Map preferences

[Dr Zaius]

One of the things I have noticed about DA scenario authors is they take different approaches toward map creation. There appear to be two current schools of thought on the issue. The first is to always condense regardless of scale so that the entire map is more or less on the screen at one time. The advantage of this approach is that is always the player to quickly take in the entire situation with a glance. On larger maps, this also has the disadvantage of making the unit footprints very tiny.

The second approach is to keep the maps larger, thus giving the player more real estate to play with. This approach also allows the unit footprints to expand, generally making units easier to work with. The disadvantage is that you can't see the whole map at once and the map files can be much larger.

I'm firmly entrenched in the camp that prefers larger maps. I hate it when all the units have a footprint about the size of a pin. I would like to see a button added that brings up a map overview (like TacOps). This would allow players to easily evaluate the whole situation even when playing on large maps. That's something that should be fairly simple to implement and is suggestion #1 on the list I am sending to Jim.

 

[pmaidhof]

Larger maps. 1:500,000 JOG(Air)'s are my preference. I agree about footprints. Bigger footprints necessary to properly plan/play vice the pinhead footprints. Don't mind scrolling.

 

[Dr Zaius]

Here is an example of what I would like to see.

http://www.warfarehq.com/da/preview_example.jpg

Most other wargames have this already. It's a fairly straightforwad thing to implement and I'm going to see if I can get Jim to do it. :halo:

 

[John Osborne]

Here is an example of what I would like to see.

http://www.warfarehq.com/da/preview_example.jpg

Most other wargames have this already. It's a fairly straightforwad thing to implement and I'm going to see if I can get Jim to do it. :halo:

Excellent Where is that map I see on the example?

John

 

[Dr Zaius]

Excellent Where is that map I see on the example?

He he... :devious:

Coming soon!

 

[Scully]

I'm firmly entrenched in the camp that prefers larger maps. I hate it when all the units have a footprint about the size of a pin. I would like to see a button added that brings up a map overview (like TacOps). This would allow players to easily evaluate the whole situation even when playing on large maps. That's something that should be fairly simple to implement and is suggestion #1 on the list I am sending to Jim.

I agree 100% with this.

Brian

 

[Dr Zaius]

I just sent the suggestion to Jim along with the link to my sample image. I would think this would be a useful feature to have at the schoolhouse as well. If so, perhaps the guys who see Jim on a regular basis could mention it to him too.

 

[IntelGuy]

I absolutely agree with you on the matter of footprint size. And I really like your idea of the situation map :thumup:. Hopefully it will be implemented.

 

[Ivan Rapkinov]

I prefer the large small scale maps , ie bigger images so the scale is bigger (1:100000 being preferred for DA)

 

[dhuffjr]

He he... :devious:

Coming soon!

I've been heavily leaning towards buying this one for larger scale battles........sold!

 

[Dr Zaius]

Here are some thoughts from Jim on the map suggestion:

This is a great idea. Orginally, I envisioned the mini-map used for navigation as well as providing a larger scale viewing area. Unfortunately, I never really expanded on the idea in order to improve the viewing capability. In the future, I might be able to create a separate window that allows the user to see the entire map on one screen. How much functionality is needed to make that option acceptable. Is viewing alone OK, or must the new window have the same functionality as the current map view? If it is only a viewer and it resembles the example, it is pretty doable.

Additional functionality would be nice, but the main thing is simply to provide the player with the ability to take in the whole situation at a glance. My example pretty much shows what I had in mind.

 

[WNourse]

I'd take the situation map, although I'd really like to see a zoomable map to work with

Will