Changes are coming!

[Tzeentch]

"I think we need new icons... and we don't have any good icons to have for private communication between players. " - Vote yes for this.

"As for lag causing desyncs, no, that wouldn't do it. The game will pause (Zzz) waiting for that player, it wouldn't do a desync on that." - either way lag is bad and puts players off, must reduce latency where possible.

"I think you need to focus on the performance stressfull functions." - this will be how we help to reduce lag, waiting for others machines to complete functions then becoming in synchronized state with other clients. Uncertain if this is a possible cause for desync, but this can only contribute to that. (I think wuz21m & I are quite interested in this part)

[Hesterax]

I have to say that I don't support the idea of disabling the "unit lost" messaging process especially without an option to toggle it on or off. Since a large amount of Warzone 2100 players only play the game in single player mode, which should mean that they mostly focus on playing the campaign and like NoQ said, every unit counts during the campaign. The fact that players need sound in order to be alerted about losing a unit can be annoying since I don't tend to play the game with sound. I think actions to improve the messaging system should be taken instead, similar to what bendib mentioned.

[wz2102]

How are you testing that function, and what alternatives do you mean? Oct or Quad trees?

I used it in an primitive test on my server emulator for an specific game, althought i
have to say that I tested it with bad circumstances.

Anyways, here an kind of qt system which I was talking about


If it actually fits better to rts is another question, but I will see with my own qt after I've
set up wz rep on my new PC.
Afterwards I'll report, if there are huge differences.

As for lag causing desyncs, no, that wouldn't do it. The game will pause (Zzz) waiting for that player, it wouldn't do a desync on that.

I was talking about the destruction of the whole objects idea.
Idk if you meant this as punishment for hackers.

[vexed]

Not really a punishment, but, there is no reason to keep them in game anymore, since they are out of sync with everyone else, and that means their simulation can't get back in sync.

When a unit is under attack, we have the mini-map flash a red area, and you also hear 'unit under attack'.
Then, when it dies, we see the console spam of 'Unit Lost!'.
Even if this is throttled, you have no way of knowing which one was lost (if you didn't pay attention to the battle, going to that area.), so seeing 'Unit Lost!' seems to be of little value in big MP games.
Campaign is slightly different, but, I guess it depends on how you play.
Usually, when you hear 'Unit is under attack!', you go to that location, and if you are at the location, you pretty much know that, that unit was lost, so you don't need more evidence that the unit did die, and not vanish in a paradoxical event.

Though, it is possible to have different visual clues when something died.

[Terminator]

it is possible to have different visual clues when something died.

what about add new gameplay feature like in some RTS - its unit's wrecks after it dies ? And may be in future use it as a resource ? Wrecks could be like feature of the map(it will have their own HP or may be some lifetime)

[Bethrezen]

while i agree the console message do need some improvement most notable having message appear behind the clock which is annoying i don't think the complete removal is the way to go

with regards to the units lost message this could be improved so it gives the player more information making it a bit more useful maybe telling them what units was lost what destroyed it and where it was lost so that the player can make an informed decision about how to deal with it because often times i will loose units and I'll be like WTF ? what happened because i didn't see it as i was busy elsewhere

also it would be nice to know about sneak attacks which i didn't see coming because i was busy elsewhere happens all the time to me in the campaign I'm busy dealing with a situation and then some cheeky group of cyborgs will attack me from behind a good example of this is when rescuing alpha team on gamma 5 i think it is and you get groups of cyborgs spawning at the same spawn point as the vtols

as for how i play the game normally on a single 4:3 monitor in full screen mode while my default screen rez is 1024 x 768 I'll normally play at a screen rez of 800 x 600 because the gui doesn't scale well at higher resolutions and things become to small to see clearly

[vexed]

This is by no means final!
I am a programmer, not a pixel artist! (hint, hint)

wz2100-bubbles.png

[speedsterharry]

As far as changes go, could we have the transporter time limit move away from the message area ? When I click on a unit, its name is obscured by this rectangle, it is quite annoying.

[The Overlord]

private communication between players.

Perhaps you can make private communication easier by allowing you to message people by typing "/msg <ign>" or something like that instead of their positional number.

[vexed]

Again, this isn't final! And the icons are not final either... just throwing it up to test the waters.
(and again, I am only using the icons that I have available)

wz2100-test2.png

[Per]

What do the new icons mean/do?

[vexed]

1-4 different 'textures' (requires new unit + research) , then a 'toggle' button.
Click on eye, goes to last 'event', chip cycles inactive trucks, bolt cycles attacked structures, and tank cycles attacked unit.
Mouse in minimap wheel zooms in/out.

No, it isn't all working yet.

[Tzeentch]

Somehow I'm confused, as these symbols are identical to the ones in the F5 used to manage alliances etc. Different symbols and I'm game.

can you add one for ping on the mini map? For those who don't know the shortcut.

ah so that last one is a truck, I thought it was a pair of binoculars.

[vexed]

As I mentioned, I am re-using old icons, since I am not a pixel artist, and, as also was mentioned, these are NOT final icons.
If by ping, you mean beacon, yeah, already planned.

[Tzeentch]

Yes you did sorry, brilliant beacon.