Boundaries and flying in asteroid fields.
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posted on February 5th, 2011, 9:03 pm
I've been learning a lot about pathing, and the way blocking triggers work. So I wanted to ask people, which way do you like you maps:
1 blocking trigger for 1 asteroid field: boundaries are clearly defined and for the most part your ships fly entirely around the field.
or
1 small blocking trigger in the center of the asteroid field, or fields that overlap and stick out, so that your ships can "enter" the edges of the asteroid field but can't fly through the middle.
A clear example of this is Boggz' map Duel II, versions 1.1 and 1.2. In 1.2 he changed the blocking triggers to small ones, making the impassable area narrower and allowing ships to look like they're flying through some of the rocks. Small blocking triggers allow mapmakers more fine control of their maps, but one problem is that if you order your fleet to go next to the wall in 1.2, some of your ships may get confused and head to the other side of the dividing line.
I consider small blocking triggers to be more "advanced," and decided that I wouldn't use them until I'd learned more about map making in general, but I want to hear other peoples' opinions on the matter. Do you like sprawling asteroid fields that you can skirt around the edges, or blocking triggers that fill the entire field and make your ships go around?
1 blocking trigger for 1 asteroid field: boundaries are clearly defined and for the most part your ships fly entirely around the field.
or
1 small blocking trigger in the center of the asteroid field, or fields that overlap and stick out, so that your ships can "enter" the edges of the asteroid field but can't fly through the middle.
A clear example of this is Boggz' map Duel II, versions 1.1 and 1.2. In 1.2 he changed the blocking triggers to small ones, making the impassable area narrower and allowing ships to look like they're flying through some of the rocks. Small blocking triggers allow mapmakers more fine control of their maps, but one problem is that if you order your fleet to go next to the wall in 1.2, some of your ships may get confused and head to the other side of the dividing line.
I consider small blocking triggers to be more "advanced," and decided that I wouldn't use them until I'd learned more about map making in general, but I want to hear other peoples' opinions on the matter. Do you like sprawling asteroid fields that you can skirt around the edges, or blocking triggers that fill the entire field and make your ships go around?
posted on February 5th, 2011, 9:25 pm
The engine is design to use the default blocking trigger for both performance and pathing reasons. The Small Trigger was just included due to popular demand but should only be used rarely.
posted on February 5th, 2011, 10:24 pm
Oh. So the sbt doesn't affect pathing. hmmm
What other things DO affect pathing? maybe a small damage nebula in a small blocking trigger could produce the right effect?
Is it possible to code a nebula that's smaller than the existing small nebs and does nothing but affect pathing? It's a bit hacky, but we mapmakers could fashion "correct" small blocking triggers by stacking the two effects on top of each other.
I already prefer putting damage nebs inside my blocking triggers, it makes the AI react more "realistically" I think, because they elastically avoid the boundary instead of bumping into it and sliding along.
What other things DO affect pathing? maybe a small damage nebula in a small blocking trigger could produce the right effect?
Is it possible to code a nebula that's smaller than the existing small nebs and does nothing but affect pathing? It's a bit hacky, but we mapmakers could fashion "correct" small blocking triggers by stacking the two effects on top of each other.
I already prefer putting damage nebs inside my blocking triggers, it makes the AI react more "realistically" I think, because they elastically avoid the boundary instead of bumping into it and sliding along.
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