Need Desin Help

[Dave1522]

I love the game and the contributions by other gamers.
I still have my board games of Panzer Leader and Squad Leader, but Eastern and Western Front don't work on the Computer.
However, I need assistance on design points:
First, how to have offboard units enter on specific turns;
Second, how to name individual units, if possible;
Third, can you have officers/leaders and how;
Fourth, how to increase ranking of individual units or must all be upgraded;
fifth, is there a carry over mechanism from a finished scenairo to the next in the sequence maintaining earned upgardes.

There is no substitute for VICTORY

Lt. Jack

[pipfromslitherine]

Hello!

1 - you can script the appearance of new units in the scenario script, as well as any UI you might want, conditions that need to be met, randomness, etc.
2 - you cannot name individual units. A workaround would be to create a new squads file and have entries for each unit as its own unit type, but this could be problematic for large maps, and is pretty fiddly.
3 - you could script special behaviours for certain units without much effort. E.g. having certain units, or elite version of them, affect surrounding units.
4 - you can set the status (elite-ness) of a squad either in the script, or in the editor using the 1,2,3 keys while over the unit you wish to upgrade.
5 - yes. You need to set up your campaign as a carryover campaign (by choosing the Carryover checkbox when creating the campaign, or adding a CARRYOVER line to the top of CAMPAIGN.TXT). You can then use the editor (and/or script) to both define those units that will carryover (if they live!) using the C key, as well as lay down tiles where carryover units from prior missions will appear when the map is loaded.

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Pip

[Dave1522]

Thanks for your prompt reply. Another issues is that of setting up a campaign and scenario, then attempting to run and it immediately goes to "Objective Completed" . I used the plugin, then cancelled it after this happened to no avail. Please advise. Lt. Jack

[pipfromslitherine]

You should check that the plugin is fully disabled, and that the victory conditions are not set to cause this to happen (e.g. set to capture N for victory, when the player starts with more than N VPs to being with). You also need to ensure that the enemy has some troops to fight.

Cheers

Pip

[Dave1522]

Again thanks for your assistance. I am only using the script for the identification of the camapign/scenario sequence. need to understand the dos and donts better. BUT Ok, disabled plugin, (with units deployed), scenario is operational,,,, however, I wanted to have the VPs flagged/ownership, # of turns etc. HOW??? Lt. Jack ( I was a 1LT US Army, Artillery with Special Weapons Greece)

[pipfromslitherine]

If you want VPs, your best solution is to use the VP plugin. You just need to ensure that the logic of the victory conditions makes sense

Cheers

Pip

[Dave1522]

Thank you for the assistance on other matters and have implemented. I am working on a couple scenarios and have a few questions:

1. Can you expand the list of the unts and how?
2. I see in the Crete Offensive developed by a fellow gamer, that there are simpers, also in the D-Day Special Forces Camapign there is an Officer and in one that individual is named, again How?
3. How to you have units come offboard, desiganting the unit, entrance point and time?
4. For visual only -- Buildings with destruction from Bombing/assualt.
5. How to change the music, maybe to reflect the Nation your are commanding?

Suggestion: Can someone consolidate the FAQs, they are scattered pieces of information from correspondence and sometimes subject does not always reflect the addtional topics that are discussed.

Thanks again. LTJack

[pipfromslitherine]

1 - I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean how do you add additional units? That is done using your own squads.csv file (in your campaign folder) which you can then set up with any units you desire.
2 - again, these are newly designated units set up in the squads file.
3 - reinforcements are scripted (using the PlaceUnit helper function generally). So you can script them to occur based on any logic you wish.
4 - erm, I want to say the 'O' key when over a building in the editor.
5 - if you set up a Music folder in your campaign with the mp3 you want, you can then tell the game to use them by using a custom MUSIC.TXT file in the campaign DATA folder. Check out the MUSIC.TXT file in any campaign to see how to set it up.

It's definitely the case that there is a lot of info scattered. I try and keep links to the most useful on the wiki, so if you come across anything that you think should be linked from there, then please let me know.

Cheers

Pip