World in Flames is the computer version of Australian Design Group classic board game. World In Flames is a highly detailed game covering the both Europe and Pacific Theaters of Operations during World War II. If you want grand strategy this game is for you.
ORIGINAL: coregames
Perhaps I am missing what you're trying to say here. Is it the end supply source that is tertiary, or are tertiary sources what the RaW refers to as 'secondary' sources along the way, culminating in the end source the unit is supplied by?
Tertiary are secondary who trace to secondary. So, Tertiaries are Secondaries.
Secondaries, in Steve's defnistion, is a secondary that trace to a primary.
ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
I have decided to introduce the concept of a Tertiary supply source. Quite simply, a Tertiary supply source is a Secondary supply source that can not find a Railway Supply Path back to a Primary supply source. What I like about the term Tertiary supply source is that I can now say that only one Secondary supply source is permitted in a supply path, and that the only place a railway supply path can be used is between a Secondary supply source and a Primary supply source. This new word will likely be a shock to experienced WIF players, but please note that I am not changing the rules at all, and I believe this additional word will help new comers learn the supply rules faster.
Steve
I am confused about this. Are you saying that in general only one secondary supply source can be used in any supply path? This is contrary to the RaW:
2.4.2
...
A secondary supply source of the tracing unit must be able to trace a supply path either to a primary supply source or via another secondary supply source. That other secondary source must also be able to trace a supply path either to a primary source or via another secondary source, and so on. There can be any number of secondary supply sources in this chain but it must end up at a primary supply source of the unit tracing the path.
Perhaps I am missing what you're trying to say here. Is it the end supply source that is tertiary, or are tertiary sources what the RaW refers to as 'secondary' sources along the way, culminating in the end source the unit is supplied by?
The rule as written uses the word 'Secondary' supply source with two meanings:
A - a supply source that qualifies under the rules as 'secondary' (e.g., an HQ), which traces a Railway supply path back to a primary.
B - a supply source that qualifies under the rules as 'secondary', which traces a Basic supply path to another secondary.
I have labelled case B as a Tertiary supply source since it does not trace to a primary supply source. Instead it traces supply to either a secondary or another tertiary supply source. With my new definition, I can say that a Secondary SS always traces a Railway path to a Primary SS and a Tertiary SS always traces a Basic path to a SSS or TSS.
I always wonder why the swedes did not transport the ore by train to the south (Malmö, Trelleborg, Kalmar or Karlskrona for instance) and shipped it from there, instead of risking the trade through hostile enemy waters outside the coast of Norway.
I suppose the cost of converting on of those ports to have ore-capabilities would have been great but would not loosing entire boatloads of ore to warfare have been an even greater cost.
(just sprung to mind reading the monthly update about supplylines and transportation)
PBEMgames played
- Korea 50-51 MV as communist
- Agonia y Victoria xx as Republican
- Plan Blau OV as Soviet
- The great war xx as Central Powers
- DNO XX as Soviet
ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
I heard from all the forum members heading up unit descriptions (Terje, Graham Dodge, and Jesper Pehrson) and hope to get revised lists from them for the 4.00 upload.
I wrote up the original info for air units and the Generals but I haven't revised the information for v4
Must get finger out for v4.01 or Steve might me
ORIGINAL: coregames
Perhaps I am missing what you're trying to say here. Is it the end supply source that is tertiary, or are tertiary sources what the RaW refers to as 'secondary' sources along the way, culminating in the end source the unit is supplied by?
Tertiary are secondary who trace to secondary. So, Tertiaries are Secondaries.
Secondaries, in Steve's defnistion, is a secondary that trace to a primary.
This is a brilliant idea from Steve! This term has been missing for a long time, although nothing changes this makes the supply rules much more comprehensive [:)]
September 1, 2007 Status Report for Matrix Games’ MWIF Forum
Accomplishments of August
Project Management
Origins 2008 is still the planned release date.
Communications
Rob Armstrong continues to work on the map graphics. He finished about half of the loose ends this month. What remains are roughly 10 hexes that can use slight modifications.
I monitored all the threads in the MWIF World in Flames forum daily.
I answered a list of questions from Patrice as part of an interview that is suppose to appear in the next WIF Annual from ADG.
I upload versions 4.00, 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, and 4.05 to the beta testers. We lost a few beta testers due to other demands on their time and Graham Dodge has initiated a search for replacements. As I write this we have 23 applicants.
Jesper Pehrson sent me revised lists of the land unit writeups for the various beta versions. Pleasantly, several more forum members are now working with Jesper on the land unit writeups. I continue in contact with Graham Dodge and Terje who are in charge of the air and naval unit writeups respectively.
No communications with Chris Marinacci, Harry Rowland, Dan Hatchen (NetPlay), or Richard Dazeley (AIO language).
Beta Testing
I fixed close to 100 bugs reported by the beta testers and gave them a new version to work with roughly weekly. I expect to continue to do that for the indefinite future. Soon I will want to restructure the subdirectories/folders, and when that occurs I’ll change the numbering to 05.00. Until then, I’ll probably stay with the 04.xx. numbering scheme.
Most of the bugs are related to starting a game: downloading and setting up the subdirectories, compatibility issues with hardware/software, Tutorials, Scenario data, Scrap, Setup, convoy placement, illegal setup hexes, Weather, Initiative, Action Choice, Declarations of War, Reserves, Aligning minor countries, Setting up minor countries, Screen layouts, Map views, and visibility of forms using the minimal screen resolution (1024 by 768).
This is because currently the game stops at Port Attacks. I am reworking that code, so meanwhile the beta testers are pounding away at all the earlier stuff. It definitely needed their attention. My philosophy on this is that early bugs can create inexplicable problems later. By having the beta testers go over the early code vigorously, I can fix a lot of those problems now and avoid many other (harder to debug) problems later.
We want to bring the number of beta testers back up to 20 and we currently have 3 or 4 openings. Sometime in October I am likely to increase the number to 30 and around the end of the year will go to 40.
Units
Patrice and I worked out installing the few missing units to the CSV data file. There were a few code problems with one special unit type (Naval Supply Unit), so I fixed how they are displayed and how their data is read in. Units look good now. The only outstanding item I have concerning code for units is displaying them in a low resolution view (very big numbers) when the zoom level is very low.
Patrice and Jesper are working on short summaries for each country in the game that has Territorial units. These are mostly in Africa and controlled by France or Britain. The goal is to have something to say for the territorial units writeups when the units didn’t actually do anything during the war except guard their country’s borders.
Though tremendous progress has been made on the unit writeups, we could still use help on them for the land and naval units. Jesper (Capitan) reports that the land writeups are over half done. For the air units I took some time out and cloned a bunch of the writeups Graham did. That was to create writeups for lend lease air units, which are slight modifications of those from the lending nation. The naval unit writeups are rather stagnant at the present.
For all of these writeups I do very, very little. They are a collaborative effort by people who have an interest in the subject and want to help out. None of the writeups is essential for the game; instead they add historical flavor. Personally, I think they are great.
Map
Rob made corrections to the map around Calcutta, the northern coast of South America, and Oregon. He is working on the other minor bits and pieces of the map that remain. The beta testers found a couple of map items that Patrice fixed.
Scenario Information
As expected, the beta testers found a handful of problems here, and I was able to fix most of them immediately. A few linger on.
Optional Rules
No significant progress here, just a few changes made in passing while working on other stuff. For example, I reviewed, documented, and slightly revised the code for saving oil and build points.
Player Interface
I expanded the Unit Data box about 10% vertically and horizontally. That let me revise the layout of the data inside it better. By careful rearrangement of what appears where, there is no longer any overlap of text/numbers and the columnar alignment is vastly improved. The beta testers pointed out some weaknesses in abbreviations and the like too. For the individual unit types (air, naval, land) this is finished. I still have to go back and review the summary information layout (i.e., for all the units in a hex/stack). After redesigning the unit data boxes I went through all the forms the program uses (103) and resized and relocated dozens of occurrences of unit data boxes to accommodate the increase in size.
I added new buttons to the Setup Tray for saving and loading setup positions and for creating naval task forces. Right now there is no code behind those buttons, but the real estate for them has been allocated in the Setup Tray, which is a start.
Internet - NetPlay
I programmed in a lot of new checks for when players assign major power groups (i.e., countries) to the players. As part of that, I set up branching logic dependent on the mode of play: solitaire, head-to-head, PBEM, and Internet. These are mostly logic checks for unique names, that all players are assigned a major power group, etcetera. For example, there must be at least 2 players when playing over the Internet or PBEM.
Later on I refined the assignment of major power groups to players to make it idiot proof. It now starts by assigning each player a major power group. When a player changes an assignment, the program automatically switches the assignment for another player, so every major power group is always assigned. Each player has an assignment, every group is assigned, and there are no duplicates.
CWIF Conversion
I returned to finishing up the conversion of components from CWIF to Theme Engine and JEDI library routines. Of the 100+ forms in the game, with dozens of components per form, I now have a short list of 13 components to convert. Of course these are some of the most difficult to do, but I whittled the list down from 17 at the beginning of the month. With a little luck I can reduce that some more in September so I can kill them all off in October.
Nothing new on the supply line routines, though the particulars of all those rules are now crystal clear in my head from the work on the Supply tutorial. I should be able to get back to work on the supply line code in September.
I fixed a few bugs reported by the beta testers related to my revision of the DOW subphases. At one point we had Australia declaring war on Australia. - probably not historically accurate.
MWIF Game Engine
Only a few changes here. However, I have earmarked a half dozen more game events I want to convert next from CWIF style of Internet communication to Game Record Log protocol. That’s for when I get a chance to work on something new for a couple of hours.
Saved Games
I used the new modules I created for GameInProgress and InProgressVar to identify which variables should be stored in the Saved Game files. Then I went through the existing Save/Restore Game code and made sure they were all being written out and read back in.
I also spent some time testing this code, fixing bugs that have appeared over the months since I last looked at it. There is still at least one bug remaining which is rising in priority because the beta testers will want to save and restore games a lot once they get past Port Attacks.
Player’s Manual
I transferred text I had written for the Optional rules into the Player’s Manual. This took some time and it ended up being 60 pages long. But that is the entire Section 5 of the Player’s Manual so it is real nice to check it off the list of things to do. I am going to try to do a Section/Appendix every other month. That’s not very demanding and it even leaves me a lot of slack if I fall behind schedule on the task.
PBEM
Nothing new.
Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Nothing new.
Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Tremendous progress on the Introductory tutorials this month. Patrice did all the screen shots for the Supply tutorial (#9) and revised many of the other ones to bring them up-to-date. In addition to the near completion of the Supply tutorial (12 out of 13 pages) I created the first 3 pages of tutorial #10 on the Sequence of Play. I also added page 1.7 on selecting which players are assigned to major power groups.
What remains to be done for the Introductory tutorials are pages 1.8, 8.2 - 8.8, 7.5-7.7, and 10.4-10.20. The last group should be easy to do since I already have the sequence of play in graphical form and I am transferring parts of it to each page in the tutorial. Of the 112 pages in the Introductory tutorials, 28 remain. And though tutorial 8 is scheduled for 8 pages, it could easily drop to 5.
I also put in the code that makes the Introductory tutorials accessible while playing a game. Originally I planned on doing that for the Interactive ones too, but I have changed my mind.
The Interactive tutorials work by loading in a saved game and letting the player execute various commands using the keyboard and mouse. “Learning by doing” is the common phrase for this. But if these are available while playing a game, the program will have to swap out the current game and bring in the saved game for the tutorial. Once the player closes the tutorial, the reverse task will have to be done. Altogether this will take a lot of computer time while playing, and has the potential of introducing bugs. I do not see any worthwhile gain.
Instead, one of the sections of the Player’s Manual will describe the functionality of the player interface and that will be available on line without any hassle. Together with context sensitive help, the player should be able to review particulars about how to do things faster than going through an Interactive tutorial again.
Note that the introductory tutorials do not present the same problem, since they are simple picture and text presentations that do not impact on the current game state whatsoever.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
One of the forum members posted stratagems he culled over the years from the Yahoo WIF group. These are quite long but also very nice, in that they present detailed instructions about how to: invade England, take out Gibraltar, and so on. All of this will be of use to me.
The forum members keep adding to the depth of the AIO strategic, operational, and tactical choices. Some of that was in response to my questions as to optional and reasonable plans for conquering and defending Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium. If I can ever encode all this expertise, the AIO should be a ferocious opponent.
Other
They’ve started work tearing down the 2 story hospital next to our apartment building, to replace it with a new 5 story structure. It’s not that noisy so far and it stirs my philosophical musings to see people work so hard destroying while I work every day building. ====================================================================
August summary: Getting the new versions out to the beta testers has taken a load off my mind and has speeded up the debugging process enormously. They find, I fix, they check that the correction works. The Introductory tutorials moved closer to completion.
====================================================================
Tasks for September
Communications
Continue monitoring the forum threads.
Map and Units
Hopefully Rob will finish the map. Call Fernando.
Scenarios
Have the beta testers continue testing scenario data.
Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
Continue to work through the sequence of play giving each phase its own module. [est. 60 hours]
CWIF Conversion
Continue converting from CWIF style internet formats to Game Record Log Formats. [est. 20 hours]
Test the new random number generator. [est. 1 hour]
Player Interface
Finish the code for determining and displaying supply lines. [est. 20 hours]
Display the sequence of play (SOP) on the screen so the player knows where he is within the SOP and what is coming up next. [est. 30 hours]
Create a new design for naval movement, then code it. [est. 40 hours]
Start work on design for new naval combat display . [est. 10 hours]
Renew work on redesign of Main form layout. [est. 20 hours]
NetPlay
Test the bidding capability using NetPlay. [est. 10 hours]
Incorporate the Indy10 code for the two player system into MWIF. [est. 20 hours]
Software Development Tools
Continue replacing old CWIF components with new ones from JEDI. [est. 20 hours]
AI Opponent
Type in the rest of my handwritten notes. [est. 5 hours]
Player’s Manual
Nothing specific planned for September.
Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Nothing planned for September.
Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Continue work on the Introductory Tutorials. [est. 10 hours]
Other
================================================================
September summary: Keep the beta testers busy and respond to their bug reports. Finish coding unit supply. Continue work on Game Record Log conversions to support NetPlay. Push the Introductory tutorials towards completion. And rework the player interface for naval movement.
================================================================
October 1, 2007 Status Report for Matrix Games’ MWIF Forum
Accomplishments of September
Project Management
Origins 2008 is still the planned release date.
Communications
Rob Armstrong believes he can finish the map graphics in the first week of October.
Patrice continues to work on MWIF daily and has done revisions to the graphics for all the special unit types so they can be displayed while in production or in the setup tray (e.g., forts, offensive chits, saved oil points, saved build points, moving factories, damaged oil points, pilots, and more). He has also created concise presentations of what all the numbers mean on the units and a Terrain Effects Chart, comparable to what are provided in the paper version of the game.
I monitored all the threads in the MWIF World in Flames forum daily.
I upload versions 4.06, 4.07, 4.08, 5.00, 5.01, and 5.02 to the beta testers. We acquired 3 new beta testers and have plans on adding another 11 in October.
I am back in communication with Dan Hatchen on coding NetPlay and have great hopes that he and I can get it mostly done in October. That will be my highest priority for the month.
Robert Nebel (Nebert) and Graham Dodge (Greyshaft) are working on a detailed test plan for the beta testers. That test plan will lay out tasks for the beta testers to make sure MWIF functions in accordance with WIF FE rules. Once a full plan has been designed, tasks can be assigned to individual beta testers to divide the work into small pieces and make sure everything gets checked thoroughly.
Jesper Pehrson sent me revised lists of the land unit writeups.
No communications with Chris Marinacci, Harry Rowland, or Richard Dazeley (AIO language).
Software Development Tools
I upgraded from Delphi 2006 to 2007, partly so I would be compatible with the version Dan Hatchen is using. At the same time I upgraded the JEDI component library from 2006 to 2007 and reinstalled MadExcept. I upgraded Corel Draw from circa 1999 to 2007 and likewise WordPerfect Office (WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, and Paradox) from circa 1999 to 2007. Except for Paradox, I use all of these daily when working on the program. Mercifully, the upgrade tasks were not too painful and completed in about 2 days.
Beta Testing
I made over 100 changes to the code in response to bugs reported by the beta testers. I continue to give them a new version to work with roughly weekly, which should continue for the indefinite future.
I restructured the subdirectories/folders for version 05.00; it now is shallower at the top and consequently deeper. One major improvement for the lives of the beta testers is the use of GSplit 2.1 to upload and download very large zip files.
Presently, MWIF is 183 MB zipped and it takes me over 3 hours to upload it (about 1 MB per minute). After I compress the entire mass of files into one large zip file, GSplit cuts it into manageable pieces and I upload the pieces. When the beta testers download the pieces, there is a small EXE included which, when executed, recreates the large zip file. Unzipping that 1 file automatically generates the requisite file structure for MWIF.
I also restored MadExcept to the program so when an access violation or major crash occurs, the beta testers can send to me, via email, with a single click of the mouse, a complete dump of their system at the time of the crash. This includes tedious information about available memory, programs running concurrently, and, most importantly, the call stack at the time of the failure. The call stack lets me know precisely where in the code the problem occurred. MadExcept saves me hours of debugging time and relieves the beta testers of the task of typing in a lot of details that are only needed by me rarely. It also includes a screen shot at the time the problem occurred.
Most of the bugs still relate to starting a game - and they are almost exclusively scenario data at this point. There are still bugs in the Declaration of War phase for setting up attacked minor countries.
The game stops at Port Attacks, assuming the beta testers can make it through the scenario setup data to get that far. I’ll correct Port Attacks the first week of October.
Adding new beta testers to get the group size up to 30 is waiting on: Port Attacks, fixing a Save & Restore Game bug, and fixing the DOW bugs that remain. Adding new beta testers will most likely happen in the middle of the month.
While we are waiting on the Test Plan (mentioned above), we have asked the beta testers to sign up for 2 scenarios and 5 optional rules each. This gives us complete coverage of all 11 scenarios and 81 optional rules. One of the consequences of this has been a lot of work done on testing the later scenarios which previously had been rather neglected (by everyone, including me).
Units
A couple of unit types need a few touch ups to their graphic depictions. For instance, the latest version of the counters (circa 2007) depicts supply units with wheels. And the Naval Supply Unit should show the number of additional naval units by which it is capable of increasing a minor port’s capacity. But most of the odds and ends are done now, thanks to Patrice’s efforts: offensive chits, factories in production, damaged factories, moving factories, damaged oil resources, synthetic oil plants, saved oil points, saved build points, and pilots. All of these were added in the past month with separate images for each major power.
Work continues on unit writeups. With the recent addition of the French units the land unit writeups are about 50% completed now.
Map
Rob provided the graphics for the map credits and I installed those in the south eastern Indian Ocean. I still need to enhance that code so players can find the map credits easily and scroll the map without distorting them. Patrice made corrections to the graphics for a few hexes in England.
Scenario Information
The beta testers continue to find a lot of problems here. A new influx was due to me finally correctly the setup routines so Vichy French units can be found and placed on the map. The Decline and Fall scenario has received a lot of work this last week - there are a ton of unusual rules specifically for that scenario (e.g., Italy out of the war, Vichy collapsed, partisans behind some of the front lines, and V-Weapons to name but a few).
Optional Rules
The beta testers gave me some minor corrections to the text for their optional rules.
I worked on adding code for setting up partisan units during scenario setup. Still left to do on that topic is to add a special little subphase at the end of setup where some major powers (the USSR and France) can place their partisan units on the map after the major power that is occupying their home country (i.e., Germany) has set up. Note that when the occupier places his units first, there is little difficulty.
I also added code for setting up V-Weapons, which had been completely absent from CWIF.
Player Interface
I changed the number of modes of play from 4 to 5. This was no big deal, and more an effort to clarify the choices. The modes of play are now: Versus AI Opponent, Solitaire (1 person plays all countries), Head-to-Head (2 players on the same computer), Internet (requires 2 players), and PBEM (requires 2 players).
I only made slight progress on reworking the player interface for naval movement.
Internet - NetPlay
Dan and I are formulating a test plan for NetPlay. Dan has a lot of experience in designing software applications that use Internet communications so he is worrying about dropped lines, dirty packets, and the like.
CWIF Conversion
I continue to finish the conversion of components from CWIF to Theme Engine and JEDI library routines. The short list is now 9 components, which I expect to kill off in October. This is just one of several very long and complicated tasks where my efforts in September were to get the task close enough to completion that it can be finished in October.
Nothing new on the supply line routines.
MWIF Game Engine
I completed the conversion of US Entry Actions and Claims (e.g., Bessarabia) to Game Record Log style reporting. There are probably a few others that I changed too, which do not come immediately to mind.
Saved Games
Nothing new here. There is still a bug remaining in the save & restore game routines.
Player’s Manual
I am chasing after examples of the best documentation of existing Matrix Games’ products to serve as a template for MWIF. In particular, I would like to clone the text for standard sections such as: credits, installing the program, copyright protection, how to contact Matrix Games if there is a problem, and the like. The person at Matrix who does their documentation is away presently but should be back in early October. Meanwhile I am planning on adding Patrice’s work on unit number explanations and the terrain effects chart into the players manual.
PBEM
Nothing new.
Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Nothing new.
Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
I finished the 10th tutorial (pages 10.3 through 10.19). This tutorial was exclusively on the sequence of play so I am now quite knowledgeable about how a game is suppose to proceed. Without any concerted effort on my part I am becoming disgusting familiar with all the rules and their nuances.
Since only a dozen pages are now missing from the Introductory Tutorials, I expect to complete them in October. Patrice prepared summary pages on what the numbers mean on the unit counters and I appended them to the end of the tutorials on air, land, and naval units. Similarly, I took his graphics on the Terrain Effects Chart and appended those to the 2nd tutorial, on the map.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
I finished entering all my notes on the strategic plans for the major powers. I am now going back over them and trying to standardize their structure. Ideally they will be such that I can convert them directly into the new AI Opponent scripted rule language without a lot of fuss and bother.
I decided on how to translate variable and constant references in the AIO scripts to variables and constants in the program code. The syntax still needs to be designed, but I am now emotionally committed to the parser (translation program).
Other
The guys next door have completed the destruction of the old children’s hospital buildings and are in the midst of digging a big hole in the ground. It’s rather impressive to see them haul so much dirt away every day and yet still not make a whole lot of tangible progress. In that regard it is remarkably similar to my own situation. ====================================================================
September summary: Getting each scenario to setup correctly made great progress. I didn’t get to a lot of the interface redesign I was hoping to accomplish. Upgrading all my software development tools seems like wasted time because it is pure overhead, but some of those had been delayed way too long (8 years is forever in the world of software tools).
====================================================================
Tasks for October
Communications
Continue monitoring the forum threads.
Map and Units
Hopefully Rob will finish the map. Call Fernando.
Scenarios
Have the beta testers continue start testing the sequence of play once the scenario data is solid.
Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
Continue to work through the sequence of play giving each phase its own module. [est. 30 hours]
CWIF Conversion
Continue converting from CWIF style internet formats to Game Record Log Formats. [est. 30 hours]
Test the new random number generator. [est. 1 hour]
Player Interface
Finish replacing CWIF components with ones from JEDI. [est. 20 hours]
Finish the code for determining and displaying supply lines. [est. 20 hours]
Work on redesign of Main form layout. [est. 20 hours]
Create unit flyouts. [est. 10 hours]
Create a new design for naval movement, then code it. [est. 30 hours]
Start work on design for new naval combat display . [est. 10 hours]
Display the sequence of play (SOP) on the screen so the player knows where he is within the SOP and what is coming up next. [est. 30 hours in November]
NetPlay
Test the bidding capability using NetPlay. [est. 10 hours]
Incorporate the Indy10 code for the two player system into MWIF. [est. 50 hours]
Begin coding multi-player (more than 2) system. [est. 20 hours]
AI Opponent
Continue edits on the strategic plans and standardization of same. Work on the syntax for the AIO rules language. [est. 15 hours]
Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Finish the Introductory Tutorials. [est. 10 hours]
Player’s Manual
Write the sections on: Introduction to Player’s Manual and Installing MWIF. [est. 5 hours]
Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Nothing planned for October.
Other
I just started “The Age of Turbulence” by Alan Greenspan. Not exactly light reading, but wonderfully insightful into international and national economic forces and processes. ================================================================
October summary: Keep the beta testers busy and respond to their bug reports. Test NetPlay communications for 2 players. Continue work on Game Record Log conversions to support NetPlay for entire sequence of play. Finish coding unit supply, the Introductory tutorials, conversion of components to JEDI, map graphics, and unit graphics. Start reworking the player interface for naval movement and combat.
================================================================
I worked on adding code for setting up partisan units during scenario setup. Still left to do on that topic is to add a special little subphase at the end of setup where some major powers (the USSR and France) can place their partisan units on the map after the major power that is occupying their home country (i.e., Germany) has set up. Note that when the occupier places his units first, there is little difficulty.
Aren't all Partisans supposed to be setup after all the major powers are setup ?
******************************** 24.1.6 Setting up
(...)
Option 46: Partisans set up as per 13.1, after all major power’s have set up.
********************************
I worked on adding code for setting up partisan units during scenario setup. Still left to do on that topic is to add a special little subphase at the end of setup where some major powers (the USSR and France) can place their partisan units on the map after the major power that is occupying their home country (i.e., Germany) has set up. Note that when the occupier places his units first, there is little difficulty.
Aren't all Partisans supposed to be setup after all the major powers are setup ?
******************************** 24.1.6 Setting up
(...)
Option 46: Partisans set up as per 13.1, after all major power’s have set up.
********************************
Theoretically yes, but there is no need to have it as a seperate step in a couple of cases. If the Germans and Italians have already setup their units in France (or the USSR) why not have the French (USSR) setup their partisans when they set up their other units? It saves a step in the sequence of play later.
I haven't seen much up vis-à-vis barbershop chorus stuff lately. Is MWiF now consuming so much time that you can't spare any for rehearsals?
Well, ...
1 - We have been waiting on the chorus director (who has final say) to resolve some script issues for the Xmas show. Until he does that I can't finish writing the dialogue. He has had 5 weeks now in which he has done nothing - but since it is a volunteer organization and he puts in an enormous amount of time for very little pay, all we can do is nag him occasionally.
2 - The tenor in our quartet got a new job where he works from 4 AM to 1 PM. For the first month he was working 7 days a week with occasional double shifts. When we do see him for evening rehearsals, he falls asleep at 8:30 or so. Meanwhile our baritone works on Oahu while hs wife lives on Maui, so he flies to Maui almost every weekend, leaving friday night and coming back late sunday evening. And right now the tenor and lead are in Vermont for 2 weeks visiting relatives. Quartet rehearsal really requires 4 people - sort of like playing doubles tennis.
3 - We had our 60th anniversity party for the chapter in the middle of September and a weekend 'retreat' to northern Oahu too. For the latter, I just drove over for Saturday. For the former, I missed one evening of work time on MWIF.
I still make weekly chorus rehearsals and the odd gig we do (about one a month, though that is going to be more in the last 3 months of the year).
But, yeah, I work on MWIF more or less continuously, starting at 6 - 6:30 AM and going through until dinner at 6 PM, with short breaks for food and cleanliness. I usually get in an hour nap somewhere along the way. I get in another hour or so of work after dinner before the Daily Show (political comedy) and another couple of hours after that before going to bed. And that is my schedule for every day.
I break the month into 5 day intervals, Pentdays (a word of my own invention), for tracking progress against the monthly schedule. That's because weekdays and weekends have lost all their meaning to me.
I finished the 10th tutorial (pages 10.3 through 10.19). This tutorial was exclusively on the sequence of play so I am now quite knowledgeable about how a game is suppose to proceed. Without any concerted effort on my part I am becoming disgusting familiar with all the rules and their nuances.
Steve, I haven't posted to the boards in ages but this was too good to pass up. I for one am glad to have an additional rules god that we can [8|]hassel err, uhh, hmmm[8|] - what I mean is someone we can quiz about rules and what they "really" [;)] mean. I can't wait to see the excellent work you have done. Thanks for all the hard work. [:)]
I finished the 10th tutorial (pages 10.3 through 10.19). This tutorial was exclusively on the sequence of play so I am now quite knowledgeable about how a game is suppose to proceed. Without any concerted effort on my part I am becoming disgusting familiar with all the rules and their nuances.
Steve, I haven't posted to the boards in ages but this was too good to pass up. I for one am glad to have an additional rules god that we can [8|]hassel err, uhh, hmmm[8|] - what I mean is someone we can quiz about rules and what they "really" [;)] mean. I can't wait to see the excellent work you have done. Thanks for all the hard work. [:)]
ROFL, Steve you are just too funny. Since your attitude and personality are built into the game as a creation of yours. I just can not wait. When can I preorder?
Player’s Manual
I am chasing after examples of the best documentation of existing Matrix Games’ products to serve as a template for MWIF. In particular, I would like to clone the text for standard sections such as: credits, installing the program, copyright protection, how to contact Matrix Games if there is a problem, and the like. The person at Matrix who does their documentation is away presently but should be back in early October. Meanwhile I am planning on adding Patrice’s work on unit number explanations and the terrain effects chart into the players manual.
Hi Steve, if I could make a request please make sure it is 8.5x11 format, not the usual 2/3 page format. Much better to be able to print it.
ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
But, yeah, I work on MWIF more or less continuously, starting at 6 - 6:30 AM and going through until dinner at 6 PM, with short breaks for food and cleanliness. I usually get in an hour nap somewhere along the way. I get in another hour or so of work after dinner before the Daily Show (political comedy) and another couple of hours after that before going to bed. And that is my schedule for every day.
I break the month into 5 day intervals, Pentdays (a word of my own invention), for tracking progress against the monthly schedule. That's because weekdays and weekends have lost all their meaning to me.
No rational reason that there should be 7 days in a week anyway [:)] (the number '7' is quite arbitrary - from Babylonian tradition iirc)
It is amazing that you can keep going at that pace!
I am truly impressed by your dedication to and great work on this project! Looking very much forward to try the finished product.
me
or new
?
