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SITREP

Grognerd

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Joined
Nov 28, 2017
Messages
215
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28
Age
71
Location
Melbourne, USA
Dave, haven't checked in several months (on game development progress).
Wow - sorry to see the fires so close... These fires broke my heart from a human and wildlife perspective.
I'll wait till hell freezes over or I kick the bucket. This is the absolute best wargame in the western world! Worth the patience of Job. I'll buy Bradley at Bay the moment it is available on Steam.
 

Agent Smith

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2014
Messages
14
Points
3
Age
58
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Been a long while since I checked in...
Is the current game engine playable or broken?
Is there a timeframe for when the beta finally goes live?
Now that Aus. is in lockdown.. time to play CO2 again.
 

Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor

Panther Games Designer
Joined
Jul 31, 2014
Messages
3,415
Points
113
Location
Canberra, Australia
Website
www.panthergames.com
Sorry guys, I've not been well. I've been self-isolating for the covid-19 but I came down with a cold (not corona) and topped that off by pulling my back out. I'm only getting through a couple of hours coding a day at the moment. Beta testing highlighted an issue introduced by my recent changes. Essentially I added code to stop a lot of replanning but this has resulted in cases where a significant amount of force is left on hold. I am revising the code that responds to an abandoned subordinate plan.

Right now I have written code that determines whether the subordinate force is a significant chunk of your entire force and if the abandoned plan is a significant chunk of the side's future victory points. I need to revise the existing code to use these two factors and decide whether to do a full replan of all mission plans, a partial replan, exempting any ongoing plans or just reassigning the abandoned force to an existing plan (this would force a replan just for that plan). It's complicated but I am making progress, albeit slowly.
 

panzerpit

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2014
Messages
63
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8
Age
53
Location
Poland
Good to have some news from you, Dave. Wish you a lot of health and perseverance in self-isolating :)
 

VinSix

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2020
Messages
23
Points
3
Location
UK
Sorry guys, I've not been well. I've been self-isolating for the covid-19 but I came down with a cold (not corona) and topped that off by pulling my back out. I'm only getting through a couple of hours coding a day at the moment. Beta testing highlighted an issue introduced by my recent changes. Essentially I added code to stop a lot of replanning but this has resulted in cases where a significant amount of force is left on hold. I am revising the code that responds to an abandoned subordinate plan.

Right now I have written code that determines whether the subordinate force is a significant chunk of your entire force and if the abandoned plan is a significant chunk of the side's future victory points. I need to revise the existing code to use these two factors and decide whether to do a full replan of all mission plans, a partial replan, exempting any ongoing plans or just reassigning the abandoned force to an existing plan (this would force a replan just for that plan). It's complicated but I am making progress, albeit slowly.

Hi Dave - Hope your well and glad to hear you're ok. Just out of interest... I am keen to understand what language you code in and any tips pointers towards books/info etc that could help me on the way to coding/designing wargames.. (understand your commercial obligations so as not to give anything away in terms if Intellectual Prop etc. I am studying or intend to use C++ (with OOAD)...but just trying to pull good books/info for background on coding wargames either real time or traditional hexbased… can I assume that you are object oriented in design etc. Would be very appreciative for any info. Regards
 
Joined
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Hi Dave - Hope your well and glad to hear you're ok. Just out of interest... I am keen to understand what language you code in and any tips pointers towards books/info etc that could help me on the way to coding/designing wargames.. (understand your commercial obligations so as not to give anything away in terms if Intellectual Prop etc. I am studying or intend to use C++ (with OOAD)...but just trying to pull good books/info for background on coding wargames either real time or traditional hexbased… can I assume that you are object oriented in design etc. Would be very appreciative for any info. Regards
I don't know the specifics of the programming, but the game's install package looks for a version of C++ and Microsoft .NET framework to be installed on the computer, and installs the appropriate environment if not found.
 

Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor

Panther Games Designer
Joined
Jul 31, 2014
Messages
3,415
Points
113
Location
Canberra, Australia
Website
www.panthergames.com
VinSix,

Yep we program in C++, though the old EstabEditor is in Visual Basic, believe it or not. It's all object oriented, save for some third party C code we use for zipping and unzipping data. If I was starting out a fresh I would recommend using the Unity framework for the GUI. That's written and modded in C#. You can then leverage off a wide range of third party modules to do fancy things like 3D maps. No need to reinvent the wheel. I'd then use C++ for the AI because it supports multiple inheritance which C# doesn't - though there are workarounds for that. I'd have the AI as a DLL and link into the Game app, written in C#.

As for good books on coding wargames, well there wasn't any when I started. I'm self taught (with a lot of patient input from Paul Scobell). So everything I've learnt I've acquired the hard way by trial and error. It's the best teacher by far. But hey, there is probably books out there now. I'm just not familiar with them. Sorry.

Good luck with your study.
 

Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor

Panther Games Designer
Joined
Jul 31, 2014
Messages
3,415
Points
113
Location
Canberra, Australia
Website
www.panthergames.com
SITREP Thu 23 Apr 2020

Re forces going on hold issue. I have almost finished overhauling the code that the boss uses to respond when one of his subordinates plans are abandoned. It's a lot more nuanced and smarter now. Remember that the aim is to reduce the amount of unnecessary replanning while ensuring that we don't have significant forces idle. My earlier attempt to reduce the amount of replanning led to too many forces going idle.

Now the AI will factor in whether the subordinate plan is significant, the subordinate force is significant, there is enough time to re-execute, whether it's still feasible to achieve the objective and a swag of other stuff as well. If the abandoned plan is significant - ie it has side victory points either directly or derived and these amount to a fair share of the total VPs for the side - then it will want to do some replanning - either a ReplanAll() or a PartialReplan(). If it's not significant, it will suspend it and decide what to do with the abandoning force.

If the abandoning force is significant (ie a significant portion of the boss's total force group), then he will look to reinforce another existing plan, provided there is enough time to do so and the other plan is not exempt. A plan may be exempted from replanning if it has an attack underway, it has achieved the objective and the objective is under threat from nearby enemy or it's about to achieve the objective and a replan would cause it to forestall that. It's a little more complex than that, but you get the idea.


it deems the abandoning force can recover and eventually achieve the objective, then it will let it. It will schedule an event to review the situation later. Then it may escalate the response. Otherwise it will review all plans within its opPlan and assess those that can be replanned or exempt, those that the abandoning force could reinforce within the available time, provided they can be reached. I've created a ReplanSuitability structure to store all the data for the analysis of each plan. I'm going to use these to sort the plans by suitability and determine which plan the abandoning force will reinforce. I hope to finish that tomorrow. It's looking good.

I still have to create the review event. But I think this is looking good. It should reduce unnecessary replanning while avoiding too many idle units. Once I get it compiled and running I will do some manual and autotesting here. If that goes well I'll check in my code and merge with Pavel's. Then I may skip going to our beta testers and put out a public beta build for you all to take a look at. Subject to whatever the universe throws at us, I'll aim to get this out in the next couple of weeks.
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
1,181
Points
63
Age
76
Location
Livonia, MI (Detroit-area suburb)
SITREP Thu 23 Apr 2020

Re forces going on hold issue. I have almost finished overhauling the code that the boss uses to respond when one of his subordinates plans are abandoned. It's a lot more nuanced and smarter now. Remember that the aim is to reduce the amount of unnecessary replanning while ensuring that we don't have significant forces idle. My earlier attempt to reduce the amount of replanning led to too many forces going idle.

Now the AI will factor in whether the subordinate plan is significant, the subordinate force is significant, there is enough time to re-execute, whether it's still feasible to achieve the objective and a swag of other stuff as well. If the abandoned plan is significant - ie it has side victory points either directly or derived and these amount to a fair share of the total VPs for the side - then it will want to do some replanning - either a ReplanAll() or a PartialReplan(). If it's not significant, it will suspend it and decide what to do with the abandoning force.

If the abandoning force is significant (ie a significant portion of the boss's total force group), then he will look to reinforce another existing plan, provided there is enough time to do so and the other plan is not exempt. A plan may be exempted from replanning if it has an attack underway, it has achieved the objective and the objective is under threat from nearby enemy or it's about to achieve the objective and a replan would cause it to forestall that. It's a little more complex than that, but you get the idea.


it deems the abandoning force can recover and eventually achieve the objective, then it will let it. It will schedule an event to review the situation later. Then it may escalate the response. Otherwise it will review all plans within its opPlan and assess those that can be replanned or exempt, those that the abandoning force could reinforce within the available time, provided they can be reached. I've created a ReplanSuitability structure to store all the data for the analysis of each plan. I'm going to use these to sort the plans by suitability and determine which plan the abandoning force will reinforce. I hope to finish that tomorrow. It's looking good.

I still have to create the review event. But I think this is looking good. It should reduce unnecessary replanning while avoiding too many idle units. Once I get it compiled and running I will do some manual and autotesting here. If that goes well I'll check in my code and merge with Pavel's. Then I may skip going to our beta testers and put out a public beta build for you all to take a look at. Subject to whatever the universe throws at us, I'll aim to get this out in the next couple of weeks.
Excellent decision logic!

Management plans are based on defining a priority or hierarchy among the operation's goals, and determining if the top goal is being achieved even if the subordinate goals lag.. If that is the case, adjustment in subordinate goals is worthwhile to build strength for retaining the priority goal.

On another topic, ideally, when the public beta is released, it will bring the customers who obtained their product via Steam in line with those who obtained their product through LnL, eliminating the discrepancies in performance among versions 5.1.31 in Steam and 5.1.28 in LnL) that exists now.
 

Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor

Panther Games Designer
Joined
Jul 31, 2014
Messages
3,415
Points
113
Location
Canberra, Australia
Website
www.panthergames.com
SITREP Fri 1 May 2020


Hi all,

I have finished writing the code changes to address the forces going on hold issue. This occurs when a subordinate abandons its mission plan, but the boss fails to respond appropriately. Initially, the boss would replan all its current missions. But this was having some bad effects, causing attacks to be called off and then restarted, objectives being given up only for the force to try and retake it. My earlier solution to limit the amount or replanning, though, caused too many forces to go on hold. More nuance was required and that is what these latest changes provide.

The code that responds to the abandonment of a subordinate plan now better assesses the situation. It determines if the abandoned plan is significant, based on either direct victory points or derived ones. It determines if the abandoning force is significant relative to the rest of the boss’s total force. It determines if the abandoned plan is till feasible and there is enough time for it to re-execute the plan. It determines the suitability of other plans (within the boss’s opPlan) to be reinforced by the abandoning force; to be partially replanned; or to be exempt from replanning. Finally it determines the best option, either to allow the abandoning force to recover and resume its mission; have the abandoning force reinforce another current plan; do a full replan of all missions; or to partially replan, exempting those plans where an attack is underway, the objective is about to be achieved and a replan would forestall that or where the objective is achieved and enemy are nearby.

It has taken me quite a while to hone this code down. But the game is now back up and running. I have begun testing and stepping through each of the changes I have made and, in particular, ensuring that each option works as intended. I’m about a quarter of the way through that. I hope to finish this off next week and then autotest.

As I foreshadowed in last week’s SITREP, after that I intend to merge my code with Pavel’s and then put out a new public beta build on both Steam and LNL. More or less concurrently, I intend to release the new Bradley at Bay (BAB) module.

I expect that we’ll need to do one or more cycles of tweak, build and test before we can declare the new game version to be a final and the same goes for the BAB module. I’m going to need your cooperation and support during this process. By going out to a wider audience, rather than the traditional in-house beta testers, I’m hoping to speed up the delivery of the final version while giving you all something new to play with during this difficult Covid 19 period.

We will be charging for the BAB module, but there will be no cost associated with the new game version. You will be able to play all your existing modules with the new game engine. It will either automatically convert these, or you will be able to download a converted version of your existing modules without additional charge.

I know this is a break from our earlier pricing model. I know it’s not seeking any recompense for all the work we have put in to develop this new version. But I’m hoping that you will show your support by buying Bradley at Bay and any other of the existing modules that you don’t already have. It’s been a long two years of development with little in the way of sales. So please, don’t let me down.
 

panzerpit

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2014
Messages
63
Points
8
Age
53
Location
Poland
Gosh... I've been waiting for this so long... I'm really excited! :) That would be dreamy if you could release BAB as a payed early access DLC on Steam :)
 

Seb3brv78

Member
Joined
May 4, 2017
Messages
17
Points
3
Age
36
Location
France
Thank you for all your work and efforts, I'm gonna buy the rest of the modules if that can be of some help!
 

Le gac

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
11
Points
3
Age
57
Location
France
I own all your modules and I will buy Bradley at Bay too for sure. And all new future modules...
Command ops is the best wargame ever played for me. (computer and board).
 

JWW

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2019
Messages
3
Points
1
Age
70
Location
Monroe, LA
I'm in. My comment to your Steam post of your SITREP -- Thanks for the update. Good news. I just bought the Commanders Pack 1 on sale a few days ago (I already had HTTR.) because I want to get back in this series. I played CO1 Matrix version a lot a long time ago but never quite got back in to CO2. One problem was concern over things I read some time ago about the pricing model. I was attracted back to CO2 because of the two new LNL Steam early access releases. That gave me the bug again for CO2, which is truly a brilliant game. I appreciate the decision to not charge for the new game version and for module conversion. I think that is a better model, especially with Steam, and I hope it is successful. I will pick up BAB when it comes out along with the new game version and will get around this summer to getting the rest of the modules. I have to spread them out a little so as not to test the tolerance of my loving wife. Best wishes.
 

rjantzi

Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
Messages
81
Points
8
Location
Vancouver, BC
Dave, I just want to say that I've been following this forum for quite awhile now without participating. After reading your update yesterday about the progress being made I went and bought the latest two modules (Knock on all Doors & Westwall) as I didn't yet have them. I'm eagerly looking forward to the release of the updated game version and BaB. Thanks for all of your hard work on this project. CO2 is one of the most engaging games in the market today. I hope you get the support that you richly deserve. Cheers
 
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