Next up is the past 8 days (05192006_0629 to 05262006_0629) which covers 5/18 to 5/25 after the time limit was changed to 45 minutes/round. Some of the log file sizes look funky, so the match length estimate might be a bit "off".

159 matches over 8 days = 72 min/matches

Looking only at the last 4 days of log files

97 matches over 4 days = 59 min/round

Whee, a big amount of wiggle room in those numbers... onward to the more solid numbers.

...

1566 bases breached, 745 by axis, 821 by allies
2000 plant attempts, 964 by axis, 1036 by allies
1193 bases destroyed, 535 by axis, 658 by allies
60% success rate, 55% for axis plants, 64% for allied plants

Hmm... definitely a bit more bias towards the allies over the past week of gameplay.

posted by Wuphon's on Friday, May 26, 2006

Looking at the 14 days of log files from the release of Beta #3 until I changed the time limit to 45 minutes (from 35 minutes). Specifically, log file 05042006_0629 to 05182006_0629.

First up is the search for "ExitLevel: executed" which gives me a count of the number of matches played over the 14 days. There are 315 occurences which is 22.5 matches/day or around 64 minutes/match. It's not possible to get round lengths because the log files don't differentiate between intermission rounds and actual rounds within a match.

Next, I search for ";bas_breached" to find the # of times bases are breached, broken down by the number of lines containing ";axis;" which are lines where an axis team member breached an allied base. Repeat this for ";bas_planted" and ";bas_destroyed".

2189 bases breached, 1087 by axis, 1102 by allies
2727 plant attempts, 1359 by axis, 1368 by allies
1515 bases destroyed, 722 by axis, 793 by allies
56% success, 53% for axis plants, 58% for allied plants

So that shows a very slight bias towards allies on the map.

posted by Wuphon's on Friday, May 19, 2006

Grego34 has posted a working AWE configuration that their server uses in conjunction with the Tuchola Forest map. He can also be reached on xfire as grego34.

Link to grego34's AWE configuration for Tuchola Forest

posted by Wuphon's on Friday, May 12, 2006

README and CHANGES files from the Beta #3 release

README_ADMINS_TucholaForest.txt

README_TucholaForest.txt

CHANGES_TucholaForest_Beta2.txt

CHANGES_TucholaForest_Beta3.txt

posted by Wuphon's on Wednesday, May 10, 2006

See also this thread

Beta #1 vs Beta #2 game balance:

Beta #1: 6 days, 117 matches, 19.5/day, 74 min/match
Beta #2: 16 days, 391 matches, 24.4/day, 59 min/match

- Beta #1 has a higher average time per match due to the server settings. The initial settings were 35 min rounds, 60 min overall limit which resulted in a lot of bonus 3rd rounds.

- Beta #2 has been running with 35 min rounds and a 45 min overall limit which typically limits the game to 2 rounds.

- Rounds with fewer players tend to be short rounds, rounds with more players tend towards longer rounds. (Based on anecdotal observations.)

Bases breached:

Beta #1: 1304 (11.1/match), 653 by axis, 651 by allies
Beta #2: 3358 (8.6/match), 1702 by axis, 1656 by allies

- The disparity between 11.1/match and 8.6/match can be explained mostly by the changes in the server settings. There are far fewer 3-round matches during the Beta #2 time period due to config changes. A better metric may be the number of bases breached per hour of play.

Beta #1: 1304 over 6 days = 217/day
Beta #2: 3358 over 16 days = 210/day

- But that makes assumptions that the server was full 24/7, which it isn't. So that's not a good metric either.

- Unfortunately, there's no good way to pull out the number of played rounds. The Base Assault logic reports the intermission and warm-up time periods as "rounds" even though they aren't rounds that get played.

- So, the axis vs allies breach quantity is the only useful metric.

Number of plant attempts:

Beta #1: 1588 (13.6/match), 798 by axis, 790 by allies
Beta #2: 4082 (10.4/match), 2074 by axis, 2008 by allies

- Approximately even plant attempts. Russians seem to have a slightly more difficult time keeping Germans out of their bases.

Bases Destroyed:

Beta #1: 975 (8.3/match), 497 by axis, 478 by allies
Beta #2: 2362 (6.0/match), 1166 by axis, 1196 by allies

- Allies turned the tables in Beta #2, destroying slightly more bases then the axis. Unsure whether this was due to more {MOB} members playing on the Allies team then the Axis team.

- It's still a very close thing. A single squad (2-4 players), working together, can have a very large effect on the outcome of the game.

Percentage of plants which succeed:

Beta #1: 61.4% overall, 62.3% for axis plants, 60.5% for allied plants
Beta #2: 57.9% overall, 56.2% for axis plants, 59.6% for allied plants

- One thing that can affect this metric is lone-wolf plants (which usually fail). Some bases are more inviting for attempts by lone-wolf players then others.

- I'm not sure whether the Axis are at a disadvantage. A lot of {MOB} members tend to play as allies which could account for the lower success rate of German plant efforts.

posted by Wuphon's on Thursday, May 04, 2006

Beta #3 has been released.

README_ADMINS_TucholaForest.txt

README_TucholaForest.txt

Download link

Download link for Beta #3 (8115KB) - May 3 2006

posted by Wuphon's on Wednesday, May 03, 2006

I get asked this a lot on the forums, so I figure I can simply dump a copy of my stock answer here (most folks ask where Tuchola Forest is):

Best guess, North Poland... maybe...

Back when I started designing the map, my core idea was a winter forest map that used the AHz tanks, including the Jagdpanther. Beyond that, I really didn't care much about the historical context and it was mainly so that there would be another map out there that takes advantage of the 56MB AHz vehicle pack. Something slightly larger then Barbarossa and hopefully it would appeal to folks who liked Barbarossa.

I absolutely required the vehicle variety in the AHz vehicle pack as well. The combination of light tanks, medium tanks, heavy tanks, mortars and the two types of pak guns make for a much more interesting game then the generic tanks of the stock CoD:UO. Plus, the heavy tanks in stock CoD:UO are *slow* and would've required heavy mod'ing.

The initial name was quite simply "Winter Map".

Towards the end of internal development and the start of Alpha testing, I started researching into the war. I found out that:

- The Jagdpanther wasn't produced until late 1944 and wasn't even deployed until Dec 1944.
- In Jan/Feb 1945, Russians began to push the Germans back towards the Ober river before holding for a month or two prior to the final push towards Berlin.
- Looking at the maps, this basically meant combat would've been in West Russia, Poland, Austria (maybe a few other spots).

Finally, I stumbled across the simple fact that Tuchola Forest is a pine/spruce forest. It was an easy name, clearly recognizable and not used by any other mapping project. The Russians might've come through their while pushing the Germans west towards the Ober river. It was also the right time period, but mostly it's a pine/spruce forest (which is the only models I have to work with).

(Map making is the art of compromises as your design impacts with reality.)

posted by Wuphon's on Wednesday, May 03, 2006