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Tank tracks - 9/19/2013 9:57:22 PM   
thesock

 

Posts: 48
Joined: 3/27/2009
Status: offline
Looking recently at the Stalingrad mod highlighted the old pathing pain. Then it struck me that on a nice clean piece of ground the tank will go straight to its destination. So why is it at most times during a move it will swing from side to side and sometimes do a 360. Being ignorant of the actual programming involved in the tracking may mean my idea is way of the mark.
So that aside, I'm assuming that the tank is trying to plot a path around the ground litter such as craters, piles of bricks and small bushes to name a few.

Bearing in mind that a tank moves from A to B in as straight a line as possible whilst keeping the front of the vehicle facing in the direction of the main enemy threat. It doesn't expose it's flanks in order to avoid a minor obstacle. Especially so when reversing back into cover, straight back no zig zagging whats so ever.
A normal movement would involve a dash across clear ground up to the obstacle then a reduction in speed to negotiating the osbstacle. When crossing a hedge the last thing a tank would be doing is see sawing from side to side.

Perhaps the pathing just needs simplifying. Ignore the kitty litter, have the tank only recognize obstacles that it can't surmount, houses, vehicles, cliffs, thick woods, rivers etc. So that when you set the destination point or points it will drive in a straight line from point to point unless it comes across an obstacle it can't surmount.

Also in the elements abs change the terrain modifiers for tracked vehicles, so that tanks can drive across fields ploughed or otherwise, small hedges, streams, rocks, rubble etc as fast as it can drive across a golf course. Then increase the chance of bogging or breaking down when crossing those obstacles at speed. Am I right in thinking that in the CC games the faster you cross an obstacle the greater the chance of a mishap? If not can this be implimented.

The reason for this e.g. You have to cross a small stream/small hedge/rough terrain, etc, it is most likely covered by an AT gun. Do you drive across as quick as you can and risk a mishap, or do you drive slowly across and risk being knocked out. The above methoed gives you the choice that the game doesn't.

Some of you may thing that tanks charging across open terrain in straight lines from one obstacle to another is'nt right. Four years in Germany in the late 1970s as mechanised infantry within an armoured division says it is.


Post #: 1
RE: Tank tracks - 9/22/2013 9:47:47 PM   
SteveMcClaire

 

Posts: 4472
Joined: 11/19/2007
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The path finding is always a balancing act / trade off. If the tank plows straight ahead then the tank may get stuck on obstacles the player didn't realize where there, due to the small details of the terrain coding or the slight variations in visual detail vs. the underlying tile system.

One of the major issues with the way vehicle movement works in Close Combat is the stop-pivot turning mechanism, which makes changes in direction take longer than they should. This is something that will be improved on for the new engine (The Bloody First).

Steve

(in reply to thesock)
Post #: 2
RE: Tank tracks - 9/24/2013 11:34:57 PM   
thesock

 

Posts: 48
Joined: 3/27/2009
Status: offline
Can't the small detail be ignored? Seems to me the single big running theme in every CC game is the tank pathing. Perhaps the terrain needs to be simpler. Some movements look like a one eyed drunk with one leg shorter than the other, and that's on the road moves.

(in reply to SteveMcClaire)
Post #: 3
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