Deployed Buildings and uneven terrain

[ScarleTomato]

oh yeah! ill just do all my deploy buildings without terrain. thx for the reminder

[Commando]

I do still prefer the BZ1 building style, far less issues to deal with...  although not as pretty without the base plates...

I agree.  I miss the build anywhere and not having to be centered in a square system that bz1 used. 

[Avatar]

Avatar - where that breaks down is when the 'adjacent' items aren't at the same height to begin with.

That happens now and it makes the square unbuildable...  which is how it should be.

I'm not sure what checks a deploying building (recycler) does when deploying but it looks like maybe all it does is use the terrain height.  Would be nice if it looked for COPLANAR* terrain__h objects along the deploy square and used their height to deploy to. 

I agree.  I miss the build anywhere and not having to be centered in a square system that bz1 used. 

You can almost do the same thing in BZ2, but the terrain square size still puts things in odd places.  I'd love to have build anywhere as an option but who knows how that would affect pathing, collisions, that sort of thing.  I think everyone forgets just how frustrating BZ1 AI pathing was...   and would hate to see anything that made the still touchy BZ2 AI path any worse than they do now. 

-Av-

*and they said I'd NEVER use that word after High School...   

[TheJamsh]

that would affect ODF tunnels and everything i think. Build anywhere would be nice for walls and things though, but all really good strat games use terrain squares anyway...

i never played BZ1, but BZ2 pathing frustrates me sometimes, so i hate to think what it was like. if ODF tunnels are set up properly though they can make it much better

[Commando]

BZ1 was also affected by the hill humping bug, where ai units would get stuck on a steep hill then would try to climb said hill until something interfered with them.  Other than that, I think BZ1 units got caught on builings a lot less frequently than BZ2 units.  It has been a very long time since I have played BZ1 so I'm only going off of what I can remember.

[Avatar]

Lol...  that's a "Scav Trap".  They'd notice some scrap at the top of a hill, try to climb up to it only to find the hill too steep to get up.  They'd then start back down and lose their memory.  After that they'd notice the scrap and start up the hill again...  Bumping them out of the way didn't break the cycle, they'd keep going for that scrap as long as they lived.  Made killing them sortof satisfying...

As to buildings yes, BZ1 units had all kinds of troubles with buildings, which is why BZ1 buildings were 'soft'.  After a few minutes of shoving a vehicle would push right through them.  This was listed in one review as a major issue for the reviewer, spoiling the 'reality' of the scene.  It was necessary, though, to stop units becoming stuck on buildings.

It was explained as they had too few processor cycles to do decent pathing...  remember THOSE days???

-Av-

[Commando]

In bz2, combat units do the same thing so I doubt scrap pieces are 100% to blame.  In bz2 anyways, its as if the ai can't see a steep hill as unclimbable.

[Red Devil]

An entry was added in PB4_4a to stop combat units from doing that:


[CraftClass]
OffensiveProcessIsDistractable = false
OffensiveProcessIsDistractableAITeam = true

   This can be used to undo the mantis #892 fix above. In short, if
the appropriate (i.e. human or AI team) flag is false, then AI units
will 'stay on target' -- focus on their target until it (or they) are
dead. If the flag is true, then if they get hit by enemy fire on the
way to their target, they'll break and return fire on their attackers.
(And, like before, they may not get back to their original target if
they kill those interruptors).  [NM]