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MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246500] Tue, 09 March 2010 03:45 Go to next message
Headrock

 
Messages:1760
Registered:March 2006
Location: Jerusalem
After a couple of years of messing with Mobile Militia, it became apparent that a large majority of players simply weren't content even with the Dynamic Roaming Restrictions system I had set up. What bothers most players about Mobile Militia is that they never seem to be where they're supposed to. In fact, the original restrictions have probably put off players so much that they don't even bother trying to recruit Mobile Militia anymore, so HAM's many related features have gone unnoticed and unused.

To solve this problem once and for all, I have made one final addition to the Mobile Restrictions system:

Manual Mobile Militia Restrictions.

The idea behind this is to allow players to adjust the restrictions system IN-GAME, telling Mobiles where they can and cannot go. In fact, the idea is so simple that I really don't have much to explain beyond that, except how it actually works.

When Mobile Militia are allowed (with the appropriate INI setting, "ALLOW_MOBILE_MILITIA"), a new button appears within the row at the bottom of the Strategic Map. When this button is clicked, it functions sort of like the "Airspace" view button. It colors the Strategy Map in green and red tiles, showing where Militia can and cannot go.

Here's an example:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-Basic.gif

Here you can see that I'm using the Dynamic Restrictions system, and have taken over Drassen. The system immediately allows Mobile Militia to move through any of the green tiles.

While this allows militia to protect the outlying areas, it does have some setbacks - particularly that militia are generally stupid and they don't know where to be at any given time - they just roam more-or-less randomly throughout the entire green area. In previous HAM versions I made it so that they will try to block any enemy units from entering the green area, but that only happens if they are close enough. The player can basically only hope that Militia will be at the right place at the right time.

Also please note the button at the bottom. It's next to the Militia View button, and looks like a small picture of a flag.

Now comes the fun part. While this mode is turned on, the right mouse button can be used to flag sectors as "restricted". When one of the green sectors is right-clicked, it will change color to YELLOW.

Here's a screenshot of that:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-Manual.gif

HEre I've flagged some random sectors as restricted. Once I create some mobile militia, they will avoid entering the yellow areas at all costs. In fact, they will only enter a yellow sector if there's at least one merc there.

Note of course that red sectors are ALWAYS restricted, and you can't change their color. I'll get to that in a moment though.

What's good about this?

Lots of things!

Firstly, if you don't want militia roaming near the north side of Drassen, just turn all those sectors yellow!
You can use Yellow sectors to fence Militia groups in specific areas to make sure they guard them.

Secondly, this makes a huge difference with one of HAM's other features - Town/SAM reinforcements. If a Town/SAM sector is flagged yellow, the mobiles won't try to reinforce it. This allows the player to keep Mobiles and Garrisons separate until he decides that a sector should be reinforced. Then just flag it green to let the Mobiles move inside.

A great effect of that second benefit is that by manually deciding if reinforcements are allowed during play, it is now possible to train Mobile Militia FIRST. There should be plenty of situations where something like that is preferable to training Garrison Militia, and now you can do it. Flag the whole city yellow (to prevent them moving back in once trained) and let 'em rip. The mobiles will patrol the city as allowed, and will not enter it. You can then train a garrison whenever you feel it is necessary.

Combining this with Exploration restrictions

When the Exploration-based restriction system is turned on ("ALLOW_MILITIA_MOVEMENT_THROUGH_EXPLORED_SECTORS"), Mobiles can move into any sector that has already been visited by mercs. This sounds great at first, it allows Mobiles to patrol any areas which are, or at least WERE, under your control in the past. Effectively, patrolling your liberated territory. However, this quickly degenerates if you like your mercs to explore the wilderness, as Mobiles might end up patrolling the wrong areas.

With the Manual Restrictions System, you can now flag all unnecessary sectors YELLOW, thereby making sure that the Mobiles don't go to remove sectors just because they've been previously visited.

This combination is great for players who want their Mobiles to travel further out into the countryside, based on how far their mercs have gone, but not have the mobiles waste their strength patrolling strategically insignificant areas.

Combining this with NO Restrictions

Of course, this system also works when NO RESTRICTIONS are set ("RESTRICT_ROAMING = FALSE"). When restrictions are turned off, militia can go wherever they want (the whole map will be green). Then, the player has a completely free hand in deciding where and when Mobiles can travel. While this system requires some micromanagement (turning sectors green to let mobiles pass in some direction, then yellow to prevent them moving back), it allows players to send Militia to any part of the map as they desire. Great for players who want to coordinate assaults on enemy cities!

Future additions

I'm hoping to improve this system by tweaking the decision-making process that mobiles go through when they try to move. In particular, I want Mobiles to be able to move into Yellow sectors to attack enemies.

However, one major thing I want to do is to add a THIRD level to these manual restrictions.

This third level is called "No-Leave". When a sector is flagged as No-Leave, mobiles can enter it but cannot move out.

Why is this useful? Well, to create ROADBLOCKS, or to use Militia as static defenses in wilderness areas. Militia will reinforce the sector if they pass nearby, but the group in the sector will not attempt to leave it. They will stay there until allowed to leave, if at all!

I do need feedback on this particular point though, because I can't decide which COLOR to use for these no-leave sectors. Unfortunately, there are only two options: Cyan, or White. Let's have a poll about which one you guys think would be best.

Release date?

Unless you're completely clueless, you probably realize that this feature marks the beginning of a project I like to call "HAM 4" (temporary name).

HAM 4 is going to go to the next level - no longer will we have zipped releases. HAM is going to SVN, baby. For every few features I make, I will do a "RELEASE" version similar to what we have with 1.13. Users can log on to the SVN and download this release, update it automatically (just like 1.13), and stay updated with fixes as soon as they become available. This should, theoretically, make installation and update of HAM 4 a total breeze.

Of course, I'm still working on making that happen, so you're going to need to stay tuned. In the meanwhile, give feedback on the above, give more ideas, and keep breathing! Very Happy

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Sergeant Major

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246506] Tue, 09 March 2010 05:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kaerar is currently offline Kaerar

 
Messages:2022
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Not a bad plan mate Smile

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Lieutenant

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246507] Tue, 09 March 2010 05:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Minty is currently offline Minty

 
Messages:110
Registered:July 2009
Location: UK
Firstly, this is a chuffing AMAZING thing, Headrock. As fantastic as the current mobile militia settings already are, I've often wished for a bit more granularity of control over their random walks, and this surpasses my own unvoiced ideas.

As to the specific feedback you're asking for, I'm thinking cyan.

Red = No go
Yellow = No go (With the possibility to enter to attack enemies, as you speculated)
Green = Go
Cyan (Blue) = Roadblock/Garrison/BlueFor Zone.

Blue being (Apparently) military terminology for friendly forces and all.

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Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246512] Tue, 09 March 2010 09:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Starwalker is currently offline Starwalker

 
Messages:759
Registered:October 2005
Location: Hannover, Germany
Headrock
The player can basically only hope that Militia will be at the right place at the right time.

The player is always able to put mobile militia where he wants with the current system (even without HAM), all he needs is a cheap merc, because militia always moves into adjacent sectors with mercs in it (unless there's a city boundary between).

Through slow movement (to allow the militia to catch up) of that single merc, the militia can be positioned anywhere on the strategic map outside of cities.

I use this to restrict enemy movements by putting roadblocks where the Arulcan Army had their roadblocks before.

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First Sergeant

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246515] Tue, 09 March 2010 10:36 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kaerar is currently offline Kaerar

 
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Registered:January 2003
Location: Australia :D
This is basically a more sophisticated version of that Wink

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Lieutenant

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246521] Tue, 09 March 2010 12:32 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Faithless is currently offline Faithless

 
Messages:439
Registered:October 2009
Location: The safe end of the barre...
Nice, but STEAK 4 needs more pink.

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Master Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246524] Tue, 09 March 2010 13:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kaerar is currently offline Kaerar

 
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Registered:January 2003
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I'll have mine medium rare...

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Lieutenant

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246580] Wed, 10 March 2010 02:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Headrock

 
Messages:1760
Registered:March 2006
Location: Jerusalem
I've gone and made a few screenshots. I'm afraid the colors are harder to work out when viewed on a white background, which is the case with most browsers, so please adjust your eyes to compensate.

Here are is the No-Leave sector layout (using CYAN color for No-Leave zones):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-Cyan.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-Blue.gif

On the left it's a bit more cyan, on the right a bit more blue.

You can also see the system as it is being used:
  • The yellow areas are forbidden for mobile militia, keeping them away from the rear wilderness sectors. The sectors of Drassen itself are also flagged Yellow to prevent mobiles from reinforcing the city. If we do get to a situation where the city's defenses are weakened, the appropriate sector can be set to green temporarily to allow mobile units to reinforce.
  • The green areas show normal patrol routes. Militia will more freely back and forth between these sectors. This includes the SAM site, which we want reinforced whenever it has room for more militia.
  • The blue areas are no-leave zones. Mobiles venturing into these areas will stay put. Passing mobile units can reinforce these sectors, but the unit in the sector cannot leave. This is similar to a garrison, except it's in the wilderness! I've flagged the Omerta Crossroads and the road to Alma this way. Also, Omerta itself is flagged this way, to keep Militia there at all times. However, you might notice that to get Mobiles into sector A9 it would first be necessary to flag A10 or B9 to green to allow Militia to enter the area.
    P.S., the Militia Movement system now prefers moving into Blue zones if possible, to get them filled sooner. This is still based on a randomal role though, just more chance to move to an adjacent BLUE sector than an adjacent GREEN sector.

Right, now let's look at the GREY color scheme.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-White.gif

This looks a little bizarre, but it did give me a nice idea (see below).

In the meanwhile, with the GREY sectors it's actually much nicer when NO-ENTER zones are grey and NO-LEAVE zones are yellow, so let's see it in reverse:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-WhiteRev.gif

This looks good to me, a little less colorful than the blue version but it has its own charm.

So please let me know which set-up you like the most, now that you've seen them.

FUN WITH COLORS

Once I saw what grey sectors look like in the game, I had an interesting idea for playing with the color scheme. This is unrelated to the Mobile Militia restrictions, but I guess it belongs here anyway.

The idea is to change the way the map looks in NORMAL viewing mode.

In vanilla JA2 and 1.13, unvisited sectors are colored darker than visited sectors. This is done by reducing their brightness, basically. There are several issues with this method, as it can be a little difficult to tell a visited sector that's naturally dark (like a Forest sector) from an unvisited sector.

And once I saw those grey sectors I thought "hey, they look a little like those aerial recon photographs". So I thought, why not use it for the map of arulco?

Here is the result of that experiment, in three different flavours:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/NormalMapView-GreyDark.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/NormalMapView-GreyMid.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/NormalMapView-GreyLight.gif

As you can see, the map starts out completely devoid of color (instead of just darkened). It's a bit like viewing an aerial recon.
As we explore sectors, they become colorful, making it easier to recognize what's in them.

I like how this adds information (in the form of color) to the map as you explore. Also you can see that it's very easy to distinguish the visited sectors from the unvisited ones.

Personally, I like the last (brightest) option because it looks to me more like a photograph. Of course, the entire point is to get your opinions on the matter, so please let me know what you think of this idea.
P.S. this can be governed by an INI setting, or even an in-game options menu setting. Do you think either is required? And if so, which one is best?

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Sergeant Major

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246583] Wed, 10 March 2010 02:43 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Minty is currently offline Minty

 
Messages:110
Registered:July 2009
Location: UK
Looks like it's coming along very nicely so far, Headrock.

While I do agree with you that no-enter zones actually look better white/grey as opposed to yellow, I'm still of two minds as to having no-leave/garrison zones as yellow. Maybe it's because my own concept of BlueFor zones has become entrenched in my head, I don't know. But you've asked for opinions, and there it is. Smile

As to the unexplored photo-recon map, I really like it. One of my must-have mods for STALKER is the recon-minimap mod, for the same reason. It's immediately obvious where you've explored, no matter how bright/dark the sector is.

The only possible issue I can see with that is that it's *possible* that some may become confused between grey no-go zones on the manual-militia overlay, and unexplored sectors in the normal overlay. But, as both overlays aren't going to be shown at the same time (Right?), it's just going to be a case of adjusting your brain for each overlay. One way to differentiate might be to use the darker recon-map option, as it contrasts more with the white/grey in the mobile militia overlay.

For your last request for feedback, externalisation is always good! Though it'd probably be better to throw it into the .ini, rather than have it as a menu-toggle?

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Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246586] Wed, 10 March 2010 05:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Mauser is currently offline Mauser

 
Messages:756
Registered:August 2006
Location: Bavaria - Germany
Headrock, i think cyan for no leave zones works just fine.

the white color should be reserved perhaps for sectors that cannot be passed or garrisoned by militia alltogether. like sectors that are in control not by the enemy but by another neutral faction.

i don

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First Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246588] Wed, 10 March 2010 06:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Headrock

 
Messages:1760
Registered:March 2006
Location: Jerusalem
Here's a set of screenies from later in the game (ok, with GABBI, but still Smile ). With more area for militia to roam through, you can see how this system would be very useful.

Three color flavours again:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-AdvancedCyan.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-AdvancedW-1.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-AdvancedWhit.gif

Also for Minty, here's a comparison between using Grey areas for NO-ENTER zones in Militia mode, and using Grey for the Normal View unexplored sectors:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-AdvancedWhit.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/NormalMapView-AdvancedGreyLight.gif

Very different, I don't think the two can be confused easily.

Quote:
the white color should be reserved perhaps for sectors that cannot be passed or garrisoned by militia alltogether. like sectors that are in control not by the enemy but by another neutral faction.


At the moment, unless the player hasn't set one (NO_ENTER zone), areas where Militia aren't allowed to go are governed by whichever restriction system is activated. In either case, they appear as RED on the map. As to restricting sectors based on factional control - you need to remember that the Strategic game doesn't track which sector belongs to whom. That's only known when a sector is loaded in TACTICAL mode. So what I THINK you're asking for is probably not possible at all, regardless of whether this visual cue system even exists.

Quote:
maybe an increased contrast rework of the map would do the trick?


I'm afraid I don't know the palette system well enough to be able to control contrast. I could mock-up some images with photoshop... but unless I know how to make them happen, it's kind of a moot point.

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Sergeant Major

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246607] Wed, 10 March 2010 13:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Logisteric

 
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i'm for white = no go

with red it looks too much like skyrider

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Captain
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246621] Wed, 10 March 2010 15:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kaerar is currently offline Kaerar

 
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Registered:January 2003
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I like the grey version rather than the red version. Use ungreyed for known sectors, and yellow for no-go's in those areas which you have set.

Is there a way to add one which attracts militia?

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Lieutenant

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246652] Wed, 10 March 2010 18:45 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Headrock

 
Messages:1760
Registered:March 2006
Location: Jerusalem
Quote:
I like the grey version rather than the red version. Use ungreyed for known sectors, and yellow for no-go's in those areas which you have set.


I think you're confusing two things. The grey version above is showing the NORMAL VIEW MODE. Here's the real comparison. Vanilla JA2 on the left, new version on the right:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/NormalMapView-vanilla.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/NormalMapView-AdvancedGreyLight.gif

The only difference is the color of unvisited tiles.

However, I've also created a similar comparison between the use of RED and GREY for the Manual Mobile Restrictions View:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-AdvancedWhit.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-GreyNoRoam.gif

Unfortunately, it would not be a good idea to use grey for both types of displays, as that may end up confusing players. Or maybe not? They are mutually exclusive of course (pressing one button turns off the other button).

Quote:
Is there a way to add one which attracts militia?


Yellow zones (NO_LEAVE) attract militia from adjacent sectors. Simply causing militia to gravitate toward a sector (from whereever they are) IS possible, the game currently does this with the queen's palace. However, I can't think of a good interface to control this. Currently, right-click is used to cycle between zone colors, but I can't use that because only one "magnet zone" should exist at any given time, and that's not compatible with a cycling system. I could do it if I had more buttons, but there's no space for them in 640x480 mode.

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Sergeant Major

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246653] Wed, 10 March 2010 18:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Logisteric

 
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Registered:December 2008
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i'm for white = unvisited

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Captain
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246711] Thu, 11 March 2010 08:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
luk3Z is currently offline luk3Z

 
Messages:68
Registered:December 2006
Location: Metavira
I vote for this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/NormalMapView-AdvancedGreyLight.gif

and

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-GreyNoRoam.gif

That are better than original IMHO.

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Corporal
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246714] Thu, 11 March 2010 09:43 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kaerar is currently offline Kaerar

 
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Seconded Smile

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Lieutenant

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246774] Thu, 11 March 2010 22:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Minty is currently offline Minty

 
Messages:110
Registered:July 2009
Location: UK
Thirded.

With one addendum: Blue for the no-leave zones. Very Happy

Actually.. I just had an idea.. How about this:

Red is for danger, so should be no-leave. (Garrison hotspots and such)
Green is safe, so should be no-enter. (Subdued hinterlands, like the NE of Drassen)
Yellow is ambivalent, so should be normal patrol-behaviour.

Any thoughts?

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Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246776] Thu, 11 March 2010 22:44 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Logisteric

 
Messages:3199
Registered:December 2008
Location: B
are you a diplomat

you say yes it's great and than you change 3 of 4 Very Happy

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Captain
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246790] Thu, 11 March 2010 23:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Headrock

 
Messages:1760
Registered:March 2006
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I'll try to produce a screenshot for that. In the meanwhile, I'm going to produce an EXE with grey colors used for no-go zones (Militia boundaries) and for unvisited sectors in normal view. As a side-addition, I'll look into making the helicopter map look grey at game-start and turn red only if one or more SAM sites are known (by conquering them or by Skyrider's announcement).

Keep the feedback coming, let's get a good poll going on this.

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Sergeant Major

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246791] Thu, 11 March 2010 23:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Logisteric

 
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Registered:December 2008
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do it (is that enough feedback?)

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Captain
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246852] Fri, 12 March 2010 17:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Minty is currently offline Minty

 
Messages:110
Registered:July 2009
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Diplomat? Me? Nahh.. I AM open-minded, though, and tend to post my stream-of-conciousness, especially when giving feedback. If something occurs to me halfway through posting, I tend to just tag it onto the end of my post, even if it's contradictory. Smile So the OP can see how I've come to my conclusions.

Neither am I a lawyer or politician, Logisteric. Wink

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Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246867] Fri, 12 March 2010 20:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Faithless is currently offline Faithless

 
Messages:439
Registered:October 2009
Location: The safe end of the barre...
Mhh, are you thinking of changing the normal maps unvisited tiles to grey?
I think the normal thing would be prettier =)
On the militia I vote this one (though any of the above would be fine for me):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-AdvancedW-1.gif

BTW, whats that tile in the lower right corner? xD

[Updated on: Fri, 12 March 2010 20:40] by Moderator

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Master Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246868] Fri, 12 March 2010 20:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Logisteric

 
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p 16 :devilaugh:

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Captain
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #246887] Fri, 12 March 2010 23:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Headrock

 
Messages:1760
Registered:March 2006
Location: Jerusalem
Here's the reverse colors image. I don't like it very much, it's awfully confusing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Headrock/Jagged%20Alliance%202/HAM/HAM%204/MobileRestrictionsView-RedRev.gif

So I guess the verdict is:

GREY = Militia refuse to go here. (normal restrictions)
RED = Player-set restricted area. (No-enter zone)
YELLOW = Player-set roadblock. (No-Leave zone)
GREEN = Patrol route. (no restrictions)

[EDIT: I'm also toning down the green to make it look less... radioactive]

Quote:
BTW, whats that tile in the lower right corner? xD


Glitch caused by INT8 instead of INT16. Fixed.

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Sergeant Major

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #248166] Tue, 30 March 2010 17:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Horatio is currently offline Horatio

 
Messages:8
Registered:March 2010
One ini setting I'd love to see with this is to restrict training to just mobile troops.

I'd go with blue for no-leave, green for patrols, orange for merc-only, yellow for explored but restricted, and red for unexplored. I'd prefer green for no-leave and yellow for patrols, but since we can't distinguish between "friendly" and "hostile" explored sectors, I think yellow suits their uncertain status and higher risk. The idea here is for colours to be consistent with threat/presence, rather than a traffic light colour scheme (though it makes sense here from an "orders" perspective).

How about this? Green = no leave, yellow = patrol, orange = no enter, red = unexplored, desaturated blue = explored but restricted.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/1926/mobilerestrictionsviewrt.th.gif

[Updated on: Tue, 30 March 2010 18:37] by Moderator

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Private
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #248412] Fri, 02 April 2010 22:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Headrock

 
Messages:1760
Registered:March 2006
Location: Jerusalem
There are a few problems with your above post:

A) Explored/unexplored sectors are largely irrelevant to Mobile Movement - except when Exploration-Based restrictions are in use, in which case there are no explored but non-patrolable sectors anyway. So displaying which sectors have been explored is not necessary, and may be confusing (esp. with all those colors...).
B) The screenshot above doesn't match what your color suggestion says. The orange sectors in the screenshot are supposed to be the no-leave zones, while the green ones are no-enter.

Quote:
One ini setting I'd love to see with this is to restrict training to just mobile troops.


That is actually quite possible now that militia and mobile training have been fully separated.

And, even if an INI setting for this does become available in the future, there's a way to emulate it right now:

  • Back up the file \Data-1.13\TableData\Map\FacilityTypes.xml
  • Open the file in notepad
  • Remove the tag whereever it appears, including the value and the closing tag .

If you're using the HAM 3.6 Settings Package, it's likely that the file you need to edit would be in DATA-HAM\TableData\Map\, so keep that in mind.

This will prevent training Town Militia completely, while still allowing mobile training.

If you want to keep those mobiles out of your cities, go into the INI file and change ALLOW_MOBILE_MILITIA_REINFORCE_TOWN_GARRISONS to FALSE. You can do the same with ALLOW_MOBILE_MILITIA_REINFORCE_SAM_GARRISONS, too.

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Sergeant Major

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #248617] Tue, 06 April 2010 13:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
overweightninja is currently offline overweightninja

 
Messages:7
Registered:June 2008
Quote:
I could do it if I had more buttons, but there's no space for them in 640x480 mode.


I'm not trying to exclude anyone from the game, and most of you have been here a lot longer than I have so you'll probably have a better idea of the kind of people playing than I do, but is this really a limitation new features should be designed around? As I said I have no idea if this is actually the case, but I'd be very surprised if any significant number of people actually play at 640x480. 800x600 seems like a much more flexbile minimum to me.
Cheers

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Private
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #248783] Thu, 08 April 2010 15:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kaerar is currently offline Kaerar

 
Messages:2022
Registered:January 2003
Location: Australia :D
What about creating a pop up menu. When you click on militia there is one, why not hook into that...

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Lieutenant

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #314841] Sun, 27 January 2013 18:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ramzesLOL is currently offline ramzesLOL

 
Messages:9
Registered:January 2012
Hello
Sorry for digging but... I have little problem with MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions
Ive instaled Unstable 1.13 SCI from LINK and on top of that Wildfire Maps 6.06 and now mobile militia is indeed wourking but I cannot change sector color (from green to yellow etc.), when im right clicking on sector nothing hapends...
So what do I need to change/download to made manual restrictions work correctly.

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Private
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315574] Tue, 19 February 2013 05:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Lord Leperman is currently offline Lord Leperman

 
Messages:31
Registered:February 2006
Funny, I'm actually having the same issue now when I'm using the latest unstable SCI build with AFS Preview. I really liked having a degree of control over my militia, but I can't seem to figure out what changed in this version.

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Private 1st Class
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315577] Tue, 19 February 2013 10:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Uriens is currently offline Uriens

 
Messages:346
Registered:July 2006
What is your ja2.exe version and what are your Ja2_options.ini settings for:
RESTRICT_ROAMING
ALLOW_MILITIA_MOVEMENT_THROUGH_EXPLORED_SECTORS
ALLOW_DYNAMIC_RESTRICTED_ROAMING

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Master Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315579] Tue, 19 February 2013 14:10 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Lord Leperman is currently offline Lord Leperman

 
Messages:31
Registered:February 2006
Exe version is 5521

RESTRICT_ROAMING TRUE
ALLOW_MILITIA_MOVEMENT_THROUGH_EXPLORED_SECTORS TRUE
ALLOW_DYNAMIC_RESTRICTED_ROAMING TRUE

Mobile militia can be trained, but you can't change the color of sectors in the restrictions tab (Can't change green sector to yellow/red etc) and thus making them move MM move randomly or garrison empty town areas.

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Private 1st Class
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315588] Tue, 19 February 2013 22:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Uriens is currently offline Uriens

 
Messages:346
Registered:July 2006
Try setting
ALLOW_MILITIA_MOVEMENT_THROUGH_EXPLORED_SECTORS FALSE

This one is default and in my testing

RESTRICT_ROAMING TRUE
ALLOW_MILITIA_MOVEMENT_THROUGH_EXPLORED_SECTORS FALSE
ALLOW_DYNAMIC_RESTRICTED_ROAMING TRUE

makes manual restrictions work fine. This is directly opposite from settings that are listed in this thread but seems someone has changed the values this feature works with.

Also, get newer exe and update svn files too. Older versions had a bug that prevented this feature from working but it was reported and fixed in later versions (although fix was never actually listed in the changelog, or maybe I missed it).

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Master Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315593] Wed, 20 February 2013 04:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Lord Leperman is currently offline Lord Leperman

 
Messages:31
Registered:February 2006
I tried your suggestions but it still doesn't work. Right clicking still doesn't change the MM restrictions on the map. I'll try using an older version just to double check.

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Private 1st Class
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315599] Wed, 20 February 2013 11:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Uriens is currently offline Uriens

 
Messages:346
Registered:July 2006
Just checked it and it works fine with latest exe. Not sure if you have to start new game though. Don't forget, it's important to use latest exe/svn version.

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Master Sergeant
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315778] Thu, 28 February 2013 02:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Lord Leperman is currently offline Lord Leperman

 
Messages:31
Registered:February 2006
I am using the latest SCI from Depresive Bot's thread, I'm still getting an all grey map with no ability to change the colors of each sector, thus when I make a mobile militia squad, it always stays in place or reinforces the town beside it. The last build that I tried which allowed me to change the sector colors was the last stable release, which was released around a year an a half ago.

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Private 1st Class
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315779] Thu, 28 February 2013 02:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Flugente

 
Messages:3509
Registered:April 2009
Location: Germany
Did you set the correct ini values? Works fine with current exe for me...

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Captain

Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #315786] Thu, 28 February 2013 04:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Lord Leperman is currently offline Lord Leperman

 
Messages:31
Registered:February 2006
Sadly, no dice. When I set RESTRICT_ROAMING to FALSE, all I get is a green map. Right clicking on any sector doesn't change the color.

When I set it to RESTRICT_ROAMING to TRUE, I also set ALLOW_MILITIA_MOVEMENT_THROUGH_EXPLORED_SECTORS to TRUE as well. All areas I've been to turned green, but still no way to change the color of those areas. Mobile militia behave as expected, traversing through green sectors, avoiding grey ones, and reinforcing towns under my control.

Anyway, my problem is right clicking on the map while the Mobile Militia Restrictions tab is up does nothing. The sector I right click won't change color at all. If I close the Militia Tab and keep the Restrictions tab up, only the inventory window pops up, and I don't know what's the cause of this Sad.

EDIT: I'll try the latest SVN instead of the SCI right now, I'll report what happens.

EDIT 2: There we go, finally worked when using updated SVN.

[Updated on: Thu, 28 February 2013 06:35] by Moderator

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Private 1st Class
Re: MANUAL Mobile Militia Restrictions[message #323259] Fri, 26 July 2013 07:16 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
nhja2fan is currently offline nhja2fan

 
Messages:25
Registered:March 2012
I'm having the same problem now with 6232. No matter what choices I make in the INI file, I get various green patterns (all, none, explored, or specific). None of these allow for me to change the restrictions manually (cycle through green, yellow, red). Anyone else having this problem?

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Private 1st Class
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