Niefel AAR: "...Some Say In Ice"

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Peter Ebbesen:
I tried applying an Indeo Video compression codec to an avi of a 1 minute battle for test purposes this afternoon, but even with hefty blurring, low quality, and only 7 FPS, it ran to rather more megabytes than my puny account can reasonably support. (A typical jpg runs to 80K-100K with the compression factor I use, a blurred stuttering movie runs to many megabytes, and a clear one to dozens)

Dominions II battles already ARE stuttering. In fact, there's basically no animation in a Dominions II battle. Units don't walk, they just kinda teleport-hop. A Dominions II battle is actually a slideshow: There's no real animation, just a "stand" and an "attack" pose for units. As such, most video codecs are probably poorly optimized for this kind of behavior.

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Dominions II battles already ARE stuttering. In fact, there's basically no animation in a Dominions II battle. Units don't walk, they just kinda teleport-hop. A Dominions II battle is actually a slideshow: There's no real animation, just a "stand" and an "attack" pose for units. As such, most video codecs are probably poorly optimized for this kind of behavior.

The problem is that while this could be easily dealt with by setting an exceedingly low FPS, it is not the whole story. Units hop - but magic effects and arrows use smooth movement. Optimize for units, and you get awful looking magic effects, optimize for the latter, and you end up using a lot of bandwidth.

[Tuna-Fish]

One friend of mine had very good results when compressing a similar animation (cardboard-cut-looking ppl walking on a handpainted background coupled with cheesy effets) with the xvid codec. In the end he managed to compress it to less than a tenth of the orginal while retaining almost full quality. His background didn't move at all in the duration of the entire clip though, and that means a lot for a mpeg-4 codec.

[november]

Hi Peter,

Seeing you here made me realize I hadn’t seen you on the Victoria forum for some time. Is this what you’re playing now? How does it compare to Paradox offerings?

And what is your favorite game?

I ordered DOM II over the weekend and just started visiting here. I played the demo of the original and thought it was just OK, which is why I’ve waited this long to order the new Version.

[Peter Ebbesen]

Mainly playing EU2MP and Dominions2 MP at the moment, november. The games are thankfully different enough that they require somewhat different skills and have different charms. They also both suffer from an AI that cannot really provide a challenge to a human player unless you skew the odds against yourself to a very high degree - but that is quite normal these days, and not something specific to these games.

[Peter Ebbesen]

...Some Say In Ice: The Verkhoyan Range

The news from the south is good. Tjodulf is crushing the feeble Australian armies of a nation named Machaka with few casualties, and most of those amongst the undead. Either the Machakan armies have been fighting the star-spawned monsters leaving these shattered remnants of once proud armies or Australia is a mere outpost. Time will tell.




News from the east is even better. Angerboda’s magical scouting has revealed an site of ancient power in the Verkhoyan Range in the depths of Siberia. A site of such dread potential that she immediately absorbed the power of 80 air gems in order to cloud trapeze to me to bring me word in person.

A wise decision.

From her description, I am almost certain that I recognize the site. There stands a mountain, and within the mountain a lake, and within the lake an inverted mountain. And on the outside of the inverted mountain, at the very top, furthest into the depths of the earth, furthest from the water that surrounds the inverted mountain and laps at the interior, yes, on the very top in the bowels of the earth there is a crown of stones, and a crown of stars, and the weeping of the lost echoing down through the centuries. Time is fractured there, within the circle, as is reason, and none can say which thought is real and which is of the void. If it is so… If I am right… Then it is time. IT MUST BE SO.

My day has come.

Together we cloud trapeze to the Verkhoyan Range and ascend highest mountain, and we descend into its depths, slaying the guardians. And within the depths, a lake, and within the lake, an inverted mountain, and as we climb to its summit in the depths of the earth we behold the instrument of my destiny, the mighty Summoning Circle.



I send forth my will and the Skrattis gather, endless lines of midget virgins in their wake. Midgets in their hundreds are slain to reawaken the power of blood I once possessed and I laugh as the sweet taste of blood rekindles my heart of ice with joyous remembrance.

The blood flows so swiftly here, and sometimes backwards in time, but I am the stronger; I bend the Circle to my will, and by my power and that of my circle of Skrattis and by the blood of hundreds of midgets, I bring on the Illwinter.

Let the world know fear, fear and cold, as the days darken. The Illwinter is here and the Rimtursar are even now stirring in their eternal sleep.

It has begun.

[Norfleet]

Grah. Is this thing still alive?

[Stormbinder]

Great AARs Peter. I enjoy your writing style a lot. It feels almost as the scratch paper for the good fantasy novel.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Grah. Is this thing still alive?

Good question. Been 3 weeks. A long time to be without for someone who's addicted to reading this story. I'm having withdrawal pains ...