Category Archives: Leikir

English Leikir

Cities:Skylines – the public transport system

My latest gaming fun is had in Cities:Skylines, by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive. A very nicely done city simulation game where you build the infrastructure (roads, power, water) and amenities (school, police etc) and assign land use – hoping that residents will move in, build their business and enjoy what you have created for them.

Fantastic game

The game is fantastic, the support of 3rd party mods and assets is great and overall I highly recommend it.

Traffic Problems

Once my town hit 70.000 inhabitants I became fixated on fixing the mounting traffic problems, so I started to look at my public transport system in more detail. Noticing hundreds of people queuing up at some bus stops seemed like an impossible task to decipher, looking at random samples of the people to see where they were headed seemed inefficient. So when I learnt that I could assign different colors to different bus lines (and rename them) and see how the crowd split between those bus lines, by the color in transport mode, it was a game changer.

I started to create hubs, connected to other hubs with express buses or metro lines. At each hub there would also be local buses, trying to spread the load and make sure no stop had dozens of people that never got to take a bus (and despawned back to their homes after some time). Sometimes I’ve had to create a complementary line to aid a congested one, particularly where big tower flats are numerous.

cities-skyline-bus-system

I’ve by now spent hours on fine tuning the system to eliminate gridlocks, both in general traffic and at bus stations and metro stations. Things seem to flow nicely but I’m still missing several things that would make my life easier!

 

1. Bus stop information

I want to be able to name a bus stop and see which lines use it, how many people exit there and enter on average per bus. From this information screen I would like to be able to delete the stop from a line, using the current interface to do this is very hard as if several lines use the same stop there is no way to pick the correct one. Currently metro stations can be renamed but bus stops not – a generic Bus Stop 1 suffices for default values. My mockup is thus.

cities-skyline-bus-stop

2. Bus line information (and metro)

I want to be able to view the bus line (as is today) but with the stops added and there see average number of entries and exits (and maybe number of people left behind). Similar format for metro lines, although most of mine only go between 2 stops.

cities-skyline-busline

3. List of all bus lines, metro lines, metro stations, bus stations

A list of all metro stations for example and what lines they contain. I now have about 30 metro stations and 60 metro lines. Easy to lose track.

4. Name streets

Whilst I would probably not name every little residential street, for the main arteries of my transport system I would like to be able to add names, to aid the in the naming of bus stops, bus lines and metro stations. Again a simple Street 1 as default would suffice.

5. One other thing – the power grid fragmentation

I have an ample power grid now that I’ve got a nuclear plant in addition to the solar and wind gadgets. But a message informing me the power grid had fragmented was of a limited help as I could not see how much power each separate power grid had nor could I color code them to differentiate between them. This would be a welcome help because I’m pretty sure I’m overspending on electricity in some areas.

English Leikir

Map issues in World of Tanks 0.8.3

I’m an avid player of the MMO World of Tanks where I roam as Hagbardur and have kept a close eye on how the map changes have affected the matches. Following the tremendous work done by Phalynx, where he collects data from players on matches and makes them available on his website, I managed to get together some statistics on team performances in the maps because quite frankly there were some seriously flawed maps.

It was good timing as the day after I finished compiling the percentage chances the developer Overlord posted a topic on maps in WOT. Since my findings could use some visual aid I’ve decided to present them here.

All numbers taken from Phalynxs website with Tanks with over 100 battles included. I’m sure Overlord has access to much accurate numbers but until Wargaming releases them this is the best approximation we can get.

 

The Percentages

Here I list, in order of worst skewed maps to least skewed, the maps, the number of times Team 1 (green) won and Team 2 (red) won. You can see at the bottom of the post which team is Team 1 Green and Team 2 Red. The skew number is the absolute percentage difference between the two teams. I also highlight maps which are prone to draws.

 

Map Team 1 Team 2 Draw Skew
Westfield (assault) 66,00% 34,00% 0,00% 64,00%
Fjords 57,70% 41,60% 0,70% 32,43%
Malinovka (assault) 58,00% 42,00% 0,00% 32,00%
Sand River (assault) 57,50% 42,50% 0,00% 30,00%
Dragon Ridge 56,70% 42,20% 1,10% 29,32%
Province 54,70% 42,00% 3,30% 26,27%
Mines 55,20% 44,40% 0,40% 21,69%
Arctic Region 44,00% 54,50% 1,50% 21,32%
Highway 54,50% 44,60% 0,90% 19,98%
Siegfried Line (assault) 45,00% 54,60% 0,40% 19,28%
Murovanka 45,00% 54,40% 0,60% 18,91%
El Halluf 52,10% 43,60% 4,30% 17,76%
Prokhorovka 45,90% 53,80% 0,30% 15,85%
Serene Coast 49,40% 42,70% 7,90% 14,55%
Ruinberg 46,00% 53,10% 0,90% 14,33%
Erlenberg (assault) 46,50% 53,50% 0,00% 14,00%
Ruinberg (encounter) 47,00% 53,00% 0,00% 12,00%
Malinovka 50,40% 44,70% 4,90% 11,99%
Fisherman’s Bay 52,60% 46,70% 0,70% 11,88%
Widepark 47,00% 52,50% 0,50% 11,06%
Karelia (assault) 52,60% 47,20% 0,20% 10,82%
Steppes 47,20% 52,40% 0,40% 10,44%
Redshire 45,70% 50,40% 3,90% 9,78%
Erlenberg 46,80% 51,10% 2,10% 8,78%
Live Oaks 51,60% 47,40% 1,00% 8,48%
Himmelsdorf (encounter) 47,90% 52,10% 0,00% 8,40%
Sand River (encounter) 47,90% 51,90% 0,20% 8,02%
Karelia 47,70% 51,40% 0,90% 7,47%
Murovanka (encounter) 48,30% 51,60% 0,10% 6,61%
Airfield 51,10% 48,10% 0,80% 6,05%
Steppes (encounter) 51,40% 48,60% 0,00% 5,60%
Himmelsdorf 51,00% 48,30% 0,70% 5,44%
Port 50,50% 48,50% 1,00% 4,04%
Lakeville 48,70% 50,30% 1,00% 3,23%
Abbey 50,20% 48,70% 1,10% 3,03%
Ensk 49,30% 50,70% 0,00% 2,80%
Ensk (encounter) 49,40% 50,50% 0,10% 2,20%
Siegfried Line (encounter) 49,50% 50,40% 0,10% 1,80%
South Coast 49,60% 48,80% 1,60% 1,63%
Cliff 49,90% 49,40% 0,70% 1,01%
Siegfried Line 50,00% 49,50% 0,50% 1,01%
Sand River 49,50% 49,20% 1,30% 0,61%
Malinovka (encounter) 49,10% 48,90% 2,00% 0,41%
Westfield 49,80% 49,60% 0,60% 0,40%
Mountain Pass 49,30% 49,20% 1,50% 0,20%
El Halluf (encounter) 48,70% 48,70% 2,60% 0,00%

 

The Worst Performers

Most skewed map
Westfield – Assault

It is no great shock that Westfield – Assault mode is the most skewed map, the defenders have ample sniping spots in the lower right corner and on the other side of the valley very well protected spotting locations that can also shoot at anyone travelling the edges of the map. With the defenders (Green on this map) winning 66% of the battles this needs a major re-balance.

 

Fjords
Fjords

Fjords is skewed towards the Green team which have a 32% edge on the Red. Their protected sniping spots both in the north and south that cover the field in the north no doubt are a big factor for this as well as the natural defense positions they get in the middle and south roads.

 

Malinovka - Assault
Malinovka – Assault

Malinovka in assault mode is skewed 32% towards the Green defenders who not only enjoy higher ground but also can get to ample forest cover faster than the Red attackers. Playing this map as a T95 on the Red attacking team is nothing short of the biggest joke played on players as your lack of speed and lack of cover while attacking mean that if you are not killed by artillery then you are too slow to make a difference in the attack. Other slow tanks on the attacking side suffer heavily from this as well with the Physics update punishing their uphill climbing. This needs better balance and this is why I have personally disabled Assault and Encounter modes on my account.

 

Sand River - Assault
Sand River – Assault

The Green defenders get a 30% advantage against the Red attackers. Crucially the Green team can snipe any Reds trying to go north so those that do make it to the north are badly beaten and pushing them away is quite easy usually. A fast medium rush from Reds to the north can combat this but this is a huge weak spot for the Reds.

 

Dragon Ridge
Dragon Ridge

Dragon Ridge is skewed heavily towards the Green team in the south who are 29% more likely to win each game. First of all they get, from their own spawn, a superb sniping spot to shoot any tanks in the Red team moving from their spawn towards the town in the middle. Secondly from the mountain in front of their spawn they get good sniping lines on the town in the middle, something that the Red team do not get from their own mountain safety. Thirdly the map funnels all the play into the gorge in the east, where Green team have better sniping lines into it both from their spawn and the path in the middle, and into the town where Green are again better positioned. This map is thankfully being removed in 0.8.4 and hopefully will come out of it not only more enjoyable to play but more equal for both teams.

 

Province
Province

Province is a special case as it is mostly played in tier III and lower these days. Here the Green team that start on the left side of the map enjoy 26% more wins than the Red team on the right side of the map.

 

Serene Coast
Serene Coast

Special mention must go to Serene Coast which is undisputed king of Draws, 8% is an incredibly high number but not surprising for those that have played it. Green have a 15% advantage over the Red team, no doubt due to the sniping hill and the B1 corner for spotting. It will be removed in 0.8.4 and hopefully adjusted to make gameplay more smooth.

 

The Maps

Mouse-over to see the advantages each side has.

Leikir

EM-leikurinn

Enn á ný opna ég fyrir giskleik vegna stórmóts í knattspyrnu.

Núna er það EM 2008, sem fyrr getur hver sem er tekið þátt og stofnað sína eigin deild og boðið hverjum sem er í hana. Vinsælt meðal vinnustaða sem geta þá ákveðið eigin verðlaun fyrir efsta sætið.

Leikir Molasykur Tækni

Fimleikar

Lítið markvert gert í dag, smá PHP fimleikar og smá CM spilun. Ég er orðinn verulega þreyttur á þessari DDE Error villu sem að Windows 2000 er sífellt með, en það er víst ekkert hægt að gera í þessu samkvæmt vefnum hjá Microsoft. Ég hef sjálfur reynt allt, ég er búinn að strauja þessa vél 7 sinnum, eitt sinn meira að segja með Linux til að geta tætt diskinn gjörsamlega í sundur. Samt hangir þessi DDE villa inni, hún veldur því að sum forrit deyja þegar þeim sýnist og önnur fara ekki upp nema suma daga. Það eru góðar ástæður fyrir andúð minni á Microsoft, númer eitt er vanhæfni þeirra til þess að skila af sér vörum sem virka.

Áhugavert lesefni:

Leikir Tækni

Blogger hvað?

Kvöldið fór í smá CM spilun og smá PHP lagfæringar og viðbætur. Er að smíða smávegis vefleiðarakerfi sem ég ætla að leyfa því fólki sem að fær vefsvæði á betra.is að nýta sér. Ekki séns að ég fari að láta það fólk þjást við að nota eitthvað í líkingu við Blogger, það virðist sífellt vera eitthvað vesen á því, og þegar að maður getur hjálpað til, þá ber manni siðferðisleg skylda til þess.

Ef þú getur hjálpað öðrum, gerðu það.