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Battle Simulator!

Continuing in my never ending quest to not really fix things using stupid badly done maps, I now present BATTLE SIMULATOR for those who really really wanted one.

http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion/Mini.tga
http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion/Mini.map

You can "play" this map with 2 nations. You can have one great big battle with hundreds of commanders all equiped and thousands of units. Even ones that the game wouldnt normally let you have.

To change the battle, learn how to edit the .map file. Use any program you want; NotePad, WordPad, Word, Word Perfect, Edit, VI, whatever.
There are 1,010 units available in the game.

Part of the .map file reads like this...
#setland 2
#commander 1010
#bodyguards 15 1006
#units 100 1002
#additem "Ice Pebble Staff"

That sets the attention on Province 2, puts unit numbered 1010 into that province and makes him a commander, gives him 15 bodyguards of unit-number 1006, gives him 100 troops of unit-number 1002, and gives the commander an Ice Pebble Staff.

Things which still need to be done by others.........

A) make this map prettier, maybe even make a unique one instead of just a stolen part of the eye map.

B) come up with a really fun huge battle to use instead of the first one I stopped at

C) write a program that lets people select their armies and writes the .map file for it. maybe select magic items also? maybe even show them what they are selecting? (for now you can use the AllUnits games and Items spreadsheets done by others to look things up)

D) patiently explain to me how this doesnt really solve the problem in case I thought it did

E) give me a better rating on this board

[ November 07, 2003, 22:00: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Re: Battle Simulator!

---Cut shorter so my reply is not 5 pages long---

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
I now present BATTLE SIMULATOR.

To change the battle, learn how to edit the .map file.

I am in the precess of writing a web-based senario editor so people don't have to know anything (And more importantly MP games can start with a province draft).

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
There are 1,010 units available in the game.

Part of the .map file reads like this...
#setland 2
#commander 1010
#bodyguards 15 1006
#units 100 1002
#additem "Ice Pebble Staff"

That sets the attention on Province 2, puts unit numbered 1010 into that province and makes him a commander, gives him 15 bodyguards of unit-number 1006, gives him 100 troops of unit-number 1002, and gives the commander an Ice Pebble Staff.

Things which still need to be done by others.........

A) make this map prettier, maybe even make a unique one instead of just a stolen part of the eye map.

I have the artistic talent of a rock so this is for someone else.

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
B) come up with a really fun huge battle to use instead of the first one I stopped at

C) write a program that lets people select their armies and writes the .map file for it. maybe select magic items also? maybe even show them what they are selecting? (for now you can use the AllUnits games and Items spreadsheets done by others to look things up)

I'm all over this one this.
I do however need a few things;
1) A speadsheet or MS Access DB of the Unit Numbers / Names / GP and Supply Cost / Default Nation
2) An updated Item Spreadsheet with Item Name / Cost / Level Requirements
3) An updated Site Spreadsheet.

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:

D) patiently explain to me how this doesnt really solve the problem in case I thought it did

E) give me a better rating on this board

Don't feel bad about your rating. No one has even bothered to rate me yet.

Sammual

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
E) give me a better rating on this board

Done. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Sammual:
Don't feel bad about your rating. No one has even bothered to rate me yet.

Done. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Sammual:
Don't feel bad about your rating. No one has even bothered to rate me yet.

Re: Battle Simulator!

Actually the UBB rating system is very weird and I guess it is totally bugged. That is why I turned it off. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
[Example: I have rated someone for 1 star, and he had 5 before, and after my vote, he still had 5!!!!!!! - This was a test, there is a thread about it]

[ November 08, 2003, 08:06: Message edited by: Mortifer ]

Re: Battle Simulator!

A number of people have pulled this down. Is it working toward its intention? Whats lacking?

Should the .map file itself have more instructions and explanation in it about what the commands are doing?

Do people need easier access to the MapEdit docs?

Should I include an example of how to define a nation using the .map file such as what castle, how much defence, what god they have and what abilities that god would have? (which would allow you to setup the non-playable natins abit more)

[ November 10, 2003, 15:32: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
A number of people have pulled this down. Is it working toward its intention? Whats lacking?

Should the .map file itself have more instructions and explanation in it about what the commands are doing?

Do people need easier access to the MapEdit docs?

Should I include an example of how to define a nation using the .map file such as what castle, how much defence, what god they have and what abilities that god would have? (which would allow you to setup the non-playable natins abit more)

I admit I downloaded the files a few days ago, and only today did I try having a look and launching test games.

What's missing is more comments, both in the direction of "you can add this or that" and "here's how you set this up". I tried to find out what the land types are, but no luck... I also need a list of unit names to load into Emacs, but I guess I'll have to do this myself.

Can anyone from Illwinter or Shrapnel give us a better idea of what this "Map Editor" function will do in the full Version? (In other words - is it worth the trouble to learn how to edit the map by hand, or will the in-game function let us do it all, only by pointing and clicking?)

Re: Battle Simulator!

Update:

I just started playing in my first PBEM game, and am using the minimap as a testing device for army setups and relative strengths. Now what's most likely to happen is that my scouting reports are wildly inaccurate (I'm playing Arcoscephale, so my dominion is supposed to give me accurate reports, whatever that means), and my armies will get slaughtered by some stupid independent army...

Anyway - adding the units and everything is not that hard, but it's rather tedious. I wish one could "export" an army from the game to a text file for later inclusion in a map - that would at least make it easy to copy armies. And the possibility to switch from one game to another without quitting completely wouldn't hurt, either...

[Edit: fixed typo]

[ November 10, 2003, 21:17: Message edited by: PhilD ]

Re: Battle Simulator!

Thanks for the tip!

However, if I wanted to add more than one commander, how do I do that?

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Joonie73:
Thanks for the tip!
However, if I wanted to add more than one commander, how do I do that?

Just duplicate the lines. The #setland command is what moves the attention for lines after that. So you can have as many #commander, #bodyguard, #units commands as you want inserted before the next #setland.

The #commander line sets the attention on that commander for commands that assign troops and equip. (Or change his name, give him magic-spell ability, give him XP, all kinds of stuff)

Re: Battle Simulator!

Got it! Thanks so much!

Now one more question. I want to put these guys on one of the original Demo maps I am playing. Let's say, I am playing Jotunheim & want to use it on the Aran map. How do I do that? Is it pretty complicated?

Re: Battle Simulator!

Hi, the map file is as below. Where would I add? I tried to add what you told me at the end but it crashed the computer.

--
-- Map file for Dominions 2
--
-- Illwinter Game Design
-- www.illwinter.com
--

-- Title and image file
#dom2title Aran
#imagefile aran.tga
#defaultmapzoom 1.0
#domVersion 150
#description "The once glorious kingdom of Aran was destroyed by a
magical disaster that turned the kingdom in to a barren waste several
hundred years ago.

107 provinces, 11 of these are under water.

Suitable for 6-10 players."

-- Province names/terrains
#landname 1 "Stone Wood Waste"
#terrain 1 66
#terrain 2 128
#terrain 3 1
#terrain 4 16
#terrain 5 130
#terrain 6 4
#terrain 7 6
#landname 8 "Great Aran Waste"
#terrain 8 64
#terrain 9 138
#terrain 10 4
#terrain 11 16
#terrain 12 64
#terrain 13 24
#terrain 14 1
#terrain 15 168
#landname 16 "Stone Spires of Aran"
#terrain 16 64
#terrain 17 137
#terrain 18 264
#terrain 19 64
#terrain 20 0
#terrain 21 4
#terrain 22 136
#landname 23 "Aran Plain"
#terrain 23 2
#terrain 24 16
#terrain 25 145
#terrain 26 264
#terrain 27 145
#terrain 28 256
#landname 29 "Old Aran"
#terrain 29 1
#terrain 30 384
#terrain 31 136
#terrain 32 16
#terrain 33 130
#terrain 34 256
#terrain 35 24
#terrain 36 0
#terrain 37 8
#terrain 38 5
#terrain 39 136
#terrain 40 154
#terrain 41 136
#terrain 42 16
#terrain 43 5
#terrain 44 136
#terrain 45 136
#terrain 46 266
#terrain 47 137
#landname 48 "Dragons Head"
#terrain 48 146
#terrain 49 128
#terrain 50 16
#terrain 51 137
#terrain 52 145
#terrain 53 265
#terrain 54 8
#terrain 55 1
#terrain 56 154
#terrain 57 80
#terrain 58 264
#terrain 59 16
#terrain 60 1
#terrain 61 266
#terrain 62 128
#terrain 63 64
#terrain 64 1
#terrain 65 144
#terrain 66 264
#terrain 67 80
#terrain 68 128
#terrain 69 265
#terrain 70 2
#terrain 71 136
#terrain 72 17
#terrain 73 129
#terrain 74 264
#terrain 75 136
#terrain 76 4
#terrain 77 146
#terrain 78 136
#terrain 79 2
#terrain 80 152
#terrain 81 264
#terrain 82 8
#terrain 83 264
#terrain 84 145
#terrain 85 130
#terrain 86 266
#terrain 87 136
#terrain 88 264
#terrain 89 264
#terrain 90 256
#terrain 91 2
#terrain 92 5
#terrain 93 8
#terrain 94 128
#terrain 95 128
#landname 96 "Dust Hills"
#terrain 96 80
#terrain 97 0
#terrain 98 81
#landname 99 "Dust Fens"
#terrain 99 40
#terrain 100 4
#terrain 101 4
#terrain 102 0
#terrain 103 6
#terrain 104 144
#landname 105 "Dust River"
#terrain 105 72
#terrain 106 42
#landname 107 "Dustlands"
#terrain 107 66

-- Province neighbours
#neighbour 1 3
#neighbour 1 4
#neighbour 1 8
#neighbour 1 16
#neighbour 2 4
#neighbour 2 9
#neighbour 3 5
#neighbour 3 12
#neighbour 3 16
#neighbour 4 8
#neighbour 4 9
#neighbour 4 11
#neighbour 4 13
#neighbour 5 12
#neighbour 5 14
#neighbour 5 10
#neighbour 6 21
#neighbour 6 17
#neighbour 6 15
#neighbour 6 7
#neighbour 6 10
#neighbour 6 25
#neighbour 7 76
#neighbour 7 48
#neighbour 7 21
#neighbour 8 11
#neighbour 8 16
#neighbour 8 19
#neighbour 9 13
#neighbour 9 22
#neighbour 10 14
#neighbour 10 26
#neighbour 10 28
#neighbour 10 20
#neighbour 10 15
#neighbour 11 19
#neighbour 12 14
#neighbour 12 16
#neighbour 12 23
#neighbour 13 18
#neighbour 13 22
#neighbour 14 23
#neighbour 14 26
#neighbour 15 17
#neighbour 15 20
#neighbour 16 19
#neighbour 16 23
#neighbour 17 20
#neighbour 17 25
#neighbour 17 27
#neighbour 17 21
#neighbour 18 22
#neighbour 18 24
#neighbour 18 30
#neighbour 19 23
#neighbour 19 24
#neighbour 19 29
#neighbour 20 27
#neighbour 20 28
#neighbour 20 34
#neighbour 20 36
#neighbour 21 48
#neighbour 21 38
#neighbour 21 25
#neighbour 22 30
#neighbour 22 33
#neighbour 23 26
#neighbour 23 29
#neighbour 23 35
#neighbour 24 31
#neighbour 24 32
#neighbour 24 30
#neighbour 25 27
#neighbour 25 38
#neighbour 26 28
#neighbour 26 35
#neighbour 26 36
#neighbour 26 40
#neighbour 27 34
#neighbour 27 43
#neighbour 27 38
#neighbour 28 36
#neighbour 29 32
#neighbour 29 35
#neighbour 29 37
#neighbour 30 31
#neighbour 30 33
#neighbour 30 41
#neighbour 30 42
#neighbour 31 39
#neighbour 31 41
#neighbour 31 32
#neighbour 32 37
#neighbour 32 39
#neighbour 32 44
#neighbour 33 42
#neighbour 34 36
#neighbour 34 46
#neighbour 34 43
#neighbour 35 37
#neighbour 35 40
#neighbour 35 45
#neighbour 36 40
#neighbour 36 46
#neighbour 37 44
#neighbour 37 45
#neighbour 37 54
#neighbour 38 48
#neighbour 38 56
#neighbour 38 43
#neighbour 39 41
#neighbour 39 44
#neighbour 39 47
#neighbour 39 50
#neighbour 40 46
#neighbour 40 57
#neighbour 41 42
#neighbour 41 47
#neighbour 41 53
#neighbour 41 58
#neighbour 42 49
#neighbour 42 58
#neighbour 43 56
#neighbour 43 61
#neighbour 43 46
#neighbour 44 50
#neighbour 44 54
#neighbour 45 51
#neighbour 45 54
#neighbour 46 57
#neighbour 46 61
#neighbour 46 67
#neighbour 47 50
#neighbour 47 53
#neighbour 47 55
#neighbour 48 65
#neighbour 48 76
#neighbour 48 56
#neighbour 49 58
#neighbour 49 66
#neighbour 50 54
#neighbour 50 55
#neighbour 50 59
#neighbour 50 64
#neighbour 51 52
#neighbour 51 54
#neighbour 51 60
#neighbour 52 57
#neighbour 52 60
#neighbour 52 63
#neighbour 53 55
#neighbour 53 58
#neighbour 53 62
#neighbour 54 59
#neighbour 54 60
#neighbour 54 68
#neighbour 54 70
#neighbour 55 59
#neighbour 55 62
#neighbour 55 64
#neighbour 56 61
#neighbour 56 72
#neighbour 57 63
#neighbour 58 62
#neighbour 58 66
#neighbour 58 69
#neighbour 59 64
#neighbour 59 68
#neighbour 59 77
#neighbour 60 63
#neighbour 60 70
#neighbour 61 67
#neighbour 61 72
#neighbour 61 73
#neighbour 61 78
#neighbour 62 64
#neighbour 62 69
#neighbour 62 79
#neighbour 63 67
#neighbour 63 70
#neighbour 63 75
#neighbour 64 77
#neighbour 64 79
#neighbour 65 71
#neighbour 65 76
#neighbour 65 81
#neighbour 66 69
#neighbour 66 74
#neighbour 67 75
#neighbour 67 78
#neighbour 68 77
#neighbour 68 80
#neighbour 68 70
#neighbour 69 74
#neighbour 69 79
#neighbour 69 86
#neighbour 70 75
#neighbour 70 85
#neighbour 70 100
#neighbour 70 80
#neighbour 71 72
#neighbour 71 81
#neighbour 72 73
#neighbour 72 81
#neighbour 72 82
#neighbour 73 82
#neighbour 73 78
#neighbour 74 86
#neighbour 74 91
#neighbour 75 78
#neighbour 75 83
#neighbour 75 85
#neighbour 76 103
#neighbour 76 92
#neighbour 76 81
#neighbour 77 79
#neighbour 77 80
#neighbour 77 87
#neighbour 77 93
#neighbour 78 82
#neighbour 78 83
#neighbour 78 84
#neighbour 78 94
#neighbour 79 86
#neighbour 79 93
#neighbour 80 87
#neighbour 80 88
#neighbour 80 100
#neighbour 81 82
#neighbour 81 90
#neighbour 81 92
#neighbour 82 84
#neighbour 82 90
#neighbour 83 85
#neighbour 83 89
#neighbour 83 94
#neighbour 84 90
#neighbour 84 94
#neighbour 85 89
#neighbour 85 100
#neighbour 86 91
#neighbour 86 93
#neighbour 86 96
#neighbour 87 88
#neighbour 87 93
#neighbour 87 95
#neighbour 87 97
#neighbour 88 95
#neighbour 88 100
#neighbour 88 102
#neighbour 89 94
#neighbour 89 101
#neighbour 89 100
#neighbour 90 94
#neighbour 90 101
#neighbour 90 92
#neighbour 90 98
#neighbour 91 96
#neighbour 91 107
#neighbour 92 103
#neighbour 92 101
#neighbour 92 104
#neighbour 92 98
#neighbour 93 96
#neighbour 93 97
#neighbour 93 99
#neighbour 94 101
#neighbour 95 102
#neighbour 95 97
#neighbour 96 99
#neighbour 96 105
#neighbour 96 107
#neighbour 97 99
#neighbour 97 102
#neighbour 97 106
#neighbour 98 104
#neighbour 98 101
#neighbour 99 105
#neighbour 99 106
#neighbour 100 101
#neighbour 100 102
#neighbour 100 106
#neighbour 101 103
#neighbour 101 104
#neighbour 102 106
#neighbour 103 104
#neighbour 105 106
#neighbour 105 107
#neighbour 106 107

--
#nostart 1
#nostart 8
#nostart 16
#nostart 23
#nostart 29
#nostart 48
#nostart 96
#nostart 98
#nostart 99
#nostart 104
#nostart 105
#nostart 107

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

give us a better idea of what this "Map Editor" function will do in the full Version? (In other words - is it worth the trouble to learn how to edit the map by hand, or will the in-game function let us do it all, only by pointing and clicking?)

It will allow you to set neighbors and terrain types. It will not allow you to create scenarios with monsters, sites and other exotic things.

[ November 11, 2003, 14:02: Message edited by: Johan K ]

Re: Battle Simulator!

Johan,

Was that in response to my question?

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Joonie73:
Hi, the map file is as below. Where would I add? I tried to add what you told me at the end but it crashed the computer.

Dont take too many examples off the top of our heads as being absolute. The 100 province on the Aran map is a water province http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Quote:

#dom2title Aran

If you leave this the same then you will get 2 Aran maps listed to pick which is confusing. Change the name here to something like Aran2 AranNot or something.

Nothing else needs changing, just adding. You can change the #description abit as long as you make sure that the description text stays in "quotes"

Take note of all the #nostart lines. Usually those are places where there are no easy ways to move out like a corner or an island. If you do decide to use one of those provinces then remove that nostart so you dont confuse the poor game.

Start a junk game with the Aran map and scroll around looking for a good place to start. Right click a province and note the number of it in the description box. You might want to write down a couple of neighbors also in case you want to start yourself with more than one province or more than one castle or weaken your neighbors abit for a fast start. Or you can pop some sweet magic sites into them.

If you are in a hurry then 106 on the Aran map is nice. So you might add....

#specstart 12 106
#setland 106
#commander 1010
#bodyguards 15 1006
#units 100 1002
#additem "Ice Pebble Staff"

There are alot of other things you an set also. You can add more neighbor commands so that you have "teleports" all over the map. You can change your starting Castle without having to pay for it. You can completely redesign your god and it wont overwrite the one you made before. It would only show up in this game. You can set scales, dominions strength, starting population, defense, give your god magic and items. All without paying for it in points or following any rules. (Playing with a Doom Horror as a pretender is fun)

For options check this mapedit doc. NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE FINAL MAPEDIT DOC FOR DOM2 http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion/mapedit.pdf

[ November 11, 2003, 16:22: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Re: Battle Simulator!

I got it to work! Thanks so much!

Re: Battle Simulator!

By the way, is Doom Horror the most powerful unit in the game? If so, how do you beat it? I tested a lot Last night & nothing beats King of the World. In fact, I had 3 super combatant gods attack it at the same time & they still lost.

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Joonie73:
By the way, is Doom Horror the most powerful unit in the game? If so, how do you beat it? I tested a lot Last night & nothing beats King of the World. In fact, I had 3 super combatant gods attack it at the same time & they still lost.

Vastness seems to be pretty nasty...

Curse+Antimagic+Hordes of mindless units

In dom I, i saw a horde of soulles without mages
tearing a King of the World to pieces.

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Joonie73:
Got it! Thanks so much!

Now one more question. I want to put these guys on one of the original Demo maps I am playing. Let's say, I am playing Jotunheim & want to use it on the Aran map. How do I do that? Is it pretty complicated?

I believe the only way to add units to a given nation is to force them to start in a given province, then add units there. You can give yourself whatever you want with this (and also add stuff to your opponents)

From the documentation (about DomI, but probably still valid) on Illwinter's site:

To force Jotunheim to start in, say, Province 100, add the line
#specstart 12 100
(12 was the nation number for Jotun in DomI: it may have changed, but I don't think so - the new nations are probably 14-16)

All this would be added to the "aran.map" file (or copy it to another name, edit it, change the
#dom2title Aran
line to another name - I don't know what will happen if two or more .map files list the same name)

Re: Battle Simulator!

Yep, best cure for a mind-bLasting opponent is to drown it in mindless troops. I just crushed R'lyeh in a solo game by sending in legions of Souless. Those poor Illithids had nothing to flay, poor little rubbery guys. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Battle Simulator!

I need to figure out what to put on the command line to get an icon on my desktop to go into a battlesim game the fastest. Straight into a game called BattleSIm using the mini.map, no intro, no fades, no music, low graphics for fast menus? or hi graphics for slow battles? Anyone messed with this yet?

That way I can edit the .map for the troops I want to test. And go into it over and over to try different formations and script orders

Re: Battle Simulator!

Bump, in case people are still interested in testing things out.

Re: Battle Simulator!

LOL, does this battlefield simulator only work on the demo? I tried to use it on the regular Version but it doesn't work.

Re: Battle Simulator!

Quote:

Originally posted by Joonie73:
LOL, does this battlefield simulator only work on the demo? I tried to use it on the regular Version but it doesn't work.

I just downloaded it to my full Version and it worked.

http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion...ions2/Mini.map
http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion...ions2/Mini.tga

What kindof error did you get? Did it crash to the desktop? did you try editing the .map for new units and then get an error?

Re: Battle Simulator!

I got it fixed, thanks, buddy.

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Joonie73:
LOL, does this battlefield simulator only work on the demo? I tried to use it on the regular Version but it doesn't work.

Re: Battle Simulator!

Nice thread, requires some professional necromancy though :)

Re: Battle Simulator!

Good point. Thanks for resurrecting it.
There should be a newer thread. If there is then I should point this one to it

There is a newer version of the Battle Simulator map here
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/BattleSim_v3.zip