I like and appreciate the manner in which the maps are worlds. It gives the game a unique feel since you can't effectively corner yourself behind defenses, and you need to be able to anticipate attacks from multiple directions if you haven't got natural barriers in the way. However, a spherical map of this nature has some drawbacks when compared to the standard flat RTS map, particularly in readability and scouting. In SupCom the strategic zoom would go all the way out to the extent that you could see the entire map. This was extremely handy when you were scouting since at a glance you could see on the radar when your planes (or whatever) had spotted anything. The problem with a spherical map is that however far you zoom out, you are still only ever going to see a portion of the map, less than half by appearances. When you send scouting planes over the horizon, you actually need to keep tabs on them, viewing them directly or else you will likely miss the point at which they encounter the enemy. In terms of general readability of the maps this is a little bit confusing as well, since it's also not as easy to tell what route you should take to get to any location "fastest" sometimes. Similar when you've got things like ultra-long range weapons, since you don't want to build a big gun only to find it can't hit its target because it's going to be hitting a mountain in the way, because you thought it would be firing in the opposite direction. What I propose is a feature or option (not mandatory) whereby when you zoom out to maximum zoom, the world map becomes a flat representation of the world. Similar to standard RTS maps, except that this wraps around at the edges of the screen. If any of you remember playing Magic Carpet, that's effectively the concept I'm thinking of. The worlds themselves wrapped around as spheres, but bringing up the in-game map showed a flat representation. http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/magic ... Id,109022/ Now this also had (has?) some drawbacks. Unlike other games, a contiguous world map can sometimes lead to weird things like your base / units appearing twice on your view, depending on how zoomed out you are (you can see it in the above screenshot, although I think this could just be a matter of scaling the map correctly). And whilst I'm not sure of the mathematics behind it, I'm well aware that there's always been a problem with mapping what is effectively a globe onto a flat sheet. Which is why a single, scrolling map becomes necessary (and why what you're seeing may be duplicated). So in truth I don't know whether it's even technically possible to implement such a feature. But I do believe it would help make the in-game maps more readable. One thought I had was possibly having a "highlighted" area to show the non-repeating segment, so that you know everything outside that is effectively replicated Thoughts? Ordinarily I wouldn't ask for additional features so soon, but I figure the Alpha is the best place, if not to necessarily get this implemented, to at least point out that having a spherical world presents some unique challenges to scouting and readability which I feel may require attention. In a game about Macro, you don't want to be focusing solely on one unit whilst it does its fly-by. EDIT: If this post would be more appropriate elsewhere, I apologise, and will move it if that would be preferred.
Re: Feature request: Zoom to "flat" map The problem is that there will be many different planets and asteroid to look at, so I can't imagine any flat map that would be effective enough. But you will be able to split your screen into multiple windows so you can look at different places at the same time.
Re: Feature request: Zoom to "flat" map Which is why it would be on a per-planet basis. As it currently is, you already "snap" to a planet around which you pan and zoom. Having an alternate zoom where it displays a flat map wouldn't really be an issue at that point since either way you're still focussing on one world. I wouldn't suggest such a feature on a solar level or beyond. I'm not sure how that would even work.
Also, that screenshot you posted to is not by any stretch a spherical map that has been flattened out. In flat form it looks like a repeating square, so if you go off the top you arrive at the bottom, if you go off the left side you arrive on the right. From a topological perspective, I believe that to be a torus, not a sphere, therefore is not usable for PA There are a number of topics regarding the difficulties of representing a spherical surface as a flat map. All the problems are around distortion of shapes and distances, and are completely unavoidable. Check this link for a description of the problems: These are other topics where the problem is discussed There are more but I can't find them...
Thanks realtimeshepard, as stated this has already been discussed far too many times. As of right now, it's not going to happen. You need to get used to working on a sphere, not make the sphere into a "not-sphere".
They've said something about testing some solutions for that in the last livestream, I'm still hoping it will happen.
Isn't this the point of the game, it's taking RTS to a new place. You have to think almost in 360 degrees. I have had some real surprises already in the way players have attacked in PA. So I'm redefining my strategy, to adapt to the game. My old TA, SC tactics need a real work over. :geek:
I hope they decide against it being useful. I'd prefer some other way to display information than a minimap.
Indeed. My premise isn't to make the game "like other RTS's", it's to make it more readable. Even if there isn't a way to view the map in one go, I would suggest there needs to be a better means of getting information on what's happening across a given planet. Multi-window may be an option, but personal experience from SupCom was that it just added a lot of extra strain on the game and was never really as useful as simply going to strategic zoom. It's the same reason that nobody really used minimaps in that game. Not nearly as easy or convenient to read, even if technically all the data's still there in shrunken form. EDIT: However, if this topic is already in discussion elsewhere, then it's better to drop this thread.
