Club Amiga de Montreal

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM / CAM_CD_1.iso / files / 416.lha / EnergionBattleSystem_v1.0 / tutorial.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1990-08-30 | 28.7 KB | 769 lines

EBS User's Manual Section 5 Tutorials and Hints 1 5.1 Starting EBS for a Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5.1.1 Starting EBS from the Workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5.1.2 Starting EBS from the CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5.1.3 Loading a Scenario when EBS is Running . . . . . . . . . . 3 5.1.4 Initiating a Scenario Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5.1.5 Setting up the Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5.1.6 Commanding Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5.2 Defining New Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5.2.1 Defining a Map from Scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5.2.2 Making a Composite Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5.3 Designing Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5.3.1 The Scenario Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5.3.2 Designing the Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5.3.3 Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5.3.4 Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5.3.5 Testing your Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5.3.6 Saving your Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5.4 Creating Startup Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5.5 Configuring Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2 5.1 Starting EBS for a Scenario There are three ways to initiate a scenario in EBS: double click on a scenario icon, start from the command line with the scenario name as an argument and load a scenario with EBS already started. 5.1.1 Starting EBS from the Workbench Starting EBS from the workbench is simple. Choose the scenario icon and double click on it. EBS will be launched with the scenario selected. If the scenario has been configured for automatic initiation, it will initiate player setup as the first action. 5.1.2 Starting EBS from the CLI EBS takes the name of the scenario as an argument, thus the command: ebs scenarioname launches EBS using the scenario named. Again, if the scenario is configured to initiate automatically, it will do so when it is loaded. There are three other types of filenames which can be provided as arguments to EBS, a map, an EBS unit file or a configuration file. Providing the appropriate extension for each one is all that's required to get the correct file type loaded. MAP: ebs mapname.emap UNIT: ebs unitname.ebs CONFIG: ebs configname.cfg 5.1.3 Loading a Scenario when EBS is Running When EBS is already running, the following steps will load a new scenario. 1. If there is anything loaded, select "Clear" from the main menu. 2. Select "Load" subitem "Scenario" from the main menu. 3. Select the name of the scenario you wish to run using the file requester. If the scenario is configured to start automatically, it will do so when it is finished loading. 5.1.4 Initiating a Scenario Manually If the scenario is not configured to start automatically, select "Options" from the main menu, then select the option "SCENARIO" from the options requester presented. The scenario will initiate, using the options selected under "Scenario" which is also on the main menu. 3 5.1.5 Setting up the Players EBS maintains a list of players and the forces which they are commanding. When a scenario is initiated, it asks how many players there will be. Enter the number of players who will be entered. It will then ask for a player name and password for each of the players, using the EBS standard string requester. EBS will also request that each player confirm the password. Passwords are required for scenario play, but needn't be anything complex! Once the names and passwords of each player have been entered, EBS will present a list requester asking for the force to be commanded by each player. Since a player may command more than one force, it will continue to present the requester over and over until the user selects "CANCEL" indicating that all forces have been selected for that player. It will then proceed to the next player. When all players have been entered, it will again present the list requester, asking which force will be commanded first. It will open the player for that force automatically. Further changes in force commanded must be made using the "Open Player" option on the "Display" menu for the command window. During play, each time a unit comes up for commands, EBS will pause and print a list of the units which are ready to command for selection. The player can also list the units ready for command through the EBS script command, or can tell by checking whether any of the command gadgets are enabled in the command window. 5.1.6 Commanding Units During execution of a scenario, EBS conducts movement and combat by the second, unless the TURNMINUTES option is selected from the Main Options requester. It refreshes the display of the current situation every time the number of seconds specified in "refreshinc" which may be set from the EBS Script language, or whenever the user is asked for decision making. Control of the program is handed to the user every time there are any human-commanded units which are ready to receive instructions. Make sure to command all units which are ready, because you will not be presented the opportunity until the next time that unit comes up for decision review. It is easy to determine if a unit is ready to command because the command window and the command options will be disabled for any unit not ready to command. You can review facts about these units, however. When the program prompts the user for commands, it will list in the information window, if that is open, all the units from all forces which are ready to command. This list does not include units which are retreating. Behavior of retreating units is controlled totally by EBS. Command of EBS units involves three elements: the unit's weapon and target choice, the unit's destination, and the movement characteristics. The most important part of this command phase is the movement definition. A unit will automatically attempt to return fire any time it receives any, but it will not move without destination commands unless it is forced to 4 retreat. If you want it to sit in one place and fire only when fired upon, leaving out the destination is alright. To set a target in EBS: 1. Click on the unit you wish to command. If that unit is not in the force currently logged for command, it will not become listed in the current unit area of the command window. If the unit does not become current, it probably means you need to log yourself in as the current player and the force you wish to command. (Click on "FORC:" in the command window; select the name of the force you wish to command; then enter your password when the requester appears. 2. Once your unit is current, click on the unit you wish to target. Nothing about the display in the command window will change, but the available information about that unit should be displayed in the information window. You can click on other units until you are sure of your choice. 3. In the lower right hand area of the command window, click on the gadget marked "CTGT" for "Current Target." Each time you click on an enemy unit marker during your command phase, that unit becomes the current target. Clicking on "CTGT" sets the current target as the target of the current unit (listed in the current unit area of the command window). You can correct any errors by selecting a new current target, then clicking on "CTGT" again, or by using the "NEXT" and "PREV" gadgets in the command window. To clear the target for that unit, click on the "NONE" gadget. No target selection is final until you have begun execution of the next phase of combat. 4. Go on to the next unit. 5. Repeat until all your units have targets (if so desired). Setting destinations is quite straightforward: 1. Click on the unit you wish to command, making it the current unit. 2. Click on the location to which you wish it to go. 3. If there is a destination listed for that unit, click on the destination gadget (last line of the current unit area of the command window) twice, first to clear the destination, then to set the one you have chosen. If the line reads "No destination" click only once to set the destination you have chosen. You can review your destination and target choices by selecting "Targets" and "Destinations" from the "Display" menu or by selecting SHOWDEST in the "CurrentMarker Options" requester and then clicking on each unit you wish to review. The major movement characteristics must also be set. Speed is mandatory; all the others are optional. If you set a destination, but a 5 speed of zero, your unit will not move. Setting Speed: First Method: 1. Select the unit you wish to command. 2. Click on the "SPEED" gadget in the command window. 3. Enter the percentage of base speed you wish the unit to go as a percentage of base speed (100 = Normal; 200 = Rapid; 300 = Charge) in the command string gadget. Second Method: 1. Select a HQ unit as the current unit. 2. Choose "Set HQ Speed" from the "Commands" menu. 3. Enter the speed you wish that unit and all its subordinates to go in the string requester displayed. 4. The command window will display in its last two lines, "Unit unitname and subs, speed x." This confirms that the speed has been set. The "Commands" menu will also allow you to instruct your unit to seek the terrain with the most cover, or terrain which permits the greatest speed. It will also allow you to choose a unit to transport the current unit. One further menu item you may wish to use is the "Target Chase" option on the "Commands" menu. If the current unit has a target selected, this instructs EBS to automatically chase that target, correcting course as necessary for its movement. If the object of your movement is not to get to a specific location, but to attack a particular unit, this is a good option. 5.2 Defining New Maps 5.2.1 Defining a Map from Scratch To define a new map, follow the following steps. 1. Using the "Edit" option from the main menu, open the edit window. 2. If the window is not configured to edit maps (if the window is configured to edit maps, the word "Map" will appear in the title bar), select "Map" from the "Edit" menu of the edit window. 3. If there is a list of map definitions loaded, and one of these is similar to the one you wish to define, select that map for display in the edit window either by working through the list of maps with the "<" and the ">" gadgets or by using the list requester. 4. Select the "NEW" gadget in the edit window. If there is a map already selected in the window, its values will be copied into the new map definition as defaults and the name of the new map will be its name plus a "-1". If there was no map selected, such as when you are defining the first 6 map in the list, the name will be "Newmap." 5. If you wish the size of your map to be less than the full size of the screen (this is the first map defined), or different than the size of the previous map (you copied from a previous defualt), select the "GADGET SIZE" gadget in the lower portion of the edit window. The edit window will disappear, and you can select a portion of the visible screen for the boundaries of your map. Click in the upper left hand corner of the area you wish to define, drag the mouse to the lower right hand corner and click again. This defines the area. 6. Select the item 'MULTIPLE' from the list of elements of the map. Enter the number of centimeters in one of the units of measure you wish to use for the map. Then select the item 'UNIT' and type in the name of the unit. If you have defined any units of measure, you can simply select 'UNIT' and enter the name of one of those units. 7. Select the type of map you wish to have. Further instructions are separate by map type. Tactical (T): a. Enter the length and width of the map in the unit you wish your map to use (using the unit specified for the map if you have selected 'SCALED' from the edit menu or using centimeters otherwise. b. Click on the gadget marked "MAP SCALE" to initialize all the values for your map correctly. Square (S): a. Enter the length and width of the map in seconds of an arc. b. Click on the gadget marked "MAP SCALE" to initialize all the values of your map correctly. Orange Peel (O): a. Select the element 'SECTIONS' in the map edit window. b. Enter the number of sections you want your map divided into. 8. Select "LOAD RAW" to load the appropriate graphics file for the map, or use the internal drawing commands to create the graphics. I do not recommend drawing maps from scratch using the limited internal drawing commands. Any graphics program which can save its files in IFF format (fortunately a practically universal feature for Amiga drawing programs) will do for creating your graphics. 9. Make sure to save your map definition using the "Save Map" option from the main menu. The map definition is in a separate file with the extension ".emap". 5.2.2 Making a Composite Map The "Reproject" option on EBS maps is a slow but powerful and flexible 7 procedure, which allows creation of new, smaller maps from larger ones. It can also take a number of smaller maps and create a larger composite map from them. For scenario designers, this feature, and in fact all non- tactical maps, merely provide some additional utilities for creating battlefield maps. For the role playing gamemaster, however, this feature can help create maps of larger areas based on local area maps. To create a composite map: 1. Define it as to type and size (see 5.2.1 above). 2. If you have a portion of the map drawn, or wish to draw the new map over a skeleton of the old one, make sure that the "IFF File" element of the map definition is set to the proper path and name. Maps of type 'O' should have a blank "form" map (provided with your EBS package) into which to draw the features of the smaller maps. 3. Load the source map. 4. Select "Reproject" from the "Edit" menu. 5. When the requester appears asking whether to clear first, click on the "No" button. 6. EBS will modify only those pixels of the target map for which it can get valid terrain data from the source map. 7. Repeat the above steps for all of the source maps. 5.3 Designing Scenarios The most powerful feature of EBS is that it allows the user to design a wide array of scenarios by defining the building blocks and then combining them into complex scenarios. The following section will not work step by step through a single scenario, but rather will work through the process of creating a scenario, with suggestions along the way for how to speed some of the processes. 5.3.1 The Scenario Setting The first thing to be decided about a scenario is the setting and parameters. How many forces are involved, what type of terrain is used for the battle, and what are the general characteristics of the combat units. Knowing the overall characteristics of weapons can help decide the relative values for damage done by weapons and for the points of damage which each member of the various units can take. A normal battle will have two sides. EBS does not assume that its battles will be normal, so it allows for 32 sides or forces. (See section 4.1 concerning forces for a discussion of use of forces to develop more complex strategies.) Each force must then consist of one or more units which employ strategies to bring their units into contact with the enemy under advantageous circumstances or to enable their units to occupy an objective. These units then use tactics to engage the enemy, either to destroy him or to prevent him from dislodging them from their objective. Thus, of the modules that EBS makes available, at a minimum you will need the following to create a scenario: 8 2 Forces Strategies (10 predefined, you may need more) Minimum 1 unit for each force You may be thinking that tactics modules are also necessary. They are not, though if you wish your units to do anything creative, you should have them. (See section 4.6 Tactics for a further discussion of tactics.) You can theoretically leave off the strategy module as well, but I do not recommend this. If there is no strategy module, all units head straight for the other side of the map, to the sector exactly opposite, and attack all units they approach head on. The EBS default battle consists of the order: "Advance in a straight line until you spot an enemy unit, then frontally attack that unit until one of you is dead." Since a unit without a tactics module has infinite morale, there will be no retreat either. Of course, having just one unit per force could be somewhat boring, depending on the terrain, though with a complex map and a good tactics script it could have its high points. In actuality you will probably want multiple units with a defined chain of command. I will discuss the way to establish a chain of command below, but note that a chain of command is very important in a scenario. Units share information with other members of their force during battle. To conduct an attack, a unit requires LOS, but to approach the area of an unspotted enemy, that unit only needs to know about the enemy unit. The way this information is shared is through the chain of command. If the link in the chain is broken, the information cannot be shared. Thus, in terms of strategy, one can include an intentional plan to attack headquarters units and links in the chain to break up the coherence of the enemy's attack. All aspects of force design are discussed under section 4.1, The Force. The only additional factor to note here is that if you have two forces, they should each be set as the other's enemy or fanatical enemy; otherwise, you will have no action at all. 5.3.2 Designing the Units Let's take as an example two forces which consist of artillery, cavalry and infantry. For this example, we will assume that all infantry units are created equal, though you could subdivide each of these forces into various qualities, such as elite infantry, normal infantry, and local militia. The following steps will establish a force of units: 1. Design one example of each unit type (infantry, cavalry, artillery). 2. Set the number of unit members in each of these units to the total number of members of that type, thus a force containing 10,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 25 artillery pieces should have starting units with those numbers of members. Note that the "Manning" element of the unit module for an artillery unit should be the number of guns, not the number of persons, as EBS will conduct one attack for each member of the unit. Take this fact into consideration also when giving damage values to the members of such a 9 unit--the damage values should be what is required to put the gun crew out of action, not what would be required to kill all members of the crew. 3. Decide on the size of the headquarters unit for each element, and the size of the individual units, such as artillery batteries you wish to have on the field. 4. With the edit window open and activated, select "Subdivide Unit." 5. In the first string requester presented, enter the size of the HQ for this group of units. If they will not all be subordinate to a single headquarters, you can make this the size of one of the subdivided units. 6. In the second string requester, enter the number of pixels you want to separate each unit newly created. This value should make it be convenient for you to select the units and move them to their final placement. 7. In the third requester, enter the number of units, excluding the headquarters unit, into which you wish this single large unit divided. EBS will subtract the HQ size from the total number and create a headquarters, then it will divide the remainder by the number of units provided, and create that many subordinate units. 8. If you wish, you can now subodivide each subordinate unit again, creating a longer chain of command. 9. When all units have been divided, or at any intermediate phase when the screen appears that it might become too cluttered to work conveniently with the unit markers, move the units into their proper placement on the map. 10. You can view the chain of command organization using the "Chain of Command" option from the "Display" menu under the command window. 11. For any units which do not properly fit into the chain of command in this fashion, you can set the "Superior" element directly using the edit window. The "Subdivide Unit" menu option only allows automatic setting up of a pyramid type chain of command. You might, for example, not want to have a commander of infantry, commander of artillery and a commander of cavalry with subordinate units. Instead you might wish to establish a number of mixed units consisting of a couple of companies of infantry, one of cavalry and a supporting artillery battery. EBS can do this, but only through direct setting of the "Superior" element in each unit as appropriate. "Subdivide Unit" requires that all subelements of a single entity be of the same type. Also, if you want an overall headquarters, required if you wish a light cavalry unit conducting reconnaissance to be able to notify the infantry of enemy locations, you will need to define that, and set the highest headquarters established for each group of units to have that HQ as a superior. Further notes on unit design are in Section 4.2, The Unit. 5.3.3 Players The design of players is simple. There should be one player module for every force which may be played by a human. Label these with something unique and boring, such as "Player1" or "Player2", etc. During the player setup phase of scenario execution, these labels will be exchanged for the names of the players using your scenario. 10 5.3.4 Strategies There are two things to check concerning strategies: first, are the internal strategies adequate for your scenario, and second, do you wish to force choice of a specific strategy. If the first item is true, and Boring_Check(YourScenario) returns FALSE, then you need define no strategies. However, if you need some new ones, define them. If you want these to be in addition to the predefined ones, have their choice scripts return values from 0 to 100; if you want them to totally supercede the predefined modules, have them return values 100 and greater. The strategy for which the choice script returns the highest number becomes the strategy for the force. The internal strategies are intended as minimal examples, not as definitive. If you wish to allow choices of various strategies at a later stage of the game, but wish to start with a specific strategy, enter that strategy into the force using the edit window. That strategy will be used until the first strategy review phase. 5.3.5 Testing your Scenario EBS provides two modes for scenario execution, locked and unlocked. The locked mode is for preventing gratuitous and simple cheating during games, while unlocked is intended for testing. The unlocked mode allows changes to be made to modules during the course of play for purposes of testing various options. You can also test in completely non-scenario mode, requiring you to execute combat by the second, or whatever turn increment (in seconds) you have set. Usually testing should be done with the non- scenario mode first, as it gives you more regular ability to check on the status of your units. Following this you can polish your scenario using the unlocked mode to get a player's eye view of the scenario without giving up the ability to look directly at the unit values rather than those filtered through the unit's intelligence numbers. 5.3.6 Saving your Scenario Once you have tested your scenario, you can decide whether to save it for play in unlocked or locked mode. If you wish to save it as a locked scenario, select "LOCKED" using the scenario options requester, and also select "INITIATEONLOAD" to prevent playing with the numbers in your scenario prior to scenario initiation. You can also save the scenario as an open scenario. I don't see giving the players a choice as to how they wish to treat the scenario as a disadvantage. The major problem with this method is that a beginning player has to study the documentation enough to know how to initiate the scenario. However, one also needs to study it to know how to command units! It is not difficult to cheat EBS. I assume that anyone interested enough in this kind of gaming to take the effort to learn to use this 11 program has their own motivation for working with it, and knows what they want to get out of it. Because of this, I tried only to prevent accidental cheating, so that a player trying to test his or her skill is not presented with unwanted information. 5.4 Creating Startup Scripts When EBS starts it will automatically execute any script in the "REXX:" directory which has the name "startup.ebs". This allows full configuration options to the user, including menus, windows and creation of default modules of various types. In addition, EBS will pass on to the startup script the full argument list which was passed to it via the command line. These arguments may thus be used in the startup script. Two sample startup scripts are included in the official release package of EBS, one for those with AREXX, and one for those without. The second version should be located in "EBSSCRIPT:" and will be loaded through the command loading option as part of an EBS unit file. 5.5 Configuring Menus EBS menus may be configured using the 'menu' commands. These commands are quite straightforward and example code is available in the sample startup scripts provided with the EBS package. There are some things to remember, however. 1. If the menu option you are adding needs to be available during scenario execution, add it to the 'COMMAND' menu. All other menus are diabled during a 'locked' scenario's execution. Conversely, if you want it unavailable during locked scenario execution, put it on one of the other menus. All menus other than the 'COMMAND' menu are disabled for scenarios. 2. Logically positioning menu options within menus likely to be open during related activities will make your configuration of EBS more usable. The 'MAIN' menu is designed to include basic configuration, map reading and drawing functions. The 'MARKERS' menu is designed for editing aspects of markers and associated modules. (In several cases this menu duplicates commands available elsewhere in order to make them more easily available while the user is working with the marker window.) The 'EDIT' menu is intended for module editing commands. 3. Hot keys can be reused for each menu separately, but beware of confusion. It is not always easy to remember just which menu is active. Using a command key to delete an object on one menu and to create one on another could result in a few disasters. 4. In using EBS script commands in the menus, include the 'QUERY' 12 option whenever applicable, such as when deleting modules. This prevents accidental deletion. Of course, if you are one of those perfect people who never starts to delete something by mistake, you can avoid the annoying requesters asking whether you really wanted to do something by leaving this option off. 13