New Feature Suggestions

[dzer0]

Army Builder is a great program and I find it almost a requirement after using it; I have forced all of my friends to buy it and will continue to brag about it to people that have not yet seen it.

Here are some basic suggestions I have to keep the improvements and complexity going:

A function that lets the user…

input the actual models they have per army to keep track of the total collection.

keep track of wins/loss/tie records with each roster/lifetime vs each army faced

keep a journal for battle reports and notes on how specific parts of the roster went, was most helpful, etc

Reference statistical data that counts the amount of time each model is used on average per roster.

The big idea here is to make the program capable of not only creating awesome army lists, but also manage the collection of models we hobbyists use to fuel those lists. If I can see my model collection at a glance and notice that while some models are used hundreds of times and others have been collecting dust for the past few years, it might encourage me to make new lists just to play things I own but never use. Likewise if I can see battle statistics based on a roster and notice a trend that I beat 75% of army A but lose 75% against army B, it will keep me interested and wondering why.
I hope some of my ideas are helpful and honestly, keep up the good work!

[rob]

Those are all very cool ideas. I'm adding them to the list of stuff that we'd like to add in future updates.

The first item you list - tracking the models - is something that we're working to include in the V3.2 release. It won't be perfect, but it should be a first step towards what we envision as a great solution down the road. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't run into any major gotchas on this feature. :-)

[monkeywithanuzi]

I stumbled across this thread having been away from AB for a few years.

I mainly use AB for 40k, and inventory was half the reason I bought it. Great for keeping a generic inventory, though I agree, adding actual model pics, battle records and journals would be great.

Rob: Would it be better to add this functionality externally instead of having to add code?

[rob]

We've been talking about all of this stuff for awhile and we've mapped out a plan for providing much of this functionality. It won't be part of the V3.2 update, but we're working on how best to incorporate it all in a follow-on release.

[Xar]

feature request: print to 3x5 cards.
a unit per card, and a summary card.

[MarkC]

Originally Posted by dzer0

Here are some basic suggestions I have to keep the improvements and complexity going:

...

keep track of wins/loss/tie records with each roster/lifetime vs each army faced

keep a journal for battle reports and notes on how specific parts of the roster went, was most helpful, etc

Reference statistical data that counts the amount of time each model is used on average per roster.

I print out a copy of my roster for each game and write up on it how each unit did. This gets filed away, although I do tend to throw out the records after a few years as the rules change with new editions and the army book/codex gets updated.

I also have an Excel worksheet where I record each game played and record how many games I have used each unit. Every calendar year I print off the summary and put it with the army roster records for that year.

One problem that I can see with having all this data stored in AB is what happens when the data files get updated? I typically can't load any rosters older than 6 months old without getting errors/warnings.

Also as alluded to before, the statistics may become irrelevant over time as rule books change and unit/weapon characteristics change (eg my 40K 4th edition Landspeeder with Assault Cannon was an auto pick, but I hardly use it in 5th edition as it costs more, the effect of the weapon has been reduced, and the unit is non-scoring). Also as my collection of models grows I may take different units that just wasn't an option before.

Don't get me wrong. I love the idea. I am just wondering if the stats would be better generated in a separate module/application and the results copied or imported into AB.

What AB would then need is a set of extra characteristics that can be added to units/models in your collection. These could be pre-defined (eg % used, # times used, average effectiveness on a 5 star rating, painted/unpainted), user defined or a mixture of both. If you could attach images to your units you could include not just photos of the unit but even a saved graph of its average effectiveness against each type of opponent.

Regards

Mark C

[RangerRob]

Originally Posted by rob

Those are all very cool ideas. I'm adding them to the list of stuff that we'd like to add in future updates.

The first item you list - tracking the models - is something that we're working to include in the V3.2 release. It won't be perfect, but it should be a first step towards what we envision as a great solution down the road. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't run into any major gotchas on this feature. :-)

I sure hope this makes it in. I just bought your product and find it extremely useful for warhammer 40k. The one 'hassle' I have with it, is each time I go to make a new army, I have to rebuild all my units and their configured options. It would be nice if I could save a "template" or something along those lines and just be able to pick from those units I have.

[Mathias]

Unit menu ... save unit.