Author Topic: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects  (Read 38345 times)

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #30 on: 12 March 2011, 17:59:28 »
Okay I think I have my archive of mechs reasonably recovered for now.  I could probably use more low tech mechs but that can wait for when I get bored and have fewer projects.

I'm still debating on how much effort to really put into a Random Allocation Table.

Come Monday unless my gaming group gets together again I fully intend to spend many hours just reading a damn Java book.

I agree with Liam's Ghost in that I would like to put all the actual data into an external source rather than hard coding everything into the program itself.  It'll make it easier to add new information and if we do it right we will even have the program able to support house rules/Alternate setting information.  What this external source will be has yet to be determined.

Bedwyr

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #31 on: 12 March 2011, 20:44:15 »
We support your efforts!
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monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #32 on: 18 March 2011, 12:15:32 »
It has been a week since I did an update and I feel the need to go ahead and keep up that pace for updates.

I'll admit I've been getting rather side tracked lately letting myself do too many unrelated things but I have made some progress.  I have started sketching out what I want some of the windows to look like when done and have jotted page references for how to pull off what I want.

Next thing I intend to concentrate on is deciding how the output will look for the character itself and how to store the back end information so it'll be usable by the program and editable for those who want to do house rules.

All in all I'm probably only a couple weeks out at most from starting the coding.  That will certainly be slow going.

Bedwyr

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #33 on: 18 March 2011, 13:27:46 »
It has been a week since I did an update and I feel the need to go ahead and keep up that pace for updates.

I'll admit I've been getting rather side tracked lately letting myself do too many unrelated things but I have made some progress.  I have started sketching out what I want some of the windows to look like when done and have jotted page references for how to pull off what I want.

Next thing I intend to concentrate on is deciding how the output will look for the character itself and how to store the back end information so it'll be usable by the program and editable for those who want to do house rules.

All in all I'm probably only a couple weeks out at most from starting the coding.  That will certainly be slow going.

One note, if you will be creating the ability to print sheets, it should be optional whether abilities affect skill as is standard on the published character sheet.  I know you auto-calculated that in the spreadsheet and it is convenient, but I had to extract the unaffected numbers to write out a standard sheet (and to allow for flexibility in case skills and/or abilities changed).
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monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #34 on: 18 March 2011, 13:38:37 »
Yeah after some quick thought I concur I should probably have the raw skill rank no link attribute modifiers added and with standard link attribute modifiers if any.  I feel it'll be situational enough when the standard link attributes are inappropriate that the player should be able to do their own math when it comes up.

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #35 on: 19 March 2011, 18:57:51 »
Okay I did a mock up of roughly what I want the first page to look like for the output.  I know I'm going to have to get a bit more creative to figure out how to get the remaining modules on there if someone does decide to max out.

I will probably replace the equipment section with just a series of lines for the player to jot down their desired gear because I'm disinclined to include an equipment buying function.

Any way I would like some feedback on the layout.

Advanced warnings:

The first page is what I am currently referring to as the fluff page since it contains a lot of those fiddly bits.

The second I intend to set up as pretty much just a master list of the characters skills, traits, and special abilities.

Third will be a combat quick reference page where the players can jot down their armor and weapon stats and have all their static modifiers set to go.

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #36 on: 27 March 2011, 01:00:13 »
Oops day late on my intended update schedule.

Since it has been a week and no one has commented one way or another I find myself at an impasse.  I do see two changes I need to make though.  For a 10 module character I need to make more space to list the modules.  At the very least I should give the player a space to jot down current C-Bill balance and I should also list the Equipment ratings for post creation item purchasing for those GMs who pay attention to such things.

Aside from that I think I may be on the verge of breaking out a SDK to start some coding.

Gaifin

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #37 on: 27 March 2011, 23:10:05 »
Looks good to me..Used your updated sheet today  and worked well [rockon]

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #38 on: 28 March 2011, 13:23:30 »
Glad you like it.

Though I really should fix the Fast/Slow Learner thing one of these days.

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #39 on: 29 March 2011, 15:00:46 »
You Sir, created a very good excel sheet. I just tried it and it looks great and you put a lot of effort in it. Maybe you should draw some borders around some tables, to give a better overview.
« Last Edit: 29 March 2011, 15:15:20 by ghth »

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #40 on: 29 March 2011, 16:32:30 »
I just wish it'd work better with MS Excel is all.

Open Office has some nice features but it seems to not translate too well when using MS Office to open a file developed in Open Office.

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #41 on: 06 April 2011, 00:33:36 »
I fixed the last two issues I can think of how to fix without doing a major redevelopment from the ground up.

I fixed the XP tables for converting to skill ranks for Fast Learner, Slow Learner, Tech Empathy, and Gremlins.

I even fixed the Target Numbers thing for Tech Empathy.

I'll see what I can do to have just a skill rank no attribute modifiers then it'll probably be it for the spreadsheet version.

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #42 on: 06 April 2011, 01:14:47 »
Sorry the one person who downloaded my last update.

A formula got copied where it shouldn't have.

It is fixed now.

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #43 on: 14 April 2011, 11:52:50 »
I am contemplating abandoning coding my own character creator.

I have found a decent enough alternative that is much farther along in the development cycle and works fine for canon campaigns.  It is still a little buggy but it isn't bad.  Compounded with frankly a lack of interest from anyone else and my help being disinterested in helping to the point I wrote off their supposed help a month ago.

Things left to figure out for my spreadsheet:

The XP cost adjustment for Illiterate.  I can put it in but it will be a huge pain in the ass to adjust the skill level look ups.

I need better ways to set field skills on the fly and better ways to calculate the rebate for point buy.  For now though the Field Skills are as good as their going to get.

Optimization functionality.  I'd have to shoehorn in a couple columns somewhere.  Maybe even go so far as to have an extra tab just for optimization.  I'd also have to figure out how to get it to do the XP costs correctly.  Simple enough premise but just because something is simple does not mean it is easy.

I still really don't have a good way to make the sheet enforce the extra 10% XP of Negative Traits.

Maelwys

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #44 on: 14 April 2011, 15:48:24 »
Have you given any thought to shading the various cells in different colors, depending on what the user is supposed to do with them? One color for user entered data, another for calculated results...right now you open it up and there's a lot of intimidating white space, especially since the drop down boxes aren't apparent until you click on them. A bit of visual guidance would be helpful, instead of clicking each cell and wondering if its going to be a formula or blank cell :)

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #45 on: 14 April 2011, 17:46:53 »
Not a bad idea actually.

And I'm finding the data protection  feature is not working correctly which I had hoped to be able to make use of to help with that issue.  So for my next release that will be turned off.  I put a light yellow background on every cell the user is intended to be able to alter.

While I was at it I did fix the extra entries for skills issue a bit.  So now if for some weird reason you want to have a Natural Aptitude for one of these skills it will now appear correctly.

Hopefully there will be a fix for that soon and I can turn protection back on.
« Last Edit: 14 April 2011, 17:49:35 by monbvol »

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #46 on: 15 April 2011, 16:40:30 »
Somehow the XP advancement wasn't being tracked correctly.  Fixed now so it'll be less of a pain to reprint your character after your GM awards sufficient XP.

Bedwyr

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #47 on: 22 April 2011, 10:13:23 »
Can you re-post a link in the OP so we know where to get your materials?
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monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #48 on: 22 April 2011, 10:26:17 »
The link for the sheet itself seems to still be working fine for me.  :P

Now if you mean my AU stuff I went and rewrote all that stuff since this sheet to be compliant with my new house rules but haven't rewritten the sheet to be compliant.  So uploading that would be more confusing than helpful.  I'll try and make up for it by finishing my rewrite of the one faction write up I have finished and completing the rest.


Bedwyr

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #49 on: 22 April 2011, 13:04:31 »
The link for the sheet itself seems to still be working fine for me.  :P


No no.  Just what I get for not paying attention.
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monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #50 on: 27 April 2011, 00:36:40 »
Okay I managed to find my write up of the Terran Dominion in the archives of the old board.

I've put it up in the Fan Fiction boards because it didn't seem right putting it in the non-canon units forum and likewise it didn't seem to fit in here very well either.

One down and seven more to go.

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #51 on: 22 July 2011, 11:55:54 »
Figured since there has been some renewed interest in the sheet as of late I'd bump this thread so people who need some guidance would at least have the scant few helpful hints I've put in here to help them out.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to automatically sort the Print Tab so that it is a little easier to get a less monsterous print out going.

Welshman

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #52 on: 25 July 2011, 23:16:11 »
Monbvol,

Having built an spreadsheet for advanced units (sorry it's an internal CGL dev resource right now) I've got great respect for what you've done. Keep up the good work.

Couple of questions/issues:
Note- maybe I'm just missing something obvious on some of these. If so, thanks for the pointers.

Module 3 to 10 have blank pull downs: If you go to data validation and fix the cell range to not include the blank cells at the end, this fixes the problem.

Fields have a blank pull down: Same fix as above

F100- Age adjustment confusing: Only after I read this thread did I see the note that this is a variable XP field and not the age adjustment over/under 21. Might help to make the comment more clear.

Module Age: Stage 2 covers late childhood, which is ages 11 to 16. Cell H3 says the age is ten.

Using the Modules, especially for older characters: Trying to make a 47 year old character who was a lifer military. If I put in Military Basic, Military Advanced and then Tour of Duty for the rest, I only get a 37 year old. Any suggestions?

Fields: Not sure how to use these in relation to character generation. Disclaimer, been a long time since I worked on AToW and that section I only reviewed, so I may just be missing something obvious. Even us writers can't know all the rules.

Thanks,
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monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #53 on: 26 July 2011, 22:36:22 »
Quote
Module 3 to 10 have blank pull downs: If you go to data validation and fix the cell range to not include the blank cells at the end, this fixes the problem.

Fields have a blank pull down: Same fix as above

Mostly those blank sections in the drop downs are there to support additional Module/Field selections if they should become available.  I may go ahead and cut down to the supported Modules/Fields to be less confusing.

Quote
F100- Age adjustment confusing: Only after I read this thread did I see the note that this is a variable XP field and not the age adjustment over/under 21. Might help to make the comment more clear.

I'll try and remember to make a notation that is less confusing for the XP for age above or below 21.

Quote
Module Age: Stage 2 covers late childhood, which is ages 11 to 16. Cell H3 says the age is ten.

This is something I need to make a notation on.  The entire column where this appears denotes how many years the character actually spends in that Stage/Module not their actual age.

Quote
Using the Modules, especially for older characters: Trying to make a 47 year old character who was a lifer military. If I put in Military Basic, Military Advanced and then Tour of Duty for the rest, I only get a 37 year old. Any suggestions?

Here's where we run into one of the problems of using a spreadsheet only approach to character generation.  I have no good way to make sure attributes and traits are applied only once and the way I have the XP calculating for modules it is a little off to say the least.  As to how to make a 47 year old lifer oh boy.  Since I only support the official limit of 10 modules but I do not count affiliation in that limit I'm not sure if it is even possible using only Tour of Duty.

Quote
Using the Modules, especially for older characters: Trying to make a 47 year old character who was a lifer military. If I put in Military Basic, Military Advanced and then Tour of Duty for the rest, I only get a 37 year old. Any suggestions?

The Fields selection is so you can get the standard allotments and correctly receive the rebate XP for the Stage 3 training fields.  I have hopes of someday being able to use this to correctly automate the XP rebate for Point Buy character generation, something that still requires the user to do their own math for.

It has problems and I've probably missed a few that need mentioning but I hope it serves you well.  Though at this point I'm not sure how much farther I can take it with my skill set.

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #54 on: 28 July 2011, 15:01:30 »
None of the pulldowns are giving me any text values, just either "0" listed multiple times, or a list from 0 to 20+ or 40+ or so.

Yes, just the actual integers.. almost like row ID numbers. Am I using an older version of excel or something?

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #55 on: 28 July 2011, 15:42:53 »
Excel doesn't play nice with Open Office, any version.  I know I started development using Excel but after my last crash I had to switch to Open Office because I could only find really ancient MS Office instillation disks.  Despite the claims of compatibility my sheet no longer works correctly with Excel.  So yeah without starting from scratch and a job to pay for MS Office that isn't an ancient relic this is about as good as my sheet is going to get.

Nerhesi

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #56 on: 28 July 2011, 16:33:30 »
my apologies - misread the first part as does not work well with open office not vice versa

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #57 on: 28 July 2011, 18:18:40 »
No worries.

It's something I still harbor hopes to fix someday.

Daryk

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #58 on: 29 July 2011, 05:39:27 »
Excel doesn't play nice with Open Office, any version.  I know I started development using Excel but after my last crash I had to switch to Open Office because I could only find really ancient MS Office instillation disks.  Despite the claims of compatibility my sheet no longer works correctly with Excel.  So yeah without starting from scratch and a job to pay for MS Office that isn't an ancient relic this is about as good as my sheet is going to get.
Interesting.  I've never had a problem going back and forth.  But then, I don't use any pull downs, so maybe that's the issue.

monbvol

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Re: Monbvol's AToW sheet and other related projects
« Reply #59 on: 29 July 2011, 10:30:22 »
Two major problems crop up:

1: I used direct references to content on different tabs in the validation rules for my pull downs.  This is a feature that is not supported in MS Office.  You can use the INDIRECT function to achieve something similar in theory but lacking a suitable test environment I haven't explored this.

2: The formulas will produce weird numbers that do not match between MS Office and Open Office.  I'm not sure why this is since the formulas that produce these numbers should work exactly the same between the two platforms.