ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/DOOR/BSIM2.ZIP/BSIM.DOC

Text File | 1994-08-17 | 19KB | 468 lines

                            BSIM v2.00

  Hi,

BSIM is an universal battle simulator.
It is able to set up battles and use VCR.EXE to show them visually and it
can set up host data to simulate multiship battles. (VCR.EXE comes with
VGA-Planets)

Note that BSVCR.EXE (VCR.EXE) is written and copyrighted by Tim Wisseman.
You may not modify it without his permission.

BSIM.EXE is freeware. You may upload it to any bbs or distribute it
on the internet as long as it serves no commercial purpose.

Please read the FAQ appended below, it may clear up some things a bit
(I get a lot of questions about this simulator :-)


Getting started
===============
If you don't want to read the doc NOW then just start BSIM. At first it
might be confusing that I keep separate data for both modes (multiship
and visual) but it is, IMHO, necessary. Please read the doc before you
report any 'bugs' that aren't really bugs :-)
You can change the setup with ^C (Ctrl-'C' or Strg-'C').
Make sure that you have no subdirectory named 'bsimdata'.


Disclaimer of warranties
========================
BSIM is not warranted in any way.  If you use it you use it at your own
risk. The author is not liable for any damage or loss of data that may
occur during regular usage of BSIM.


Release note
============
This is version v2.0 first public release
New : multiship battles



Discrepancies between planets and this simulator
================================================
In Multiship mode host generates the results and the vcr files,
so there are no differences at all (at least as far as the combat itself
is concerned, the combat order may differ between several host versions).

In Visual mode it works in the following way:
The general battle algorithm is that host passes the ship stats (like mass,
armament, ammunition etc.), one random number, and the two ID's to VCR.EXE
(the number initializes the random generator, which decides the battle
outcome.)
I generate the stats the same way host does, and I randomize the ID's and
the number, so there should be no differences between BSIM and actual
battles fought in the game. (exceptions are possible bugs).



Requirements
============
You will need all files described below, about 350k memory and a version
of HOST.EXE in the directory where you start BSIM or in the path.


Files
=====
BSVCR.EXE   : patched VCR.EXE (from VGA-PLANETS, written by Tim Wisseman)
              (you need the version that comes with bsim2).
BSIM.EXE    : battle simulator
BSHOST.EXE  : small exe that starts host.exe and returns to bsim afterwards

The following files come with VGA-Planets, and must be in the directory where
BSIM is called :

HULLSPEC.DAT
ENGSPEC.DAT
BEAMSPEC.DAT
TORPSPEC.DAT
TRUEHULL.DAT
RESOURCE.PLN
TECH.MOF
RACE.NM
PLANET.NM
XYPLAN.DAT

Note : bsim will generate a vcr file (VCR?.DAT), the path info (PATH.DAT)
and a VCRINIT.TMP.  BSVCR.EXE will leave a TEMP.PLN file.

The old files, if they exist, will be renamed (to *.OLD). If you exit the
simulator, they will be restored.
However, if you leave the simulator by a system-reset, a power outage etc.,
Planets might behave strangely because it finds the above
mentioned files. BSIM shouldn't do any damage but if you have an unpacked
result in the directory where you ran BSIM then you might need to rename
the .old files back to .dat .
 It isn't required that you run BSIM from your planets dir. You can just
move all the files listed above into a seperate dir and run BSIM from
there.

IMPORTANT :
*********
In the multiship mode bsim will create a directory with host data.
The default name for the subdirectory is "bsiminfo" (but you can change
the name). Any existing host data in this directory will be DESTROYED !!!



BSIM details
============
Bsim has two seperated modes. They will be referred to as
'Visual mode' (this is the mode where you can watch single battles)
and 'Multiship mode' (bsim uses host.exe to determine the battle outcome).


Visual mode
~~~~~~~~~~~
In this mode you can enter any number of matchups. The ship on the right
side will fight the ship on the left side. All stats in this mode will
be used to generate a VCR.DAT file for BSVCR.EXE.


Multiship mode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The main idea in this mode is to generate host data according to your
needs and then run host. The problem is that different host versions
may react different so you can select several parameters to make sure
that you get the results you want to.

You can enter several 'matchups'.  Every matchup consists of a number
of ships that fight each other. You can run every matchup as often
as the 500 ship limit allows. Only one planet or one starbase is
allowed per matchup (or did you ever see 2 planets involved in one fight :-)

The ID's of the ships will be chosen at random.
The following switches will influence the Battle order, the ID's, ship
missions and friendly codes :

(1) Battle order control :
    If you select "Friendly codes" then the ID's will be totally random
    and the friendly codes be set to numerical values according to the
    way HOST3.1x uses the friendly codes to control the battle order.
    They will be ordered in the way the ships are arranged (i.e. first
    ship gets the lowest friendly code).

    If you select "ID's" then bsim will additionally assign the ID's
    according to the battle order, i.e. the first ship gets the lowest
    ID.

(2) Variable battle order
       If you enable this switch then the battle order for the selected side
       will be randomized. This is useful for situation where you know that
       you have to fight against a fleet of different enemy ships but you
       don't know in which order they will fight.

(3) Multirace mode
    If this switch is off then only two races are allowed (one for each
    side). All ships will get the Kill!-Mission. In this mode the battle
    order works well (at least with host 3.14a).

    If you have more than 2 races involved then the battle order won't
    work as you expect (at least with host v3.14a). In most cases the
    first race will fight first (i.e. Feds vs. Lizards, then Feds vs. Birds,
    ..., and last Rebels vs. Colonials).
    In this mode you have the total control over all details (friendly
    codes, mission, primary enemy and race). You can set up a scenario and
    see how host reacts. Note : The 'randomize battle order' switch will
    change the friendly codes if enabled.


Multiship battle evaluation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the host runs bsim will evaluate the host data.
For every matchup you get a table with all ships (plus the planet/starbase)
which shows you how often every ship survived or was captured plus a few
statistical details. These statistics are calculated only for the survived
ships, i.e. destroyed or captured ships won't influence the stats.

The columns have the following meanings :
B      beam number
BT     beam type
T      torp number
TT     torp type
FB     fighter bays
Fish   torps/fighters
surv.  # how often the ship survived (captured means not survived)
capt.  # how often the ship was captured
dam    damage after combat, average/minimum/maximum (only survived ships)
fish   fighters after combat, average/minimum/maximum (only survived ships)

You can print the results to a file or to a printer (stdprn). You can also
watch single battles visually (n/a yet).

Bsim won't remove the host data so you can have a look at the generated
results if you want to. To seperate the battles every ship gets a name
extension with the format "| <matchup> <battle> <side> <shipnr>".
The meanings of the parameters are
matchup : the number of your matchup
battle  : indicates the battle-th run of the matchup
side    : A means 'left side', B means 'right side' (in bsim)
shipnr  : indicates the position of the ship in bsim.

Example : "1 5 A3" means first matchup, 5th run, 3rd ship on the left side
The "|" appears as an up-arrow in vcr.exe.


BSIM configuration
==================

Engine tech shield bonus, Scotty Fed bonus :
    The same as in host v3.14

Randomize sides :
    It makes a difference if a ship fights on the left or on the right
    side of the vcr screen. If you enable this switch bsim will place the
    ships on random sides of the vcr screen (visual mode only).

Ask for battle convert :
    Bsim remembers the data you entered seperately for multiship and visual
    battles. While you enter the multiship data you can switch to visual
    mode and watch a battle without damaging your multiship data.
    However, if you accidentally chose the wrong mode then you can
    enable this switch and convert the visual battles to a multiship
    matchup and vica versa. The separation is necessary because there
    are different restrictions in the visual mode (the same number of ships
    on both sides in the visual mode etc.). You may lose some data if you
    convert a matchup (for instance the missions and friendly codes if
    you convert a multiship battle to a visual one).
    I recommend to leave this switch OFF.

Delete init file :
    By default bsim will save its data to a file (bsiminit.tmp). If you
    disable this switch then bsim won't save that data that you entered.

Path to the host data :
    This is the name of the subdirectory where bsim creates the host data.
    Currently only simple names are allowed. Paths are not allowed.

Use 43/50 line text mode :
        In the evaluation mode you can have a rather large amount of battles.
        If you enable this mode then BSIM will switch to 43/50 lines
        whenever it enters the evaluation mode.

Automatic race change :
        This switch works only if the multirace mode is on.
        Since I allow only one race per side you can select if BSIM should
        automatically change the race of all ships if you enter a hull
        of this race (convenient if you want to test ships of one race
        against ships of another race). If the switch is off then BSIM
        won't change the race if you enter a new hull.

For a description of the other options see bsim details.



Keys
====

The keys to enter ship/planet stats are self explainatory. Note that the
shield settings have no influence in the multiship mode.

A few of the following keys are only allowed in certain modes.

"^<key>" means  Crtl + <key> (or Strg + <key>)


(1) Battle Setup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
^T : List the current matchup

^O : Copy current ship(s) "n" times. After the copy process you will have
     n battles with the same specifications inserted, of course you can
     edit them all seperately. The battle which is shown on the screen
     is the last of the now n+1 battles with the same specs.

^D : Delete current battle. If you edit the last battle you will jump
     to the previous battle, but otherwise you jump to the next.

^I : Insert a battle here (before the battle you are editing).

^Y : Delete all ships on this side (or on both sides in the visual mode).

 + : Move to next battle. If it doesn't exist, create a new one.
 - : Move to previous battle.

^+ : Move to the next matchup (multiship only).
     If it doesn't exist, Create a new one.

^- : Move to the previous matchup.


(2) Misc

^C : Configure bsim

^N : Chose the number how often bsim should run the current matchup
     (multiship only). Select 0 to remove the matchup.

^S : Change the item on the right side to a ship.
^P : Change the item on the right side to a planet.
^B : Change the item on the right side to a starbase.

^R or cursor right : Edit right side
^L or cursor left  : Edit left side
^U or cursor up    : Up
^X or cursor down  : Down
^M or Return       : Edit blinking item
^V                 : View battles (visual mode)
^H           : Start host (multiship mode)
^Q                 : Quit bsim


Notes
=====
(1) The documentation isn't very accurate regarding the base strength.
    Assume that the starbase fighter number is f, the planetary defense is
    p and the starbase defense is s. Then the base follows the stats :

    mass      = 100+p+s
    fighters  = f+sqrt(p)
    bays      = 5+sqrt(p)
    beams     = sqrt((p+s)/3)
    beamtype  = sqrt(p/3)

    Note that the beam NUMBER depends on both planetary and starbase defense,
    while the beam TYPE depends only on the planetary defense (strange, but I
    didn't write HOST.EXE so don't blame me :-)

(2) Here are a few notes from my tests with host v3.14a.
    In the multiship mode the starbase damage won't influence the base
    strength (!).
    The damage that a starbase suffers in the battle will be added to the
    damage of the starbase.
    Example : A starbase has 100 planetary defense posts, 200 starbase
    defense posts, 60 fighters and 40% damage. It will fight with a mass
    of 400 kt and 70 fighters (so the damage won't influence it).

    If it gets 50% (new) damage in the battle then the defense posts will be
    reduced by 50% and the total damage will be 90%.  If it gets 70% (new)
    damage then the starbase will be destroyed (except Lizards ?) but the
    planet will still belong to you.

(3) The 'Race' switch is only useful if you want to see a Lizard ship/planet
    (150% damage) or a Privateer ship (3x kill). If you use the multirace
    mode or if you enter several multiship matchups I strongly recommend
    to use as few different races as possible to keep the number of generated
    results (and stored messages) low.

(4) In the multiship mode I accept only one planet or base. If you enter
    several planets then bsim will use the first planet that you entered.
    If the planet is the first entry on the right side then bsim will give
    that planet an ATT order. Depending on the host version the planet
    should fight first in this case, but the ATT handling differs from host
    version to host version so I can't guarantee what happens.
    The planet will get a neutral friendly code and fight last in all other
    cases.

(5) If you chose a planet or a starbase you can't enter a damage % (except
    starbase damage which will influence the battle outcome only indirectly).
    The battle specifications are given by the number of defense posts
    (& base fighters). A planet _never_ starts a fight with damage in Planets.
    If a damaged planet/base fights a second time, the number of defense posts
    will be reduced (by the damage percentage) but the damage is set to 0.

(6) BSIM will correct you if you try to enter invalid stats (like more
    torps than cargo room is available, etc.). There is one exception :
    Some ships have a regular crew size smaller than 10. However, if one
    of these ships gets captured they are equipped with 10 crewmembers.
    That's the reason why BSIM allows you up to 10 crewmembers (of course more
    if the regular crewsize is more than 10).

(7) If you select a new hull, and the hull has components that weren't in
    the former hull (beams, torp tubes, fighter bays) BSIM will
    pre-initialize the tubes with Mk7, the beams with XRays and the
    full cargo with torps/fighters.
    Why ? In most cases I wanted to simulate battles with fully operational
    ships, that means I always had to input a high fighter/torp
    number. Please keep in mind that the number of fighters/torps
    influences the battle outcome (somebody told me that a carrier fights
    better if it has more fighters even if they are never used, i.e.
    a Gorbie with 250 fighters is better than a Gorbie with 150 fighters).
    I still use the maximum number because this influence is minor compared
    to other parameters.
    Why XRays ? In most battles beams are irrelevant anyway, so no need to
    use certain beams. In some cases you set up the battle for a certain
    upcoming battle in a real game, so you have to input the special
    beam type anyway.
    Why Mk7 ? Well, I found them to be the most useful torps. They are cheaper
    than Mk8, and mostly do the same damage (2 or 3 percent to large ships,
    and usually the same number of hits are required for smaller ship.
    Take the Patriot - 3 hits, and the Patriot is history, Mk7 or Mk8 .
    Therefore I rarely ever use different torps, so I chose them.


Is this a bug ?
===============

Known problems :
(1)  The battle outcome is strange, some beams weren't fired.

     That's a 'feature' (or bug ?) of VCR.EXE. Weapons are prone to not
     function _perfectly_ for ships that fight on the left side of the
     vcr screen.

(2)  If you set up (multiship) battles involving several ships and a planet
     it happens sometimes that the ships won't fight against the planet.

     I had this case several times and there was always some capturing of
     several ships involved. Even worse, as I looked into the result the
     planet didn't scan the ships that were in orbit (with 'V') although
     they were still there and uncloaked.

(3)  The mission of captured ships is reset to no mission so they won't
     fight.



FAQ
===
Q: What host version do I need ?
A: Any v3.x version. However, if you use a version that is older than
   v3.13e you might need some tests with the 'battle order control' and
   'multirace'  switches until the battle order works in the way you
   want it.

Q: Sometimes I see a race symbol instead of the ship picture. In other cases
   I see the wrong ship picture. What's wrong ?
A: Nothing. A wrong symbol appears if the vcr file belongs to that race
   (i.e. vcr1.dat belongs to the Feds) but no ship of this race is involved
   in the  battle. In the visual mode bsim will assign the vcr file to the
   race that has the most ships. Since I don't know how the race affects
   the battle outcome (except race bonuses) I will change no race setups.
   The wrong picturesin the intro screen won't affect the battle outcome
   in any way.

Q: If I set a damage>0 the shields go down.
A: That's automatic, if you have p% damage, the highest possible shield
   status is (100-p)% (a feature of Planets).

Q: If the shields aren't at 100%, why do the beams start uncharged ?
A: Another feature of Planets. If the shields aren't at 100% the weapons
   need to recharge, even if it's the first fight for the ship in this turn.


Multiship FAQ :

Q: Is it possible to reduce the number of generated results ?
A: No. If I deactivate some of the races the ships won't fight or they
   will fight on the wrong side of the vcr screen.

Q: What happens if I don't have enough memory to run host.exe from bsim ?
A: The evaluation will show all ships intact.
   Bsim uses a small program (bshost.exe) to run host, so if bsim reports
   not enough memory you probably won't have enough memory to run host.exe
   at all.
   However, if bsim reports a lack of memory then you can quit bsim (the
   'delete init file' switch needs to be ON), run host manually and start
   bsim with the parameter /eval.


Please mail any bug observations/criticisms/suggestions to me,
internet -- [e-mail] (preferred) or
[e-mail] (only if you can't reach me at spoolbag).

Enjoy !
               Thomas