So, a few more weeks down and I've made some more progress. I wanted to showcase a few things here: (1) Round Ballistics (Shrapnel), (2) Landscape Material Quality Updates, and (3) AI and their home, sweet home.
1. Round Ballistics (Shrapnel): Each round has a specific number of traces that occur (shrapnel) that extend a specific length and direction. The explosion pattern will be different, depending upon the fuse that is use (i.e. Point Detonation, Delayed Detonation, and Proximity Detonation). Here is an example of point detonation for the 25mm, 40mm, and 105mm:
2. Landscape Material Quality Updates: One of my biggest pet peeves with texturing in games is the all so common texture tiling. From my experience, it is often hard to hide this and games typically attempt to hide it with grass, rocks, trees, etc. However, having such a wide view angle at such a high altitude, this isn't an option for me - so this needs to be taken care of at the material level. Lets see what I'm talking about:
You can see the obvious texture tiling in the flat block at the top of the screen, with no tiling showing on the actual terrain. With this new landscape material, I've been able to achieve a very realistic looking terrain right out of the gate.
3. AI and their home, sweet home: This really is the very beginning of work on the AI, but it is important as most other actions will depend upon this. Anytime a scenario begins, all the AI placed (unless specifically alter) will automatically and randomly find a "home" that they will return to and work around. This is especially important for civilians, as they make trips to the market and return home; but has its purpose for combatants as well (mostly hiding). Due to the extremely restrictive rules of engagement in the middle east, often times it is an advantage for hostiles to hide in houses that they know are off-limits. See below for a simple video showing the AI move to their assigned "home." (Note, nothing happens once they get there, I need to still implement that logic)
That's it for now - onward and upward! Thanks all!
