Manual Additions

PC : Battle Academy is a turn based tactical WWII game with almost limitless modding opportnuities.

Moderators: Slitherine Core, BA Moderators

junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Manual Additions

Post by junk2drive »

Updated April 15 2012

Here is a manual addendum that I made for myself from forum posts and experiences with the editor and mods.

Feel free to add your tips.

I have added links to important thread discussions.

Here is the link to the PDF manual

http://www.slithdata.net/files/bbc_ba/B ... ual_UK.pdf

Pip To Do List

http://www.toodledo.com/public/td4f861c ... 0/list.php

BA Wiki page

http://www.slitherinebravo.net/GameWiki/doku.php

Junk2drive manual additions

----

New Orders as of 1.5.4

Scout – infantry can use the scout command to increase their spotting range.

When you bring up the infantry orders buttons, if you see an eye icon, the unit has scout area available as an order. The positive of this is the ability to see up to 10 squares away, the negative is that it uses all the AP for that turn.

Scout Area ;
LOS +2
CoverLOS +1

Reverse - reverse armour away from the enemy, protecting your rear.

----

Hotkeys as of 1.5.0
Copy and paste this into notepad and save to your desktop

Hotkeys

F1 - List of hotkeys
F2 – Takes a screenshot and dumps it to My Docs\My Games\BBCBA. (See user text info for options)
F3 - Debug current unit script
F4 - Debug AI script
F5 - Debug scenario script
F6 - Toggle script log window
Shift-F7 - shows some AI info
F7 - reveals all units and associated Team.
CTRL + F2 - Capture stream for video
CTRL + Left Click Unit - Open info panel for unit (click and hold and drag panel)

M – Toggles the overhead map view.
SHIFT+3 - Toggles ground level view.
TAB – Cycles through units which have not moved yet this turn.
ESC – Opens the menu. (save, easy button, sound options)
J – Toggles the mini map.
1 – Shows the tiles the current unit can see and which ones it can shoot.
SHIFT – When using the bombard command this shows the spread area for the bombard attack.
Insert - Casualty list (also number pad 0)
Enter - End turn

----

Editor

R – Rotates the current unit or object 90 degrees.
Pg Up/Pg Down – Free rotation of the selected object.
Home/End – Scale up/down the size of the selected object.
F – Toggles whether a unit is Fixed (free) or optional (bought on the force
selection screen).
After making unit optional set points at lower left. You must have more point for units
than points allowed for the choice to be shown to the player. Solo only.
O - Toggles Damage mode for objects.
H - Toggles the LOS for the whole map.
DEL – When holding down Delete a left click will remove a loaded unit and
then the unit itself.
SHIFT – When holding Shift you can drag units around.
To enable press the deploy button in the editor and save.
CTRL + left click - raise height
CTRL + right click - lower height
Y - Hitting Y allows you to then left click the two opposite corners of the area you want to map out.
You can then left click to tweak your area and it will reset the closest corner.
If you then go to the new map, it will have the values set up to make the playable area the area you have chosen.
Hitting Y will toggle you out of it.
(j2d Note: you may press the Y key if you are not yet frustrated)

Instructions here viewtopic.php?t=20255

1 2 3 keyboard - Change rank of unit
4 not yet used (blank icon) (you can make hidden units)

AI Window in Editor

Press the i button for help

Open the window
Set your teams by clicking the arrows for team number
Put your pointer over the unit(s) and click to set the team
Set the aggressiveness with the numbers
2 - keep the team grouped together when moving
4 - attempt to avoid the enemy when moving
8 - ignore the enemy when moving (don't engage them)
16 - seek and destroy
32 - use the threat map when moving around (basically use longer routes to reduce attacks)
64 - stay dug in
Click AI point and click place and click a square to place point on map
Set target to a point number
To quickly change the aggressiveness number, hold the shift key, then click the arrow. The number will change by 10s.

----

Map Controls

W A S D - scroll map
Q E - rotate map

NumPad 2 4 6 8 - scroll map
NumPad 7 9 - rotate map

----

Cover ratings

water 0% (any tile with water showing)
road/street 18%
track/trail 30%
open ground 30%
dune 30%
cliff 30%
polder 30% (MG)
high vegetation 35% (BF)
marsh 45%
tank traps 45%
rough 48%
windmill 48% (changes tile to rough)
forest 55%
building 63%
light fortification 63% 2x fortify bonus
heavy fortification 80% 4x fortify bonus
wreck ?
raised track
raised road
raised ground

Terrain.txt controls cover

----

Objects

Objects have normal and destroyed, visible within LOS, can be occupied,
occupants can fire out and be destroyed by incoming fire.
Q I assume that the object provides some protection?
A Objext text file sets fortification level
Q Can the direction of incoming and outgoing be restricted to one side?
A No
Units have normal and destroyed, invisible if hiding or high ground, can be mounted and dismounted,
auto ejects occupants when destroyed.
Q I assume that occupants cannot fire out or be fired upon?
A NO
Q Can you make them immobile so that they won't retreat?
A Yes, csv artillery

Create the objects folder in your main campaign folder, not in data.
Inside create the folder for your objects. Place the objects dds and s4f inside.
Edit the text1 and add IDS_O_stuff, "stuff",
Find the entry for desert and follow that format
Main\objects\stuff, stuff will show in the editor.
Make a objects.txt
Look at page 18 in the STUB Engine docs .... the object needs to be tagged HIDES.
HIDES --- object is not shown until tile is revealed
True for many things and protection, list in the stub.
Missing from stub
____OBJECTS
|
|__ MyObjects
Objects.txt
My_Object.s4f
My_Object.dds

Here's how to add a destroyed Sherman Object to the map (in the Editor) ....
1. Create a folder in your Objects folder in your campaign folder .....
ie My Games\BBCBA\CAMPAIGNS\My_Campaign\Objects\destroyed
2. Copy these files to the new folder .... sherman_0.s4f, sherman_d.dds
3. Rename the sherman_d.dds to sherman.dds (changes the default sherman texture).
4. Create an OBJECTS txt file in your destroyed folder and add this line ...
[SHERMAN_0]
BLOCKING
FADE
5. Save the OBJECTS.txt file
6. Open the editor and load your campaign, then click on the object icon ...
you should see a new folder called destroyed containing the sherman_0 object.
NOTE : No need to add BLOCKING or FADE ... I did this to block LOS and fade the object when entered.
The basic line you need can just read ;
[SHERMAN_0]
Should work with any unit you want as a static unit, ie planes.
EDIT: The hotkey O (not zero) makes the object damaged. No need to do the dds renaming.

Graphics symbols
The special characters are:

$ at the start - keep the object pointing at the camera
# - use the alpha channel defined in this texture
& - don't light this texture with the global lights, show it fully lit
! - used for emmiters
@

Placing units and reinforcement facing

The facing parameter allows you to define the unit's orientation (in steps of 45° with the values 0 to 7).
But if you use "8" for the facing it will attempt to load the unit into the last unit created with a "PlaceUnit" command.
0 faces to the right

----

MoraleTools.bsf controls promotions

----

MyDocuments>MyGames>BBCBA>User.txt / Add the following

NOZOOMLIMIT 1

ALLOWMPHOTSEAT 1

How to

Start game
click multiplayer
click my challenges tab
click new challenge at bottom
Select battle, side, type password, click check mark
back to my challenges screen, click accept challenge tab
click the battle that you created (nameofbattle yourname side)
click the accept challenge at the bottom and the check mark popup
type password and click check mark
click my games tab
you should see the new game listed and go from there

SCREENSHOTOUPTPUT 1 (for jpeg or 2 for png)(standard is tga)

Stop camera shake when bombard in effect

NOSHAKING 1

(see the tweeks.txt in the autodocs folder for other things you might be able to add to the user.txt DO NOT change tweeks)

MyDocuments>MyGames>BBCBA>DATA>Mapview.txt / To change camera angle

PITCH ## (standard is 45)

OPTIONS.TXT file in My Docs/My Games/BBCBA and set the CAMPAIGNS value to 255 and it will unlock all the campaigns.


----

To add weather effects

myscenario.bsf needs to have this added to PreBattleSetup (# = 1 for rain, 2 for snow)

FUNCTION PreBattleSetup()
{
SetWeather(#) ;

----

Reaction Fire

* Units that are hidden will not shoot and reveal their position unless they have a significant chance to hurt the enemy, or when they feel its time to shoot or die.
* Units that are hunting are harder to detect and your men may not notice them.
* Units always get a bonus shot in the opponents turn for opportunity fire. If they did not shoot in their turn they also get their base 2 shots. If they are elite they can get an additional bonus shot.
* Units that are visible will fire all but their last shot at anything they detect. Their last shot will be saved for something they think they can hurt, or when they feel its time to shoot or die.
* Units that are close to be suppressed will fire their last shot as there is a good chance that waiting for the enemy to shoot will mean you're suppressed and never get the chance to fire back.
* The criteria for damaging the enemy reduces as they get closer. E.g. at long range you might need a 25% chance to use your last shot or fire from cover. When adjacent you always shoot, even with a 0% chance to hurt them.
* Vehicles have variable detection rates. They are best in the forward 90 degrees. Weaker in the side and poor to the rear. Closed top tanks are worse and tanks without turrets even worse. Some tanks were notorious for having poor visibility and these are also heavily penalised on detection.
* Retreating tanks are usually good targets to shoot at as you often get rear/side armour shots. If you missed you were just unlucky. A 35% chance to miss means you should hit 1 in 3 times. There is a ~1 in 8 chance you would shoot 5 times in a row and miss. 1 in 8 is a pretty common occurrence. There is a ~1 in 60 chance you'd shoot and miss 10 times in a row.

----

Map Scale

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

The scale is abstracted. 1 tile range is intended to represent 50-100m. 2 tiles about 200m, up to 8 tiles at about 2km. This may sounds strange but it allows us to get the more subtle differentiations at shorter range without having to make ranges so high you cant see what you're shooting at on screen. This makes it very hard to give you a real ground scale. Maps can be 64x64 tiles at present but there is not really a technical reason they can't be bigger as far as I know but we didn't want to make missions like that.

----

Range

Say you have a Sherman and a Tiger. At 2 squares apart, they are close range. Their shots are more accurate and the chance of kill is good. At 6 squares, the accuracy falls and the armour value and type of gun/ammo determines the chance of a kill. At 8 squares the Sherman is out of range and the Tiger can still get a shot but with a low chance of a kill. Instead of needing 20 squares to represent 1000m, you only need 8-10. Like tree rings where the center ones are large and the outer ones are thin.

----

Penetration

The penetration works like this (something you don't see, but can read the values in the squadCSV data file) ;

APAttack[0] and APAttack[1] values are the base penetration values. The game
will randomly select a number within those two values to generate a base
penetration value.

Example ... Sherman ;

APAttack[0] = 76
APAttack[1] = 169

APEffective[0]-[4] values are the percentage multiplier at the given range.
The [0]-[4] is the range(tiles), as follows ;

Range 1 = APEffective[0]
Range 2 = APEffective[1]
Range 3 and 4 = APEffective[2]
Range 5 and 6 = APEffective[3]
Range 7+ = APEffective[4]

Example ... Sherman APEffective[0]-[4] ;

APEffective[0] = 83 ... 83% of APAttack at range 1.
APEffective[1] = 83 ... 83% of APAttack at range 2.
APEffective[2] = 67 ... 67% of APAttack at ranges 3 and 4.
APEffective[3] = 53 ... 53% of APAttack at ranges 5 and 6.
APEffective[4] = 42 ... 42% of APAttack at ranges 7 and greater.

Summary Example ... Sherman penetration at ranges below ;

Range 1 and 2 ... (76-169) * 83% = 63-140
Range 3 and 4 ... (76-169) * 67% = 50-113
Range 5 and 6 ... (76-169) * 53% = 40-89
Range 7+ .......... (76-169) * 42% = 31-70

Now, compare that value above with the Armour[0]-[3] vales for the Panther ;

Front ... Armour[0] = 140
Side .... Armour[1] = 60
Rear ... Armour[2] = 60
Top .... Armour[3] = 30

Note that the Sherman cannot penetrate the Panther front armour, however, it
can penetrate the Panthers side armour 100% of the time, at ranges 1 or 2.
At longer ranges, you can see that it can penetrate the side armor, but not 100% of the time.

I hope that helps !!!!

-Merr

----

Campaigns

To put your name on the selection screen for your campaign, add a text file: maker.txt with your name.

----

Plugins

See separate documents for plugins AI tool and VP tool

viewtopic.php?t=20240

For Defend battles with VP tool see this thread

viewtopic.php?t=30116
----

Scenario Briefings

viewtopic.php?t=20273

----

Scenario Tips

viewtopic.php?t=18099

----

Creating Your First Campaign

viewtopic.php?t=20245

----

Arizona Tank's play tips thread at wargamer

http://www.wargamer.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=504079

----

What does Capture and Control or Capture and Hold Victory Points mean?

If it is shown X:Y then it compares what you have with your enemy. The higher wins.

If it is X/Y it is what you have out of what you need.

----

Tips

IDS_LTIP0, "Tip: Most tanks have strong frontal armour, weaker side armour and are vulnerable from the rear.",
IDS_LTIP1, "Tip: Infantry and artillery can hide in buildings, forests and rough terrain. They can only be seen by adjacent infantry or if they shoot.",
IDS_LTIP2, "Tip: Keep your infantry and artillery hidden by telling them to hold fire.",
IDS_LTIP3, "Tip: Troops on top of hills cannot be seen by those below unless they fire",
IDS_LTIP4, "Tip: Troops hiding in cover take reduced damage and are harder to suppress",
IDS_LTIP5, "Tip: When a unit's morale drops below 50 it is suppressed and will not return fire.",
IDS_LTIP6, "Tip: When a unit's morale drops below zero it will retreat or surrender to adjacent enemy troops.",
IDS_LTIP7, "Tip: Mortars and artillery can bombard targets they cannot see.",
IDS_LTIP8, "Tip: Use your mortars and artillery to suppress enemy infantry.",
IDS_LTIP9, "Tip: Large artillery pieces such as rocket launchers may need to reload over a number of turns before they can bombard again.",
IDS_LTIP10, "Tip: As units fight they gain experience. Elite units can gain new skills.",
IDS_LTIP11, "Tip: While using a bombardment hold down the shift key to show the area of effect.",
IDS_LTIP12, "Tip: Play multiplayer against anyone in the world in any timezone using Slitherine’s revolutionary PBEM server. It’s so simple you have to try it to believe it!",
IDS_LTIP13, "Tip: Scouts can see hidden enemy units 2 tiles away. Protect these units as without them you are blind.",
IDS_LTIP14, "Tip: Units in heavy bunkers will not surrender, so must be assaulted to remove them.",
IDS_LTIP15, "Tip: Infantry can assault adjacent tanks with explosives and grenades, called AT charges.",
IDS_LTIP16, "Tip: The number of AT charges a unit has is shown by the sticks of dynamite on the unit bar",
IDS_LTIP17, "Tip: Airstrikes and artillery barrages must be targeted in advance. They are very powerful but inaccurate so be sure to keep your troops out of the area.",
IDS_LTIP18, "Tip: Flamethrowers are excellent at destroying fortifications, but have very short range.",
IDS_LTIP19, "Tip: Machineguns are excellent at suppressing infantry but have no defence against armoured units.",
IDS_LTIP20, "Tip: Bazookas, Piats and Panzershrecks fire explosive rounds, designed to take out enemy tanks at short range.",
IDS_LTIP21, "Tip: Always try to get flank and rear shots on enemy armour for best results",
IDS_LTIP22, "Tip: Units that are stationary or hunting are much more accurate than those moving fast.",
IDS_LTIP23, "Tip: Before some battles you may be able to deploy your troops. Position troops with good fields of fire and with good retreat paths.",
IDS_LTIP24, "Tip: Tanks can use their overrun attack against infantry in the open to devastate them, but risk being destroyed when they do.",
IDS_LTIP25, "Tip: Suppression fire can be used to target terrain you suspect holds enemy troops and with enough fire power will make them keep their heads down.",
IDS_LTIP26, "Tip: All units react to enemy units in the opponents turn. Take this into account when advancing on the enemy and when planning your defence.",
IDS_LTIP27, "Tip: Any shots not used in your turn are saved to be used in your opponents turn.",
IDS_LTIP28, "Tip: Remember to turn your tanks to face the enemy threat",
IDS_LTIP29, "Tip: Units are better at reacting to units ahead of them. Sneak up on enemy tanks by coming from their side or rear.",
IDS_LTIP30, "Tip: Infantry can move through wrecks but vehicles can’t. Wrecked vehicles can be bulldozed out the way to clear a path.",
IDS_LTIP31, "Tip: Use trucks and halftracks to transport infantry and artillery around. Artillery units cannot move without transport.",
IDS_LTIP32, "Tip: Keep Anti Aircraft guns (AA) nearby to protect from enemy airstrikes.",

-----

Thanks to Merr for the following explanation of Elite bonus

Elite Shot ... (extra shot).

Elite AP ... (25% extra action points).

Elite Hunter ... (Tanks Sneak faster).

Elite Recon ... (Sneak for Free, Automatically turns on Sneak/Hunt mode by default).

Elite Assault ... (Assault Cost reduced by 50%).

Elite Overrun ... (Tanks can Overrun Infantry in Open)... (Silver and Gold).

There's an "Elite Medic" ability but I don't see it being used (maybe Revive Bonus replaced this?).

(Picture of Elite Chevrons and Action Buttons with details)
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s300 ... tatus3.jpg
Posted in another forum by me
I think what makes it fun for wargamers is that on the surface it is not a serious wargame, but under the surface there are serious things going on.
That keeps it from becoming a predictable methodic bore.
Last edited by junk2drive on Wed Dec 28, 2011 7:17 pm, edited 32 times in total.
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Updated with a couple of things.
lpgamble
Administrative Corporal - SdKfz 232 8Rad
Administrative Corporal - SdKfz 232 8Rad
Posts: 163
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: Houston. Tx

Post by lpgamble »

Very helpful. A copy of this in the autodoc directory would have answered two 3 hour fiddle with questions :).
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Glad it was useful

UPDATED 10/16
pipfromslitherine
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9700
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:35 pm

Post by pipfromslitherine »

We're going through all the forum posts to update the various manuals as we speak :) This is a great set of tips. Thanks!

Cheers

Pip
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

You're welcome.

There is more here

viewtopic.php?p=177622#177622
lpgamble
Administrative Corporal - SdKfz 232 8Rad
Administrative Corporal - SdKfz 232 8Rad
Posts: 163
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: Houston. Tx

Printing

Post by lpgamble »

Hey Junk
Haven't quite figured out how to output to the screen durring game play. For example say you have a variable tracking Cost of lost units, How would I PrintInt(Cost) to a place where I could see tha value?
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

I haven't figured out scripts yet. I just copy and paste from what is already out there. Sorry.
pipfromslitherine
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9700
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:35 pm

Post by pipfromslitherine »

You would put it into the DrawScenarioUI function. Then, for any string, you do a

StartString()
Print... print whatever you like using the various functions
RenderString to display it on the screen

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Pip
lpgamble
Administrative Corporal - SdKfz 232 8Rad
Administrative Corporal - SdKfz 232 8Rad
Posts: 163
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: Houston. Tx

Post by lpgamble »

For those looking skip the first line with a print of \n as the first line is taken by cursor information

StartString() ;
PrintStringLiteral("\n") ; \\Skips ui info
PrintString("IDS_TURNS") ;
PrintInt(turns) ;
PrintStringLiteral("\n") ;
PrintStringLiteral("Killed Units :") ;
PrintInt(GetGlobal("KillCost")) ;
PrintStringLiteral("\n") ;
PrintStringLiteral("Units Away :")
PrintInt(GetGlobal("Ct"));
PrintStringLiteral("\n") ;
// RenderString(left+x, y+h, font, colour, colour)
RenderString(12,90,5,"fffee37c", "ff000000");
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Added F keys

Found the F1 by accident.
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Added:

SHIFT+3 - Toggles ground level view.

Mapview

Changed team agg instructions for 1.4
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Changed AI tool text for changes in 1.4

Added Reaction Fire

Added maker.txt

Added Plugins VP Defend
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Bump to the top
You can call me junk - and type that with one hand.
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Added:

Stop camera shake when bombard in effect

NOSHAKING 1
You can call me junk - and type that with one hand.
tim1966
Administrative Corporal - SdKfz 232 8Rad
Administrative Corporal - SdKfz 232 8Rad
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 7:15 pm
Location: Brighton, UK
Contact:

Post by tim1966 »

Any chance that this can be stickied? Its very very useful! :D
Models from Tim's Surplus Store ... Established 1966 ... Open 24/7 ... closed for TEA TIME
pipfromslitherine
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9700
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:35 pm

Post by pipfromslitherine »

'Tis done!

Cheers

Pip
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Added

CTRL + Left click
screen shot options

Still need terrain cover updated

Links to documents
You can call me junk - and type that with one hand.
Sleet
Senior Corporal - Destroyer
Senior Corporal - Destroyer
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:49 pm

Post by Sleet »

Too cool. Thanks junk2drive.

VERY useful.
junk2drive
BA Moderator
BA Moderator
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm
Location: Arizona USA -7GMT

Post by junk2drive »

Added links to helpful threads and How To's
You can call me junk - and type that with one hand.
Post Reply

Return to “Battle Academy”