Wargame Creation Questions

Hello!

I am using Going to War to create a wargame, I am finding it very helpful in creating my wargame. However, I have a few questions that are not covered in the book. I have the full version of MMF2 with Wargame Object installed.

1. Can supply be modeled? I would like to have ports and cities to serve as supply points with say a range of 5 hexes (depending on terrain). As a unit move away from supply points its base supply will decreases. I also want to create a supply unit(HQ) to serve as a way to extend supply beyond the range of the supply point as well as keeping units on the front lines in full supply.

2. I would like to create an interface window that will remain centered as the player moves the map. Do I tie this to the placeholder graphic or do I use the Active System Box? I am having trouble figuring this one out so far through trial and error I have had little success. I have attached a screen shot from a game titled War in Europe as an example of the type of window I would like to create.

3. Is it possible to model land units that can board ship and move from port to port or port to beach landing? If so can I also model Marines aboard an LHA (landing Helicopter Assault) and then helicopter assault from the ship to an objective?

Thank you!


http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2499/egyptiq.jpg

Hello

Cant help you on 2...(as not sure)

1. I would use a set of tiles around the ports/cities and check if the unit is on any of those types, is so reinforce the unit, if not decrease (or whatever you intend to do)

3. Yes thats possible.. What you need to do is have a transport unit that can show that it has units loaded onto it. Have some interface method to show that a unit is loaded (perhaps in the right hand menu show the units or a marker animation on the actual transport unit)... i would then make the unit invisible when it has loaded onto a ship (and place it on the ship/transport tile), and when its off loaded you make the unit reappear and change the transport animation to show 1 less unit.

Hope that makes sense, :)

Jason

Thanks Jason (and thank you for writing the book I always wished someone would write).

Yes, what you say makes sense.

Perhaps I was not clear on the interface because I am 99% sure it can be done as all games have one.

What I want is a sidebar and a top bar where game buttons and information about the game will be displayed, such as, if a player wants to attack another unit the combat odds can be displayed before attacking also the bar would have the end turn buttons, current date, things like that.

When a player scrolls the map the information bars would not leave the players view rather they would scroll with the map acting as a window. Does this make sense?

I am sure it can be done I just do not know how. Would such a thing have its own frame or would I create it within the frame with the map and units. :confused:

Can railroads and rail movement be modeled? If so can rail damage and repair also be modeled as well as bridge destruction?

There is so much that I want to do that many things may be beyond the scope of the engine but there still should be a way to model such things like air interdiction even if abstractly.

Can units be moved by mouse rather than numeric pad control? I would like to left click on a unit and then right click to move it to a new hex.

Thanks again!
Michael

Add it in another layer, move the layer to the front, and set the X and Y coefficient to 0. You can put your interface on that - it won't be affected by scrolling.

As for 2, make an invisible active object set to NOT follow the frame, and then position stuff relative to it AFTER the events that set scrolling. ;)

I think my solution was more elegant!

Thank you the layer solution worked. On to the next crisis. ;)

Sorry for being a noob, I've just ordered the book. How do I add layers?

Quote:

---

Can railroads and rail movement be modeled?

---

This is a problem that I would very much like to find the solution to!

I have raised it on another thread:

http://www.clickteam.com/epicenter/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=180195#Post1801 95

I also notice that the War in Europe map has rivers that run along the edge of the hex (as do many other games). Not clear from the book how such terrain features can be implemented.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jabod

I also notice that the War in Europe map has rivers that run along the edge of the hex (as do many other games). Not clear from the book how such terrain features can be implemented.

---

Yeah I have not figured out hexside rivers yet. If you do before me please post. I was just going to keep it simple and run rivers inside hexes so there is no doubt about movement and defense values. I thought about a +1 movement to enter a river hex (unit crosses river) and a +1 defense (unit defending across river) It's a cheat but like I said it keeps things simple unitl I learn some advanced tricks.

Quote:

---

Can units be moved by mouse rather than numeric pad control?

---

First you need to identify the unit you have selected, once you have that you then need to click on the tile you want it to move to. The main issue i suspect of such a system is then checking the distance to A to B.. you could then use the Wargame map object to work out the distance/path.

Quote:

---

I thought about a +1 movement to enter a river hex (unit crosses river) and a +1 defense (unit defending across river)

---

Until someone figures out an ingenious solution this is still going to be a problem.

Think about it. How can you specify that a unit crossing a river incurs a movement penalty, while a unit that is moving along the river does not? Likewise, a straightforward defense bonus would have to apply to any unit occupying a river hex, not just units being attacked across the river.

Following the examples of the book I successfully completed the tasks for moving a unit, moving multiple units, creating a group, preventing units from moving off map, and so forth.

Now that I got it I wanted to add more units…but do I really need to code each one individually?

I created additional units within a group but they all move at once when I press the directional keys rather than moving one at a time (using next unit). I could only get the units to move on their own by creating a new group and coding it as such.

I assumed, perhaps incorrectly that a group meant all units in this group would have the same characteristics, however, each unit would have a unique ID making movement take place one unit at a time within a specified grouping before moving to the next group.

Am I missing something I sure hope so, otherwise I have a hell of a lot of coding to do.

Also can units be made to move alone or as a stack?

I'm going to have to relook at the code. :)

In MMF you can reduce the code by using qualifier groups and object behavious, and i am pretty sure that i did use the duplicate objects which you can then assign an internal ID number which you can automatically loops stuff through.

Behaviours is probably an area where you can drastically reduce the code (but i am sure i didnt do that in the book).

Moving a stack, you would need to identify when something is in a stack, and identify that you want to move all items within the stack.

What is possible i guess, is that i make a list of some of these things and get them added to the wargame map object, this would help reduce the amount of code needed, but also means we could do even more advanced things with it.

Jason