It would be possible to code the black gate like this?

**leo.civil.uefs** · December 11, 2012, 07:15 PM

Hi guys, I think I had a very cool idea, and I know it would be a challange for coders here.

I think what KK did with the black gate is great but not that realistic.

My idea is:

The black gate would not be a settlement, it would be just a tile. The terrain on it would be inacessible for enemies or any other faction wich does not have military access. Only the faction who owns the territory wich includes the gate (could be BARAD DUR), or an ally with military acess, would be able to cross te terrain.

When this allowed unit approaches the gate, it opens, changing the settlement to a new one (the same black gate but opened). A event will hit in the next turn, saying that the black gate is open. The black gate closes again right when the unit leaves the proximity.

This way, when closed, the black gate would be impassable for enemies on strat map.
When opened or closed and you fight near it, it would be a cool tile in wich proximities we could fight seeing it, like the argonath.

Random sparse events could also open it, like "A caravan enters mordor through the north, the black gate is opened".
The settlement miniature on the strat map would also change (from closed to openend and vice versa) and a small description of the tile would appear when the cursor hits it, like: Black Gate, opened, armies can pass it", somehting similar for when it is closed.

As having the black gate as a settlement is cool, it could be created a settlement right after it, in mordor, but with no structures, just the plaza and some tents, so we could produce the specific units we have on the gate.

That new system would also fix the a issue we have right now, the fact that when you attack the black gate from inside mordor, you appear out of it, because there is only one line of gates and units will Always be deployed in front of it.

We know the settlement swiching is possible, but what about what I said for that happening when some unit from the faction owner approaches? As far as I know from the fellowship campaign, yes it is possible.

So, anyone?
Commentaries about the Idea are also welcome.

**scouter535** · December 11, 2012, 08:27 PM

While the idea sounds pretty cool I would be worried that making the gate inacessible for enemies could get very annoying. I know I would get annoyed quickly at being unable to assault the gate and needing to wait for it to randomly open. Also, I am wondering how the computer would handle it. Sounds like the AI would totally freak out. It could force AI units to go all the way around and a human player could probably expoit it by opening and closing it to keep changing the AI route into the Modor center.

**Mhaedros** · December 11, 2012, 11:34 PM

Should be moved to the suggestions thread

I think the idea is nice, but it'd also give all factions access to Mordor unless the AI kept an army there, which wouldn't happen.

**Withwnar** · December 12, 2012, 12:14 AM

The terrain on it would be inacessible for enemies or any other faction wich does not have military access.

That's the cruncher. Terrains are either accessible or they're not, for everyone. There is no way to toggle terrain accessibility through script, etc.

The way that the Fellowship does it is by making some parts of the map unclickable, preventing you from clicking those areas as "move" destinations. But that won't stop the AI from moving there as far as I know.

I wonder what stops the AI from reaching America before discovery in vanilla M2TW.

Dynamic accessibility is something that I'm interested in for a few ideas. So far all I have come up with is spawning temporary ships on the tiles to block passage. That has its own problems though.

EDIT:

I wonder what stops the AI from reaching America before discovery in vanilla M2TW.

Come to think of it, does the AI go there even after discovery? Can't say I recall that ever happening but it has been a long time.

Anyway, America is made inaccessible via map_fog.tga and accessible via script's "restrict_strat_radar false". Apparently it can be made inaccessible again via "restrict_strat_radar true". Maybe that holds some possibility. But even if it did lock out AI there can be only one map_fog.tga, so this accessibility-toggle could only be used for one area (or multiple areas but they will all toggle on/off at the same time). Fine for Black Gate but it would be nice to have the ability to do similar things elsewhere too.

EDIT2:
Argh. Scrap all that. My memory has failed me once again. All of that "fog" business is just that: fog. Once discovered the fog lifts. And the restrict_strat_radar is only relevant for removing fogged areas from the map; no good for a tile that is not on the map edge.

**ElvenKind** · December 12, 2012, 07:51 AM

Come to think of it, does the AI go there even after discovery? Can't say I recall that ever happening but it has been a long time.

As I remember from my M2TW campaigns, not once did any AI faction go to America after discovery, why is that? Bad script ?

**Kiliç Alì** · December 12, 2012, 07:56 AM

I wonder what stops the AI from reaching America before discovery in vanilla M2TW.

The map sea terrain have several levels, some boats cannot pass trough the "ocean" one while others (carrack and stuff) can. I suspect you never see AI reaching america 'couse they do not build high-tier ships.
Also bad programming, AI usually invades only "near" land and is retarded with naval invasions.

**leo.civil.uefs** · December 12, 2012, 08:24 AM

Im happy to see some guys with know how discussing here.
Anyway, it is just a idea, Im not a coder, thats not up to me, while I would love to see someone trying it.

**Withwnar** · December 12, 2012, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by Kiliç Alì

The map sea terrain have several levels, some boats cannot pass trough the "ocean" one while others (carrack and stuff) can. I suspect you never see AI reaching america 'couse they do not build high-tier ships.
Also bad programming, AI usually invades only "near" land and is retarded with naval invasions.

That's right. "Heavy" ships are needed and AI tends to (only?) invade neighbouring regions. I suspect that the "restrict_strat_radar false" would prevent them from doing it anyway prior to discovery because that part of the map just isn't there, removed - not just fogged - from both the radar and the actual strat map.

Originally Posted by leo.civil.uefs

Im happy to see some guys with know how discussing here.
Anyway, it is just a idea, Im not a coder, thats not up to me, while I would love to see someone trying it.

Maybe asking it in the Scripting forum would get some input. There are a few very knowledgeable people hanging out over there who might not read TATW threads.