Home Trending Latest threads New posts Developer diaries

E3 Map

Jump to latest Follow Reply
  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Mjarr said:
After a brief game as UK and using my own mini mod, the AI was ok (even though due lower amount of units compared to vanilla can explain it partitially), but there's one thing that caught my eye in my war against Italy: the impassable bottleneck around Qattara Depression is missing. Is this WAD as the areas have 0% infastructure or is it something to be fixed for future versions? :p
Click to expand...

I don't know if this is WAD because I have never been involved in making the E3 map. 0% infastructure is imho a good starting point to make movement through unattractive but I'd prefer that you can't enter a province like #912. I'll test if I can remove all connections to this province. HOI2 suffered iirc from a fixed total of connections which had to be obeyed but this limitation should be gone according to the devs.

Other than that it seemed to run pretty smooth and without issues, other than aesthetically (which is pretty minor) the map looks bit rough :)
Click to expand...

I'm quite obsessed with having trouble-free files but sometimes you can't discover a bug. Yesterday I had redone the UK scenario file and had to drop it because AOD loaded the scenario always with (unspecified) errors.

Checking and correcting the terrain of the map is on our to-do list. If you have some ideas how to improve the map, which can ofc be done by modifying province.csv, feel free to post them here. As long we can implement them we'll try to do so. :)
 
Mjarr said:
but there's one thing that caught my eye in my war against Italy: the impassable bottleneck around Qattara Depression is missing. Is this WAD as the areas have 0% infastructure or is it something to be fixed for future versions? :p
Click to expand...

I checked for easy referencing the vanilla adj-defs.csv how unpassable areas are defined. Luckily this is file can easily modified. I've therefore re-introduced the Quattara Depression besides several major deserts of the world.
According to the vanilla map some provinces of the Himalayas and Papuas Bismarck Range can only be entered from certain directions which I've re-created for the E3 map.

When the partially translation of the province_names.csv file (italian & spanish) is finished I'll upload both files as a map-fix.
 
Does this mod somehow affect the AI? Does it prove just as good on this map as on the vanilla map?
 
Mjarr said:
I'm eager to try this one out sooner or later, but I have one simple question: how does AI work with E3 in general?
Click to expand...

Mjarr said:
After a brief game as UK and using my own mini mod, the AI was ok (even though due lower amount of units compared to vanilla can explain it partitially), ...

Other than that it seemed to run pretty smooth and without issues, ... :)
Click to expand...

Thank you, Mjarr, for reporting the ai behaviour in your game. :)

I'm relieved that the ai wasn't totally inept. ;) But remember that the ai is the vanilla ai which is tailored to use the vanilla map. Therefore it's a valid question if the ai is capable of using the features of the E3 map. I've started to adapt the ai files to the new map, which would solve this issue, but that will take time.

But in the meantime we need more information about your games. Please post your experiences here. I'd be cool if anyone has the time to do a hands-off game and tell us later how it went. :)
 
Easy1 said:
Does this mod somehow affect the AI? Does it prove just as good on this map as on the vanilla map?
Click to expand...

The ai is actually the vanilla ai. That means for ai vs. ai a level playing field. But since there many more beaches on the E3 map than on the vanilla map the (human) player has a decisive advantage. ;)
 
Fürstbischof said:
Thank you, Mjarr, for reporting the ai behaviour in your game. :)
Click to expand...

It wasn't conclusive report and it should be noted I was playing with a modded game does plenty of tweaks and minor changes to the game (one being more realistic buildtimes in general), but yes it didn't do go batshit at any point in a way that it would've caught my attension really.

So consider it as rough idea how it just might work on the basic level of things ;)

Even though one highly positive aspect -combined with some things involved in the minimod - that due to increased amount of provinces making bottlenecks was far more difficult and I actually had to keep a proper reserve this time rather than just some pseudo-reserve :)
 
Last edited:
Mjarr said:
It wasn't conclusive report and it should be noted I was playing with a modded game does plenty of tweaks and minor changes to the game (one being more realistic buildtimes in general), but yes it didn't do go batshit at any point in a way that it would've caught my attension really.

So consider it as rough idea how it just might work on the basic level of things ;)
Click to expand...

I don't over-estimate your report. ;) But I take it as a hint how things are working. Given the absence of play reports even the shortest report gives me valuable input, even it only says 'ok'. I don't believe that I made a perfect adaption of the event or scenario files. To iron out the typos any feedback is needed.

Since I'm planning to use your minimod for my next GC once the ai files are done I'm quite interested if it actually works with the E3 map.

Even though one highly positive aspect -combined with some things involved in the minimod - that due to increased amount of provinces making bottlenecks was far more difficult and I actually had to keep a proper reserve this time rather than just some pseudo-reserve :)
Click to expand...

That is a pleasant surprise. ;) Although I don't know how long it took to decide on the province border layout or even how many test games have been made I think that we can safely assume that they were trying to make the game with the E3 map somewhat more challenging. :)
 
E3 beach contest
​
If you look at the E3 map you'll see that almost any coastal province has a beach and a port. It seems to be worthwhile to look more closely at contemporary maps to determine how many of these are actually warranted or needed. Especially the abundance of beaches isn't to the advantage of the ai. If we want the ai once to be a worthwhile opponent we should handle this task carefully. As long as a division is the smallest land unit we can easily overextend it which makes the game more easier than planned.

Therefore I start now a beach contest. Please report any coastal province with a beach or port which isn't suitable for it. If you find a province, which is missing both or only one of them, that in reality does have these, report it here, too. Check also carefully if ships enter ports from the right seazone.

Some harbour symbols are misplaced. While cross-checking ports and beaches you'll naturally stumble across these instances. We're willing to move these to a more appropriate position on the map but you have to tell us the exact x/y position and maybe the new port seazone. Since it's then a simple matter of copy&paste you can expect that we'll add it. The exact x/y positions of ports (and beaches) can be found in the province.csv file.
 
I noticed an odd side-effect after playing around as USSR for a brief moment that you basically ran out of rare materials within two months and there was nowhere to trade from at all. As UK I managed to have some sort of stockpile without sweating too much but as USSR, well two months and your industry is basically dead permanently :rofl:

I tried to trade with almost every country there was but I could trade total 1.3 rares per each day from around seven countries combined, but that didn't really help. I am not sure if Germany or other countries are having similiar problems, but it might be worth tweaking some resources possibly :p
 
Mjarr said:
I noticed an odd side-effect after playing around as USSR for a brief moment that you basically ran out of rare materials within two months and there was nowhere to trade from at all. As UK I managed to have some sort of stockpile without sweating too much but as USSR, well two months and your industry is basically dead permanently :rofl:

I tried to trade with almost every country there was but I could trade total 1.3 rares per each day from around seven countries combined, but that didn't really help. I am not sure if Germany or other countries are having similiar problems, but it might be worth tweaking some resources possibly :p
Click to expand...

Checking resources (and IC) are the two biggest tasks which we have take on. Jounk35 is atm fixing the province.csv file closely looking at areas/regions, terrain and climate. Some changes made to the economic side of the game lead to more available IC on the map while the resources are basically those of vanilla Arma. If the soviets encounter a drastic shortage that might be e.g. the effect of a reused province id elsewhere. :( Since we're now both very busy don't expect a solution too soon. But I'll look later more closely in this, too.
 
Amallric said:
How do you tell what is a beach and what is not. IRL you can land in every HoI province more or less, the beach stuff was mostly for balance purposes.
Click to expand...

Yes, play balance is the decisive factor. You'll find of course in most coastal provinces beaches which might be suitable for an invasion, but how many of them are really capable to allow for a large scale invasion force consisting of 150.000+ men? Where is the tide a problem or the coastal waters too shallow or have masses of reefs? How is the terrain of the interior of this province? Is there any infrastructure worth mentioning? Can so many soldiers actually survive in such a province which has a harsh climate and/or terrain?

Terrain, infrastructure and climate were also a guide for me when I blocked movement to and from several desert provinces. (not published, but soon available)
 
re beta patch v1.05:

scenario files:
The first draft of the beta patch had actually only 4 scenario files. After careful checking I readded only 1 italian tech. It seems that most of the changed scenario files will come with the next draft.

ai files:
The open beta brought a mass of new ai files. Since most changes to them are not easily spotted I had to decide and started the adaption of the ai files from scratch. Only minor parts of my earlier work can be reused. I spent most of the week cross-checking and adapting the new files, but it'll take some time to finish it. I had high hopes that this boring task could be finished earlier but the 1,5 volunteers which showed some interest in helping me sadly never showed up.

event files:
At first glance the devs haven't changed many event files but changes have indeed been made to some of the largest event files. Without proper documentation it'll take some time to check the bigger event files like hoi2.txt or ussr.txt to find the needle in the haystack.


Don't expect a fast implementation of all the changes made by the beta patch v1.05. We'll add them step by step. Work continues also on terrain, climate and areas/regions and on the translation of province names.
 
See the new "province.csv" .
Terrain and climate cleard in all europe, india, SU, China, Afrika, Oceania, southern Amerika. Just North America and near East ist to do.
 

Attachments

  • province22.8..rar
    127,4 KB · Views: 62
Excellent, Jounk35, thank you! I have caught an old error that I mentioned before elsewhere: province #618 (Altoona) should belong to the Northeast US region and province #2255 (Tuscaloosa) should belong to the Southeast US region. We are getting ever closer to AoD E3 Map perfectly adapted to... AoD and 1.05!:D
 
Hi,

I just tried the E3 map mod and I thought it was really great! I particularly like the attention to coastlines and islands.

In my German game, I did notice that USA suffered from a severe lack of rares, as I did, myself. I think there just weren't that many rares available on the map.

Things I really liked :

1. Low infrastructure or 0 infra provinces, not all at 100%, really makes the landscape more realistic, especially when I modify base ESE to 70%.

2. Capability to portray accurate borders.

3. All the Adriatic and other islands (especially the Channel Islands!).

4. It's great that every province is labeled in its own language.

Things not so keen about :

1. I realize that some of the islands are very small, but the coloured text on the map itself looks really bad and blocky.

Other suggestions :

1. Perhaps use the resource values from the TRP mod?

2. Label rivers on the map as well?

3. Allow some provinces or islands to block movement, for example; Crete blocks East/West Aegean fleet movement, as does Malta for E-W middle-Med. Channel Islands into the Bay of Biscay. Straits of Messina / Sicily.

All in all, what a great map mod, I don't think I can go back to vanilla AoD again!

Kilolima
 
Jounk35 said:
See the new "province.csv" .
Terrain and climate cleard in all europe, india, SU, China, Afrika, Oceania, southern Amerika. Just North America and near East ist to do.
Click to expand...

Many thanks, Jounk35, for the file. Good work! :)

@all interested players: You may download and use this file but then you'll miss the ports of Hamburg and Ochotsk. Thanks to the restructuring of the .csv files all users of the v1.05beta patch will see also several 'Unknown string wanted' instead of the correct area/region name. We'll upload a small map fix this week. :)
 
kilolima said:
Hi,

I just tried the E3 map mod and I thought it was really great! I particularly like the attention to coastlines and islands.
Click to expand...

The praise has to go to mumia who has made this great map. :)

In my German game, I did notice that USA suffered from a severe lack of rares, as I did, myself. I think there just weren't that many rares available on the map.
Click to expand...

Several province ids were reused during development of the E3 map. E.g. a bunch of US oil provinces ended up in India. ;) IC and resources are on our to-do list but have to wait until we've finished our current tasks. :(

Things I really liked :

1. Low infrastructure or 0 infra provinces, not all at 100%, really makes the landscape more realistic, especially when I modify base ESE to 70%.

2. Capability to portray accurate borders.

3. All the Adriatic and other islands (especially the Channel Islands!).

4. It's great that every province is labeled in its own language.

Things not so keen about :

1. I realize that some of the islands are very small, but the coloured text on the map itself looks really bad and blocky.
Click to expand...

The text is so blocky so that you can click on it. It's part of the island. ;) Otherwise you'd have the infamous Malta effect which doesn't allow you to click onto the island because it's simply overcrowded. This is ofc not the best solution but it avoids the situation of 'a-historically' enlarged islands.

Other suggestions :

1. Perhaps use the resource values from the TRP mod?
Click to expand...

We haven't decided how to model IC and resources. Thanks for a good suggestion where we might look also. ;)

2. Label rivers on the map as well?
Click to expand...

I fear that this might be not possible.

3. Allow some provinces or islands to block movement, for example; Crete blocks East/West Aegean fleet movement, as does Malta for E-W middle-Med. Channel Islands into the Bay of Biscay. Straits of Messina / Sicily.
Click to expand...

There're some provinces in the game, which have the special ability to block naval movement, but they're hard-coded. But tbh I never liked the ability of an empty Gibraltar to keep all Italian ships out of the Atlantic. But what I have done yesterday and today evening: I have re-added - and slightly expanded - the crossings of straits which allowed you to move your divisions across water.

All in all, what a great map mod, I don't think I can go back to vanilla AoD again!

Kilolima
Click to expand...

Have fun! :)
 
Fürstbischof said:
There're some provinces in the game, which have the special ability to block naval movement, but they're hard-coded. But tbh I never liked the ability of an empty Gibraltar to keep all Italian ships out of the Atlantic. But what I have done yesterday and today evening: I have re-added - and slightly expanded - the crossings of straits which allowed you to move your divisions across water.
Click to expand...

I think even an Gib empty of occupying divisions would still contain manned seacoast defenses and minefields!

Blocks to ship movement can be added in the adj-provs.csv file. I particularly like how the Third Reich Mod has blocked Channel movement at Dover for Germany and at Cherbourg for England. The Channel Islands should definitely control access to the Bay of Biscay from Channel to the NE. Those big guns at Battery Mirus!

I also like the idea of Crete controlling E-W Agean access because it makes Crete a worthwhile objective for the Axis and also there's always the Guns of Navarone.

Also, control of one bank or the other of the Suez should block movement for the other. See the Third Reich Mod for further information.

Another question : does someone know how to use excel to minus a value from all the infrastructure column? I cannot figure it out I would like to reduce infra by another 20%.

Great map. They should make it the official AoD map!

kilolima
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back