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Energion Battle System Section 1 Basic Documentation 1 1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.2 General System Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2.1 The Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2.1.1 Map Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.2.1.2 Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.2.1.3 Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.3 Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.3.1 Unit Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.3.2 The Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.3.3 Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.3.4 Defense Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 1.3.5 Tactics Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 1.3.6 Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 1.3.7 Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 1.3.8 Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 1.4 - Terrain Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 1.5 Miscellaneous Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 1.5.1 Units of Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 1.5.2 Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 1.5.3 Location Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2 1.1 Description The Energion Battle System (EBS) is a set of rules for handling combat for various sized units in gaming scenarios. The EBS program uses these rules to handle combat resolution, tactical displays for FRP scenarios and to function as a war game with extensive tactical options and limited strategic control capability. The war game portion may be used to referee multiple player games (up to 32 depending on the scenario design) or to play any or all sides. Scenarios may be run in "controlled" mode, with player passwords or in "experimentation" mode which allows full editing, testing and reporting on units. It keeps a history file of actions. Key features include: a) Up to 32 terrain types, each user configurable. b) AREXX (tm) port and script/command language. c) Built in unit, map and module editors. d) Line of sight calculations including density and altitude of intervening terrain. e) Combat calculation using cover, detailed information about weapons and target armor, as well as troop skill. f) Indirect fire weapons with multiple spotters. g) Tactics modules indicating target choice priorities, unit morale and decision making capability. h) Strategy modules for major classic strategies, configurable by the user. i) Calculation of unit movement including individual capabilities in various terrain types, teleportation and plane shifting (for fantasy scenarios). j) Maps with multiple viewpoints and zooms. k) Most actions replaceable with AREXX (tm) scripts. l) Uses IFF picture files as maps with colors to represent terrain. m) Individual viewpoint based on units sighted and units known about. The demo program is free. It contains maps of each of the three types supported and another scenario, along with the basic documentation. The demo program is a functional EBS, with script language fully compatible with the full versions, but without the module editing functions. A user may create and edit modules using the script language-- the missing features mostly involve user friendliness. The full program is available for $30.00 by writing: 3 Henry Neufeld P.O. Box 1147 Bellevue, NE 68005 You will receive a two disk set, including prepared modules, demonstration scripts and full documentation of all script commands. It also includes several scenarios based on the Energion Campaign. Each sold program has a registration number embedded in it, unique to that user. The program comes in four versions: 1. The small demo/player version, which allows playing of scenarios and design if one is willing to live with the annoyance of using script commands for all creation/editing. This version is free and may be distributed at will. 2. The standard version, which may be run on any Amiga with at least 1 megabyte of memory. 3. The 68881 version, for those few systems which have a 68881 but no 68020/68030. If you want this version, please specify in your order, as it is not included standard with the disk set. 4. The 68020 version, without math chip. Requires 68020/68030, but does not have inline math chip code. Uses the mathieeedoubbas.library. 5. Inline 68020 & 68881 code. Requires math chip. Versions 1, 2, 4 and 5 are provided with the disk set. Specify version three in place of version 5 if desired. Also available, and related to the program: Energion Disk #1: $ 5.00 (includes PLAYER, the Energion character playing program (with scripts to allow it to interface with EBS). Energion Disk #2: $ 5.00 (Rules set in archived text form.) 1.2 General System Description EBS is based on a series of modules which may be combined into a complete scenario or a tactical display. Each element may be configured in detail by the user. The elements are saved in files, the '.emap' file for map descriptions with associated elements, the '.cfg' files for system configuration data and the '.ebs' files for forces and units and '.escn' files for scenarios. 1.2.1 The Map 4 The key to the EBS system is the map description. EBS maps use IFF graphics files, which may be created with the limited editing tools within EBS or with any IFF compatible graphics editor, such as DPaint. I recommend creating the basic map with your favorite editor and then importing it into EBS. Some editing is better done in EBS, which allows the painting of terrain patterns (see below). Importing a map consists of loading the IFF file and creating a map definition. Maps may be HIRES or LORES and interlaced or not, but not HAM mode. The definition file consists of data which EBS needs in order to interpret the map. EBS reads individual pixels to get terrain data for use in determining altitude, cover, movement and lines of sight. It reads these pixels in 9 pixel groups, and averages the results. The terrain data table (see under configuration) contains the data concerning the terrain types (up to 32 entered at a time) which are averaged into a terrain result, individual to that pixel. The number of different basic terrains which can be displayed on a single map is dependent on the number of colors. 5 A map may also have attached to it a list of grids, markers and location chains. (A location chain is a scalable drawn figure on the map.) 1.2.1.1 Map Definition EBS is designed to handle three types of maps, plus up to 23 additional types managed by script (see section on scripts). The types are: T - Tactical map. A tactical map is measured (as seen on the screen) in horizontal (x), vertical (y) and altitude (z) from a standard reference point entered in the map definition. Maps loaded simultaneously, may at user discretion share a center point, thus allowing use of multiple maps in a single scenario by means of scripts. (EBS v1.0 does not support automatic swapping of maps, but the scenario may write scripts for this purpose.) For reference purposes a map may also be linked to a Latitude/Longitude in relation to one of the larger map types. S - Square map, for lack of a better term. This map is actually a rectangle which is measured in degrees minutes and seconds. It tends to become somewhat distorted, especially if it covers a territory near the poles. O - Orange peel map, from the elementary school illustration of it. This is a full globe map done in six sections. Accuracy is a little less than one degree on a 640 by 400 pixel screen. Any other letter except 'X' must have definition information in a map handling script. Do not use map type 'X', as it is defined for EBS for compatibility with BETA versions, but not documented due to certain inaccuracies in its location handling. The elements of a map definition are: 1) X-Y-Z starting coordinates. 2) Pixel multiplier for the x and y coordinates; the y multiplier doubles for the altitude multiplier, since altitude is illustrated on the same axis as the y coordinate when the display is rotated. These values are set automatically by EBS when you select "Map Scale" in the map editor window.) 3) An anchor latitude longitude pair, and an altitude, used to compare a tactical map with lat/long maps. 4) A number of sections, used only by type 'O' maps. 5) A text label for the map. This will appear in requesters and titlebars. If you don't want it to be truncated, it should be no more than 32 characters, though the only problems resulting from overlength labels will be truncation in requesters and title bars and excessive memory usage. 7) The filename of the IFF file for the map. 6 8) A set of terrain associations, matching each color of the map to a terrain type as defined in the terrain table. 9) A default terrain type, returned as the value for all terrain requests concerning pixels not on the current map. This is used for zoomed tactical maps, where the background IFF file does not cover the full area of the screen. 10) A 'plane' value, used for multidemsional fantasy campaigns. 11) An 'interstice' value, used for the Energion magic system. 12) A set of options. There are only three - PVTBITMAP, which says to allocate internal memory to preserve the background to this map, making switching of maps nearly instantaneous. By default, maps are reloaded from disk whenever changed. TACTICALMAP - Indicates that the map is of type 'T' and is normally maintained by EBS. There are some routines for converting locations from an XYZ to a lat/long format. If your user defined map needs this type of conversion, select this option. BACKDROPMAP should be selected if you use a single color background, such as for a star map. If you select this option, the color of the background will be that of the terrain number for the default terrain. 13) The radius of the globe, for any lat/long map. 14) The name of the unit of measure for the map. 15) The number of centimeters in each of those units of measure. 16) The name of the first grid associated with the map. 17) The name of the first marker associated with the map. 18) The name of the first location chain associated with the map. Note that the last three items are automatically maintained by EBS when the modules are created. Each of those items must be associated with a specific map when created. Note that while the modules supplied with EBS generally assume a base unit of centimeters, this is not locked into the system. You can use any base measure, such as inches or feet that you desire, but it should be consistent between all modules you create. Modules can be exchanged between maps and scenarios, and if their ranges and other attributes are stated in different units of measurement, confusion can result. If you distribute modules you have created, please specify what base unit of measure you are using. Any of these variables can be used for whatever purposes in designing specialized map definitions. Scenarios must use tactical maps, the other two are used for display and informational purposes only. Any type of map may be reprojected into any other, including creating tactical maps based on a point on another projection. You may also reproject into a user defined projection, though this can be very slow (up to 12 hours or so on a 640 x 400 pixel screen, using floating point math in an AREXX (tm) script.) 1.2.1.2 Grids A grid is a display device allowing display of lines every specified distance. Lines may be drawn in complement mode, in which case the grid will toggle--reselecting it will erase the lines, or it may be drawn in a selected color. 7 Definable values for a grid are: 1) Horizontal start point. 2) Vertical start point. 3) Horizontal separation. 4) Vertical separation. 5) Grain; for orange peel type maps which require curved lines, this value determines the length of the individual line segments for the longitude lines. 6) DrawMode, either COMPLEMENT or JAM1, the Amiga draw modes which EBS will use to draw the grid. (JAM1 means jam one color onto the map, COMPLEMENT complements each pixel, and thus drawing the grid again will erase it from the map.) 7) Color - a color number from the palette for the map, maximum value depends on the depth of the map. Entered colors are checked for limits, but copying a grid to a different map can result in an illegal value. 8) Flags - there are only two of these, one is GRIDON which indicates whether the grid is redrawn with each map refresh and the other is DISTANCEGRID which indicates the grid is to be drawn separated by distance rather than LAT/LONG coordinates. (See the discussion under Module design. 1.2.1.3 Markers Markers mark a place on the map. They are gadgets which can be selected to get information about the location marked and about items which may be attached to the marker. EBS has 10 types of markers, each of which has an editable image which may be shown in one of the available map colors less one. Both colors 0 and 1 appear as background of 0 and foreground of 1. In addition, markers allow a label, as do all EBS modules, along with a name and note, allowing additional information entered freeform. In addition, a marker maintains full data concerning its location, using x, y and altitude as well as two planar coordinate numbers (material plane and interstice) based on the Energion magic system. These two values can be used in connection with the movement system to create a five dimensional coordinate system if desired. A marker may have, in addition, names for the following items: 1) A military unit, described below. 2) An objective, used in strategy determination. 3) A supply depot. 4) An item, a user definable module usable as a variable. A marker may have only one of each of these items, so one marker cannot serve for two different military units. This would not be desireable in any 8 case, as the marker maintains complete location data on the unit. It can, however, have all three of the items, thus, a divisional HQ could have a supply depot, the HQ unit itself and also be considered a strategic objective of the opposing force. Note that in that case, the supply depot and objective would automatically move with the unit. If this is not desired, separate markers should be used. 1.3 Units 1.3.1 Unit Definition The military unit is the basic element of a force which is the basic element of a battle scenario. I start with the unit, because it is possible to use EBS, especially in tactical display mode, or as a referee with multiple human players without any forces at all. For any computer decision making, however, a force definition is required. A unit definition only defines a few basic facts about a unit, and uses the labels of various modules to define its various capabilities. The unit definition only includes the labels of those modules which it must use for its various functions. [For those programmers who may wonder how much memory is used when one creates long labels for a module, a definition does not actually contain the label string, but only a pointer to the module involved whence it extracts the information it needs. Thus, even though 50 units may be using one module, the label string, and the module itself only exist in one place. Labels are stored in files, and in the case of units, there may be quite a few of them, so it is still a good idea to use a label as short as will convey the identity of the unit.] Labels are stored in memory only once, and if they are set judiciously, they can be both informative, and negligible in memory use.] A full definition will consist of a unit with its marker and none or more of the following subunits: 1) A movement module, specifying the movement capabilities of the unit (actual speed is maintained in the unit definition itself, since it may vary for each unit). The movement module, defines capability to move, not actual movement. 2) A defensive module, specifying resistances to various types of attacks. 3) A tactics module, specifying behavior and tactical level decision making for the unit. 4) A force number specifying which force the unit belongs to for purposes of determining relations to other units. 5) A superior unit, which is the unit label for the HQ of this unit. 6) The first in a list of subordinates. This value is automatically maintained by the program if all the 'superior' values are set correctly. 9 7) The first in a list of supported units, particularly valuable in the case of artillery spotters, but usable in other circumstances where the unit may be called upon to fire in support of another unit. 8) The first in a list of attacks which the unit may use. Attacks require detailed description, but for now, an attack is not a weapon, it is a description of how a weapon is used by the unit, and itself contains the names of weapons of whatever type. Units may combine weapons in some very creative ways in attacks. The unit definition itself contains the following definable values: 1) Base manning - the size of the unit when all its members are alive and kicking (or whatever they normally do before the enemy kills them). 2) Number - how many are actually in the estimable condition described above. Note that in modifying these values, all combat is conducted simultaneously, so the number of combatants in a unit will not reflect reality until the end of a round (second, minute or hour) of combat. 3) Damage points - the number of points of damage, as inflicted by weapons of various types, this unit can take. This value must relate properly to the various types of units available in a scenario. For example, one might have a scenario using only tanks and nasty small things which kill tanks, and use a damage value of between one and ten for the various types of tanks, with the AT guns behaving in an appropriate fashion, inflicting appropriate amounts of damage. If, however, you place humans on the field outside the tanks, there is nowhere on the scale to place them. 4) Zone of Control - the area which the unit will look at to make immediate firing decisions. If there are enemy units within the unit's zone of control, it will make firing and movement decisions based on its tactics module; if it does not, it looks to the strategy of its force for those decisions. It is obviously important to set this to a useful value if one wishes a computer played force to behave coherently. If it is not set by the scenario design, it will be set to the extreme range of the unit's longest range weapon plus one minute's movement. This figure is somewhat arbitrary, but the program needs something here if a designer is too lazy to provide it, and, under appropriate circumstances, just about anything might be used. 5) Supply type - the type value for a supply depot from 10 which this unit can resupply. These two values are arbitrary within the scenario. A value of zero means that the unit can resupply at any supply depot. 6) Unit ID - a value solely for the use of an EBS script programmer who needs to identify classes of units or other values for the purpose of scripts. It could be used in an AREXX (tm) 'select' range, for example. 7) Height - believe it or not, EBS wants to know how tall the average member of a unit is. This is mostly of use in a fantasy campaign where one might have giants and pixies on the same map. The pixies get cover from tall grass, while the giants need redwoods. Conversely, the giants can see over the grove of oaks, whereas the pixies are blocked by the aforementioned tall grass. 8) Speed - normally set on the run by a player, the percentage of actual base speed which the unit is using. In accordance with the Energion rules system, the key values are: 50% - maximum sneak speed 100% - normal walk (should be the value in movement module). 200% - jog, maintainable for up to one minute per point of endurance 300% - sprint, maintainable for up to one second per point of endurance The value is entered as an integer and is only checked for the maximum value of 65535, so if you wish to use different base values and multiples, it is possible. In case you are using values over 300, set the Endurance value to -1 so the program will not calculate endurance. The EnduranceCounter may then be used by a programmer to keep track of actual endurance in a different manner. 9) EnduranceCounter - Current actual endurance value. Endurance is used by movement at the rate of one point per second at 300%, one point per minute at 200% and one point per hour at 100%. Below 50% EBS doesn't bother. 10) Endurance - See the movement speeds for appropriate values. Energion characters can use their Endurance bonus. 11) Intelligence - not IQ, but the units capability to know about other units on the map. All data is filtered through this value unless the opposing unit is visible (see Hide below). 12) Cover - the ability of a unit to prevent other units from knowing about it, compared to the intelligence value when checking for knowledge. 13) Hide - this value serves a dual purpose, basically stating how "sneaky" a unit is, as well as how good it is at detecting other units sneaking. 14) Force - the force to which the unit belongs for purposes of determining relations, and other minor tactical type things. 11 12 15) A whole posse of counters. Most of these are maintained automatically by the system, but since one can 'get' and 'set' them with scripts, a brief description follows: Counter - fundamental counter for the unit, used when none of the others apply. Move Counter - used in cases of teleportation and plane shifting to determining when steps in the process are accomplished. For example, in an interstitial move, a unit must a) shift to the interstice, b) accelerate to speed, c) decelerate, and d) transfer back to the material plane. Each of these steps takes a number of seconds specified in the movement module, and the movement counter keeps track of when each event takes place. Status Counter - counts the time a unit spends in retreat before it can attempt to regain morale and control of its own actions, when a unit is under fire and in combat, and when it is advancing. Supply Counter - counts the time required for a unit to regain supplies from a supply unit. It is reset to its maximum value whenever the conditions of the resupply procedure are not met (see Supply, below). Review Counter - associated with a current review time value which is extracted from the tactics module or set by retreat routines. The counter counts the seconds until the unit may reconsider its current choices of destinations and targets. The current value is taken from the tactics module base review time, it is randomly lengthened when a retreat begins, and will be restored from the tactics module when the retreat ends. There are a number of other values set by the program automatically. Any of these which are of use to a script programmer are discussed under the 'set' and 'get' commands. None of them may be edited via the edit window, as there is not purpose for the user setting them when using only built-in routines. 1.3.2 The Force Forces would be known as "sides" of a conflict, except that EBS handles more than two of them per scenario. A force definition includes relations of the force to every other force, and some basic characteristics of the behavior of all units in the force. A force contains the following user definable values: 1) The name of a single objective for the force. The force will pursue this objective according to the options of the objective (see description of objectives below). 2) The name of the first unit in the force. Normally, all you need to do is enter the correct force value for each unit and this value will be handled automatically. You may enter a value here prior to any unit being 13 added to the force. 3) The name of the strategy which is in use by the force at the time. If this is set, rather than left to EBS choice, the strategy specified will be followed automatically until a review comes up. (See strategy description.) 4) Password - this is used for multiplayer games, and is not intended for security, but just to make it difficult to accidentally command the wrong force. 5) Number - a number from 1 to 32, which is automatically set by EBS when a force is created, but may be accessed or reset by the user. (Whenever the number is changed, all relation values must be changed.) 6) Relationship - these values may be set to friend, neutral, enemy or fanatical enemy, establishing how the units in the force will react to units of other forces. [The only way to combine units for strategy is to place them in the same forces. Friendly units will not attack each other, but will pursue their objectives independently.] 7) Review values - base, current and counter. The counter contains the seconds to then next review, the base value is the normal number of seconds between reviews, the current value is separately set under special conditions, such as a whole force going into defensive mode temporarily, then reset to base when that condition is alleviated. 8) The side of the map on which the force starts. Normally this is set automatically by EBS when it counts the number of units in each sector. 9) The side of the map to which the force is going. If the force has an objective defined, this will be the side on which the objective is located, otherwise, it will be the opposite side of the map. This value is maintained automatically by EBS. [An EBS map has nine sides for strategy purposes. See description under strategy.] 10) The side of the map on which the force is to start. EBS will figure this out. 11) A series of options specifying what sort of strategy the force should choose. These are: a) KILL - don't bother with strategy; just find the nearest enemy unit and kill it. b) DEFENSIVE - choose only a defensive strategy. A defensive strategy is defined as one in which the DEFENSIVE option is set. It is up to the module designer to appropriately label strategies by selecting options. This applies to all the options for a force which follow. c) OFFENSIVE - choose only an offensive strategy. d) BERSERK - choose a berserk attack strategy. e) CAUTIOUS - choose a cautious strategy. f) STATIC - don't bother with strategy, just sit there and shoot 14 at whoever shows up. 1.3.3 Movement A movement module describes the movement capabilities of a unit or units. Currently EBS does not support use of more than one movement module for a single unit, though it could be accomplished through a movement or tactics script. Thus, a cavalry unit should have its horseback movement defined, not a separate movement module for foot and horseback. A unit individually maintains its own speed and list of destinations. A movement module contains the following user defined values: 1) Base Speed - speed of which the unit is capable over the long term. The unit speed value is a percentage of this value. 2) Movement multiple list - 32 values, one for each type in the terrain table. All 32 may be defined even if the map only handles a smaller number, allowing the movement module to be used on any map sharing the same terrain table. 3) A set of values for aerial movement: a) Takeoff - the time an aerial unit takes to leave the ground. b) Climb - the amount the unit can climb in a second. c) Descend - the amount the unit can descend in a second. d) AirAccel - acceleration per second of the unit in the air e) MaxAlt - maximum altitude for the unit. The maximum speed of aerial movement is taken from the base speed. 4) Teleport Time - the time it takes the unit to teleport. 5) Teleports - Base number of teleports for a unit using this movement module. The actual number of teleports remaining for a unit are maintained in the unit module. 6) The following list of values for interstitial movement (in accordance with the Energion interstitial travel rules). a) IntersticeAcceleration - rate of acceleration when traveling on the interstice. b) IntersticeMove - maximum rate of movement on the interstice. c) IntersticeTransfer - time taken to go to the interstice in the first place. d) IntersticeShifts - the number of times the unit may travel to the interstice. Again, the actual value is maintained by the unit. The movement module keeps the start value. 7) The following list of values for interplanar travel: a) PlanePointsMax - maximum number of planar points which the unit 15 can travel. (See the Energion Magic rules for details.) b) PlanarTransfer - the time taken to transfer that number of planar points. c) PlaneShifts - the number of times the unit may shift planes. The actual value is maintained in the unit definition as with teleports and interstitial shifts. 8) SubFlags or Subterranean flags, though this is a slight misnomer. Using the flag requester, each bit of this value may be set to enable the unit to travel under the terrain type in question. (Or, if you insist, you can set them by hand.) These flags are not used by EBS v1.0, and for compatibility should be left all ON. I have left them accessible for possible use in scripts. 9) Flags - a list of conditions to be maintained during movement. The following values may be set: a) SEEKCOVER - try to stay in maximum cover while heading toward destination. b) GOFAST - stay in the terrain with the maximum movement rate while moving. c) HARDFRONT - allows a plus or minus 45 degree variation in course to accomplish the goals set by "a" or "b". d) CLOSEFRONT - allows a plus or minus 90 degree variation in course. e) MOVEFREE - allows a plus or minus 135 degree variation in course. This form of movement is mostly useful when you wish a unit never to leave a section of cover, but wish it to have movement within that cover. (It is best to also set ACTIVEDEFENSE on the unit since it is not impossible for a unit to escape using MOVEFREE, just very unlikely.) f) AERIAL - unit can fly. If this is set, but the various climb, speed and maximum altitude values are all zero, the unit will not fly anyway. NOTE: the next three items are specifically for fantasy games. g) TELEPORT - unit can teleport. A unit must also have some teleports available, so give it some if you select this option. h) PLANESHIFT - unit is capable of changing planes. It must also have some plane shifts available. i) INTERSTICE - unit can use the interstice for movement. It must have some interstice shifts available. j) ENTERATTACK - unit should enter the area of a static attack. This should usually be set if the unit has a special defensive capability. k) RANDSEARCH - unit should begin a random search pattern if it can't find anything better to do. Otherwise, the unit will simply remain where it is. Standing still may be desirable, for example, when the unit is intended to occupy an objective, but it may not be desireable when the various units with the capability to hide are involved in a scenario and not all have been located. 16 l) STOPINAIR - Normally, an airborne unit will continue to move as long as it is in the air. Certain units, such as helicopters or wizards using telekinesis, should be able to stop. This option will allow them to do so. m) EXACTFORMATION - in the case of formations, applies regular corrections to the speed of units in the formation to try to maintain a formation. Note that EBS is not too good at maintaining formation between variousdestinations, but this option will maintain a decent semblance. Units should arrive at a destination in formation (after all units have arrived) unless the leader has since set a new destination. 1.3.4 Defense Module A defense module contains the following user definable values: 1) ArmorTypes - resistances to 20 types of armor. Energion characters use 17, but these can be used in any other method desired. A weapon's type is the armor value it will work against when an attack is resolved. 2) IFDefense - defensive value against indirect fire. 3) MagicDefense - defensive value against magical attacks. To accommodate the Energion magic system, there are five values for the five types of magical attacks defined. 4) Shield - value of the units shields. 5) Surprise bonus - applied to armor when the unit is aware of its attacker. 6) Angle Bonuses - bonuses which are applied to the armor value when an attack is coming from a particular angle. There are four 90 degree quadrants, one is forward, two is right flank, three is rear and 4 is left flank. 7) Options - ONEARMOR, specifies whether armors are individually specified, or whether the first armor value is to be taken for all armors, and SURPRISED, which is normally set by EBS just before an attack, but which can be set by the user in a script to indicate whether or not the surprise bonus should be applied during a combat. If this option is set, the surprise bonus is NOT applied. 1.3.5 Tactics Module A tactics module defines how a unit will react to tactical situations. It is to a unit what a strategy is to a force. The most important part of a tactics module is its flags, most of which describe tactics choices. User definable values include: 17 1) Flags - a list of primary targets and some aspects of unit actions. Possible values follow (names are shown as they will appear in the flags requester). a) DODAMAGE - attack the target to which you can do the most damage. b) HARDTARGET - attack the hardest target in sight. This would be valuable in a scenario with tanks and infantry where you want the tanks to attack other tanks while the infantry does its own thing. Set "DODAMAGE" for the infantry. c) CLOSEST - just take whatever's closest. d) DANGEROUS - attack the enemy with the greatest offensive value. e) NOTTARGET - take the unit within your zone of control which is targeted by the least friendly units. f) FASTEST - take the fastest enemy unit. This allows a unit to be assigned to reducing the enemy's mobility. g) PREPARED - the unit is prepared to face an enemy. Set by EBS and read by scripts or status window. h) SURPRISED - the unit is surprised for an attack. Set by EBS and read for scripts or status. h) SHIELDSUP - unit has its shields up. Set either by user or by EBS. Any unit which has a shield value and is using a weapon compatible with a shield will use it. i) RECKLESS - used for artillery units to indicate they will attack an enemy unit even at risk of hitting friendlies within the area of attack. It may also be used for units with ranged weapons to indicate that they will approach to point blank range. The value may be set absolutely with the CPA value, which overrides these flags. j) MAXRANGE - the unit will approach only to within its extreme range, and try to hold at that range while attacking. This is applicable to archers or any troops with ranged weapons. Normally these units will approach to medium range and try to maintain that range throughout the battle. k) FLEXCPA - If a long range weapon, on which the closest point of approach has already been figured, runs out of ammunition, refigure the value and allow the unit to approach to an ideal range for the new weapon. l) IDEALRANGE - The unit will always try to approach to an ideal range, prior to attacking, rather than beginning to expend ammunition at the maximum range possible. The ideal range is specified using the options in the weapon definition. m) CONCENTRATE - Normally, when a unit chooses a target, it counts the number of friendly offensive points already attacking that target, and if these are twice or more the defen^@- value of the target unit, it will ignore that target. If this option is selected, the unit will attack the best target it can find, regardless of who is already attacking it. This probably should be set if you are using a script to set the defensive value of a unit at the time of attack, since EBS will not have valid defensive figures in that case, and may put only one unit to attack each enemy unit. n) OBSERVER - If this value is set, the unit will not move to approach a target any further than it needs to get a line of sight. 18 2) Morale - how likely the unit is to attack in face of fire, and to hold on under fire. A morale roll is required every time the unit takes fire. It is a percentage roll, modified by ratio of strategic points above or below the attacker that the target is. It will also be modified for supply, supporting units and contact with other units if those features are in use. 3) Loyalty - This value is not used in EBS v1.0, but is made available for script programmers. 4) Berserkness - might be called "will to do battle" or "spirit" by the more charitable. This value is applied in choice of strategy for the unit to help determine whether an offensive or defensive strategy should be chosen. It is also applied before a unit attacks against 2 to 1 or worse odds in strategic points (all friendlies within the unit's zone of control are counted along with all enemies in the enemy unit's zone). If this value is zero, it is ignored. 5) ReviewCounter, ReviewBase, ReviewCurrent - default values for these figures for all units using the tactics module. This review counter value will be the starting value when any unit (such as a reinforcement) is added to the force. 6) CPA - or closest point of approach, the closest that a unit will attempt to approach an enemy to conduct an attack. This value prevents missile units from charging into melee range while they can still effectively work with their bow fire. CPA considers only the target unit, thus, a unit may come under hostile fire from other units while maintaining adequate distance from its own target. Also, movement speed, and decision speed impact on the effectiveness of this value. Basically, CPA is a desire on the part of the attacking unit, not an absolute rule. The enemy, of course, generally wants to violate it! 1.3.6 Attack An attack must be distinguished from a weapon. An attack is the way a unit uses a weapon. Before I discuss attacks, I will review the kinds of weapons which they can use. Weapons come in two basic categories, direct fire (Weapon) and indirect fire (IFWeapon). Each uses a separate module. Weapons are additionally divided in function between melee weapons and missile weapons, while IFWeapons are divided between artillery type weapons and magic. 'Magic' weapons need not necessarily be magical; the category simply covers all weapons which have specialized attack forms which cannot be covered under the normal weapon categories. A weapon has the following defineable values: a) Gap - the number of seconds between two uses of the weapon. 19 b) Initiative - the number of seconds required for an unprepared unit to prepare the weapon for use. c) Ranges - a list of five ranges (PointBlank, Short, Medium, Long, Extreme) discussions of these ranges may be found in the Energion game manuals, or you may use them for anything desired. Since each range has an associated hit chance and damage, you must simply make sure the correct corresponding values are used. d) HitChances - a list of five chances to hit a target. e) Damage - the base amount of damage done if a target is hit. Hit chances and damage are calculated in accordance with the Energion combat system, briefly, the targets defense to the attacking weapon type is subtracted from the attacker's hit chance, and then a d100 is rolled and subtracted from the result. The answer is the percentage of the base damage (for that range) done to the target. f) WeaponType - the type of weapon this is. The only requirements for this value are that it must be between one and twenty, and that it should correspond, within a single scenario, with an armor type as defined in the defense modules. Thus, if the weapon is 'sword' and its type is '2', as in the Energion system, the defense modules should reflect the resistance of the armor to swords, or hacking/slashing/stabbing weapons whose attacks are similar. The user defineable values of an IFweapon are: a) Gap - same as for weapon. b) Init - same as for weapon. c) Range - an IFweapon has only one range value, the max value, which is proportioned according to the percentage of that range which the attacker is attempting to use. Since the formula considers both the altitude of the attacking missile and the horizontal distance, an IFweapon may be used for a bombing attack--directly overhead will not be range zero. d) HitChance - base chance to hit. e) Damage - the number of d10 of damage done to each person in the target area who is subject to the attack. f) Radius - the radius from the center point of the hit over which the effect takes place. Either this value or the x and y values which follow must be set, and the unused value must be zero. If the 'radius' value is non-zero, the attack is circular, and all units, friendly or enemy, within 'radius' range of the center point of the attack take damage. g) x,y - if a rectangular area of effect is desired, these two values reflect the width and length of that area. The area will center on the point of impact calculated by the attack. h) MinPeople - the minimum number of remaining effectives in the unit employing the weapon which are required to operate it. i) Scatter - A percentage chance that an individual in the target area will take damage. Thus one may have an artillery barrage which impacts over a large area, but the actual chance of an individual being near enough an impact area is actually small. There can be advantages to both forms; enemy units already low on morale may be spooked by a small amount of artillery fire and retreat, for example. Now for the attack itself: 20 a) Flags - these are identical for weapon types and IFweapon types. 1) MELEE - the attack is a melee attack. 2) INDIRECT - the attack is indirect. 3) DIRECT - the attack is direct fire missile. 4) MAGICAL - the attack is somewhat weird. 21 5) MEETCHARGE - in a weapon, means that the weapon may be used to meet a charge, in the attack, it means it IS being used to meet a charge at the time. 6) CHARGING - in a weapon, means it may be used in a charging type attack, in an attack, means that the attack IS being used in a charge. 7) AIRTARGET - means that the weapon, IFweapon or the whole attack may be used against an airborne target. 8) GNDTARGET - the attack may be used against a ground target. 9) NONTARGET - normally used with scripted attacks, to indicate that EBS need not select a target for this attack. 10) INTERSTICE - attack may be used on the interstice. 11) STOPTOFIRE - unit must stop before employing this attack. 12) PTBRANGE - 13) SHTRANGE - 14) MEDRANGE - 15) LNGRANGE - the ideal range at which to use the weapon. 16) USEMOUNTED - the unit may use this weapon while mounted on a transport unit. Do not confuse this with a "mounted" type unit, such as a group of knights, who are considered to be on horseback. EBS cannot tell that unless you define a unit of horses and a unit of humans, then have the humans mount the horses as transport. This method can be used for transported infantry. Note that if the current primary attack can be used while mounted, EBS will not automatically dismount the unit, but will keep taking advantage of the increased movement rate. 17) WITHSHIELD - if a shield value is defined for the unit, it will only be allowed if the unit's current attack has this option chosen. 18) SMOKEATTACK - this attack, using an IFWeapon, is smoke producing and will block line of sight. b) Weapon - the name of the weapon, if any, associated with the attack. If combined with flags MELEE or DIRECT this is the primary weapon for the attack. c) IFWeapon - the name of an IFweapon associated with the attack. If there is no weapon and/or the flags for INDIRECT or MAGICAL are set, this is the primary weapon. Otherwise, it is a magical attack associated with the use of the weapon, such as a Cube of Energy on an arrow. The IFweapon's attack will then be carried out around the center point of the arrow's hit. d) LinkAttack - an attack which may be simultaneously manned while this attack is manned. Link attacks should be set up in a chain, each one having the name of the next on the list. This would be used, for example, on a ship with multiple guns, such as 16 inch, 8 inch, 4 inch, etc, all of which will be in use at the same time, though having different rates of fire and even different targets. When EBS chooses the first weapon in a LinkAttack list, it will man all the weapons on the list, initialize their counters, then carry out their attacks as appropriate. It will also simultaneously deselect all attacks in that list. e) TargetLoc - the location center of an IFweapon's attack, also used as the location of a stationary attack, such as a burning Manipulator 'Create Energy' spell. Unlike direct fire weapons, IFweapons do not require 22 a unit as a target, the may fire at an area suspected to contain enemy units and hope for the best. In EBS v1.00, this is only set internally when creating static attacks, or through scripts. There is no direct way to set the target location through the menus or the command window. f) Target - the name of the unit which is the primary target for this attack. g) SecTarget - the secondary target for this attack. This value is only used when a unit which outnumbers its target by more than 6 to 1 tries to attack that target with a melee weapon. EBS will only allow six attacks on that single target. If there is a secondary target available, the remainder will use that attack on it. Most often, in fantasy scenarios, this would be used when as many of the troops as possible are attacking the "great hero warrior" while the rest fight with his minions, or any of hundreds of variations on that theme. h) Script - the name of an AREXX (tm) script which completely replaces the normal attack routines. EBS will call the named script with the specified arguments provided in the list. See the section under the AREXX (tm) interface for acceptable return values. i) Number - the number of troops or elements (such as tanks or artillery pieces) using this attack. j) Effect - a percentage of the base damage of the weapon which this unit actually gets out of the attack. This value allows the designer to set up a single 'longbow' module, and create multiple units, not all of whom get the same result out of their firing. k) Counter - counts the seconds between attacks. l) Multiple - in case of a rapidly firing weapon, the number of attacks taking place in one second or round. If multiple is greater than one, the gap should be zero unless you wish to force one second bursts every 'x' seconds. m) StartAmmo - how much ammo these troops carry for this attack. n) CurrentAmmo - how much ammo they have right now. o) Magic Ammo - how much ammo they have with standardized magical attacks similar to 'Cube of Energy.' p) Magic Dice - the dice in the magical attack. q) MagicDSize - if other than the standard Energion d10, the size of the magical dice. r) TypeID - a scripters convenience variable to allow AREXX (tm) select ranges based on this value to conduct scripted attacks. 23 s) TerrainFlags - what terrains may this attack be used in. t) SubFlags - under what terrains may this attack be used. This value is not used by EBS v1.0, but is available for script writers. 1.3.7 Supply A supply depot is a simple module which provides a method for units to regain ammunition. Fuel and other supplies are not supported, but if there are any supply modules defined, supply available or not will impact morale and loyalty rolls of any units not immune to supply problems. Defineable values of a supply module follow: a) Flags - the following values may be set for conditions of resupply. These flags set conditions which must be true during the time resupply is in progress for success. 1) MOVING - unit must be moving independently (not in retreat) to be resupplied. A unit which is stopped for its own purposes, that is not forced into retreat or defensive mode, may be resupplied with this flag set. 2) STOPPED - unit must not be moving (actual speed 0). 3) LOSSUPPLY - unit must have a line of sight to the supply depot. This would imply runners carrying the supplies who would not want to be out of sight of friendly forces. 4) ONMAPSUPPLY - the supply depot must be on the unzoomed current map; otherwise it may be at any x/y/z coordinates, whether displayed or not. 5) INRETREAT - unit may resupply even if it is retreating. 6) ATSUPPLY - unit must be collocated with the supply depot to resupply, basically required to pick up its supplies rather than have them delivered. Obviously, multiple options may be selected for the unit, though it would make little sense (but do no harm) to set LOSSUPPLY and ATSUPPLY. b) Type - a scenario defined type of supply, if this is other than zero, it must match the supply type of the unit to be resupplied. c) Time - the number of seconds during which the specified conditions must be met in order for that unit to be resupplied. This is counted by the unit's Supply Counter. d) Force - the force number (set as a force name in the editor). This must match the unit's force number or no resupply may take place. 1.3.8 Strategy The strategy module defines how a unit will behave before it comes into contact with an enemy. Contact with an enemy is defined in EBS as having an enemy unit within the unit's zone of control and known to that unit. A strategy module has the following user-definable elements: a) Choice Routine - an AREXX (tm) script (with arguments) which returns a value indicating the relative merit of the strategy. This script 24 should examine the map terrain, the enemy positions and the force's strengths and weaknesses. EBS internal choice routines return values from 0 to 100. External scripts should return similar values if they are simply to be added to available choices; they should return values greater than 100 if they wish to replace the internal strategies. The only way to tell what strategy will be chosen is by experimentation. b) Action Routine - this is a standard routine which replaces the actions of the strategy module. It should set destinations in the units belonging to the force. It can return standard values indicating whether it succeeded, and whether EBS should continue and attempt to set the destinations. c) MoveData - consists of multiple elements: LLSPEED LLDEV LRSPEED LRDEV CLSPEED CLDEV CRSPEED CRDEV RLSPEED RLDEV RRSPEED RRDEV The speed element is the percentage of the base speed for the force which that unit should go. This will allow you to have certain portions of a force advance more quickly than others. The dev (deviation) element states the number of degrees right (positive value) or left (negative value) the unit should deviate on its way to its destination sector. See Section 6.3, The Map for a description of sides and sectors. Each unit will go to the corresponding map sector on the target side of the map. It will travel to that point in a straight line if its deviation value is zero. If the deviation value indicates a number of degrees, however, it will use that deviation through about one half of its route and then reverse it to head for its target sector. Use of an objective which is behind an enemy force, and deviation left and right for all the units will thus cause the attacking force to split, attempt to move to the right and left of the enemy, then cut back in behind them to the objective. (In actual battles, of course, this kind of pleasant romp to the objective is, at best, unlikely!) d) Delay - this value is used to delay the start of execution of a strategy. In the internal strategies, this value is used in connection with the number of artillery units an attacker has, and is a number of seconds which the attackers will delay movement while their artillery works on the enemy. In use of this value, remember that the value is multiplied by the number of artillery batteries available to the force, so even if you use it to delay for other reasons, you must have at least one artillery unit, and set the value high enough to accomplish your purpose. As an example, an attacker which has 10 artillery batteries and a strategy with a delay value 25 of 60 will delay for 600 seconds (10 * 60) or 10 minutes before allowing any unit in the force to move forward. Additionally, it is a bad idea to use such a delay if there are no spotter units in place or the enemy begins the game out of range of the artillery available. In either of those cases you get 10 minutes (or whatever time you specify) of inaction during which the enemy can have whatever fun they desire. (Units will still defend themselves. e) RangefromBase - this name may appear strange, but it stands for the distance an enemy unit is from its target's home base. It is used in determining when to launch a defensive strategy. A defensive strategy may have all the same elements as an offensive one, but you may desire it only to be launched under specific circumstances. Other strategy launching criteria are listed under the "OPTIONS" element, but this element allows you to set a range value from the enemies leading unit to the force's leading element. When the actual range is less than this value, the defensive force will launch its strategy. Using this method, you could have a defensive force wait for the enemies lead unit to come in contact with its center, then launch a double envelopment attack as a defense. f) Supply - a percentage of the attacking force's units which should dedicate themselves to destroying enemy supplies. g) Command - a percentage of the attacking force's units which should dedicate themselves to destroying enemy headquarters units. h) MoveThreshold - This value applies to both supply and command hunters. It sets a minimum speed for such units. EBS checks the unit's speed against this value, and if it is less than this, the unit is not assigned to command or supply hunting. i) Concentrate - a percentage chance for any unit, when choosing a destination, to attempt to move closer to friendly units. If the nearest friendly unit is already within the unit's zone of control, it will ignore this value and go on, otherwise it will set its destination to move closer to the friendly unit. j) MaxDeviation - Provides the maximum distance which a unit may move from its location for the purpose of seeking cover. This value is used for all units who have an "ACTIVEDEFENSE" option chosen for them. k) RearOffset - this value is not used by EBS but is made available for script purposes. I use it to indicate how far behind an enemy a unit should attempt to set its destination. It can be used as an argument for an action script (as can any other element of the strategy module). l) Options - the following list of options may be chosen for a strategy module: 1) KILL - the units in this force have one simple instruction-- find the nearest enemy unit and attack it. 2) DEFENSIVE - this strategy may be chosen by a force which is in defensive mode. This is not mutually exclusive with OFFENSIVE. In the case of an offensive force, the defensive items are ignored. 3) OFFENSIVE - this strategy may be chosen by a force which is in offensive mode. 4) BERSERK - an extreme form of offensive. 5) CAUTIOUS - an extreme form of defensive. 6) UNDERFIRE - for defensive strategies, implement the strategy when your first unit comes under enemy fire. 26 7) SIGHTEDENEMY - for defensive strategies, implement the strategy when your first unit sights an enemy unit. 8) INCOMBAT - for defensive strategies, implement the strategy when your first unit is noted in combat. Note: the difference between UNDERFIRE and INCOMBAT is that UNDERFIRE is set when the unit receives fire, and INCOMBAT is set when the unit either fires or receives fire. 1.4 - Terrain Table The terrain table consists of 32 terrain entries, each containing the following values: a) Flags - the flags tell what each terrain pixel counts for in averaging the nine pixel group which EBS reads to provide a single terrain result. The possible values are MOVE, LOS, ALTITUDE and COVER. If none of these values are set, the pixel has no impact on terrain (possibly a desireable result). b) Cover - the amount of cover provided to a unit in this terrain. c) LOS - a multiplier for the difficulty of seeing through the terrain, compared to clear air. Any time this value is greater than one, EBS checks a percentage chance to see the distance. The base d) Altitude - the altitude of the surface of the terrain. e) Margin - the altitude of the objects on the surface of the terrain, such as the height of the trees in a forest or the height of the rocks in rocky terrain. This is compared to the height of the troops in the unit in establishing the cover value for those troops. f) Title - the name of the terrain type. g) Color - the color in which to draw a pixel of this terrain. The best way to examine the relationship between these values is to examine the terrain table provided in the program. It may then be edited and saved with the configuration file. 1.5 Miscellaneous Modules 1.5.1 Units of Measure Units of Measure are only defineable through EBS Script Language commands, and not through the editor. They are quite simple to define, having only two elements: a label, and a positive integer value indicating the number of centimeters in the unit named by the label. Thus, a unit of "Meters" would require a multiple value of "100" whereas one of kilometers would require one of "100000" and one of "miles" would require "160934." A unit of "inches" would be difficult to enter, and would create some inaccuracy. The closest value which is reasonably accurate is "feet," which would require a multiple of 30 or 31 centimeters, depending on how religiously you round the values. 27 EBS can operate without any units of measure entered, because none of them are used directly. When you enter the label of your unit in a map definition, EBS searches the list of measures (if there is one) and enters the associated multiple in the "MULT" value of the map. When you enter the multiple directly, it searches the list for a match to that value and enters the label automatically. If there is no list in EBS, the two values must be entered separately by hand. EBS also will present a requester listing the available units of measure if an invalid label is entered in the editor window. Measure modules are thus mostly a convenience feature rather than a requirement. They are accessed in the same manner as any other module. 1.5.2 Items Items are extremely simple modules which EBS does not use at all. They are designed for the script writer, and have just three elements: a label (required), an positive integer item identification number and an optional note. An item may be attached to a marker, allowing access to its value by that means. What is done with these items is up to the script writer, but they may be useful for maintaining variables for your AREXX (tm) scripts from one call to the next. The item identification number could also be used with a list to identify items with more detailed descriptions maintained in files. The item identification number takes only positive integers, but the note can take any value. EBS allocates memory for the note dynamically, so that no more memory is used for this than necessary. There is, however, a limit of 1024 characters on all strings entered into modules in EBS. (Remember that it may be difficult to process long notes in some text editors.) Items are accessed by their label, as is the case with other modules, or by their element number. Their labels are subject to the same rules as well. 1.5.3 Location Chains Location chains provide a drawing medium for limited scaled objects. They are only accessible through the script language in this version of EBS. Each location chain has a header, which is attached in a list to its map. Thus, when the map is zoomed, the location chain will be redrawn. Create a location chain by using the command 'new chain chainname'. The chain will be added to the current map. You can then set the color and draw mode for the chain using the 'set' commands. There are two ways to establish locations for a chain. If you know exactly what locations you want, you can format them as strings, then 'set' the location values for the named chain to those strings. Each call to set with a valid location string adds a location. Alternatively, you can set 28 the 'maxlocs' values for a pointer to the total number of locations you wish to have in the chain, click on the locations desired in succession, then use 'set chain chainname locs current' which will add the entire set of locations to the chain. * AREXX is a trademark of William B. Hawes. 29