SimPlot - Importance of replay and movement tracks

[kmart494]

I would like to know how important the turn replay and historic movement track features are to your experience using SimPlot with Harpoon V.

The upcoming issue is the complexity of not only the code to execute turn replay, but also the amount of data that must be stored in the way of historic movement tracks to support turn replay. The more features I add to SimPlot, the more coding that must be done and the more data that must be collected to support turn replay.

Already I have eliminated range arcs/circles from historic consideration. That means the arcs/circles will not appear and disappear during the course of replay, but rather they will stay on/off based on their last status.

I am in the process of expanding the formation editor features, but it occurs to me a formation will change its composition (units and their locations within the formation) over time. Even a change to the formation leader will cause the turn replay to not function right unless the changes are tracked by time. (Especially because all the formation bearings and distance are based on the leader.) This requires additional code and data storage (larger file sizes) to implement correctly.

I have to admit I really like the concept of a live turn replay. It was originally a response to players of multi-player games that felt disconnected by the multi-player experience (processing multiple turns between player interactions). The replay would give a player an opportunity to "catch up" with the action since the last turn. Perhaps an alternative could be offered in the way of screenshots saved into Red, Blue, and All folders based on the referee "Show Side" setting.

Movement tracks are s lightly lesser issue for coding, but they are a huge issue for file sizes. Already I have begun offering players the option to not save movement tracks in their turn files. The movement tracks do at least allow players to "turn back the clock" in case of an error during movement. That means tracking movement for at least one turn. But, I would like to know if displaying the total historic tracks during a scenario is useful to you.

Kevin

[Admiral Spruance]

Is it possible to save the ending position of the turn as .jpg when you start the next turn?  
Would be useful as an after action graphic and still keep the game files smaller. 
 

Making the save files smaller is very important to me, as it has caused several games to come to crashing halt when we tried to resume the game.  
 

hope this helps. 
 

JK

[kmart494]

Under the File menu there is a screenshot function.

I am looking into ways to reduce the file size without sacrificing the data.

[ProfKDH]

I've just gotten started with the latest beta, but I like having that functionality available. I hope it remains part of SimPlot in some form.

[darthvader170]

For me, replay and movement tracks are quite important, and visually is a blast, or least more than formations. From my point of view, I can do formations thanks to waypoints and personal effort, but I'won`t do replay if that function is deleted.

Anyway, Are there any plans for formations, to code the program to allow ships to try to maintain stations, or will always be a turn the formation as a complete unit, so that outer and inner units within the formation will teleport to the new position when turning?

 

By the way, is it possible to do NTDS symbols a bit thick (like janes fleet command, or command naval operations), right now they are too thin, and difficult to view against a blue water background. 

Also if possible, the background of numbers (such as range, bearing) is about 50% transparency, and when there are a few units closely, A lot of zoom is needed to separate the numbers (distances, degrees, names), I belive a complete flat color will be best as background, at least the forward unit numbers will be visible without zooming.

Any way, it is your program, and it will be great game whatever you do.

[kmart494]

The formation ships will have to "teleport" to their new locations since I am not going to code a movement AI. I actually researched how ships move in a formation, and it is very complicated (also depends on the type of formation). I don't want to sped any time on that right now.

The NTDS symbols can be adjusted using F9. Try different Symbol Scale or Symbol Size settings

I will reduce the transparency down to 25% and see if that helps. Otherwise, I will have to turn it off.