Fire-Fighting Missions?

[One1111 10]

First I want to say, GOOD JOB on the game! It reminds me of that old game SimCopter! TOH is exactly what I thought the future of SimCopter would be like... and here we are, in the future.

In SimCopter you can direct traffic, report traffic jams, chase criminals, give rides to VIP's, and direct firefighters to fires, and other stuff.

I was wondering, is TOH going to have any type of fire-fighting missions? Is there any "fire" elements in game that could be put out by "water"? If not, I highly recommend you add this in a future release! My idea was to have those tanks you can attach to the bottom of helicopters, and you have to hover over water to fill up the tank, and then fly to the fire and put it out. You could get water from the lakes, or ocean, or even swimming pools in the backyards of houses that are scattered around the land...

Here is an example of a helicopter taking water from a swimming pool to help put out a forest fire:

Or maybe instead of attachable external tanks, you can just use a bucket system:

Anyway, it would be cool to have forest fires, maybe even house fires, that you have to put out, and maybe direct fire fighting crews to certain areas.

Good idea right?

---------- Post added at 02:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:29 AM ----------

Also, what about search and rescue missions? Coast guard missions at sea where you have to search for sunken boats? Maybe even send in coast guard divers to capture people and put them in a cage and hoist them up? Will that be possible?

[zoog 18]

Something with fires (no water bag though): http://takeonthegame.com/full/wp-content/gallery/screenshots/tkoh_screenshot_17.jpg?9d7bd4

Cost goard mission, saving people from a boat on fire: http://takeonthegame.com/full/wp-content/gallery/social-media/WINCH_IT.jpg?9d7bd4

[One1111 10]

SWEET! Thanks for those images.. I hope they do some type of water dropping capabilities though! That image with the firefighter... that isn't just Medevac is it?

[Derbysieger 11]

I'd say it is. Did you see the burned out truck?

[rok 0]

Yes, fire-fighting mission is a must have.

Just last summer there was a swamp/forest fire few km from my home. Three choppers hauling water from near by river and lake. Lots of smoke and strong wind blowing towards buildings. Would make some interesting mission:

[One1111 10]

I'd say it is. Did you see the burned out truck?

Yes I did see the burned out truck, however, that is how all vehicles in ARMA and TOH look when you crash them, and not much fire is involved. I figured the image was just of some type of vehicle accident, and the helicopter is used to transport victims to the hospital (Medevac).

It would be awesome to have fire fighting missions that involve picking up water and dropping it on fire that is out of control.

If you have ever played Far Cry 2 they have this neat "dynamic fire" system that actually grows and spreads to all things that are burnable if you are not careful. Brush fires, forest fires, house fires, vehicles fires... if one fire starts is spreads, and it would be awesome to have this in TOH.

To actually FIGHT fires as in having to control where the fire goes, and what it burns. Maybe even gain or lose respect for how many houses you save or accidentally let burn. And to fly it in windy conditions, in tree covered hills, with low visibility because of smoke... does that sound challenging and fun?

It would be "just ok" if the fire was static, and didn't grow and you just had to put it out. But actually having a dynamic fire that grows and spreads would be way better and awesome.

[BadWeather 10]

If you have ever played Far Cry 2 they have this neat "dynamic fire" system that actually grows and spreads to all things that are burnable if you are not careful. Brush fires, forest fires, house fires, vehicles fires... if one fire starts is spreads, and it would be awesome to have this in TOH.

There already is a mod for arna2 that does exactly that. Awesome sight when a city burns after a firefight involving heavy weaponry has taken place. You also have to get away from the fire when it really starts to spread.

This ofcourse means it is also possible in TOH.

[Isaac 10]

Yeah, not a problem now the next request is putting this together:

Massive landscape

Impressive clouds

Decent flight model

Particle simulations on flames and smoke

Thermal effect on the air mass + interaction with wind

=

10 frames an hour (and people is already complaining about the TOH maxed out...)

Static fires with not so fancy graphics, maybe, dynamic forest fire with a fluid helo dynamics, yeah ,sure when a computer can pack the punch required, in about 5 years time.

Edited October 10, 2011 by Isaac
PS: Forest fires are better attacked with aircraft unless there is very rough terrain or populated areas close.

[BadWeather 10]

Static fires with not so fancy graphics, maybe, dynamic forest fire with a fluid helo dynamics, yeah ,sure when a computer can pack the punch required, in about 5 years time.

Thats just silly. Its already possible. simply a question of optimizing the code and for those that don't have big rigs, like me for example, toning down the graphics options. Modern processors pack a mighty punch. Check BMS or DCS or ARMA and think about the volume of calculations necessary for these high fidelity sims. I have no doubt what so ever that even my modest computer pieced together from second hand parts and components on the cheaper side could handle dynamic fires. It already does that in arma. Not to mention BMS flight model and a dynamic campaign. and I dont even have to cut back that much on graphics sliders on any of these games. resolution and anti-aliasing are my biggest worries. Graphics dont make a game, content does

[Isaac 10]

I love that part of the reply: "simply a question of optimizing the code"

The problem is not the graphics, is how you model the fire to make it believable, fire is mainly driven by wind, humidity, temperature and terrain steepness.

Now mix the actual wind simulation with the fire simulation, and your "simple" code optimization becomes not so simple.

Someone before cited Far Cry 2, well I strongly recommend you a careful read of:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20901

And a last note, Far Cry 2 is not appealing because of how good is the fire simulation but because of the sweet graphics.

[BadWeather 10]

Its the aimated fire that is heavy. Physics too but not calculating the movement of fire and wind in a game. sure when you are a scientist and need calculations that are accurate to the extent a sim for a home user doesnt need, the computer you use is a super computer or many computers together. and for your last note the opposite is true for me. Content is everything, graphics come later. Think about movies: three hours of special effects with no storyline or a black and white with a deep story and characters. Then again I mostly play sims like Dangerous waters, DCS and yes I play arma. I could try something like far cry, but for me and many other simmers, games like that quickly get boring.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

@Isaac: Good read. Thx. I won't deny that FC2 looked great, but to me the kicker was the unpredictability messing with my plans.

[LeftSkidLow 1]

I'm not sure you guys realize this but CheyenneAH56 made a small firefighting mod for ArmA 1. You could hover over water to fill the tanks and the water actually put fire out.

It's quite doable in TKOH, I'm not sure if bambi buckets will be possible though.

[CheyenneAH56 77]

And soon a beta for ArmA2.

The mod is almost ready for beta, stay tuned.

Here are pictures: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=125446

[Isaac 10]

Hi All Guys,

Happy to see that the thread is not becoming incendiary (mmm sorry I had to say it... :D )

Fire is CPU intensive, let me put you a beautiful example, this is one of the best 2D fire sims I have ever seen in applet form: http://www.escapemotions.com/experiments/fluid_fire_3/index.html

While playing with it, check the CPU usage...

Certainly there is a scale factor on the simulation, the sim I have linked is a micro fire simulator while TOH is a big one.

Just think in the following:

When the fire reaches a road what happens with the cars?

How do you simulate the ground fire teams?

Flame, smoke and water (from the bamby bucket and the ground units) should be interacting in real time.

What happens if you lose control of the fire, it should end up burning half Seattle map?

The bigger the fire the bigger the thermal turbulences that drive the smoke and that also affect the helicopter.

The fire should change the winds as in real life?

The fire should go faster uphill?

The fire should go slower in green grass than in dry woods?

Can the fire jump from tree to tree if there is a road in the middle?

If we are on a valley can we have a the chimney effect? (potentially explosive)

What happens when the fire hits a gas station?

How much heat handles our helo?

No mistake, I do agree with you, static fire is "easy", dynamic one (read spreading forest fires), not that easy to code.

By the way the screenshots look nice.

:pet13:

[_YoYo_ 10]

Or idea for different mission: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-111013-newzealand-shipwreck-ps3.photoblog900.jpg

Like it was near New Zeland ... :|

[bobocz 10]

Or idea for different mission: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-111013-newzealand-shipwreck-ps3.photoblog900.jpg

Like it was near New Zeland ... :|

YoYo, you mean this TKOH mission. ;)

[_YoYo_ 10]

YoYo, you mean this TKOH mission. ;)

I hope BIS didnt have influance what happened near NZ ;).