Now that we have everything needed for resources placement thanks to ruckingit, I'm starting to design the new world map.
There are a few things that you can help me with, but first I want to discuss the limitations.
On a giant map, we all know that there will be issues related to the game's engine, it wasn't designed for maps this size, so we have to try to optimize everything on our side.
The obvious start is converting most of the code from Lua to C++, the lag at the end of the turns on the current version is due to calculations made in Lua (routes for convoy, path for supply lines, checking captured territory, resources procurement, etc..)
I can do that, but it will take some time and it will be *very* difficult to keep compatibility with existing scenarios. The easier/faster way (which doesn't mean it will be ready anytime *soon*) may be to froze the development of the Europe/Stalingrad scenarios and start a complete new mod/framework for the new scenario, then convert the old scenarios.
What I have in mind is to make a new "base mod" for the code (basically a DLL and a generic database for units/projects, etc), to keep the "data mod" as it is (but add new art) and have "scenario mods" for each map (with custom code in Lua and XML/SQl files to change the generic data)
But that won't be enough, we need to limit the number of AIs on the map if we want it to be playable, which means that I'm going to have only China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K., U.S.A and U.S.S.R. as major civilizations.
We also need to limit the number of cities for majors, which means UK/French colonies will be represented by allied minor civilizations, grouped by continents (like North Africa French colony, Middle-East U.K. Protectorate, etc...), and when possible I will also regroup some country under one minor civilizations (independent South America nations)
But I'd like to know if you think that some nations must be represented by a separate CS and why.
The number of units will also be a challenge, on some front like western Europe, I think we have to raise the UPT limit to maybe 4 or 5 on land (2 "divisions" and 3 "regiments") and maybe allow 3 or 4 on sea because of the Mediterranean theater (1 "capital" ship, destroyers, submarine and convoy/embarked units), but we must keep the global number as low as possible.
a low number of city also means that we need airports improvements and maybe "harbors" improvements (but no, I don't mean "buildable" improvements, we must keep it simple for the AI)
There are a few things that you can help me with, but first I want to discuss the limitations.
On a giant map, we all know that there will be issues related to the game's engine, it wasn't designed for maps this size, so we have to try to optimize everything on our side.
The obvious start is converting most of the code from Lua to C++, the lag at the end of the turns on the current version is due to calculations made in Lua (routes for convoy, path for supply lines, checking captured territory, resources procurement, etc..)
I can do that, but it will take some time and it will be *very* difficult to keep compatibility with existing scenarios. The easier/faster way (which doesn't mean it will be ready anytime *soon*) may be to froze the development of the Europe/Stalingrad scenarios and start a complete new mod/framework for the new scenario, then convert the old scenarios.
What I have in mind is to make a new "base mod" for the code (basically a DLL and a generic database for units/projects, etc), to keep the "data mod" as it is (but add new art) and have "scenario mods" for each map (with custom code in Lua and XML/SQl files to change the generic data)
But that won't be enough, we need to limit the number of AIs on the map if we want it to be playable, which means that I'm going to have only China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K., U.S.A and U.S.S.R. as major civilizations.
We also need to limit the number of cities for majors, which means UK/French colonies will be represented by allied minor civilizations, grouped by continents (like North Africa French colony, Middle-East U.K. Protectorate, etc...), and when possible I will also regroup some country under one minor civilizations (independent South America nations)
But I'd like to know if you think that some nations must be represented by a separate CS and why.
The number of units will also be a challenge, on some front like western Europe, I think we have to raise the UPT limit to maybe 4 or 5 on land (2 "divisions" and 3 "regiments") and maybe allow 3 or 4 on sea because of the Mediterranean theater (1 "capital" ship, destroyers, submarine and convoy/embarked units), but we must keep the global number as low as possible.
a low number of city also means that we need airports improvements and maybe "harbors" improvements (but no, I don't mean "buildable" improvements, we must keep it simple for the AI)