The "Uber" Command: Modern Air/Naval Ops Thread

[MikeGER]

Those things crossed my mind too when I watched that video. Not really the best way to advertise what the game truly has to offer, imho.

Having played the game - I totally agree.

Unfortunately we live in a world where marketing is king...and that is pure and simple a marketing video. It's designed to sell the game - not show people how the game plays.

The only way you'd ever really get the truth about how a game plays is to watch an unedited, perhaps even no commentary, video of someone playing the game

+1

i hope interested customers view the 5 tutorial videos first, before they hit the buy-button in a kneejerk reflex ... and will not be disappointed later.

-on a side note: overlay works like a charm   

now if i only get the Reds to attack the bridge ...yesterday the lonly Fishbed refused to do his assigned mission ....well, me and the learning curves ;) but exploring the sandbox is part of the fun! 8) 

[Dimitris]

It goes without saying that, had we been aware of the map zoom/pan lag during testing, it would have received top priority for resolution. It simply didn't appear - and that was with a substantial (500+) beta pool.

We are looking into this now very carefully.

[JudgeDredd]

MikeGer

Does the overlay "recognise/match" the terrain underneath?

Can you say how you did this with any degree of accuracy (making sure the overlay matched the terrain in the game engine?)

[Dimitris]

That's pretty easy if you export the image from a GIS app that provides geo-referencing for the file (almost all of them do).

[MikeGER]

JD, the tool-program does it automatically, no hassle at all
(get the little program, mark the area of interest, let it do its work, save the file, rename it, switch to C:MNAO, import the file, wait a few seconds, its 132MB in this example  ...and its there )     
 
taking into account that C:MNAO works IIRC with a smoothed 900m tile elevation grid, its fitting quite well, actually the smaller deep valleys in the landscape get smoothed, so they are a little deeper in reality
(see the smaller road bridge, lower right corner, above the Autobahn guarded by the Infantry platoon, the hills are about 300m above sealevel, the valley is 261m in google earth and 281m in C:MNAO , and the bridge is 50m high in reality.... )     

the elevation of my HQ i am just typing from they got quite well  ;)

       

[JudgeDredd]

Sorry - what little program?

And thanks for the explanation. I'd be very interested in doing things like this for little scenarios

[Dimitris]

Maybe worth another tutorial video, as it seems to be a popular feature.

[JudgeDredd]

And Dimitris - can you change the colour of the range circles? Those (on MikeGers example) look difficult to see

[JudgeDredd]

Dimitris

I can't remember - do you have a "dedicated" Youtube page for your videos? I think it would be worth linking to your "Lets Play" (if that's what they're called) videos rather than people searching for them.

[Dimitris]

We have a "welcome" thread at the very top of the Matrix forum for new guys coming in: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/announcement.asp?id=26

This has the links to the tutorial videos plus links to our downloads page (extra scenarios, DB images etc.)/

Then there is our own pre-release video series: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL97A190B080EEF62C

[JudgeDredd]

Thank you

[MikeGER]

JD its called GMAP and can be found here http://greatmaps.codeplex.com/ 

further evaluation of imported map with river, upper left corner (who is known to be at the deepest point in a valley ;-) ) shows there can be a horizontal mismatch derivation of about 150- 200m between the elevation map and the river shown in the overlay picture.
BUT 'my overlayed' river is still shown deep down in the big valley at 181m height instead of running at the deepest point of 169m in C:MNAO and in reality its 154m above see level...

Not bad considering its a planetary wide game! (900m tiles) and for the purpose of contour flight using the valley as a hidden approach quite sufficient:)   

....
Dimitris, the Ivans planes in my sandbox scenario refuse to go below 200m above the ground,  even so i ordered them to 61m
could that be a feet/meters problem? ...because 60 meters are about 200 feet and some little routine in the AI doesn't know i am using meters, and may have a hard-coded '200' digit in its line   

[Dimitris]

Hi Mike,

The AI calculates on its own the minimum safe height by taking into account a number of factors:
* Aircraft size - the smaller the aircraft, the lower it can go safely
* Weather conditions - the better the weather (particularly day/night, rain & wind/sea state), the lower the aircraft can go
* Terrain avoidance / following radar - allows aircraft to go half again as low
* Overland/overwater - tolerances are more relaxed over water

For an example of _extremely_ low flying (overwater and in good weather conditions) see the Arg A-4s in "Sea of Fire".

Thanks!

[MikeGER]

 ...i replaced the Red-side plane in this exercise with a Tornado (which is famous for its low altitude strike capability)  ...and it goes in with 61m above the ground as planed  8) :)

a F4 Phantom likes to be at least 200m above the surface  ;)

[RedArgo]

We have a "welcome" threat at the very top of the Matrix forum for new guys coming in

That doesn't sound very friendly! :)