PWCG DD

[FTC_Riksen]

I think what Sketch means is something like the previous DCG by Lowengrin used in the 1946 game. In that system, you basically create a template with compositions manually placed for both sides. The system decides which one to use based on who controls the sector (position of front line). If that makes any sense ...

[Sketch]

Yes, exactly what Risken is saying. You're currently using a global group, and I'm suggesting creating a hundred+ different groups or more. The groups would be similar, in that they would have the same amount of bad guys.

 

However, their position would be different and placed correctly around forests and roads and stuff like that. Then, instead of selecting a global group, you select a group based on where the players are, where the front lines are, and what players are to attack.

 

[PatrickAWlson]

That is already what is done in the code.  Dozens of ground unit groups are created.  Each type of ground unit has its own template.  You don't see it because it is all in the code, but it's there.  These can be battles, depos, trains, convoys, etc.  They are all independent.  They each have their own purpose.  They are definitely not one large group.

 

Ground units are placed based on mission parameters.  Some types of ground units I can place pretty accurately.  Trains start in a station.  Convoys start near a bridge - the location of the bridge tells me that there is a road there.  Battles are placed near the front lines.  Depos behind the lines.  It is battles, depos and the like that end up in water, again, because i just don't know where the water is.

 

I could theoretically allow the player to place ground units, but that is IMHO not feasible.  

 

One thing to remember is that PWCG is operating under very severe restrictions in terms of number of units.  Units that are targets for AI flights are limited to one ground unit (a single truck for instance).  I do this so I can save more ground units for the player.  AAA is placed much more sparsely than I would like.  Battles are generally smaller than I would like.  There are fewer "ambient" (ambient = stuff that happens to be there but is not specifically part of the mission assignment) units than I would like.

 

I would love to turn PWCG loose and let it create the whole world.  It can do that, but your mission would never run.  

[FTC_Riksen]

Understood Pat! Thanks for all you do and PWCG is awesome as is

 

Maybe someday we will have the tech to run such mission ... with the whole map populated by PWCG and not so much concerns about hard limits. It was like that with IL2 1946 at one point too so there is hope we will also see something similar as processing power increases in the future ...

Edited March 5, 2019 by SCG_Riksen

[Sketch]

I'm with Risken on this. PWCG is great as is, and I'm appreciative of your work. Only looking to help in some compacity.

[PatrickAWlson]

Nothing too exciting.  Core campaign has been reworked for multiple human players.  Working on mission generation now.  probably about 50% code complete.  I have new rules for in place for spawning and attack triggers.  Working on despawning now.  

 

Once mission generation is done then AAR. 

 

Rules:

AI flights will spawn for any human player.

Ambient ground units will spawn for any plane coalition.

Target ground objects will spawn for any plane coalition.

AttackArea command MCUs will trigger for any plane (AI or human) in the attacking flight.

AAA will spawn for enemy plane coalition.
 

Basically, if a plane is around then ground units in the area will spawn.  This will end up being mostly human triggered because AI flights will not spawn until there is human contact.  However, once an AI aircraft is on the map it could cause ground units to spawn.  This will result in a bit of chaos as, for example,  your train target could spawn and leave the station based on other airplanes.  I like this kind of chaos as IMHO it makes life more interesting.

 

Triggering of attack MCUs will be limited to the attacking flight.

 

[FTC_Riksen]

Cant wait for this Pat!

[Thad]

26 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Nothing too exciting. This will result in a bit of chaos as, for example,  your train target could spawn and leave the station based on other airplanes.  I like this kind of chaos as IMHO it makes life more interesting.

 

Ah... I always suspected that you were an agent of CHAOS. Where is James Bond when needed? ?

[PatrickAWlson]

More progress on 6.0.  Mission generation code is complete.  I successfully generated a mission in 6.0 for the first time (that is a pretty big deal). With production code complete for core campaign and mission generation I can now focus on testing those aspects of PWCG.  After that, AAR.  Then play testing.  Then back to Coop server development and further integration between the PWCG Coop Server and PWCG (they communicate through JSON files.  Still no net code in PWCG). 

[PatrickAWlson]

This week's DD ...

The 190D is in.  Enjoy.

 

On the 6.0 front work continues.  After knocking several foundational pieces from PWCG I started rebuilding it to support many players in many squadrons.  The core utilities and their tests are working.  The campaign operations and their test are working.  Mission code is done and tests are in progress.  Tests are mostly done but not quite 100%.  Should be there by the next DD.  After that comes AAR, which is the most complex part of PWCG.  That is going to take awhile.  After that more coop specific tests.

 

After that there is still more to do.  I need the inner workings in place before I add more admin capability to PWCG for coop.  Then back to the web code to integrate it with the UI.  Then release.  After release I will continue to add more capability to the web code.

 

In between I will add Bodenplatte planes as they drop.  Once the map is out I will do the full PWCG Bodenplatte work.  I will also work FC but I really need at least some two seaters otherwise the campaign does not make sense. 

[Almenas]

?

[PatrickAWlson]

This week's DD ...

More plugging.  Last week I reported that mission generation testing was in progress.  This week it is complete.  Last week I said I was going to get to AAR - this week I started that process.  First I cleaned up the low hanging fruit in the AAR code.  That's done.  I also redid data structures for ...

1. Combat reports for all human pilots

2. News events on a per side basis taking into account the side that the viewing pilot is on

3. Debrief for every human pilot in the flight

 

 

Remember that PWCG originally had one pilot in the campaign, so everything was from the point of view of that pilot.  Now it is many pilots any side, so I have to make the view applicable to the pilot doing the viewing. 

 

Lots of work left to do on AAR so expect more posts like this.

 

[PatrickAWlson]

A few weeks since the last DD.  After a couple of rough weeks I made some nice progress this past weekend.  AAR product code now builds and passes the first few integration tests.  AAR test code is not there yet but that will be the focus going forward. 

 

After that:

1. Some more AAR code for coop.

2. Some more PWCG Ui work to help set up a coop mission.

3. Test more

4. Release PWCG 6.0

 

Then pivot back to PWCG online development.  I have that working to the point where you can request user access from the host and also request that a pilot is made.  Once the pilot has been made you can look at the same information that is available on the chalk board.  That might be enough to start.

[PatrickAWlson]

For the first time I have generated a mission, flown it, and completed the AAR process in PWCG 6.0.  This was a single player mission, designed to verify that PWCG 6.0 still worked properly for single player despite all of the core changes.  

 

Next up.  @Murleen has been doing some work on cold start and bug fixes that I want to pull into 6.0.  That's going to be a bit of a challenge because the changes are significant and they are made for PWCG 5, but results apparently have been very good.  I want to get 6.0 out there for single players ASAP and let people play with it while I finish the coop component.

 

PWCG 6.0 coop - getting there. I need some UI changes ti help the coop host deal with players registering for missions.  For the first release coop is going to bypass claims and simply operate off of the logs - that has yet to be done.  That will be enough to release PWCG for coop.

 

Last will be PWCG online, which will allow other players to connect to a server on the hosts machine and view the campaign.  For starters it is just going to be the campaign screen, but more will be added piece by piece.

[dburne]

2 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

For the first time I have generated a mission, flown it, and completed the AAR process in PWCG 6.0.  This was a single player mission, designed to verify that PWCG 6.0 still worked properly for single player despite all of the core changes.  

 

Next up.  @Murleen has been doing some work on cold start and bug fixes that I want to pull into 6.0.  That's going to be a bit of a challenge because the changes are significant and they are made for PWCG 5, but results apparently have been very good.  I want to get 6.0 out there for single players ASAP and let people play with it while I finish the coop component.

 

 

That would be most awesome, thanks so much for your efforts to include this in PWCG 6 !

I am loving using the cold start beta version of PWCG!

[Murleen]

Well, the cold start changes seem to merge cleanly into the PWCG6 branch - I'll test to make sure it works properly

[Columbar]

Guys, you are awsome!!! ?

 

Thanks a lot for your perfect work!!! 

 

And please add more flak to version 6 ?

[Taxman]

37 minutes ago, Columbar said:

And please add more flak to version 6 ?

Yes please, at least over our home field.  And again thank you Pat for all the hard work you have put into BOX PWCG

[TheSNAFU]

Definitely excited about cold start being added to 6.0. Thank you both for your amazing work! 

[PatrickAWlson]

As some may have noted I posted V6 for download for single player.  Anybody inclined to help me test please download and give it a go.  This represents the idea that V6 can support single player just as V5 did.  That is a very important (and admittedly probably not entirely true  ) statement, as thousands of lines of code have been rewritten in support of V6's ultimate goal, total coop.

 

On the coop side I started to code coop specifics into V6.  First are a couple of admin pages.  It's a start and that's how you get to the finish - one bit at a time.

[dburne]

11 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

As some may have noted I posted V6 for download for single player.  Anybody inclined to help me test please download and give it a go.  This represents the idea that V6 can support single player just as V5 did.  That is a very important (and admittedly probably not entirely true  ) statement, as thousands of lines of code have been rewritten in support of V6's ultimate goal, total coop.

 

On the coop side I started to code coop specifics into V6.  First are a couple of admin pages.  It's a start and that's how you get to the finish - one bit at a time.

 

I do not have much time today but will certainly give it a go Tues and Wed.

Thanks for all you do!!

[PatrickAWlson]

Quick update: I am in the middle of some major changes to flight creation.  These are necessary for coop support and should help SP as well.

 

Details for those interested ... @Murleen  

Some very important things about a flight are decided during the flight build process.  The flow is very problematic for the new set of problems created by any number of players, any squadron, any role.  I am in the process of extracting as much decision making process as possible and moving it to the beginning of the flight generation code.  The result will be separation of decide and build.  The output of decide will be a flight profile - a set of instructions that the build process will use to create the flight.  

 

Here's an example of a problem:

How many planes should be in the flight?

 

How hard can that be?

How many players are in the squadron?

Are they active (i.e. not wounded)?

Should they been included in the mission?

If there are no players from this squadron involved in the mission then are there enough AI pilots to staff the mission?

What happens if there are more human players to be included than there are planes available?

 

When you start factoring in all of the ... well, factors ... it gets a bit more complex than one might think.

 

Anyhow, no drops coming soon (sorry, no 262 until I have a stable mission generation process.) but I'm working on it.

[PatrickAWlson]

Countdown to coop ...

The redesign and implementation of said redesign for mission generation is coming along. I am working on those flight types that have tightly coupled opposing flight types.  Intercept flights need flights to intercept.  Escort flights need a flight to escort. Scramble flights need a reason to scramble. 

 

Then the coop AAR.  I have kept the single player AAR as is.  The coop AAR will be very simple to start - it will assign victories exactly per the logs.  This will not lead to ideal results as the logs are far from complete in this regard, but it will be a start.  Just as the SP AAR process was refined over years so to will be the coop process,  and who knows, maybe this will prompt better logging.

 

So those two things and testing ... lots of testing.  Still some weeks away but progress is being made.

[Hartsblade]

Awesome, thanks for the update Pat!

[PatrickAWlson]

I finished the basics of the mission generation rewrite.  The core of the change is to drive missions into a well placed but randomized box as opposed to forming a box around the player's mission.  Tests are passing and I am able to generate missions.  Have yet to fly one, but by next week this should be firm.

 

Also starting in on Coop AAR.  Details as stated earlier.  That is the last critical component.  Once that is done we can start alpha testing PWCG 6 for coop.  Two weeks - be sure.

 

 

[SCG_motoadve]

9 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

I finished the basics of the mission generation rewrite.  The core of the change is to drive missions into a well placed but randomized box as opposed to forming a box around the player's mission.  Tests are passing and I am able to generate missions.  Have yet to fly one, but by next week this should be firm.

 

Also starting in on Coop AAR.  Details as stated earlier.  That is the last critical component.  Once that is done we can start alpha testing PWCG 6 for coop.  Two weeks - be sure.

 

 

Is it possible to use Prokhorovka map in PWCG?

[PatrickAWlson]

1 hour ago, II./JG77_motoadve said:

Is it possible to use Prokhorovka map in PWCG?

 

Not sure but I guess so.  It has airfields but is a much smaller map.  Not sure if the higher level of map detail would make performance an issue.

[SCG_motoadve]

I dont have performance issues in quick combat missions, but not sure how much more resources PWCG needs compared to quick missions.

[Murleen]

9 hours ago, II./JG77_motoadve said:

Is it possible to use Prokhorovka map in PWCG?

 

I have been working on adding the basic support for this - importing the map images, defining the airfields and so on. Unfortunately I've been busy the last few weeks so haven't been able to get this finished off and submitted. Once this was merged in, it would still be necessary to actually assign some squadrons to the map area - this isn't really my forte so I'd probably leave that to @PatrickAWlson

[PatrickAWlson]

11 hours ago, II./JG77_motoadve said:

I dont have performance issues in quick combat missions, but not sure how much more resources PWCG needs compared to quick missions.

 

A lot more, but PWCG is very tunable.  

 

@Murleen Since Kursk is concurrent with the existing campaign I would probably just peel off some of the existing squadrons and move them to the Prokhorovka for a little while.  The battle itself was not terribly long.  Worth a shot.

Edited July 2, 2019 by PatrickAWlson

[Tops1]

Great news, always enjoyed the Campaign Generator since Rise of Flight days!

 

Cheers

[PatrickAWlson]

After the release of 6.0 it was pointed out that this version was a step backwards in some aspects of coop.  Conversations with @Utopioneer produced several desirable distinctions between playing true coop (everybody on the same side) and competitively using IL2 coop capability as the flight engine. I tried to quick patch something in 6.0.1.  Should have known better.  This effectively broke true coop.

 

At the moment I have what should be 6.1.0 on my computer.  This version introduces three distinct campaign styles: Single Player, Cooperative Coop, and Competitive Coop.

 

Single player

- One player

- One side

- Can edit missions

- Must declare on combat report

 

Cooperative coop 

- Many players

- One side

- Can edit missions

- Must declare on combat report

Competitive coop is unchanged.

- Many players

- Any side

- Ability to edit missions will be removed (since none of the competitors can edit their flights)

    - Currently host can edit his flight, which is an unfair advantage.

- Does not declare on combat reports. Uses logs only.

 

I need a little more test time but results as of this point things are looking pretty good.

Edited July 29, 2019 by PatrickAWlson

[JGr2/J5_W0LF-]

All of the pilots in this community cant say enough to you Pat on how much we appreciate your efforts and hard work...

Salute buddy!

[PatrickAWlson]

I tend to release something pretty often so there is usually no need for a DD, but since I missed my own deadline I thought I would drop a quick post.

 

I am making modifications to parts of code related to flight pathing.  Among the changes:

Add range as a an element to aircraft.

Create mission box based on range with a maximum.  This moves activity to more places on the front without sending the player off too far.

Create minimum distance from base to mission box, to reduce instances of planes being on top of you at the start of the mission.

Change AI flight ingress to mission to create better chances of contact in all scenarios.

Ai Squadrons participation in a mission is contingent on having the range to get there.  Should give a feel for who is stationed where.

Added concept of special missions.  These are missions where the mission box will not be in the usual place.

Anti shipping: anti shipping missions will cause the mission box to be created over a sea lane (Kuban only).

Scramble: scramble missions will cause the mission box to be created near the player's airfield.

 

 

[dburne]

All sounding great!!

Thank you!

[HerrBree]

Do you have any plans for train attack missions or anti shipping missions in the earlier campaigns?

[PatrickAWlson]

4 minutes ago, HerrBree said:

Do you have any plans for train attack missions or anti shipping missions in the earlier campaigns?

 

The missions are dynamically generated so any existing campaign can take advantage of new features.  Train attacks are already part of PWCG.  Bombing missions or attack missions can have a wide variety of targets, with trains being one of them.  Anti shipping was different enough that it required a somewhat separate handling.

 

Last night I added the three new planes (Tempest, P38, P51).  Flew a mission on each.  All is good in that regard.  There are a couple of issues with the PWCG 6.2 missions that I have to fix.  Will release once the bugs are squished.  Note: Bodenplatte will still be on the Stalingrad map for 6.2.  6.3 will move it to the proper map and complete the job.

 

[Taxman]

Thank you Pat,  looking forward to flying the new birds on any map in a campaign.

[itsmecamille]

I know that it will take time but just having Flying Circus on the roadmap now feels me with joy! Thanks again for all the work on PWCG!

[PatrickAWlson]

Bodenplatte:

I am in the process of incorporating the real map.  Still early stages.

Done:

Incorporate Rhein structures

 

In progress:

Map Rhein airfields

 

To do:

1. Get map images an import to PWCG

2. Reevaluate squadrons

3. Place squadrons

4. Make front lines

 

 

FC:

Done

Created new PWCG product "FC"

Set baseline for FC objects (using limited WWII items as substitutes for now)

Added planes.

First cut at squadrons

Set initial mission types for V1

- Will add more as FC capabilities expand

 

To do:

Everything to do with the map

Create front lines.  

- FC will be moving front since the front really did move after April 1918

Finalize squadrons to include.

- Going to include limited French units

- Might include one American squadron

 

Limitations:

- Recon is limited and not the same as ROF as we do not have the photo capability

- No artillery spot as we do not have arty spot grid

- No balloon bust or balloon defense as we do not have balloons

- Ground units do not exist yet (saw pictures in a DD so they are coming)