What is the best scale of maps to use?

[NBrenner6]

What scale are the topographic maps that are included on the CD with POA-2? Does anyone know? Are they 1:50,000, 1:100,000 or what? Some of these maps can be hard to come by. I'm just wondering how easy it is going to be for scenario authors to add new maps.

[Don Maddox]

That's a very good question. I'll check it out and get back with the results.

[Don Maddox]

Here is Scott's answer:


You can use any scale of map you like with POA-2, but yes, some will work better than others. It can get complicated, however, because users can set their own “meters per pixel” scale by creating new symbol sets. So, I can’t give you the best size for every situation that will ever come up.
However, since most users will use the default symbol set, we’re looking at 10, 20, and 70 pixels per 100 meters for each zoom, respectively. That works out to a scale in meters per pixel (mpp) of 10 mpp, 5mpp, and 1.4 mpp for each zoom level. At those scales (less than 1.5 meters per pixel), you want to be using the largest scale map you can find, e.g., a 1:25,000 map will work better than 1:50,000 one.

The maps used for the scenarios were between 1:25,000 and 1:50,000.
Okay, this could be complicated...

Finding 1:50,000 maps isn't too bad, but 1:25,000 are much more difficult to get. Aviator maps are the most common maps of that scale, but they frequently have all sorts of misc navigational overlays on them. If anyone knows of a good source for maps please post it.

[Black Moria]

A good source for maps of almost any location in the world is Omnimap. Check out their Russian topographic map section as well. They have maps from scales 1:500,000 to 1:25,000 with 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 being the most common.

Here is the link to their website.

Omnimap website main page (http://www.omnimap.com)

[Don Maddox]

A good source for maps of almost any location in the world is Omnimap. Check out their Russian topographic map section as well. They have maps from scales 1:500,000 to 1:25,000 with 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 being the most common.

Here is the link to their website.

Omnimap website main page (http://www.omnimap.com/)
Thanks for the link.

[Don Maddox]

Okay I've spent a little more time looking at the included scenarios and 1:25,000 is probably the best scale to use from what I can see. 1:50,000 would probably produce acceptable results, but the use of maps of this larger scale would no-doubt product some unintended "fog-of-war."

What I mean to say is that POA2 uses a system where regular topographic maps are viewed at the two zoomed out modes, while the hex-based POA2 maps are used for the closest zoom level. Although the topographic maps are "close" to what the what the battlefield looks like, in reality the game is using a system of standard wargame hexes with traditional terrain types. The smaller maps scale you use, the closer you can get the actual hex terrain to mimic what's on the topographic map. It's not a perfect system, but it is interesting to say the least.

Decisive Action used something similar, however, Decisive Action used a far more simplistic terrain system. There were only a handful of different terrain types and elevation wasn't taken into account at all. The difference being that DA was really meant to simulate are much larger perspective of the battlefield than POA2. Decisive Action could probably be considered an operational wargame , while POA2 is tactical.

Finding 1:25,000 or less) topographic maps isn't easy. At one time, Warfare HQ hosted a decisive Action map library in our scenario resources. I still have most of those maps available on my HD, but if memory serves most of these are 1:100,000 topographic maps. I just don't see that scale working very well. I do have actual topographic maps for all of Iraq and Iran (he he) :devious: , but I can't remember what scale they are. I'll pull them out and have a look later tonight as I'm sure there is going to be interest in these if they are the appropriate scale.