Seahawk-vfa201

Actually the answers are yes, yes and yes (though I have only recently heard of Biltaid and have yet to down load it). Has it ever occurred to you that while Biltongs rules are a great idea and they fulfil the wants of many gamers, they may not actually provide the answers to all. Have you read all of the above posts. Many of the wants are not provided for by Biltongs rules. </font>

Sorry if I stated the obvious and repeated what was already said by some. It happened I had 20 min of spare time, read the whole thread and replied to points starting from page 1 Anyway, it looks there will be more BCR and BiltAid customers soon [ April 16, 2003, 05:20 AM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

You should ask players involved in the BCR Campaign if their Battle Group becomes too experienced too fast. Quite the contrary. Moreover, rules are such that if you win too easily and too many times things get tougher and tougher so to get back to square one if you just assume you may walk the field and overrun the enemy. Many times it happens you loose a veteran unit which took you some 15 battles to achieve and get conscript replacements in place. :mad: And worst if you let your CO die on the battle field. You most surely end up with youngblood which will ruin your days for battles to come. [ April 16, 2003, 05:50 AM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

This aspect is being covered with the addition of historical packages. When the BCR campaign gets you in the time period of an historical battle you have the option to participate or not and play realistic settings. These battle will have (rules at work) special results outcomes enticing the player to participate to achieve goals and/or upgrades of the Battle Group not possible with just playing the regular battles. If you guys in here have ideas, please do contribute. BCR is really growing into a very nice add-on to CMBB. Cheers

A workaround is to use the Editor, exists since CMBO, works as well in CMBB, and it is used by many in Billtong Campaign Rules (look for the thread for more). BCR come along with a Map Pack (not to play silly QB generated maps), historical packs (locations and dates). So this does exist already since long time but requires some effort. I guess you all guys could spend some time in the Biltong thread, asks few questions, download the rules and the Java tool for automatic bookkeeping, use the editor to import maps and units and set evolving experience and ammo levels, set names for units, upgrade units themselves, etc etc related to what happened to previous battles. Essentially what you ask is the integration of something like BiltAid and the Biltong Rules physically INTO CMBB. It won't happen. BUT, big but, the availability of the Editor in CMBB (was in CMBO as well) make this possible already, if you wish. Some BCR players are already in 1942 battles. I am currently fighting the Kiev historical map packs (5 battles) from 14 September 1941 till the fall of Kiev 4 days later). I do not think CM will come with something like BCR and BiltAid built-in. [ April 16, 2003, 05:48 AM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

It is called BiltAid, it is in Java and constitutes the interface and calculations of BCR Campaign rules. Deos exactly what you say.

:confused: Ever heard of the Editor????? Ever heard of BCR Campaing, ever heard of BiltAid java tool? I think the answers to those questions are: NO, NO, and NO

:confused: Edit forces in QB: Why not using the Editor with BCR Map Pack. All you say is already done by many in BCR campaign. :confused: Automatic bookkeeping: Why not using BiltAid Java tool. It does all the calculations and it is ALMOST rules v2.2 complaint: I need to add the rule to determine whether CO is dead after his unit has suffered casualties. [ April 16, 2003, 04:37 AM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

I suppose your COCAT II is NOT written in Java, correct?!

I suppose your COCAT II is NOT written in Java, correct?!

TA-DAAHHH Forgot to check whether CO is dead in case of casualties to its unit. So ALMOST rules v2.2 complaint

BiltAid rules v2.2 compliant The new version is a cohesive Java jar file. Runs both on Windows (with Java installed) and OS X. The command to start from a terminal: java -jar BiltAid.jar where 'java' must be in your $PATH On OS X one can as well double-click to start it. Dunno if that would start it on Windows as well (Package note: "Runs on Windows 98 or better", so I run it on OS X ) The notes from Peterk concerning how and what to do in order to have Java on a Windows machine still hold. For OS X there is nothing to do: Java comes pre-installed. I am confident the program should behave but - as they say - there's always one bug left ;-} Old BiltAid saved files cannot be loaded into this new version as the changes are substantial. Minor caveat though: delay moving to the new version if you are in the middle of an immediate attack/assault (as results depend on the previous battle as well), other affected parameter is counter for Large Battle but this last is less relevant. Then the suggestion is to wait till you get a new battle days ahead then start a new custom campaign and import manually your Battle Group into the new BiltAid (from Custom Campaign: right-click to access the menu for the units. If you have a one-button mouse then do a ctrl-click instead to simulate the right-click). You will see that now armors are distinguished as light, medium and heavy per their gunnery (rules v2.2) and mortars and HMG are now separate units. Attached units can also feature sharpshooters and special units (tank hunters and firethrowers combined): again as per rules v2.2 . BiltAid will then evolve into covering '42 and subsequent years. File is currently on SuperSulo site as a zipped Stuffit archive (Stuffit free versions for both Mac and Windows platforms do exist) I am confident it is working: tests I run seem OK but keep a printed version of your battles just in case. If you compare results obtained with previous version do not be surprised they will not be the same: v2.2 of the rules bring in more detailed calculation of unit experience. The rest is more on modifiers and some changed values. Hope it will make BCR even more playable - it does it for me. Enjoy [ April 15, 2003, 08:42 AM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

No opinion on this but I would not say gamey. If used *realistically* I would not call it gamey. Anyway, the AI - AFAIK - will not accept your ceasefire if it thinks it can still beat the crap out of you

I am on OS X so cannot test on Windows but I'd say you should make sure to have a sound Java installation. The current version of BiltAid did not give troubles to users the way you describe. I;d first make sure you have latest Java VM installed.

Welcome but keep an eye on my replies BiltAid looks like it is now '41 v2.2 . Will conduct few more tests but looks fine now. After it has proved to be working Ok - after release that is - I will start extending it to '42 (little by little ) [ April 13, 2003, 02:38 PM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

Most of these questions are about the rules rather then BiltAid. Anyway: Casualties: the casualty level for the current battle affects the Task Force units. Your Battle Group is supposed to receive replacements (which affect experience: ie lower it) before the next battle. This unless emergency reorganization in an immediate followup of the battle in which case you will find in BiltAid some units with ZERO men as men are redistributed to fill up squads: walk the zero-men unit out of map during the first turn to suffer from the moral penalty. Immediate followup means there has been no time for Berlin to send you fresh meat, err, replacements. Support: Per the rules you get support from those categories only and only for that battle. Those are units which join you in the battle because of strategic reasons only know to Berlin brasses: they received orders to join you for that battle. Difficult in this case to be joined by single teams and or stranded men (see attached units). Attached: Those are units who get *lost* in the war and find you - by chance - in their wandering. They decide to join your KampfGruppe for a while. The name is used to identify the attached unit (SWP222, mortar81mm, LCG, etc). You get so and so attached-points which you use to buy the attached units (to a max of three units at all time at same time). When BiltAid determines at the end of the battle you had attached-points it consider you have used them to buy units and asks for their details so to be added to your Battle Group. Hence, when you spend those points put down what you bought with them. Attached units may disappear as fast as they have arrived. Do not expect to have them with for long.

Heya Snow, correct: no rules about upgrading special features for HQs. Guess thet are more on plain character than experience although Biltong gang might think differently in the future Currently the editor has a bug (squashed in the to be released patch) that whatever you do restore FULL ammo for units imported from the Editor. What I do now is that if rolled parameter is not far from FULL then I do not care and prefere haveing the correct experience for that unit.

Hi Seahawk, The above point is not quite correct: Note 12 - Generating the real battle: "If you have points left after buying all the Task Force Offerings in a category or if you have points left, but not enough to buy a specific unit, you can choose what you want to buy from the normal QB unit list. In other words - buy as many Task Force units as you can from the generated units, but if you have points left - you win - you can buy what you want from the QB list. Remember: You can/must also buy individual teams such as MG teams etc that might be part of a platoon to use up your points. If you have points left in a category, but there's no generated unit or a unit on the QB list cheap enough, then you do lose those points. For infantry this will normally be just a couple of points, but for armor it can be a bit more. Biltong </font>

Hi Guillem, In the Custom Battle - if that i your question - right-click (or ctrl-click for Mac - to inport your Battle Group units with corrected values for names and experience. [ April 14, 2003, 12:29 PM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

My pleasure: I am using it too Last news: In a frantic Saturday progtamming fever I updated the whole BiltAid. It is now (unless blunders and unintended omissions) FULLY Biltong Rules v2.2 with missing parts like player experience modifiers, and TBD (To Be Developed) left by Peterk. There is a bug lurking in the dark concenring the modifier for Task Force Support (essentially Note 7). Working on that. I believe I understood how to allow additional years as well but that will take time especially if South '42 rules do change a lot wrt '41. As soon as I find the bugger and smash it I will do the tests that currently do not work and then release it. [ April 12, 2003, 02:24 PM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

Hi Snowbart, the size you roll (1250) is to let CMBB buy enemy forces. Your Battle Group is fixed (will evolve with years) then you purchase up to what you roll for task force unit type per unit type. Example, you might have rolled 80 pts for Infantry, 120 for vehicles, 80 for Armor, nothing for the rest. You LOOSE those points if they are not enough to buy anything in that category (say the min infantry additional unit you may get costs 81!!!) For one point you loose all 80 :mad: Tough, sux big time but so is/does war.

Still 41 only. To get to include 42 and subsequent years there are changes to be done that I still have to tackle and understand fully. But in principle yes, I want to get to a version that will cover the whole duration of WWII. The custom maps is not a problem for BiltAid. The tool generates the parameters for the next battle, you then go to the map pack and select one that best matches those parameters and load that one in CMBB. This for regular custom maps. For battle-packs (fixed dates) is a bit different. For the Kiev pack (and future battle-packs) for the time being you simply disregard the generated map features and fight the battle and parameters from the pack. One problem - as I said - is the date. There are two solutions: one would be to allow to edit/set the date on the fly in BiltAid, the other would be - existing workaround - to fight the battle pack, enter the values in BiltAid for the experience calculation then, at the end of the pack (which has fixed dates), start a new Custom campaign which allows you to manually enter date, battle number, Battle Group composition and experience and continue with this new Campaign which has been synchronized with the after-battle-pack date. I am open to suggestions here... [ April 12, 2003, 04:29 AM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

Forgot to answer to the above question. Guys, I am in the process of little by little understanding the structure of the program and know where to put my hands without have everything collapse miserably Brand new (involving more than updating or completing existing features) requests have to wait a little [ April 12, 2003, 04:09 AM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

Heya Gloser, If I read the note on exp calculation (and the example as well) what the rules amounts to is +1 for the battle (if squad is still alive for the most that is), then additional points for items destroyed, then for casualties inflicted on the enemy. Rules give 2 numbers, the first is the threshold to get one additional exp point, the second is the threshold to get a second additional point. Hence the total max exp number from casualties is +2 over the default + one per battle. Note 4: units gain 1 exp point for *any* casualty (if 1st threshold is 1) plus one extra (maximum) exp point if the second threshold is reached: for Squads is +12 casualties. If your squad kills 11 enemies you get one extra point (extra to the default battle experience point) for having killed enemies. If instead kills 12 or plus (57 in your case) it gains a second extra point (totaling +2 from casualties). The ludicrous idea to get one point per (instead of 'from') casualty (as some have suggested) would make your unit get to veteran in one battle only (battles last ~30 minutes). So day one you are a newby on the battlefiles and 40 minutes later you are all veterans?! I hope you agree experience is a matter of time and staying alive battle after battle. Note 4 of vs 2.2: example: Squad causes 15 enemy casualties (+1 for any casualty plus an extra +1 for 12 or more casualties). Total exp gain from casualties = +2 Would be the same for a squad killing 100. The idea is that you gain exp because you have been under fire and answered succesfully, not the number of scalps! UGHHH PS Heavy tanks (over 50mm) for example, before getting one extra point for enemy casualties have to cross the threshold of 10. Kill 9 and you get nothing. Their second threshold is 30+. Kill 29 and you still get only one extra point from casualties inflicted on the enemy. [ April 12, 2003, 04:17 AM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]

New BiltAid Java tool version 1.0.2 testing now (would release as soon as no more SNAFUs appear but how? Biltong, send me an email with instructions to add new BiltAid to your site) New from Biltaid 1.0.1 updated (rules v2.2) player experience levels updated (rules v2.2) favor calculations added experience calculation for tanks from infantry casualties (rules v2.2). Cases for armor/vehicle: light - armament up to 35mm medium - up to 50mm heavy - over 50mm added updated (v2.2) experience calculation for units distinguishing the cases: COs Squads Special Teams (Tank hunters & Flame Throwers) Sharp Shooters HMG Mortar 50mm Added distinct management of infantry units as per above list. These units have their exp calculated as per rules v2.2. These units may be added to a Custom Battle to re-create Battle Group from previous BiltAid version. In principle new versions will not be backward compatible (ie you will not be able to load old version battles) simply because it makes things more complex for me (and slow down considerably the updates). The trick is to start a new 'Custom' campaign and fill by hand the parameters and Battle Group from your last battle results. Easy for you , way easier for me PS I have still lot to learn of program structure so do not be pushy [ April 11, 2003, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: Seahawk-vfa201 ]