Belated End of March update - Warband scrap mechanics and randomization

Hello everyone,

I'd meant to have this update ready by the end of last month, but some things got in the way. This month was mostly spent trying to get the new shadow system working, replacing old artwork with new stuff that is compatible with the new lighting system, and changing up Warband's unit roster.

First up, the shadow system. This still is not ready, but should be finished sometime before the end of April. Right now the fundamentals are in place, however, the system is still buggy and needs a lot of tweaking. There's also been some discussion on how the environment itself should cast shadows; specifically, hills and cliffs casting shadows onto lower elevations. Since we can't actually have terrain geometry, this will be done by using the actual physical terrain matrix grid as a means of casting the shadow. While this does mean hills and cliffs will have oddly geometric shadows, this should not be too noticeable. Here is our progress so far on that front.

As stated, this is still in an unfinished stage, hence the odd tiling effect on the shadows. This should be resolved before the end of the month.

Onto Warband's revised unit roster, we've decided on throwing away a number of units, combining certain units, and changing some of their doctrine.

As you can see, there are quite a few different sprites here. You may have noticed in our older videos and screenshots that their basic buggy unit has some sprite variation; this logic has been expanded to include some of their other units as well. In addition to the redesigned buggy (top left), we've also combined their original warcar and heavy wartruck units into one single unit (right), and introduced a totally new killdozer-like unit, dubbed the Tanklet (bottom left). These units will all use this randomized artwork function, to add a bit more realism, since why would a guerilla force use standardized parts? This will mostly be a cosmetic feature, though in some cases it does slightly alter gameplay, such as is the case with the Tanklet, where it has a pretty different turret position depending on the variant, and in one case even has a version with two mini turrets instead of a single larger one.

For those that have played C&C Generals, we are also introducing a system very similar to the GLA scrap upgrade system. Certain Warband units can harvest battlefield scrap to self-upgrade, which grants them improved weapons and armor. There are three levels to upgrading: unupgraded, upgrade level 1, and upgrade level 2. Generally speaking the first upgrade grants additional firepower (a larger turret and the addition of a front-facing secondary weapon), while the second upgrade grants additional armor (seen on the sprite in the form of extra armor plating and spikes) and an even larger turret/main weapon.

This does mean that making these units is a bit of extra work compared to normal, since it does mean that each unit effectively has 9 different unit sprites instead of just one, however we feel this added level detail is worth the effort. Also note that not all Warband units will use this system; elite units that will be less common on the battlefield will likely not include sprite variants, as it makes more sense for their common units to make use of this randomization, not so much for the units that you will only ever see one or two of on the battlefield at once.

Lastly, the new Warband unit roster and changes to doctrine are more conceptual at this point, but will further set them apart from other factions. DORF will contain units classed as field guns, which are low armor, low mobility, but high firepower units, which are generically better for defense than offence, and will require vehicles to tow them if you want them to get anywhere fast. Warband will take this concept a step further and allow for field guns that can fire while being towed, allowing for some synergy between their lightly armored fast vehicles and their high-firepower towed guns. For example, using a heavy warcar to tow a rocket artillery piece, allowing the warcar to rapidly change positions to shell enemy positions without staying in one spot for too long. Some weapons will function by not firing on the move directly, but rather will alter the weapons of the unit towing it, such as a Tanklet hauling a heavy flamethrower, which then grants the Tanklet a heavy flamer attack, turning it into a flametank. There will also be towable utility units, such as an armored bunker that can be towed as a means of rapidly moving infantry units around, or work as a mobile pillbox to fire out of, as well as a towable tanker that can effectively turn any vehicle unit into a resource harvester.

Of course this can't be demonstrated yet, as towing logic is yet to be added, but will become demonstrable once we get around to the big pathfinding update.

As always, thanks for sticking around this far. We do hope to be able to start putting out video updates soon, though again this is contingent on getting the shadow and lighting updates in fully working order.