YG's and DCC's Custom 3D map project

[GeneralHandGrenade]

All of this is added incentive to make the finals in the tournament. If not then at least I’ll be lucky enough to play in the GHG’s House Rules game on Tuesday on your sweet table with Sired’s pieces and my HR units.
Now I can’t wait. I wanna be sedated  :oops:

[Young Grasshopper]

@DiveCrewCanada:

@siredblood:

Seriously? …. Im in

If you are coming to the Toronto area in september, you can be sure that we will have a drink or 12 :)

That’s awesome… get him nice and sloshed before his games  :evil:

[DiveCrewCanada]

@Young:

@DiveCrewCanada:

@siredblood:

Seriously? …. Im in

If you are coming to the Toronto area in september, you can be sure that we will have a drink or 12 :)

That’s awesome… get him nice and sloshed before his games  :evil:

He is coming from California all the way to Toronto for your tournament?

[CWO Marc]

Thanks DiveCrewCanada and Young Grasshopper for the information.  It’s good that this project is being carefully thought out ahead of time, since advance planning and testing on a large-scale project can be very helpful in avoiding problems and making the project go smoothly.

The various points I raised in my earlier post basically come down to two issues: tipping and crowding.  For whatever they might be worth, here are some thoughts on both issues.

The prototype Malta section you’ve created will be a good test-bed for the tipping issue, and this test can be done using just two sculpts: an infantry sculpt (preferably the Japanese one, because it’s the tallest and therfore has the highest centre of gravity) and a submarine sculpt (preferably the German one, because it’s the narrowest).  My suggestion would be to systematically place the infantry sculpt (by itself, without a chip under it) on every square centimeter of the land areas to see where (and how steadily) it stands up.  Ditto for the sub on the water areas, oriented at different angles relative to the waves and positioned both on crests and in dips.  These tests would provide useful information to you on which elevations are workable and which ones aren’t.  Basically, if the Japanese infantry unit can stand up by itself somewhere, then every other land (plus air units) will be fine there too.  And likewise, if the German sub can stay upright on water parallel to a wave, then every other naval unit (plus air units) will be fine there too.

The crowding issue will be harder to test on the Malta blow-up box because, by definition, a blow-up box provides extra space for a crowded territory.  A better approach might be for YG to take advantage of the next time he plays Global 1940 to take some close-up photographs of the land territories and sea zones which, during the course of play, end up with the kind of huge traffic jams that I’ve illustrated below, using some screen shots from some of YG’s videos.  Basically, the thing to look for would be big clusters of units in small territories.  With a collection of such photos on hand, the question to analyze would then be: would the contemplated 3-D landscape, which is projected to have 10% non-usable space for unit placement, be able to handle this kind of crowding situation in such-and-such a territory?  Land is probably a bigger concern than water in that regard.  Large territories that see little military action wouldn’t be a concern; the main thing to focus on would be the smaller ones where huge battles tend to take place.  Those would probably be the ones where it would be a good idea to aim for a flatter terrain shape and a minimum (or a complete absence) of those 10%-type non-usable terrain features.

[DiveCrewCanada]

@CWO:

Thanks DiveCrewCanada and Young Grasshopper for the information.� It’s good that this project is being carefully thought out ahead of time, since advance planning and testing on a large-scale project can be very helpful in avoiding problems and making the project go smoothly.�

The various points I raised in my earlier post basically come down to two issues: tipping and crowding.� For whatever they might be worth, here are some thoughts on both issues.

The prototype Malta section you’ve created will be a good test-bed for the tipping issue, and this test can be done using just two sculpts: an infantry sculpt (preferably the Japanese one, because it’s the tallest and therfore has the highest centre of gravity) and a submarine sculpt (preferably the German one, because it’s the narrowest).� My suggestion would be to systematically place the infantry sculpt (by itself, without a chip under it) on every square centimeter of the land areas to see where (and how steadily) it stands up.� Ditto for the sub on the water areas, oriented at different angles relative to the waves and positioned both on crests and in dips.� These tests would provide useful information to you on which elevations are workable and which ones aren’t.� Basically, if the Japanese infantry unit can stand up by itself somewhere, then every other land (plus air units) will be fine there too.� And likewise, if the German sub can stay upright on water parallel to a wave, then every other naval unit (plus air units) will be fine there too.

The crowding issue will be harder to test on the Malta blow-up box because, by definition, a blow-up box provides extra space for a crowded territory.� A better approach might be for YG to take advantage of the next time he plays Global 1940 to take some close-up photographs of the land territories and sea zones which, during the course of play, end up with the kind of huge traffic jams that I’ve illustrated below, using some screen shots from some of YG’s videos.� Basically, the thing to look for would be big clusters of units in small territories.� With a collection of such photos on hand, the question to analyze would then be: would the contemplated 3-D landscape, which is projected to have 10% non-usable space for unit placement, be able to handle this kind of crowding situation in such-and-such a territory?� Land is probably a bigger concern than water in that regard.� Large territories that see little military action wouldn’t be a concern; the main thing to focus on would be the smaller ones where huge battles tend to take place.� Those would probably be the ones where it would be a good idea to aim for a flatter terrain shape and a minimum (or a complete absence) of those 10%-type non-usable terrain features.�

You are certainly giving me work! LOL  here is your test:

As for the “crowding” issue, the map will be 90" X 41" (3690 sq in) compared to the OOB: 70" X 32" (2240 sq in)  It is my assumption that making the map 165% the size of the original map, will solve some of that problem :)  Would it still be problematic… we have options :)

I 3D printed those at low resolution, but I am sure you understand where I am going with this :)

the 10% mentioned as “stiff” terrain is stuff like the rockies and other important landscapes… but will only be used if it makes sense…

[Young Grasshopper]

@DiveCrewCanada:

@Young:

@DiveCrewCanada:

@siredblood:

Seriously? …. Im in

If you are coming to the Toronto area in september, you can be sure that we will have a drink or 12 :)

That’s awesome… get him nice and sloshed before his games  :evil:

He is coming from California all the way to Toronto for your tournament?

There are people coming from all over… even Austria.

THE BUNKER BUSTERS
GENERAL HAND GRENADE (Prince George BC Canada)
SIEREDBLOOD (California USA)
WIDOWMAKER (California USA)

THE CLIFFSIDE COMMANDOS
GERRY (Toronto ON Canada)
THE PINK PANZER (Toronto ON Canada)
JIGGY JIGGY (Toronto ON Canada)

MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS
TEFLON (Hawaii USA)
B4hET (Vienna, Austria)
BRAVEHART (Toronto ON Canada)

THE BLITZKREW
CONTANGO (Waterloo ON Canada)
STAINLESS (Waterloo ON Canada)
IRON STITCH (Scarborough ON Canada)

THE COBRA KINGS
BIRTHOFIRON (Detroit USA)
YPSIHICK (Detroit USA)
YOUNG GRASSHOPPER (Toronto ON Canada)

DESERT POSSE
DESERT ADMIRAL (Las Vegas USA)
LEATHERNECK (Las Vegas USA)
SUPRISE ATTACK (Syracuse USA)

THE DOGS OF WAR:
JAMES (Uxbridge ON Canada)
JASON (Oshawa ON Canada)
KENNY (Scarborough ON Canada)

TEAM NAME:
TANSTAAFL (Ajax ON Canada)
FENNIC (North York ON Canada)
GENGHIS KHAN (Ottawa ON Canada)

DESSERTFOX (Massachusetts USA)
CROCKETT (Massachusetts USA)
SOVEITISHCAT (Ottawa ON Canada)

[DiveCrewCanada]

Very nice!!!

I will definitely try to go say hello during the event.

Can you post the images I tried to post? (My account is not allowed to post links… )

[Young Grasshopper]

@DiveCrewCanada:

Very nice!!!

I will definitely try to go say hello during the event.

Can you post the images I tried to post? (My account is not allowed to post links… )

Sure, but you only need 5 more posts to be able yourself.

[DiveCrewCanada]

I must be “special” because it still doesn’t allow me lol

(unless a “reply” is not considered a “post”)

[Young Grasshopper]

@DiveCrewCanada:

I must be “special” because it still doesn’t allow me lol

(unless a “reply” is not considered a “post”)

Under your avatar, it says you only have 6 posts… but that’s still one more than you had before replying to my last post… keep replying to verify you’re not a robot.

[DiveCrewCanada]

Finally worked, I edited my original post to put the picts :)

[John Brown]

This is an ambitious and awesome project, you guys are doing. I’m sure the players are going to have a tremendous experience at this event.

Cheers too you guys! :-)

[Young Grasshopper]

@John:

This is an ambitious and awesome project, you guys are doing. I’m sure the players are going to have a tremendous experience at this event.

Cheers too you guys! :-)

I just can’t get over that water effect he does, people around the table might think they’ll actually get wet.

[John Brown]

@Young:

@John:

This is an ambitious and awesome project, you guys are doing. I’m sure the players are going to have a tremendous experience at this event.

Cheers too you guys! :-)

I just can’t get over that water effect he does, people around the table might think they’ll actually get wet.

Yes, I bet it will be truly amazing to see. :-)

[DiveCrewCanada]

@John:

@Young:

@John:

This is an ambitious and awesome project, you guys are doing. I’m sure the players are going to have a tremendous experience at this event.

Cheers too you guys! :-)

I just can’t get over that water effect he does, people around the table might think they’ll actually get wet.

Yes, I bet it will be truly amazing to see. :-)

We are aiming for that….no pressure :/ lol

[John Brown]

@DiveCrewCanada:

@John:

@Young:

@John:

This is an ambitious and awesome project, you guys are doing. I’m sure the players are going to have a tremendous experience at this event.

Cheers too you guys! :-)

I just can’t get over that water effect he does, people around the table might think they’ll actually get wet.

Yes, I bet it will be truly amazing to see. :-)

We are aiming for that….no pressure :/ lolÂ

Yes, no pressure, lol. :-D

[Hunter Jones]

My support is behind this. Don’t work too hard, we don’t want to see smoke.

[Tjoek]

@CWO:

@Young:

Not sure we want to prevent it… playability and the terrain must work together in all aspects of the game if this table is going to be more than just eye candy.

Tjoek may have been referring to potential mechanical issues.  The video by Fenris, for example, shows patches of 3-D terrain that look like fuzzy grass (the kind used for model railway landscapes), and my reaction on seeing them was to wonder whether these surfaces would be too uneven to allow A&A infantry sculpt pieces (which are tall and have a narrow base) to stand up securely.  Also, given that the Global 1940 map can get awfully crowded with plastic sculpts even when it’s nice and flat, would the crowding issues be magnified when the map is uneven three-dimensionally, and (if you were planning to include them, as Fenris does on his map) when the landscape includes decorative elements like plastic cows (if I’m interpreting the video correctly)?

Thanks Marc for carifying what I tried to say. Sound good how YG and DCC have thought about it before this project. Looking forward to see the end result and bit of progress that’s worthy of showing.

[DiveCrewCanada]

Last teaser before the end of the financing campaign Friday June 9th

Miniatures are not finished painting but it gives an idea of what it will look like with painted pieces on the board.

[John Brown]

Wow DCC, that is sweet looking! :-D