Radar, LOS and other questions...

[Lost Ninja]

Long time since I last played TA, really since I went from 98 to XP and lost the ability to run TA succesfully, I found TA:Spring in '05 but being unable/unwilling to play against real people didn't get far. Now that much better AIs exist I've rejoined the ranks. However i have some issues that I'd like addressed if possible.

1)No matter what radar unit I build I only ever get a few radar blips, often units that are almost in or are in range of sight. I've tried various things like switching the radar units on/off and changing their AI. However this doesn't change anything. What am I doing wrong? And I have checked that the AI team has no anti-radar/cloaking units active.

2)In OTA LOS was useful, especially with fog of war turned on. In Spring I'm finding it very difficult to see things until they can already see me and are firing. It seldom seems to matter whether or not they have LOS. Does the AI cheat in some manner to see units through terrain/structures/wreckage?

2a)Is there now or will there ever be a visible fog of war? As in the area you can't see is dithered or greyed out.

2b)As above is it possible to go to a circular LOS mode? (As in OTA)

3)Long Range Artillery, Vulcans & Buzzsaws etc seem to be broken. If fired at a target they will only fire if put into high trajectory mode (if they have it) to the point where now I don't build them at all. Are they actually broken or has their use changed so remarkably in Spring?

4)Is it possible to write or create some kind of build restriction list? Basically I'd like to remove all combat air units, both from the AI and myself so that land wars are possible.

5)Are there any good AIs that work well both with the current release and Uber Hack?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[jackalope]

two suggestions:

download balanced annilihation 4.7

press "L" to see LOS and radar information. Radar is affected by terrain

[ZellSF]

Also press ; to disable/enable radar and radar jamming in los view.

And 2b no, there's no circular los, only realistic los. 1 is basically because you're playing a mod with sucky radars, same with long range artillery, though there the issue might be friendly fire. Make sure there's no friendly units in the way or near the target.

Unit restrictions are possible, just host a game in TASClient and check the different options, password the game if you don't want any human opponents (which you should have, but meh). Unlike OTA, you can't allow 5 gators, but not more. Only mods can do that currently.

5, don't play Uber Hack. It's outdated by lots. I think Balanced Annihilation is the latest mod that's Uber Hack based. If you want OTA gameplay I think your best choice is BOTA. If you want good gameplay, you might want to go with Expand & Exterminate.

[iamacup]

some of the AI (i know KAI) cheat.

[LordMatt]

If you want good gameplay, you might want to go with Expand & Exterminate.

[Strategia]

If you want good gameplay, you might want to go with Expand & Exterminate.

Depends on your preferred style, really. E&E has no metal makers. I guess this is what keeps The Masses(tm) from embracing it as one of the most played mods. Pity, really. Especially the new version (0.173), as it's got some very nice eyecandy ^_^

[LordMatt]

ROFL, Metal Makers have very little to do with why good players play BA. Oo I usually forget to make them...

[Strategia]

Then explain to me why you don't like E&E. Now convince me that I am to share those concerns, and that E&E does not make for good gameplay.

[manored]

I dont E&E cause it haves like 5 units for each job, and for some reason that irritates me enough to keep myself away from playing it.

[LordMatt]

Cause it has tonnes of units I never saw before and I'm not bored of Total Annihilation gameplay. I never said I disliked EE on principle, just don't like the morons who promote it over BA as if its better.

[drolito]

BA power !!!

BA is the best, im agreee with LordMatt ... i play XTA lot last week and i always see worse battle than in BA !!!

and E&E is only for noobs who dont know that expand and exterminate is what BA need ^^

[ZellSF]

Cause it has tonnes of units I never saw before and I'm not bored of Total Annihilation gameplay. I never said I disliked EE on principle, just don't like the morons who promote it over BA as if its better.

Oh, is it call someone a moron for their opinion day again? Hello moron.