The One Way Mirror Problem in BK - A Rant
Jul 30, 2020 17:57:47 GMT 1
keepitsimple, Quintaxel, and 1 more like this
Post by olvie on Jul 30, 2020 17:57:47 GMT 1
Right, so I don't really know what the point is in venting on a almost 20 year old game, but I guess I just need to get this off my chest.
We all know the one way mirror mechanic: A unit on top of a ravine (or cliff or hill or whatever you want to call it) can see an enemy that's below, but that enemy can't see your unit.
This is basically one of the first things that Blitzkrieg teaches you. I remember playing the BK demo all those years ago and in the first mission, you have to disable a couple of IS-2s with your inferior PzIVs, but it's actually really easy because the game tells you to place them on the hill and now the IS-2s can't see you and the whole battle is a joke. Mechanic understood, move on to the next...
But wait a minute. Why can't they see me? Just because my units are standing on a hill, they are invisible to everyone who isn't on the same hill? It doesn't even matter how tiny the hill is that I'm standing on, or if someone else is on a different hill that may be even taller and that should be looking down on me. Nope, ravines make you invisible.
This mechanic is so bloody annoying and illogical. I get that Blitzkrieg isn't a perfect war simulator and that you have to suspend your disbelief in certain areas, but this game design choice I've just never been able to understand. The impact on gameplay and map design is so fundamental, and yet it seems so artificial and unrealistic that I don't see why it's there.
I get what they were trying to do: "having the higher ground means an advantage in combat bla bla*". But this creates so many nonsensical situations (see picture below) that I wish it just wouldn't exist.
Best example: Bridges. Logic tells us that both sides must be the same height, otherwise the bridge would need to be inclined. Yet for every line in the picture below, there is a line of sight conflict caused by this mechanic. Bridge battles are seriously hampered by this mechanic because the two sides can't see each other, except that anyone who's trying to cross the bridge is going to get hit without being able to see what hit him.
Now, I get that the way BK is programmed, it would probably be impossible for the game to tell which hills have the same height, which units are looking down on which, and so on. But this just leads me to the question why it exists at all. A direct line of fire implies a direct line of sight, and this necessarily goes both ways. So if there's no logical reason why this would be the case, so it's a pure gameplay decision, but I'm surprised that it has persisted for long.
I'd like to hear the opinion of the BK veterans that have played the game for much longer than me, and know the mechanics and codes behind the game much better than me. Do you think the one way mirror mechanic has a place in a RTS game like Blitzkrieg? Maybe you think it's justified? Can it be removed or is it hard-coded?
*which is not even necessarily true: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_slope_defence
We all know the one way mirror mechanic: A unit on top of a ravine (or cliff or hill or whatever you want to call it) can see an enemy that's below, but that enemy can't see your unit.
This is basically one of the first things that Blitzkrieg teaches you. I remember playing the BK demo all those years ago and in the first mission, you have to disable a couple of IS-2s with your inferior PzIVs, but it's actually really easy because the game tells you to place them on the hill and now the IS-2s can't see you and the whole battle is a joke. Mechanic understood, move on to the next...
But wait a minute. Why can't they see me? Just because my units are standing on a hill, they are invisible to everyone who isn't on the same hill? It doesn't even matter how tiny the hill is that I'm standing on, or if someone else is on a different hill that may be even taller and that should be looking down on me. Nope, ravines make you invisible.
This mechanic is so bloody annoying and illogical. I get that Blitzkrieg isn't a perfect war simulator and that you have to suspend your disbelief in certain areas, but this game design choice I've just never been able to understand. The impact on gameplay and map design is so fundamental, and yet it seems so artificial and unrealistic that I don't see why it's there.
I get what they were trying to do: "having the higher ground means an advantage in combat bla bla*". But this creates so many nonsensical situations (see picture below) that I wish it just wouldn't exist.
Best example: Bridges. Logic tells us that both sides must be the same height, otherwise the bridge would need to be inclined. Yet for every line in the picture below, there is a line of sight conflict caused by this mechanic. Bridge battles are seriously hampered by this mechanic because the two sides can't see each other, except that anyone who's trying to cross the bridge is going to get hit without being able to see what hit him.
Now, I get that the way BK is programmed, it would probably be impossible for the game to tell which hills have the same height, which units are looking down on which, and so on. But this just leads me to the question why it exists at all. A direct line of fire implies a direct line of sight, and this necessarily goes both ways. So if there's no logical reason why this would be the case, so it's a pure gameplay decision, but I'm surprised that it has persisted for long.
I'd like to hear the opinion of the BK veterans that have played the game for much longer than me, and know the mechanics and codes behind the game much better than me. Do you think the one way mirror mechanic has a place in a RTS game like Blitzkrieg? Maybe you think it's justified? Can it be removed or is it hard-coded?
*which is not even necessarily true: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_slope_defence
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