Operations

I'm trying to make a very basic linear operation, and I am utterly clueless as to what I'm doing. Are there any basic pointers or tutorials to help get my head around it?

I believe the documentation for that is being "drafted"

Yes "we" are having similar issues putting one together for the "Christmas* Bundle".

* I just invented that, I'm not committing eSim to deliver NLT 25 Dec.

There's a second operation with multiple scenarios created we are just working through the process of linking the scenarios together.

Hopefully that process will generate some user notes (either that or we slowly roast Volcano over a fire until he tells us how he did it).

Thanks for the replies.

Here's a quick and dirty look at the Operations Mission Tree building:

Launch the Mission Editor and select File | Create/edit operation.

Click New/Reset. A dialog will appear.

Enter a title for the Operation.

Enter a folder name - simultaneously, create this folder in MyDocument\ESim Games\Steel Beasts\My Operations

Enter a description of the Operation.

If using a picture, enter its name in the Picture field and place the file in the folder you just created.

Click Apply, then click Save. Enter a filename - I like to use the same name as my folder name. Append .opc to the end as this is the Operations Control file. Click OK.

Exit the Mission Editor - no need to Save Untitled at this point as we made no scenario changes. Operations are distinct from Scenarios.

Click Operations in the SB Menu.

Our Operation should appear in the list - click its name and you should see its photo and description. Click Exit to go back to the menu.

Click Mission Editor and select File | Create/edit operation again.

Click Load and select the OpTutor.opc file (or whichever name you used) and click Open.

Now click Phases - this is where you structure the mission tree.

In the Phases Pane, enter a Title for this phase.

If you desire one, enter another photo name for this phase and place the photo in the Operations folder as above.

Enter the filename for the phase - I prefer using something similar to the Title here again. This will be a scenario file, so the name should be something like Mission_1.sce

Add a description of this phase.

Click Add to add the phase to the Operation. It should appear in the Operation Phases panel above.

Repeat the process for however many phases you intend to have. Note that you must update each field or the entries would be repeated as the UI does not clear them when you click Add.

Now, select the first phase in the Operations Phases window by clicking it.

In the Phase Successors drop-down, select Mission 2.

Click Add in the Phase Successors section.

You should now see Mission 2 in the Phase Successors pane on top. You could add other phases as successors to Mission 1 also, each with their own conditions.

Now click Mission 2 in the Operation Phases pane. Notice that the Phase Successors pane goes blank, as nothing has been selected for Mission 2 yet. The selected phase in the Operation Phases pane drives the data displayed in the Phase Succssors pane.

In the Phase Successors drop-down, choose Mission 3 and click Add. You would continue in this fashion, adding whatever the proper successors are to each phase. Having Mission 3 loop back to Mission 1 is also quite acceptable.

Next, click Mission 1 again the Operation Phases pane. Also click Mission 2 in the Phase Successors pane. You can now add the conditions for this succession.

In the Conditions section, click Add.

Operations can have their own unique Events, can be driven off regular events, conditions or Triggers or can be score-driven. The key thing about Operation Events is that they persist through the entire Operation, whereas regular triggers, events and conditions are scenario specific.

Let's keep it simple and say that to continue the Operation, the player must achieve a score of 80 on the previous mission.

Make sure the score button is clicked and then change the first number to 80 and the second to 101.

Click OK to add the condition. It will now appear in the Conditions pane.

Now, this is important. With the three boxes still selected, click the Assign button. You should see #0 appear in the Phase Successors pane next to Mission 2. This means the condition with that numbered identifier is active for that succession.

Repeat this process, selecting Mission 2 in Operation Phases and Mission 3 in Phase Successors. If you want to use the same score condition, just highlight it and Assign it. No need to duplicate it. Of corse you can add a whole new condition if you wish.

Click OK to save all your work.

Your Operation mission tree is now done. Next up would be creating the scenarios, using some Operations-specific functions.

Thanks V - and BTW, Visio makes chicken scratch look really good

Thanks for the post toyguy. Probably will have some questions tonight about it all.

Nice posts Toyguy!

Very nice!

Good information Toyguy, answered some questions that I had

Yes.

I've put a copy in another place to help with that work in progress project (assuming we can re-kindle the enthusiasm for it).

Esp. to German users: where the hell is the Create/Edit entry to create/modify Operations bar????

And concerning translations: it takes a whole lot of Fantasy to translate "drain" to "Senke"

"As the other question": wundert mich nur, daß das nicht von Nils kommt LOL

Ich bin doch nur "Wald- und Wiesen- Chirurg" festgelegt auf zweisilbige Worte: Eiter, Galle, Messer

A window appears, where no field works ???? No way to edit any text, all the other fields make no action anyway.... An install failure, what do I do wrong???

That's it: "Zurücksetzen", where to know? The Release notes say (page 7) : "To create a new Operation, open the Mission Editor 1) Go to "File", then select "Create" or "Edit Operation" .....

Ok thanks for that hint, let's take a look into it. I'm sure there will be more questions

Another potential very powerful option; change the map between phases.

e.g. build a checkpoint, wall. Save this as a version of your 'start map' and use it in the next scenario by using the 'replace map' function in the mission editor.

In an operation, is it possible to carry over to successor scenarios, the last state of current one, like for example, the last position, ammo, fuel, damage of the surviving units? If not, is it at least possible to carry over to the next scenarios only the surviving units?

2 hours ago, Ssnake said:

Yes, that's the whole point of "operations".

Thank you very much!

19 hours ago, stormrider_sp said:

In an operation, is it possible to carry over to successor scenarios, the last state of current one, like for example, the last position, ammo, fuel, damage of the surviving units? If not, is it at least possible to carry over to the next scenarios only the surviving units?

If i understand your question correctly, i think the answer is no. I dont know that there is a way to have the next scenario in the operation automatically/dynamically transfer the remaining force into the next scenario. Operations are a bunch of scenarios tied together with some kind of "if scenario 1 is victory, then next scenario is 3" kind of logic.

I have never built an Operation though, so i could be wrong...

4 minutes ago, Bond_Villian said:

If i understand your question correctly, i think the answer is no. I dont know that there is a way to have the next scenario in the operation automatically/dynamically transfer the remaining force into the next scenario. Operations are a bunch of scenarios tied together with some kind of "if scenario 1 is victory, then next scenario is 3" kind of logic.

I have never built a Campaign though, so i could be wrong...

Yes, that's my question, otherwise, for each outcome, there would need to be dozens combinations of successor scenarios.