Displaying Weapon Stats

[DarkHost]

I am working on AB files for Dark Age. In that rule set, all weapons have the same set of statistics. Currently I am providing the weapon stat line information in the Description of the Option that defines a weapon. In some cases two weapons are defined in a single option, as the two can be used in a combined attack.

For example a Reaver is armed with a katana and dagger. In one case the katana and dagger can each be used in a single close assault combat. In the other case the dagger can be used to make a ranged combat.

What I am doing works, however getting everything to display nicely is going to be a pain with the proportional fonts.

Anyone have a better idea for how to define weapon stats as part of a weapon's Option definition?

Thanks.

-DH

[Bluefool]

Oh yeah, definately try making the weapon an item.

That puts the individual weapons on a seperate line instead of in one block as the option.

Just take the option you have, and create an item called stanweap or some such, and link to the item in the option by putting stanweap in the child entity field (lower right corner) and checking child is item. Delete the stuff you have in the option for the weapons.

Now make two items, the katana and the dagger, and click the button in the upper right that makes them an option as well (it looks like a little z shaped arrow).

Now go back to the item stanweap, and put the two options in it, the katana and the dagger.

Yeah, its quite a bit more than the method you were using; I was using the same thing myself, but once you set it up, the diffrence in the output is pretty serious. I set it up and looked at it, and decided the diffrence was worth about 40 hours of re-doing all the weapons (Starship Troopers has a very large number of weapons in it, and I'm slow ).

This method gives you quite a bit more control, plus opens up all kinds of cool new tricks .

[DarkHost]

Thanks for the tip.

However, I still cannot figure out how to put the weapon stats into the display columns.

[Bluefool]

Items can have tags . Just put the stats on them the same way you do units, or enter stuff in the description, whichever way you like it to display.

[DarkHost]

I have attached tags to the items. Let me be more specific:

(1) I created a Tag Group (WeapStats) with two Tags (AS and RN).

(2) I created an Item (ModFlrGun) to which I assigned the Tags AS and RN.

(3) ModFlrGun is linked linked to a unit (Lucky) via an Option (ModFlrGun).

(4) I added the WeapStat Tag Group to the info groups columns of the available, roster, and output default views.

(5) When I add Lucky to an Army Builder roster, the item "Modified Flare Gun" shows up -- just like you said -- on a line under "Lucky".

(6) When I select/highlight "Modified Flare Gun" in the roster window, the text "Weapon Stats: AS, RN" appear in the info window (upper right corner of the screen).

(7) However, when I print the roster all I get in the box below the unit stat columns are Option Summaries. The text "Weapon Stats: AS, RN" does not appear.

I have the same problem getting special ability Tags to show up on the printed roster. In this case the Tags from the Tag Group "Special" has been added to the unit (Lucky). The text "Special Abilities: Crack Shot, Luck" show up in the info window, but not on the printed roster.

What I find puzzling is that I have examined the Example Game System files, and have followed what has been done in them to get the text "Special Abilities: Rapid Fire" and "Resources Provided: Foot, Foot, Force, Force" to appear on a printed roster that contains Tactical Marines.

So, any ideas as to what I am screwing up?

[rob]

If the weapons are re-used by various units, then I recommend using the same technique as the WFB and 40K data files. They use option "footnotes" so that only the weapon name is listed with the unit and then a summary of all the weapons used in the roster is output at the bottom for quick reference during game play. You can see how this works by simply adding few units to a roster for one of those games, selecting a few weapon options, and then doing a print preview.

-Rob

At 06:56 PM 3/18/2006, you wrote:

I am working on AB files for Dark Age. In that rule set, all weapons have the same set of statistics. Currently I am providing the weapon stat line information in the Description of the Option that defines a weapon. In some cases two weapons are defined in a single option, as the two can be used in a combined attack.

For example a Reaver is armed with a katana and dagger. In one case the katana and dagger can each be used in a single close assault combat. In the other case the dagger can be used to make a ranged combat.

What I am doing works, however getting everything to display nicely is going to be a pain with the proportional fonts.

Anyone have a better idea for how to define weapon stats as part of a weapon's Option definition?

Thanks.

-DH

[rob]

The value of using items really depends on the game system. For ST, you need to do a lot of manipulation of the weapons, so it's critical. However, for DA, I believe the weapons have fixed characteristics. As such, making them options doesn't provide any special advantages, plus it makes things a bit more work.

AB offers a LOT of different ways to solves various situations. The trick is in assessing the needs of a specific situation and then picking the optimal mechanism to address those needs. It's easy to find something that works in one situation and then try to use it everywhere, but that's a recipe for problems sometimes. It sounds like that might be the case in this situation.

-Rob

At 08:01 PM 3/18/2006, you wrote:

Oh yeah, definately try making the weapon an item.

That puts the individual weapons on a seperate line instead of in one block as the option.

Just take the option you have, and create an item called stanweap or some such, and link to the item in the option by putting stanweap in the child entity field (lower right corner) and checking child is item. Delete the stuff you have in the option for the weapons.

Now make two items, the katana and the dagger, and click the button in the upper right that makes them an option as well (it looks like a little z shaped arrow).

Now go back to the item stanweap, and put the two options in it, the katana and the dagger.

Yeah, its quite a bit more than the method you were using; I was using the same thing myself, but once you set it up, the diffrence in the output is pretty serious. I set it up and looked at it, and decided the diffrence was worth about 40 hours of re-doing all the weapons (Starship Troopers has a very large number of weapons in it, and I'm slow [img]./modules/mdforum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] ).

This method gives you quite a bit more control, plus opens up all kinds of cool new tricks [img]./modules/mdforum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] .

[rob]

This is the same problem that was being discussed in a separate thread entitled "Output View". Here's the answer I posted there....

AB remembers what you last set the view to be. Once you configure things in the definition file, you then need to go into the View mechanism for the output view and force it to be Reset. This will cause AB to reload the settings from the definition file. The definition file only provides defaults that apply when the data files are first loaded. After that, the last used settings are active, so any changes to the definition file are ignored until you use Reset.

-Rob


At 07:18 PM 3/19/2006, you wrote:

I have attached tags to the items. Let me be more specific:

(1) I created a Tag Group (WeapStats) with two Tags (AS and RN)

(2) I created an Item (ModFlrGun) to which I assigned the Tags AS and RN.

(3) ModFlrGun is linked linked to a unit (Lucky) via an Option (ModFlrGun).

(4) I added the WeapStat Tag Group to the info groups columns of the available, roster, and output default views.

(5) When I add Lucky to an Army Builder roster, the item "Modified Flare Gun" shows up -- just like you said -- on a line under "Lucky".

(6) When I select/highlight "Modified Flare Gun" in the roster window, the text "Weapon Stats: AS, RN" appear in the info window (upper right corner of the screen).

(7) However, when I print the roster all I get in the box below the unit stat columns are Option Summaries. The text "Weapon Stats: AS, RN" does not appear.

I have the same problem getting special ability Tags to show up on the printed roster. In this case the Tags from the Tag Group "Special" has been added to the unit (Lucky). The text "Special Abilities: Crack Shot, Luck" show up in the info window, but not on the printed roster.

What I find puzzling is that I have examined the Example Game System files, and have followed what has been done in them to get the text "Special Abilities: Rapid Fire" and "Resources Provided: Foot, Foot, Force, Force" to appear on a printed roster that contains Tactical Marines.

So, any ideas as to what I am screwing up?

[DarkHost]

After fixing my viewing problem it became apparent that using items for weapons is not the way to go in Dark Age. Thanks for the tip.