ManGodAi4x / AquaCoop, Comic, Cinematic…Terminal Dark.

[KukY]

I THINK I understand why scavengers placed on the map by default can't create alliances, as MP players and AIs occupy player numbers 0 to 7, while scavengers are #8, and the alliance code only creates alliances for players 0-7.

I suppose a possible workaround would be to move all the scavenger stuff to one of those player numbers, and then copy the scavAI script for that specific player number.

But I've only searched through all the multiplayer specific code, going to move on to the scav and map features code next.

Actually, scavs are #7. Human players are #0 to #7, that is why scavs can only be on maps with 4 or less players, wwhen slots from #4 to #7 are free.

[Rman Virgil]

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I THINK I understand why scavengers placed on the map by default can't create alliances, as MP players and AIs occupy player numbers 0 to 7, while scavengers are #8, and the alliance code only creates alliances for players 0-7.

I suppose a possible workaround would be to move all the scavenger stuff to one of those player numbers, and then copy the scavAI script for that specific player number.

But I've only searched through all the multiplayer specific code, going to move on to the scav and map features code next.

I think understand what your saying TVR and appreciate your investigation into the source to try and understand what the heck is actually going on.

Actually, scavs are #7. Human players are #0 to #7, that is why scavs can only be on maps with 4 or less players, when slots from #4 to #7 are free.

Yes this is the basic understanding.

But there is something else going on here that's not entirely clear.

Just looking at the file structure for the scripts and the UI you can infer that Player 7 on an 8 player map is handled entirely different than Player 7 on 4 or 2 Player Maps. Alliances or Team Locking is a source construct in MP that is obviously allowed for Player 7 on a 8 Player Map but NOT allowed for Player 7 when used on a 2 or 4 Player Map which is obvious in the UI.

Now the questions that arise in my head in practical terms as an end user-modder are 2-fold:

1.) Can you invoke Team Locking for Player 7 purely through the Scav specific scripts on a 4 Player Map as the UI does not allow for it and so far the answer appears to be no - thus referring back to my earlier speculation as to the rationale for WHY that is so.

2.) Can you take the Scav specific scripts out of it's current structure and put them in the stock MP Player 7 slot (replacing that slots MP Player 7 .slo and .vlo for 8 Player maps) and be able to utilize the UI's Alliance or Team Locking mechanism yielding an 8 player Map with Scavs without having to turn them on (like you have to on 2 & 4 Player maps) and lock Players 1 - 7 vs. Player 0 for example. This I have not tried so I do not know if this will yield problems or if it will work without issues arising.

Now my current line of research towards implementation involves # ( 2.) and if that is possible then we are yet again opening up another whole new dimension of WZ map making that I've been pushing for since early last year and my work on War School (specifically the whole Scav GPMs work I shared in detail in that Project Thread) such that:

My thinking with this line is to use SKI A.I. to create Campaign-type Map experiences. I think there are mappers (and non-mappers too, like modders, writers & artists) out there that would love to create new Campaign experiences but mastering the whole campaign scripting and structure is prohibitive. But if you can lock 6 SKI a.i. with player 7 Scav a.i. you can come doggone close.

It can be even more dynamic than the conventional CAM approach by not using fixed condition triggers to advance across the map - and thus, no walk-throughs. And you could also get around the whole message string trigger structure and simply create a Machinma with voice overs and cut-in stills to run before starting the game for your Mission Brief. Most folks can do that too over creating 3D CGI Animation Cut Scenes with full blown character acting.

I think there are a lot of Prequel & Sequel Campaign stories out there that folks are not ever gonna execute using the conventional campaign scripting and structure. But with this other approach it becomes more feasible and the heavy lifting then falls really to the creative imagination and mapping craft to make it.

Specifically following this concept:

A further conceptual refinement of how this build of SP Ski 4c-ManGodAi4X is proceeding.

Been a long time big fan of vid games in the brawler genre and their framework of BOSS stages.

This predilection has been influencing my current direction of development without my recognizing it at first - then, like an epiphany, it hit me. "Dude, your creating BOSS stages!"

Indeed, it is what I am doing.

With this additional proviso:

........

I think those last stages of the original CAM are very instructive on what to do and what not to do when approaching a BOSS type design level map.

Actually a lot of the above goes back to NEWST days and work which I still have.

Tangentially, another observation...

Now there are 241 posts here and close to 5000 PVs. Let's be generous and say the posters account for 1000 PVs .... that leaves 4000 PVs approx. that reflect, in some measure even if reduced to a minor fraction of 4k, an interest without input... an interest manifest elsewhere, if not here, seems apparent. That too I find interesting and tend to think attributable to fundamental cultural value differences between Cathedral and Bazaar MOs. Clearly this is very unscientific and quite speculative on my part. Still, interesting to mull on.

- RV
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[Rman Virgil]

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Harked back to a technique I first utilized in Trinity and later in War School Map/Mods (before Player 7 Scavs were implemented through the Binary / UI) except I'm doing so here in reverse, so to speak. (Funny how that evolved.) Also invested design MOs from my Firefight OPs and Citadel Map/Mod efforts of yesteryear.

Converted to 8 player. Locked Players Team 1 thru 7 (Scavs) vs Player 0 (YOU).

I think I can make it all gel to be a long & thrilling roller coaster ride, full of topographic visuals, martial variety and unpredictable, fun challenges with some Easter egg-like discoveries along the way. (Catch me if you can, broheims. )

Have the start resources down for Player 0 and the concentric circles of outward radiating oil resources needing to be acquired to continue a campaign of conquering roving Scav-ManGodAi combat groups as well fixed centers of gravity that are well defended from any sort of Mono-Vector Spamming Offenses.

To Do Still:

1.) Have to figure the minimal Player 0 Advanced Base Build to allow for survival beyond the first 3 minutes to have a fighting chance even though it will be sometime before you are relieved of some of the sense of being "behind the eight ball" (a slight hint of Attrition + a dollop of Siege + a fair mixture of Firefight + Citadel Airlift / Resource Cache opportunities = ManGodAi4X).

2.) Have to figure the minimum Center of Gravity BOSS Defenses so they are not immediately or easily vulnerable to any sort of mono-vector Spamming - Tower or later game artillery spamming or VTOL type massed assaults, especially of the mono spam transport type.

The objective being you have to plan your offensive maneuvers, step by step from your start position, with care, depth & coolness & do so from simultaneous multiple vectors - as joint task forces (utilizing combined arms as well).... first just surface (land & water) & later joined to air strike forces. Of course you have to defend your start and captured real estate throughout this because the enemy offenses will continue and escalate all along on your held positions, doing so from all directions on the surface and soon enough by air if you start at T3.

Getting the outward radiating concentric circles of escalating challenge difficulty balanced to be fun opposition without invoking any mono-tactic predictable ease or any obdurate sense of futility, unfairness or cul de sac frustration is the greatest task now going forward to completion.

And the icing on the cake for me in all this final balance implementing is I can be self-sufficient and it will take quite a feat by development efforts to break this work I've done - a definite consideration from the get go since fixing work I've done well, wantonly broken by others, is a PITA (been there more than once).

- RV

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[Rman Virgil]

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At the highest difficulty setting, this will NOT be for the faint of heart.

Obviously this game play is not for everybody. But it could be an acquired taste if you want to cross train towards cultivating a cool, calm demeanor under fire and execute effectively on multiple fronts. Can't survive an intense firefight bringing anything less to the table.

In Aikido we call this type training Taninsu Gake.... So, this is exactly the opening game play of ManGodAi4X... &, partly, explains the 4X in the name.

The opening sequence proceeds like so.

~ At the 5 second mark you are attacked by a roving Scav Combat Group at your South West beachhead flank.

~ At the 15 second mark you are assaulted by Scav IF from the South East.

~ At the 25 second mark your North West flank is attacked by another roving Scav Combat Group.

~ At the 35 second mark your North East flank is broached first by ManGodAi Borgs then supported by another Scav Combat Group.

Part of my job is to make sure you have a fighting chance and get-off on the process of achieving survival to continue and take the fight to the enemy.

Lastly - my unique style of making and utilizing Cliff Face serves a multi-pronged purpose:

1.) to satisfy a primal aspect of the Art Instinct I've spoken to at length throughout since the inception of this project

2.) the simultaneous unfolding of the A.I.s dynamic variety in its emergent behavior triggering.

3.) making all surface maneuver on both offense & defense 4D and 360 degrees by necessity.

So bearing that in mind, you can perhaps appreciate that the lightweight commentary reference to my HM complexity (also suggestive of a snide parsimony) by another mapper recently (who chose to impart their rare Olympian "wisdom" to a novice) was based on pure tunnel vision 2D precepts to map making and their use of visuals in their own work as superficial, cookie-cutter, novelty with no game play integration.

Tough, but I cannot breakdown any of these concepts to a romper room level.

But for sure ManGodAi4X is NOT for those who want to Turtle from the get go. Not to mention those whose whole game revolves around various tired iterations of Mono Spaming / Rushing. I march to my own drummer and emulate no one's precepts, aesthetics or biases. Take it or leave it. Conformity & brown-nosing I do not cultivate. Never have. Those are fortes for lily-livered mediocrity.

- RV

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[Rman Virgil]

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Back to the pure joys of creating, balance-testing & playing SP SKI 8c-ManGodAi4X after the boondoggle of trying to get assistance in balance testing AH MP 4c-AquaCoop.

Close to done with balancing the opening sequence of SP SKI 8c-ManGodAi4X... very satisfying.

Next: continued balancing of the outward radiating concentric circles of dynamic opposition and fixed BOSS stages / Centers of Gravity. More fun.

Should be able to complete in the window of time left before I move on to 2 fab RL projects which will leave zero time for anything WZ. Hopefully I'll also be able to stock the WZ SF Vault with some assets during this window of time as well.

- RV
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[Rman Virgil]

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A ManGodAi BOSS stage. There will be about a dozen BOSS Stages.

I also scaled back some of the initial 3 minute waves of ManGodAi / Scav 4X Ground Assault combat groups but added a ManGodAi Bomber Sortie Group.

Building these stages is like imagining multiple 3D chess games going forward & then in reverse; deconstructing from the end games one Grand Game.

- RV

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[Rman Virgil]

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A Passing Muse on this Final Phase:

Because I've been willing to experiment as I felt compelled to shift gears from my original MP goals & redesign an adjunct SP project on the fly (& with binary constraints) I have been discovering a host of new things about how the game behaves that I am quickly making practical, & exciting, use of.

These undocumented emergent behaviors are intimately tied to the complexity of my topography & are leading to a couple interesting thoughts:

1.) No point in documenting any of it because no one will ever duplicate the totality of what is being done.

2.) The emerging game play is making passe typical map constructs for skirmish vs. the A.I. & also the rigid construct of a typical campaign experience.

All together fascinating and motivating.

When completed this whole experience will be a testament to number of things I'm tempted to elaborate on but will refrain because it will, I believe, be all too obvious.

On that note, I fade out here on the exposition side but images will follow.....

- RV

Opening Sequence Fully Balanced To 5X Assaults:

At the first minute mark you are dealing with 4 ground assaults from 4 different directions plus a Vtol Sortie consisting of Bombers & Fighters.

All are continuously sustained-renewed with small intervals of respite from the Heat of Battle. Besides the Scav Ground Combat Units and MaGodAi Vtols there are also ManGodai Borgs & Hovers in the Mix so that you are from the get go over-matched technologically, out-numbered & out-gunned.

"Impossible odds !!" You may say. But no. You can survive. More than that - you can get a foothold to take the fight to the ManGodAi-Scav Alliance. Surely not easy. Very challenging to ALL your WZ skills. But it is possible and I find it as much fun as executing a Queens Gambit against a strong player. At least that is how I would describe the sense of satisfaction by analogy to another game with a depth and breathe of tacts & strats ordinarily absent in WZ GP.

In the coming weeks, like with other elements of this project since Feb., we'll be seeing maps trying to emulate these game play schema as I've portrayed them. This will be a far greater task because these set of emergent game play absolutely require 4D design execution with an understanding of system dynamics and most have emulated previous elements one dimensionally to this juncture - and that just won't cut it here.

The 2 Principal Inspirations for 8c-ManGodAi4X game play: One from WZ 2100 and one from RL.

1.) The last set of culminating Missions against Nexus in the original Campaign - thought they had some good elements but the end result fell far short of the promise and was indeed, anti-climactic when it should have been EPIC.

2.) August 1993, Somalia, known as Black Hawk Down (book & movie) - a joint Army Rangers & Delta Force operation that lasted a total of 18 hours.
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[Rman Virgil]

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Some early views of The Big Mother BOSS aka, "The Last Redoubt"..

[Rman Virgil]

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Hammer Time: "U Can't Touch This"

Break it down...

A Daddy BOSS: Some IG Screens of the Center of Gravity (CoG) zone dubbed Saggoth's Keep which is NE of Jian's Hilt, is bracketed by the Isles of Sanctuary and looks upon The Bay of Kraken.

This CoG is driven by 3 different A.I. working in concert. On my BOSS variable difficulty design scale it rates as HIGH. There are 4 degrees of difficulty at the outset. They are dynamic in that they evolve over time and will also unfold differently depending on which campaign path of conquest you choose from your start position - there are multiple paths and the game play will vary with each. High Replay Value was also part of my design objective matrix.


A Recap of specific game play experience goals that have shaped concomitant design parameters, also clearly articulated. This will be an aggregation of my previous post statements that will make transparent some patterns of the goings on that I've inferred and pointed out in passing already.
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[Black Project]

This map is gonna taste like a freshly-new hardcore campaign mode as i saw these sweet screenshots, even in Skirmsh Mode of course.

I hope your work don't be in vain like in the older map, it's sad that most people here doesn't provided enough MP feedback (only Sk Feedback *bp slaps face himself*) to keep your great mapping work

But i expect that people don't go complaining at you that your map/campaign is impossible to beat

As you said before, ManGodAI can be beaten with a great strategy planning, it's just a matter of time to learn that

Just a doubt, RV: What ManGodAI faction is? An even more powerful army than NEXUS or The Project? I think i'm bit misinformed as far as i know

Regards BP

[Rman Virgil]

This map is gonna taste like a freshly-new hardcore campaign mode as i saw these sweet screenshots, even in Skirmsh Mode of course.

Hi BP. Tanks ! My goal for sure.

That's what I'm after but more dynamic, making a walk-thru unlikely.

I hope your work don't be in vain like in the older map, it's sad that most people here doesn't provided enough MP feedback (only Sk Feedback *bp slaps face himself*) to keep your great mapping work

Once I got beyond the shock I took it as an opportunity to learn, create anew, be more able. I've also come to some facinating discoveries & new game play which I hope will be as rich for SP as Aqua is for MP.

I'll be able to finish "Aqua Coop MP" testing in late Sept with my RL MP Crew. Nothing will be in vain. And - your input was appreciated, truly.

But i expect that people don't go complaining at you that your map/campaign is impossible to beat

Right you are. My biggest challenge for sure because what I'm doing is essentially complex system dynamic modeling where any one minor factor can dramatically impact the whole - for better or worse.

As you said before, ManGodAI can be beaten with a great strategy planning, it's just a matter of time to learn that

More than 1 great winning strategy is the goal.

Just a doubt, RV: What ManGodAI faction is? An even more powerful army than NEXUS or The Project? I think i'm bit misinformed as far as i know

Regards BP

The "Mangodai" are the evolution of NEXUS after the end of the original CAM, from Far East Asia & partly based on the Mongols.

They are the joint creation of the NEWST Team & it's supporting community between 1999 - 2000 for a sequel CAM that Pumpkin supported in word & deed but was never completed.

I'm resurrecting them here to honor all those folk who helped create them along with a ton of other pre-source liberation stuff.

- Regards RV
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[Zarel]

The "Mangodai" are the evolution of NEXUS after the end of the original CAM, from Far East Asia & partly based on the Mongols.

I am so sorry it took me until this point to get the "Mangudai" pun.

[Rman Virgil]

The "Mangodai" are the evolution of NEXUS after the end of the original CAM, from Far East Asia & partly based on the Mongols.

I am so sorry it took me until this point to get the "Mangudai" pun.

That's cool. I'm glad you caught it & pointed it out.

All credit for coining the name "ManGodAi" belongs to Member Buba Khan who was from Asia & an avid history buff who inspired us all to the point we ended up with scores of pages of back story on just the "ManGodAi." themelves - history, culture, philosophy, battle tactics & even a bit of a languge ala Cameron's "Avatar" aliens. (Though we "cheated" by using backward masking in post audio processing & Cameron hired a world class linguist.)

Come to think of it, a fair number of our outstanding members where from the Far East. Unforgettable, too.

- Regards, RV

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[Rman Virgil]

Part 1: A Recap of specific game play experience goals that have shaped concomitant design parameters, also clearly articulated. This will be an aggregation of my previous post statements that will make transparent some patterns of the goings on that I've inferred and pointed out in passing already.

All that follow are dated and in chronological order so that connecting the dots that make up the inferred patterns should be pretty obvious.

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* It does have a Campaign-like feel to it (those are the type of maps I enjoy making the most after all). And when I say "Campaign-like feel" I mean that I have very deliberately made it multiple-goal driven vs. tunnel-vision or mono-tactic enabled. I've also utilized some choice "triggers" - very minimalist to be sure but with some rippling consequences... like a pebble tossed in a pond of still water.

* My design goals were thus:

* Many ways to win..... not just one or 2... aka possesing re-play value - even AFTER you know the lay of the land intimately.

* Accommodate all styles of GP: Turtle, Rush, Octopus, Eagle, Orca....etc or any combo thereof.

* Accommodate all 3 Tech Levels.

* Can be fun & challenging to play in ALL Modes (& for all player skill-levels): Single Player Skirmish, Everyman for Himself MP and Team Co-op MP.

* Somewhat uber-like aspirations, I confes

It's combat command oriented ....

It has bodies of water that can be exploited to tactical advantage - the same with it's extreme landscape vertical transitions.

The mountains are not simply mountains for mere visual variety - they are literally calculated to serve many purposes.

I'm throwing the whole kitchen sink of undocumented techniques into it from Borg only access to player map deconstruction to garner tactical advantage, to terrain penalties., to punctuated FoW...

.......

The novella length story is called: "Truce: Bearheart and Akbar" after the lead characters. Bearheart is a Project leader and Akbar is the chief of chiefs of the Scavenger Seven Nations in the Yucatan..

..........

Besides what I've already mentioned as my goals, I also wanted this to have a strong Campaign "feel" in addition to providing a good Skirmish and MP experience. I also did NOT want it to play in any one way such that you could come up with a walk-through for winning.

This last is something you can achieve in Campaign via branching mission scripting but in MP I've had to do it with other techniques like one that I call "game play map deconstruction".

Where I am at with it now is fine-tuning every detail of the land and water scape and going over every dimension of balance in both...

Besides all the usual stuff yet to be done, because the map landscape is totally asymmetrical with a preponderance of water beyond the norm in WZ maps, one of the biggest challenges will be to properly balance...

Can't seem to get away from attempting some degree of a 'Cam - like' feel in this effort.

Aspects of the major Isles topography are also constructed to complement this aspect of game play which has a puzzle-like quality to it in my mind vis-a-vis maneuver-deployment composition, as well vector and velocity options over land, sea and air.... in tandem fashion at its most effective but also as a last resort. Yea, I know, that last is sounding a bit cryptic. )

Like many of my other aesthetic, eye-candy, topographic efforts this will also serve to broaden over arching strategic variety from the usual (at least, that is a goal) & even a slew of not so obvious tactical opportunities.

One thing I have not spoken to beyond saying the vague "creating a campaign feel" I will now elaborate on briefly.

Aqua Co-op is a complex 4 D Map. (As distinct from the usual 1D, 2D & 3D plethora..)

What that means is that every detail serves a great variety of topographic game play roll-outs that are simultaneously time sensitive.

The original Campaign maps are 4 D by way of using the scripted timers.

The same effect can be achieved without timers or modding anything.

I won't bore you with just how to do it because after you've experienced playing a few times you'll be able to deduce those techniques, among others that are uncommon to the prepoderance of WZ maps.

With the overall geography I'm doing something akin to the literary "magical realism" of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.... in the sense that I'm combining and compressing geography unlike what you would ordinarily see in RL. The artistic rationale is the same - creating more variety and tension in a bounded virtual world scape

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Conventional warfare, as well symmetric maps, are focused on 2 traditional concepts of engagment - a Center of Gravity and the Front Lines relative to it.

Aqua Co-op is from the bottom up thoroughly asymmetric not because I'm simply striving for a natural realism of topography but because I also wanna create opportunities for asymmetric strategy, at the very least, but as well I hope some asymmetric tactics will flow naturally through the design. With that in mind, scroll up to my graphic with the Player Placement Legend.

In addition to the discussion accompanying that graphic I'm gonna tell you what else underlies those particular design decisions. Aqua Co-op by design attempts to create 2 fundamental conditions of modern and future Asymmetric Warfare -

NO one Center of Gravity and therefore no fixed, immutable, front lines...

Keeping this last statement in mind, go back & look at that referenced graphic with fresh eyes.

Can you see, that by design, there are potentially Multiple Centers of Gravity ?

Anyway, back to the joys of creation...

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I'm gonna share some more tid-bits of inside info that may be of use to artists and mappers.

Though I created the HM entirely from my imagination I -

1.) Used 2 specialized tools instead of PS CS4 or Gimp or TrueSpace: Greenfish (free & found on my own) and EasyGen (free & a tip from member Metal Beast). Very cool tools & fun to use.

2.) Was thoroughly inspired by a work I read a year ago by Denis Dutton called "The Art Instinct : Beauty, Pleasure, & Human evolution". The central thesis of this work is that humanity across ALL cultures and historical time respond in certain ways to specific landscapes and that these responses are instinctual and a result of natural selection as explicated in the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis.

More insights specific to "Aqua Co-op: SE"s construction and design goals:

~ This map is not only totally asymmetric but also has 5 distinct elevations through out. Thanks to the developers recent work, this does not invoke past problems with Vtol wheelies or stalls.

~ This maps carefully detailed design will promote and subvert various conventional ways of playing WZ.

~ Let's start with what it attempts to subvert - ALL early game Rush type tactics. I have nothing against peeps playing Rush but feel there are, again, hundreds and hundreds of maps already that promote this type game play and I have no interest in adding to that. This goal will be achieved with a 2-pronged approach: canny topographic design combined with shrewd use of Player 7 Scavs. Since "Aqua Co-op SE" also provides Veteran players with controllable Forward Based Scav Allies I am also doing things that will make Vets using these Scav Allies to Rush hard - maybe hard enough to not even bother since the temporal advantage will likely be lost.

~ In addition to what I have already spoken to earlier in this thread, "Aqua Coop SE" design is very deliberately promoting essential use of Hovers, Vtols and Borgs deployed via Troop Transports. Again I have nothing against the deployment of a dominant Armor force or pure Armor Maneuver... I just think that by itself it is too one dimensional and marginalizes all the other fun forces available in the game. What I am hoping for is that "Aqua Co-op SE" will promote 3 pronged maneuver tactics that fully utilize all 3 forces simultaneously: ground, air & water. This in turn is predicated on initiating strategies that take into account the critical nature of multiple force strength battle field Command & Control, Velocity Warfare based on 4D Intel, continuous 4D Situational Awareness and a Battle Theater that has multiple Centers of Gravity opportunities.

Simply, this is all to shift a bit the strategy elements of WZ from a predominant focus on resource management, research & unit design to a richer, viable, array of ways to engage in actual battle.

More key insights:

~ Landmarks: because of the 4D complexity of this map I'm creating landmarks that serve ends beyond mere purdy visuals.

I'm doing it in a variety of ways that I think will add an insteresting "puzzle-like" dimension to the experience of learning the map.

One of the ways I'm using to make these Landmarks is by distinct topo linked to Feature Models.

I am also dubbing the Landmarks with fanciful names like The Isthmus of Regret.


Speaking of Scavs...

~ Scavs must be a force to rechone with:

Player 7 Scavs are gonna be very important to this map's gameplay - & NOT just in the capacity of subverting various opening game Rush tactics.

I want them to be a factor throughout early (& perhaps even into mid-game) and want to achieve this end without modding, scripting or spamming scav units.

How to accomplish that within those parameters ?

Well let me give you a clue..

I'm resorting to a technique used by Pumpkin in the very last Nexus Cam Map sequence of missions - with some variations of my own.

This simple technique will make taking out the Main Scav Stronghold a very challenging adventure. As well it should be because this Stronghold is one of several major Centers of Gravity that will thus provide a strategic advantage when captured & will also afford a rich cache of resources. But as great as those rewards are for success they will perforce present formidable challenges to overcome in order to attain - all the while in the midst of holding your own in other key battle fronts.

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What I'm doing with this technique is creating a Scav Outpost to guard a significant (& destructible) resource cache that Human Players will want / need and to attack with artillery or IF Weaps will surely destroy the cache, pinch the human player in that whoever succeeds will gain an upper hand, which is why it is constructed such that only a "surgical strike" will win you the reward.

Think of it more a Supply Depot than a Scav Fortress Outpost or FB. The Main Scav Base Fortress does not use this technique and so only if the Scav Supply Depot Droids are taking punishment will the Main Base Scav Droids deploy (very likely intercepting Human Players long before ever reaching the breached Scav Supply Depot ground access). But throughout any maneuver by the human players will first have to contend with Non-Mobile Scav Defenses before they can even reach the Scav Supply Depot entry - same deal with all the vital real estate, including the Scav's main base, "The Last Redoubt".

One of the net consequences of all the foregoing (& other created conditions like looming attrition) is to slant the tactics more in favor of Vtols, Borg Airlift & precision control over blunt, mass, armor deployment offensives. (Even scouting has to be done with a mindful attention that the stock game does NOT encourage, let alone reward.)

Overall my use of Scav Droids is minimalist because I do not want to spam them as cannon fodder and yet - through a combination of canny topography, concealed defenses, & resource distribution, Scavs are essentially effecting the 4-Dimension of game play; the ebb and flow of a threatened attrition (as opposed to one that is concerted, firmly forced or entrenched, and thus draining the fun-factor which we have to guard against in the design). At least those are my operational concepts.

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Within the Dire Straits Landmark area...

A canny Transport LZ: Land your Transport & once safely tucked within, deploy your borg contingent - half will occupy the coast of one land mass, half the shore of an entirely different land mass. Result - one quickly secure LZ, one deployment maneuver, 2 distinct combat vectors... a pure mapping technique.

I'm also making these within the main land masses such that deployments are at 2 elevation vectors. You can see the possibilities here for storming.

This is a technique I first deved in WS 2113 as a workaround to what I perceive as one of the many shortfalls of the Command and Control Interface. Most of these type Command & Control shortfalls, as I understand them natch, will only be properly addressed through BetaWidget / LUA down the road.
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here are 2 Calderas on this map and both are part of the embedded multiple center gravity dynamic.

They are called ~ Fire Beard and Crimson Mane ~

Besides serving as landmarks, both will be prime real estate to find your way to, occupy & hold onto.

Both will also boost the value of Cyborgs & Airlift. Both subvert the usual way WZ is played - like much else spoken to earlier in the thread.

If I were to sum up the goal of all the design innovations in brief it would be thus - Aqua Co-op SE intends to expand & promote fun, fresh, adventuresome, game play along the lines of winning the day through multi-vectored velocity maneuver and continuous, generative, 4D situational awareness. It achieves these goals without any modding, scripting or altering the hard coding in the binary. The power of pure mapping utilizing Flail13's FlaME plus imaginative, out of the box thinking, and scrupulous attention to detail (both aesthetic & balancing) are more than enough in aggregate to change the way the game is played in new, exciting and satisfying ways.

Jian's Hilt: The latest iteration. What's special about this area is that it will be one of 2 "Resource Caches" that will pose the challenge of a "surgical strike" (as opposed to a "bludgeon" approach) in that you can readily destroy the cache rather than adding it to your economy if you don't use your head first instead of just going with the "blood-lust" mind set. It tests your Commander acumen, in other words and rewards you for being in full possession your command faculties.

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A couple things to add to that.

There is only one resource in WZ & it comes in 2 forms - 1 form goes on and on and the other form is finite and can be consumed or destroyed. So you can figure what I'm doing here which is a direct carry over from the WS 2113 Map/Mod GPMs and was never really developed in the Pumpkin Campaign as a viable and fun GPM to explore....


"Jian's Hilt" will be matched by its twin "Jian's Tang" at another strategically significant geographic location which is both a Landmark and war-making Center of Gravity.

Also note the nature of how I'm working with the number 2 (& its multiples). While I am no occult, metaphysical, numerologist there is a significance and beauty to numbers that has always fascinated me and can obviously manifest in music as much as literature and the visual arts. In the context of Aqua Coop SE the two numbers I'm designing with are the obvious "2" and the NOT so obvious "3". Here's my base key:

2 = Balance

3 = Imbalance

"Balance" speaks for itself but I'll simply say that it is the foundation for creating a "leveling playing field" amongst all the players even within the Global Asymmetry of the maps topography. Though life is rarely "fair", we insist that our gaming fun be predicated on fairness. However, it does not end there.

The importance of the "Imbalance" factor is not so readily grasped and in some ways parallels the difference between playing chess on a 2D board and playing on a 3D board.

The 3 = Imbalance is implemented in quite a number of different ways... one of my iterations being ..... Mobile Scav Combat Groups & Scav Fixed Defenses Opposing from every direction and every step of the way...


Now l won't detail all my implemented variations "3 = Imbalance" that have nothing to do with ... Scavs, for obvious reasons, but instead I will give you a quick design rationale for WHY I've implemented these "3 = Imbalance" conditions.

A core ingredient to a 3D RTS's "Fun Factor" can be expressed simply in the phrase "at risk decision-making".

A lot of WZ's "at risk decision making" is slanted to NON-Combat decisions - what to research, what to design, what to build, and so forth. Of course these at risk decisions will later impact how you are able to wage war and yet they are not strictly decision-making in the battle theater, in the heat of battle, which is my focus. To fully develop WZ along these lines, as I have stated many times before, will require the full implementation of "Beta Widget / LUA".... however...

The creation of "3 = Imbalance" Local Conditions (as opposed to the aforementioned level playing field "Global Conditions") has allowed me to explore what I'm calling "contending with imbalance decision-making dilemmas".

Unlike the typical pre-defined, non-combat, at risk decision-making GPMs of the game, these "3 = Imbalance" decisions will be, and from the get-go, start of game, directly tied inextricably to COMBAT.

Just HOW I'm creating that you will have to discover for your self when playing Aqua Co-op SE. I will point-out that my understanding of both combat and the science of Game Theory have heavily influenced what I've done while also keeping uppermost in mind that this is a GAME entertainment and NOT RL and that the Fun Factor must prevail by a wide margin over any challenging condition that would slip too readily into an obdurate frustration.

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[Rman Virgil]

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Part 2: A Recap...

Velocity Sand Bars: Same GPM as the previously described Tactical Airlift LZs except without the cover - in other words, the Transports are clearly exposed to enemy offenses while you velocity deploy your Borgs to multiple vectors (though their exposure is substantively less risky than single vector mainland deployments). The Velocity Sand Bars far out-number the Tactical Airlift LZs.

Compelling Vistas.... &, yes, I am zoomed out to max strategic view and utilizing max allowed map elevation for these panoramas.

What is strikingly demonstrated here are some of the optical "tricks" (Olrox's descriptive term, though I like to think of 'em as superlative craft artistry - guess I'm biased. ) I employ to evoke what is understood in current Neo Darwinist theory as humanity's landscape "art instinct".

It is also for me central to creating as sense of "unfolding adventure & suspense" in purely visceral ways via terrain variants.

NEXT: While I have begun work again I'm still in a holding pattern on Balance issues tied to Player 7 Scav A.I. development. Ergo this post and the post that follows which will comment on the 33 Strategies of War and how they relate to both stock game play on conventional maps and Aqua Coop SE as well how the modus of reverse engineering (which I've used in Campaign Mission designs in past efforts) crept into what I was doing here in MP without my being consciously aware of till I took this recent break and started re-reading Robert Green's absorbing "The 33 Strategies of War".

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Didn't forget this.... I can put out there some specifics and some broad strokes.

First, details of the inspiring work referenced:

"The 33 Strategies of War" (Joost Elffers Book) ~ by Robert Greene.
* Paperback: 496 pages
* Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (December 14, 2007)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0143112783

So the subconscious put to work what I've assimilated over time - from this work and a lifetime of many other experiences. Reverse engineering in the sense of:

"What do I have to create to make possible the effective ability to utilize as many of these strategies as possible with in game play that is at once fun, expansive & richly satisfying for not relying heavily on rote, predictable, non-combat, non-maneuver, non-command/control, switch tasking ?"

(I might add to do this also within the extant limited Command UI/AI tasking mechanics...)

There are a couple assessments attached to this:

How many of the 33 Strategies can you do at present in off-the-shelf WZ 2100 ?

How many in Aqua Co-op SE / EE ?

Instead of answering those questions right now with specific numbers (which I can but won't because that particular debate is better suited to another time & context rather than here and now), I will post a summary of the 33 Strategies of War from which you can draw your own conclusions.

Summary of The 33 Strategies of War:


Part I: SELF-DIRECTED WARFARE

1: Declare war on your enemies: Polarity

You cannot fight effectively unless you can identify them. Learn to smoke them out, then inwardly declare war. Your enemies can fill you with purpose and direction.


2: Do not fight the last war: Guerilla-war-of-the-mind

Wage war on the past and ruthlessly force yourself to react to the present. Make everything fluid and mobile.


3: Amidst the turmoil of events, do not lose your presence of mind: Counterbalance

Keep your presence of mind whatever the circumstances. Make your mind tougher by exposing it to adversity. Learn to detach youself from the chaos of the battlefied.


4: Create a sense of urgency and desperation: Death-ground

Place yourself where your back is against the wall and you have to fight like hell to get out alive.



Part II: ORGANIZATIONAL WARFARE


5: Avoid the snares of groupthink: Command-and-control

Create a chain of command where people do not feel constrained by your influence yet follow your lead. Create a sense of participation, but do not fall into groupthink.


6: Segment your forces: Controlled-chaos

The critical elements in war are speed and adaptability--the ability to move and make decisions faster than the enemy. Break your forces into independent groups that can operate on their own. Give them the spirit of the campaign, a mission to accomplish, and room to run.


7: Transform your war into a crusade: Morale

Get them to think less about themselves and more about the group. Involve them in a cause, a crusade against a hated enemy. Make them see their survival is tied to the success of the army as a whole.



Part III: DEFENSIVE WARFARE


8: Pick your battles carefully: Perfect-economy

Consider the hidden costs of war: time, political goodwill, an embittered enemy bent on revenge. Sometimes it is better to undermine your enemies covertly.


9: Turn the tables: Counterattack

Let the other side move first. If aggressive, bait them into a rash attack that leaves them in a weak position.


10: Create a threatening presence: Deterrence

Build a reputation for being a little crazy. Fighting you is not worth it. Uncertainty can be better than an explicit threat. If your opponents aren't sure what attacking you will cost, they will not want to find out.


11: Trade space for time: Nonengagement

Retreat is a sign of strength. Resisting the temptation to respond buys valuable time. Sometimes you accomplish most by doing nothing.



Part IV: OFFENSIVE WARFARE

12: Lose battles, but win the war: Grand strategy

Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle and calculating ahead. Focus on your ultimate goal and plot to reach it.


13: Know your enemy: Intelligence

The target of your strategies is not the army you face, but the mind who runs it. Learn to read people.


14: Overwhelm resistance with speed and suddenness: Blitzkrieg

Speed is power. Striking first, before enemies have time to think or prepare will make them emotional, unbalanced, and prone to error.


15: Control the dynamic: Forcing

Instead of trying to dominate the other side's every move, work to define the nature of the relationship itself. Control your opponent's mind, pushing emotional buttons and compelling them to make mistakes.


16: Hit them where it hurts: Center-of-gravity

Find the source of your enemy's power. Find out what he cherishes and protects and strike.


17: Defeat them in detail: Divide and conquer

Separate the parts and sow dissension and division. Turn a large problem into small, eminently defeatable parts.


18: Expose and attack your opponent's soft flank: Turning

Frontal assaults stiffen resistance. Instead, distract your enemy's attention to the front, then attack from the side when they expose their weakness.


19: Envelop the enemy: Annihilation

Create relentless pressure from all sides and close off their access to the outside world. When you sense weakening resolve, tighten the noose and crush their willpower.


20: Maneuver them into weakness: Ripening for the sickle

Before the battle begins, put your opponent in a position of such weakness that victory is easy and quick. Create dilemmas where all potential choices are bad.


21: Negotiate while advancing: Diplomatic war

Before and during negotiations, keep advancing, creating relentless pressure and compelling the other side to settle on your terms. The more you take, the more you can give back in meaningless concessions. Create a reputation for being tough and uncompromising so that people are giving ground even before they meet you.


22: Know how to end things: Exit strategy

You are judged by how well things conclude. Know when to stop. Avoid all conflicts and entanglements from which there are no realistic exits.



Part V: UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE

23: Weave a seamless blend of fact and fiction: Misperception

Make it hard for your enemies to know what is going on around them. Feed their expectations, manufacture a reality to match their desires, and they will fool themselves. Control people's perceptions of reality and you control them.


24: Take the line of least expectation: Ordinary-Extraordinary

Upset expectations. First do something ordinary and conventional, then hit them with the extraordinary. Sometimes the ordinary is extraordinary because it is unexpected.


25: Occupy the moral high ground: Righteousness

The cause you are fighting for must seem more just than the enemy's. Questioning their motives and making enemies appear evil can narrow their base of support and room to maneuver. When you come under moral attack from a clever enemy, don't whine or get angry--fight fire with fire.


26: Deny them targets: The Void

The feeling of emptiness is intolerable for most people. Give enemies no target to attach. Be dangerous and elusive, and let them chase you into the void. Deliver irritating but damaging side attacks and pinpricks.


27: Seem to work for the interests of others while furthering your own: Alliance

Get others to compensate for your deficiencies, do your dirty work, fight your wars. Sow dissension in the alliances of others, weakening opponents by isolating them.


28: Give your rivals enough rope to hang themselves: One-upmanship

Instill doubts and insecurities in rivals, getting them to think too much and act defensive. Make them hang themselves through their own self-destructive tendencies, leaving you blameless and clean.


29: Take small bites: Fait Accompli

Take small bites to play on people's short attention span. Before they notice, you may acquire an empire.


30: Penetrate their minds: Communication

Infiltrate your ideas behind enemy lines, sending messages through little details. Lure people into coming to the conclusions you desire and into thinking they've gotten there by themselves.


31: Destroy from within: The Inner Front

To take something you want, don't fight those who have it, but join them. Then either slowly make it your own or wait for the right moment to stage a coup.


32: Dominate while seeming to submit: Passive-Aggression

Seem to go along, offering no resistance, but actually dominate the situation. Disguise your aggression so you can deny that it exists.


33: Sow uncertainty and panic through acts of terror: Chain Reaction

Terror can paralyze a people's will to resist and destroy their ability to plan a strategic response. The goal is to cause maximum chaos and provoke a desperate overreaction. To counter terror, stay balanced and rational.

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Hit 'n Run - opportunities by land AND by water ways; all told, presenting an asymmetric, puzzle-like, labyrinth with so many deployment permutations as to defy any singular walk-through. At least that is the idea. Again, a balancing act between unpredictable delight and challenges that do not slip into a sense of frustration at the unfairness of it all. Unlike RL with all its inherent unfairness & injustice, we want our games to be fundamentally fair & just in their challenges for that is central to the fun as much as is providing an unpredictable, but level, playing field to test your all around mettle.

This brings to mind the Great Game, an expression first associated with the RL espionage of the late 19th & early 20th century and somewhat popularized by the masterful yarn spinning of Rudyard Kipling. That original meaning of "Great Game" persisted through the Cold War but after the fall of the Iron Curtain has taken on other meanings not at all related to shady statecraft.

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The last post, and its raising of the RL Great Game, also led me upon reflection to consider something central to Frank Herbert's masterpiece "Dune" and, specifically, his creation of the religious order he dubbed The Bene Gesserit.

On page 19 of the novel there is this:

The Bene Gesserit Littainy against Fear

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."


Another related line from the story (& oft quoted):

"It is by will alone that I set my mind in motion".

The connection here, in my mind, is that all these varied fun battle opportunities I have spoken to as "Aqua Co-op SE" design components have yet another face in much the same way that the written Chinese character for crises is made-up from 2 characters - the one for danger & the other one for opportunity.

- RV

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