Jump to content

AidenDouglass

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    28

  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

Posts posted by AidenDouglass

  2. Posted

    spacemonkeymafia said:

    Great work.  I've only scratched the surface but I have some questions/comments:

    1) why did you go with 15 degree turning increments on the ship bases?  I think every movement template is either 0, 45, or 90 degrees so really you only need 45 degree increments.  You have the arbitrary adjustment option in there if people want to start with odd angles.

    2) when setting up your ships (naming them, numbering them, putting in the skill, attack, etc information) it'd be nice to just put in the skill number instead of right clicking it nine times or hitting the hotkeys over and over. If you could open a window and fill out all the stats at once that would be even better.

    3) love the pivot idea for the range ruler. Very useful.  Any particular reason you didn't like it for the movement templates?

    4) I thought there was a way to minimize the windows (like player 1, map, etc), is that not an option?

    5) is there a way to set the different dice amounts thrown? Looks like the default is 5 dice and I can't change it.

    6) I've only been playing it solo so far so when I put the mvt dial on the Contested Sector map, is it not revealed to the other players until I right click it to "reveal" and the ship image appears on it?

    7) when I just have the "core set" loaded, I don't have the option to pick the upgrade card "Determination" (instead there is "Expert Handling") and I get "Backstabber" and "Winged Gundark" as Imperial options when it should be "Dark Curse" and "Night Beast". Since you can load all the elements in, this likely isn't a big deal.  Just odd that they were switched around or missing.

    As I said, great work on this and I can't wait to get used to it more so that a game will run smooth and not take too long.

    1) covered here already in discussions.

    2) Unfortunately, in VASSAL, each stat has to be a separate Text Label, which are only editable individually.  That's a restriction of the program.  Using the hotkeys to set stats isn't really that long a process… and you can select all Ships with same stats and set all their stats with the same keystrokes.  So, select your swarm of 12 Tie Fighters and hit Alt+A, D, H and all 12 will set at once.

    3) Ver 3.0 removes the free rotation option on all pieces for the favored precision of full degree increments.  And for standardization of movement options across all pieces.

    4) Not quite sure what you're asking here.  If you set your preferences to NOT "Use combined application window", then all your windows will become free-floaters, that can all be resized and minimized as normal windows.  If this isn't what you're asking, clarify please.

    5) Version 3.0 greatly improves the Dice operations.

    6) Actually, you've got this switched.  If the little ship Icon is displayed on your move dial, then this is telling you that the other side is seeing your Hide and not your dial.  When you reveal your dial, the ship disappears and the dial is visible to all players.  The "reveal" option is the same keystroke to show/hide for simplicity (or… confusion I guess)

    7) There was some confusion as to pack contents when the module was first created (it released before the actual game did, so I deduced content), and it appears that I was incorrect as to content and the error has matriculated through versions.  A new Version 3.1 will be releasing soon with some requested improvements, and this content error will be addressed.  This will mean a full re-release of the Core module and all extensions.

    Go here for complete information on Ver 3.0, as well as some helpful setup videos.

    http://afewmaneuvers.yuku.com/forums/107/X-wing-on-Vassal#.UIbCEIaAex0

  3. Posted

    Version 3.0 gives the options of 15 deg rotation, 1 deg rotation, and a 1 pixel up/down/L/R shift to help ease placement.

    15 deg= L/R arrows, 1 deg= Ctrl+ L/R arrows (Control your rotation!), and the minute position shift is Shift+L/R/Up/Dn arrows.

    This should help with placement. gran_risa.gif

  5. Posted

    Here's another perspective…

    You say "I perform the Action : Expert Handling, which allows me to do two barrel rolls…"

    but, do you say "I perform the Action : Swarm Tactics which allows me to improve another pilot's skill"

    If you DO say Swarm Tactics is an "Action", then you have just used up your Action for that round, yes? 
    But, wait.  Swarm Tactics doesn't say Action:, so it doesn't cost an Action step to perform.

    Do you say I Perform Action : R2-D2, so after executing this green maneuver, I may recover 1 shield"? 
    NOPE!  it just says "Do this : Get this" R2 is an Upgrade.

    These are Upgrade cards, not Action cards.  Some Upgrade cards allow you to perform Actions, others don't.  That's why they say "Action: do something"

    So, the Action you are permitted to perform is Action : barrel roll, which -since you are so awesome that you can be referred to as having "Expert Handling" abilities, causes your enemy to lose their target lock on you.  You're just that skilled a pilot. 

    If you are in a Tie fighter, you have lost a Target Lock, but the barrel roll wasn't especially difficult as your ship is designed to do them, your wing mates do them all the time, but you can do it with such Expert Handling, that you can actually cause a computer to lose it's Target Lock on you, whereas they remain target locked even if they do perform barrel rolls.

    Now, if you're in an X-Wing, you're an even more skilled pilot, because your ship isn't designed to do that maneuver, thus you take some stress from actually being Expert enough with your Handling of this star fighter that you can make it do a barrel roll, while your wing mates are unable to even execute that maneuver.  You lose your Target Lock also, but at the cost of taking some stress.

    So, Upgrades are not Actions.  Some upgrades permit you to perform Actions.

    And Since Darth Vader is allowed to perform 2 Actions, He can perform one Action: barrel roll, and some other action.  If he has Expert Handling, then he will lose a target lock by performing a barrel roll at any time.  But he cannot perform 2 consecutive barrel rolls, as the rulebook clearly states that "a ship cannot perform the same action more than once"

  6. Posted

    dbmeboy said:

    Daveydavedave said:

    expert handling IS a barrel roll action

     

    And this is the claim in contention.  Expert handling is an action.  Barrel roll is an action.  Expert handling doesn't say, "This starfighter may perform a barrel roll even if it otherwise could not…" it says, "Action:…"  Without a direct response to an appropriate question or a rules clarification, there isn't an answer (feel free to point out somewhere in the rules where it states that using Expert Handling is considered the same as using a Barrel Roll, then I will concede the point).

    [Expert Handling] is an Upgrade.  NOT an Action. 
    You do not Perform Action: Expert Handling.
    You have the Upgrade [Expert Handling] which allows you to Perform Action: barrel roll. 

    is this discussion still going on?

  7. Posted

    Budgernaut said:

     After playing 3 games on Vassal, I have a tip for making things move faster. When you open your player window and set up cards and stuff, go ahead and put any tokens you'll need in there as well (stress, ion, critical hit, focus, target locks with different colors and unique letters). It's pretty obvious now, but putting your tokens in that window makes it much easier and faster to grab them and drag them to the playing area. Looking at the AFM page, it seems Aiden had the same thing in mind since one of the screenshots shows a bunch of tokens next to the cards. You could also place all the maneuvers in a different player window, say, player 6. That way you just open it up, look for your template and pull it down. No need to scroll through lists. I only figured it out this last time I played, so I'm going to try this from the beginning next time. Hopefully it will shave some time off my 2+ hour game. Boy was that draining!

    An aside about target locks, I usually give the letter of the name of the pilot initiating the lock. For my Biggs, Wedge, Luke game, I used the letters B, W, and L, so it was easier to keep track of the target locks.

    That is a good idea with the Target locks!  =)

    And you are correct about getting all your chits and tokens into your hand before the game starts making things quicker. 

    As for Stress, Ion, Crit and Action tokens, they're taken care of in Ver. 3.0 as part of the ship itself, so no tokens to drag around when maneuvering, just a Keyboard shortcut (or right-click menu) to activate.  Only Target locks are free-roaming now.

    Unfortunately, all Player Hands are Player Specific, so Player 6 wouldn't work as a bit bin.  But that is a good idea, so I'm making the Solitaire hand open to all players in Ver. 3.0  Thanks for the idea!

    It's getting close to the drop, so if you have any more insights, let me know!

  8. Posted

    Jaster said:

    Budgernaut said:

     

    Whenever we see firing arcs with range increments indicated, the range increments follow the same arc as the internal firing arc guides. However, if you physically move the range guide around your ship's base, and within the firing arc, while trying to maximize distance, you can't get an arc like they always illustrate. Instead, you get a long, flat surface out front, corresponding with the face of the ship, and then rounded corners as you pivot the guide when it reaches the edge of your base. Is this making sense?

    The same would go for distance to other fighters for target locks and such. In those cases, you don't have 3 concentric rings of range, but 3 concentric squares with rounded corners. Sure, the circles look prettier, but the rounded squares would have been more accurate. If they had wanted circular ranges, they should have made the bases circular and had the ends of the maneuver templates also be rounded to fit those bases. That would have caused a problem with medium-sized ships, however.

    Anyway, the object of this rant is not to say anyone is wrong or FFG should have done things differently. I just want to point out what may or may not be obvious to my fellow gamers: maximum distances in this game follow the path of a square with rounded corners and not circles.

     

    The flat surface makes sense to me as the space between the the outboard guns on the x-wing for eg is a straight line.

     

    The graphics in the video look great but the range of a shot shouldn't be greater that those of the edges.

    I know where you're coming from but the difference in range from the center compared to the left or right of arc doesn't bother me that much.

     

    Ok, Making V. 3.0 of module and thought I'd take a closer look at this concern. here's my findings regarding circular firing arcs from a square base:

    It's not so much a square, as it is just a bit oblong of a circle. Here's a pic:

    Firing_Arc_zps8902dc75.png

  9. Posted

    Budgernaut said:

     Here's my tip: read this thread. The whole reason I brought up this issue was so that people wouldn't be put off by my range guide when I made my mod, but nobody seemed to pay any attention to it.

    EDIT: You know, your mod does something really well that mine wouldn't: it allows easy creation of brand new pilots. It's easy to just add a new name and different skill level of a custom pilot.

    EDIT 2: And I suppose I should let you know that I got your mod from Parakitor since we're twins. I hope you don't mind that he shared it with me, but there's nobody we know well enough to share with so I promise you the dispersal stops with me.

    Ok, Making V. 3.0 of module and thought I'd take a closer look at this concern.  here's my findings regarding circular firing arcs from a square base:

    It's not so much a square, as it is just a bit oblong of a circle.  Here's a pic:

    Firing_Arc_zps8902dc75.png

  10. Posted

    AidenDouglass said:

    I've heard all the reports on the module, and there will be a Ver. 3.0 available with the week, well before the tournament that takes into consideration everything that was reported/requested. 

    (Everything you say??  I think so.  Let's see, there was the Dice mods requested, rolling specific numbers, being able to re-roll specific dice, being able to move the dice rolled… CHECK!  Movement & Precision issues, CHECK!  Firing Arc concerns, investigated, fixed and CHECK!  Friendlier Stress/Crit/Action markers, CHECK!  Scale of things off, CHECK!  Video tutorial of how to set up VASSAL and install modules, soon to be ckecked, Video tutorial/quick intro to the module, possible check.  Written directions/quick reference maybe…)

    Anyway, the Tournament should be played with Ver. 3.0  Look for it on VASSALenging.org soon!   cool.gif

    EDIT:  *Will be available within the week.  *Being able to roll a specific number OF DICE.  lol.  No, you won't be able to request a Crit on your next roll.  lengua.gif 

    More on the dice:  MAN!  was that a B…ear of an addition.  OY!  ANYway, You'll be able to roll from 1 to 5 dice (Atk or Def), and only see that number of dice.  You'll be able to right-click an individual die and re-roll it (or click to select & hit Ctrl+V to re-roll it), you can even Shift-Click to select multiple dice and reroll them all with a Ctrl+V.

  11. Posted

    I've heard all the reports on the module, and there will be a Ver. 3.0 available with the week, well before the tournament that takes into consideration everything that was reported/requested. 

    (Everything you say??  I think so.  Let's see, there was the Dice mods requested, rolling specific numbers, being able to re-roll specific dice, being able to move the dice rolled… CHECK!  Movement & Precision issues, CHECK!  Firing Arc concerns, investigated, fixed and CHECK!  Friendlier Stress/Crit/Action markers, CHECK!  Scale of things off, CHECK!  Video tutorial of how to set up VASSAL and install modules, soon to be ckecked, Video tutorial/quick intro to the module, possible check.  Written directions/quick reference maybe…)

    Anyway, the Tournament should be played with Ver. 3.0  Look for it on VASSALenging.org soon!   cool.gif

  13. Posted

    ArcticSnake said:

    Did I download the right mod? The Y-wing and the TIE Advanced movement dials are messed up.

     

    TO:  doctormungmung and Arctic Snake, and anybody else who has had an issue with the Y-Wing and Tie_Advanced ship Dials

    This appears to be an isolated incident, I don't know what makes you guys so special (or maybe nobody uses Y-Wings or Tie Advanced…?…),
    But I have my suspicions about what this bug may be.  I'm going to change what I think needs to be changed, then re-upload these extensions.

    doctormungmung, I guess disregard my message to you on how to fix this yourself,sorpresa.gif I'm just going to go ahead and make the changes, re-upload the extensions and let you guys tell me if it fixed your problems. 

  16. Posted

    Sorry, Thought I should probably organize my Pics.  So I moved 'em and updated.  Wish I could delete my previous post…
    ~Aiden

    some images…

    start.png  Starting Positions

    1-3_2.png  1 & 3, still opposite facings

    Problem.png Terminal Issue with doing the same thing and expecting a different result

    2-3.png    Even doing a 2 vs 3 hard bank, you still end up with opposite facings

    barrel.png  Barrel roll… not much help, same result of opposite facings

    End.png  K-Turn.  Assuming the X-Wing continues her trend, the Tie can at least take a shot and maybe spook her into turning right, or any of a dozen (or more) possibilities, good and bad.  But the circle is broken…

     

    Lots of ideas here, but no pictures.  Thought I'd help.  =)

     

     

  18. Posted

    some images…

    start.png  Starting Positions

    1-3_2.png  1 & 3, still opposite facings

    Problem.png Terminal Issue with doing the same thing and expecting a different result

    2-3.png    Even doing a 2 vs 3 hard bank, you still end up with opposite facings

    barrel.png  Barrel roll… not much help, same result of opposite facings

    End.png  K-Turn.  Assuming the X-Wing continues her trend, the Tie can at least take a shot and maybe spook her into turning right, or any of a dozen (or more) possibilities, good and bad.  But the circle is broken…

     

    Lots of ideas here, but no pictures.  Thought I'd help.  =)

     

  19. Posted

    There's something that isn't clear in the rule book…

    So, you're saying that when you play with someone, you each should have your own complete damage deck?
    I was under the impression that everybody drew from the same damage deck…

    Ok  looked through both rule sets.

    Standard Rulebook says nothing about it, Tournament Rules says:
    Damage Cards:
    When a player’s ship is dealt a Damage card, the card is dealt from that player’s own Damage deck.
    Players must maintain their own discard piles for their Damage cards. Before shuffling, players may request to examine their opponopponent’s Damage deck to confirm its contents are correct. The TO may check Damage decks at any time.

    So, should we take this inconsistency as "If you're playing with a friend for fun, share 1 damage deck, but if it's a tournament you need to bring your own damage deck"? 

    Doesn't this change the game somewhat?  As was mentioned in another forum posting here on FFG,  "If you have a deck of 100 unique cards, you have 1% chance of drawing a particular card." -response was "Until that card is drawn, then you have a 0% chance of drawing it again."
    So, if you're sharing a deck, then your odds of drawing a critical card are X% with modification for another player drawing from the same damage deck, (I'm not a statistics whiz, you get my simplified point ;~} ) whereas if you've got your own deck, then your chances are simply X.

    so as far as clarifications, should we all be playing with out own Damage Deck?  no matter what?

  20. Posted

    The image of the ship is what hides your maneuver from your opponent.  Then when you hit Ctrl+R you can Reveal your move.  It sounds like you may be having a problem with the mask.  That's wierd.  I have actually tried setting dials on the board, hiding them switching sides/saving game, loading as different side, and I can always see the dial.  It's only when I'm connected to another player and he drags them out and hides them that I ever see the full mask.

    I'd suggest delete your module and extensions, re-download and reload.  This may clear your problem.  It's an odd one, congratulations, YOU WIN!  gran_risa.gif

     ?
     ||
    |  |
    |  |     <= Weird bug trophy.  All yours…
    /_

  23. Posted

    your local game store should have some "Green Stuff".  It's a miniatures industry standard sculpting/molding medium.  It's a 2 part epoxy, [blue part] + [yellow part] = [green stuff] to sculpt with.  It is very tacky when malleable, so it will stick nicely to your miniature, and is a bit like sculpting with warm chewing gum.  I'd recommend playing with small bits on test pieces before going at your miniature with it.  Water and a sculpting tool makes nice smooth surfaces, and it really is fun to play with.

    There is also "Brown Stuff" that is used for hard-edge modelling, but I find that green stuff is sufficient for most applications.

    There's a ton of information online for all miniature sculpting materials and methods.  Have fun!  gran_risa.gif

  24. Posted

    In the past, I have had an issue with adding extensions if the user doesn't have "Administrative Access".  VASSAL isn't able to create the necessary folder to store the extensions in.  This can be fixed by creating the folder yourself, of right-clicking VASSAL and choosing "Run as Administrator".

    Sounds as though you didn't have this problem, but I just wanted to throw it in here as a possibility in case someone does.  =)

    gran_risa.gif

  25. Posted

         Ok, doing some tweaking.   V.2 will be uploadable -have your cards handy.  I would like beta testers still, and I don't know how long FFG will take to reply to a request for permission to make this module public, so the only way I have to get a test base going is by direct communication.  I'd love for more players to test this mod with me, so share. =)  I should have V.2 done tonight.  if you have V.1, delete it and contact me for V.2 asap. 

    I'll log into the VASSAL "A_Chat_Module" when I'm available.

×
×
  • Create New...