32 replies to this topic

[Bhael Fire]

focuspark, on 11 October 2013 - 10:20 AM, said:

If the map assignments are random, yes it's free. If they're coherent somebody needs to either manual select them or, if they're assigned via data, write the algo which selects them. Either way, it's not free.

At the end of the day, it's a matter of ROI (which is subjective). Honestly, given the **** poor design decisions the devs have made thus far - I think I prefer them spending time assigning maps to planets as opposed to making any more changes to the game. <sigh>

OK...here's how they explained it at the presentation they did.

1. When CW Phase 3 rolls out, they have stated that players will be able to do planetary assaults and be able to choose the planet they attack. There are 3000+ planets in the IS...and they are going to try to implement as many of those as they can.

2. Players will then be able to vote on a map in the pre-match lobby, as well as chose 1 of 4 mechs from their dropship.

3. The match starts.

What I am suggesting is that the planet should limit the available maps that can be voted on during step 2 above. This list of available maps can easily be added to the planet's stats during the database pass when they name the planet and assign its tactical/resource value.

For example, if the players were fighting for Trondheim, only Frozen City and Frozen City Night would be available to vote for during step 2.

Hopefully that makes it a bit more clear.

Edited by Bhael Fire, 11 October 2013 - 12:45 PM.

[Stingray Productions]

Mutaroc, on 09 October 2013 - 12:55 PM, said:

A jungle map with trees every where

and quicksand pits!....

[Phoenix Branson]

It would be cool to see an interactive Inner Map Galaxy Map. When you click on a certain planet, you would see all the information of that planet. You would also see multiple areas of engagement (e.g. Forest Colony, Frozen City).

http://lcars.org.uk/lcars_zr.htm

Edited by Maverick01, 12 October 2013 - 05:39 PM.

[Mindnut]

I would add a few generic maps. Modeled terrain with many variables that can differ based on location:

- Ambient color and brightness depending on the parent star in the system (blue/red).
- Distance from the star would suggest whether it's a hot barren - lava flowing, or icy - covered in snow, terrain.
- Trees and all vegetation, buildings and other things would have placement on the map but the actual model - different in design - would load depending on the location of the map.

Much like in "Forest Colony"... same terrain - different look. Mirrored terrain and cap points in different places would also add to the variety.

If you cover "Caustic Valley" in trees with 90% density... change the ground texture color to green... move the caps/spawns and place a gigantic picture of "Endor" in the sky the map would be barely recognizable =)

It's just a simple solution to the problem of having so many worlds. Imho this could work.

Edited by Mindnut, 16 October 2013 - 03:12 AM.

[Koniving]

Mindnut, on 16 October 2013 - 03:01 AM, said:

I would add a few generic maps. Modeled terrain with many variables that can differ based on location:

- Ambient color and brightness depending on the parent star in the system (blue/red).
- Distance from the star would suggest whether it's a hot barren - lava flowing, or icy - covered in snow, terrain.
- Trees and all vegetation, buildings and other things would have placement on the map but the actual model - different in design - would load depending on the location of the map.

Much like in "Forest Colony"... same terrain - different look. Mirrored terrain and cap points in different places would also add to the variety.

If you cover "Caustic Valley" in trees with 90% density... change the ground texture color to green... move the caps/spawns and place a gigantic picture of "Endor" in the sky the map would be barely recognizable =)

It's just a simple solution to the problem of having so many worlds. Imho this could work.

I've had mention of this too. Generic, semi-randomly generated maps with no specific landmarks are great for the multi-match per planet setup of CW. Say, 3 generic maps with the appropriate climate through forests, and then bam you are at the planet's forest colony outpost.

3 generic snow maps and bam, you're at Alpine.

Since there's no specific landmarks or special traits these could be randomly generated on the fly (and the cry-engine has this feature).

[Will9761]

You know the maps I would love to see in CW are Capital maps each with their own architecture. For example,

Luthien and Sian would have Kuritan and Liao banners and these bulidings:


While New Avalon would have Davion banners and a metropolis:


And Tharkad would have a palace with snowy whether and Steiner banners:


These kind of maps would be awesome for Community Warfare.

Edited by Will9761, 02 January 2014 - 12:37 PM.

[Novakaine]

Well if PGI would let some of our more talented members help.
We'd be drowning in maps.
1. Map Contest.
2. Take the "very best ones".
3. Tweaking by the pro's.
4. Boom Mega Map Happiness.
5. Yup I can dream huh?

[The Blood God]

we got plenty of mechs now especially after the clan stuff comes out we need more maps, i know its graphically demanding but some destructible landscape would be cool few trees / buildings and some low gravity maps and swamps and jungle and 1 on 1 mini maps please dev's

[CDLord HHGD]

Stingray1234, on 11 October 2013 - 10:45 PM, said:

and quicksand pits!....

and ROUS's!

[Stingray Productions]

cdlord, on 11 February 2014 - 05:31 PM, said:

and ROUS's!

lol, if you're "UNLUCKY" enough to see one, they bite your legs off and you die.

[Colby Boucher]

I imagine that it will be one map per planet. It would be cool if map variants would be locked to certain times of the year, so that when that side of the planet was in winter you would play Forest Colony snow, for instance. Of course, every planet has it's own cycle, so you aren't just playing winter or summer maps.

[Mirkk Defwode]

First and foremost. If the community wants to make maps, all they need is another game running the CryEngine 3...lets say Crsysis 3 The map editor contained within that will be compatible with the map editor being used by the devs, what you'll lack are the title specific asset packages to make the environment feel like battletech planets with the refineries we see, and other structural elements. Most if not all the other tools will already be there.

For maps specific to a planet, we had this system for our planetary map for NBT during Mechwarrior 4 days. The map associations were simply done on planet classification so if the world is Temperate, it'd have a shade or two of Artic Maps with the majority of the temperate maps associated in the map selection process. This made the back end database fairly easy to manage and maintain - while informing the user enough of what was located on the worlds as they were invading to the point of selecting the world on the galaxy map yielded much of the information being asked for.

In light of that I think this is a MUST HAVE feature for the Community Warfare.

I'm also all for a map creation contest and with that add 3 to 5 maps at a time from it. I'm sure they'll get enough submissions to do those additions.

If you're looking for an example of this in live practice. Tripwire Interactive has done this both with their Killing Floor title and with Red Orchestra 2. Many of these new maps were happily accepted by the community and continue to remain in hosted server rotations.

[GalaxyBluestar]

Bhael Fire, on 09 October 2013 - 12:44 PM, said:

CW: Planet-Specific Maps

There are 3000+ planets to fight over in the Inner Sphere. It was mentioned that they are going to try to implement as many of those as they can. They also mentioned that players will be able to vote for the map in the pre-match lobby.

When CW Phase 3 rolls out, I think each planet should be tied to specific maps to help solidify its identity and give it character — which furthers the immersion, and to some degree, the tactical choices when selecting planets to attack.

For example, the Federated Commonwealth planet of Sevren might be tied to Caustic Valley, River City, River City Night, Forest Colony Snow, and Forest Colony maps only. So when fighting over Sevren, only those maps would be available to choose from.


Background Fluff

While a specific planet might use multiple maps, only the fluff/description from the planet would be used, not the fluff from the maps being used.

For example, the River City map comes with its own fluff (http://mwomercs.com/...maps/river-city) but when used for a specific planet like Sevren, it would use Sevren's fluff instead (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Sevren).

They could possibly even have a dynamic naming mechanic that renames the map to the planet's name instead, to further add to the immersion.

pretty much our expectations for some planetary warefare elements yes.