[Idea] Make the North/South zigzag ship path look strait (even if it isnt)

from GalCiv3 Forums

When traveling North/South, the ships tend to zigzag back and forth because of the current hex game board (which I love btw).  I feel like it wouldn't be that hard to simply smooth out the movement and ship course lines when moving north/south (or one of the other 4 slightly diagonal directions that this same phenomenon occurs with).  It really is just a strait line anyway.  If you lined the course on the alternating right & left sides of the hex, it would smooth out the line and make game emersion that much greater!

 

How realistic is this from a programming perspective? 

3,411 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I apologize for the double post.  I do not know why it did that, or how to delete the other one.

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

The StarDock devs have said the ship path smoothing is not ready for external testing yet,

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I know many have asked for this, but I don't want it. The zig-zag accurately displays the distance the ship travels and the space it is occupying at any given time. I prefer accurate to pretty.

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Simply to make sure that sight lines are maintained, we can't do some sort of a bezier curve approximation. The ship has to pass through every hex it normally would, and none that it wouldn't.

That said, the assumption is that we'll see the ship "bank" though the path, maintaining the heading (i.e. bow of the ship) in the direction of travel, and slide left or right as it continues along the path. Heading isn't important when moving for the ship, so I expect this is what is being worked on.

 

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

It looks dumb. Change it.

hmmm... I think this is the fifth post like this, or more. fyi

 

DARCA ;)

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Something that I thought of just now.  What would you guys think of a toggle-on-off cinematic camera view for ship movement?  It would look sort of cool if you're doing a Let's Play video.  Let's face it, the game could always use a bit more cool factor. :)

Reply #7 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I'll sign that bill into law Marvin. ;)