2/1/2003 7:30:28 PM   
IronManBeta


Posts: 4132
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Burlington, Ontario
Status: offline 		Nice compilation. Some I recognized and some were new to me. Are you remembering these off the top of you head or do you have a source? My head is a sieve for this sort of thing.

I suppose there are all kinds of NATO or WP specific exhortations that could be found (assuming they were written down and not classified!) but I have to tracking bugs right now, not quotes!

Cheers, Rob.

(in reply to DavidW75)
Post #: 19
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