Battlefield New York 2

It's a remake, not a sequel. And yes, this is the fourth time I've started such a thread here. The difference this time around is that I'll be developing it myself instead of in a private team environment. This thread is just a way for people to contribute if they wish, and for me to keep everyone updated (and keep myself on task). Of course if you want to help, there's plenty to do.

If you're not familiar with the scenario, here is the beta I released last year. (The download no longer works, but you can read about it.) Basically it's a near-future urban warfare scenario set in New York City. That's pretty much all I can say for sure right now. I'll be borrowing heavily from the beta, but anything may change.

Situation: The Soviet Union has been rebuilt and is now the world's only superpower. The United States has essentailly collapsed, leaving a power vacuum to be filled by the biggest gun. Seeing the opportunity for a foothold in the west, the Soviets have invaded the Eastern seaboard and are attempting to occupy New York City. But after years of fighting in Europe and the Middle East, their army is unprepared for a full-scale invasion. Thus the American forces may have a chance at defeating the Soviets, if they can pull themselves together in time.

Map: I'm working on this 140x140 map of downtown NYC. That's almost as big as a Huge world in the standard game, but possible trade routes will likely be cut significantly, which will reduce turn times.


Factions:
NYPD + NY National Guard
US Army?
Soviet/Russian Army
American Resistance Movement (ARM)
Corporate military force
Allied Coalition?
Terrorist organization/ militant cult?
gangs/mafia/organized crime?

Techs: not technologies so much as developments/events. Things like establishing communications, recruiting locals, etc. Think of the EFZI tech tree on a larger scale.

Units: Mostly modern infantry and light vehicles. Everything from elite soldiers to "dude with a gun" units. The more haphazard the unit lines, the better.

Improvements: This was probably the least developed area of the beta. The "cities" are city blocks or single buildings, so buildings as improvements don't necessarily work. One idea is to place a lot of resources that represent buildings, and provide corresponding city improvements that require the resource and represent getting access to it. Also, improvements could be smaller things like power generators, refrigerated storage, watch towers, etc.

For the improvements, could each city still be a "city block", but have no buildings on it? Then the improvements could be the buildings that will go on that block.

Good luck with this, Weasel Op!

So are you using the same terrain type as before? If so, it may be difficult to use the roads as we used before that only work diagonally with that horizontally-based map.

But, I'm glad you again started this mod back up again; especially because you say it is a solo-project. Not just because I have a good excuse not to work, but also because groups always seem to place the responsibility on each other, and don't accomplish anything. Nevertheless, I will be glad to help with this twice dead and thrice living mod!

kulade said:

I will be glad to help with this twice dead and thrice living mod!

Click to expand...

Which makes this Battlefield NY Trismegistos! I had some modern roads in the works before my puter crashed. I'll preview them for you as soon as I can.. In my K Street Project, set in DC, I'm using landmarks as Wonders, i.e., Washington Monument = Colossus. Then I place a resource at that site required to build the Wonder. Not sure if it will work yet, though. . .

Well, I still have the work I did on those hills for ya, so if you want me to finish em lemme know...

how about an OG faction, like the Latin Kings? They really ought to be separate from the Mafia/Westies/Triad.

Spacer, I'd still like to have those hills, but there's no rush for graphics.

some ideas for units, mostly infantry:


playing around with my interface template, I came up with this:

kulade said:

So are you using the same terrain type as before? If so, it may be difficult to use the roads as we used before that only work diagonally with that horizontally-based map.

Click to expand...

^^^
Answer?

Nice interface.

Much of the terrain will be reused, but because of the scale of the new map I'll only place interstates and other major highways. So a new set of roads will be needed.

Well still, it'll be pretty difficult to make a road terrain horizontally; I doubt that'd even fit in the squares properly.

Weasel Op... Looks like a Fun Scenario.

For the BMW by la-dav...I made a White, Beige and Medium Blue colored BMW for Escape From Zombie Island 2 and the Beige and Blue ones will be in the update that will be uploaded soon. IF you want to use them for some extra Cars.
Changed Flc Speeds, made new palette and re-colored the unit.
Added extra frames to the Attack and Fidget flcs.
Remade the E and W attacks so the Car Hits the enemy.
Made the Victory Flc from the Fortify Flc.
Edited out the Civ Specific Colors that were in the Hub Caps and scattered in the Death Flc.
Made new BMW_units_32.pcx
Made new Civilopedia Large and Small pcx files.
Adapted and adjusted sounds to fit all animations.

I made the Streets with curves and they have the sides with different colors for the edges of the streets. I placed Fire Hydrants but they can be removed or I have a version without them if not wanted. There are 256 Tiles for "Roads" that were made as Streets. They are much larger than CIV Roads to accommodate better looking Streets.
You might want to use them if they will help what you are doing.

There are several Units sounds and many pcx files you might want to use from the Scenario.
We are all One Big Family here so it is ok to use existing work from others...Personally, I place credits with all Unit files in a "Read Me" on note pad. Graphics work and other credits can be listed in game notes.

I'm here to help with what I can, mainly text based things. Contact me if you need something that you think I can help you with.

I'm not around much on CFC but I will check in from time to time.

If I'm not on and you need me, I'm pretty much always on msn messanger. swargey@hotmail.com

Not much to update, LotM debugging has kept me busy lately. I've done some work on the map beginning to place the major highways. I'll most likely stick with the terrain setup from the beta, possibly making use of the rest of the terrain types for more variety.

Vuldacon, I'll be looking forward to that update- for more than one reason

Swargey, thank you for the offer to help. There will be plenty of text work to do.

Weasel, I don't know if have already seen it, but I had a thread in which I made some new terrain graphics. Some new stuff:

Weasel Op said:

Swargey, thank you for the offer to help. There will be plenty of text work to do.

Click to expand...

No problem

@Kulade, I really like what you did with the mini buildings...adding the bushes and whatnot...what thread (if any) did you post those in?...

I never posted them, but I think I uploaded them, because Balthasar specifically asked from them. I'll see if I can dig them up.

Nice buildings, kulade. Are the ones on top-right and bottom C&P from another game? I'll probably steal liberate some SC4 gfx, especially modded stuff. I've seen a lot of inspiring artwork lately, from I Am Legend, World In Conflict, Cloverfield...

Still nothing else to preview. Map is the same, just a different color (forgot I needed to use concrete when I carved it out, duh) I have a general idea what the armies are going to look like, but not where they're going to be. I had a few ideas early on in the first version that I never implemented, like upgradeable hero units (see Sengoku kings) and landmark "units" that just sit around and look cool.

I'm debating whether to treat this as a software engineering project and apply what I'm learning in college. Minus the actual programming, it's a very similar process. It would be good experience, but it also may kill my enthusiasm.

After much laziness and lack of accomplishment, I've laid down some roads (terrain) and other topographical features. Interstates, major highways, and other wide roads will be represented as road terrain. Minor roads will be shown as part of the city terrain.


I've been thinking about what to do with roads (terrain improvement). The beta allowed "trade connections" which had no movement bonus. They were only buildable on flat terrain because vehicles were wheeled and I didn't want them to be able to use "trade connections" to enter buildings. It didn't make a lot of sense. There are a few options:
1. No roads. All luxury and strategic resources are placed on city tiles, and trade is made possible through air (underground) trade improvements. Problem: stupid
2. Roads on road terrain only, preplaced, representing roads in good condition. Instead of giving road terrain low MP, give road improvement a movement bonus. Problem: unrealistically limits trade routes
3. Roads on flat terrain, representing trade, as in the beta. No movement bonus. Problem: see above
4. Roads anywhere, representing trade, no wheeled units. I can't possibly represent all roads wide enough to accomodate a tank, so assume that tanks are just maneuvering around buildings. Problem: give up wheeled units, which takes away a little bit of strategy

I'm leaning heavily toward #4