#3399 No Quicksand Image
I've noticed some trouble with swamp / quicksand hexes.
1) The map editor specifies values of 2 and 3 for "just became quicksand" and "quicksand". Hex icons for these appear as open terrain, though on the mini map they are colored the same as other swamp hexes.
2) The rules specify that at the end of every round that a mech is stuck in a swamp, a roll of 12 turns the swamp into quicksand. It is not clear if these rolls are being made... if so, perhaps there should be a message stating that "No swamp hexes have become quicksand" if that is the case.
3) The wording in the rules about the chances to escape quicksand is unclear, but the example on p. 51 of TacOps suggests that when a unit gets stuck in quick sand, on subsequent rounds the mech should get a +5 modifier and then a +7 modifier to escape. Currently in the game, a mech in quicksand gets one shot at +6 and is destroyed if it fails. Are the rules being interpreted correctly?
This applies to 0.35.25, but probably older versions too. It is a general set of issues that are easily verified by loading any maps that contain swamp / quicksand hexes.
A clarification on point 3 above: the rule in TacOps says the Mech is destroyed when the surface of the quicksand is higher than the unit, and the current implementation in megamek appears to destroy it when the surface is equal to the level. In other words, should be a > and not a >=. Still not sure on the +2 vs +3 modifier as described in the rules.
I just tested this out and as of the latest SVN, the mech is getting the proper two turns to break free. The first turn is +3 and the second is +6 as it should be. However there is and additional +1 for "difficult terrain." That comes from the +1 to the PSR described in the swamp section of TacOps. So the actual modifiers are +4 and +7.
As for reporting the roll when it doesn't turn into quicksand, my preference is not to clutter up the report with something like that.
So the only remaining issue here is the image for quicksand. I am working on that.
OK, apparently we have no images for quicksand, which is weird because I thought we did. For the time being I have changed this so at least quicksand looks like a swamp rather than clear, but I will leave this open post-stable to get a specific quicksand image.
I've added a quicksand image, but it's of a desert style, not swamp style. I'll do a swamp style one soon. However, the TacOps rules would be optional, and as we don't have options I've ever seen for it I can say that these rules are not implemented. Nor will they be until after the current stable feature freeze is over.
Quicksand is implemented from what I can see. I don't think most of the advanced terrain stuff has optional rules to turn it on, because it's optionally added into the board. Quicksand is pretty much linked to swamp, since the only way to create quicksand (other than in the editor) is to muck around in swamp. I feel like quicksand is poorly named as it's created from swamp hexes.
then it needs optionized like all other tacops rules.
No it doesn't. If you use a map with the terrain, expect it to act according to its rules.
Added quicksand image in [a005605].