New MekHQ Release v0.1.7

[Taharqa]

Yes.  I have tried this several times but transport reimbursement always=+0.  Also, if I advance the calendar it will deduct for the jumps, but no reimbursement shows up in the finance tab.  Bug?

Its working fine for me. Try it with the Fox's Teeth example.

The transportation reimbursement is figured in as part of the total net contract value which is then divided between the advance money and the monthly payments. So you wont' see a reimbursement when you jump. Just make sure you set your advance pct high enough to cover the expense.

I noticed a tiny problem with the Fox's Teeth: They start on Outreach instead of Benet III (page 64 Sword & Dragon).

Yeah, I forgot to make that change. Although technically given the date and current mission, they should be on Thestria.

I was just thinking.  In v0.1.5 I believe campaign options still had individual gunnery skills (ballistic, energy, missile).  As of v0.1.6 this option is missing from the campaign options-personnel options tab.  I don't know if this is relevant to the broken SPA's but I thought I would mention it.

I don't think individual gunnery skills have ever been in there. The SPAs haven't been getting saved to XML since we set up the XML, I just noticed it last version, but didn't get a chance to fix it yet.

In the Warehouse Tab, the multiple selection of parts for selling/deleting doesnt work. If you select multiple parts and try to sell/delete, it will only sell the part at the top of the list.

Yeah, for rather arcane reasons, I have disabled most of the multiple selection stuff. It will get re-added table by table in the next few releases.

Unit Purchase function doesnt populate the list.

I don't follow.

[Starmage21]

I don't follow.

Huh, now its working just fine. Must've been an obscure bug.


Basically at one point I tried to purchase new units through the marketplace dialog. The list was blank, and remained blank to matter what filter options I tried.

[mnmib1]

Its working fine for me. Try it with the Fox's Teeth example.

The transportation reimbursement is figured in as part of the total net contract value which is then divided between the advance money and the monthly payments. So you wont' see a reimbursement when you jump. Just make sure you set your advance pct high enough to cover the expense.

Okay.  I see the problem.  I was typing in the destination until only 1 planet was left in the drop down menu, then hitting enter and tabbing to the next field.  Even though the planet was displayed it apparently was not "locked in" and no transport reimbursement was being calculated.  If I type the name then hit enter after the planet is selected with the cursor at the end of the planets name, it "locks in" the planet and calculates reimbursement.

[Warpimp]

How are unit values calculated? I just noticed that all of my units are worth in the 20 and 30 millions!

[Taharqa]

How are unit values calculated? I just noticed that all of my units are worth in the 20 and 30 millions!

Purchase price is calculated as per the TechManual, just like MegaMek. Sell value is 1/2 purchase price, per StratOps although I am going to make that more customizable in the future. What units do you have that are worth that much?

[mnmib1]

I was going to post these on sourceforge, but then I thought about it.  These are not bugs, just an opinion.


Support and overhead compensations should be listed in the current mission panel (as part of the contract terms).

Contract terms should be editable and deletable.  (I screwed up entering contract terms and had to go back to previous save to delete contract).  I know, I know the old joke "well don't do that then".

[Warpimp]

I think it is an error in my save. Because it happened with my last game and after that it would not save right. It's just regular lvl 1 mechs. When I bought them it showed the correct number under the value column and I came back after going to the store and the values are worth about 10 times what they should be.

Any way to fix a corrupted save? I've made a lot of progress and don't want to lose everything. Last time I had this issue it never loaded correctly.

[Warpimp]

I actually just figured out the bug. I had my clan tech multiplier set to 10. I think since some ammo types use innersphere/clan it thinks the whole unit uses clantech.

[innocent_eric]

If you have GM mode turned on.

MHQ calculates the price of all newly destroyed parts on your own units (not salvage) and gives you the appropriate percentage of that value. It does not give you anything for damaged but repairable parts. Doh! I just realized that BLC does not give you anything for units that are totally lost. Whoops.

Sounds like a problem with your campaign. Please post a bug with a copy of your saved game XML file.

I had this same issue when I opened up a campaign from the previous version.

[Taharqa]

I just realized that saving and loading any files is bugged in this version. The XML load and save functions should work fine, so I would recommend using those instead for this release.

[Starmage21]

Is the plan still to remove the .cpn saving function and go with XML files entirely?

[Taharqa]

Is the plan still to remove the .cpn saving function and go with XML files entirely?

Eventually, yes.

[ronalmb]

Thank you very much for all this hard work you have put in. I am overjoyed with the Rennaissance that Battletech seems to be enjoying and a tool such as MekHQ allows me to manage units not just for MegaMek, but for an actual live Battletech Campaign. Kudos.

I noted that there was some discussion about administrators previously in this thread. Are they still something being considerered, or are they on the list of sure things that just aren't implemented yet. Now that the mission briefing room is in, with the contract tool,  I would like to utilize the bonuses that Administrators provide to contract bargaining (for support, transportation, etc) and be able to track their pay and exp from within MekHQ.

Again, thank you for an outstanding tool. With the work you have done with it, I really think it could move past being a tool JUST for MegaMek and become something absolutely necessary for anyone running a Battletech campaign.

Edited for Follow up question: In the Briefing Tab, when adding a New Contract, there is an option for setting the contract start date. My assumption is that the start date begins on the date you actually arrive on your target world, as per FMM:R? If so, I'd like to request a functionality aid that figures out that day for you (getting it from date contract was added + transit time).

[Taharqa]

I noted that there was some discussion about administrators previously in this thread. Are they still something being considerered, or are they on the list of sure things that just aren't implemented yet. Now that the mission briefing room is in, with the contract tool,  I would like to utilize the bonuses that Administrators provide to contract bargaining (for support, transportation, etc) and be able to track their pay and exp from within MekHQ.

They are on the to-do list, maybe for the next release.

Edited for Follow up question: In the Briefing Tab, when adding a New Contract, there is an option for setting the contract start date. My assumption is that the start date begins on the date you actually arrive on your target world, as per FMM:R? If so, I'd like to request a functionality aid that figures out that day for you (getting it from date contract was added + transit time).

Yeah, I was planning on doing that originally, but I was going to ask on the official rules boards here first, because I couldn't find anywhere in FM:Mercs where it said when your contract started.

[mnmib1]

Yeah, I was planning on doing that originally, but I was going to ask on the official rules boards here first, because I couldn't find anywhere in FM:Mercs where it said when your contract started.

The contract starts as follows per FMM:R p.158 (second paragraph under the heading contract length).

Contracts  officially  begin  when  a  mercenary  command reaches its destination (if friendly) or an official staging area (if the objective is in hostile territory).

I hope this helps.

[Jayof9s]

Yeah, I was planning on doing that originally, but I was going to ask on the official rules boards here first, because I couldn't find anywhere in FM:Mercs where it said when your contract started.

Page 158 under Contract Length: "Contracts officially begin when a mercenary command reaches its destination (if friendly) or an official staging area (if the objective is in hostile territory)."

Edit: Just saw I was beaten by mnmib1 in posting this

[ronalmb]

This makes me curious about how transportation is handled officially, in regards to contracts and costs. If a mercenary unit were to report to Misery to be integrated into Draconis Combine forces for a Planetary Assault on Galtor III, and they had to pay for their own transportation to Misery, do they then also pay the transportational costs to go to Galtor III or does this become covered by Draconis Combine logistics (as they are now integrated)?

Also, I spent a lot of time accumulated art assets for mechwarrior portraits. Most of these are croppings from artwork that I obtained from the internet. I do not believe I can make them available here or suggest packaging them with MekHQ (for the obvious IP copywrite reasons) but I don't believe offering to share them with individual private parties for personal use would cause problems.

There are 50 in total. If anyone is interested please PM me or if you feel its ok to post a link to them in .rar format here, please let me know and I will make them accessible. I'm not certain how to include such a thing in my signature or I'd make it accessible that way.

Again, thanks for your work!

[PurpleDragon]

One question.  is there a way to make the program start at an earlier era?  It looks like a very good program.  My only problem I have with it is that it seems to force you into the dark ages or beyond if you want to use it. 

[mnmib1]

One question.  is there a way to make the program start at an earlier era?  It looks like a very good program.  My only problem I have with it is that it seems to force you into the dark ages or beyond if you want to use it.

File. Campaign Options.  Calendar.  Click back to the year you wish to start.

[rhino1085]

File. Campaign Options.  Calendar.  Click back to the year you wish to start.

And someday I may not have to use 300+ clicks to get to the Star League era!   ;D

[PurpleDragon]

File. Campaign Options.  Calendar.  Click back to the year you wish to start.

Ah, cool, thanks!

[mnmib1]

And someday I may not have to use 300+ clicks to get to the Star League era!   ;D

I thought I was the only one who played the early eras.  A little trick is when you set the date save a blank.xml so that if you create an opfor or another force or whaterver you can use the blank without the 300 clicks.

[ronalmb]

Since I like playing around 3025ish, your trick is going to save me some time. In what manner do you use MekHQ for opposing forces? Do you build support for them, give them a budget for repairs, etc?

[mnmib1]

Since I like playing around 3025ish, your trick is going to save me some time. In what manner do you use MekHQ for opposing forces? Do you build support for them, give them a budget for repairs, etc?

It depends.  If the Opfor is a major force (great house, clan, etc.) I consider them to have pretty much unlimited funding and resources.  But I do us MekHQ to track their repair times and x.p. the same as I do my own.  In a larger contract (planetary assault) they will get stronger or weaker as they win or lose.  Smaller forces I will give them 1,000,000 c-bills/'mech, 500,000 c-bills/vehicle seed money for repairs salaries, etc.  I also use the opposite contract theoryl.  Basically the Opfor has the opposite objectives from me.  If I am on a garrison, they are assaulters or raiders.  If I am on the offense, they are on the defense.  This makes for a persistent Opfor which I find to be more realistic than just randomly rolling forces for each battle.  Also, since a force has a "defined" number of units, I can win through other means than just winning a base attack.  As time goes on both sides are ground down, which is more realistic.  I'm actually coming up with the rules and campaign flow as I go along and am creating a single-player system that has a greater level of detail than Makinus.  With MekHQ it is actually easy to get away from random battles which feel too much like a "RTS" to me.

[rhino1085]

Lots of stuff

  ;D

You did a great job explaining what I try to do, although I admit that I don't track the OPFOR in MHQ - but it's got me thinking.  If you ever do finalize your single-person campaign system, I'd love to see it.  Right now I use a combination of house rules and Dread Moore's great system.

[ronalmb]

I agree. This is something that I would very much be interested in seeing as well.

[Skyth]

I don't know if the bug has been fixed, but when you use two opposing forces in MekHQ, you start having units disappear on you when you start salvaging from the other side.  They (used to) share ID numbers and it had issues if the ID numbers for different mechs were the same.

[Taharqa]

I don't know if the bug has been fixed, but when you use two opposing forces in MekHQ, you start having units disappear on you when you start salvaging from the other side.  They (used to) share ID numbers and it had issues if the ID numbers for different mechs were the same.

Not yet, but its on my mind. I am planning on randomizing unit id numbers which will help some and to also check the chassis and model name.  Its a little trickier with pilots, but should be do-able.

[Demos]

I gave some warrior in my TO&E 'Edge', but after a restart (saved, of course) this input was lost.
Also, some ammo types (e.g. AC/Flak) is not available.

I noticed that the pics of mechs/asf etc. could also be dispayed. Do anyone know a good source for a comprehensive file of these pics?
Never mind, there was something called megaMekLab  #P

[Skyth]

Not yet, but its on my mind. I am planning on randomizing unit id numbers which will help some and to also check the chassis and model name.  Its a little trickier with pilots, but should be do-able.

Sorry, I was talking to the people that were talking about doing the opforce in mekhq a couple posts back...Should have quoted.