Army Builder data files

Previous Version Details

v0.6 - Fixed Command Destroid missing from Phalanx & Spartan



v0.5 - All Zentraedi Force Cards implemented. However Support Options (besides Regult Squad), Built-In Upgrades, & Special Characters are not implemented yet.

• Glaug
  
• Gluuhaug-Regult
  
• Quel-Regult
  
• Regult
  
• Serauhaug-Regult
  
• Telnesta-Regult
  
  
  
• Regult Artillery Squadron
  
• Regult Attack Squadron
  
• Regult Attrition Squadron
  
• Regult Recon Squadron
  

v0.3 - After the learning curve of figuring out the initial build out of the Army Builder system adding the Destroids was pretty quick.

• Defender
  
• Phalanx
  
• Spartan
  
• Tomahawk
  

• Area Denial Destroid Squadron
  
• Armored Destroid Squadron
  
• Artillery Destroid Squadron
  
• Brawler Destroid Squadron
  
• Close Quarters Destroid Squadron
  
• Fire Support Destroid Squadron
  
  

v0.1 - This reflects about a week of research and figuring out the Army Builder ABCreator tool. It's rather complex, almost overly complex. I however was able to figure out how to build the rules needed to reflect the unique status of Veritech vehicles between their 3 modes. I've also implemented the entire Veritech Squadron Core Card along with the Built-In Upgrades, Special Force Cards, Support Force Cards, and Character Cards that are for the Veritech Squadron. Known Issues include the fact that I have not built in all of the rulesets yet so you can do things like violate force organization by having more than two Support Force Cards and Built-In Upgrades. Also the Built-In upgrades enforcement does not pass down to the child units yet forcing them to include the upgrades. Same with allowing a Character Card to only be used once per force.

I'm hoping soon I'll have all the core rules in place so it'll just become data entry at that point. Where you can help out is I'll release some sample copies along the way to test and I'll need feedback from people who have played a lot more than I have to make sure the rules I build are correct.

I'm interested in helping to test / troubleshoot files, too.

If you play any other games that there are AB files for, pick one you're familiar with and try opening up the datafiles for that game. That'll let you examine how others handled different features and restrictions. It should be a little easier than trying to learn purely from scratch.

I've got a sample data file to test. You may have to download and import the file as I could not get the secondary source method to work anymore in the latest AB 3.5 version. I'm not sure if it's an issue on my side or theirs but I've reported it. The data file lets you create a Valkyrie Squad from the force card along with all of the upgrades associated with it. I've tried to implement as much of the game rules as possible that relate to this as well so it limits you to only 1 Special Character, 2 VF-1S, etc etc.

Take a look and provide feedback please.  Just remember some things are setup because of restrictions in AB.

• Spelling & Grammar
• Rules
• Squad Composition
• Visual Layout

www.teamengr.com/Robotech/RRT01.ab

Because of the way AB works I can't manipulate individual sub-children, you can only apply something to all children or the first child of a type. So in order to allow someone to upgrade any of the 1A or the 1J I had to allow the person to pick and choose the items they wanted so I couldn't force it via code but instead enforce it via a rule. So you can at any point check the VF-1R upgrade option on a child item even if you didn't pay for it and the top level one is the payment for it, I agree it's a bit confusing.

I wanted to make them a * like add-on like the Valkyrie Wing but I can't because of the type of item they are. How about I add some info to the Description like "After selecting you can upgrade either 2 x VF-1A or a VF-1J & VF-1A to be VF-1R versions in the units below."

I'll play around with it some more to see if I can make it more user friendly. I think I can even hide the VF-1R option on the children if the upgrade option hasn't been checked. Maybe I can find a way to make them * addons like the Valkyrie Wing I hadn't before.

I figured out how to get secondary sources working, you can add this URL in AB and it'll check for updates as I make changes.

www.teamengr.com/Robotech/RRT01.xml

The VF-1R can be done to the entire squad IF you take that support option twice. The Support card for it replaces either 2 VF-1A's or 1 VF-1A and 1 VF-1J with 2 VF-1R's.

I don't feel like renewing my AB license to enable automatic downloads - can I still download the updated roster file from the earlier link?

Hm. Ok. It is working with my 3.2 copy, but for some reason it's yelling at me to purchase a license.

Oh, well. I grabbed the file manually out of your XML data, and it loaded up fine.

Excellent! I was going to attempt to tackle this myself, but you beat me to it . If you need any help, I'll be glad to lend a hand - bit of an old hand with AB.

I added a link directly to the .ab file in the first post so others can gain access to it easily too.

Of course it seems my host is offline right now because my CC info was out of date for my yearly payment... It should hopefully be back online soon.

I started adding the Zentraedi units yesterday, this is definitely going a lot faster now that the core is in place.

Zentraedi update, you can get the files from the location listed at the top or newer versions of Army Builder should tell you there's an update if you previously added it.

NOTE Make sure to keep the option to delete non-update files as I've reorganized the files.

v0.5 - All Zentraedi Force Cards implemented. However Support Options (besides Regult Squad), Built-In Upgrades, & Special Characters are not implemented yet.

• Glaug
  
• Gluuhaug-Regult
  
• Quel-Regult
  
• Regult
  
• Serauhaug-Regult
  
• Telnesta-Regult
  

• Regult Artillery Squadron
  
• Regult Attack Squadron
  
• Regult Attrition Squadron
  
• Regult Recon Squadron