Post by Random Username Generator in Magic comments

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Random Username Generator26 days ago

Some observations I marked probably-bugs with an ❌ good things with a ✅:

Pathfinding:

Avoids nodes, lairs, towers, and cities unless you path directly to them. ✅
Does not otherwise check intermediate tiles, only the destination tile. ❌
Flight does not allow a Warship to set a destination on land. Probably a bug, although my bot opponents would clearly argue that it's a fix. ❌

Observations:

Please add a quick restart button for starting a new game with the same settings.
It could be fun to have a quick start button that gives you a random Wizard to play. If so, it should probably only have a difficulty selector?
Very easy to compile from source. ✅
The minimap is not clickable. ❌
- Right-click on the map is smooth. ✅
- Follows the current unit exactly, which is a little distracting when I'm also tracking the map.
More zoom-out please. I like to see the entire map.
Newly-built warships are in the city, not the nearby ocean. I don't know if this is accurate to the original DOS version.
Warships in a city don't defend it. I don't know if this is accurate to the original version.
- I'm pretty sure Flying Warships can defend a city in the original version, though.
Master of Magic engine remake. ✅

kazzmir25 days ago(+1)

There actually is a way to start an instant game from the command line if you have built from source.

$ magic -start

I will address the rest of your comments later. Thank you for the feedback!

kazzmir24 days ago(+1)

I increased the zoom level a bit, but if the map is too large you still can't see the whole thing.

kazzmir23 days ago(+1)

I added a "Quick Start" button to the main menu that drops you into a game with a random number of opponents on a randomly sized land size, and with a random wizard for your player.

Regarding "Does not otherwise check intermediate tiles, only the destination tile.", I guess you are saying that units sometimes run into obstacles on their way to the destination and need your help to move around them. This is partly be design, in that the original DOS version simply didn't let you move armies onto unexplored tiles that would have been illegal for that unit. Meaning, if you were to try to direct a unit onto an unexplored ocean tile, the game would simply not calculate a path at all. I think this is a bit unfair in that if the area is unexplored you shouldn't be able to know if there is an ocean tile there or not. For now, the units in my engine always try to go towards the destination tile, and just stop moving if they can't continue on their path.

I have thought about making units auto-recalculate a new path to the destination tile (if one exists), so that you don't have to manually manage the unit yourself. Do you think that would be preferable?

Random Username Generator23 days ago

A Warship with a Flight spell would sometimes move on land *if* I sent it to either another ocean tile, or an unexplored tile. Otherwise it considered land tiles impassable, which is normal for a Warship but a bit odd for a flying one.

kazzmir21 days ago(+1)

I fixed a few issues regarding sailing units (including the warship). A flying warship can move around anywhere on the map and enter combat on land, as well as still transporting units. Also I tested in DOS MoM and new ship units do start in the city they are built in, not in the nearest ocean tile.

Random Username Generator20 days ago

Thank you. I should have said that before; this kind of developer response is rare, and should not go unnoticed. I am far too used to clicking upvote buttons. Good to know new ship units start in the city they are built in; it's been a while.

I missed this part before:

"I have thought about making units auto-recalculate a new path to the destination tile (if one exists), so that you don't have to manually manage the unit yourself. Do you think that would be preferable?"

That sounds good to me. If unexplored areas are treated as traversable, it could also enable semi-automated coastline exploration by clicking on an unexplored tile that the sea unit probably cannot reach.

Which brings up a thought; I don't know if you want to add automated exploration? This could enable fully automated coastline exploration by treating a land tile as unexplored. The sea unit would try to move through the unexplored tiles to reach the target, revealing more of the coastline. Depending on tile visibility, this might require adding a few more fake unexplored tiles, so the bot thinks there might be a path?

kazzmir20 days ago(+1)

As long as there is some tile that is unexplored the engine will assume it can traverse that tile, so if a sailing unit tries to reach some destination but keeps running into the coast it can recalculate a new path until it discovers the entire coast. Theres a chance the unit might get into a suboptimal situation where it keeps re-exploring the same path a few times though. I can play with it.

itch.io

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