Forgive me if this has already been discussed - I didn't see anything after a quick search. One of the things that always bothered me in TA and SupCom was how difficult it is to determine where and how much reclaimable metal/energy there is on the map. On some maps, you had to know exactly which tiny itty bitty things to reclaim in order to even stay competitive. Reclaim is such a huge part of being good at these games, and I think trying to figure it out could be a barrier to new people. To me it adds way more complexity to the economic system than the flow model does. I know Uber is all about adding transparency and making the data in the game as easy to grok as possible. I don't necessarily have a solution (maybe a 'reclaim density' overlay or something?), so I'm just wondering if they've thought about this, or if anyone else even thinks it is an issue.
I have been wishing for a reclaim-densitry overlay mod for FA for years. A simple overlay that is visible from a zoomed out perspective that shows where lots of wrecks are would be pretty awesome. Currently you basically have to remember where fights happened, especially since the LOD of FA hides away all wrecks when you zoom out and I have not found the correct console-commands to correctly "disable" the LOD without creating pretty weird graphical bugs. I really hope LOD stuff like this will be configurable in PA, since computers will be more powerful overtime PA would be able to scale with that until you can just render everything even from a fully zoomed out view.
I agree. Even harder than remember where fights happened, however, is knowing how much a certain patch of trees will give you in mass, or a certain patch of rocks. This information is so hidden in previous games that it is hard for the player to make a good decision. Further compounding the problem in PA will be the procedurally generated maps. You will no longer be able to memorize where all of the best places are for reclaiming. It would basically be a guessing game at that point without sufficient information. The information doesn't have to be conveyed in an overlay. There could, for example, be only a small set of reclaimable objects on maps, and their reclaim values could be clearly explained in a tutorial. I guess that doesn't really help when you have dozens of different types of robot husks lying around to choose between.
indeed, i hated having to scan a map i never played before for that random destroyer wreck or boulder
That doesn't follow for wreckages, as unit/structure size doesn't map directly to mass value. Also, you can partially reclaim things, so that too means no correlation. Unless you are referring to size of strategic icon, in which case, sounds good. There should also be values shown when you hover.
Taking inspiration from the Spring engine: 1. When you mouseover a wreck, tree, feature or unit with reclaim command you would see how much resources you get from reclaiming that thing. 2. When you draw reclaim area command you see how much resources you get from reclaiming all features in that area. This makes it easy to access how much reclaim there is in an area.
Not necessarily, wrecks (and anything else) that is placed on the map before the match starts had a arbitrary values attached to it. The mapper could basically place 10 tiny civilian trucks right next to each other have one of them be worth 1000 mass while all others are worthless. The information of how much mass is within a wreck (also how much mass is LEFT, since stuff can be partially reclaimed) is totally hidden away in FA. As far as I remember even TA displayed the numbers.
Yes, you know what a brick corpse looks like, and that it is worth much more than the mass of most wrecks around it. You can zoom in and look around for those select targets to reclaim first. But I don't see this as a great solution. 1) You have to zoom in close to look for high reclaim spots 2) You have to play the game a lot before you know what all of the 'good' wrecks look like. Even then there is no way to know in-game how much mass you will get from the wreck. To me, the micro of looking for and selecting individual reclaimables isn't ideal for this type of game. Add to that the learning curve needed to pick out ideal wrecks and the completely unclear mass values of reclaimables placed pre-game and you've got a pretty confusing and non-transparent system, especially for new players to this sub-genre.
Heightmaps, heatmaps, densitymaps..... Whatever you call them doesnt matter. Look at many of the simulation games that have them, they are dammmmmnnnn usefull.
BTW: they allready have soemthing similar to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5Qyl7h7D1Q8#t=2239s
Well, I generally don't have to think long before I choose between a big rock or a destroyer, but what annoys me most of the time is how much focus there is on reclaim. I am building my eco up very carefully and then someone else has a lot more mass because he spotted a destroyer wreck near his base and therefore he has a huge advantage, even though my eco is better. I would love to see a slider in the Planetgenerator for the amount of reclaim on the map so we can perhaps give weaker players a bonus on their planet in the amount of reclaim.
yep But could be used as starting point for something like heatmap overlay actually the other only gray green red thing is even better.
Then play on maps not made by insane mappers. Imo, if reclaim of preset map objects will have a large impact on the game, it has to be incorporated into the standard ui. Simple solution: Give reclaimables their own strategic icons. (Not for energy of course. Don't need to cover a forest with icons for energy claims... :mrgreen: ) Maybe scale the icon to the amount of metals? (And for sure, give the metal amount number for stuff. No clue why that wasn't in SC.) Also: Area reclaim commands deal with the micro needs for it pretty effectively.
Only reclaim in small concentration beyond a certain relevant threshold should show up in strategic zoom. What that threshold is could be decided by the user. Another approach would be for significant reclaims to generate in certain recognizable patterns such as always in mountain biomes or adjacent plateaus. I disliked the wreck reclaim that was placed on most SupCom maps as it required you to have a cursory knowledge of what individual unit wrecks were worth and knowledge of where the wrecks were before playing.
