Waypoints queued in unexplored areas of the map reveal elevation information

:arrow_forward: GAME INFORMATION

  • GAME BUILD #: 101.101.62085.0 8752729
  • GAME PLATFORM: Steam
  • OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 10

:arrow_forward: ISSUE EXPERIENCED

Waypoints placed in unexplored areas of the map reveal elevation information under common conditions.

When waypoints are placed, their flag is placed on top of terrain, while the number is placed at a location corresponding to a waypoint at elevation zero. This allows the player to locate hills and flat areas—and thereby, for example, information about the enemy town centre location—in unexplored parts of the map. This requires a considerable number of actions to be useful, and the waypoint numbers are only visible while an explored part of the map is visible on-screen (zooming out or using a higher screen resolution gives you a greater effective range for this), but recent patches to the game suggest that you would prefer players to not have access to any information outside those currently visible (I refer to fixes to building foundations, chopped resources, etc).

:arrow_forward: FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

  • 100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS)

:arrow_forward: REPRODUCTION STEPS

Here’s the steps to reproduce the issue:

  1. Place waypoints for a unit extending into unexplored areas.
  2. Position the screen so that some explored part of the map is visible.
  3. Looking at the distance between the waypoint number and the waypoint, you can find hills and flat areas (enemy TC location) before exploring parts of the map.

:arrow_forward: EXPECTED RESULT

Waypoints in unexplored areas should probably be placed as if they were always on flat terrain, and then move upward if that area turns out to be elevated. This may look odd if waypoints are created just out of sight next to a hill though, so other solutions may be better. Always positioning the waypoint number immediately next to the waypoint would make it harder to read the elevation information, for example.

:arrow_forward: IMAGE

Waypoints as placed in an unexplored area.

The corresponding previously hidden terrain. I couldn’t position the images in the exact same location, but they should be close enough to see the issue.

:arrow_forward: GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING)

SP Replay v101.101.62085.0 @2022.06.07 091611.aoe2record (1.5 MB)

2 Likes

Hi @Mmarss256 !

Thanks for your report, we are already tracking this issue :slight_smile: