Bhg Please Respond On Important Issue

[theponyguy1]

When a unit gets behind a building or a tree, the unit shows up as a filled in outline. This totally covers up the artwork for the building. I think there should be an option whether to leave the outline filled in, like in the screenshots, or not filled in, like in AOK. The option like in AOK was cool because it let the player see a unit behind something, but it didn't sacrifice the building and tree arteork while doing so. Please feature this option! So is BHG considering this feature?

[Graham@BHG]

It's great to hear that you like the building art enough to not want to glowing units showing through the way they do.

Some things to consider though: AOK is a 2D game while Rise of Nations has fully 3D units that need to be visible from a variety of zoom levels. There are also a great many more units to identify in our game, and having a filled in unit makes that a little easier than just outlines. Is that a couple of scouts behind those trees or a couple of special forces guys about to wreak some havoc? Making a mistake in that case can be very costly.

I'm sure there were some technical issues involved in the decision as well, but I hope I've given you an idea behind some of the reasoning why we have filled in units when buildings obscure them.

[tniem]

Graham how does this work in the game? Does it seem to make sense that you can see units behind building or trees? Or is kind of silly like the glow puck?

[One_Dead_Villy]

naw more like gummy bears i think

[Sonic]

Yes Tassadar, I am also quite concerned. For example in Empire Earth there was a button allowing to turn-off units appearing over buildings. Although this didn't made game more easier, you were able to press it if you wanted just to watch great graphics. At start I didn't knew the button, so I even specially tried to move troops from buildings and that costed me aditional time, etc.

[theponyguy1]

Graham, please give this another thought. this is an extremely important issue for me. can you have a button to make just an outline of the unit behind a building or a tree. i know people will have a hard time seeing enemy units from this mode but it would be our choice. the game is open for changes like it is also stated, so just please give it a second thought. other gamers and i would be heartbroken if we couldnt see our builsing and tree artwork go to waste. if a big army of tanks rolls up behind a city, the whole entire city will have "blobs"of the enemy's color. it would look very unatractive, and imp, the look of the game plays a big huge part. i dont feel that it would take a really long time to implement this featur in the game, and it would make my friends and i very, very happy. so please, BHG, feature an option that gives the player the ability to turn the filled in outline off.

I'M UKRANIAN!

[theponyguy1]

P.S.- Maybe we could write an e-petition to BHG, and if we are really persistent, maybe it could be changed. Because this is bothering me. I am currently saving up for a new computer and i dont want to spend $4,000 on a computer to see little red blobs running behind my buildings. Plus, how will i be able to admire my empire, yet alone my cities?

[bhg_paul]

Not that your concern isn't a valid one, but I think you may be focused on a situation that, due to the scale of our units in relation to the buildings, isn't as pronounced as you might think. The "depth" of the buildings keeps units from having very much "behind" area on most buildings. I'm a huge fan of our building art and I've never encountered situations in normal gameplay where buildings begin to look poor, much less are obscured by units.

Believe me - the building guys spend hundreds and hundreds of hours making those buildings. They're not going to stand for any foolishness.

Paul

[theponyguy1]

unit outlines

I agree. BHG has been doing a wonderful job so far and have a lot done. The game will be released in Spring which is a long way off. With a company as big and talented and well funded as BHG, I do not think this feature would take long to include in the game. It wouldnt change the whole entire mechanics or idea of the game, it would just offer an alternative to the blobs behind buildings and trees.

[theponyguy1]

EVERYONE WHO AGREES WITH ME, PLEASE VOICE YOUR OPINION AT THE "WHEN A UNIT GETS BEHIND A BUILDING" POLL!

[Sonic]

Yes, for example EE did included such a button. I wouldn't be really happy if I will need to move my army just to be able to enjoy my cities...

[Vushum]

I'm with you all the way. I suppose it was certain then. If you don't understand. Remember your post at RoNH?
I really do not like the idea of huge colored blobs. It looks awful.

[Vushum]

PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASE?
I mean, look at the image here

[theponyguy1]

PLEASE CHANGE IT BHG!

[Vushum]

Or at least a button!