"War School"-A Map/Mod W.I.P.-locked sticky

[whippersnapper]

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SNAP ! The bocage influence manifest...

[Buginator]

@ Bug: Yes ... I know, if you squint he sorta looks like the actor Sean Connery but I think I'm cool with Sean and that he
won't be coming after me for my apparent audacity.

Regards, whipper
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heh.... you know, I was going to say the scientist from HL, or was it HL2?

[whippersnapper]

heh.... you know, I was going to say the scientist from HL, or was it HL2?

When you pointed it out, I could see it..... so I changed the face. His gleeful expression
below hints at blood lust as he is firing a beam weapon. I might change that 'cause
it doesn't feel to me like a good fit for his character.

Anyway..... here's "Bearheart" v. 3.... (I didn't post v.2, might use for an other character.)
I can't see any other game or movie character resemblance.

Alright then.... back to doing Akbar's son "Chandar"....

EDIT: As you can see I'm also toying around with a logo of sorts.
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[whippersnapper]

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First cut of the character Chandar...... Hmmm....May have to age his father Akbar some...
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[whippersnapper]

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I re-worked Akbar (top) so that he looks a bit older and so that there is a stronger family resemblance to Chandar

I also made some changes to Mallory hoping to convey more of a conflicted soul since in a very real sense he straddles
both the Scav and Project world views.

Back to mapping for a spell now that I'm close to set on the character visuals of "Truce", the back story novella .PDF and cinematic for "War School"...
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[whippersnapper]

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Vertex tweaking water, ramps, causeways and cliff-face makes for a Zen, trance-like, state where you lose track
of hours passing. If you have elevated blood pleasure or asthma it could be an alleviating activity.... & you eventually
end up with a map too. Emphasis on "eventually"...
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[whippersnapper]

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I've mentioned that "War School" is being optimized for NiKer's Become Prey v. 2.92 as it exists now. Below I have aggregated my principal
observations on how it plays in the context of Player Tactical Styles (IE. "Hard & Soft Shell Turtle", "Octopus", "Eagle" & "Orca") AND specific base map designs.

Eventually, I would like to modify "Become Prey" to use Hover Trucks and Hover Sensors derived from Prometheus's "H2O A.I."
from back in 2001 AND later, hopefully, the Tank Transport Drops from Troman's 1st iteration of "Aivolution" back in 2005.

For me, this would be the UBER WZ Skirmish A.I. because it could handle ANY type map including heavy water island maps and other
stuff I'm not gonna get into. All this comes second to my other main game work so it is gonna take some time but that's fine 'cause it
must remain fun for me since that is the principle reward.

And now to my collected thoughts on Skirmish A.I. and Map Design...

In discussing Coyote's new map modoricam1a in it's last iteration (Coyote is still working on it) I wrote a few days ago:

This is a great example of how topography and oil resource quantity and placement directly influence a.i. scripting

I tested T3 advanced bases against Become Prey.

BP played a pure Hard-Shell Turtle Game.

Next... same settings on "Fish Nets" and BP played an aggressive Octopus.....the total opposite strategy.

I still find stuff like this fascinating as well it directly influences me in what I do in my own work.

My early assessment - those who love long Turtle skirmish will thoroughly enjoy this experience.

How this will play for those who like Rush.... I can't tell..... Would be interesting to hear some war stories coming from those who favor that strat.

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There have been over 1000 maps made over the last 10 years. A great majority seriously flawed in one way or another. The biggest flaw being that most map-makers do not understand the nuances of HOW skirmish A.I.s work and using that knowledge to inform their map designs. (This can also be the reason for many path-finding problems.... Though of course PF can always be improved like, for example, through multi-threading, but that's another story..)

Become Prey plays out differently... VERY differently, depending on the amount oil placed and where it is placed.

YOUR responsibility as a Skirmish Player is to understand the qualitative differences that MAP DESIGNS invoke out of a particular AI like "BP"..

I'm gonna spell out some of the basic criteria for this.

Maps designed with 12-16 oil wells in the base perimeter will make BP play like a Hard Shell Turtle.... it will build like so -

No need to fight over resources. What you are really fighting for is end-game map dominance. That leads to a ground game that is pure attrition... So that your ultimate goal must become a race for Air Supremacy.

Source Thread here: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3014

Indeed... Under these conditions BP will focus on magnificent base defenses to the exclusion of Octopus and Eagle Tactics - pure Hard-Shell Turtle...

Now if the map has 7, 6, 5, OR 4 oil wells within the base perimeter BP will play entirely different. It will expand and claim external oil resources immediately. It will build multiple combat groups and deploy them aggressively. It will build as soon as possible an Air Force and use it aggressively (it has extensive Vtol scripting which is triggered, I've seen it deployed against me countless times on scores of well designed maps. I started testing-playing this BP iteration August 2008 so I have run it under a wide range of map conditions & play configurations over the course of the last 9 months.).

In short, BP will play (research, build units, build bases, deploy ground & air force combat groups) depending on how much money (+oil wells) it starts the game with and then after - how much oil it can claim quickly outside the immediate base perimeter landscape.

Also - BP does NOT have to cheat to increase the challenge level... you merely work with alliance configurations. You want the toughest possible conditions you play 1 v. 7 against BP. TOO hard - you knock it down to 2 v 6... or play a 4-player map at 2 v. 2.

You think BP does not pose enough of a T3 challenge - play 1 v. 1 on "Startup" map... It will hand you your butt in under 20 minutes in most cases. Same with the stock "Rush" maps 1 v. 3.. Other maps too, explore for your self... Making pronouncements based on your one favorite map is slanted, biased & irresponsible IMHO.

If you wanna see and play against BP on a map that invokes the full range of tactics from Turtle** to Octopus (aggressive expansion, multiple combat groups) to Eagle (Air Supremacy combined with a ground game) try Coyote's memonia9 here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2713

There other good maps that have the necessary conditions to bring-out this diversity of BPs tactical scripting.... explore... find the maps that are well designed for skirmish, play around with different alliance configurations. Can't have everything handed to you on a silver platter and spoon fed to ya, by golly - you gotta work it too to have the best fun experience that suits your individual tastes..

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** Addendum:

* Quote Zarel: "Aww, another one of those maps with 16-20 oil resources in the base, and none anywhere else. Some of us like the resource war, you know. As well as having to manage power. :/ Don't give in to the turtles, man!" (End Zarel's quote)

I have that same sense as well.

In my own head, work and play preference I conceptualize 2 classes of Turtle: "Soft-Shell Turtle" and "Hard-Shell Turtle"..

This map favors "Hard-Shell Turtle": No need to fight over resources. What you are really fighting for is end-game map dominance. That leads to a ground game that is pure attrition... So that your ultimate goal must become a race for Air Supremacy..

On the other hand...

The Soft-Shell Turtle design allows for resource-fighting AND some Turtleing.. And that begins, for me anyway, by never putting more than 7 wells in the Base Perimeter (usually i only place 6 within)... I have found that this satisfies the "Soft-Shell Turtle" in me while also making sure that I must take aggressive scouting & expansion into account (what I call the "Octopus") which in addition means the ground game is still viable to advance (which I enjoy) and not merely an exercise in attrition (which I find more tiresome than fun... but others surely will feel different about that mix..) and then, of course Air Supremacy is just part of your land maneuver (which I call the "Eagle" strat) and NOT just an exclusive race
to research, design and build a multitude of the most powerful Vtol body and weap.

regards, whipper

PS: On maps where water plays a significant role in Tactics and Strategy I have dubbed the play type as "Orca".

NOTE: Within my above classification-nomenclature, "Rush" style is a sub-set of the Octopus....


Regards, whipper

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[whippersnapper]

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My third and final original music upload: Truce Sampler 3... (same dl instructions below).

It's little over a meg and is likely to figure heavily in the Truce Cinematic music sound track
(there's also the characters dialogue track & SFX..)

In this sample I have tried to create 2 distinct musical motifs and have them entwine like creeping vines on a castle bulwark,
a castle under siege. In my imagination this "entwining" represents the engagement of the factions.

One motif represents the Scav Faction and is identified immediately by my keyboard work.

The other faction (let's call 'em the "ManGodAi") is invoked by my electric guitar riffing.


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Here's the download link @ File Factory:

* TruceSampler 3 - .MP3 File

http://www.filefactory.com/file/ag02543 ... pler_3_zip

It will take you to a page where you'll have to select "Download for free with File Factory Basic"

Then you'll have to enter a visual recognition code intended to defeat Spam Bots.... after that
you can download the .zip

Years ago I emulated the original WZ music in several original tunes. They turned-out fine but
ultimately left me cold as a composer. While I do enjoy listening to that style of music, it doesn't
warm the cockles of my heart to compose and play. As far as I'm concerned, been there 'n done that.
I've moved on to a more original sound for my WZ work..... take it or leave it.

If anyone wants to discuss anything in this thread just give a holler, otherwise I am outta dodge to
focus some on my Illustrated "Truce" novella .PDF. which as mentioned earlier is the backbone
of this project for me as it has led to the creation of everything else.

Regards, whipper

[whippersnapper]

I am outta dodge to focus some on my Illustrated "Truce" novella .PDF. which as mentioned earlier is the backbone
of this project for me as it has led to the creation of everything else.

It usually starts with characters in my imagination dealing with each other in a hairy situation which has some payoff at the end.
From the language of the resulting story come my visuals and then music (in an other project, the code-scripting comes last)...

Below is my early working-out of the visual landscape renders that will be part of the illustrations for the "Truce" story. In other words,
the characters are traveling, from different directions, through this landscape to reach the sacred caldera where all four
will meet for the first time. These are preliminary explorations of the "Eagle-eye View" for the .PDF. The more dramatic
"Ground-level View", with the characters, I will render cinematically for the weather effects that are much a part of the story..
I'll probably do an "Eagle-eye View" of the sacred caldera as well which I may or may not use in the cinematic's montage sequence -
won't decide that until my final cut in editing..
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[whippersnapper]

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I'll probably do an "Eagle-eye View" of the sacred caldera as well which I may or may not use in the cinematic's montage sequence -
won't decide that until my final cut in editing..

The journey descending to the basin of the Seven Nations Sacred Caldera must be made on foot and
will test the mettle of Bearheart more so than the other 3 - in ways physical and those not at all tangible
that must yet be grasped in the letting go or perish. .
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[whippersnapper]

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This render is closer to how I describe the Caldera in the "Truce" novella. Looking on down at the floor the
topography's metamorphic rock faces are more suggestive of the volcanic origins and I'm also playing around
with evoking a "sickly sky" - still not quite there to my eye.

NOTE: I've decided not to use Acrobat or Digital Editions for the illustrated "Truce" novella. Instead I'm
gonna use an e-book maker that has, for me, a far richer tool set and out of which I can compile the finished product
as an independent runtime executable.
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[whippersnapper]

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Playing around with the Illustrated E-book cover art - still in WIP phase:
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[whippersnapper]

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Never say never.

When I work on this music I think in three phases: "Before the Battle", "The Battle" and "After the Battle".

This fourth Sampler is my starting to work-out an "After the Battle" musical motif.

It is unplugged - acoustic guitar and baby grand, both miked. The composition simple compared
to the earlier pieces..... not at all a heavily layered multi-tracking mix... the tempo is the slowest by far too.

Here's the download link @ File Factory:

* Truce Sampler 4.rar - .MP3 File

http://www.filefactory.com/file/ag172b7 ... pler_4_rar


It will take you to a page where you'll have to select "Download for free with File Factory Basic"

Then you'll have to enter a visual recognition code intended to defeat Spam Bots.... after that
you can download the .zip

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NEXT: I'll post the short opening section of the Illustrated "Truce" story which is entitled:

"Overture: Out of Trinity and Grey Beard"

To make it simple and independent of the executable but still show the illustrated text it will be a
capture.

l8r, whipper
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[whippersnapper]

--------------------------------> NEXT: I'll post the short opening section of the Illustrated "Truce" story which is entitled:

"Overture: Out of Trinity and Gray Beard"

To make it simple and independent of the executable but still show the illustrated text it will be a
capture.

So here is the first of 2 posts showing the short opening sequence of the illustrated Truce story. It breaks naturally
into 2 parts and I'll post the 2nd part l8r.

I edit without end and when I went back to the completed story I also saw where adding a whole new section was justified so
I'm in the midst of writing that and integrating the whole seamlessly.

Anyway, as I continue to work on stuff, here's a taste from the beginning of the yarn which sets the table for the whole of it.

Attached below: The Roadless Way Out of Trinity......... NEXT: The Roadless Way Out of Gray Beard
(These are lower res than the original by a wide margin.... and very likely to evolve between now and final release in
both text and graphic composition as I tinker tirelessly..)
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[whippersnapper]

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I revised the language throughout The Roadless Way Out of Trinity from yesterday and replaced the attached file in my last post.
That's how it goes with me till I let go to move on to something else. Fascinating on so many levels, all of this, that the prefix "meta"
comes to mind. Now riddle me that ! Nah, j/k....

Regards, whipper

EDIT: So as to make this post more of a boon (or lagniappe as they say in New Orleans)
here's another Elijah Bearheart asset I'll not be using in the illustrated story or cinematic even
though on its own it is fine...... just can't use it all.
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