Database Editor Question

[Dereck]

What does the "Set Formation" and "Set All Formations" buttons do?

[Don Bowen]

ORIGINAL: dereck

What does the "Set Formation" and "Set All Formations" buttons do?

They don't appear to do anything. However, they do it very well.

[Dereck]

So it wasn't just me. I take it then it will be a manual job to ensure each units' equipment matches what is set in the skeleton they're based on.

[Tankerace]

They do something actually. What it does is it sets the Selected land unit to the TO&E nearest matching it. However, if a Base force's TO&E is the same as say, an aviation reg. TO&E, it will miss set the TO&E. Still, it is a useful tool (The Formation is on the second or third page, and determines the Units TO&E by pointing to the TO&E units.

[Dereck]

I found a few units which had the same formation number as the "skeleton" unit yet they had a different number of the weapons, i.e the skeleton may have had 10 but the unit had 16. When I tried using those buttons nothing would happen.

[Tankerace]

Yes, it doesn't make the unit like the TO&E, it sets its TO&E. Many units would often have less than their appointed equipment, or they would sometimes "steal" and get more of it. Lets assume we are talking about a A US Tank BN

The TO&E is this:

Slot 2007 (The slot of the Locations DB, and one of the Allied TO&E slots)
45 X M4 Shermans
45 X Motorized Support
TO&E formation 2007

Now, say our Tank Bn, to represent a scarcety of Shermans, has 2 companies of Shermans, and 1 of Stuarts. It would look like this:

Slot 2593
30 X M4 Shermans
15 X M3 Stuarts
45 X Support
Formation 2007 (The TO&E of the Unit).

Set formation sets our Tank Bns formation from 2593, which is its slot, to that of a standard US Tank Bn, or slot 2007. This way, as the game proceeds, it will loose its Stuarts and try and aquire more Shermans, to arrive at its TO&E of 45 Shermans. If we had set the TO&E formation of the Unit to 0, then it would assume it is already at its TO&E, and thus differ from normal US Battalions.

Set Formations does this on the unit you are on, Set All formations sets it for all units. However, this is dangerous, as many of the forts don't have a TO&E, and so it will set theirs to a base force usually.

If you want the unit to have the same stuff that is in its TO&E, you have to manually edit it yourself.

[Dereck]

So correct me if I'm wrong: even if the actual unit's TO&E differs from the skeleton TO&E it is based on it will try (over time) to eventually mirror the TO&E it is based on? Will that also mean if they both have the same device but the base TO&E only has 10 but the unit has 20 that eventually the unit will be down to 10?

[Don Bowen]

ORIGINAL: Tankerace

Yes, it doesn't make the unit like the TO&E, it sets its TO&E. Many units would often have less than their appointed equipment, or they would sometimes "steal" and get more of it. Lets assume we are talking about a A US Tank BN

The TO&E is this:

Slot 2007 (The slot of the Locations DB, and one of the Allied TO&E slots)
45 X M4 Shermans
45 X Motorized Support
TO&E formation 2007

Now, say our Tank Bn, to represent a scarcety of Shermans, has 2 companies of Shermans, and 1 of Stuarts. It would look like this:

Slot 2593
30 X M4 Shermans
15 X M3 Stuarts
45 X Support
Formation 2007 (The TO&E of the Unit).

Set formation sets our Tank Bns formation from 2593, which is its slot, to that of a standard US Tank Bn, or slot 2007. This way, as the game proceeds, it will loose its Stuarts and try and aquire more Shermans, to arrive at its TO&E of 45 Shermans. If we had set the TO&E formation of the Unit to 0, then it would assume it is already at its TO&E, and thus differ from normal US Battalions.

Set Formations does this on the unit you are on, Set All formations sets it for all units. However, this is dangerous, as many of the forts don't have a TO&E, and so it will set theirs to a base force usually.

If you want the unit to have the same stuff that is in its TO&E, you have to manually edit it yourself.

I did not know this! So all that pressing of buttons half a dozen times to see if anything happened might be a mistake!

[Tankerace]

ORIGINAL: dereck

So correct me if I'm wrong: even if the actual unit's TO&E differs from the skeleton TO&E it is based on it will try (over time) to eventually mirror the TO&E it is based on? Will that also mean if they both have the same device but the base TO&E only has 10 but the unit has 20 that eventually the unit will be down to 10?

I don't think it will lower itself to 10, but if it gets damaged in action and has only 5, it will rebuild only to 10, not 20.

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen

I did not know this! So all that pressing of buttons half a dozen times to see if anything happened might be a mistake!

Yup. I made this mistake several times in the WPO land OOB.

[Dereck]

Thank you very much.

Guess I'll just have to create documents for all the "base" units and manually ensure they match.