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GrumpyMel -> RE: Space Opera - Test Games (11/6/2009 6:13:42 PM)
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Lunaticus -
1) Yes you did. The message should be functional in the new version I uploaded. In the one we're playing...I had it send messages to every player except the one who did it...oops! [X(] The support can't be taken away from you, nor can any other player get it for themselves now. Once one player gets it, that's it.
2) Yeah, I noticed the game starts out a bit slow. Actualy by this time in the test games I played against myself the Houses were already fighting each other... but I think that's because I went in knowing how the mechanics worked. Probably our game is running a bit slower as folks are still getting used to the rules. Anyways, I do want to see the start sped up some. In the last version I uploaded I added some more starting forces to each House. Hopefully, that will speed up the start some.
I didn't want to add too much to the start, as I didn't want to predetermine the way players built over-much.... but there may be some other things I can do to get the pot boiling quicker.
Casus Belli - If you mean transport of units between planets and space... yeah it is a bit complex. Unfortunately I'm a little limited in the approaches I can use by some of the things built into the AT Engine. AT is a very versitile engine and I'm amazed it allowed me to do this sort of scenerio at all. Unfortunately modeling a space/ground conflict isn't really what it was designed for and I'm afraid I'm stretching it's capabilities a bit.
The initial approach I tried to take was alot simpler. I tried to simply have space-ships (i.e. the Jump Transports) pick up troops directly from the planets themselves. However that approach ran into quite a few problems. Firstly, I discovered that Naval Theatre Units (i.e. space-ships) can't actualy move on "Land", even if you assign terrain costs for land hexes that would otherwise allow it. So you would only end up being able to pickup/dropoff ground units on the "edge" of a planet....which didn't seem right.
I then thought about going the other way and to make space a "Land" type terrain
and making Space-Ships Land Theatre Units. But you run into a whole different set of weird problems with that approach...like space having zones of control, and stacking limits and concentric attack bonuses. Stuff that didn't really fit. It also meant that ships wouldn't be able to pickup/drop off units in cities near the "center" of a planet unless they fought thier way there from the "edge" of the planet, capturing all the ground hexes in between. That didn't really work either.
Ultimately the approach that I currently use was the only thing that I could come up with that really seemed to fit. Using Air Theatre Units (landers) to transition units from anywhere on a planets surface to space without having to worry about what was occupying the hexes between the drop-off/pickup points.
It actualy ended up working very well. Unfortunately it did make the process of getting a unit from the ground loaded up unto a space-ship (and vice versa) a little more complex for the player. However, I think once a player gets used to the rules....it works pretty well. The only thing that really still bothers me at this point is the inability to air-transport/para-drop HQ units. But there is nothing I can do about that...it looks to be hard-coded into the engine.
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