New game feature idea...WARNINGS

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Mgellis
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New game feature idea...WARNINGS

Post by Mgellis »

Just had an idea I wanted to pass on...

Perhaps there should be a scenario design toggle that, when you set up an exclusion zone, gives you the choice of "warning" people.

Right now, the way game works, is like having the toggle set to OFF. If someone violates the zone, that's their problem. If they blunder into a war zone, oh well.

If the toggle is ON, however, and a player's unit violates an exclusion zone, the player will get a message. The player can then choose to stay away from the zone or violate it. Perhaps more important, though, if a computer-controlled side's unit violates the exclusion zone, there are various possibilities...

If violating the zone marks one as unfriendly, friendly and neutral units will change course (in fact, they might treat the exclusion zone as a non-navigation zone and never violate it in the first place--I'm not sure how hard it would be to code this)...unfriendly and hostile units will ignore the "warning." If the zone marks violators as hostile, only hostile units will ignore the warning; everyone else will change course.

Another idea...could there be a WARN command? Any time a unit is on a course that you do not like, you could warn them...depending on their posture to you, they might or might not change course. (I guess the warn command could set up a temporary no-navigation zone for other sides?) Of course, one problem is that if you are trying to not be seen, sending a warning obviously alerts everyone in the area that are you are in the area, who you are, etc. You might not want to do this.

Anyway, I hope these ideas makes sense. Thanks for considering them. Thoughts? Comments?

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Mgellis
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RE: New game feature idea...WARNINGS

Post by Mgellis »

Follow-ups...

With the WARN command, obviously a no-nav zone would NOT be set up for any side that was hostile. Their goal, after all, is to get close enough to attack.

Also, perhaps another option...an unfriendly side that is warned might get angry about it and BECOME hostile. (Probably this would be done with a lua script, but then one would have to be use WARN as a trigger, so that means adding a new category of trigger.)



mikmykWS
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RE: New game feature idea...WARNINGS

Post by mikmykWS »

Area trigger + message action in the event editor work?

Mike
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Mgellis
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RE: New game feature idea...WARNINGS

Post by Mgellis »

ORIGINAL: mikmyk

Area trigger + message action in the event editor work?

Mike

It would certainly work for the player side. I'm trying to figure out how to give the AI more of an ability to "make a choice." Right now, the AI will patrol an area whether it is a good idea or not. If it has a patrol area, the unit goes there. If someone fires at it, then it will take evasive action, but what about taking evasive action just because it sees something that could be a threat or is told that something is a threat and it should stay away? Of course, it might try to sneak back later on if it thinks it can get away with it.

I'm not sure how this would be done...lua script to initiate evasive maneuvers for a certain amount of time even when there is no attack?

Ultimately, it would be great if more tactical choices could be added for the AI...

Shadow <-- unit will follow another unit (if it can) but will not get within a certain distance

Evade <-- unit on a course that detects another unit (e.g., from a hostile side) will automatically try to set a course that keeps a certain distance (in effect, treating the area around the enemy unit as a no-nav zone; of course, it has to know the unit is there...it would make no sense if it just started avoiding an area for no reason just because the enemy unit, which it could not yet see, was at the center of it)

Surrender <-- unit stops (and surfaces if it is a submarine) and WRA becomes Weapons Tight; enemy units can get as close as they like and the unit simply will not fire (I suppose this can already be accomplished to an extent with the Change Side lua script..once the unit belongs to you, you can tell it what to do)

Scrub <-- unit not only drops whatever mission it was assigned to but immediately returns to base

Retreat <-- unit not only drops whatever mission it was assigned to but immediately heads to a certain reference point (you probably want to be able to set the speed here)

Harass <-- unit comes as close as possible to another unit but does not fire (although one assumes that other aggressive behaviors might be taking place)...maybe this could be used to trigger a Retreat or an Evade by another unit?

Warn <-- unit tells another unit to stop doing whatever it is doing; this could trigger a Scrub or a Retreat or some other action?

Anyway, I hope all this makes sense. Thanks for considering these ideas.





mikmykWS
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RE: New game feature idea...WARNINGS

Post by mikmykWS »

Yeah you could use Lua to drop missions, drop units from missions, add to others. This is all in the game already.

Mike
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CCIP-subsim
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RE: New game feature idea...WARNINGS

Post by CCIP-subsim »

Yeah, it's a little finicky, but it's certainly doable. You can see my Mockingbird mission for an example of an AI unit that bugs out when it's intercepted, turns hostile, or gets jammers on depending on various triggers. It's a little harder to do when you're dealing with lots of units/missions, but on a smaller scenario scale it's fairly easy.
mikmykWS
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RE: New game feature idea...WARNINGS

Post by mikmykWS »

Yeah couple of the cases on our minds that drove the design.

1)MPA's and other support aircraft getting nailed in line once the war starts. Players would want the AI to roll back, move or cancel support missions.

2)AAW and Intercept Spool up: Once the war starts more aggressive missions could be planned etc.

3)Using lua you can actually do if and thens etc. to create variation.

The catch with all this is spending the time to learn it. Our hope is players will post their scripts so that others can just use and modify.

Mike
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CCIP-subsim
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RE: New game feature idea...WARNINGS

Post by CCIP-subsim »

One of the best ways to do that is set up multiple missions for the units you want to behave a certain way, and use Lua to assign the units to mission, so they bug out to fallback positions when an area trigger is set off (or go hostile, or whatever you want them to do). The best way to make a unit "warnable" is to set up relative points around it and tie the fallback mission triggers to that area.

I think one fun idea for a mission would be to combine that area trigger with a random probability action - e.g. you intercept a unit, and it has a 33% chance of bugging out, 33% chance of surrendering, and 33% chance of going hostile - and you won't know until you get near it! Could be fun for pirate-hunting missions for example.
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