Floating objects?

[cbssecman]

Gents,
I'm new to building scenarios in BA/BA2 (but enjoying the heck out of it!), so please forgive me if my questions seem simplistic...

I'm trying to model a tall railroad embankment with a railroad bridge spanning an underpass that is cut through the embankment. I've created the embankment by using the "ctrl-click" command to raise the elevation of a string of tiles, then laid railroad track objects across the top...but... How do I "float" the bridge objects so that they run from one side of the cut to the other at a "+1" elevation?

(And if there's a better way to model a railroad embankment, please let me know!)

I also can't figure out how to model a long pier/jetty over water. I want to build a campaign of the US Army Rangers landing at and defense of Gela in Sicily, where a long pier ran out into the Mediterranean from the beach (with an armored train on it). Raising the elevation of the water doesn't exactly look right...

Also, just exactly what does the "UI Height" object in the "System" objects folder do? I'm using a Mac, and it doesn't seem to do anything at all when I select it then click on an object...

Totally different question - What is the ground scale in the game,i.e. how may meters wide is a tile? I'm sure it's noted somewhere but I can't find it. Looking at the in-game ranges of a standard rifle unit or a medium mortar, I'm guessing that a tile is supposed to be about 100 meters across?

Thanks very much,
CB

[pipfromslitherine]

The scale is non-linear (to prevent too many offscreen shots). That is what the range brackets for penetration and accuracy are for (in the unit info and detailed tooltips).

UI Height basically tells the system to float the selection/route display tiles as little higher to avoid geometry. We tend to build bridges to match specific heights (they usually need struts to be the correct size). IIRC nothing we can do actually makes objects go higher, it just basically makes them make the tile higher for units to cross (if that makes sense). So I don't think you can float a normal bridge model to a given height.

Cheers

Pip

[cbssecman]

Thanks, Pip.
So, the only way to do this would be to create a new bridge object that has piers/struts... Which is way beyond my limited proficiency... Is there a tutorial somewhere for learning how to create an object like that?

[pipfromslitherine]

There is 3D modelling info in the BA forum here: viewtopic.php?f=104&t=18352

That said, I know that we have a few bridges which do exactly what you are talking about (e.g. Arnhem). You could try grabbing the model. I will also ask if we have any internally. Note though that you cannot drive under a bridge so the struts usually help show that

Cheers

Pip

[cbssecman]

Ahhhh... Well, that kills that idea.... Same reason you can't occupy multiple stories of a building?
Appreciate your offer to look for something internally, but not necessary if you can't drive under it. As it turns out, the rail crossings I want to model for this particular scenario were level-grade crossings anyway...