I am very happy to see progress for Hero Lab toward a tablet application. I also will have to wait until it makes it to an Android platform.

I was thinking, wouldn't it be easier to make a "tactical console app" for both platforms? I know I would buy that app in an instant. It is easy to transfer HL character files to any tablet ipad or android.

Then work on full blown version of Hero Lab for the tablet market.

I agree with Scargap. The only thing I really want for my Xoom is the Tactical Console. Preferably one that will load decent sized Shadowrun combats faster than the 20 minutes my dual core 4 GB Ram laptop takes.

20 minutes? i dunno, but it sounds ot me like something is wrong with your computer.

both my mac and pc load combats in a very short time. both of them have dial code and 4MB RAM. What else are you running when you're doing this??

A critical piece of the Tactical Console is to apply changes to the participants in a given combat, such as conditions, in-play adjustments, etc. Doing that requires that the entire Hero Lab engine exist on the platform so that all the proper calculations can be applied while observing all the proper rules for stacking and the like. If we don't have that, we have little more than a PDF viewer. So this isn't a viable solution. :(

That sure sounds like something is seriously different on your Xoom. How large are the portfolios you're loading (i.e. how many characters)? And what's the CPU on that device?

To my knowledge, those are the two biggest factors when loading for use in the Tactical Console, but Colen is the expert on that.

I think I'd rather see the move towards a web based UI for the character sheets and tactical console. That way you can run HL on a computer somewhere, and connect to it with various devices (from tablets, laptops, phones, etc). One HL installation could easily handle all the data for the whole party, PLUS NPC's, monsters, etc - while letting the lower powered portable devices stick to just displaying and handling UI.

I would be happy with a cut down tactical console that would import ac, cmd, cmb, name, character class. Then be able adjust intiatives for each character and keep track of character order.

It would save me a whole lot of typing :)

The big problem with a purely web-based approach is that everyone *has* to have an internet connection. There are still many gaming venues, especially large Cons, where internet access is unavailable, horribly slow, and/or expensive. So a purely web-based model is hamstrung out of the gate due to this limitation. We're using a hybrid approach with our upcoming Realm Works product, and we're looking at hybrid solutions for future use with Hero Lab as well.

You don't want access to any other info at all? And you don't want to fold you changes back into any saved portfolios?

How many others here would prefer something like that?

Not I. In fact Id rather have the portfolio data than tactical console. for the most part i find the character sheet and the ability to do adjustments the most useful vs the tactical console....