On occlusion or The DIFFICULT approach to "fixing" the sensor boat "problem"

from GalCiv3 Forums

I think the objection to sensor boats comes from the sense that they eliminate the need for the "Exploration" part of this 4X game.

I know it has been mentioned before, on dev streams and the like, but heavenly-bodies (planets, stars, black-holes) and nebulae should block sensors. If there was occlusion then it wouldn't matter if your sensor boat could see across the galaxy because there would be so much stuff in the way. And if you wanted to see what's on the other side of that nebula or black-hole, you would need to physically move your sensor boat to the other side.

This would also open up the possibility for jamming tech that could disrupt or trick sensors.

Of course, this would need to be implemented in the code and I have no idea if Stardock's game engine supports any of it. Calculating occlusion for thousands of ships as they move every turn might be too processor intensive for the game (though it's really not necessary to calculate it for the AI).

I would suggest that this should be implemented as an optional feature, so that people with lower-rated machines don't have to take any performance penalty (and people who like their All Seeing Eye can play that way).

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Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I think you've already mentioned the main reason why this couldn't be implemented - the need for a super-computer to process it all :)

However, you also need to take into consideration that what we are seeing is a 2-dimensional abstract rendition of 3-dimensional space. That nebula shown on the map might not actually be directly blocking line of sight (or sensor) to the star just beyond it.

The simplest solutions to such problems are usually the best - just add a hard cap e.g. max sensor range that is increased by techs in the sensor line.

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Magnumaniac, reply 2

I think you've already mentioned the main reason why this couldn't be implemented - the need for a super-computer to process it all :)

However, you also need to take into consideration that what we are seeing is a 2-dimensional abstract rendition of 3-dimensional space. That nebula shown on the map might not actually be directly blocking line of sight (or sensor) to the star just beyond it.

The simplest solutions to such problems are usually the best - just add a hard cap e.g. max sensor range that is increased by techs in the sensor line.

I actually don't think you need a super computer to do it. But that doesn't mean that it's feasible with Stardock's GC3 engine. If calculating line of sight is not part of the engine already, it's just not going to happen.

Hard cap on sensor range is probably not going to cut it as people play on different sized maps. Whatever the cap is it's either going to be too big for smaller maps or too small for larger ones (and most likely unsatisfactory for both).

You can pretty much nerf sensor boats however you want by modding the definition for sensors. My first thought is making sensors much larger and more expensive -- and have them grow larger and pricier as you move up in range.