Exclusive Battletech Alpha Strike Cards!

Well now I've done it.  I've produced the FIRST Alpha Strike card, totally canon, ever produced.

Yep, first one ever.  Not even CGL has produced one for the masses yet, which seems nuts since they must have tested the game at some point.... right?

Anyway, this was created with a tool I stayed up too late last night writing.  It is a very simple little tool, and just lets you plug in values, and it outputs the card.  AND I added command line support, so if you have a list of stats, it'll output them without interaction quickly and easily for you!  I did it using the older .NET 2.0 as well, to avoid incompatibilities.

ONE issue though.... anybody know the exact font used or that should be used?  I went with Helvetica but it wasn't a perfect match.  Then again, since this is the FIRST card, who knows?

I'll be available for download tonight, as well the 60 or so cards in the Alpha Strike book.

EDIT:  Nevermind, I made them all already.  Though I need to point to record sheet background art instead of TRO.  I also decided to go from a command line input, which means slow app startup, to an interface within the exe that lets you just copy/paste values from excel.  I'll also add color background support, so you can print cards in the "faction colors" they are in the Alpha Strike book.

Anyway, download link, with the executable, AND a batch file I used to create them (though it'll be useless tonight with the new release):

http://goodsects.gotdns.com/bte/AlphaStrike.zip

Not a lot of error checking, and I'm not yet changing the PV based on the SKILL, but all that will be done tonight.  If anybody has the font that should be used these would be *perfect*.

Oh, and also in this batch are the consolidated lance/star and platoon/binary cards, so you can play larger battles!  I did have to add a BIR there, which stands for "battlefield intelligence rating" for the larger units.  They are NOT canon, but all the single units are.

Enjoy, let me know what you think!

ANOTHER EDIT!

Color cards, with miniature pic instead of TRO pic:

http://goodsects.gotdns.com/bte/AlphaStrikeColor.zip

And yet ANOTHER update, boy I'm busy today!

Though I still have some work to do, I did find the font, duplicated the outlined text, and found a decent background texture.  However, the canon version still looks better... the rest is going to be much harder to duplicate for me :(

My version:

Canon version:

Why I should hate Catalyst Game Labs

So somebody asked me something today, combined with my free copy of Alpha Strike yesterday, and going through all 110 of my Battlecorps orders over the last few years and finding 5 items (need to double check, but at least 3) that I haven't even gotten yet and it got me thinking.

I went and got my order history from my 2 battlecorps accounts (not sure how that happened) over the last 5 years.  From August 2008, to this month, I have given CGL $2988.27 of my money.  On top of that, I've given IWM another $1809.20 ($255 of that through the Kickstarter).  I've also bought quite a bit of stuff at my LGS, but don't have detailed records on that.  I have at least 6 of the latest boxed sets, and more miniatures that I can paint in a lifetime.  I also blew $90 on a battlecorps subscription (well 2, because I couldn't disable auto-renew).

I have also spent thousands on ebay for miniatures, old book lots, etc.  I won't count that though, as that wasn't money into CGL's pocket.

So, on average, each month, over the last 5 years, I've given CGL about $80 per month.

Of the 6 of my "warnings" on the forum that got me banned, 2 were due to me talking about politics in a discussions about military sizes, populations, etc, you know, those threads that start every week.  2 more were in a thread that was only used by a group that met at a particular store on weekends.  I said "bring money, I'll bring mini's" sorta thing.  Apparently that was wrong too, even if no $ was mentioned.  The other I said something nasty about the amount of errors in their products.  I never flamed anybody personally, never attacked folks, never got "trollish", and always acted with respect towards others.  A couple of those "warnings" I'm 99% sure were just a difference of opinions between a moderator showing personal bias over their role as a moderator, but whatever, I got banned.

Then I'm like "Screw these guys" on my blog after, which even though a temper tantrum, it was on my own blog, read by at most 50 people, but probably well under half that.  Regardless, it was an off-the-cuff thing, and I pretty quickly got over it (or did I? :)).

As it really appears to me, justifiably, that CGL simply doesn't care about me as a customer, I wonder now why I'm sending them $80 a month to pay their bills, sustain their operations, and create new content.

I was one of the top submitters for errata out there, I created lots of new utilities for folks, wrote designers, star charts, and if I wouldn't have been banned I know that today we'd have builders for everything from warships, to mobile structures, to buildings, to bases, to RPG characters, in addition to the usual stuff.  I could have made vast contributions to the masterunitlist.info site.  I would have been fine waiting the couple months before updating my database with new products (for example, I added the LC 3145 stuff last night, though I haven't updated the database their attitude towards me doesn't justify me holding off either).  I was a positive influence on the game, the forums, and the fan base.  Heck, I would have ran demos and given away more miniatures at events (I have thousands I'd give away for a decent cause).  I bought everything, often multiple copies.  In every single way, I was a great customer.

That all being said though, I won't throw hate at Herb, Randall, or any of the folks on the staff at CGL, nor will I stop buying too much stuff.  My anger towards them is unjustified, as not one of them have ever said anything negative to me.  A couple of times I've spoken with them personally and not had any negative thing to say.

So I will direct my anger and disappointment towards the moderators of the forums at http://bg.battletech.com.  Not all of them, but many.  I see bias, hypocrisy, elitism, and trolling, not to mention unprofessionalism from many of the moderators.  It is the moderators (again, not all, but many) that I think are the root of the problems on the forum.

If I decide to not become a customer anymore, and with my current trend towards PDFs only that could very well happen, the moderators on the forums will have cost CGL $80 a month, or nearly $1000 per year.

The biggest tragedy however I think is the overall loss of quality of content on the official forums over the last year or so.  The topics are dull, interesting conversations few, and the number of posts where no information exchange takes place is astounding.  I have spoken, in person and email, from quite a few folks that have nothing positive to say about the forums as well.  Perhaps its just my viewpoint.

Soooooo, now for the good part, since I'm sure everybody has gone on to surf porn by this point and left this blog behind.

I will be starting my own phpBB forum.  I've gotten it running before (its actually on my site if you know where to look) but never advertised it as I didn't think my server, already overloaded making battletech PDFs and Alpha Strike cards, as well as a handful of other sites, could handle the load of a forum with decent response time.  Anyway, I actually work at a hosting company, and can get a new server up and running, well, within a few minutes, that should easily be able to handle the load, and has hundreds (yes, with an 's') of megabits of bandwidth available.

Initially I'll focus on Battletech, though I'll have Robotech, Heavy Gear, Star Fleet Battles, Traveller, 40K, and whatever threads I think may be interesting.

My forum rules:
#1.  Don't be an ass

I'll post an update in the next few days as I set this up.  Hopefully I'll have my site updated to print all the new Alpha Strike cards as well.

If anybody wants to be a moderator... well, not in protecting threads, but just maintaining the board (moving threads as requested, locking them, answering user requests, etc) apply within.  I can setup and get phpBB running, and can probably figure out updates, but I'm not a pro with it.

I actually thought about doing an appeal to one of the official CGL folks, but with me recognizing the biased and hypocritical moderators, I'd be hypocritical in even asking (at least not until they "clean house").

BattleTech Alpha Strike Counters!

2 updates in 1 day, but no, I'm not working on Battletech.

I made counters for all the companies in the Alpha Strike book.

I was going to print all the numbers on the back, but didn't know if anybody wanted these.  Having the numbers on the back means you don't need Alpha Strike sheets.  Instead, for things like damage/criticals, you can make up little counters to use, eliminating all paper tracking from the game.

I also consolidated each lance/star into a single "element", and all 3 lances (or 2 stars) into a single element.  This is basically averaging out all the values.  But doing this means you can fight out your Alpha Strike battle, or, just average stuff out, and you could fight 2 regiments of 10 elements each, instead of 2 binaries of 10 mechs each.  The only recommendation I have for changes at this scale is that for each additional scale, half the range.  So if you want lance sized elements, half all the ranges.  If you want company sized elements, quarter them, etc.  Mathematically dividing by 4 is probably better, but units get slow and short ranged.

Anyway, the table for the consolidated stats is at bottom, here are some counters for you to print up and use for a game!  Oh, you will have to scale them, as I didn't create a PDF to ensure they'd always be the same size.  I got this idea from somebody posting on the forum about counters or mini's.

And creating these for any unit I have a megamek icon for, with any camo I have camo for, is quite trivial.  Let me know if you like/use!

BattleTech Alpha Strike, For Free!!!

Well nifty, I logged into DriveThroughRPG, looking to see if Alpha Strike was out yet, and apparently it kinda was.  I got a copy for $0 before they took it back offline.  I think I may have just snuck through an update!   Muhahahaha.  I'll still buy the hardcover though, as it does look to have some different stuff in it, but no longer need the PDF (which is a crime to charge an additional $15 for something you  bought in paper form)

As for Battletech.  Thanks to a few very persistent folks, I keep doing stuff.  I apparently can't escape.  The last 4 days now, and probably the next few, I've been going through all my conversion code for Alpha Strike/Battleforce.  When I say all of it, I mean ALL of it.  I'm finishing up code for things like Warships, Mobile Structures, and even buildlings.  ALL of it.  I'm mostly done now, but it'll still probably be a day or two before I update the site again.  Oh, you'll be able to specify the environment too, so if you want to play an Alpha Strike game underwater, or in a vacuum, or whatever, the card data will be modified appropriately.

I've found HUNDREDs, if not more, tiny issues in my database.  Almost all related to listing things like "Ferro Fibrous" instead of "Ferro-Fibrous", or just formatting issues, but I have validated just about every design now and my code works.  If you look at units now you see some debug info on how I got costs/BV/ratings, though it still isn't perfect.

However, I'm really thinking of changing the system a bit, though I'll try to have an option to see "canon" or "bad syntax" sorta values.  For example I'm thinking of dividing damage by 5, or even 3, instead of 10.  When doing your "to-hit roll", you roll 2d6, adding any modifiers, and apply it to a special table I made that looks a lot like a missile hit table.  It will then tell you how much damage you do based on how well you rolled.  Unit damage is still the same, divided by 30, but output will be much higher, as this way you see a more granular method of doing the damage.  I'll also have more stats for quick strike.  It'll still be simple, but I'll have a few more attack values and better conversions, plus a few more abilities.  

As for all my code, well, if you want anything inparticular email me, but I have an absolutely huge amount of stuff and its just been more than I wanted to bite off to pretty it all up and distribute it.

I'll try to do up some top view counters this week using megamek imagery and camo's.  I'll print them on .75 or 1" chunks.  For Davion, I'll do a yellow background with 1 of each mech in the intro boxed set (and all variants), in all camo's I have.  Then I'll spit it out as a big PDF so you can print whatever units you want.  Sure wish there weren't so many missing graphics in megamek tho :(

The Alpha Strike sheets need redesigned, they are woefully inadequate if you play a game with all the optional rules.  In fact, nothing out there is any good.  I made some with all the bells-and-whistles, but they kinda suck too :(  If anybody is creative artistically and thinks they can make a great template with well over 50 different places to put data, let me know as I can fill it in :)

I offered to give code to make a canon record sheets to the masterunitlist.info guys, no response yet, but they have far too many units without a card when the Alpha Strike book tells them to go there :(

So I'm done with Battletech, yet somehow very actively working on it.  Go figure ;)

Progress < 0

Just to let ya'll know, I haven't forgotten to put everything up, just been busy with stuff.  My dad killed himself a week before father's day (over his wife, though alcohol and prescription drugs were involved), and my mental capacity to focus on, well, anything has been pretty pathetic.  However, I did update the BTE site with the 4 new 3145 TRO's, so as of today, they are 100% updated, including fluff data and images.  Even though I won't be doing BT stuff for a while (alpha strike and/or IO *may* change that) I will be keeping the database updated.  I spent too much time on it to let it fall behind.  If you see any broken PDFs or stupid quick strike sheets let me know, 6000 is just too many to check manually :)

I blew $3200 on the Robotech Kickstarter, and am now anxiously awaiting the miniatures.  The Palladium game sucks so horribly though, not sure how any game they make from their RPG could do anything else.  But at least I got the miniatures coming finally! 

In other news:
- I started converting the 5th Frontier War to PC.  Got quite a bit done in 1-2 days, then got unmotivated again.  It was a prototype for some interfaces for my eventual full scale strategic game.
- Lots of work making robotech tactics cards, but nothing final yet.  Feel free to look at them at http://goodsects.gotdns.com/rrt.  Also made a character generator at http://goodsects.gotdns.com/rrt/zcg
- Got RemoteFX working on my server, allowing me a Hyper-V windows 7 installation that I can RDP to and play games on.  Pretty cool, not great, but pretty cool.
- Lots of issues with my car, but its still cheaper to fix an old one than buy a new one... by a lot.
- Spent too much on various kickstarter projects and games.

Anyway, I'll eventually get focused again... eventually.

When Alpha Strike comes out, I may go tweak my quick strike cards to support any changes they made to the system.  I will however continue to use computers to determine best factors in each range band, instead of the stupid method they use now which unbalances some units quite a bit.

I still check the forums occasionally, but I come across threads like this and I'm like "why the hell did I write the best infantry platoon designer out there, if nobody uses/remembers it?!?!?!"... then I remember that was a good reason for my interest waning in the first place.

Oh well, enjoy your summers.

Exodus

Well I got my official answer of 'no', and though I accept it, some of their logic was kinda hypocritical IMO.  Oh well, This blog will be dying as soon as I get all the resources together for anybody who may be interested.  I'll post a note letting people know when I'm done with updates.... if anybody wants to take it over email me.  If new page views drop below a couple a day I may just delete it.

For those who have some development skills, I wrote everything in vb.net and it could all be converted to C# rather easily.  Here is a list of stuff I was working on, that I will not finish, as well as various other things I'll be putting up... space permitting:

• Aerotech game, using DirectX, top view.  Most of the code has been written, some stuff remained for the map interface as well as turn sequencing.
• Infantry Platoon Builder.  I actually already released this.  It could use some more polish, and probably some errata, but it is the only utility I am aware of that'll let you create infantry platoons.
• Mech builder.  This utility allowed you to build mechs, industrial mechs, superheavy mechs, and LAMs.  Needed a GUI.
• Vehicle builder.  This utility allowed you to build support vehicles and combat vehicles of all types currently in the game.  Needed a GUI.
• Character builder.  This allowed you to make characters.  I did much of the design, but needed to put in some of the newer career paths.  Needed a GUI.
• Building Builder.  This let you create structures, mobile structures, and combine those together into a single base.  Needed some of the base merging code, as well as a GUI.
• Aerotech Builder.  This let you build jumpships, warships, dropships, space stations, small craft and aerospace fighters.  Again, needed a GUI.
• Battle Armor Builder.  Just that, again, no GUI.
• Protomech Builder.  GUI.
• Counter maker.  This made counters from Quick/Alpha strike statistics.  This was so you could play a game without needing any record sheets, allowing for much larger games.  
• Random system generation using the rules from Explorer Corps, as well as the new test IO rules.
• My BTE site, that pulled up all the units in the game, printed record sheets, created Quick/Alpha strike sheets, etc.  You can view this by going to http://goodsects.gotdns.com/bte
• Record sheet creator.  This created the record sheets in TRO 3063, which were far more accurate than those on the BTE site.
• Battle simulator. Basically enter an average terrain to hit and movement modifier, and any 2 units, and it'll run through a thousand iterations to figure out which one is best.
• Cartographer.  This was done a while back and released to download, never really finished as I was waiting for HBHK to come out to finish the data.  Volt took over the data entry for system coordinates.  The next version was going to use XNA... oh well.
• Tool to view the maps in Megamek, dynamically change their hex theme, released.
• Icon creator.  This created the unit icons based on those in Strategic Operations.  Mostly worked, but I had some questions that never got answered and it stalled.
• Website die roller site
• Tool to take a list of systems, and print out a big-honking hexagonal map for playing larger games.
• Player finder site
• Application to rip data from ISAtlas.com
• Application to rip data from Masterunitlist.info
• Much of a program that'd let you basically play megamek in real time (those kinda graphics, but real time and online, not turn based).
• A lot of work on the succession wars game I was planning, basically a game allowing you to be a house leader and control every unit.
• A full database in excel with every single unit every produced in battletech, with book/page references, as well as all data needed to recreate their TRO or inputting into Megamek or a designer.  I also have links to their images, both record sheet and TRO.  The file is about 11mb in excel and has 5759 entries.  I have links to the MUL if it exists on it.  Not everything has the TRO text data, about 40%, but many things have no TRO data so the number may be higher.  There is also a file that is needed by this one that has all the equipment in the game (it will need updating based on recent errata).  This includes everything you need to design units, and if made modular enough (not like SSW, HMP, or MML) it can be extended without new code whenever CGL adds some new technology.
• Much of the work for an online record sheet tracker you could use on your phone or tablet, instead of printing.  It'd keep track of your units, the BV at any given point, as well as the time/costs for repairs.
• A daunting amount of data entry for battletech I've done over the years.  Not only that, but many various ideas thrown in there as well.
• An absolutely huge amount of battletech stuff.  From graphics, logos, house rules, basically just huge amounts of things I've downloaded off the web over the last 20 years.  It totals about 22GB, and I don't believe has anything "illegal" in it, though it does have lots of art from the game.
• I have purchased everything in the game PDF, and since I won't be using them anymore there is just one of you who I'll send them too.  I have about 15GB in that folder.
• I will be putting together an absolutely huge amount of BT stuff (maps, books, novels, mostly miniatures) out for sale soon.  I'll start with craigslist as I *really* (and I can't stress that enough) have no desire to box up dozens of boxes of miniatures and stuff and take them to UPS stores for delivery.  I'll accept pretty much anything in trade if your local, and would love to do some form of donation thing... maybe some big BT fan is down on their luck, or knows some non-profit that wouldn't mind selling them all.  I'd give it to them freely.  Maybe I'll take them all to Origins and give a miniature to everybody who walks in the door or something (well the first thousand or so)... though I'm not sure I'll go.  I just know I have zero desire to mail them out, don't need the money, and have zero desire to have them anymore.

Anyway, I'll get most of that stuff zipped up into big files, perhaps torrents, for those of you who want the data, as soon as I get a round to it and parse it for IP infringing data.

As for me?  Well I'll be withdrawing out of the Battletech community.  I won't say forever, but I can't imagine getting my mind changing.  I was devoting some work to Federation and Empire, but the interest there is extremely low.  I figure I'll either just decide to design my own game, find some new game to devote my free time to, or just work on a couple enterprise level products for companies that would allow me to retire early.  I dunno yet.

I'm not, in any means, leaving the web or disappearing all together.  I'll still have my 16 year old yahoo email account, and will always answer it even if it is about Battletech (like questions on all the stuff I listed above).  I'll always help anybody who asks, as it is my idiom, I simply won't be actively trying to support the community anymore.  I'd be find helping out for anybody taking over my code so the BT community can finally get some decent design software.

I'll probably leave my BTE site up for a while, until it starts to suck up too much CPU or space.

So, unless somebody wants to pay me, 20 of you get together and hound me daily for new software, or Herb/Randall ask me nicely to write them some software.... I'm done, sorry to have disappointed a few of you who stuck around.

Download links coming soon...

24,853 views

One last shot!

2 things, one stupid, one important.  Stupid first.

I have to stop chatting and having interactive communication online.  Facts are that many people can't understand "where I'm coming from", and online people have a tendency to get VERY defensive, VERY quickly.  Ironically, they are the first to use the term "Troll", when most Trolls are just "trying to get a rise out of you", and you let them by referring to that term.  I have to avoid these situations, I think very differently than anybody I've ever known, and not many people can understand my points.  I have to remember this, and like everybody I feel sometimes my opinion is important, I think it is better if I just avoid voicing it in a forum where people are in their homes, and not likely to accept anything they don't already think is truth with anything but aggression.  

This blog is ok, though I may piss people off sometimes, it isn't really interactive, and most people don't bother posting.  *I* don't get mad at people online really, it makes me feel bad that people can get so irate over words, but it is *very* hard to get me "pissed off", just ask my wife ;)

Anyway, the important thing now, for the .5 readers that are still reading ;)

I am giving Battletech one last shot.  In the next few days, I'll write the official Forum folks apologizing for breaking their rules (2 times I referenced politics, 3 times mentioned I was bringing things to a LGS to sell, so I wasn't banned for being a douche or anything) to see if they will enable me again.  I'll be nice, and cordial, and ask in a serious manner.  The reason is, I'm a form of vampire online.  I have time, skills, and desire to do all sorts of things for various games.  However, I have to have feedback to keep going.  If I don't have, well, a fan club, of people giving me input and anxiously awaiting some new product I'm working on, my mind starts to think "why would I write this for just me and 2 other people?".  The official forums are really the only place I can find enough supporters of Battletech to "keep me fed", for lack of a better saying.  I know I'm in some way mentally deficient for this requirement, but I also like big boobs, and can't seem to control that either...again, ask my wife ;)

So, I'll ask if I can be re-enabled.  Upon doing so I should be able to have enough support to finish my web based unit (*every* type of unit) editor, record sheet generator, cost/availability/year validation stuff, online record sheet tracker, Quick/Alpha Strike converter, my Cartographer, etc, etc... 

But if they say no, which is totally ok and understandable, I'll zip up all my Battletech stuff, throw it online for ya'll to leech, and walk away.  I'll sell about 80% of my miniatures (regiments worth) on ebay, starting for $1 (I don't need the money, and they suck up space).  I'll stop checking the forums, stop keeping up with current Battletech events, and maybe even try to back away from miniature based gaming.  It'll be a rough transition, but I can then start writing non-game type software for corporation server monitoring, which though less fun, is by far more profitable.

On a side note, if you know exactly who I should contact at CGL it'd help.  I'll post the end result whenever I get an answer, and will always answer my emails.