So I'm making a partially forum-based, partially tactical wargame. I was hoping to use google maps to create some sort of system for simple tactical combat but I'm not great at rushing into code unawares. I want to at least be able to model speed, ammunition, fuel, cover, and elevation. I know cover will be a real pain in my ass, as will terrain-based speed, so I was hoping for suggestions on how to make at least markers that would move at a regulated speed to dynamically set points. Then I'd need to have something to show range, and start tracking casualties. As I type this, I'm increasingly daunted. I suppose I could just run it like a wargame, but in that case I'd at least like fluidly moving markers with class attributes that can be modified.
If you can get Chaim to pop his head in here sometime, he's done a lot with Google Maps for the CPOW project at the Army's Command and General Staff College.
That sounds similar to what I was starting over winter. Mine isn't really a wargame, it is more world simulation with a war component.
What do you mean by markers? You have 3 space, 1 time coordinates. You have have a distance formula with x,y,z (elevation) components. All you need is starting position, vector, time duration. You update the database to the new space-time position.
I think the difficulty is in having units that do things fast, making small time ticks, then other units that are slow, like ships on patrol. How do you keep the number of calculations down for slow rates of action, while keeping everything in sync with the fast objects?