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YOUR TURN TO COMMAND Website (http://militaryoperationshq.com)
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About
The game is played on highly detailed topographic maps, allowing commanders to zoom-in between different levels of military hierarchy. Military Operations is based on a unique game engine, which uses a spherical Earth model to visualize the environment.
MilOps (Military Operations) is currently in development.
OFFICIAL MILITARY OPERATIONS FAQ
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General Questions
Will an early access version of Military Operations be made available?
We may decide to make an limited edition available in order to gather feedback on several innovations we are including in the game.
Will Military Operations have a multiplayer mode?
We feel it is more important to first focus on the single-player experience. The engine however could support multiplayer, so a future version may well introduce this feature.
Will the game be available on Steam?
It is our intention to release the game on Steam.
I could not see any crowdfunding for Military Operations. How are you funded?
Military Operations is created by an independent developer, and funded by its founders.
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Gameplay
Is Military Operations a Wargame or a Real Time Strategy game?
Military Operations is best described as a “War Simulation”. It however contains features of both Wargames and Real-Time Strategy games. Its Wargaming heritage brings attention to historical detail and overall realism while its real-time mechanics and visual detail are typically found in Real-Time Strategy games.
Will I be able to produce units or research new technology?
No. In the game your role is that of a commander leading your troops in battle. The game is all about commanding in combat.
How will it be made possible to control thousands of units on the battlefield?
The computational power of the GPU is used for both simulating and rendering a large unit count. Military Operations features an unique and intuitive hierarchical command system that allows the player to control thousands of troops on the battlefield.
Is the game focusing on grand strategy or does it have tactical layer where commanders will be able to control the battles with more precision?
Military Operations is an operational-level game. This means that players conduct battles from a General’s point of view. The game will allow you to zoom into the battle to exercise more control if you feel the need to do so.
Will the tanks have actual armour values? Like if you hit a tank from the side, will it cause more damage than hitting the tank in the front?
Military Operations is an operational-level wargame, so the combat routines will not feature full tactical level of detail. The simulation models however aim to be realistic. So your example will actually be part of the simulation model. More important, logistics, communications, supply consumption, AI and environment conditions are all accurately simulated.
Will players be able to embark and disembark troops from trucks, ie. Motorized/Mechanized Infantry?
Yes, troops can and will embark/disembark. Nevertheless, as a player you will not be required to order troops to do so. It will be part of the AI’s responsibility to decide whether they feel the environment conditions or your orders require them to.
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Development
Which game engine is used to create Military Operations?
Military Operations is created using the “Metis” Engine, a proprietary simulation engine created by BitBunch, capable of seamless visualization of the entire earth and simulating battles involving thousands of units.
Will players be able to create mods for Military Operations?
Yes, the game will allow players to create mods for the game.
What is the difference between OpenCL and OpenGL?
OpenGL is designed to do 3D graphics on the Graphics Processor (GPU). OpenCL provides generic access to the GPU without a specific intend other than massively parallel processing. It is close to the hardware so there is no holding hands, but in return it is very fast. All major graphics cards vendors install OpenCL drivers with their video drivers.
Are you working with historians or army consultants for historical accuracy of the game and a correct representation of the chain of command during WW2?
At this stage, George (one of our team-members) is responsible for the historical accuracy aspect of the game, since he is the “amateur WW2 historian” of the group.
Minimum System Requirements
• Windows 7 64-bit
• Quad-Core Intel/AMD Processor
• 8 GB RAM
• 2 TFLOP GPU
• 4 GB video RAM
• OpenGL 4.3 capable graphics processor
• OpenCL 1.2 support for your graphics processor
• 30 GB hard drive space
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This is Chain of Command with a new name. The FAQ's the same: http://militaryoperationshq.com/milops-rts-game/
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Same engine but not the same game. Both are separate stand alone titles. Also different companies.
I will post more details tomorrow.
Regards
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What an interesting simulation. The graphics are unique!
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For people who are wondering why Military Operations looks similar to Chain of Command, that is because they are from the same people.
We are a small group with big ambitions and we had to concentrate on what we are good at and that is technology.
MilOps uses the same "Metis" engine and we transplanted some of the investments in assets.
It is a new company though and it is a different game with different content and a different release strategy.
We understand this can be confusing, but creating a game is a huge effort and sometimes things don't go the way you'd like.
We hope you understand and we can count on your support for MilOps.
Take a peek at the website http://MilitaryOperationsHQ.com were we will post regular updates on development and events.
Regards
What an interesting simulation. The graphics are unique!
Thank you!
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Extending edit functionality for OOB creation and modding
29 MARCH
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Although we try to evade manual editing as much as possible, which makes sense when dealing with tens of thousands of troops, we noticed it would be nice to be able to create a custom setup for recording video and taking screenshots. So we designed a number of edit functions to place troops manually, beyond what is possbile with unit orders.
• Deploy along road
• Deploy on area
• Deploy along line
• Change heading
These edit functions turned out to be a lot of fun to play around with. For example, deploy a Corps level unit over the road network created a 1000 Km long traffic jam across all of Belgium and Germany!
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We also had a couple of nice idea's to extend this functionality. For example:
• Automatically generate camera-paths along deployed units
• Randomisation to control adding noise to positioning and orientation to make the deployment less synthetic
• Adding filters. For example to exclude disabled or destroyed troops from deployment.
We now see that these edit functions will also be powerful tools for anyone of you who plan to do some modding and want to recreate a specific cinematographic scene or historical event.
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MilOps: The Original Concept
2018-03-23
Military Operations is a game of mobile warfare in World War 2 at an operational level. The word “operational” means you are not commanding a handful of platoons taking a few streets in some unnamed village during a battle that lasts a few hours, but something bigger, much bigger. Think battalions, regiments, and divisions, or even a full corps fighting a battle lasting many days over an area of thousands of square kilometers, but without abstracting the units or the terrain. Instead every unit is modeled down to the vehicle & soldier level and the battlefield is created with details as accurate as the real-world maps it is generated from.
Readers of books like Heinz Guderian’s “Panzer Leader” know that during these battles details, timing and often coincidence and luck determined the outcome. But most operational wargames available today are abstracted to such a degree that it is not possible to find a gap between 2 divisions and pierce the front by advancing up a single road or capturing a single undefended bridge and then pushing entire divisions across, leaving it up to the subordinate commanders to sort out the mess on the other side.
Let’s have a look at some examples of reality versus operational wargames. On the left, an actual German planning map of Case “Blue”, in this case the drive by 2nd & 4th Panzer Armies towards Voronezh on the Eastern Front in 1942. On the right, a hex and counters wargame depicting the same area, taken from Gary Grigsby’s War In The East.
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German Planning Map for Case Blue showing movements of 2nd Army and 4th Panzer Army
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The area between Kursk and Voronezh as depicted in Gary Grigsby’s War In The East
Drawing shapes on maps is one thing, the actual fighting another. When you get down to the details, things start too look very different from the depictions above. The following shots show a German Panzer unit advancing in France 1940. Next to it a shot from another hex and counters wargame with more detail (meaning more hexes & counters), this time from John Tiller’s Panzer Campaign France ’40.
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Column of the German 7th Panzer Division in France advancing across the Somme
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The Battle of Hannut as depicted in John Tiller’s Panzer Campaigns France ’40
Wouldn’t it be cool if you could play the game in the same manner as the shots on the left show? Draw lines of advance on realistic maps and then seamlessly zoom in and see a column of one of your units moving along the road towards their objective in 3D. We really liked the idea so we started thinking on how to realize it.
Can it be done?
The answer to this question depends on how we wanted to approach it. So first we had to define the basics of our initial approach:
Modeling Time: Turn-based versus Real-time
The enemy does not politely wait for you to move all your units before moving his own. Timing, speed of action and sheer coincidence have a profound impact in how a specific battle plays out. This, as well as our professional experience with real-time simulation software, all pointed towards real-time as the underlying system.
Modeling Space: Discrete versus Floating point
Determining how to represent space is something every computer game has to do. Operational wargames often go for hexagons or grids, but those bring with them a host of other decisions a designer has to make that impact almost everything else. How large should a cell be? Big enough to hold an entire city or small enough to hold a single soldier? How do you translate real-life data like weapon ranges into a number of cells (if at all) and what rules do you need to introduce to avoid a-historical ways of playing the game because of the abstractions?
The creation of the map also becomes a laborious process of converting real-world maps into cells and hand-correcting things that automation cannot handle. How do you solve the fact that in your Market Garden scenario, 3 major rivers are so close, they are covered by a single hex?
Our approach is to turn it around: we start with a full planetary model and import real-world map data into it. Digital maps nowadays are very detailed: every road, most buildings and even bridges, patches of trees and fields of grain are in there. This is where our working experience in the field of navigation software comes in handy. Almost every step of this process is automated and we can select a level of detail that is “good enough” for our purpose, leaving out smaller or less important details as needed or add even more detail than available using procedural generation.
Modeling Units: Groups versus Individuals
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Battle of Bastogne 1944 – screenshot from Command Ops 2
Unit abstractions are usually tied to the spatial abstraction level. If the hexes are 50 km across, modeling units at the company level will give you huge stacks of counters. But what happens if you have no hexes? Then it is still possible to abstract units and the Command Ops Series is an example of hex-less system with units represented at the company level.
Just as with space, here we chose the opposite route and take the highest level of detail for a unit: an individual soldier or vehicle and start from there. A full-strength World War 2 panzer/armored division consisted of between 15,000 and 25,000 personnel and vehicles/guns so that gives us a starting number to work with.
Modeling Battles
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Approximate 150×150 km area covering the Ardennes region in Belgium
After some back-of-the-envelope calculations we decided that the game engine should be able to simulate a battle between at least 2 full-strength divisions which translates into 50,000 entities. Since the focus of the game is mobile warfare in World War 2, these units would need some space to maneuver in.
Historically, divisions could advance almost 100 km in a single day after a breakthrough, so our battlefield needs to be at least 150km “long” to account for the division’s “rear area”. The end result is a squared area budget of 150 by 150 km for a minimum battlefield area of 22,500 km2.
So here we have our specs: 50,000 entities fighting in an area of 22,500 km2 in real-time. Now we can start answering the question asked earlier: Can it be done?
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MilOps: The Original Concept – part 2
2018-04-03
Continuing from where we left at the end of the previous post, we’re gonna dig a little deeper into technology history in order to answer the question ‘Can it be done?’.
A lot has changed in this millennium in the PC world. As predicted by Moore’s law, the capabilities and performance have roughly doubled every 2 years in this period. For comparison: in 2000 my PC had a Pentium II processor running at 233 MHz, 64 MB of RAM and a hard-drive with a capacity of 2 GB. It also had an nVidia Riva TNT 2 graphics card with 16 MB of VRAM.
According to the Steam hard- & software survey of March 2018, the most common Windows PC configuration today has a 3+ GHz quad-core CPU, 8 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, 2 GB of VRAM and to top it off, a 1 TB hard-drive.
If we look at the performance increase since 2000, the numbers are pretty impressive:
• The CPU is running at a clock-speed 15 times faster and has 4 times as many cores so a naive calculation would put it at about 60 times more powerful. However, current day CPU’s do more work per cycle than the old Pentium II’s so the actual increase in performance is more along the lines of 200 times.
• The amount of RAM has increased by a factor of 128 and the speed with which it can be accessed has also gone up several factors as well.
• Hard drive space has increased substantially by a factor of 512 and VRAM has seen a 128 times increase in capacity, and like regular RAM, it can be accessed much faster as well nowadays.
The most dramatic increase in number-crunching performance, however, can be found in the GPU on the graphics card: where the TNT2 card ran at 125 MHz and could calculate 2 pixels at a time, the GTX 1060 runs at 1400 MHz (11x faster) and can run 1280 shaders in parallel (640x as many). At the moment, the most powerful desktop Intel processor is about 10x SLOWER than the fastest nVidia GPU in terms of raw compute performance and that difference is expected to keep increasing.
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The CPU-GPU performance gap
A lot of this performance increase over the years has been used to increase the visual fidelity and display resolution of games in general. For strategy games, it has allowed many of them to transition from 2D to 3D, add more effects or make battlefields more dynamic. It has also allowed the number of units controlled by the player to get a lot bigger in RTS games like the Total War series or Planetary Annihilation or allow players to build huge bustling cities in a game like Cities Skylines.
https://youtu.be/XlIXneOwy1M
Based on our experience working with multi-core CPU’s and using GPU’s for various high-performance non-graphics related tasks, we are convinced the hardware of today is sufficiently powerful and has enough memory to simulate an operational-sized battle at this level of detail on a decent PC. This doesn’t mean it is easy. The technical challenges of developing a scalable simulation engine capable of utilizing the available potential of today’s hardware are great, but definitely possible.
[img width= height=]http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/11h_Armored_Division_M7B1_Priest_Battery_Rolls_into_Burning_Obernust_Germany_April_1945-768x605.jpg[/img] (https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/armoured-vehicles-2/m7_priest/)
Wonder what these guys were for? Click the image to find out
Our approach is to build an engine that simulates combat at a tactical level with more detail and realism than your average RTS game but generally less detailed than a pure tactical battle simulator. This allows us to increase the scale to the desired size and put you, the player, in the commander’s seat to command this mass of men and machines. By using real-world terrain- and map data, you will be able to see the lay of the land just as the actual commanders back then could and your unit will consist of a full establishment of troops. This mean you’re not just commanding the combat elements but you control the full “traveling circus” including supply troops, field kitchens, repair workshops, field hospitals and much more, each with their specific role to play.
So you think you can be a General? It’s time to find out.
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[DEV] Stress testing
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First week of April, a new development sprint started. This sprint is dedicated to polishing and then some more polishing and probably later on more polishing.
This week we spend time tweaking budgets and AOI (Area Of Interest) definitions.
For example:
• Troops and in general moving objects
• Sounds FX instances
• Heatmap visualisation (a dot per unit)
• Unit icons
• Order and unit shapes
So to give Metis something to set its teeth in, we took three full Panzer brigades and packed them together in a field. Not something that would normally ever occur. So if it can handle this, we should be ok.
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[DEV] Steam SDK integration
13 APRIL - TREESONG
Unfortunately, screenshot functionality does not work out of the box for modern OpenGL applications. So we did custom integration. Pressing F11 now takes screenshots.
Every shot is tagged with the spherical coordinates [Longitude, Latitude, Altitude] (degrees, degrees, meters) of the camera, when the shot was taken.
Since we did the work, adding a leaderboard for Benchmark scores was a simple task.
If you run the Benchmark to its end, in 1920 x 1080 with standard Video quality, your score will be added to the leaderboard. Subsequent runs will update that score if it improves.
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MilOps Blog: Ready or Not? Modeling (un)readiness
13 APRIL - GRECCO
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A new blog entry is available, this time the topic is modeling unit readiness. You can read it below.
The simulation engine driving Military Operations models every vehicle and soldier as separate entities. This means that each entity runs code for things such as sensory input, decision-making, path-finding, target selection, ammunition consumption, damage modeling and so on. Because we have to stuff everything into a fixed amount of memory and make sure the code finishes its work in a fixed amount of time, we need to introduce some abstractions.
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155 mm American artillery shells, March 1945
Take ammunition supplies, for example: in reality there were many kinds of ammunition and you could not simply take a mortar round and put it into an anti-tank gun and expect it to fit, let alone work properly. We could try and take this into account and model it, but it would mean a lot of extra information to store in memory and a lot of extra code to make sure the right type of ammunition gets delivered to the right unit.
In this particular case, we decided against modelling ammunition types in full detail and instead opted for a generic “ammunition” supply type. Because supply and logistics are very important, the game does account for the weight of ammunition. If you have a supply truck carrying 1 ton of ammunition, that ton can be converted into rifle bullets or artillery shells depending on weapon type being resupplied from it. A bullet weighs just a few grams, 1 ton of them would mean thousands of bullets. Artillery shells on the other hand can weigh over 10kg a piece, so 1 ton of ammunition would just allow you to resupply 100 artillery rounds. If you want to precede your offensive by a long artillery barrage, better make sure you have enough trucks to get the required ammunition in place.
This is a typical example where realism takes a back seat over performance considerations.But sometimes it can go the other way and doing things realistically can improve performance instead.
Take the way games model combat readiness: most RTS games model this by having them at “full alert” and “ready to fire” at all times; turn-based games either don’t model it at all, or use some abstract value for “readiness” and let that have an effect on the many die rolls that decide who wins or loses. In Military Operations, having each and everyone scanning their environment for threats with their weapon at the ready requires a lot in terms of performance. This part of the code is actually one of the current “hot-spots” in the engine. But how does readiness actually work?
As part of the ongoing research effort, I happened to come across the book Fighting by Minutes by Robert R. Leonhard and in it there is this very interesting chapter called “The Anatomy of Surprise: Delaying Detection”. In it, Leonhard writes:
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Fighting by Minutes by Robert R. Leonhard
“To begin with, it is important to understand the most pervasive and yet frequently ignored axiom of warfare: military forces are perpetually unready for combat. That is, the natural state for a military unit— from an infantry squad to a contingency corps— is unpreparedness.”
A few paragraphs later he explains what triggers units to get prepared:
“… when, if ever, do military forces shake themselves out of unreadiness and get prepared for fighting? In other words, if forces are perpetually and naturally unready, what causes them to become prepared? The answer is simple: the detection (or anticipation) of a threat. When a threat is detected, the unit stirs itself and attempts to come to full battle readiness before the threat can harm the unit.”
Surprise, he argues, is when a unit is being attacked when not ready for combat. Causes for this could be the failure to detect an approaching enemy altogether or detecting the enemy too late to allow enough time to get ready to fight. This effect exists at all levels of warfare from the tactical to operational to strategic. Because of the scale and duration of the battles we model, some of which will last several days, a realistically modeled unit will not be at full battle readiness for the entire duration of it. The unit will also do other things like resting, sleeping, eating, maintaining its vehicles and equipment and all other kinds of non-combat related activities.
By including this behavior into the simulation we can actually improve performance by not running some code. One of the most performance-heavy pieces of code in the simulation is the sensory input simulation for each of the entities. If an entity is in combat, it needs to identify threats and targets, select which one to engage and aim and fire at it. For this the engine needs to figure out who is near who, whether are they friend or foe, are detected or not and all kinds of other checks. If this needs to be done for tens of thousands of entities every frame, we would need to abstract this system a lot in order to get the desired performance. But if we take readiness into account, we can keep it more detailed since not everyone will be in contact with the enemy at the same time. In reality, just as in the game, at every moment a large proportion of your soldiers will NOT be at full battle readiness or in combat, but they will be doing something else. A lot will be “unready”, some will be “getting ready” and others will be “getting unready” after a fight.
The fastest code is code that doesn’t need to run at all 🙂 (or, less frequent as in this case).
Link to blog post (http://militaryoperationshq.com/ready-or-not-modeling-readiness/)
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Military Operations: Benchmark
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"Military Operations: Benchmark", is a performance and stability Benchmark utility that can be used to test your gaming system for compatibility with the upcoming "Military Operations" (MilOps) RTS game and the "Metis Simulation Technology" (Metis engine) it is developed with
Product page: Here (http://militaryoperationshq.com/)
Official forum: Here (http://militaryoperationshq.com/)
Quick reference PDF: Here (https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/821680/manuals/MilOps_-_Benchmark_Quick_Guide.pdf?t=1524072196)
Steam: Here (http://store.steampowered.com/app/821680/Military_Operations_Benchmark/)
YouTube Channel: Here (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA967cczrTQIMqFffPjuByQ)
Wouldn't you want to command this lot?
https://youtu.be/Caf7qTGxL5Y
About this software
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The "Military Operations: Benchmark" utility can be used to determine if your system is ready to run the "Military Operations" RTS game that is currently in development.
It performs a number of tests to measure your system's capability for running the "Metis engine".
Besides its profiling purpose, MilOps Benchmark is also a fully functional interactive visualization that allows you to roam the globe without limits.
Interact with units, follow their movements or watch combat up close.
Profiling tests:
• Streaming data from disk to memory to GPU
• Background processing on CPU and GPU
• Generic GPU computing
• Rendering frame rate
Other features include:
• Interact with troops and units to inspect OOB and status details
• Traverse the historically inspired OOB hierarchy
• Accelerate the simulation or slow it down to bullet-time
• And of course, tens of thousands of troops, each individually simulated
The game "Military Operations" (currently in development), is an operational level real-time strategy game set in World War 2 where the player assumes command of large bodies of troops and directs them to victory. Draw battle plans on accurate maps and watch your troops execute them to achieve your objectives. Adapt plans as the situation changes due to enemy action, unexpected changes in the supply situation or to improve your lines of communication.
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[DEV] Update for 3rd week of April
We released a new MilOps Benchmark version for our testers this week.
It contains fixes for all issues that were reported from last test-build and lots of other improvements and polish. Most notable:
• Improved HeatMap implementation
• The application is now stared in the native desktop resolution by default
• The LITE quality preset renders the 3D scene in 720p and scales up to what ever the resolution is you selected (UI is always displayed in your resolution)
• Several simulation performance optimisations
• Replaced the "unit-lost" sound
• Removed the (experimental) ULTRA quality preset
• Improved audio culling
• Updated the credits section
• Finalised Steam integration (screenshots, overlay, leaderboard)
• Automatic crash detection and integration of Bug-tracker
• Fixed the crash when alt-tabbing while the game was loading
• Increased to size of the bottom menu bar
• Improved icon display and selection
• Zooming with the mouse-wheel can now handle high resolution devices (mice)
We also prepared our first test version via Steam for MilOps the game.
From now on, all test versions for the game will be distributed through Steam.
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MilOps Blog: Unit Hierarchy
2018-04-21 BY george
How do you control a unit of tens of thousands of men? If you look at contemporary RTS games the answer sometimes is “with groups”. Some of those groups can be created by the player like in the game Ashes of the Singularity. There you can create virtual “armies” and even direct production to specific armies. In other games the groups have a fixed composition and are part of a “menu” of units you can build or recruit. Rome: Total War 2 is a good example of that approach and they manage to have some of the largest digital armies in PC gaming. They gave a nice talk about their approach to siege battle AI in this GDC talk:
https://youtu.be/sHolirTf9CI
When discussing a design approach, we usually start with asking ourselves “how did it work in reality?”. In this case the answer is “through a hierarchical command structure” where large units are composed of smaller units which in turn are composed of even smaller units and each of them has a certain role to play. Take the scenario where a Division is ordered to capture a village: in the physical world an order would be sent to the Division’s HQ. Its commander and his staff would then conceive a plan to accomplish this mission and then send orders to the Division’s other units. As part of this process, the HQ itself might move to a location where it can more effectively coordinate the various actions.
In MilOps we have recreated this unit hierarchy using historical data from various sources. In our model we will have several entities in play:
• a “division” unit entity, this represents the division as a whole. The division will receive orders from the Corps or Army it belongs to.
• a set of unit entities for all parts of the division, for example the German 7th Panzer Division in May 1940 consisted of:
o a divisional headquarters
o a panzer regiment
o a motorized infantry brigade
o a motorized artillery regiment
o several battalions for specific tasks such as:
o reconnaissance
o signals
o anti-tank
o supply
o engineers
Each of these units is then again composed of other units until we get to the “physical” level where units are composed of personnel/vehicles/weapon systems. The following video illustrates this hierarchy as we zoom into a Division’s area and see how each subordinate level comes into view: Regiment, Battalion, Company and Platoon.
https://youtu.be/UVfSAbcELIE
Every one of these entities, both physical as well as unit entities, have an AI running. For physical entities this AI represents the individual itself. For units, the AI represents a unit commander’s “view” of the unit as a whole. So while the divisional commander’s AI will take care of him reacting to enemies in his direct surroundings, the division unit’s AI will represent how the command staff feels the division is doing and how it should react to being attacked by 2 enemy divisions for example.
This structure allows us to have all the fidelity we need to accurately represent historical orders of battle such as those found on Dr. Leo Niehorsters excellent website. (http://niehorster.org/)
The unit hierarchy functions as an information network through which orders flow from superior to subordinate units and information reports flow upwards. How this information flow is modeled in MilOps will be the topic of a future blog entry.
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Well lads, it seems that my girlfriend will have to find another man ehehhehe.
This concept is amazing, can't wait to check it.
I'm optimist, this is going to be a marco in the war game industry.
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[DEV] Update for 4th week of April
posted by Grecco on April 27, 2018
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/71ba8919cfb6fb2a0cbcbcf23353a687e0be41fd.jpg)
This week was dedicated to creating a scenario to use as a 'backdrop' for the benchmark. We want to have a more or less realistic setup so we can benchmark the engine under typical conditions.
We decided on modeling the situation in northern France on May 17 1940. Panzergroup Kleist has broken through the French lines and the French are trying to plug the gap with counterattacks and the situation is very fluid.
The above image shows the current state of the level and is based on combined information taken from German and French situation maps shown below:
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/742d8a369ca967439359beb7ebc1e6dbbdb70d69.jpg)
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/ba5e887dcd851ce5fdd3a9c52cbf46a1b0557d55.jpg)
Using our engine, we can accurately replicate these dispositions in WYSIWYG fashion.
Leave a comment
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MilOps Blog: Camera behaviours
2018-04-27 BY Serge
(https://external.flhr4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQCjfKlNainUFYOp&w=476&h=249&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmilitaryoperationshq.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F04%2FCamera_Behavior.jpg&cfs=1&upscale=1&fallback=news_d_placeholder_publisher&_nc_hash=AQAT3SHodz4EJR4w)
Games are a visual medium. So how it looks is important. But also how you look at it.
For a game using a first-person-perspective, the behaviour is mostly determined. For a RTS game the camera behaviour is less pre-defined. For Military Operations it is even worse since in MilOps zooming is an integrate part of game-play because of the unit hierarchy and the fact that the game is situated on an actual spherical terrain (planet).
Behaviours in MilOps
At the moment we have 3 different situations for the camera.
Free roam camera
Here you move in spherical-space, aligned to the curvature of the planet. You either follow the terrain with a constant clearance, at a constant altitude or always in the direction the camera points.
What behaviour the camera will adopt depends on the situation (close to the terrain or high up) and the settings the user selected (Orbit or Airplane).
https://youtu.be/yljIO0tqZ_4
Follow a troop camera
The camera is attached to an object in the scene. When the object moves, the camera moves. The user can control how close the camera follows by zooming in/out using the mouse scroll-wheel.
https://youtu.be/n9HKSzUKWMI
Move to a unit camera
A transition behaviour. When you alt+click on a unit-icon, either in the 3D environment or in the 2D UI, the camera transitions to a new position that matches the size and location of the unit.
https://youtu.be/zVooQSZlQ6g
In stead of handling each situation separately, we try to design a camera that suits all requirements and smoothly transitions between behaviours.
For example, when you at+click on an icon, the current orientation is maintained, but the camera altitude and position is changed so that the whole unit is visible and centred on screen. This way the user can tweak his favourite view angle at any time without changing any settings.
The current camera options feel smooth and convenient to us, but we acknowledge that camera controls are very personal, so you may not agree. Therefore we expect that for the final game, camera behaviour will probably have had additional changes and tweaks. Your feedback from the MilOps-Benchmark application will be welcome and help us improving camera behaviour until it supports enough customisation to make it suit your taste.
Comments and reactions to this blog entry can be made on official forum. (https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680/discussions/2/)
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(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/9e0d58607f04f4a8893c418c5a067e42a185b484.jpg)
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Details, more details...
2 MAY - TREESONG
For the curious among us, who like to get more information about the upcoming Benchmark application now...
The Quick-guide (http://steam://openurl/https://store.steampowered.com/quickref/821680) has been available for some time now on the Store-page .
It reveals details not available elsewhere.
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Website update
3 MAY - TREESONG
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/apps/821680/bc12dec8793b41c37125664c904a56cf22935869.jpg)
We added a new page to our website
It highlights some of the invaluable sources of information and inspiration we could not do without while developing MilOps. We recommend you take a look at these (https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?url=http://militaryoperationshq.com/recommended/)
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[DEV] Update for the second week of May
11 MAY - TREESONG
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/0571de1ae51142b48c683c213307aa9cb7438965.jpg)
We worked on two main topics since the last update:
1. Polish and UI tweaks for the Benchmark release next month.
2. A fancier OOB file format that supports a number of new features.
The first one isn't that exiting.
The second one is!
For saving game-play progress we use a normal, binary dump that contains everything. It makes an exact recreation of the game state possible.
Exactly what you want for a safe-game.
For OOB editing however, you want something else. You want to benefit from any improvement of the simulation and unit-Database without any additional integration effort.
So we devised a "recipe" file format. It contains not exact binary data, but a description of an OOB/scenario.
When loaded we can instantiate that description using what ever the recipe ingredient-state is at that time.
So if we change an ingredient, we automatically benefit from it when we load the recipe.
It is like the MIDI format. MIDI is a description of audio. It uses the described characteristics of audio to recreate analogue sound.
It is not an exact reproduction, and the quality depends on who is doing the interpretation of the audio description, but is very flexible.
We are very pleased with the results and exited about the possibilities.
It is ideal for modding without breaking compatibility when updating the engine.
This brings proper modding support so much closer!
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[DEV] Update for the third week of May
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/8b37233fceb7485fb17dc6c9e8d6413098fa4904.jpg)
This week we continued our work on the new OOB database format:
The information in the OOB database format we now have created has been completely separated from the representation in the game's code, in effect making it a generic format.
Our load code now transforms this into the specific data used by the engine and if the engine changes we need to change that code, but the information gathered in the OOB database can remain the same.
We felt this was needed since the OOB's are the result of historical research and thus represent some kind of "ground truth" and we don't want this effort to be wasted or require massive modifications if we change some detail inside the engine.
So we went the extra mile and separated the OOB format from the engine format and wrote a new loader for the engine. This separation will allow us to work on OOB's and engine features in parallel without them interfering with each other. This also means we can add more information to the OOB than the engine currently uses but might incorporate in the future.
In parallel we added more features to our OOB editing UI so we can create and edit OOB's a lot faster than before.
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[BLOG] New BLOG entry about content in MilOps
The World Is Enough
2018-05-25 BY george
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/1c635a52b395b4fff18e2ff43dca24969fbf535a.jpg)
Crafting or Computing, That is the Question
Huge game worlds are not very common in gaming since they are hard to do both from a technical perspective and a content perspective. There are 2 extremes in creating a world in game development:
The first option is to hand-craft every piece of content inside your game. If you have the manpower, money and organization, you can create incredibly detailed and huge game worlds. You only have to look at GTA 5 to see what’s possible in that respect.
If you are short on artists but have very clever programmers, you can try and go for the other extreme: procedural generation. Here the computer itself runs through all kinds of sophisticated algorithms to calculate what the game’s content should be for a particular time and place in the game world. This approach is what allows a game like Elite: Dangerous to offer its players a huge universe of 400 billion star systems to fly around in.
GTA 5’s hand-crafted game world
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/gta-5-game-world-small.png)
Elite: Dangerous’ procedurally generated Milky Way
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/elite-dangerous-galaxy-map-small.png)
In Military Operations we want to have maps that show a a large amount of detail and are historically accurate. For a small independent developer like us hand-crafting all these maps ourselves at the detail level we desire is not an option. It would take too long and cost too much money.
The option of procedurally generating the maps is not feasible either. Procedural generation is a great way to produce a lot of content quickly, but coming up with procedural generation techniques that would produce historically accurate maps is very, very hard, if not impossible. Procedural generation can produce detailed maps that would not be very accurate, which is great for tactical games where you fight for control over a small patch of terrain, but it doesn’t work for an operational game like Military Operations where we want cities, rivers and other major geographic features to be present in the correct locations.
The solution to our problems is to do a bit of both: we start out with accurate map data and use procedural generation techniques to fill in the details. Where do we find this map data? The answer can be found here: the OpenStreetMap project. (http://www.openstreetmap.org/)
Read on here (http://militaryoperationshq.com/the-world-is-enough/)
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[DEV] Update for fourth week of May
2 JUNE - GRECCO
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/1e13dfc6530e5dd1d8d854210ae41bc328be7701.jpg)
The benchmark's release date is approaching rapidly and there are still plenty of things to do.
Work is now focussed on testing the application and tweaking the content. Besides fixing several bugs, enhancing performance and improving the UI, we also spent time this week on researching and building the French side of the OOB.
While there is quite some information avaible about the German Army for that time period, finding detailed information for the French Army - in 1940 considered to be the world's strongest army - is a lot harder.
But digging deep enough has yielded some very interesting websites with tons of details on French equipment, OOB's and unit TOE's.
Our latest addition to the OOB is the French Armored Division or "Division Cuirassée", a small part of which is shown in the screenshot above. On situation maps these units were shortened to "DCR" where the "R" stands for "Reserve" because they were in reserve when the Germans started their attack.
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Release date postponed
Military Operations: Benchmark - Treesong
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/23716b4126406e6bae8941b8bfca7b8d8b0c6f64.jpg)
We are ready to release! But Steam isn't.
The Steam review takes much, much longer than promised. There isnothing for us to do but wait.
It may be related to the nature of MilOps and its use of non conventional tech. But judging from the forums, this seems to be a new and recent problem that more developers suffer from.
Since we're completely in the dark, we will postpone the release date by a week each time (yes it may take several weeks). We're realy sorry for this delay. We 'll keep you updated. Fingers crossed!
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This is actually the concept for a wargame I am dreaming of since a very long time. A symbiosis of Grigsby´s War in the east/west, Hearts of Iron over to the Command Ops - series and Combat Mission - series, Theatre of War - series. :drool
Lets see, how well the project gets realized. :pray
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Military Operations: Benchmark
We are cleared for release!
15 JUNE - TREESONG
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/24b48fb1ef79088106b5189a86aa5e9b44cc2702.jpg)
Yesterday we received a response from Steam
on our inquiry what is holding up the review. It seems there was no issue after all and we have a green light for release. No additional details were given, so we have no idea what caused the delay.
We now have a decision to make. Do we release immediately or do we keep the new release date? We think it is best to keep the new date to prevent confusion.
To ease the wait, we added a new blog entry (http://militaryoperationshq.com/milops-the-game/) to our website in which we make a start in uncovering more about MilOps the game. It is our intension to dedicate future blog entries to each feature mentioned, explaining in detail what you can expect.
We encourage you to use the forum for discussions (https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680/discussions/2/3307213006832885839/) and asking us any questions.
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Some useful tips
19 JUNE - TREESONG
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/620e6d5fa21425b46e39a7b517d32dba1aaefaef.jpg)
Now that the wait is almost over these pointers may be of interest
• To prevent disappointments, please check the minimal system specs (https://store.steampowered.com/app/821680/Military_Operations_Benchmark/) first.
• The first time, MilOps will take longer to start. This is because it optimizes the GPU specific code for your system. Subsequent runs will be fast.
• The QuickGuide (https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/821680/manuals/MilOps_-_Benchmark_Quick_Guide.pdf?t=1528721116) contains an explanation of the benchmark-run results if you're interested.
• The interaction possibilities during roaming are also explained in the QuickGuide (https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/821680/manuals/MilOps_-_Benchmark_Quick_Guide.pdf?t=1528721116) .
• In case you encounter a problem, our support page (http://militaryoperationshq.com/support/) will be your quickest way to a solution.
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Military Operations: Benchmark
Announcement
Benchmark Facts & Figures
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/a7d1b700e9eb535c51803c222241f4fed9f8efe9.jpg)
The full earth-covering base map
contains basic land mass geometry and height information for the entire Earth in 1 million tiles, containing 400 million height samples, with each sample describing the height for a 2 km x 2 km area.
For Europe we include a low-detail land-use database
West to East stretching from the UK to the Ural mountains and North to South from the North Cape to the Sahara desert. This database contains features sized 150m across or larger.
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/6a46d6d74256aa9b684117691af371ebb409cef4.jpg)
The highest detail map covers the following parts of
Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg. It includes elevation with a resolution of 30 m x 30 m per sample, building geometry and geographic features as small as 3 meters across.
It also includes a full navigable road network as well as railways and waterway geometries such as canals and streams.
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/a055b4fe625abab13498fe24fff267de96dc6891.jpg)
The simulated armed forces in the Benchmark
consist of over 50000 men, 3000 tanks and other armored vehicles, 7000 motorcycles, 12000 soft-skinned motor vehicles, over a 1000 guns and 4000 horses in over 6000 units.
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Military Operations: Benchmark, release trailer
To accompany the release, we created a new trailer.
It gives an overview of what the "roam" feature in the Benchmark has to offer.
https://youtu.be/rWgRzFnLDy4
Published on Jun 20, 2018
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Hello everyone,
First of all, Asid thank you very much for your support for our project. It's enthusiasts like yourself who keep us motivated to work on the project and today the project has reached a major milestone: the release of the benchmark utility.
We're very excited and a bit anxious as we release our project "into the wild" for the first time. By installing and running the benchmark and giving us feedback you provide us with valuable information on the technical side of our software which will allow us to improve it and make sure the actual game will be of a high quality.
We are also interested in your opinion of the game concept itself and we encourage you to give us feedback or ask us questions about it.
The MilOps Team
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Hi George
Thank you for your kind words. I knew you had created something special when i tried the pre-alpha beginning of last year. Your team is very passionate about their work. Through our many conversations, this was evident.
Keep up the great work George :thumbsup
Regards
Asid
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Military Operations: Benchmark Released on Steam
June 21th, 2018
This Benchmark application provides the first public preview of the engine used to develop the upcoming "Military Operations" WW2, Realtime Operational Wargame.
It features an unprecedented 50000 individual troops and up to 10000 units, deployed over an 30000 Km2 (12000 mi2) area.
Roam the globe, browse through the historical correct Order Of Battle, zoom in on the engaging French and German forces during the 1940 Blitzkrieg.
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/b5d870aa-c51f-4ede-a44d-6af36ca7268d.jpg)
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/2668b1f7-6595-4622-991b-dd7ee5633ee6.jpg)
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/b7b5a8b6-2e01-460c-8206-64785ca7349a.jpg)
Out on Steam now (https://store.steampowered.com/app/821680/Military_Operations_Benchmark/)
Military Operations: Benchmark, release trailer
https://youtu.be/rWgRzFnLDy4
Published on Jun 20, 2018
MilOps Benchmark
The benchmark can profile your system to determine its capability to run the MilOps Wargame. The resulting score is added to a Steam leader-board.
(https://steamcommunity.com//stats/821680/leaderboards/2584703)
It also allows the user to freely roam the planet, zoom-in from orbit to ground-level and interact with units and troops.
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/75a98a64-16de-4f77-909a-b1c2f9c42480.jpg)
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/90997349-6512-4a9f-a47b-5c3d0006340b.jpg)
MilOps Realtime Operational Wargame
MilOps is a daring new approach to strategy gaming. The emergent flow of thousands of individual units interacting, provides a unique gameplay experience.
The hierarchy based UI and command controls provide an intuitive interface that allows the player to draw orders directly in the 3D environment.
This recent blog post on our website reveals more details about
MilOps the game. (http://militaryoperationshq.com/about-milops-the-game/)
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/8705d9bb-34be-47d4-9812-67329e34c53e.jpg)
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/ae2acf2c-0d60-451f-b655-0e9633aa1d63.jpg)
The "Metis" simulation technology
The Metis engine was developed to enable efficient use of the GPU for simulation and gameplay purposes rather than graphics only.
Its application of the professional OpenCL GPU solution to implement an ECS (Entity Component System) based engine, allows flexible and efficient unlocking of the GPU's power for generic processing and game logic. This enables huge amounts of fully simulated agents on average game systems.
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/37180cab-006c-415d-8bb2-282c2b35743d.jpg)
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/9c763e654fe70acec5027e095/images/e8a1b9e1-47b4-4762-800c-0d3321f5fbc0.jpg)
"Military Operations", the company
We are a independent game developer based in the Netherlands.
The company was specifically founded to develop the Military Operations Wargaming platform. Its mission is to approach WW2 from a simulation point of view with an emphasis on realism rather then visual splendour.
Its founders have a background in scientific simulations, the automotive and defense industries and game technology development.
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Bug fix
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/79382bde66f3473e8b6a0dca226fb163d3ba449e.jpg)
We have an update ready!
This fix could solve issues for anyone who is currently unable to run MilOps, or should communicate why your system is not supported.
For people that have no issue we recommend to stay on the "standard" distribution branch. This fix will not improve performance or do anything beyond what is stated below.
To enable the fix, make sure to activate the "Beta update branch":
1. In your Steam-client, right-click on "Military Operations: Benchmark" in your library
2. Select "properties" at the bottom of the popup menu
3. Select the "BETAS" tab in the dialog that opens
4. Select "beta - Beta" from the list-box
5. Force an update by exiting the client and restarting it. In the MilOps "Credits" on the main menu screen, the version should now say: 20.3.1
This fix contains:
• A solution for many users that have a system that should be able to run MilOps but suffered from the "Shutting down" issue
• Early detection of unsupported systems so the reason for an early shutdown is shown.
• A driver version check. When your driver is too old, the user is requested to perform an update of the system's graphics driver.
• Detection of systems that can run MilOps but have an unsupported GPU activated (modern laptops are prone to this issue)
• Several other resolved OpenCL related issues
Other tips to prevent/resolve problems:
• Windows 10 keeps your graphics drivers up-to-date, but never installs OpenCL. Make sure to do a manual driver update.
• Make absolutely sure you don't have the Intel Integrated graphics enabled. It is not supported!
• If you know your system should be able to run MilOps, but keeps complaining about an unsupported system, post a help request on the support forum. (https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680/discussions/0/)
• The support page (http://militaryoperationshq.com/support/) on our website contains more detailed information on how to update drivers and resolve issues.
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Bug-fix promoted from beta to default
Military Operations: Benchmark - Treesong
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/b8da6bece7c02a8ef8be33df6eb821128501cd36.jpg)
After the success of the bug-fix
we have decided to make it the default so new users will immediately benefit.
If you start experiencing difficulties when there were non before, please let us know in the Bug reports forum. (https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680/discussions/0/)
To people that have other issues, we are currently looking into them and will start working on a solution soon.
Thanks again for your support and patience while we were working on a solution.
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I messed around in the demo this morning, and here's 22(ish) minutes of the results.
https://youtu.be/leTqLo4UhZQ
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[BLOG] MilOps, the Realtime Operational Wargame
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/b5d4cb1984e605c39f7ab7435de387ec033b272b.jpg)
We've mentioned this earlier in a post but you could have easily missed it during the release.
The latest BLOG entry on our website looks into what we aim the game to be.
Check it out here (http://militaryoperationshq.com/milops-the-game/)
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Update 2 is ready
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/079063db0ad16950f1fd77b36a3a37579d910f6e.jpg)
MilOps: Benchmark version 20.3.2 is now available on the Beta branch
The start-up sequence now performs extensive checks to select the best OpenCL device, if possible.
If things work fine for you now and you're still on the Beta-branch, please switch back to the Standard-branch.
Addressed issues:
• Systems with slower hard-disks are no longer wrongly suspected of hanging[trello.com]
• Some systems with multiple OpenCL devices[trello.com] and problems selecting the right one, wil now be able to run MilOps
• Systems with Intel graphics active, are now detected
• A minimal driver version is now required for running MilOps
• The drum cadence during benchmarking is now stopped when interrupting the run.
• In general, more information is provided when a launch fails
To enable the fix, make sure to activate the "Beta update branch":
1. In your Steam-client, right-click on "Military Operations: Benchmark" in your library
2. Select "properties" at the bottom of the popup menu
3. Select the "BETAS" tab in the dialog that opens
4. Select "beta - Beta" from the list-box
5. Force an update by exiting the client and restarting it. In the MilOps "Credits" on the main menu screen, the version should now say: 20.3.2
Also:
One situation that we can not resolve is caused by Windows 10 not installing OpenCL drivers when updating. It requires the user to manually install a driver downloaded from the NVidia or AMD website depending on your graphics card.
If your system only contains Intel Graphics hardware, it wil not be able to run MilOps regardless of the driver version.
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Update 2 promoted to default
Military Operations: Benchmark - Treesong
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/8569c27fd05ff801c5b6be83456cf327a5f0985d.jpg)
Our second update is now on the default branch
From now on we will introduce updates as follows:
• Bug fixes will go directly to the default branch
• Special or risky updates will be on the Beta branch first
• When the default branch is updated, the last version will be available on the "previous" branch in case something broke for you
• All patches, updates and upgrades will allways be announced on the community hub (http://steam://openurl/https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680)
Please switch to the default branch now, unless you have a good reason not to.
If you still have issues and the support page (http://militaryoperationshq.com/support/) wasn't helpfull, let us know on the support forum. (https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680/discussions/0/)
Thanks for all the feedback!
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Website down
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/e3f0796e2900ca2d3441bd3a5e3346a981e5d759.jpg)
We noticed our Military Operations HQ went down yesterday.
Our provider decided to do a PHP upgrade from 5 to 7 without warning us.
We're working on it and hope to have it back online soon.
Meanwhile, if you need support please try the forums.
We'll keep an eye on any questions appearing there.
Thanks!
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New poll on the website
5 JULY - TREESONG
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/18c49644ba5850d530bd40491926e8ef70db5bdb.jpg)
From our last poll, it appears most people think custom combat units are more important than re-play or multi-player. We tend to agree.
Great stuff, thanks all for voting!
That poll has been up for a few months so it was due time for a new one
Our last BLOG-entry (http://militaryoperationshq.com/milops-the-game/) was an introduction to the key game features.
We are curious which feature you would like us to explain in detail for our next BLOG post.
Head up to the website (http://militaryoperationshq.com/milops-rts-game/) and let us know what you prefer!
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Update 3 now available
Military Operations: Benchmark - Treesong
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/944312154d5ed33a98c905cf6010c7ef18fce638.jpg)
This 3rd patch
further improves OpenCL device detection and selection.
All reported issues should now be resolved.
In addition, left-clicking unit-icons will now open the Detail-Dialogue if it wasn't open already.
If you experience any unexpected behaviour the support page (http://militaryoperationshq.com/support/) doesn't address, please let us know on the support forum. (https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680/discussions/0/)
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MilOps benchmark: what's next?
13 JULY - TREESONG
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/ed1f7ca062be3a3b7594a223953ef8fbdda8efe5.jpg)
Reception
We were pleasantly surprised by the reception of MilOps, especially since there wasn't a big marketing push.
To date thousands of copies have been activated, much more than anticipated.
Judging from the feedback we received on the forum and elsewhere the Benchmark succeeded in sparking interest.
Questions
Most people are curious about game-play and how the game will enable the player to manage 50000 troops.
Taking all feedback into account and combining it with our development road-map, we decided to keep using MilOps: Benchmark as a way to give sneak previews of the game to come.
There is a danger in doing so at this early stage in development.
Many features are not finished or in an experimental state. However, we hope the true war-gaming enthusiasts will acknowledge this and appreciate the opportunity.
Gameplay
For our first installment, we will create a small play-test setup that allows you to play for a while and capture a number of objectives.
This means the next major update will contain some actual game-play!
As always, we will keep you up to date on development.
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The Combat Model
2018-07-22 BY george
By popular demand, this blog post will discuss the combat model we plan to use in Military Operations. The combat model of any wargame is one of the fundamental pillars of the game’s design and for MilOps this isn’t any different. In our case the combat model poses several challenges compared to other wargames due to the high level of detail present in the simulation. This blog post will describe how the model currently works and what plans there are for the future. While reading this blog, keep in mind that as development continues the model will most likely evolve further.
Projectile Weapons
In Military Operations you can see each and every soldier, vehicle and piece of equipment so the game cannot get away with implementing a very abstracted combat model with generic attack & defense values at a specific unit level and tweak those until the operational level “feels right”. Our approach, which should be familiar for those who have read earlier blog entries, is to start from reality and work from there. This means our combat model starts by looking at weapons that fire projectiles.
From a performance perspective the engine cannot track each and every bullet fired, its trajectory, everything it might interact with in its flight to the target and its impact on the target itself by implementing an extremely detailed physics-based models. Theoretically, as hardware gets more powerful, that could become a solution in the future but at the moment the hardware isn’t up to it at the scale MilOps simulates battles. During the initial design phase various approaches were discussed from very abstract to very detailed and after experimentation to determine the performance impact of certain methods the following approach was chosen:
The combat model tracks individual weapons for each entity in the simulation. It also tracks each round fired, but it does not simulate the exact trajectory of each round to see if it hit anything. Instead a more abstract approach is chosen to determine if a weapon firing at a specific target hits it, taking into account the following factors:
• muzzle velocity of the firing weapon
• distance to the target
• size of the target
• the target’s relative movement speed and direction
• concealment and cover ratings of the terrain type the target occupies
The effects of a projectile on its target, however, are modeled in much more detail.
The projectiles in the combat model consist of 2 basic types: high explosive (HE) and kinetic/armor-piercing (AP).
High Explosive Ammunition
Regardless of an HE round hitting a target or not, on impact it explodes and its explosive energy is transformed into a heat and shock wave and most likely a hail of shrapnel. The closer to the origin of an explosion someone or something is, the greater the damage done will be.
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/blast-wave-damage.jpg)
In the combat model implementation, HE rounds have an explosive charge rated in grams of TNT equivalent. Using the Sadovsky formulas (https://www.metabunk.org/attachments/blast-effect-calculation-1-pdf.2578/)
, we can determine the effect of the blast on humans and structures. This model does not account for shrapnel generated by shell fragmentation. Shell fragments were by far the most lethal effect of a HE detonation and their effect is something that will be added to the model, possibly based on the findings of wartime British research. (http://nigelef.tripod.com/wt_of_fire.htm)
Kinetic/Armor Piercing Ammunition
If a kinetic round hits a target, it dissipates its kinetic energy into the target, causing damage. If the target is a human or animal, even small projectiles are capable of inflicting a lot of damage. An armored target, on the other hand, is only affected by kinetic rounds if they penetrate its armor. If not, they bounce off the armor and do no further damage. For kinetic weapons the current implementation uses an incorrect model allowing even armored targets to be destroyed by rifle bullets if enough of them hit the target.
Proper armor penetration calculations will be added to this model and there are a host of resources to be found online. One of the nicest is this interactive calculator where you can pit various WW2 anti-tank weapons against an array of tanks and see a nice graph plotted with the penetration probabilities depending on range and angle of impact.
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/combat-model-2-pounder-vs-Pz-IVD-hull.jpg)
Indirect Fire Weapons
Most weapons in the game will be direct-fire weapons, meaning they need to be aimed at the target and the projectile fired travels fast enough that ballistic effects are minor and the “lifetime” of the projectile is relatively short.
Weapons like artillery, mortars and bombs dropped from aircraft are indirect-fire weapons whose projectiles are launched and the simulation has to determine where they hit the ground/target. Projectiles fired from indirect weapons are modeled differently in that they experience drag from air resistance and the effects of gravity creating ballistic trajectories.
(http://www.desertrats.org.uk/Equipment/Artillery/Shells.gif)
Implementation-wise, one of the problem with ballistic trajectories is that their paths cannot be determined by solving some mathematical equations. You actually have to run the simulation to see where the round will land. The gun’s elevation, the muzzle velocity and the shell’s drag coefficient will determine the place of impact and to make matters a little more complicated, howitzers can fire shells at different muzzle velocities, so sometimes there are multiple solutions to the problem of hitting a specific location.
Artillery crews in World War 2 did not have at their disposal a miniature super-computer, they used a more analogue method instead: a set of so-called “range tables” or “firing tables” where they could look up the elevation and amount of propellant charge required to lob the shell a certain distance away. To help fine-tune the end result a forward artillery observer would ideally be overseeing the target area and he would communicate the location of the impacts back to the battery commander so the fire could be adjusted.
As we don’t want the AI gun crews to randomly shoot until they “discover” the correct settings to hit a target area – hilarious as it might be to look at – the guns modeled in MilOps will need to have their own version of “firing tables”. Since the world of MilOps is virtual we can do this by “test-firing” the guns inside the simulation at various elevations and muzzle velocities and record the results into weapon-specific firing tables the AI gun crews can then use.
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Military Operations @ GamesCom 2018
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/apps/821680/bc12dec8793b41c37125664c904a56cf22935869.jpg)
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/6e8af195fcda5a8eaa7c73821b6fe3ddc218e289.png)
GamesCom
In August Europe's biggest computer-games fair (http://www.gamescom.global/home/index-2.php) is taking over Cologne for a week.
We will be there on the 21st. If you're attending as well and like to have a chat about MilOps, drop us a line!
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/fd66a223e541b682e6013bf425567534f3116372.png)
DevCom
Prior to the GamesCom the DevCom Global conference (https://www.devcom.global/) will take place. This is where game developers meet and exchange experiences and knowledge.
This year will be special to us because we will be one of the speakers on the event. The talk will address the Metis tech that powers MilOps.
Busy times ahead. so no time to waste!
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[DEV] Fast mesh instancing in a streaming scenario
2018-08-02 BY Serge
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/65b5167f7503e90ab3c06ec7f58f1d439b8db654.jpg)
Introduction
To focus on the render-data preparation specifically, I assume the reader is familiar with the following concepts:
• Instanced mesh rendering
• Compute shaders
• AOI (Area Of Interest)
• Quad-tree tile-based space partitioning
For an introduction I recommend this BLOG entry. (http://militaryoperationshq.com/dev-blog-a-global-scope/)
I will use OpenGL to demonstrate details because we use it ourselves and because it is the platform independent alternative. The technique however can be adapted for any modern graphics API that supports compute shaders.
The problem
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Tiles02.jpg)
You’re building a game-world that is big, so big in a fact that not all of it can be loaded into memory at once. You also don’t want to introduce portals or level loading. You want the player to have a uninterrupted experience.
How can I do fast mesh instancing in a streaming scenario?
For true continuous streaming, a typical scenario would be something like this:
• The world is partitioned into tiles (Quad-tree)
• When the Camera moves, tile-data is read from disk and pre-processed in the back-ground.
• We need to render meshes for each tile.
• There can be more than 1000 tiles in the AOI, more than 100 different meshes and up to 10000 instances per mesh on one tile.
Is it possible to improve from 1000000000 draw calls to one draw call?
The solution
The solution is to do the work on the GPU. This is the type of processing a GPU is particularly good at.
The diagrams below show memory layout.
Each colour represents a different type of instance data, stored non-interleaved. For example, position, texture-array layer-index or mesh scale-factor etc.
Within each instance-data-type (colour) range, a sub-range (grey) will be used for storing data for instances of a particular mesh. In this example there are 4 different meshes that can be instanced. Within the sub-range, there is room to store instance-data for “budget” amount of instances. After loop-stage step 4, we know exactly where to store instance data of each type (pos, tex-index, scale, etc.) for a particular mesh-type. In this example, the scene contains no mesh-type 2 instances but many mesh-type 3 instances.
Read on (http://militaryoperationshq.com/efficient-instancing-streaming-scenario/)
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Mulit-player poll on the website
10 AUGUST - TREESONG
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/ea3f7cea87a1bbace4b0671abc8a79d99a4b131f.jpg)
We noticed several questions and some of discussions regarding multi-player on the MilOps forums. We don't plan to include multi-player for the initial release of the game.
We do see how multi-player would fit with MilOps however, and would like to include it at some point. This sounds like a perfect poll-topic.
Head over to the website (http://militaryoperationshq.com/milops-rts-game/) and let us know where you stand regarding multiplayer.
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We have a little surprise for you!
Military Operations: Benchmark - Treesong
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/d8718a2a2fe87f4604485dc2a23bf84e9ec2002e.jpg)
A MilOps update featuring play-testing was released today!
The play-test let's you try out the draw-order UI yourself.
This introductory video explains how to draw orders on the terrain.
Three basic unit orders
https://youtu.be/2_Fql859KOQ
Uploaded on Aug 12, 2018
This video introduces the three basic unit orders that can be used in the MilOps: Benchmark 20.4 game-play experiment.
Since the play-test is small and we had to disappoint some users before, we made sure the play-test can be used on machines with 2GB video-ram!
So try it out, or head over to the store-page (https://store.steampowered.com/app/821680/Military_Operations_Benchmark/) to install MilOps: Benchmark!
Feel free to discuss (https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680/discussions/) what you do and don't like about the play-test. We appreciate your feedback.
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First Gameplay test.
Supports 2GB video-cards
The last MilOps version gave an impression of the scale of the game. It also helped us ironing-out driver support issues. In this latest version we introduce gameplay:
• Try to capture as many objectives as possible before time runs out
• Control your units by drawing orders on the terrain
• Inspect unit state in the detail-dialogue
• See how your occupied territory increases
• Watch your progress on the Status-screen
The main goal of this game-play experiment is to try-out basic unit-ordering by drawing on the terrain.
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Summer break is over
20 SEPTEMBER - TREESONG
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/fceb31370527040dfda50ca82d4e1301ad81ebad.jpg)
Now that the DevCom, GamesCom and a small summer break are over, we are back on development full time.
That means we will also pick up our regular development reports and BLOG posts.
Stay tuned!
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Development update
September 28, 2018
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/093f2c7b6e72ed12668e874aa501e2f0e963aade.jpg)
Handling hybrid GPU systems
We've noticed a substantial number of users have a system with both integrated graphics (Intel HD Graphics) and a separate graphics card (NVidia/AMD).
For MilOps to run, it is important to make the separate graphics card active.
Many users don't know how to do this or aren't aware their systems contains two GPUs.
Many games suffer from the same issue and we've added info on our support page that explains how change this manually. However, it appears we will have to make this selection automatic. This sounds easier than it is. We are working on a robust solution at the moment.
Game development progress
Meanwhile we are also working on more interesting features like formations.
The new system very graciously handles formations throughout the entire hierarchy while also allowing units and individual troops to adapt to their direct surroundings. We hope to have some shots or video soon.
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MilOps Benchmark patch 20.4.1 released
Military Operations: Benchmark - Treesong
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/559ccbc7d273020c520973026cda0b409bba9ba6.jpg)
This week we have a patch update for MilOps Benchmark
No new content or functionality, just a stability and bug fix.
The main updates are:
• On systems with multiple GPUs, the separate graphics-card should now be automatically activated for MilOps.
• An issue concerning a path check when doing a clean install is now resolved.
• The kernel-cache (GPU specific code) is now more robust and can be cleared in the options menu
Anyone with a supported system who experienced issues running MilOps, should try this version to see if they are resolved.
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Unit formations video
We've been working on improved unit and troop formations
as well as movement. To give you an early peek at current progress we put a video on YouTube demonstrating the new behaviour.
https://youtu.be/Yjl1Y1cHrLo
The slides of our DevCom 2018 talk
from last August can now be downloaded here (http://bitbunch.eu/Simulating_World_War_2_On_Your_GPU-2018-08-19.pdf). It is intended for developers, so beware.
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[DEV] The best API for an ECS on the GPU
2018-11-20 BY Serge
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ECS-on-GPU.jpg)
Our talk at DevCom 2018 was about running your game entirely on the GPU. To achieve this we implemented an Entity Component System (ECS) on the GPU.
This blog entry will sum up why we selected the OpenCL API for implementation.
Question: Which API to use for making the GPU the main processor and implementing and Entity Component system running on the GPU. We need as much freedom and generic access to the GPU as possible.
Requirements
• Fast (close to the hardware)
• Full disclosure of the GPU
• Freedom (minimal restriction on architecture design)
• Platform independent (OS & hardware)
• Support on consumer systems (Desktop in particular)
• Interoperability with Rendering
Candidates
• Compute shaders
• Cuda
• OpenCL
Analysis
Compute shaders
Pros
• Common solution
• Stable support
Cons
• Heavily impaired by graphics centric assumptions
• No pointer arithmetic
• Reduced precision (not an option for a persistent simulation)
• Additional (memory alignment/addressing and other) restrictions due to graphics central assumptions of the mother API
• Convoluted API (OpenGL)
• Shares state with rendering (driver)
• Conflicts (performance) with driver assumptions which may differ between vendors (or driver versions!)
• It makes no sense to use a 2 seater sportscar to move your furniture. Even though it looks nice and you already have experience driving one.
Cuda
Pros
• Fast (Close to the hardware)
• Stable and reliable (NVidia has been taking GPGPU serious for years)
• Mature tooling and libraries
Cons
• Hardware locked. (Only on NVidia hardware)
OpenCL
Pros
• Fast (Close to the hardware)
• Clean API
• Hardware and OS independent with support for many platforms
Cons
• Not very mainstream on consumer platforms (although drivers are supported through display driver installs)
Conclusion
We need an API that disregards the “G” in GPU.
Just generic, low level access to a very fast processor: OpenCL
Notes
• Why it is important to select the right API for the job?
If your use-cases differ too much from the mainstream API intend/use, you will inevetably encounter problems. Especially with assumptions driver builders make.
So use A graphics API for grapics and a compute API for computing, and you will be close enough the those assumptions.
• Vulkan vs OpenCL interop
There has been some mention of this here and there, but no serious efforts have been made. For sure nothing that warrants a consumer product integration will be available any time soon.
• Compute shaders with Vulkan
Vulkan may be lower level than OpenGL, it is still a graphics API. Compute-shaders are still a side-dish to the graphics main-course.
• Interop Cuda vs OpenGL
Yes it exists. We didn’t investigate it in depth because the vendor-lock already dismissed Cuda for us.
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Development update
23 NOVEMBER - GRECCO
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/a81553d629148de500b889e2911214e130b3ba54.png)
Research
During our never ending search for reliable information about practices in WW2, we came across this gem; A German Tactical Doctrine manual https://fas.org/irp/doddir/navy/german.pdf A treasure-trove of information about how things actually were done. This one was translated to English.
Patch coming up
We are about to release a new patch (v20.4.2). It will address a rare case of the game failing to shut down when encountering a problem during launch.
Blog entry
Last week we added a new BLOG entry http://militaryoperationshq.com/dev-selecting-api-implementing-ecs-gpu/ Again, more targeted at developers than users. It explains why we choose OpenCL for running the simulation on the GPU.
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Patch 20.4.2 released
Military Operations: Benchmark - Treesong
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32291147/4975874cc9157d61c26dfc4f87a701caff96b16c.jpg)
Application will not close
We noticed a small number of people experienced an issue with the MilOps: Benchmark where the application wouldn't close when something went wrong during start-up (mostly due to old hardware/drivers).
This latest patch should resolve this problem.
That's all for now!
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MilOps Blog: Unit Orders
15 DECEMBER - GRECCO
Next to handling support issues and gathering ever more research data we have been working hard on the unit behavior framework to make units behave more like units instead of a bunch of individuals and stay in formation properly.
We have also been working on how to expose this behavior to the player as orders. The result of that work is the topic of this blog post. Please note that development is still in progress so nothing is final and we welcome your feedback.
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-menu.jpg)
The unit order menu is shown when clicking on a unit icon in the 3D environment. It consists of 8 “slots”, the contents of which depends on the role of the unit and what it is currently doing. Let’s start with an overview of the various orders you as the player will be able to give:
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-move-150x150.jpg)
MOVE
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-attack-150x150.jpg)
ATTACK
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-bombard-150x150.jpg)
BOMBARD
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-defend-150x150.jpg)
DEFEND
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-resupply-150x150.jpg)
REST/RESUPPLY
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-halt-150x150.jpg)
HALT
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-dismiss2-150x150.jpg)
DISMISS
MOVE is available to all units (except those not under your command), this order tells a unit to move to a destination as quickly as possible and not to expect any enemies along the way. The unit will form up in a march column before setting off on its journey and hold this formation on its arrival. It is possible to define a route by inserting waypoints using SHIFT+Left Mouse Button (this is possible for any order that causes a unit to move).
A unit executing a move order is usually deployed in a formation unsuitable for attack or defense and very vulnerable when attacked by an enemy.
ATTACK is available only to units in a combat, reconnaissance or engineer role. This order tells a unit to form up in attack formation and move to the destination expecting to encounter enemy resistance. If enemies are encountered, the unit will attempt to defeat them in order to reach its objective.
The attack order causes a unit to move a lot slower than when using the MOVE order, but since it is ready to fight it is much less vulnerable
BOMBARD is available only to units in a fire support role. This order tells the unit to bombard a specific area. If the target area is out of range, the unit will first MOVE to a location that puts the area within firing range, deploy its indirect fire weapons and execute the bombardment.
DEFEND is available only to units in a combat, reconnaissance, engineer or fire support role. This order tells a unit to form up in a deployed defensive formation and move to the destination expecting to encounter enemy resistance. When encountering enemies, the unit will act defensively and leave the initiative to attack to the enemy.
The defend order causes a unit to move in deployed defensive formation making its movement a little slower than when using the ATTACK order, but since it is ready to defend it should be able to stand its ground when attacked.
REST/RESUPPLY is available to all units and this button allows for 2 different orders to be given depending on the target specified.
To REST a unit and replenish supplies from its internal stores, click this button and then on a destination on the terrain. The unit will first MOVE towards that location as if a move order was given and then rest.
To pick up supplies at a supply source (a unit with a supply role), finish the order by clicking on a unit that will act as a supply source. The ordered unit will then MOVE towards the supply source and resupply.
HALT is available to all units that are on the move and orders them to halt their movement.
DISMISS is available to all units NOT currently attached to their “official” parent unit and reverts them to their official command.
This particular order is needed due to how the chain of command works. Since a player represents an actual commander in the field, he can order his direct subordinates but not their subordinates without assuming “direct command” of those units. This means that if the player orders a unit which is not a direct subordinate unit, then the unit receiving the order will be detached from its “official” parent unit and “attached” to the player’s unit. The following image shows how the unit hierarchy changes due to a player order.
(http://militaryoperationshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/unit_orders-unit_hierarchy.jpg)
If the player no longer wants to exercise direct control, a simple DISMISS will reverse the change and the unit will fall under the command of their “official” parent again.
Except for HALT and DISMISS, all orders follow the same pattern regarding unit behavior:
1. In the forming up phase, the unit will form up in a suitable formation
2. In the movement phase, the unit will move, along the route, to its destination
3. At its destination the unit will either remain stationary in its current formation (move, attack, defend) or perform the action ordered (bombard, rest, resupply)
This means a unit might take a while to form up before moving, in general: the bigger the unit, the longer it takes. Off course, keep in mind the units in MilOps aren’t automatons. They can and will react to changing conditions as they occur so expect that column of tanks moving along a road to rapidly deploy for action if enemies are spotted or if it is fired upon.
Unit Roles
Here is a quick overview of the various roles mentioned in this blog and what they mean in MilOps:
• combat – their job is fighting in the front line
• reconnaissance – used primarily for gathering intelligence
• engineer – specialized fighting troops
• fire support – these units generally have indirect fire weapons and are located some distance behind the front-line
• supply – supply carriers responsible for keeping other units “topped up” with fuel, ammunition and other supplies
• headquarters – the command element of a unit
We will be talking in more detail about unit roles and what they mean in the future.
Comments and reactions to this blog entry can be made on the official steam forum. https://steamcommunity.com/app/821680/discussions/2/
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No news here since more than half a year. :dunno
I wonder, if this project is still alive ... :doubt
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The project is still alive :thumbsup
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The project is still alive :thumbsup
That's excellent. I've been watching this and hoping it keeps going. I've been burned so many times I don't even get my hopes up, though, until released and reviewed.
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The project is still alive :thumbsup
Is this info still valid and is there any substantiated clue for such an assumption??
On the HP and other resources there seems to be no visible activity at all.
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Knock, knock, Military Operations HQ. Anyone home?
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Knock, knock, Military Operations HQ. Anyone home?
I am interested in the answer to this question as well.