posted 12-26-06 04:13 AM CT (US)
Many of you have seen Mashek's " Siege tutorial' on how to make a siege with thousands of units and nearly zero lag. Well, It is indeed an excellent tutorial, and this tutorial WILL NOT work well when used for thousands of units like Mashek's tutorial does, but, it will work for around maybe six to maybe seven hundred units, with barely any lag.
My reasons for making this tutorial are mainly:
1. Because some of you are lazy (me included) and do not want to go through the hastle of making a bunch of triggers to spawn units and then deactivate unit spawning and then reactivate the triggers all over again a couple dozen times.
2. Because there may be some of you, me included, are name changing freaks, and when you create units, you cannot change their names. Of course, no one is as much as a freak at changing names a I am though, but that makes no difference.
~Solution~
The solution is so simple, a complete noob will be able to understand how to do this in no time at all.
When you place an Longbowman, Throwing axeman, Skirmisher, Trebuchet, Mangonel-Seige Onoger or Scorpion-Elite Scorpion on the map and test the game, the game has a completely different set of graphics for seeing the arrow, axe, spear, stone(s) fly through the air. However, a Militia-Champion, Berserk, Eagle Warrior, etc, etc, does not need a whole new set of graphics for when he attacks. (Now for you computer experts out there, you may be saying that I am way off track. Well, maybe I am, but this is what I have heard from other people so this is what I will stick to unless convinced otherwise.)
Now some people can probably guess the solution already, but I will keep going anyways.
If you mainly put just hand-to-hand combat units on the field, the lag will be dramatically reduced dramatically.
The more graphics added to the game, the worse the lag will get for you.
~Proof~
These screenshots I will show you are from my campaign, "The Last Battle for the Swamps."
Notice the amount of troops used, but note the small amount of Crossbowmen used and the large amount of melee units used. You can download this game at the blacksmith. You could also download ~The Western Fort~ there too.
Screenshots:
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/1397/battlefortheswamps1rb7.png
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/1767/battlefortheswamps2ya2.png
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6833/battlefortheswamps3mv6.png
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/2328/battlefortheswamps4qh5.png
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/5558/battlefortheswamps5he2.png
Now here is one where around 2400 units were used, and with just barely any lag.
Each screenshot you see is of a different part of the map. I have not copied two pictures together to make the army look larger than it appears. Note the size of the armies, and look for any archers.
I appologize for the Pause signs you will see on these upcomind screenshots, but I am sure you will be able to see past them.
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9250/seige1yn7.png
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/8141/seige2ss4.png
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5932/seige3jo3.png
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/876/seige4pc6.png
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3143/seige5az1.png
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7356/seige6ug5.png
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/1969/seige7cr4.png
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7013/seige8qt4.png
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2158/seige9yy2.png
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/193/seige10qg7.png
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6854/seige11yc7.png
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/227/seige12bu9.png
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4136/seige13tu9.png
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/5822/seige14ye6.png
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/9498/seige15ab6.png
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1463/seige16qg4.png
~I Repeat~
Again, I must stress the fact that Mashek's tutorial isMUCH better than this is. And no, I do not keep repeating this because I like him or because I am trying to "raise him up", but simply because his method works better. Can't say much more than that.
If you want to try his way, you could look for the link to his tutorial in his signature, orread this important part of the tutorial that I copied:
~Part of Masheks Siege Tutorial~
Lag is a siege scenario’s worst nightmare next to playability-ruining bugs. How to counter this is by creating a trigger system whereby it spawns the enemy force in waves and haves them tasked to the designated area where they will attack the defending force. This is much better rather than just pre-setting the enemy force of three thousand units on the map because this will just create a hell of a lot of lag. The spawning will decrease the lag by a thousand-fold and make the game much more lag free and enjoyable. Just remember to deactivate the spawns every now and then (before re-activating them) so that too many troops aren’t being spawned on the battlefield. Also be sure to make the spawns out of sight so that the player doesn’t see all these soldiers coming out of nowhere.
One notable technique that is ideal for spawns and decreasing lag is the trigger system that a good friend called Oliver made me.
Trigger 1 - starting state off
Effect 1 - deactivate trigger 2
Effect 2 - deactivate trigger 3
Effect 3 - activate trigger 4
Effect 4 - activate trigger 5
Trigger 2 - starting state on, looping on
Effect 1 - activate trigger 1
Trigger 3 - starting state on, looping on
Condition 1 - objects in area, pl 2 military units, 50
Effect 1 - deactivate trigger 1
Trigger 4 - starting state off, looping on, "spawn units trigger"
[add create unit and task effects here]
Trigger 5 - starting state off, looping off
Condition 1 - object in area, pl 2 military units, 150
Effect 1 - deactivate trigger 4
Effect 2 - activate trigger 2
Effect 3 - activate trigger 3
~In Conclusion~
In conclusion, old sieges were made like this:
Player 2: You placed down 2000+ Man-at-Arms on the map, then placed down 1000+ Crossbowmen on the map.
Player 1: You made a square fortress, and placed 1000+ Champions inside the fortress, then placed 500+ Elite Longbowmen down and then hit 'Test'. Come on, be honest, we all tried it. Even though, at the end of the game, on the timer, the scenario was only about ten minutes long, but it actually took about two hours to finish the entire game completely because of the lag.
Yes, yes, if you are ever to do that, youMUST use Mashek's tutorial for that.
However, with my way, if you cut down on the number of Archers and other siege weapons, you will find the game to have minimal lag.
I have expanded the original way of making sieges by the advice given in the beginning of this tutorial. Mashek completely re-wrote the rules (no offence Mashek)
Since some people already know about this, I will not insist that you give credit to me for making this special type of 'siege tutorial'. I also do not know who was the first person to ever use it so I cannot say who to give credit too.
If you know who was the first person to do this kind of method, let me know, so I can tell you who to give credit to.
If you insist on giving credit to someone, I guess you could give it to me, since I would have been the person that taught it to you...at the moment.
Thanks for reading,
¤Dantares IV¤
You (Dantares) also made a good impression with your campaigns. So many hours, wrestling with idea's. Playtested tons and tons of other work of other people.
Putting Blackness Back On Map|Sieges With Less Lag|10x10 (Custom Map)Winning Second Place in the DtSC: ~The Outer Rim~ 4.0 ratingProud Member of Dragon Gaming StudiosMy Latest Game: ~Son Against Father~
1. Because some of you are lazy (me included) and do not want to go through the hastle of making a bunch of triggers to spawn units and then deactivate unit spawning and then reactivate the triggers all over again a couple dozen times.
2. Because there may be some of you, me included, are name changing freaks, and when you create units, you cannot change their names. Of course, no one is as much as a freak at changing names a I am though, but that makes no difference.
The solution is so simple, a complete noob will be able to understand how to do this in no time at all.
When you place an Longbowman, Throwing axeman, Skirmisher, Trebuchet, Mangonel-Seige Onoger or Scorpion-Elite Scorpion on the map and test the game, the game has a completely different set of graphics for seeing the arrow, axe, spear, stone(s) fly through the air. However, a Militia-Champion, Berserk, Eagle Warrior, etc, etc, does not need a whole new set of graphics for when he attacks. (Now for you computer experts out there, you may be saying that I am way off track. Well, maybe I am, but this is what I have heard from other people so this is what I will stick to unless convinced otherwise.)
Now some people can probably guess the solution already, but I will keep going anyways.
If you mainly put just hand-to-hand combat units on the field, the lag will be dramatically reduced dramatically.
The more graphics added to the game, the worse the lag will get for you.
These screenshots I will show you are from my campaign, "The Last Battle for the Swamps."
Notice the amount of troops used, but note the small amount of Crossbowmen used and the large amount of melee units used. You can download this game at the blacksmith. You could also download ~The Western Fort~ there too.
Now here is one where around 2400 units were used, and with just barely any lag.
Each screenshot you see is of a different part of the map. I have not copied two pictures together to make the army look larger than it appears. Note the size of the armies, and look for any archers.
I appologize for the Pause signs you will see on these upcomind screenshots, but I am sure you will be able to see past them.
Again, I must stress the fact that Mashek's tutorial is
If you want to try his way, you could look for the link to his tutorial in his signature, or
Lag is a siege scenario’s worst nightmare next to playability-ruining bugs. How to counter this is by creating a trigger system whereby it spawns the enemy force in waves and haves them tasked to the designated area where they will attack the defending force. This is much better rather than just pre-setting the enemy force of three thousand units on the map because this will just create a hell of a lot of lag. The spawning will decrease the lag by a thousand-fold and make the game much more lag free and enjoyable. Just remember to deactivate the spawns every now and then (before re-activating them) so that too many troops aren’t being spawned on the battlefield. Also be sure to make the spawns out of sight so that the player doesn’t see all these soldiers coming out of nowhere.
One notable technique that is ideal for spawns and decreasing lag is the trigger system that a good friend called Oliver made me.
Trigger 1 - starting state off
Effect 1 - deactivate trigger 2
Effect 2 - deactivate trigger 3
Effect 3 - activate trigger 4
Effect 4 - activate trigger 5
Trigger 2 - starting state on, looping on
Effect 1 - activate trigger 1
Trigger 3 - starting state on, looping on
Condition 1 - objects in area, pl 2 military units, 50
Effect 1 - deactivate trigger 1
Trigger 4 - starting state off, looping on, "spawn units trigger"
Trigger 5 - starting state off, looping off
Condition 1 - object in area, pl 2 military units, 150
Effect 1 - deactivate trigger 4
Effect 2 - activate trigger 2
Effect 3 - activate trigger 3
In conclusion, old sieges were made like this:
Player 2: You placed down 2000+ Man-at-Arms on the map, then placed down 1000+ Crossbowmen on the map.
Player 1: You made a square fortress, and placed 1000+ Champions inside the fortress, then placed 500+ Elite Longbowmen down and then hit 'Test'. Come on, be honest, we all tried it. Even though, at the end of the game, on the timer, the scenario was only about ten minutes long, but it actually took about two hours to finish the entire game completely because of the lag.
Yes, yes, if you are ever to do that, you
However, with my way, if you cut down on the number of Archers and other siege weapons, you will find the game to have minimal lag.
I have expanded the original way of making sieges by the advice given in the beginning of this tutorial. Mashek completely re-wrote the rules (no offence Mashek)
Since some people already know about this, I will not insist that you give credit to me for making this special type of 'siege tutorial'. I also do not know who was the first person to ever use it so I cannot say who to give credit too.
If you know who was the first person to do this kind of method, let me know, so I can tell you who to give credit to.
If you insist on giving credit to someone, I guess you could give it to me, since I would have been the person that taught it to you...at the moment.
Thanks for reading,
¤Dantares IV¤
You (Dantares) also made a good impression with your campaigns. So many hours, wrestling with idea's. Playtested tons and tons of other work of other people.
Putting Blackness Back On Map|Sieges With Less Lag|10x10 (Custom Map)Winning Second Place in the DtSC: ~The Outer Rim~ 4.0 ratingProud Member of Dragon Gaming StudiosMy Latest Game: ~Son Against Father~
[This message has been edited by Dantares IV (edited 10-20-2007 @ 00:08 AM).]
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