I haven't seen an answer to this yet. Are the battle maps for the non-mission contracts randomly generated?
Battle Map randomly generated?
- Thread starter mmurray821
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Nope. The maps are all hand crafted.
The >selection< of available contracts in any given system you’ve travelled to is random.
And every map file is quite huge. Each type of contract uses just a particular portion of that map for its purposes. So the same map file supports multiple contracts.
Also the ‘mood’ and day/night selection is randomized.
Honestly, I’ve played the game a bunch and I couldn’t even say if I’ve seen all the map combinations while organically playing (ie. not testing). You could play the whole campaign and not see the same map/contract pairing twice.
It’s insane. I think we may have made too much content.
The >selection< of available contracts in any given system you’ve travelled to is random.
And every map file is quite huge. Each type of contract uses just a particular portion of that map for its purposes. So the same map file supports multiple contracts.
Also the ‘mood’ and day/night selection is randomized.
Honestly, I’ve played the game a bunch and I couldn’t even say if I’ve seen all the map combinations while organically playing (ie. not testing). You could play the whole campaign and not see the same map/contract pairing twice.
It’s insane. I think we may have made too much content.
No, they aren't randomly generated (as in, procedurally generated). HBS has made rather large maps (think 10 x 10 km), and divided them into smaller areas. One such area is the map for a mission, and on that map there are several starting locations for both sides, places where objectives can be placed and so on; all of these are also randomly placed.
So even if you find yourself on a piece of the map you've already seen, there's no guarantee you'll start in the same place, or the enemy and/or objective will be in the same place as last time.
But the maps themselves are pre-generated for a handful of biomes (someone is sure to give the current number in a later post).
Edit: Wow, not every day I get ninja'd by an actual dev
Nope. The maps are all hand crafted.
The >selection< of available contracts in any given system you’ve travelled to is random.
And every map file is quite huge. Each type of contract uses just a particular portion of that map for its purposes. So the same map file supports multiple contracts.
Also the ‘mood’ and day/night selection is randomized.
Honestly, I’ve played the game a bunch and I couldn’t even say if I’ve seen all the map combinations while organically playing (ie. not testing). You could play the whole campaign and not see the same map/contract pairing twice.
It’s insane. I think we may have made too much content.
Too much content? You didnt' say that
I'm REALLY excited to see how that works out
It’s insane. I think we may have made too much content.
Well sh**.... I guess we will just have to throw more money your way then.
Thanks for the info. A late comer to the VG party (long time board game fan though) so I appreciate the extra time you all take to answer questions.
I remember in one of the Q&A, the dev said parts of the map is randomly filled with assets much like how XCOM 2 had partial randomly generated map elements ontop of hand crafted maps.
Back in XCOM 1, Firaxis said they had about 50 or so static maps so players wouldn't encounter too much repetition; I started to get bored seeing the same maps half way into my first playthrough.
Back in XCOM 1, Firaxis said they had about 50 or so static maps so players wouldn't encounter too much repetition; I started to get bored seeing the same maps half way into my first playthrough.
And this is what will make the game so great.
In the beta, the maps we played on, were only fractional parts of the whole map. I spent time just moving the camera around so I could see the size of the maps and they were huge. So all they have to do to make the maps for battles stay fresh, is to change the portion of the map we are actually going to battle on every time. And not just the placement but also the orientation.
I was happy with the maps in beta and with the information from @HBS_InspectorHound I am even more excited.
In the beta, the maps we played on, were only fractional parts of the whole map. I spent time just moving the camera around so I could see the size of the maps and they were huge. So all they have to do to make the maps for battles stay fresh, is to change the portion of the map we are actually going to battle on every time. And not just the placement but also the orientation.
I was happy with the maps in beta and with the information from @HBS_InspectorHound I am even more excited.
I also could imagine, that additional maps may be content of future DLCs. An effective way to keep the game fresh and add more longevity. I would guess it's obvious that we can expect such DLCs.
Been watching some streams, and the maps have a familiar feel. And I haven't seen anything that seems like a repeat. The maps seem really good so far, interesting tactical implications and they do feel unique. The familiar feel to me is a continuity of the 'biomes' I think, which is as designed.
So silly hyped,
Trog
So silly hyped,
Trog
Have only watched official streams/Vids. That sounds like the great plan works out well
Cohh did actually play the same map once, starting from the same location. It was the map where he first met an enemy BJ-1, maybe at the end of the 2nd or 3rd stream.
I don't think so. If I got the system right, they might have at least one big map for each biom. Each mission takes part in a small part of that bigger one with diffrent starting points and directions you play the map along. So repetition is quiet possible.
Nope. The maps are all hand crafted.
The >selection< of available contracts in any given system you’ve travelled to is random.
And every map file is quite huge. Each type of contract uses just a particular portion of that map for its purposes. So the same map file supports multiple contracts.
Also the ‘mood’ and day/night selection is randomized.
Honestly, I’ve played the game a bunch and I couldn’t even say if I’ve seen all the map combinations while organically playing (ie. not testing). You could play the whole campaign and not see the same map/contract pairing twice.
It’s insane. I think we may have made too much content.
I got to admit so far from what I have seen of the maps and the contracts (just the regular ones (randomized). Im Really impressed with them. The maps look great and the contracts dont feel generated they feel like they were created just for the player.
No.It’s insane. I think we may have made too much content.
You can ask me again after a hundred or so hours of BATTLETECH.
It definitely feels like a better solution than programming in procedurally generated maps, which resulted in awful maps in XCOM2 that all looked the same and had no character to them.
Yeah, and I imagine they can continue to work on new maps that can be dynamically inserted into the pool.
My understanding is that each map is meticulously handcrafted by the guy who was Talon on DFA. Probably also other people.