Civilians?

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by kendo65

This is definitely something that I have little doubt will play a big part in the future of this sim. I wonder though how much will be available and usable in the initial release?

i dont disagree with that.

what got my reaction was that some late arrivals in this forum seem unaware there is a whole range of elements oleg has spoken about himself that he has incorporated already, and other elements he has factored into the engine and will be developed further as the later installments of BoB/SoW get released (or will be open to 3e party folks to develop)

Originally Posted by kendo65

We are already aware that Oleg is aiming for a release later this year and that many crucial aspects of the game remain to be tuned and added. This means that of necessity some of the desirable but non-essential extras will be pushed back for inclusion after initial release.

i dont see it that way, and i believe oleg is well on track to release by his intended date. he indicated around the middle of last year that he intended to have "many 1000's of players" using BoB/SoW by the anniversary date of BoB in 2010. there are several possible specific dates for this, latest possible one being mid/late sept 2010. given he has been at the stage of integrating his completed components already in the last few months, jumping straight to beta stage with all elements working without the usual protracted alpha stage, oleg pretty much already knows what will be in the sim and what not. he wont waste adding months to develop/add some non core new feature just because of a discussion in a forum thread (as some here seem to believe might be the case).

Originally Posted by kendo65

The best examples of 'desirable but non-essential' would be things like wildlife in the fields, civilian traffic, animated civilians (farmers, pedestrians, kids playing in the back yard, etc).

we already have several of those include, no need to be modest. we will have birds flying in flocks near cliffs at the coast (and causing bird strike when hit), and hopefully (but unconfirmed) some birds in other fields. we also have some civilian road traffic, working and modeled london buses oleg already mentioned several yrs ago (and posted screenshots). in a post in this forum he also confirmed some civilian road cars were working in the sim (but didnt say if would be included at release)

what hasnt been confirmed is static animals in farmer fields (oleg did say there would be no animated horses/cattle/sheep etc at release), but presumably adding some static animals would not be a big deal and i hope will be included (to be switched of in options for those wanting to reduce fps drain, just as you can do in rowan's BoB now)

oleg also didnt confirm or comment if there would be "farmer driving tractor in fields", or "civilian truck on roads", personally i think that is very simple to add and would take one of his programmers 20 min. you just set the tractor/ truck to drive at a preset loop on the road or field, and thats it (maybe synced to server time, so the farmer dont work his fields at night)

adding individual civilians walking around villages/towns is a bit much to ask for now, BUT we will have the equivalent on airfields, by having some form of animation of refueling/rearming etc on airfields, AND fire and ambulance trucks (presumably not ghost driven, so there has to be a figure inside). adding some static civilians in some parts of the map, on bridges, next to rivers, or passengers on a bus etc is not that big of a leap. we already have in il2 a troop truck with simple animated figures jumping out of it when strafed, is it that big of a leap of faith to have a more modern and better detailed version of a similar feature in 2010 BoB, i dont think it is ! will it be included at release ? no idea, but to me it is a very obvious possibility to be expanded on (either by oleg or 3e party)

since oleg already stated he hoped to include at release the ability to control at least a single vehicle, and probably a ship/boat at release or soon thereafter, then these vehicles/ships have to include a modeled driver/pilot. so again it emphasizes oleg's recent efforts in working on that aspect (as can be clearly seen in his detailed human figures, and a recent video of animated skeletal pilot entering/exiting an aircraft). will this be a simple animation ? will this be under player control in 1e or 3e person ? no idea, but to pretend it isnt part of BoB's future is just silly, it obviously is in some form.

i think some people here (not you, but people like andywest) should go and refresh there mind, or find out for the first time, on the extensive comments oleg himself has previously made on this over the years, much of which has been confirmed by development screen shots and video's.

and like another recent poster stated, these forums, particularly the ones oleg and Co read themselves, are as much a brainstorming resource and a place for idea's as they are a location for general fan/user discussion, so think big, and come up with suggestions for further improvements