LOS Idea

[Shimo]

Developers please tell me what you think.

I was thinking that maybe it would be cool to incorporate a new way to represent LOS.

1. Instead of always having a fixed LOS from your buildings, what if you could only see what you're units could see? That way the sentries and guards that we see in the screenshots have more of a purpose rather than just being asthetic. Also, when moving your army, it would be necessary to send scouts out to ensure that you weren't walking into an ambush.

2. Also, what if your units' LOS had an alertness level based upon several factors such as: fatigue, morale and discipline. And so you're LOS would vary. For example, if a guard on top a tower/battlement turned is head to talk to his fellow guard then the enemy could sneak by.

Just a thought.

Shimo

[Frank Fay]

Sorry, maybe I am that dumb but what is "LOS" mate ?

[Jeremiah]

LOS=Line of Sight

[Shand]

Good to see they know what theyre on about. Fills me with confidence

[Greeny]

Now now, no need for that :nono:

[Shand]

Well anybody thats making a game like this and doesnt know what Line of Sight, is gonna run into problems

[Greeny]

Well past experience tells me to butt out of this hehe, but
i care to believe that it was a simple misunderstanding on his part.

And judging by the screenshots and info i've gathered on this
game i think they know what they're doing ;)

[Shand]

yeh yeh i know i just like to make sure theyre on their toes

[Frank Fay]

Well anybody thats making a game like this and doesnt know what Line of Sight, is gonna run into problems

I was asking about the abbreviation, lads :angel:

And not the meaning :)

[Carcassone]

geesh, give em a break everyone. LOS is an abbreviation of an english phrase....does the board remember where this game is being developed? :confused:

[BINGFA]

I am thinking that there would need to be individual calculations of each units fatigue etc that would then affect the area of LOS for that unit. Now multiply that by a few thousand units and it would mean a lot of CPU calculations for a very little and dubious game feature.

Unless you are really smashed up your eyesight range isn't really affected is it. I mean if you are dog tired you can still see a long way off if there is no obstructions.

I think that if you are going to have FOG & LOS and Reveal in a game then the traditional model is the best. With distance variations being given as a Unit type attribute.

I would not be happy with a no LOS on buildings either. It would be ****y for a army to be in your village or castle and you can't even see them. LOS on Buildings is a reward for either building them or capturing them.

How would you see a bunch of archers attacking your building if you had no LOS on it, unless it suddenly got LOS when attacked.

IMHO

[Shimo]

Well, buildings are built so they can provide use for people. Thus you build buildings so people use them. So, most buildings should have people inside or around them, which would enable you to see enemies. If however, the building is abandoned and not in use, it doesn't make sense that you gain the LOS "bonus" from that building.

[Greeny]

I agree.

That's one thing which pisses me off in most RTS games

[Pikeman]

And I'd quite like for my units to be able to see at least 60 (game) metres, as against the extremely short-sighted guys in AoK, who could sometimes only see about 5 metres, the maximum being about 20 m. And also: I would guess that buildings with people in would normally be able to spot an enemy, but I don't think that should count for unmanned walls and towers.

[Carcassone]

They could only see 5 meters in front of them because their helmets were to big and kept falling over their eyes...:D

[BINGFA]

You spend time and effort putting up a building to hopefully gain advantage over your enemy... you guys want to throw that away unless you have a unit standing in or near the building???

So what each building is going to take up a POP slot. Each building is now going to require extra micromanagement of a new unit type. "The building attendant".

Buildings are representations surely you can just pretend there is someone in it rather than trying to bog us down with more micro of static units. Pretend the Tavern has a Barmen in it or do we need a portly unit graphic with a sloppy apron on to enjoy the tactical advantage of LOS. Pretend there is a Blacksmith his wife and a son sitting near the furnace.

Imagine a Barracks in a traditional RTS no LOS, queue a unit , create a unit, suddenly LOS. OOps there was 10 enemy units outside my Barracks.

So say you have 30 plus buildings in your kingdom you want 30 Doormen? Do you need a unit standing next to the dock. to give you some LOS. If not suddenly it is gone by some unknown naval attack? Or should the LOS turn on suddenly when it is attacked even when you haven't got a unit there? Attack LOS?

Lets have the game generate building attendants that walk around the buildings that will look pretty, but chew up more CPU.

Surely the universal micro of any Game AI will make the job of assigning a LOS unit to each building much more efficient than a human player, unless AI is dumbed down.

I hope that this game will not be bogged down with seemingly nifty bits and micro management of irrelevant units. There are plenty of other games that already do that. KOH is supposed to make you KING of a Kingdom tomake Kingly decisions. I don't want to be King and have to say Hey John get down to the Docks because I can't see anything there?

In a RTS the last thing I want to be doing is micro managing Units to give me Building LOS.

IMHO

[Pikeman]

Maybe I expressed myself incorrectly. When I said "I would guess that buildings with people in would normally be able to spot an enemy.", I was referring to any peasants/attendants or whatever who might happen to be in the building at the time.:)

[HappyAdolf]

Normally everytime a guy is in a building ;)
In Barracks is always the soldiers' trainer, in Houses is either the child, the man or the wife, in castles resides the king, in workshops the workers work and live, so let's say every building is automatically occupied by units, just to satisfy everyone :D

[Kuno of Gersenau]

Why do you dig out such a old tread? :D Sorry, but I think nobody cares anymore about an answer...

[Bora]

yeh yeh i know i just like to make sure theyre on their toes

must agree to frank. i kniw what line of sight is, but when iread the topic i was not sure what you mean. people are getting ised to use lot of shortcuts, so dont be surprised if even more people get confiused of all the shortcuts. lets take a example,.. what would you think if i talk about WC? well most of you would mayxbe think i mean warcraft,.. other would still thinjk about wing commander and others maybe of water closete (toilet)
so you see, its not that easy to know what somone is talking about when he is useing a shortcut. ;)