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Post by phoenix on Jan 10, 2014 16:40:58 GMT -6
I think I read somewhere (in here, I assume) that the ships graphics are roughly twice RL size, as it were. Is that right? I've been perplexed by the absence of collisions and explosions when ships run into each other, it seems, or torpedoes pass through ships. Where is the point on the ship graphic that the actual ship 'is'? Is it - whatever its size - at the centre of the ship graphic? And why aren't the ship graphics 1:1 size?
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Post by randomizer on Jan 10, 2014 18:38:39 GMT -6
Friendly ships are deliberately immune to ramming each other during scenarios. Collisions may occur with enemy ships however, with damage based on size, speed and aspect of the rammer and ramee.
If you adjust the zoom and use the map scale you can see, depending upon the level of zoom, that the ship graphics may appear closer to representative size. FW will need to confirm but I believe that SAI models the actual size for hit and collision tests rather than the icon apparent size.
The apparent size of some icons is based on the type so that the icon for a 10,000 ton cruiser may appear smaller than that of a 10,000 battleship. An example of this is the map icon for CA Chin Yen in the RJW campaign actually displays smaller than the almost identical B Ting Yuan from the Battle of the Yalu scenario.
Thanks.
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Post by phoenix on Jan 11, 2014 6:36:14 GMT -6
Thanks Randomizer. I hope they do use actual size to compute hits etc, though I understand that the 'counters' are an abstraction, more like unit counters in wargames, than something that represents the actual 'footprint' of the boat in physical space. That said, I was just reading again about all the friendly collisions during the night at Jutland - they're not modelled at all, then? The AI steers perfectly?
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Post by randomizer on Jan 11, 2014 10:18:14 GMT -6
If you have played either version of SAI you should have seen that AI steering is anything but perfect and each of your AI captains should be slightly different at reacting. Rather the decision not to include friendly collisions in action makes some sense because, from a game design standpoint features like this can prove to be a no-win with the Players. How many friendly collisions are too many? What algorithms should be used? Too many collisions and people complain, too few and people complain, make it an option and you're spending development time and resources on a feature that most Players will likely disable after some inopportune collision experiences.
What to do?
SAI models collisions with enemy ships so the Nassau-Spitfire collision during the night action is certainly possible while the Posen-Elbing collision will not happen in action. The campaign models collision attrition and at the end of a Campaign turn you may see a window advising you that a collision has occurred and two ships end up in the repair queue.
Thanks.
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Post by fredsanford on Jan 11, 2014 10:41:19 GMT -6
Be careful what you wish for. There's another Jutland game on the market that does allow collisions in a quote-unquote "true physics" environment. And the AI-controlled fleets are like a demolition derby of stupid. IMO a good design philosophy is "Don't include features the AI can't handle".
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Post by phoenix on Jan 11, 2014 10:42:39 GMT -6
I wasn't complaining, just asking! As you said, if it was in there, and I had a choice, for sure I'd switch it off!! Thanks for the reply.
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