ORIGINAL: Bodhi
As the 1.3 patch is approaching, it's time for me to get back into WitP. Here's the start of a unfinished README for a small program I wrote for WitP. It's mainly for my own use, but if there's interest I could finish the README and make it available for download. It's been quite a few weeks since I last worked on it, so it may take a few days to get it ready and available.
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This utility was written to provide various information that I found useful while playing Matrix/2by3's War in the Pacific (WitP). The basic functionality provided is as follows:
- Option for automatic saving and compilation of sig intel, operations and combat reports for game turns
- Option for automatic archiving of game saves
- Display of the sig intel data on a game map
- Display of operations report data on a game map
- Basic information for all bases in the selected scenario
- Display of aircraft range radii for any aircraft at any base
- Calculation of inter-port distances (both direct and minimum distance by sea)
- Estimated time required for task forces to travel between two ports, and ETA for a user-defined departure date
- Output of basic base, ship unit, land unit, and aircraft unit data contained in the scenario database files
- Option to save data for multiple games in progress as the data for each game in the user save slots (3 to 200) is handled separately
Curent restrictions/limitations
The game requires Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1.
As there's currently no way to access the game saves, and hence determine the current game status, all the information provided (apart from the intel/ops reports) is based on the starting situation of the scenario.
The display of information on the game map uses a separate game map, and, like the main game map, may take a few seconds to load initially. I have found the performance to be acceptable after the initial map loading on a PII 450MHz system with 256MB RAM.
The inter-port distances do not take into account the current air balance, and so may be shorter than the routes selected by the game.
Only one game can be saved per game save slot (3 to 200).
The program is based on a game which corresponds to one of the WitP user game save slots from 3 to 200. It is NOT able to determine which game is currently active in WitP, and you must set this correctly BEFORE you click on the end turn button.
Introduction.
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The WITP Utility/File Manager has four main functions: 1) automatic archiving of game save files and/or intel/operations/combat reports, 2) visual display of intel/operations reports and other data useful in gameplay, 3) scenario base information, including interbase distances and estimated travel time and ETA for task forces, and, 4) export of scenario database files as CSV files.
The program is based on a "game" which corresponds to one of the WitP game save slots from 3 to 200. The "game" contains information on the scenario number, game save slot, opponent, player side, and current game date. The user can store a "game" for each WitP save slot, so the program cam handle multiple games. The user starts the program BEFORE WitP, selects the current game and sets the save options, then plays WitP as normal. The various reports and displays can be viewed at any time on the Report form.
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Wouldn't it be cool if all this stuff was in a relational database that you could connect to via and ODBC connection and just edit directly via MS Acces????
