BT stuff is everywhere!

First of all I'd like to thank the many of you who emailed me with support, apparently I'm not the only one that things the official forums are, well, not a very good place to go.

Second, my MUL has everything about everything.  The only thing left is about 200 WS/DS, after which I'll format it up, toss it in a database, and let people peruse it.

For but for of you who don't know how to use google, and think that i'm releasing IP protected content, use google: Google

Click on any of those links, well, minus the couple CCG related ones (Your results are probably a bit different, google sells your info and markets specific things to you based on your viewing habits).

Anyway, notice all those sites with everything needed to make that unit?  Heck, I don't even have all the fluff yet, and probably never will (though I do plan on grabbing quite a bit from HMP files, including who edited the if the data is in there).

So anybody getting all freaked out, I'm not copying a PDF and putting online like some have, I actually manually entered in every single byte.  I did link many to their canon MUL entry though, so you can hyperlink to masterunitlist.info, and my stuff will be in a much more usable format, but it isn't anything new to the internet by any means.

Oh, and I thought of this earlier today.  A bit on the whole ban thing, I did know it was coming eventually so it wasn't a surprise, the moderators did it, probably without talking to anybody on the CGL payroll (my assumption), but as a former leader in the US Army, I took full responsibility when my subordinates screwed up, and though it may or may not be right in this case, kicking a contributor off the forums forever for my infractions seems to me pretty harsh, and not the way CGL should allow its fans to be treated.  I don't think this was anything personal, but just moderators blindly following rules without interpretation, something I'd make my soldiers do push-ups for.

Here is my plan, in no particular order:

• Finish up the MUL, only about 200 units left, all DS/WS, probably won't finish till this weekend as I've got "chores" to do :)
• Write a real time game, similar to BT, using megamek mech type graphics for now but in DX, that lets multiple people log on and fight out a game between tanks, infantry, buildings, mechs, VTOLs, etc, etc.  I think the hardest part about this will be creating and defining the interfaces, can't exactly use the DOW one :)
• Import heavy metal mech fluff into the MUL, I never wrote an app to convert the other heavy metal apps :(
• Write a web interface for the MUL.  That includes showing all the record sheets, hopefully a QS/BF sheet, and some decent searching code.
• Finish up my rules for "Interstellar Wars".  This are probably much like IO/ISW or ISIF, but I'm thinking far less broken and far more detailed.  Its too big to fight out an entire succession war (unless you have a LOT of space/time/toner), but it'll be used to test out the code in the eventual Interstellar Wars computer game.
• Look at Renegade Legion again as a potential computer conversion instead of BT.  Though its owned by the same folks, nobody is making stuff for it, and I've always been a big fan.  Or maybe Heavy Gear/Jovian Chronicals.  Both of those I really need more art for though :(

Banned!!!

First, a warning, if you don't care for my rant skip down by the images...

So the moderators were nice enough over on the BT forums to give me, wait for it...

A PERMENANT BAN!!!!

What for you may ask?  Posting the data on the quirks list out of strategic operations.  Apparently its ok to copy/paste large chunks of text from books, as people do it all the time, so it must have been personal. I never flamed people, and was nearly at 1000 postings, so go figure.

Granted, I could go create a new account in milliseconds, but fuck em, they are Nazi's full of themselves anyway. It is annoying I can't even respond to PMs though, but real Nazi's would be ok with that.

Now that this happened, I can now do the following without remorse:

• No longer pay for their products or in any way support CGL
• Freely open and distribute information from their products
• No longer write software specifically for their products
• No longer ask people to buy their products or support the IP
• Release a competing game system without worry I may be negatively impacting BT writers and creators

Now some of you may be thinking I'm full of myself or something, and I rightly deserved to be banned... maybe,I can't argue with their logic, but here are my "infractions":

17th May 2011 - Friendly advice regarding rule 1 (personal attacks)

29th June 2011 - First warning (rule 4, no politics or religion)

18th August 2011 Second warning (rule 10; no selling/trading)

4th September 2011 - Third warning (rule 4, no politics or religion), one week posting ban

22nd September 2011 - Fourth warning (rule 3, confrontational behaviour)

25th September 2011 - Fifth warning (rule 10, no selling/trading); one month posting ban 

The one on 25 sep is valid, that was my bad, the other on 18 Aug I was just letting local folks to head to the game store that weekend, I was bringing my stuff if they wanted any (no prices or anything, just a "make sure you show up" thing, it was in a dedicated thread to their group).  I have yet to find out what the 17th may thing was, I never attack people personally.  The whole politics/religion thing, well, it wasn't a "Go Romney" or some other stupid comment, it was comparing why things could work in the BTU based on our own history, and wasn't even offensive.  The one on 22nd sep I was banned because when asking about system coordinates, I kept saying "TPTB won't release them".  ANYWAY.....

The rest of ya'll may be saying "all shucks, I wanted him to finish something", but here is the great news!  I am no longer bound by the silly BTU.  My MUL ground to a halt the last few days as I find uncorrected error after uncorrected error in record sheet and TRO books.  The BT folks really just don't give a crap about quality when it comes to the crap they release.  Their errata is pathetic, and I've been buying every book that came out in both DTF and PDF in the hopes that when errors were found, they'd update the PDF... .but nooooo, they don't do that, they hate their customers.  I've felt this way a long time, but tried to bite my tongue in the hopes I was just mistaken.

Oh, and btw, I emailed Randall about releasing all my MUL data and got no reply.  So apparently it is ok.  If you don't defend your trademarks, you can loose the trademark on it (and the licensing).  It isn't formatted yet, but if anybody wants a raw excel file email me at bad_syntax @yahoo.com.  Once I get it formatted I'll toss it into SQL, put it online till I get a C&D, then post it in a country that doesn't care about C&D's... if TPTB don't care about their products, why should I?

Ok, so now what am I doing you ask?  Here is what I've been doing:

• The MUL.  I've gone through all the buildings, including the castle brian stuff (filled full of errors!).  I also went through all the variants that were only in older products and got them updated.  I still need to cleanup support vehicles, but that shouldn't be too bad.  Then enter in DS/WS/JS/SS, which again shouldn't be too bad.  I need to be motivated to work on it again, which may not happen until they release some new book or something.
• The Reunification War, the board game.  I've been designing out a game based on the SLDF conquering of the TDF in the reunification war.  I have about 60% of the base rules complete, and was finishing up the map. Sorry that its still in excel, its easier to edit the map in that mode, eventually it'll be hexes.  The movement is the same tho, 4 hexes (er squares) per 30 LY.  The Hyades and Pleiades cluster have additional planets in the open area as there is no way to have a map with only 1 system per hex/square, even at 1 LY per hex!  Also the counters, which may not have accurate #s yet, but the format is pretty final.  If anybody wants the map in excel let me know, it'll print on 6 sheets of standard paper and has .7" square (I think).

 

• So, next thing in my list, I'll work on creating an alternate universe to BT, but one with many of the same elements.  Big advance tech faction, breaks up, technology lost, lots of wars, comes back, etc.  I'll create all new units based on things I can find in history.  I don't have to worry about scaling at this point, as this is only a board game (I'll be using it to test out some of the combat/production systems before coding it into the final computer version).  Each faction will have a flavor, everybody won't feel the same.  It will have giant walkers, power armor, tanks, aircraft, gateships (jumpships), warships, and assault ships (dropships).  I can produce all the numbers myself, which has been a pain with the BTU.
• I setup some PHPBB forum software on my old server recently but decided it was too much work for me to maintain.  If there are any big fans to what I'm doing out there, or even BT fans (hehe) who are familiar enough with it to set it up and mod it, I'd be happy to run the hardware.  Only 1 rule, "don't be an ass", everything else is fine.  I can also give you RDP access to my server, and all the "goodies" that entails ;)
• One thing for all the folks that think DX and VB don't mix, I completely recreated the DOW2 control panel a while back using it.  The control is fully functional and object based.  Each button has highlights, clicks, mouseovers, different states, scaling, font/text, even animated buttons.Oh, and it'll be fully customizable in anything i write, so you can make your own, move buttons, etc.  Even though it is IDENTICAL to the DOW2 interface, it is 100% created and rendered by me, using images from the DOW2 game.

And this one, which has little animated green 40K hormagaunts moving across the map, which you can shoot at with sound and animated bullets:

Wouldn't take much for me to put mechs on it, add network code, and let you fight lots of friends in real time ;)

So, no more data entry and data mining of BT stuff, and honestly after entering in over 4500 units and seeing all the errors, its a wonder I even finished (well mostly).  But all the projects I've been working on, even cartographer, will still get finished, but none of them will be specific to battletech anymore, that universe is dead to me unless Jordan Weisman, and only him, wants to ask me for something.

MUL!!

The MUL is now 94% complete!  The rest are a few models of things scattered about.  Often units that were in an older record sheet book and not in the newer ones.  2% of those left represents about 80 of these situations.  I got rid of most of the duplicates, match up variants described with no model to ones with models, and identified a bunch of units missing from the official MUL.  Right now, excluding the stuff I list below, I have 4674 units.  There are another 672 that the canon MUL has that I don't, about half will be matched up as I finish the rest, many of the others don't have any sources in the canon MUL, so I may just skip them until more data is available.

There are 500 more units I still have to go through, these are:
205 Support Vehicles - mostly just cleanup
40 Buildings - mostly just cleanup
120 Dropships
17 Jumpships
2 Mobile Structures
24 Space Stations
92 Warships

I saved the more complicated units for last, as I needed to come up with a method to save crazy stuff like warship bays with 3 items in them, 2 of which have doors, but only 1 door type can launch, weapon bays with 4 weapon types, all with unique ammo.  Heck, I'm still not sure if I should track ammo in DS/JS/WS/SS by entire unit, or by bay (I have a question open on the official forums that hasn't been answered yet).  Mobile structures can get *really* complex, as I have to track 20 hexes, 20 turrets, dozens of item types, etc, etc.  Still tho, I can knock out all the rest in a couple days.

However, I have a *LOT* of cleanup to do.  Gotta make sure stuff is consistently inputted, clean up my excel file, go back through the hundred or so items I have marked as having some issue and see if I can find errata or a fix as to why it was a broken design, etc, etc.

I also want to go through and rip all the text out of heavy metal files (fluff stuff) and push it into this database (including credits if they were in there) and make a lot of the images that aren't on the canon MUL.

In the next week or two I'll make a website that'll let you peruse the data, as well as functionality to let you make a change to it to fix errors.  I won't have support yet to print out PDFs of lists of units, and may not end up ever allowing that support to be available to the public to avoid CGL loosing any sales.

MUL Comming Along!

Just a little updated on the MUL....


Now 72% completed.


Saving Warships, Jumpships, Space Stations, Dropships, Mobile Structures, and Support Vehicles until last due to their complexity.


Also started working on the design document for the full blown succession wars style game I'm doing.  However, I'm writing it up as a rules set, so if you want to make your own counters you could fight out any sized battle, even entire succession wars, in your own living room (assuming ample space of course), or just use the rules to fight a small region.  These rules will be the core of the rules in the game I'm doing, though eventually I'll be able to scale down to individual elements in the computer conversion, while the rules only really go down to company level (and not very detailed companies) at the lowest.


I also spent quite a bit of time looking for BT models, and the papercraft ones look to be low poly, have decent textures, but still no animations and they are in some PDO format I'm not sure if I can reverse back into something like the directx model format.  Regardless I still need the animations to be motivated to do a 3D game, without them its just too boring ;)


Once the MUL is complete I'll create a system to allow people to individually validate entries, without giving global access to everything for everybody.  This way hopefully people can check my work, though I do plan on having a design system verify the designs as well.


Got my hardcopy of FM3085 and RS:Prototypes today, kinda sucks that I already looked them over as PDFs :(.  But the FM3085 maps really pop out, full screen color, they look great.


Its funny how officially, RATs are pretty much worthless and inaccurate, yet somehow, in FM3085 there are 36 pages of them, and new rules for using them based on equipment levels and stuff.  If these things are just for "pickup games", why so much detail???  Really seems there is something up there, and I'm pretty sure, even though officially they are crap, I'll be using various RATs for randomly generating units in the computer games as they look pretty good to me.  Besides, only an idiot would want 50 different designs in his regiment, the logistics would quickly decimate the unit before any contact, a dozen different designs is even pushing it in some situations IMO. 


Anyway, working hard, more to come soon.

Some new stuff...

I made a quick BT based random system generator using the methods in the ComStar book.  You can access it at http://goodsects.gotdns.com/btrandomsystemgenerator

Here is a very early version of a method to map out entire worlds, accurate to single BT hexes (well there is no hard coding, I've rendered 7.2 TRILLION BT hex worlds which is basically earth accurate to 100', but there are no defined limits).

The map in the upper right is a satellite view of a planet.  Each pixel on that map is 12km.  The map right under it is just a zoomed in version.  The map below that is the same map, but showing the biomes instead of the satellite imagery.  The 9 little boxes to the right determine transitions, they'll go away when I finish that code.

The big map on the left.  I don't have water transitions at all yet, and my transitions between terrain types looks like crap.  I need for the terrain to have little fingers that go in and out, like a puzzle, not the random scattering of both terrains where different terrain types meet up.  The code isn't real optimized either.  But, the overall random placement of terrrain on each region (12km is a region) is done with perlin noise, and I'm happy with the results. Each of those 9 maps that are in that 1 big window are 24 hexes across (so you can see the terrain), but in the final version they'll be 300 hexes across (I've already rendered this so it does work, but it takes a few seconds ;)).  This view won't be used much, but I have to build the methods to map out an entire planet, so you can move your battalions/lances/companies/corps/etc around on the map.  I'm using some megamek hexes as I simply don't have a good set of hexes to use.  I need one that has all the tacops combinations, and some random variations between them to avoid patterns, but this will work for now and those can be added later.  I haven't added the height code yet, but it'll be much like the existing stuff and not be too hard to implement.  Algorithms really kick my butt tho so every little stupid thing takes me way longer than it would an intelligent person.

This map will allow things like persistent damage, dynamic weather, and any number of objects (buildings, destroyed units, whatever isn't terrain) on a planet to be defined and interacted with.

My MUL is now 60% complete.  I've been working hard :)  This is much like the official MUL, but I'll have everything about every unit, like heat sinks, weapons, armor per arc, critical slots, etc, etc.  Eventually I'd like to add fluff too, but it may just be too time consuming for me.  If I had the fluff added, I'd be able to print a selection of units that'd look almost exactly like the official TRO's or RSs, except hopefully without all the errors :)

I'm pretty sure this is an old blog, but it is dated recently.  The whole concept of range with 250km hexes is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.  I've played hundreds of wargames, and never, ever, ever, at a scale anywhere close to that, do units have a "range".  Blogs like this really make me question the ability of TPTB to produce a decent strategy game.  This saddens me, as its the one thing I've been waiting for since I first read the 4th Succession War Atlases so many years ago.

Oh, and about Congress.  I'm thinking I will forget it.  It looks like I'll have to spend 2 full months, going house to house, to get anywhere close to 500 signatures I'll need.  Without a dozen or so people to help me, there is no way I can get my name on the ballot.  I thought about making a youtube video to see if it could help recruit volunteers, but I don't think people tend to like me much as I'm a bit abrasive, so maybe I should just find another way to help save my country :(

Mid-Month Update

Since I've been happily unemployed the last month or so I've been able to dedicate a lot more time to some pet projects (My wife and I were smart enough to ensure we could live off only the lowest salary, so no rush in that job search).


So here is what I've been working on, BT wise:

• I started working on an intermediate version of BT, something between QS and BT.  Then, sitting there going over notes I made years ago on such a system, I said "wtf am I doing?  Computers are the future..." and dumped it.
• I have been working on my own MUL for a while.  I went through every single product, wrote down every single unit and every product it was in (not just the latest).  I finished that a while back, and started adding in all the data needed to construct those units (so no fluffy stuff like capabilities or manufacturers).  It is now 34% complete (27 MAR update, 47%).  I am saving dropships, space stations, and warships for last since they have wacky weapon bays, and those represent about 4%.  I've finished all battle armor, aerospace fighters, conventional fighters, infantry platoons, and many conventional vehicles.  I've also done quite a few mechs, but as my percentage says, I still have 2/3rds to complete.  This is basically like the MUL, but it'll actually have details of what every mech has, and eventually you'll be able to select say 50 mechs, and print a TRO, that comes out just like the TROs printed by CGL.  I'm not 100% sure this will be available to everybody though, as I don't want to take away from CGL sales.  Perhaps they'll let me link to them so if you buy a PDF version of a product, you get a login.  Anyway this is a major focus.
• I started going through to write a quick aerospace fighter game.  Real time, control a fighter and fight it out online against others.  There are 2 things that stalled this.  #1 was designing an interface, I made one up, but I think it looks like crap, see for yourself:

        The other thing that stalled it was the way I was coding it.  Basically any future thing like this I'll be doing in DirectX.  I currently have an engine that allows me to recreate a dynamic control (I completely redid the Dawn of War 2 interface in DX to test it) and have a large chunk of work done in a sprite editor. Most of the stuff on this page works (not the blinky lights or animations yet, and some other controls need some tweaks), but have a looksie:

      That is a Behemoth tank from MegaMek, with a separately skinned turret (I need to split the smaller turrets too, but oh well).  I'll need a lot of graphics like this in order to make a real time game, and I simply don't have the talent for graphics.  Volunteers feel free to apply :)  I need to finish this editor before I can move on to other parts of code, like networking, particles, and the landscape engine.  Also, this is a DIRECTX render of the tank, not some GDI thing, its actually a sprite rendering engine I wrote for DirectX in vb.net.  However VB.NET support, and even C# without using XNA, is pretty scarce online with DX, so I am not real sure I can complete it with all the bells and whistles.

• I worked a bit on a method to map out an entire planet using the smallest amount of drive space as possible.  I think I got it down to a reasonable size, but then I hit a major snag.  Basically I need a method of dynamic terrain generation for a world (right now I use Fractal Terrains), and dynamic terrain generation for 10km regions on that planet, with transitions between regions and some uniqueness.  Fractal world creators are all quite lacking IMO, and none produce very realistic results in many cases.  I started tinkering with the idea on "how to generate a world" with my poor math skills, but can't get any further because of those skills.  Basically, here is how to generate a world:
• Create some polygons on a planet with fractally inspired lines (but still pretty linear).  Essentially these become your "plates". 
• Determine how these plates interact.  Basically they can be grinding against each other, separating, or closing.
• Plates pushing together form a mountain, pulling apart a ridge and valley, grinding a bit of both.
• Then, based on the movement of the plates against each other, move them for millions of years.  As they move, determine wind (based on planet rotation rate, temperature, and axial tilt) erosion based on the soil type (stuff that was once an ocean erodes fast, rock up from the bottom doesn't) and also calculate rainfall and water erosion (and rivers/lakes).
• Volcanoes typically form where plates are together, but could randomly form anywhere.  They can change terrain dramatically.
• Add some random big meteor strikes, they make big holes
• Depending on temperature, occasionally have some glaciers that simply move down from the top of map, eroding the soil like wind/water.
• I think this would all work, but I'm too stupid to figure out how to code it :(
• I am finding a LOT of errata going through books entering in units.  Obviously CGL needs some automation on designing/printing units.. I'd help them, but they don't ask :)

Thanks for reading and the comments (and private emails)!

March's Ramblings

Been out of a job an entire month now, sure doesn't seem like it, and I haven't been nearly as productive (non-bt wise anyway) as I would have liked, I think waiting for my severance and all the cash sent my job not really have "closure" for a few weeks.  Its wacky working somewhere 7 years and not being there anymore.  I've never even lived anywhere over 2 years before, so for me it was, well, weird.  However, its quite nice to have time to do things, and not always feel stressed.  I highly recommend not working if you can get away with it ;)

Ok, onto Battletech!

First I'd like to say thank you VERY much to CGL for producing the Liberation of Terra historical.  I am *SO* much more interested in 2500-3025 than I am 3075+, and the book is pretty darned good.  I would have liked a few more #s (like how many of what kinda SDS per system, and a breakdown of all the divisions, all that detail stuff) but its a great purchase!  I also bought the 2 hard cardstock things, just to support them, as I haven't played in a long time and doubt I will anytime soon.

I made a HUGE amount of changes to the MUL_QS thing, its really a finished application now.  I do plan on one more update I think, and that'll be reading in data from a CSV so you can make your own BF/QS stats.  I was thinking of using the SSW BF file, with a column added for image location and skills.

I spent a lot of the last few days helping out the upcoming fan produced TRO3063 over at Battletech Reader which is coming along nicely, and I think a lot of you will enjoy.  But it gave me some ideas.

Idea #1:  Using a list of SSW files (or whatever format I eventually go with, probably my own), create your own TRO.  This would take all the fluff/images and stuff from design software, and create a PDF that reads like any modern TRO.  Same thing with a record sheet file.  If I could produce something like that, CGL could make new TROs and RS's with a lot less errors a lot easier.... *IF* they used it.

Idea #2.  A Reunification War board game.  I played with this earlier, made a map and some counters, but just didn't have enough detail to finish it out.  I started doing the same thing with a Liberation of Terra game, basically a map, maybe 3' x 3', that lets you use 1 counter per division (or maybe corps) and slug out the battle towards Terra.  I decided I'd wait until the next volume to pursue it further.

Idea #3.  A real time version of battletech, with a top down view, utilizing megamek style icons with camo applied.  You would control 1 unit (perhaps more later), initially just 3039 units and basic rules.  I actually wrote up a system that allocated damage and criticals to mechs using megamek data files.  It worked great, then project creep set in, and I got off track.  I eventually decided to just have tanks for now, as the rules are far simpler (loading up all the crits on mechs was an issue, split criticals, artemis, multiple slot items, it all just got annoying), and could have something pretty soon.  This leads to #4.

Idea #4.  For *years* I have wanted a fully blown game of BT.  By fully blown I mean you control every single lance (or just the regiments if desired) for an entire house, and battle it out.  If we had 100% data on units, production numbers, planets, etc, I would have finished this years ago, but since I never wanted to fill in the blanks with my own stuff, it always stalled.  Stupid reason, but it wasn't like I had a deadline.  Anyway, based on #3 I decide I *had* to have a map system to go further.  I designed this map system years ago, so I could map out an entire planet in 32mb or less, with single hex accuracy and persistency.  So I finally wrote it, and its working.  My 10km "regional" maps are all pretty darned boring, but the whole system works, and though all terrain will be flat with only trees and rough, I think I may start moving forward with a real time game based on this.  This means with a mech moving 12 MP per turn, it will take you nearly 2 weeks of *REAL* time to run around the entire world.  Yes, its *that* big, and honestly I have no idea why games aren't all that big, technology has been here to do it for years.

And the bad news.  I talked with the Secretary of State today, and apparently I processed my paperwork correctly, so I can indeed be a US Congressional Candidate (District 32, Texas) in 2012.  I was hoping I messed it up, as I do NOT want that job, but feel it is my duty to do it until somebody who gives a crap about their constituents steps up and lets me forget about it.  And this year for Texas elections are wacky, we had some redistricting that went to court, and tinkered with our election cycle and areas.  As I refuse to run as an idiotic republican, an idiot democrat, or any of the other crappy parties, I am running independent.  This means I need 500 signatures to get my name on the ballot.  Normally I get 30 days or so to do that after the primaries, but this year I get like 3 months!  Woot!  So I need to knock out my website, some various flyers/cards/signs, and start going door to door.  Hopefully people will want to help with their time, as I refused to accept any monetary donations from anyone, as people may have a different amount of money, but everybody has 24 hours in a day.  Anyway, back to BT, assuming you read past this, most people *hate* talking about politics, even though its their own lives that suffer when they ignore it.

So I'm staying focused on this project this time.  This last BT project I actually named "DoItOrForgetIt".  If I don't finish this, or start to stray, I'll give up on it.  It has been nearly 10 years since my first thoughts of it, and without progress I can call it a dream and move on.

There are a few parts of this last project:
Part #1.  A designer for every type of unit in the universe.  The interface is by far, the hardest part of this, and the one that has caused me the most headache.  However I'm about 30% on my way to finishing it.
Part #2.  A system to map out and fight on up to an entire planet.  Though I don't have random 10km regional maps like I'd like, what I do have no will work good enough to continue.
Part #3.  Data entry.  I need everything in the universe put into a computer format.  I have a *LOT* of this done already, and can fill in the blanks with random stuff if absolutely necessary.
Part #4.  A stellar interface.  This is much like my Cartographer was, but with more game functionality.  This will be the core part of the game system.  I've written 90% of it once, so doing it again (my code wasn't real efficient, and I want directx in the next version) shouldn't be a problem
Part #5.  Automated battle system.  This will scale from you controlling a single trooper on the battlefield, up to launching a full 8 RCT's against Tikonov with just a few mouse clicks.  The level of detailed desired is configurable.

So, I'm off to work on #2 and #5, those will be my focus for a short time, followed by going back to #1, adn lastly #4 and #5.

If *anybody* can help me out with 10km tileable map generation I *really* could use the help.  My maps will suck horribly until I get some, as I just can't seem to get a decent grasp on how to create it.

Oh, and I have a stack of battletech and starfleet battles books if anybody wants them, I put an add on craigslist  but haven't gotten any hits.  Pay for shipping and $10 for my time and *all* of it is yours.  Its a stack of books like 15" tall, not sure what that'll cost to ship.  If your local (DFW) and want to stop by its yours for free.