Nifty Troy to much there to look threw this morning but looks promising

Ken: What PBEM group?

By Mike Kenyon (Mikek) on Thursday, November 17, 2011 - 10:12 am: Edit

Are you looking to display a hex map or just do the math's on hex map concepts (firing arcs, etc)?

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 06:45 pm: Edit

After you have registered with SFB Online is there a way to change your call sign? I picked the call sign I wanted but can't change my BBS username to match so have to do it backwards.

Have a lot of things changed in how the client works now compared to the user manual posted on the site?

Does the newest client update start the transition to all graphical SSDs?

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Monday, November 21, 2011 - 01:33 pm: Edit

1) Just ask I will be happy for change your callsign (Note: Make sure that you do not have any saved games otherwise you will no longer have access to the ships)

2) Yes, a lot of things have changed since the creation of the user manual. I need to remove that.

3) I am not sure what you mean by "transition to all graphical SSDs"? Currently, the main difference between the previous versions of the client and the current client is that people no longer need to download the ship definitions first before they can use them. There is still the limitation that if you are not a member you will not see a graphical SSD.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Monday, November 21, 2011 - 06:30 pm: Edit

Paul, PM sent.

By Daniel K. Thompson (Dkt0404) on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - 07:06 am: Edit

Mike:

Specify X, Y range for max number of rows and columns.
Run, via the program, a hex by hex generation.
Run the random generator on each hex.
If Blank, display hex as blank.
If filled, display hex as filled with correct terrain.

Repeat till X, Y range is complete.

Display results on screen and save to file.

The math isn't quite the hard part so much as the graphics display. I can program the math and such and more or less think I know how to make it generate it for each hex, but the actual display part I'm lost on.

SFB OL looks to do almost exactly what I'm trying to make for the graphics part for the hex map so since people are usually pretty helpful here I figured I'd ask for some pointers or other information. I suspect I'm missing something obvious.

Like I said, wasn't really sure where to post this and the Q&A probably isn't quite right but didn't have other ideas.

By Mike Kenyon (Mikek) on Thursday, November 24, 2011 - 02:30 pm: Edit

If you're doing it in C#, I've got code to generate a hex map for WPF I can pass over your way. I'm out of it for the next couple of days on holiday, but I'll drop you the code.

By Daniel K. Thompson (Dkt0404) on Thursday, November 24, 2011 - 06:06 pm: Edit

That would be awesome since I haven't been able to find working code for an example anywhere.

I can certainly read C#, Visual Basic and a couple otheres.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Monday, January 02, 2012 - 03:04 pm: Edit

SFB Online client questions:

How do you handle Erratic Maneuvering?

Is there a way to set the map as floating?

Seems like on a podcast it was mentioned that someday there might be support in the client for voice chat, how about video/webcam support?

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Monday, January 02, 2012 - 05:11 pm: Edit

More questions-

If you get kicked out of the server for some reason what is the best way to get back into the game or recover?

When there is a die roll shift do you do the math and add to the die rolls or do the rolls already have the shift applied to them?

Is there some sort of move projector?

How does the game handle Klingon extended arcs?

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Tuesday, January 03, 2012 - 10:30 am: Edit

I don't know if there's an "official" way, but when I do erratics I manually apply 4 ECM and -4 ECCM to myself.
AFAIK all die shifts are manual. This is inline with making SFBOL a tool for playing the game (you still need to buy a copy of the rules and learn them) instead of being a game in its own right.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, January 03, 2012 - 08:32 pm: Edit

Shawn,
Troy is correct.

Floating maps: That is not currently supported as an automatic option. Obviously, people can move the pieces by hand.

Voice Chat Server: I am hoping to have some kind of integration for this. It will not be embedded in the client. I should be able to support a voice server on my box.

Video/Web Cam: There is no plans for this. People can use Google Hangouts, Skype or other services to do that.

Kicked Off the Server: The best way is to re-login, go to the room. Switch to the "Player Mode" and select "Game/Restore Game".

Die Roll Shift: Needs to be done by hand.

Move projector: I am not 100% sure what you mean. Do you mean a way to move your piece without moving your piece to see if you like that move?

Klingon extended arcs: I am not sure what kind of support you are looking for,

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Tuesday, January 03, 2012 - 10:20 pm: Edit

Move projector like in a chess comp game it shows you where you could possibly a highlighted piece.

Extended arc- like bow phasers shooting straight to the rear, cross deck arc etc. Will the the game let you fire these. Or mauler turning/side arcs.

By Matthew Potter (Neonpico) on Wednesday, January 04, 2012 - 12:05 am: Edit

@Daniel Thompson:
I have a PHP program (i.e. is run from a webserver) that my PBEM group uses for making maps. It takes a summary of the turn's events and spits out an SVG file. It handles placing markers and showing [movement/fire/tractor] tracks that happened during the turn.
If you need something like that, I can package it up and post it on my website in an accessible place. If you want just the hex-making routine (good for seeing how to do the math), I can pull that out instead and post it for you.

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Wednesday, January 04, 2012 - 10:03 am: Edit

Shawn: The game doesn't track arcs at all. If your opponent isn't paying attention you could fire every weapon on your boat every impulse into every hex on the board.
Again, this is a play-aid, not a game. You still have to know (and follow) the rules.

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Thursday, January 05, 2012 - 07:34 pm: Edit

You know , somewhere it would be nice to have a display of the klingon expanded arcs, everytime I play against a klingon I have to go dig that up.
Gregg

By Mike Kenyon (Mikek) on Friday, January 06, 2012 - 11:40 am: Edit

I wrote the code once that would determine from hex A which hexes fell into which arcs. I'd be glad to pitch it over if someone wanted to work it into the client.

By Jon Taylor (Vendetta) on Friday, January 06, 2012 - 09:30 pm: Edit

I agree with Gregg and will second the suggestion. It would be great to have those freaky Klingon arcs in the client somewhere.

By Josh Driscol (Gfb) on Sunday, January 08, 2012 - 11:36 am: Edit

Yeah anything that lets you pop up a chart instead of looking it up is always great. I understand the need to keep the client just a play aid. The Klingon arcs are a big one, I am always having to look that up.

Another is the proximity of detonation chart D6.361. And the EW chart.

Also the terrain effects charts in P secion.

P6.5 Nebula random movement would be alot easier for big battles if you could somehow automate the rolls and movement of the units. Maybe by right clicking the peice under the move menu a "Random Nebula Movement" selection could be added. When you select it, the client would roll the numbers and move the piece.

Looking up P6.5 and rolling manually is fine for the little battles but like Damage Allocation it could probably be automated to save a whole lot of time.

Also regarding drone damage could you possibly change it to where the client will remember fractional damage, because even with automated random movement you have to add 1/4 point of damage to each drone per hex traveled in a nebula. You can type 0.25 in damage taken but the client doesn't seem to recognize fractional points of damage for drones and plasma.

By Paul Scott (The_Rock) on Sunday, January 08, 2012 - 05:57 pm: Edit

EW is just squares/SQRT. You don't need a chart for that. 1,4,9,16,25, etc.

Prox. of Det. Chart I just memorized, since it is so small.

The Klingon arcs are also really easy to remember, just stop using a chart and use patterns.

For the FX, it is FX plus directly behind, then starting from the ship you add "one, two three, slip" in all directions. That's it.

The wing arcs are a little harder, but still follow easy patterns.

First the missing hexes - the rear oblique defines one boarder, the other boarder is defined by "one, two, slip."

For the added hexes, forward it is "one, two, three, slip" Off the oblique, use a rule, you can fire into every hex off the relevant (6 or 2) shield except the one adjacent to the ship and the ones that are on a split shield.

I am not saying it would be a waste of time to code in an overlay, but if you looked at the patterns, they can be easily memorized then you don't need a chart.

By Aaron M. Staley (Awwwdrat) on Monday, January 09, 2012 - 04:16 am: Edit

Yeah it would be easy to memorize.
But then again, we're human and we do forget. It would be nice to have the overlay.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Friday, January 27, 2012 - 03:16 pm: Edit

SFU Online Client v4.0.89 Update Released, when will this be available for download on the website?

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Friday, January 27, 2012 - 08:58 pm: Edit

Paul, will I need to dl both updates?

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Friday, January 27, 2012 - 10:24 pm: Edit

Shawn,
It actually is. It was just too late to update the website. I will update the pages now.

Patrick,
When you do the "Check For Updates..." it will include the latest version of the client. So it is a single update.

Paul Franz

By Geoffrey Nokes (Chaotic_Cobalt) on Tuesday, March 06, 2012 - 10:07 am: Edit

Righto. About Shotgunning Plasmas. is there a button or option that i don't know about or do you declare it and manually add the need F's?