new ACTA + vassal

T

tneva82

Mongoose
There used to be(dunno is it still available) vassal module for ACTA: Babylon 5. I had plenty of good games with it(more than with real miniatures. Finding players around here=tough). Certainly was only feasible way I could hope to play vs guys from foreign countries. Going to other country to play miniatures is...Expensive!

Is there similar module for the fading suns? Would be nice way to get more games in and against wider variety of people.

Guess you could use the B5 one and rename the ships etc which works but better if there would be one that was designed for fading sun.

(also if there's anybody still interested in playing B5 ACTA via vassal give me PM :)
 
isnt one as yet, not sure if I have the time to do one but its possible I guess.
would need top down pics of all the models really as well.
 
Au contraire, Blackadder...

No fancy graphics, I'm afraid, but it does the job (ish).

Need to update it with the new stuff (Leonardo, Naga, Rack, and updated Vuldrok ships), in fact.

It's just a chop-shopped version of the B5 one, so I don't know how (if) it works online.
 
Hmmm. Regarding B5 module weren't there supposed to be keyboard shortcuts? Like using arrow keys to move the ship? Selected ship, pressing keys like crazy, nothing happens :-/ Best I can get is move around the map.

Also realised I need to buy the new wireless keyboard/mouse set I have been planning to. My mouse left button is inoperative so now I'm using right button as left button and as for right button...Don't have one!
 
It's built from the same one that Katadder created - the same controls are in there unchanged (45' and 90' turn clockwise and anticlockwise, number keys for pre-set move distances).

Right click on the ship and you'll see shortcuts on any command that has one. Which I acknowledge could be a problem, reading what you just put.

Hmm....


If I remember correctly:
1-9 (might be ctrl1-9) - move ahead that many inches
ctrl t, y,u & i - 90' port, 45' port, 45' starboard, 90' starboard respectively
shift 1-9 (I think) special orders
alt c - critical damage/escalating critical damage/exploding/destroyed indicator
ctrl c (?) - ship crippled indicator
alt f - fired
ctrl f - gatling laser/grapnel range
Ctrl b - boarded by enemy troops flag (I think)

There is a 'grappled' and 'captured' indicator flag and markers for fighter upgrades but damned if I can remember the shortcuts off the top of my head.

err.... haven't got it in front of me and I'm forgetting most of them. Best thing to do is go into 'edit module' on vassal and have a look. I'll put a list of keyboard shortcuts in when I update it. Give me a couple of days.
 
locarno24 said:
It's built from the same one that Katadder created - the same controls are in there unchanged (45' and 90' turn clockwise and anticlockwise, number keys for pre-set move distances).
Click to expand...

Wonder why nothing happens though when I try. Nothing you list works. Actually seems all the key presses go into chat window. Arrow keys just move the map around. Bummer.
 
locarno24 said:
It's built from the same one that Katadder created - the same controls are in there unchanged (45' and 90' turn clockwise and anticlockwise, number keys for pre-set move distances).
Click to expand...

BTW here's idea: I know getting graphics done is major pain in the ass(especially if you suck at graph department like I! :D). So I'm not asking for graphs that really look like what they represent. They would be nice but asking those is bit too much ;) However howabout adjusting not just size but geometrical shape of the picture of the ship based on class atleast for some of them? This way it would be tad faster to quickly spot that the "galley is over there, cruiser is approaching from there and that trio of ships is squadron of destroyers". Now there's the triangle with size being only difference. Howabout rectangles for some? crescent? Some others?

Yeah wouldn't neccessarily look all that realistic(though where does it say ships look like triangles anyway :D) but might make ID'ing them tad easier. Geometrical shapes(which could be shared between fleets with only colour changing like now) should be tad easier to produce as well.

Consider them scanner identification symbols :D

Also bought up new keyboard+mouse set(my keyboard was also in need of replacement! Most of the letters have worn off in the 3 years ;) Not THAT bad when writing in finnish or english since I can see what I'm typing 1=1 speed and besides I don't really need to see letters that much but slight pain in the ass when writing in japanese. If I want to write taberu I have to type t-a-b-e-r-u and I only see complete result every SECOND stroke. Ie I type "t", nothing happens. Only once I press a does the hiragana for "ta" appear. Particulary annoying with Kx, Jx and Hx which are closeby. That's where most of my hiragana typo's come...). Once I get around switching that and checking whether I can get the keyboard shortcuts working somebody willing to give rookie demogame?-)
 
This way it would be tad faster to quickly spot that the "galley is over there, cruiser is approaching from there and that trio of ships is squadron of destroyers". Now there's the triangle with size being only difference. Howabout rectangles for some? crescent? Some others?
Click to expand...

I'll have a see if I can pull up some NATO map icons or something.
 
locarno24 said:
This way it would be tad faster to quickly spot that the "galley is over there, cruiser is approaching from there and that trio of ships is squadron of destroyers". Now there's the triangle with size being only difference. Howabout rectangles for some? crescent? Some others?
Click to expand...

I'll have a see if I can pull up some NATO map icons or something.
Click to expand...

Yeah something like that.

As is evident on the BR I posted it's not easy to identify which vessel what is by eye. Especially as there's no scale difference between frigates and destroyers which makes it even harder.

Not that bad in small battles but in bigger battles it could get confusing real fast :D

But thanks for the effort anyway ;) Lot better than no vassal module or proxying with B5 module!
 
Another comment: Pretty sure it's possible to set the terrain so that it's non-movable after setting it. Have you considered using that? I tried grabbing several of my vessels at once but asteroids got in the way :D Terrain should be un-movable midgame IMO.
 
The old 40k module had terrain such that it was only 'shift-clickable'.

I'll see if I can figure out how they do that and copy...
 
Right. Got everything updated for Hawkwood, Al Malik and the Church.

Need to figure out what I'm doing for Hazat - the problem in terms of unique icons is the Canai-class strike cruiser; the Hazat have a cruiser but they also have a cruiser-weight carrier. Meh.

Couple of evenings and I should have the updated one up. I'll post the updated link here once it's uploaded.

The terrain should now only respond to an ALT-click.
 
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