There are a couple of ways to model this, but none of them are really
ideal. I think the decision really needs to be dictated by the structure of
the individual army books. If each force can have individual squads
equipped in varying fashions, you'll likely need to go with option #2
below. Otherwise, you can probably get away with option #1. I would guess
that the folks at AoG would be willing to give you some info on the army
books towards this end. :-)
Option #1. This model is similar to yours below, except that it collapses
out all units that aren't absolutely required. The structure would look
something like:
Mech Infantry Company
HQ Vision Command Tank
Chrystalis IFV
Platoon A Infantry
Gravideres
Chrystalis IFV
Platoon B Infantry
Gravideres
Chrystalis IFV
Tal'Falni Platform
Platoon C Infantry
Gravideres
Chrystalis IFV
Support A - Falsin
Support B - Jump Recon
The above structure JUST fits into the 15-unit limit of AB. The HQ's morale
grade is selected for the Vision Command Tank and inherited by the
Chrystalis. Similarly, each platoon's morale is selected for the infantry
and then inherited by the children.
Option #2. You COULD require each component of the company to be selected
independently and then use the leader/follower mechanism to track things
appropriately. Each HQ would be selected and then all the proper components
would be assigned to the appropriate HQ. You could easily track the ratios
of everything to ensure that all the proper pieces are selected and
assigned correctly. This gets a little more cumbersome for the user,
although it WOULD allow complete flexibility within the equipping of each
platoon. This may be necessary if the army books allow substantial
variations to be selected.
Option #3. This is sort of a hybrid option. I'm not sure if it's truly a
"good" solution unless someone creates a custom extension for Gropos that
prints out the datacards for each unit. But here goes. The idea is that you
purchase companies and select the morale grade for each component on an
abstract basis. For example, the structure might look like this:
Mech Infantry Company
HQ
Platoon A
Platoon B
Platoon C
Support A
Support B
Theoretically, you could even have this be a SINGLE unit with no children
and simply have a separate option for each component. You could then use
"trat" to require the user to add the appropriate components separately as
individual units with the proper morale grade. Basically, the roster would
consist of two "parts". The first part would be the overall composition and
points. The second part would be individual units with the appropriate
stats to reflect all of the selected units. This second set of units would
have zero cost and be used purely for quick reference during the game
and/or for output of datacards for use in the game.
For an example of what I mean about custom datacards, see the new CAV data
files. Basically, you'd have an AB extension print out the datacards that
are shown in the Gropos book for each unit in the force.
I hope these ideas prove helpful. I really kinda like Option #3 myself, but
it might be confusing to the average user. The advantage of it is that the
roster can be completely designed with a minimum of fuss and then all the
appropriate "Part#2" units can be added quickly after the roster is nailed
down.
Just my thoughts,
Rob
At 08:54 AM 8/8/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>The reason to add the units as items is ctrl-h, so that the user can
>hide them if necessary. As an example, I'll use a Minbari mech infantry
>company (pg 109). This is what the display currently looks like:
>
>Mech infantry company
> Support Element A
> Falsin SP Artillery
> HQ Section
> Vision Command Tank
> Chrystalis IFV
> Mech Infantry Platoons A & C
> Minbari Standard Infantry
> Minbari Gravideres
> Chrystalis IFV
> Mech Infantry Platoon B
> Minbari Standard Infantry
> Minbari Gravideres
> Tal'Falni Platform
> Chrystalis IFV
>
> That's 15 lines, the recon element I've selected is not shown,
> and AB
>gives the error that there are too many units to display (also, I'll
>need to separate platoons A & C so that they can have different morale
>ratings).
> If I add all those units as items, It will add an extra line to
> the full
>display, but the extra line and all the units it includes can be hidden
>and unhidden by the user, so that they can look at everything.
>
>I'd really like to find a better way to do this, but since a company
>gives you a distinct set of platoons to take, I didn't think that could
>be done easily with leader-follower, and each platoon of course includes
>its units, so I can't think of a better way to do that.
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