LOL look at this pic

[theponyguy1]

What's wrong with this pic (except for the japanese characters)?

http://www.4gamer.net/shots/ron/img/ron_06.jpg

What's with the mini map water? And what's with the arrow in the bottom right corner? And the "PW*" and "*PP" at the end of the territorial percent in the bottom right on the right side of the arrow? I hope these are only in the Japanese versions of the game. Maybe this is used as a Japanese sales booster because BHG knows that Japanese people like bright colors and cartoonish video games.

[adaMada]

Actually, most of that's what it really looks like. The PP/PW/WW thing tells you who's at war with who and what colors they are. Sounds stupid, but it's useful, and you can switch that display to show other information (just about anything) with no color if you really hate it that much. I'm not sure about the mini-map water -- I've only seen a water map once, and wasn't there for long. That arrow in the corner is part of the tutorial -- showing you how to get to the diplomacy button.

The interface color-scheme isn't what we're used to these days -- not nearly so dark -- but I'm finding that I don't mind it that much. Some of the popout menus (especially in the top left corner) are very useful, and you can get a lot of information just looking at that screen.

-- adaMada

[bhg_paul]

1. The color of the water in the minimap isn't the color it should be. Probably an artifact of a video card issue or the screen capture process.

2. It's very obvious that the red arrow in the lower right is a photoshop add-on that is pointing to a UI element that I assume the screenshot is being used to illustrate. In any case it's not part of RON.

3. As was said, if you don't like the diplo status info, that screen area can display a wide range of other data.

[adaMada]

Originally posted by bhg_paul
1. The color of the water in the minimap isn't the color it should be. Probably an artifact of a video card issue or the screen capture process.

Was about to say -- I only saw it once, but I really didn't remember it looking like that .

The more I think about it, the more I'm actually starting to like RoN's color scheme. I personally get a headache if I look at a dark scheme too much, and RoN's is refreshingly light. There are obviously some bugs to be worked out, and there are one or two minor things that are a bit annoying (and this is only a beta), but there's nothing that's really bad. I don't see anything that hurts the gameplay itself (except obvious bugs), and nothing that can't be tweaked a bit and improved. Some things I worried about also don't seem to be a problem -- for example, I've barely noticed the units turning red behind buildings.

Basically, RoN's interface might take a bit of getting used to because the entire color scheme is different from a lot of other RTS games, but I don't think it's a bad thing. Some features totally rock -- for example, that diplomacy list in the bottom right hand corner is awsome (though it could probably use a tweak or two -- something about the way it shows up on top of the backround feels sorta wrong), and I find it really helps in remembering who's fighting who.

I'll post more comments later, but I need to play with it more first -- I'm sure there are some features I haven't even gotten to try yet .

-- adaMada

[tniem]

Is there a good screen shot representing water available online anywhere? I don't remember ever seeing a screenshot with the mini map having water. Maybe that is something one of our beta testers can do for us quickly (nudge nudge).

[theponyguy1]

cool. Thanks ada mada. Once your done playing, tell me some more cool interface options and things you get to see.

2. It's very obvious that the red arrow in the lower right is a photoshop add-on that is pointing to a UI element that I assume the screenshot is being used to illustrate. In any case it's not part of RON.

3. As was said, if you don't like the diplo status info, that screen area can display a wide range of other data.

I think BHG Paul is very irratated with me. I kind of noticed this when he used words like "It's very obvious" and "As was said"

Well, I guess him and I go back to the days where we argued about the outline of units behind buildings and trees. I guess there was kind of a compromise between the completely filled in outline, and not filled in outline. The "filled in" part is kind of transparent as I saw on that site's pics. Thanks for making some of the fans happy BHG!

[bhg_paul]

That's not irritation you've detected, simply lack of sleep. The tip-off is the 4th-grade sentence structure. I'm always happy to clear up questions about RON when I can...

Paul

[adaMada]

Originally posted by theponyguy1
cool. Thanks ada mada. Once your done playing, tell me some more cool interface options and things you get to see.

Will do .

Well, I guess him and I go back to the days where we argued about the outline of units behind buildings and trees. I guess there was kind of a compromise between the completely filled in outline, and not filled in outline. The "filled in" part is kind of transparent as I saw on that site's pics. Thanks for making some of the fans happy BHG!

That's it! I was wondering why the outlines of units suddenly looked much better than some of the early screenshots I'd seen. I thought they'd just choosen a different shade of red, but you're right -- I'm pretty sure it's semi-transparent now. Very cool . I haven't seen that many units behind buildings yet (just hasn't happened much), but that's very similar to the way that C&C: Generals does it, and it looks fine in that game, so I think it'll probably work well in RoN -- probably why I barely noticed it when I played .

-- adaMada

[adaMada]

Originally posted by tniem
Is there a good screen shot representing water available online anywhere? I don't remember ever seeing a screenshot with the mini map having water. Maybe that is something one of our beta testers can do for us quickly (nudge nudge).

I'll try to do it next time I play. According to the readme, the AI doesn't work well (yet) in water maps, so I wasn't PLANNING on playing one, but I probably can open it up and take a quick screenie (if I can remember ).

-- adaMada

[AceFlint]

Here's my version (English) of that screen. Its from a tutorial mission, "Battle of Britain." Unfortunately the mission (at least for some of us) is unplayable because the Diplomacy status is locked and to continue you have to declare war on Germany, which is not possible yet.

Anyway, due to this I couldn't move around to show you more of the map, but you can still see a little of the "normal" colored water on the mini-map.

BTW, anyone know if there is a way to reveal the map? I looked under the debug option in the hotkey menu (which is a really nice feature ) and didn't see it.

Again, This Game Rocks!

[AceFlint]

Whoops! Where did my screen go?

Here goes again.

[theponyguy1]

beta cheats

BTW, anyone know if there is a way to reveal the map? I looked under the debug option in the hotkey menu (which is a really nice feature ) and didn't see it.

To reveal the map, enter in the chat line, "cheat reveal on"

Well, there are all the beta cheats over at Rise Of Nations Planet. Thank DevlshOne for those. Here's the link:

http://ronp.mednickonline.com/modules.php?name=XForum&file=viewthread&tid=29

My question. Isn't there an option in the game setup to start with the map clear?

[AceFlint]

Re: beta cheats

Originally posted by theponyguy1


To reveal the map, enter in the chat line, "cheat reveal on"

Well, there are all the beta cheats over at Rise Of Nations Planet. Thank DevlshOne for those. Here's the link:

http://ronp.mednickonline.com/modules.php?name=XForum&file=viewthread&tid=29

My question. Isn't there an option in the game setup to start with the map clear?

Thanks for the link/nfo.

Game setup has multiple options for the "fog of war," including fully revealed-- I think

[tniem]

Originally posted by AceFlint
Whoops! Where did my screen go?

Here goes again.

The image is only black, what happened?

[Alex]

Same with me: a black image. Maybe that's the NDA working in subtle and covert ways...