Planet Mercenary

[Mathias]

I think Shadowrun's approach to specialties is what I'd recommend, but I'd also recommend coming back to that in a little while - get more experience in building tag expressions first, because the way the specialties are handled is complex behind the scenes.

 

[Duggan]

Oh, I thought they were using a pick... I would like to be able to display the X items (the most there are is 7, with most being 3-4 specialities possible, with two having the ability to pick a particular one multiple times with different specialties). I think that their example should give me the capacity to set up the multiple items to pick from a list. ^_^ But, as you say, there's time to return to this. I still need to clean up the Basic screen, implement Command Packages and Backgrounds (which I think I'll do in a slightly more limited form to avoid the choices at first), and implement basic gear choices.

 

[Duggan]

How does one use an "arrayval"? According to the documentation, a Thing may have zero or more arrayvals, and that matches the DTD, but when I try to build one, I get an error message of "Encountered unknown element tag 'arrayval'", which seems to suggest that it's not a valid tag. Here's a Skill which uses it, and the relevant field in the trait file.

<thing
id="skCarbine"
name="Carbines"
compset="Skill"
isunique="yes"
description="Use your Carbines skill when firing carbine class weapons. As the weapons most commonly issued to infantry, carbines offer versatility and lethality. They are designed for quick carry, ease of use, and close-quarters action">
<fieldval field="trtAbbrev" value="Car"/>

<arrayval field="trtSpec" index="0" value="Beam"/>
<arrayval field="trtSpec" index="1" value="Non-Lethal"/>
<arrayval field="trtSpec" index="2" value="Projectile"/>

<tag group="Skills" tag="Combat"/>
</thing>

<component
id="Skill"
name="Skill"
autocompset="no"
panellink="skills">

<field
id="trtSpec"
name="Specialty"
type="user">
</field>

....

 

[Duggan]

Check that... the above code works. It was flagging the next one down. Apparently, one can't have a tag preceding the arrayvals.

 

[Mathias]

Are you sure that one is where you encountered the problem? It should give you a line number for that error - you're sure it's coming from this skill, and not one of the other skills?

Also, weren't you going to wait on the specialties? Why implement them as an array now, if you're going to do them properly later on?

 

[Mathias]

Check that... the above code works. It was flagging the next one down. Apparently, one can't have a tag preceding the arrayvals.

Yes, the order of elements listed on that page of the wiki you linked to is the order that they must be listed in.

 

[Duggan]

Are you sure that one is where you encountered the problem? It should give you a line number for that error - you're sure it's coming from this skill, and not one of the other skills?

Also, weren't you going to wait on the specialties? Why implement them as an array now, if you're going to do them properly later on?

I already had them in as arrays. This was just me realizing that I could do a search and replace and make them function to some small degree.

 

[Duggan]

So, right now, I have all of the skills in. I have the common PC races, the backgrounds and the command packages (albeit without being able to choose those either-or values). I have the derived values. I'm not certain whether I'm better off starting to input gear, tackle skill specialties, advancement, or Companies (which, as mentioned here might involve complexities of two different "character types").

I'm also finding myself considering how I might improve things to make this all more editable in the Editor. For one, the hardwiring of skill ranks and such for Races, Command Packages, and Backgrounds feels like it could be implemented more smoothly so that someone could go into the Editor and simply change values in there instead of changing the eval function.

 

[Mathias]

I'd implement the editor tabs for what you've already done. That way, you'll be familiar with the editor, so that when you're ready to move on to gear, you can set up the fields and component scripts that are needed, then set up the editor tab for that section, and then use the editor to code everything, which means you don't need to worry about things like what order <arrayval> and <tag> come in within the thing definitions - the editor handles that for you.

 

[Duggan]

So, at this point, I have five things to tackle:

• Skill specializations - I have these existing as separate things but don't have a way to implement them outside bootstraps
• Expanded Command Packages - I need a way to specify the choices, which are a series of either/ors with a few implementing a limited choice of combat skills as one of the choices.
• Defining Companies - this determines what resources/supplies are available for purchasing equipment
• Finishing up equipment - I've got bare details, but there are some of stacking rules regarding defense and DR and what can stack. Also, without Companies, it leads to the question of what resources to draw upon.
• Fixing up output and Statblocks

I think the first two will involve a Gizmoes. Companies involve a different (Lead?) character type. Equipment is largely data entry, although I need to implement customizable equipment, which is again Gizmoes I think.

 

[Mathias]

If you have specific questions about one of these projects, why don't you start a new thread for that question. Having everything in one thread makes it hard to find anything once the thread gets more than a page long, and makes it hard for those who want to create something in the future to find an existing thread that relates to what they're working on, since the thread title doesn't relate to what they're trying to achieve.