Need Help with Helo Unit Class Problem

[DRG]

Suhiir said:
if I were to change availability dates would that effect existing scenarios?

Short answer.....no it will not affect the scenario.

Suhiir said:

I've noticed (from experiments) that if you use the editor to change a weapon the information screen pulls it's data from the unit number not the unit itself. So should there be a change in weapons it appears the game will use the weapon data from the unit in the scenario rather then the weapon data from the unit number - correct? But any newly created scenario's (using the modified OOB) will use the "correct" weapons.

If you change the weapon data for a weapon the change will show up in the sceanrio

If you change a units weapon to something else ( say... a BAR to a Bazooka ) the the original sceanrio will retain the BAR but any new purchases will be the bazooka and any changes in ammo will also be carried over with the new change but the old numbers will be retained for the old weapon

Suhiir said:

Understood - infantry NEEDS to stay infantry and Lt Tanks NEED to stay Lt Tanks.
However - if the "new improved" Lt Tank now has an X3 radio code will it still be used in existing scenarios yet NOT be used when the AI decides to buy a Lt Tank formation?

Correct. Radio code changes do not affect sceanrios

Suhiir said:

You say not to "radically" change the formation dates. Can you define "radically"? Is it acceptable to alter them a couple years one way or the other? Or can you only change the start/end month?

It depends on the the picklist and how much you want to change things. The picklist looks for formation X and from year Y - year Z it picks it .

Suhiir said:
I used the weapons platoon attachments as an example. A more "important" one would be say the size of an artillery battery.
In the current OOB Formation #28 Howitzer Bty 1/46-12/120 has 6 tubes, yet around 1986 when the Marines traded their old 105's in for M198 155's they also changed the battery from 6 tubes to 8. I can "fix" this by creating section type formation with 2 tubes and an availability date of 1/86-12/120 and put it in an empty slot in formation #28 (#7 in this case) so that from 1/46-12/85 a battery will have 6 tubes and from 1/86-12/120 it will have 8.
This will of course create a problem as a battery is now 33% more capable and expensive.
And while I could of course create a new battery formation with 8 tubes that the AI will ignore (it not being on it's pick list) and the players can use.

Adding a section to the formation at a specific date to increase it's size is one way things like this have been used before in other OOB's

[Suhiir]

Thank you very much for the conformation/clarification.

Let me nit pick a bit here to be sure I understand. You said :

"It depends on the the picklist and how much you want to change things. The picklist looks for formation X and from year Y - year Z it picks it."

So for example, the AI wants a Rifle Company in 1986, at the moment that's formation #11 (Rifle Company 1/73-12/89).
Does it look specifically for formation #11 knowing from the internal pick list that it is an infantry company and available in 1986?

Were I to for example change Formation #11 from availability dates of 1/73-12/89 to 1/69-12/85 and formation #12 from 1/90-12/120 to 1/86-12/103 would it then select formation #12 instead?

I'm assuming that while you can add new formations to your hearts content the existing ones MUST remain in their current slots and of their current type. But can you alter the availability without causing problems as long as you stay in "the ballpark" - i.e. not change them from say 1/73-1/89 to 1/110-12/120?

[Mobhack]

AI pick lists

As stated in that reply - all that will ever be said regarding AI pick lists is what is supplied.

Cheers
Andy

[Suhiir]

Thanks much !
Now that I see some of the constraints you've been working under I can see why you've had to do some things as you have.
With luck, and a few "creative" solutions I can work around some of them. Being able to look at the picklists the game is actually using and knowing how it uses them will help a lot!

I also see why you have equipment the USMC never had in it's OOB - and that adding an X3 code to a many of them would be a very bad idea.

Time to get creative !

[RecruitMonty]

Good luck, I am still trying to figure mine out.