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Urban Assault
Urban Assault is a 3D combined first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer game developed by the German company TerraTools and published by Microsoft in the year 1998.
It was the third strategy title that was directly published by Microsoft Game Studios. The player creates and commands groups of tanks and aircraft, and can also take direct control of one vehicle at a time. Over the course of the game one can acquire upgrades and new vehicles.
The player is in command of a futuristic host station with plasma energy technology, allowing the player to create units and buildings, as long as the blueprints and sufficient energy are available. The player also has access to various commander assets such as an overhead map screen, where the player can monitor actions on the battlefield in the bigger picture and assess various strategic and tactical elements that are not covered by the fog of war, or Squadron Manager, which allows the player to easily check status and manage all units under control as well as set various parameters for each squadron to better suit their specializations. The Map and Squadron Manager windows are fully interactive and can be turned on/off at any time. Most importantly, these windows can be re-sized and re-positioned into anywhere on the screen, allowing players to accommodate their preferences.
The levels in Urban Assault consist of a full 3D polygonal landscape, which can be used strategically or tactically by the players or AI units to their advantages. For example, neutral buildings or structures can be used as a cover to block the enemy fire, while terrains and elevations offer a vertical depth of tactical elements. Many unit types (or even individual units) also possess varying advantages in different environments, allowing the player to carefully plan their unit compositions to effectively counter the enemy unit presences.
In the single-player campaign, the objective of each mission is to capture each key sector on the map, allowing use of the beam gate to transport the host station and any accompanying vehicles to the next field of battle. However, destroying enemy host stations provides additional space to the player's maximum room for accompanying vehicles. Combined with the fact that many key sectors are located deep in enemy territory or even right below an enemy faction's host station, the unstated goal of the game is to eliminate all enemy host stations. There is no strict need to eliminate the enemy to complete a level, but it does make the task more reliable. In multiplayer, beam gates are not present on the map and the only objective is to destroy opponents.
Urban Assault also has a completely cheat-free AI, which is bound to many same restrictions and rules as the players are. Just like the players, the AI players must peel back the fog of war by securing a line-of-sight with reconnaissance units or radar stations first in order to assess and gather information around the level before making decisions. The AI players also harvest energy from the power sources and surrounding sectors the same way as the players do. Without any power source or controlling sufficient sectors to sustain their power stations, the AI will eventually run out of energy and be unable to perform any actions, just like the players would be. The AI in Urban Assault is not only cheat-free but instead subject to various disadvantages that the players do not have in the game, such as energy upkeep mechanics or inability to quickly teleport their host stations, which helps with maintaining both the performance and difficulty levels of the game for less experienced players.
Like most strategy games, the game is centered on resources. The sole resource in Urban Assault is energy, which is required to build units and buildings used to conquer other factions. Energy is gained through controlling power stations. Each power station emits energy relative to the number of white boxes attached to it on the map screen.
Power stations are also limited in power output by the number of adjacent sectors controlled by the player, referred to in-game as "efficiency". The more power stations the player controls, the more sectors are required to sustain their output. If the player controls too many power stations but too few sectors, it will weaken their energy production. This design encourages the player to gradually increase control of the map to increase their energy gathering rate by conquering surrounding sectors or taking away sectors from the enemies, in order to create more powerful forces while weakening the enemy's production capacity. Powerful units and buildings require significant amounts of energy to build.
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Urban Assault AI simulator
(@Urban Assault_simulator)
Urban Assault
Urban Assault is a 3D combined first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer game developed by the German company TerraTools and published by Microsoft in the year 1998.
It was the third strategy title that was directly published by Microsoft Game Studios. The player creates and commands groups of tanks and aircraft, and can also take direct control of one vehicle at a time. Over the course of the game one can acquire upgrades and new vehicles.
The player is in command of a futuristic host station with plasma energy technology, allowing the player to create units and buildings, as long as the blueprints and sufficient energy are available. The player also has access to various commander assets such as an overhead map screen, where the player can monitor actions on the battlefield in the bigger picture and assess various strategic and tactical elements that are not covered by the fog of war, or Squadron Manager, which allows the player to easily check status and manage all units under control as well as set various parameters for each squadron to better suit their specializations. The Map and Squadron Manager windows are fully interactive and can be turned on/off at any time. Most importantly, these windows can be re-sized and re-positioned into anywhere on the screen, allowing players to accommodate their preferences.
The levels in Urban Assault consist of a full 3D polygonal landscape, which can be used strategically or tactically by the players or AI units to their advantages. For example, neutral buildings or structures can be used as a cover to block the enemy fire, while terrains and elevations offer a vertical depth of tactical elements. Many unit types (or even individual units) also possess varying advantages in different environments, allowing the player to carefully plan their unit compositions to effectively counter the enemy unit presences.
In the single-player campaign, the objective of each mission is to capture each key sector on the map, allowing use of the beam gate to transport the host station and any accompanying vehicles to the next field of battle. However, destroying enemy host stations provides additional space to the player's maximum room for accompanying vehicles. Combined with the fact that many key sectors are located deep in enemy territory or even right below an enemy faction's host station, the unstated goal of the game is to eliminate all enemy host stations. There is no strict need to eliminate the enemy to complete a level, but it does make the task more reliable. In multiplayer, beam gates are not present on the map and the only objective is to destroy opponents.
Urban Assault also has a completely cheat-free AI, which is bound to many same restrictions and rules as the players are. Just like the players, the AI players must peel back the fog of war by securing a line-of-sight with reconnaissance units or radar stations first in order to assess and gather information around the level before making decisions. The AI players also harvest energy from the power sources and surrounding sectors the same way as the players do. Without any power source or controlling sufficient sectors to sustain their power stations, the AI will eventually run out of energy and be unable to perform any actions, just like the players would be. The AI in Urban Assault is not only cheat-free but instead subject to various disadvantages that the players do not have in the game, such as energy upkeep mechanics or inability to quickly teleport their host stations, which helps with maintaining both the performance and difficulty levels of the game for less experienced players.
Like most strategy games, the game is centered on resources. The sole resource in Urban Assault is energy, which is required to build units and buildings used to conquer other factions. Energy is gained through controlling power stations. Each power station emits energy relative to the number of white boxes attached to it on the map screen.
Power stations are also limited in power output by the number of adjacent sectors controlled by the player, referred to in-game as "efficiency". The more power stations the player controls, the more sectors are required to sustain their output. If the player controls too many power stations but too few sectors, it will weaken their energy production. This design encourages the player to gradually increase control of the map to increase their energy gathering rate by conquering surrounding sectors or taking away sectors from the enemies, in order to create more powerful forces while weakening the enemy's production capacity. Powerful units and buildings require significant amounts of energy to build.