Wednesday, July 18, 2012

10,000 Views!

Funny, I just loaded up the page to do a quick blurb on what I've been working on, and whoever was right before me was viewer 10,000!


Anyway, I have now finished record sheets for quad mechs, wheeled/hover/tracked/VTOL vehicles with 0 or 1 turret, and aerospace fighters.  I also have an option for hexagon armor points, square armor points, and graphic or text circles (in a hexagon like pattern).  All of the files used to generate record sheets are pretty easy to read and heavily commented text files.  I might release a standalone record sheet creator.


I have learned something over the last week too.  I will *NOT* support megamek files (MTF or BLK).  They aren't very consistent, and the megamek source a shambles (I really feel for those maintaining it), and I simply can't support that system with 100% accuracy, heck, I'm not even sure how it does it itself.


I will also have support that nobody else out there has.  I'll be able to print a series of logos in out of the way corners on sheets to show you factions the units are available to.  I'll calculate availability and tech ratings and have them on there as well.  Cost and BV will be calculated, no more relying on published and inaccurate figures.  On a mixed  tech frankenmech with patchwork armor I'll be able to show the armor/structure type and tech for each location, as well as the structure weight for all components.  I can show alternate BV's like "underwater".  I can modify the movement/BV of the unit based on planetary conditions you specify.  Heck, want to multiply the range of all weapons x4 (I highly recommend you try this, the game is SO much better IMO by doing it, at 1:300 scale it means each 1" is really about 300", and its like playing battletech in "1:1 scale"). I can do that too.  


AND, since I know lots of you want this kinda functionality.  Want to have a damaged mech?  Sure, I can cross out some crits, fill in some armor, and print your pilot stats in there.  Heck, I think I'll even have little kill icons at the top of the sheet if you want to get arrogant.  And yeah, I'll be able to calculate BV and stuff based on the current condition of the unit.


Oh, and now for something else I know ya'll will want.  Need to know how long it'll take to repair your mech with 1 elite and 6 veteran techs?  Sure, I can do that.  Hows about the cost of that repair and what parts are needed.  You got it.


What do you mean you want access to all that online?  Ok fine, you got that too.  So yeah, with my site soon you will be able to track every single thing about a mech, in fact, I'll even eventually support combat.  You will be able to play your unit, against somebody elses unit, online.  You'll have the option to just move your miniature and put in some modifiers, OR, you can use a built in map I'll provide to move your stuff around and shoot.  All from your browser, touch friendly, so you can just bring your phone to the next game and leave the books at home.  Heck, use top down megamek counters I released a utility to print and you can go to your local game with a phone, ziplock full of units, and all the rules on your phone as well.  Groovy eh?


Oh, and another feature I've mentioned before.  Lets say you just can't find a copy of TRO 2750.  Well shucks, you are outta luck.... unless you come here, select TRO 2750, and push print!  You'll get the ENTIRE TRO, with any errata I've found, minus the covers and breaks between chapters, all indexed, with a RS file if you so desire.  Aren't computers wonderful?


I'll be working on record sheets for at least another week or two.  Once I'm done with *ALL* of them, I'll start working on the site to integrate in all the changes, and hopefully make it a bit prettier and maybe even get it on a faster server.  


Great stuff to come!

15 comments:

  1. You sure you are on solid ground vis-a-vis copyright? If so, Hurrah marine.

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  2. Pretty sure. Thing is, license holders have to actively pursue infringements, all of them, if they want to keep their copyrights. If they don't care to pursue, it is kind of hard to show any reason why you want to keep your rights. Course I'm no lawyer, but nobody has said anything yet to my site or the dozens of others with similar information (and I know they are "aware" of me with all the stink I tend to stir up) so apparently I'm ok.

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    1. This made me go read a bunch of copyright law (I wouldn't recommend it, but if you can't sleep get it at http://www.copyright.gov/title17/).

      I came to the conclusion that as long as I don't charge, nothing I am currently doing violates any copyrights under the fair use act.

      However, if I charge, or I allow people to recreate a "copy" of a TRO or RS file, then I become a bad boy.

      My opinion is that while MechWarrior is still a profitable IP, BattleTech simply isn't and I would be very surprised if the user base increased at all overall each year. For that reason Topps may simply not care enough about the small change it brings to them to bother their lawyers.

      All the applications and utilities, or even a full blown game, don't duplicate enough of anything published, nor infringe on their sales, to be a violation. It isn't very ethical to make something like megamek, call it robotmech filled full of BT units, and call it your own, but it is pretty legal (no worries from me, I'll never charge for anything I create in my personal life, but you better know your paying a lot for my professional work).

      Again I'm not a lawyer, but I feel pretty darned safe about what I'm doing now. In fact, NOTHING I have made public isn't available on the internet in multiple locations right now, and if they don't go after everybody, going after me (with my very few followers) won't stand up in court at all.

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  3. I want to be able to print out battleforce or quick strike stats and group them into combat formations on one page, Like 4 quick strike stats for a lance. Is there a way to do that now or can this be added to the "wish list?"

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  4. Soon as I update the site with the new record sheets (which will be PDFs instead of the large PNGs) the next thing on my list is to allow users to log in and make "lists" of units. The units then become unique to them and eventually you'll be able to make changes to individual mechs, and print out current BT, QS, or BF sheets of any or all of them at any time.

    The only way to do that now is download 4 of the cards, and copy/paste them into excel, word, or make a PDF with 4 of them on a page (the free version of PDF X-Change lets you create a PDF from a list of images). So it isn't super easy, but not exactly hard to do something like that now.

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  5. What are the optimized ballistic/energy attacks on the back of the cards?

    And, with the separated attacks on the front, can you fire both in a turn? At two different targets or just one?

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    1. The optimized attacks are the BEST possible combination of weapons, based on heat/damage/range, for that unit. Yes, that means I go through THOUSANDS of possible combinations to find the best. It is what the attacks *should* be IMO, as it is far more accurate than the rules outlined in strategic operations (and only really possible with a computer). Eventually I'll probably replace regular attacks with this value, as it is just more representative of the capabilities of a unit. You can see a bit more on this at http://btengineer.blogspot.com/2012/06/optimized-quick-strikebattleforce.html

      And the 2 attacks. You can use just ONE of them. If you use the first, it uses ammo (the LA #/# value, first value is # of BF turns of ammo, 2nd is the resupply weight), if you use the 2nd, it doesn't use ammo.

      You can see more on my calculations from the tab up top, or http://btengineer.blogspot.com/p/battleforcequickstrike-modifications.html.

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  6. Thank you for the basics - and the re supply weight I per round fired?

    Btw - I pretty much read every entry on your blog - you've been through a lot of "stuff" during this time. I'm amazed at the amount of work you do for this game you don't play.

    Did you ever sell off any of your collection?

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    1. Supply weight is in tons, for the # of tons to totally replenish ammunition. An AS7-D with 2 tons of AC20, 1 ton of SRM6, and 2 tons of LRM20 would have about 4 turns of combat, and 5 tons to resupply, for LA 4/5.

      Nope, never did sell it, put it in tubs and tossed it in a spare closet. Too lazy and not in need of enough money to justify getting rid of it all piecemeal.

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  7. Are your ranges for movement for tabletop or hexes?

    Sorry for all the questions

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    1. Movement/ranges are for Battleforce. I believe you double all the values for a quick strike game. I can't say tabletop or hex, as you could play BF on either, and actually use any scale you desire. Short range is like 3 BT hexes, medium 6, long 21, or something like that.

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    2. Oh, and no problem with the questions, ask away!

      I appreciate the viewership, though I do wish somebody would chime in on threads like this one (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,21366.0.html) to let them know a lot of things like that they can find off my site (not all the LAMs work, but most of them do).

      Its amazing how often I see somebody asking in some forum for a resource I had right here all along.

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    3. Another URL:
      http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,21417.0.html

      I have all these fighters in my MUL. Don't have the fluff yet (nobody asked!) but do have the stats.

      TPTB sure screwed their own folks when they banned me :)

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  8. Wonderful work! I too would be very interested in a full page Battleforce record sheet creation feature since SSW's QSP print function is currently very broken. I am personally attempting to find or create a system of BattleForce unit "modules" that could be mixed and matched to create combined arms forces at a moment's notice (see previous hand-written attempts at http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,19930.0.html) and any software automation would be lovely! Thanks for all that you do!

    Ben Silver

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    1. After I finish helping out with TRO3063, I'll finish up the last few record sheets (which are all much easier than mech ones), release a major update on the site, and then I'll work on implementing users and lists.

      Basically, you'll then have a login. You can create any number of named lists of any size. You could create a list with each platoon of a SLDF division, or a list of every unit in a division, no limitations. I already have the units in the database, as well as the code to generate QS/BF cards (though I will be updating those soon too), so if you wanted to print your list click a button, and download the PDF I'll generate for you, then go print.

      I'll eventually allow you to modify the units on your list. Do things like apply armor damage, do crits, give pilot names/skills, etc. This way you can use my site to track your units from anywhere.

      Having repair costs/times is pretty simple after that. Heck, implementing full battleforce/quickstrike rules with a computer isn't very hard after that.

      Lets say a couple weeks for TRO3063 (I started a new job, and being an IT director isn't exactly a job with lots of free time!) so this is just a guestimate. After that a couple weeks for me to finish up the remaining record sheets. I'll then do a major update for the site (You'll download PDFs of the sheets instead of the current PNGs) and after that start on the user implementation.

      Oh, and I'll probably create some pre-existing unit lists of canon unit listings we have (WC/JF sourcebooks, Wolf's Dragoons, ELH/Waco Rangers, etc) so you can quickly have something to start with. And yes, that includes all the units from the original (and excellent) Galtor sourcebook.

      For now, you can download all the PNGs for the units, and then use PDF X-Change (free version) to create a PDF from images, and put 4 on a page. It'll do what you want and is pretty easy to use.

      If you have a list of specific units, and want to shoot them to me in pretty much any format, I can pretty easily create you a PDF with all of them within a day or so, depending on real life stuff.

      I will however be taking some liberties with the QS/BF stats. I'll have optimized values, which means they will be MUCH more representative of actual mech statistics. I'm probably going to ignore overburn, as 1 point of overburn represents a whole 3 points of heat in 1 turn of a battletech game. I may screw with the range bands (6/12/24/48 or something) to make them make more sense, and I'll be rounding normally instead of up for stuff. Basically, my #s will be a bit different than if you used strategic operations, but they will be FAR FAR more accurate. I have the benefit of a computer that can go through 20,000 weapon firing combinations to find the best possible scenario, when they had good reason not to force people to do that when it came to canon battleforce conversions.

      Though its a bit outta date, I did make my QS_MUL app (there is a thread over on the forums about it) that created cards for you and could print a list of units into a PDF. It may also help you until I get lists implemented.

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