Wargame Constructor  - Create/Edit Scenarios

Table of Contents


 


Creating a scenario requires a little bit of thought upfront and usually  more than a little trial and error to get it to work how you want.   The first thing to consider is the scale of the battle you want to simulate.   It can be a small as a paintball battle with individuals  in your neighborhood, to a battle between armies on a continent.  The scale will determine all the scenario settings, from the map you choose as a background, to the ranges of units (visual, movement and battle ranges).   When creating a new scenario,  you’ll be asked to select the Operational Level:

OpsLevel.png

The Operation Level is merely a starting point, but it helps in selecting units of appropriate size, and an appropriate zoom level for the map.  Generally, select the operations level to be the size of the top-level command units you want to create.

Once you’ve selected an Operation Level, you’ll be move to the Scenario Information Editor.   Selecting to create a scenario will build one with default settings and forces, but no units or victory locations.  The text in Yellow are items that are changeable by touching the text.  The Scenario Editing screen is shown below

:ScenarioScreen.png

Closing this screen will save your scenario setting.  You can always come back and make more changes, then try playing it again. 

Scenario Actions:

Name:   Edit the name of the scenario

Description:  Edit the description of the scenario

Display:  The type of map you display with your scenario.  Custom maps are available: see Builder Tips

Base Terrain:  This is the terrain assumed for the base map.  Adding terrain will override this for selected areas.

Forces ( both Friendly and Enemy):  Set the Name, Flags and colors for the different forces involved.  They are designated Friendly and Enemy, but when playing… you can select either side.

Maximum Turns:  This is the maximum number of turns the scenario will play out.

Friendly/Enemy Victory:   The percentage of all victory points necessary for a side to achieve Victory.

Default Winner:   If the maximum number of turns has been reached and no side as the victory points necessary for a win… this side wins.

Unit Visibility:  This is how close a unit needs to be to the enemy in order to become visible.

Allow Auto Supply:  If On, units are automatically resupplied at the end of each turn.  If Off, you must have supply units in the game to keep units supplied.

Allow Unit Splits:  If On, Fighting units can split into sub-units at the next lowest Operational Level.  Off, disallows this option.  Scenarios with larger numbers of units may wish to turn this setting Off.  The more units the system controls, the slower a turn will process and this option has the possibility of turning each unit into 4 sub-units.

 

Editing Tools

Once the Operational Level is selected and the initial Scenario options are set,  you get the same screen you’d see when playing… except for a completely different set of tools.  Use these tools to complete the editing of your scenario.

scenario.png Scenario Editor.  Go back and change your scenario settings.

units.png Unit Editor (Order of Battle).  Use this tool to add, edit and delete units for your forces.

location.png Location Tool.  After adding new units  and/or victory locations… use this tool to position them on the map. Clicking the button will show the next unit to be positioned in the status area.  Then touch to map to position the unit.  Repeat until all the units/vl’s have been positioned on the map.

scroll.png Move Unit/VL.   Move the selected unit or victory location to a new position on the map.

vl01.pngVictory Location Editor.  Works like the Unit Editor to add, edit and delete Victory Locations.

exclzone_add.pngTerrain Editor Tool.  Select this tool, then touch the map to add vertices for a polygon which define a zone for the specified terrain.  When done adding points, click the button again to add the zone.

general  Show/Hide Command Units.  Toggle to turn off or on the display of Command Level Units.

showterrain.png Toggle to show/hide Terrain zones

map.png  Map Type. Change the type of map to display

movementrange.pngMeasurement Tool.  Measures the distance between two points on the map.

 

Unit Editor (Order of Battle)

The screen works like a typical scrollable tree control to add, edit and delete units to the order of battle of each force.

UnitEditor.png

 

Clicking the + or X buttons adds a child unit or deletes a unit.   The gold button ( next to the unit name) brings up a dialog which allows the unit’s features and capabilities to be edited.

When adding a unit, you’ll be prompted to add either a Command Unit or Fighting Unit.  Command Units contain fighting units, while fighting units cannot contain other units.  Add any number of command and fighting units to your scenario… as many as you wish to model.

Note:  Command Units have no Firepower of their own.  They are meant for organizational purposes and are not absolutely necessary for the scenario. Each side must have fighting units,  but using command units is optional.

Editing a fighting uses the below screen:

Units.png

Touch any of the yellow text ( or the symbol image) in order to change the values for that field.  The system uses appropriate defaults based on the operational level chosen, but any values can be changed.  Close the screen when completed.  Re-editing values can always be done later on.

1.        Movement Range is the distance the unit can move over flat terrain in 1 turn.

2.        FP Range is the reach of the weapons beyond the space taken up by the unit itself.  Generally speaking, Navel and Artillery units will have ranges larger than other units.

3.        Attack and Defense FP are firepower values relative to other units.  A unit with an Attack FP or 50 is twice as powerful when attacking as one who has an FP of 25.   A unit with an Attack FP of 60 attacking a  unit with a Defense FP of 60 will generally result in an even battle… that is if no other factors are involved ( ie. terrain or fortifications).

 

Typical Ordering of Steps to creating a Scenario.

1.        From the 4 button, main menu… select ‘Create/Edit Scenario’

 

2.        From the presented list of scenarios,  select the top ‘*Create New Scenario’

 

3.        Choose the Operational Level you wish to design to.

 

4.        You immediately are taken to the scenario info  editing screen.  Change any of the values or accept all the defaults.   (Accepting all the defaults will set up a battle between the US and China)

 

5.        Upon closing the scenario info editor, you’ll be taken to the main scenario editing screen. The map will zoom to it’s default location at the zoom level appropriate for your Operations Level..  Use typical Google Map navigation gestures to move the map to the location you desire.  Try to keep the zoom setting more or less close to the default, until after you add units.  The units have particular sizes, so having the map zoomed too far out or too tight,  might show the units as very large or small.

6.        Once the map is in the location desired, touch the units.png Order of Battle (units) button.

 

7.        Once in the Order of Battle screen , you’ll see entries for both your forces ( friendly and enemy).  Use the typical tree control buttons to add/edit/delete your child units to these forces.

a.        Use the + button to add a unit to the US Force

b.        When asked for a Command or Fighting Unit,  select Command.  This will create a new Unit under the US Forces at the Operation Level you previously selected.  As a Command Unit, you are allowed to add child units underneath it.

c.        Use the + button beside the new Command Unit and create a new Fighting Unit.  A new unit at the next lowest operations level will be created under the Command Unit.

d.        To change the settings of any unit,  touch the gold edit button next to the unit name.

8.        Once done add units to the US side,  use the same techniques to add units to the Chinese force.  When done, touch the Close button.

9.        After adding new units, they must be positioned on the map.  Use the location.png tool.   Select the tool, then position the unit displayed in the status area.  Repeat the process until all the units are positioned on the map ( When touching the tool no longer gives you a new unit in the display).

10.     Once done with units, you need to add some Victory Locations to the scenario.  To do this, touch the vl01.png tool.

a.        Add Victory Locations by touching the + button next to the ‘All Victory Locations’ entry.

b.        Newly added use default settings for name and ownership.  Use the gold edit button to change these.

c.        Once done adding.. touch the Close button.

11.     Like Units,   the Victory Locations must also be positioned on the map.  Use the same location.png tool.   Select the tool, then position the victory location displayed in the status area.  Repeat the process until all the victory locations are positioned on the map

 

12.     That’s it… you now have a scenario that can be played. Press your device’s ‘Back’ button and you’ll be presented with an option screen where you can Play your new scenario, or for those with the Premium Upgrade… they can Save it before playing.  If you haven’t Upgraded yet, you have the option to do so here… Afterwards, you can save the scenario you just constructed.

 

 

Tips for Scenario Building