WTB 3 Bar common/rare.

[Sorcer]

Ok so one thing I've noticed in all the colony games is that no matter what you ALWAYS get no more than a 2 bar common and usually only a 1 bar rare near your base, why don't people create a map that gives us a 3 bar common and 3 bar rare it's ridiculous. Additionally there's a colony game for i believe eden where there is literally no rare that is possible to acquire due to a volcano. it's literally ridiculous.

[lordpalandus]

For both colony games that ship with the game, I always move my base elsewhere. Eden Colony has poor resources in the NW(starting area), but there is a variety of two to three bars on the other side of the map, with a whole lot more defensibility as well (makes it great for defending against enemy waves) in the grey area. Similarly, for Plymouth Colony, as the volcano will wreck most of your base on Normal+, I move my base down to the grey area to the SW with a volcanic area on the edge.

If you stay in the starter locations, these are typically very hard to defend against enemy waves and have poor resources anyway.

[Hooman]

why don't people create a map that gives us a 3 bar common and 3 bar rare

Does "people" include you? 

Let me know if you're interested in getting started.

[Sorcer]

why don't people create a map that gives us a 3 bar common and 3 bar rare

Does "people" include you? 

Let me know if you're interested in getting started.

explain please. How easy is it to create a colony game?

[Vagabond]

Hi Sorcer,

It depends on how customized you want the scenario to be and your knowledge level of programming in C++.

There are 2 aspects to a new Outpost 2 scenario. One is creating or reusing a map and the other is programming the actual scenario (like how many people you have and winning conditions, etc). There is an old but decent mapmaker to create the actual terrain. Programming the scenario is done in C++, typically using Visual Studio if you are using Windows, but Linux is probably also doable if you have the knowledge.

I find creating a new map from ground up will take several hours to complete using the mapmaker. It is very tedious. A lot of people just take and existing map and use it or tweak it a bit.

The effort required to code a scenario will vary greatly based on what features you want and your familiarity with C++. If you just want a basic colony game without an enemy base, this isn't too bad. If you want to add a smart AI base that builds itself up and attacks the player, this will take much more time. The good news is there is enough sample code laying around the forum that even if you are unfamiliar with programming, it is possible to sort of learn as you go.

Please ask questions as needed and we will try to help out as much possible.

If you are interested in learning, I would start with the following two links:
 * Mission coding / Mapmaking basics: https://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=op2_sdk:software_development_kit_sdk
 * Scenario programming tutorials: https://forum.outpost2.net/index.php/board,103.0.html

-Brett

[Hooman]

I'd recommend re-purposing an existing map. Making a new map from scratch is tedious.

You'll need a C++ compiler to compile new mission DLLs. You can download a free copy of Visual Studio Express from Microsoft. It's a bit large, but is a pretty decent compiler + editor package. I see there is now a "Community" edition, which I think replaces "Express". Feel free to try either, and let us know how it goes.

You'll need a copy of the Outpost 2 Software Development Kit, which is up on GitHub. If you're unfamiliar with Git, you can just download and unpack a ZIP file of the repository from GitHub. No signup or account needed.

There is a template C++ project for new missions up on GitHub.

Optional: If you want to publish changes to GitHub, you can signup for an account, then "fork" the starter template repository to your own account, and then "clone" the fork to your local computer with a Git client. I believe Visual Studio has a built in Git client. An alternative client is TortoiseGit, which integrates nicely with the Windows shell. After working on, testing, and "committing" changes to your local copy, you can then "push" those changes up to GitHub. Nobody sees your work until you push it.

As for working on the level, I agree with Vagabond in that I think Sirbomber's Outpost 2 Coding 101 tutorials are the most comprehensive set of instructions on how to get started. You might also want to take a look at the source code of the Hooville project up on GitHub, which was meant to be a bit of a mini tutorial, with lots of source code comments to explain what is happening and why.


That's probably enough to get started. You should be able to run into your first set of errors from there!    And maybe some successes. Hopefully some successes. 

Side note: This reminds me I needed to setup the Outpost 2 SDK as a Git submodule for the level template projects so you can get both with a single clone command.

[Frogman]

Ok so one thing I've noticed in all the colony games is that no matter what you ALWAYS get no more than a 2 bar common and usually only a 1 bar rare near your base, why don't people create a map that gives us a 3 bar common and 3 bar rare it's ridiculous. Additionally there's a colony game for i believe eden where there is literally no rare that is possible to acquire due to a volcano. it's literally ridiculous.

Why don't people create a map for a game that over 10+ years old that's tailored to your preferences? I don't think its that big of a mystery or ridiculous.

I don't recall a colony game were you can't mine rare ore. plymouth starship has a very inconvenient volcano but can be worked around.

[leeor_net]

It's not as simple as you might think. The 'map editor' is extremely dated and mission coding requires setting up a development environment with C++ which can be painful to set up for novice users.