ManGodAi4x / AquaCoop, Comic, Cinematic…Terminal Dark.

[Rman Virgil]

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A Fresco from one of the walls of The Last Redoubt: another lagniappe.

The Last Redoubt is the main Scav enclave on Aqua Co-op. Besides having master mechanics who pride themselves on their ingenuity in composite designing & fabricating out of "junk", integrating the old and the new, they also have artisans who depict Scav beliefs and values. This fresco was painted by the Scav artist Teocha-wakan within the first year after he had completed his apprenticeship under Master Quixota who was also known in his clan as "Plenty Belly Laughs". It depicts one of several motifs associated with the Scav belief in the circle of life's fierce aspect and the need to embrace it completely.
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[Rman Virgil]

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Hey Rman, this should be of your great interest: Overzealous Scavs [Ideas and suggestions]

Possibly it'll add even more cards to your deck - Why stick to a Straight if you can try a Straight Flush

Hopefully we'll see those changes in the next betas, since Per mentined that the scripting for that isn't troublesome

I'm still anxious to see how all those landmarks and points of gravity and tricky resource caches all look when together

~Olrox

Oh yes... I've been following it closely and it is an excellent direction of development and a very promising stock construct for the immediate future. I have no doubt about that and I will integrate it into this project.

I will go even further.

As you and your teammates are effecting an Art Revolution in WZ's stock GFX art assets we are also at the vanguard of a WZ Map Making Revolution.

There are 3 interlocking, primary, components to this WZ Map Making Revolution as I understand it.

First is, of course, Flail13's "FlaME".

Second is the special Player 7 Scav A.I. as being deved by Per.

Third is the careful artistry invested in out-of-the-box designs by map makers like your self who are taking full advantage of the first 2 components - FlaME & Player 7 Scavs.

The biggest impact will be on MP game play - it's gonna expand it big time in ways that will make for much, much, more varied ways of fun game play.

And I do believe that part of that revolutionary MP GP expansion will go down the road of creating a strongly compelling Campaign feel and immersion. Not only that, but this MP Campaign-like immersion will include an escalating trend to Co-op play that is also way more varied and challenging than what has been possible to date. Co-op teams will have more opportunities to coordinate Mission Objectives that map makers can now design-embed via pure map making craft.

As for "Aqua Coop SE" - I will integrate Per's changes and you will then be the first to test it out besides myself. I trust your judgment and indeed do count on your evaluation and insights to help me make it better than it would be without benefit of your input...

- Regards, RV
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[Rman Virgil]

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Another major change I'm experimenting with here in Aqua Co-op SE is yet something else I'm lifting from my work on the "WS 2113" Map-Mod.

If you have followed my postings over that last 4-5 years you will note a major thread that revolves around bringing UAV Intel Tech into WZ GPMs.

My reasoning from the get go was simply that it's absence in the WZ game world was a major over sight and could in no way be explained away or justified as anything but a flaw in design.

Since those years past when it was first raised in the context of WZ, RL Military UAV Intel Recon strat-tacs has certainly proven the soundness of this and not only that but recent RTS games have also successfully incorporated this tech in their GPMs.

Now the work I did originally in "WS 2113" Map-Mod in this area completely subverted FoW (Fog of War).

My approach in this project is more measured, more incremental, and I think more elegant.

The reasoning is straight forward.

I'm one of those map makers who no longer builds advanced bases. I used to back in the day but not here and I have my reasons which could change for future projects.

But for this project the start bases are minimalist - an HQ and 2 Trucks with what I have chosen as the most optimal number of start base Oil Resources for what I'm designing over-all.

Here is where the logic comes in and dovetails with the UAV Intel Tech & the measured subversion of standard FoW.

An HQ & 2 Trucks..... how so ? Were they "magically teleported" before start of game to the opening location ?

I posit NOT. I posit, essentially, Airlift.

Perfectly logical. However, that may NOT be enough to make it a viable change in GPMs.

Still experimenting with it and am not yet sure I will include it in the final release.

It's a very, very, simple change introduction that anyone can do and I'm sure I don't have to spell it out.

That said, for all its logic and simplicity it has much in common with a specific concept in the science of emergence - chaos known as the "Butterfly Effect".

The Butterfly Effect here totally revolves around the measured subverting of FoW from the get-go.

My gut tells me it can be viable and that the current FoW implementation falls under the heading of a down and dirty design implementation that unduly dumbs-down the GPMs.

I could certainly be mistaken in all this. Time and experimentation will tell whether I go forward and make this component a part of the final release.

- RV
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[Rman Virgil]

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......

Hopefully we'll see those changes in the next betas, since Per mentined that the scripting for that isn't troublesome

....... ~Olrox

As a follow-up to my first response above....


If Per posts all his new script changes we would not have to wait for subsequent beta releases to test and work with the new Scav A.I..... we could just put Per's new scripts into the data/base/multiplay/script/scavfact.slo of the current binary / data set ourselves.

At least I think that would work OK..

- RV

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[Olrox]

If Per posts all his new script changes we would not have to wait for subsequent beta releases to test and work with the new Scav A.I..... we could just put Per's new scripts into the data/base/multiplay/script/scavfact.slo of the current binary / data set ourselves.

At least I think that would work OK..

- RV

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Yeah, Per finished the code, I've replaced the original script and it works just fine! Good stuff

~Olrox

[Rman Virgil]

If Per posts all his new script changes we would not have to wait for subsequent beta releases to test and work with the new Scav A.I..... we could just put Per's new scripts into the data/base/multiplay/script/scavfact.slo of the current binary / data set ourselves.

At least I think that would work OK..

- RV

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Yeah, Per finished the code, I've replaced the original script and it works just fine! Good stuff

~Olrox

Sweet ! I'll grab it tonight after work & get back into SE... This will make for even more fun - on both the creating & playing sides of it all.

- RV
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[Rman Virgil]

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Have now worked some with Per's new Scav .slo Script and I thoroughly second Olrox's appraisal from his recent experience of working with 'em on his own "The Lost River" project. Really good advancement.

Highly recommend that all you folks working on maps with Scavs do the upgrade - just takes a second literally.

Most of the adjustments I'm now making because of this are not really too time consuming and very much worth the investment.

As far as I can tell you can achieve a seemingly endless variety of very interesting, fresh & fun game play effects with Scavs and it's a piece of cake without having to write scripts and do it all via pure map making craft.

There is just one other area I will explore later in the Elite Edition of Aqua Co-op and that is giving Scavs some AA Defense and some offensive Air Power. Not going to go overboard on it - just some, because having none at all makes no sense to me and is also their main Achilles Heel at present. I did it in WS2113 by .txt modding, using Black Project's work, and some CAM style scripting but I'm thinking now that maybe I should build on Per's work instead because it would make it a lot easier for mappers to integrate into their own unique creations. Hmmm... I'll figure it out after I'm done with this Stock Edition of Aqua Co-op.

On a side note: Achieving CAM-like game play effects through pure map making craft utilizing Player 7 Scavs has an inherent and elegant "dynamism" that is absent from conventional, linear, Campaign scripting. That dynamism reminds me of a type of Campaign created with a mission "branching" technique. Hmmm...

- RV

Some Gratuitous Screen Caps..
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Serenity 3.jpg

[Rman Virgil]

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Current Map Overview:

I'm not sure I'll ever again make one as big and as intricately detailed. It's mainly the balancing permutations that are starting to kick my butt some; twist my brain like a pretzel too.

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[Rman Virgil]

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Some Intricacies Close-Up:

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[Rman Virgil]

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On the Way to Kavin's Keep:

Kavin's Keep is located in the far south western sector of Aqua Co-op. It is the base platform for the less experienced player of one of the 2-man teams that are at the core of the map's game play & which embodies a multi-faceted form of "Team Mate Specializing" and "Variable Skill Handicapping".

Throughout Aqua Co-op, if you have an opportunity to catch your breath, you will see Scav handiwork hither & yon that reflect their fundamental beliefs expressed in the shaping of the very landscape itself. Think of Paleolithic Art, Pre-Colombian ruins & artifacts, the stone heads on Easter Island, and such.

The screen cap below is of a Scav Stele just inland of the south eastern shore of Kavin's Keep, not far as the crow flies from the main Scav Fortress & Enclave known as The Last Redoubt.

This Stele represents a common Scav motif and credo.

It is called WICOH'AN OTEHIKE - which translates as "the difficult path."

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[theArmourer]

I don't get any of the scavenger designs.

[macuser]

Do you mean you don't UNDERSTAND the scav designs or just you can't DOWNLOAD the mod or they don't SHOW UP in the mod for you?

-regards macuser

[Olrox]

I don't get any of the scavenger designs.

I'd go more into the root and ask, what do you mean by "scav designs"?

~Olrox

[Rman Virgil]

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I don't get any of the scavenger designs.

I'd go more into the root and ask, what do you mean by "scav designs"?

~Olrox

Ditto to Olrox's question.

I will oblige speaking to it if I am clear on what you mean by "Scav Designs".

- RV

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[Rman Virgil]

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Kavin's Keep: more work on its topo details. Sometimes it seems like I'm laying hands on, & crafting one way or an other, most of the 65,000 + tiles that comprise Aqua Co-op in order to satisfy the totality of my vision.

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