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Monster Media 1994 #2
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STATNAME.DOC
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1994-08-01
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STATNAME v. 1.0 - Rename and sort X-Com Soldiers based upon their statistics.
(c) 1994 Dwight Deur Distribute Freely
Introduction
------------
During my hours of playing X-Com, I've often been frustrated by
the game's awkward "personnel interface", including the inability to view
a Soldier's statistics when assigning weapons before ground combat, and
the arbitrary manner in which soldiers are assigned "seats" in transport
craft. I'd heard that some players were renaming their Soldiers in
order to reflect their attributes; this seemed like a good idea, but I
soon found myself spending too much time renaming Soldiers and not
enough time playing the game. STATNAME is intended to automate this
renaming process, and to expedite the loading (and unloading) of
transports by re-ordering the Soldiers within X-Com's data files.
Renaming Soldiers
-----------------
STATNAME replaces each Soldier's name with a series of codes
which reflect up to five user-selected statistics. Each statistic
is displayed as a character key followed by a two-digit numeric value.
A Stamina value of 71, for instance, is displayed as "S71". The
statistics which can be displayed, and their associated abbreviations,
are:
Rank Rky, Sqd, Sgt, Cpt, Col, Cmd
Time Units T
Stamina S
Health H
Bravery B
Reactions R
Firing Accuracy F
Throwing Accuracy W
Strength N
Psionic Strength P
Psionic Skill C
Sorting Soldiers
----------------
After the Soldiers are renamed, they are sorted in descending
order based upon the values of the selected statistics. The first
statistic is the primary sort order, followed by the second statistic,
and so on. For example, if you choose Health, Time Units, and Stamina
as the statistics of interest, Soldiers will be listed so that those
with the highest Health values are at the top of the list; for Soldiers
whose Health are equal, Time Units will be used as a tie breaker, and so
on. If fewer than five statistics are selected, the remainder of the
Soldier's name is left blank.
Besides making it easier to select the fastest, healthiest, or
strongest Soldiers for a mission, the sort function can also be useful
once on a ground mission. X-Com appears to place Soldiers in transport
craft from rear-to-front (with some modifications for larger craft),
starting with the Soldier topmost on the "duty roster". By sorting
Soldiers in Time Unit order, the faster Soldiers (i.e., with higher
Time Unit values) will be closer to the rear of the transport, allowing
them to get out into the action instead of being stalled by their
slower comrades.
(Each Soldier's Base assignment is apparently stored along with
his or her statistics, because reordering the data file doesn't cause
anyone to suddenly be transferred. The only movement that takes place
is up or down in the Soldier list.)
Operation
---------
STATNAME's interface is not elegant, but it gets the job done. If
you know the number of the game which you wish to edit, you can include
that number (1-10) as a parameter when starting the program. Including
"?" as a parameter displays a few screens of help. If STATNAME is started
with no parameters, it displays a list of the 10 save file names, and asks
you to select one of them.
After a game file is selected, STATNAME asks you to select and prioritize
the statistics you're interested in. A list of available statistics is
shown; you may select or de-select a statistic by entering its number at the
prompt. If you leave this menu without selecting at least one statistic,
STATNAME will not process the Soldier file.
Notes and Known Limitations
---------------------------
A Soldier's Psionic Skill is zero until he or she has had at least one
month of Psionic training.
The statistic numbers displayed by STATNAME are for the current (at the
time of editing) value, as opposed to the maximum. Because these numbers
fluctuate after missions and resting, it may be helpful to "refresh" everyone's
name immediately before and after each ground mission.
It appears that Soldier data (names, statistics, etc.) are tracked in
different file(s) during Battlescape (ground combat) sequences. As a result,
running STATNAME on such a saved file is useless at best, because name changes
and re-ordering won't show up in the Battlescape-in-progress. I discovered
this by experimentation, but have done no further testing with the scenario.
Disclaimer
----------
This utility has worked fine on my PC and X-Com file(s). I can't and
won't guarantee that it'll work everywhere, but neither can I think of any
reason why it shouldn't.
Distribution
------------
This utility may be distributed freely, so long as no one tries to make
any money from it. I'd also appreciate it if you'd keep the EXE and this
DOC file together. Comments and bug reports can be sent to me via the RIME
Games Conference.