Many thanks Andy !
I've read your AI pick lists discussion and realize it will be a lot of "fun" to create a new one and swap it in/out. One reason I'm leaving it for last in my rework
,beyond the practical consideration that I need to finish the units and formations before I can even start on it.
Yeah, I've noticed the pick lists vary with opponent. A very nice way to deal with certain issues (inf-ATGM's as you noted).
Were I to get truly ambitious is there any limit on how many pick list variations one can build in?
I.E. One each for assault missions vs armor heavy, light, and rare opponents; one for defense vs the same.
Quote:
Mobhack said:barges (carried in barge carrier and used for beach), barge carriers (river xing), HQ (both unit and formation No. 0!), crews, assault raft (carried by grunts in the river xing) are fixed in OOBs as is the 1000lb bomb weapon slot (for secondary explosions on ammo dumps), as discussed somewhere in the mobhack help.
Naval artillery (used in beach landings) - uses a set contiguous list of batteries (or mortar sections or field arty which will be carried in barges for some armies which don't really have a navy, but you must provide "cover" units for the situation where an end user decides to beach assault with the Swiss, say..), as laid out in the appropriate section of the AI pick list data files. Stamping all over the naval gunfire support formations will do weird things for the AI beach assaulter!.
Andy
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I'm aware that these units must occupy their fixed positions in the OOB. Question is, are HQ and naval artillery the
ONLY things that must occupy fixed slots in the formations ? Nothing I've read seems to indicate, with any certainty, that other then the HQ in slot 0 and naval guns in a contiguous list, anything else must occupy a fixed position in the formations.
Yeah, I know the folks that don't read the "Read Me" will scream
Not much one can do about that but shake your head and try to figure out a polite way to suggest they learn to read.
Would that I could leave the existing formations alone and thus avoid the whole pick lists problem.
But I'm at the point in my rework where some new formations are necessary, and yes I could (and in all probability should) just add them to the current formations, trouble is availability dates. The changes I need to do will make it impossible to use the current pick list.
I need to modify these quite a bit due to changes in the Tables of Organization over time.
Also the main reason I started on this project was that SPMBT tends to provide administrative rather then combat formations and I got tired of having to spend hours with the editor adding "standard" support weapons to platoons, companies, and battalions.
So far I've been having a lot of "fun" trying not to screw up the units themselves. Because I want my OOB to be compatible with existing scenarios. Thus the unit type can't be changed (no real problem, lots of empty slots available in OOB #13 USMC), but I have to be VERY careful with changes to weapons. So far it seems that scenarios seem to store only the unit slot number, number of crew, and ammo load for each weapon slot in the unit, so any other changes will be picked up when the game program reads the unit data when one runs a scenario. Of course this means any weapon added to an empty unit weapon slot will have no ammo. But if you're trying to do something this extensive you have to expect to run into a few problems.
As much as I'd like rebuild to be a seamless replacement for the existing OOB . . . it ain't possible.
So my target audience is the "purists", "tech weenies", and "bean counters". These folks should have enough tech savvy to read the "Read Me", swap files as needed, and realize there
WILL be some problems trying to use a revised OOB.
On the other hand they'll be able to play a battle or campaign with the USMC and have it "look" and "feel" like the USMC.
Once again, I want to assure you I'm in no way complaining about SPMBT in any way, shape, or form. I'm merely trying to circumvent certain inherent limitations as best I can.