Another Art Gorski T5 App Thread!

[Magnus von Thornwood]

So, Art I gots some questions about the Military Units App and the ArmorMaker App.

First off, where's my Ultimate Stage Effects? I got some stuff that I could use that one, like combat armor.

Which leads into a general question/suggestion I have. Say using my ACA-14 I made using the T5 ArmorMaker App that increasing the Stage or TL beyond the common version, in this case from TL-14 to TL-15 can remove one drawback from the list. In this case the upgrade in TL or Stage could remove the Drawback: Contaminated Life Support. I'm not exactly sure what effect that has on the user but it don't sound good and it would nice to be able to correct that flaw in the design or manufacturing process (EDIT 4: Turns out is a chance for Infection-1). Just a thought.

Also speaking of the Drawbacks it would be cool if there was a line with the mechanical game effects. Or maybe I'm just stupid and need to crack the Big Black Book PDF (Book 3, page 120) and read up, but that sounds like work. Plus it raises the Ease of Use in qrEbs by +1 making it easy for even the low tech conscript to use.

ACA-14 [ip1]
Advanced Combat Armor-14

Ax: Cr160,000 48kg Ar=38 Ca=22 Fl=22 Ra=22 So=22 Ps=7 In=42 Se=22 

Controls: Manual; Options: Feedback
Sensors: Basic; Options: Additional
Comms: Battlefield
Power/LS: Days; Options: Day

Drawbacks:
  Interior Runs Cold
  Externally Loud
  Contaminated Life Support

Quality: 5
Reliability: 0
Ease of Use: 0
Burden: 0
Safety: 0

Physical Characteristics Mods:
  C1: x10
  C2: -2 
  C3: -2

Regarding the Military Units App, how come there isn't an armored recon symbol which as I recall the armor oval with the single slash like the standard recon symbol. Or did I miss that feature?

So far super thrilled with all the T5 Apps I have messed with so far. That military unit app could only be improved if it calculated troops numbers (with officers and enlisted noted) and say the ability to add vehicles, armor, and guns from those apps into the Military Units app so that you could have all the info on the unit as well as the very cool org chart, which is dope as hell. Love that and it really helps work out what goes where. I dig them so much I put a link on my company facebook page to your Apple App Store Dev Page so that other folks could get them and enjoy them as I do. Hella useful and keep up the good work.

Also, that text listing of the subordinate units is awesome. I'm using as the base for the Unit Description blocks when I get the Regiment finished.

My next foray into them I plan on seeing if I can make a CAPTOR space mine in the ThingMaker App. :devil:

Totes endorse and use!

EDIT: Also, what does that string in the brakets following the Short Name mean? Like the [ip1] in the ACA-14 above.

EDIT 2: Okay, I cracked the B3 PDF (Book 3, pg 120) and yep, there are the effects of the various Drawbacks which I also realize are the code string in the brakets. Still, for that improved EoU rating having the effects listed instead of just the name would be slick. Again, still love the Apps.

EDIT 3: Another idea for removing Drawbacks is an increase in base cost based on the severity of the Drawback, either as the only way or combined with my above suggestion using TL and/or Stage Effects.

Minor Drawbacks can be removed for say KCr 10, Drawbacks can be removed for KCr 15, a Major Drawback costs can range KCr 25-50 to remove and an Ultimate Drawback can run from KCr 50-100+ to remove from a model of armor. These refit packages of course must be purchased separately but price and the work can be combined into refit package specified by the client. For example to remove a Minor, standard, and Major Drawback would end up costing a minimum of KCr 50 but if bought as one refit package the work can be done on removing all the Drawbacks.

Another cost is the downtime to do the refit on the individual base armor. A Minor Drawback has a downtime of a week or two, a standard Drawback can mean a down time of a month, with Major and Ultimate Drawbacks having a downtime of months to complete. This is downtime is per Drawback being removed. Doing the work of the refit can be combined potentially saving some time from the overall downtime, it can't decrease the time for any individual Drawback removal to zero. Thus a Minor Drawback can be combined with another Drawback removal during a refit but can never be reduced below two days to do the work. Basically combining a removal refit into a package can decrease downtime but can't make the individual time constraints disappear. All the work takes time and resources to complete.

As always comments welcomed and not just from Art.

 

[agorski]

Aw Shucks

Thanks for the kind words.

I'm kinda buried in multiple projects right now and it's been so long since I worked on ArmorMaker I'd have to break out the BBB to answer questions.

Regarding the Military Units App, how come there isn't an armored recon symbol which as I recall the armor oval with the single slash like the standard recon symbol. Or did I miss that feature?

That's easy. Armor is both a unit type and a modifier. Make a recon unit and then add the armor modifier. This way you can have armored artillery, etc. without having a giant list of separate types.

The automagic org chart drawing I discovered after I did the Fleets app, so Fleets doesn't have that feature.

The quantity value lets you dupe identical units but you can't specify individual details. Good for drawing nice org charts. If you want separate unit numbers or descriptions, just finish a unit and all its subunits and then dupe that and make the changes.

When I find time between other projects I'm working on an app for

Spoiler

Robots

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

I can't wait.

Looking forward to seeing more.

And another comment, ThingMaker doesn't seem to have an export function and if you have more than 2 Enhancements it cuts the list off.

With Military Units the blue up/down arrows on the org chart window have finicky/tiny hit boxes.

Thanks for the help and you're very welcome. So far pretty neat stuff and super useful.

EDIT: So, I wanted ya to see how the App cuts off the list of enhancements and just to show off my cool new Interdiction Satellite. Next up will be the 2nd Fritan LIR (Condotterie) TOE.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Behold, the 2nd Fritan LIR (Condotterie)!

So, the last bit for now is the aforementioned T5 Military Unit App work I have been doing. I worked up the Lift Infantry Regiment that goes aboard the IMC Against All Odds. This is the current 2nd Fritan LIR (C) TOE with a bit of background.

Currently I'm messing with using the Aerospace symbols to represent the ship board elements used by the 2 FLIR (C) such as the Medical platoon, the Communications section, and of course Ortillery battery.

Art, my man we need some sort of symbol to represent starships and their elements in this App. Because coding is easy. :devil: *is promptly stabbed in eye with fork by all coders everywhere.*

But seriously, it could use some sort of Starship symbol which would also be super useful for peeps such as myself who create units with organic starlift capability (and yes auto-correct "starlift" is a word, dangnabbit). Not to mention using said organic starlift to also have ortillery. And if artillery is the king of battle does that make ortillery emperor of battle?

Anyway, thanks for putting some fun back in my professional gaming/writing career. You're helping push the Elephant Island out of the dock sooner than I thought. [[o]Now I gotta add ya to the credits page.[/o] Done.]

 

[agorski]

And another comment, ThingMaker doesn't seem to have an export function and if you have more than 2 Enhancements it cuts the list off.

I tried a different way of doing export in this app. Clearly, it's not that intuitive.

On the top level Things list, select a thing, then click on the icon that looks like a document.

 

[agorski]

Art, my man we need some sort of symbol to represent starships and their elements in this App.

All the symbology I used was derived from Traveller sources, not Mil Standards.

I spent a bunch of time in Traveller Fleets agonizing over ship symbology, and used T5 weapon and sensor icons there to jazz them up instead of just having an empty shape. So I suggest you use that app for the purty icons. Sadly, it doesn't do the nifty org charts but you can export the individual icons and put them into your favorite drawing app. That's what I did for a recent article in Freelance Traveller. (Aside: in Military Units, you can export subsets of the total diagram, even individual icons, by using the up-down arrows. So you can just export icons into your drawing app.)

In Military Units, the emphasis was on COACC stuff, not starships, and there was no Traveller precedent there, so I just used generic NATO-style icons. At least you can label them, like I did in the included Mercenary Cruiser example that came with the app.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Well damn.

All the symbology I used was derived from Traveller sources, not Mil Standards.

I spent a bunch of time in Traveller Fleets agonizing over ship symbology, and used T5 weapon and sensor icons there to jazz them up instead of just having an empty shape. So I suggest you use that app for the purty icons. Sadly, it doesn't do the nifty org charts but you can export the individual icons and put them into your favorite drawing app. That's what I did for a recent article in Freelance Traveller. (Aside: in Military Units, you can export subsets of the total diagram, even individual icons, by using the up-down arrows. So you can just export icons into your drawing app.)

In Military Units, the emphasis was on COACC stuff, not starships, and there was no Traveller precedent there, so I just used generic NATO-style icons. At least you can label them, like I did in the included Mercenary Cruiser example that came with the app.

Hey not repeat not crapping on your fine work, the time and effort shows. And speaking of the T5 ACS App I plan on checking that out soon.

Again, thanks for doing all the back end to get these Apps up, running, and distributed. All hella serious work, I know since I'm using them to do a lot of the heavy lifting in building my Lift Infantry unit. In fact I might clone it and use it as the template for its sibling units; the 1st Fritan Lift Infantry Regiment (Condotterie) and 1st Fritan Lift Armor Regiment. I already have some small history and detail for all three regiments including how they can be combined into the 1st Fritan Lift Infantry Brigade which I will of course end up doing in T5 Military Units.

Speaking of check out these three examples of Vehicles I made using the App. I used spoilers merely to save screen real estate not to hide anything.

First up, a heavy grav carrier at 6 tons and has crew/pax 0.

Spoiler:

HGC-16

Heavy Grav Carrier-16

Vx: 6 tons Speed=5 Load=5 Advanced Protected Hours Q=-1

Ax: Ar=110 Ca=20 Fl=20 Ra=30 So=72 In=50 Se=60

Details:
Category - Military
Cost - KCr2,820
Beastpower - 1,296
Range - Regional
Crew/Passengers - 0

Controls:
AutoPilot, Wafer

Communications:
Battlefield, Relay Option

Weapons:

Other:
Redundancy

Next up, a light grav supply carrier at 4 tons and two 1 ton cargo modules with crew/pax 25.

Spoiler:

LGSC-13

Light Grav Supply Carrier-13

Vx: 4 tons Speed=4 Load=5 Advanced Protected Hours Q=+2

Ax: Ar=45 Ca=20 Fl=20 Ra=15 So=52 In=20 Se=30

Details:
Category - Military
Cost - KCr510
Beastpower - 500
Range - Local
Crew/Passengers - 25

Controls:
Powered Controls, Wafer

Communications:
Battlefield, Relay Option

Weapons: -

Other:
2 Cargo Modules

Last, up one TL we have a medium grav supply carrier at 5 tons with the same pair of 1 ton cargo modules with crew/pax 25.

Spoiler:

MGSV-14

Medium Grav Supply Vehicle-14

Vx: 5 tons Speed=4 Load=5 Advanced Protected Hours Q=+1

Ax: Ar=50 Ca=20 Fl=20 Ra=20 So=52 In=30 Se=40

Details:
Category - Military
Cost - KCr360
Beastpower - 625
Range - Local
Crew/Passengers - 25

Controls:
Wafer, AutoPilot

Communications:
Battlefield, Relay Option

Weapons: -

Other:
2 Cargo Modules

So how is it that one Vehicle technically has not room for crew or passengers and a TL-13 light vehicle and TL-14 medium vehicle share a crew/pax of 25? I would think the Cargo module would remove load and room for passengers as well as limiting the crew to single digits. There should after all almost always be room for a single sophont crew member for a vehicle. Or so I would think.

I thought that odd and maybe errata so I corralled the examples here in their own folder for use in this thread.

EDIT: Derp, yeah what do you know it's right there a little icon shaped like a document in that interaction blue. Yep, totes derped it. Thanks again. Though I still want to the Data Card to show all the info including Enhancements but its low on the list. I do have some T5 ThingMaker App questions.

How do the Coating and Enhanced work in the Armor listing (in bold in example below)? When I calculate the total Ar is it 32 x 10 x 4=1280 or 32 x 14=448? Or is it neither and something else entirely?

Spoiler:

The ROCKFISH-15 Interdiction Satellite by Threts, IC.

The ROCKFISH-15 Interdiction Satellite is a high interstellar technology 180 ton CAPTOR style space denial mine manufactured and sold by Threts, IC interstellar arms company of Threts [FARS 1721].

The satellite is well armored and comes with a robust sensor package for detection of intruders, stealth modifications and an passive/active ECW (electro-cyber warfare) suite to prevent intruders from targeting the satellite. It also comes equipped with a battery of defensive energy weapons for active self defense. Last the satellite is armed with a battery of drones for scouting, decoy, and datacaster missions and missiles for hostile action against intruders.

An on-board Fusion+ power generator is standard granting the ROCKFISH-15 extended time on station between maintenance. With 80 tons of munition storage (4000 Size-5 munitions) and the Fusion+ power system this interdiction satellite is a standard space denial mine used throughout the FARS STARS sector for interdiction or blockade missions.

***

ROCKFISH-15 Interdiction Satellite
A CAPTOR-style Space Mine
Function: Resolver

Variant >

ROCKFISH-15 Interdiction Satellite
CAPTOR Space Mine
Cost: Cr10,000

Size: Very Large Profile: Cylinder Density: Specials Construction: Hollow
Length: 7.5 m Width: 3.75 m Depth: 3.75 m
Volume: 105.47 m³ Mass: 180.4 tons
Portability: Installed

Coatings: Armor 10x, Cage 4x, FlashProof 2x, RadProof 10x, PsiProof 2x, Insulated 3x, Sealed

Protection
Ar: 32 Coating 10x Enhanced 4x
Ca: 27 Coating 4x Enhanced 2x
Fl: 15 Coating 2x Enhanced 2x
Ra: 57 Coating 10x Enhanced 4x
So: 3
Ps: 12 Coating 2x Enhanced 2x
In: 43 Coating 3x Enhanced 3x
Se: 9 Coating

Range: Space Attack (500,000 km)

Controls: Special Outputs

Power Supplies: Fusion Plus

Enhancements: , Stealth Mods, ECW Jammer, Passive/Active Sensor Suite, Fire Control System, On-Board Computer Controller, Energy Weapons, Missiles and Drones

 

[agorski]

How do the Coating and Enhanced work in the Armor listing (in bold in example below)? When I calculate the total Ar is it 32 x 10 x 4=1280 or 32 x 14=448? Or is it neither and something else entirely?

Can you grok code? Here's how I calculate Ar:

Public Property ProtectionAr As Integer
  Var armor As Integer = 1, prot As Integer, p As Double
  
  Select Case Density
  Case "Brick"
    armor = 6
  Case "Aluminum"
    armor = 9
  Case "Titanium"
    armor = 12
  Case "Lanthanum"
    armor = 14
  Case "Steel"
    armor = 16
  Case "Silver"
    armor = 20
  Case "Lead"
    armor = 25
  Case "Gold"
    armor = 40
  End Select
  
  If armor = 1 Then
    p = ProtectionEnhancement(0) * DensityValue * ConstructionValue
  Else
    p = (ProtectionEnhancement(0) * DensityValue) + (ConstructionValue * armor)
  End If
  
  If Ruggedized Then
    p = p + (Volume * 1000 * TechLevel)
  End If
  
  
  If Construction = "Foamed" OR Construction = "Hollow" Then
    p = p / 3
  End If
  
  prot = Floor(p) 'round down
  
  prot = prot + (Things(CurrentThing).Variants(CurrentVariant).Coatings(0) * 3) 'Add protection for each coating
  
  If prot < 1 Then 'minimum
    prot = 1
  End If
  
  Return prot

End Property

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

I no grok the code.

Nope, arcane language which I might be able to parse but not today. So, still confused as to how that works.

Also, is there some way to export the TOE from the T5 Military Units App as black on white which would make printing them and using them as illustrations a whole lot easier?

 

[willtron3030]

Is this Visual Basic?

 

[agorski]

Also, is there some way to export the TOE from the T5 Military Units App as black on white which would make printing them and using them as illustrations a whole lot easier?

Turn off Dark Mode on your iPad.

 

[whartung]

Is this Visual Basic?

Sure looks like it.

 

[agorski]

Is this Visual Basic?

Nope, Xojo for iOS. Xojo started as RealBasic, a Visual Basic-like language for the Mac. Lots of Visual Basic projects have converted to Xojo over the years.

Blissfully free of semicolons and brackets.

 

[Androsynth]

Just wanted to chime in and say thanks for creating all of these apps. Had no idea there would be so many for such a relatively obscure rpg. Super helpful to newbies like me. Particularly the character, starship and sector gen stuff.

 

[willtron3030]

Nope, Xojo for iOS. Xojo started as RealBasic, a Visual Basic-like language for the Mac. Lots of Visual Basic projects have converted to Xojo over the years.

Blissfully free of semicolons and brackets.

I applaud your Xojo mojo.

 

[agorski]

Just wanted to chime in and say thanks for creating all of these apps. Had no idea there would be so many for such a relatively obscure rpg. Super helpful to newbies like me. Particularly the character, starship and sector gen stuff.

Thanks! It's a fun hobby and it's nice that it also lets me give back something to others.

It helps that Marc has a really friendly Fair Use Policy. I couldn't do this with Mongoose Traveller.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Derp McDerpnik.

Turn off Dark Mode on your iPad.

Oh…yeah. Never knew that affected the output, I just thought that was for viewing. Learn something new every day, thanks, that indeed fixed the issue.