Any interest in War at Sea support for MapView

[Cobalt]

I have updated the War at Sea Map 01 and added the Set I US Fleet. The units are to scale now. I’m working on the Japanese fleet right now.

http://www.battlevault.com/Campaigns/Guadalcanal/Guadalcanal_03.htm

[Deaths Head 420]

Now all you need is A Die Roller

[dice=6d6]

Then it will display Dice rolls

[Cobalt]

We do the die rolling here on this forum.

Exampe dice roll:
Rolling 12D6:
(1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5)

We post the MapView files here on this forum after each phase. Have you followed any of the Axis & Allies Miniatures “play-by-forum” games here on this forum? They all use MapView modules and the forum based die roller.

[Half-Track]

@Deaths:

Now all you need is A Die Roller

[dice=6d6]

Then it will display Dice rolls

dice server is right on this web site.

Rolling 8:
(1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6)

[ctburgessiii]

Looking good Brother.

One suggestion, add ship names below the images for us noobs.  :mrgreen:

[Cobalt]

Yes, there should be ship names that appear when you hold the cursor over the image.

[Cobalt]

The latest “War at Sea Map 01” Mapview MOD now includes. US Fleet, Japanese Fleet, and War at Sea Markers. You can download it at:

http://www.battlevault.com/Campaigns/Guadalcanal/Guadalcanal_03.htm

[Cobalt]

While I think everything looks good in this first attempt at a War at Sea MapView game mod, it really wont be a usable gaming tool until I get my version of MapView registered. The UDM files I create on an unregistered version of MapView can be opened, looked at and tested … but can not be saved for use in PBF games. Looks like we’ll have to wait until MOT gets back from vacation for the registration.

[Motdc]

Feedback:

1.  The map is hot, awsome job.

2.  The planse look great, I especially like how you have that “shadow” oval under them, it looks nice.

3.  The detail on ships looks great, but there is a trade-off to be made here.  Obviously they are larger than the seazones by a wide margin.  Either the seazones should be larger or the ships much smaller.  Probabaly a bit of former and a lot of the latter.

Suggestions:

4.  Smaller unit image size, especially in the “pallet”.

5.  Smaller ship images.

6.  Becasue thge ships are notas easily differeniated (at least to my eyes), consider adding a roundel with the country flag to each.  I’m not usually a fan of the names of the units as part of the image becasue there is a tooltip already, but in this case (with lots of long, flat units), it might be worth a try.

7.  Make sure the seazone size can hold the number of units that are likely to be present in them.  I do not know the rules, so I’m unsure if multiple ships (friendly or hostile) can be in a single zone.

8.  I’m sure there are various status icons like “Damaged” etc that can be created.  Can someone who knows the game post some ideas on that?

Mot

[Cobalt]

Thanks for the feed back MOT. I think before I make any major changes, I’d like to run through a game via this forum here and just get a feel for the game. I’m still having a hard time finding a local store that stocks the War at Sea basic set with rules, maps  and counters. More to follow soon …

[Motdc]

@Deaths:

I figured it out. He He

Nice.

Your Carrier looks alittle off. Fuzzy. I know it’s a test. GJ though

Now can you use this thing in a thread where Both players can Manipulate their Pieces on 1 Map?

Kind of.  MapView uses a “map history” concept.  So player 1 adds a Map tab, say called “Allied Move Turn 1”.  He then moves his units or whatever.  He then posts this modified map to the thread.  Player 2 then downloads the map and, instead on modifying the player 1 map tab, he creates his own map tab called “Axis Move Turn 1” and make his mods there.  He then posts back to the thread.

New map tabs start with a snapshot of the previous, so what you end up with is a turn-by-turn, or phase-by-phase history of the entire match.

You can take a look at the AA Minis matches we’ve done for a sample of the concept.

Mot

[Motdc]

@Cobalt:

While I think everything looks good in this first attempt at a War at Sea MapView game mod, it really wont be a usable gaming tool until I get my version of MapView registered. The UDM files I create on an unregistered version of MapView can be opened, looked at and tested … but can not be saved for use in PBF games. Looks like we’ll have to wait until MOT gets back from vacation for the registration.

I’m just confirming that you received your registration information?

[Cobalt]

Got them MOT. Thanks - I’ve been off-line for a few days. I hope now to get a usable War at Sea mod going for Turn-2 of the Avalon Hill on-line Guadalcanal campaign.

[Brian_66]

I’ve been testing the first War at Sea MapView mod in the “Play Miniatures” section of this forum. Look for “GC_T1_B1 Cobalt vs Brian” post. My gut feel is that the back and forth placement of air units will drag games out to a very long time. There are also “casualty” maps required at the end of each phase. So while an Axis & Allies Miniatures game turn can be conducted in about 6-8 back and forth posts between players, it would take a War at Sea game at least 12 and probably between 15 - 20 back and forth posts between players. I’m thinking the only way to play War at Sea online is via some sort of realtime Java game engine like the ones used at Gleemax.

[Motdc]

I play-by-email (or play-by-post) because I dont have 2 hours straight to sit in front of a PC at some random time (timezones are killer).

I think you’ll find that the smaller back-n-forth type excchanges are often par for the course.

That being said, I haven’t playe WAS yet so I cannot fully comment.  Some games truely arent a good match for PBEM.  If you’d post a game file that might help me out.

Mot

[Motdc]

Opps, just realized you did post a map…I’ll go take a look.

[Half-Track]

@Brian_66:

I’ve been testing the first War at Sea MapView mod in the “Play Miniatures” section of this forum. Look for “GC_T1_B1 Cobalt vs Brian” post. My gut feel is that the back and forth placement of air units will drag games out to a very long time. There are also “casualty” maps required at the end of each phase. So while an Axis & Allies Miniatures game turn can be conducted in about 6-8 back and forth posts between players, it would take a War at Sea game at least 12 and probably between 15 - 20 back and forth posts between players. I’m thinking the only way to play War at Sea online is via some sort of realtime Java game engine like the ones used at Gleemax.

This was my fear with WAS.  Alternating placement of the air units takes a considerable amount of time.

However play by post can be done in realtime.  It’s a very quick download and upload with a fast connection.

[Motdc]

Question on planes…from reading your post it sounds like each player must deploy planes one-at-a-time, alternating back and forth?

[Brian_66]

Yes, that’s how the rules read. I think this forces the players to take risks with placing their deadly, expensive bombers. Do you you risk putting a single dive bomber on a ship caught alone in a sector or do you keep all you squadrons in tight formation with fighter escorts?

[Half-Track]

@Motdc:

Question on planes…from reading your post it sounds like each player must deploy planes one-at-a-time, alternating back and forth?

Consider that all your planes can’t take off at the same time.  Part of Naval stratagy.  Watch Midway.

Sequence of play
A. Initiative phase
B. Sea Movement phase
C. Air Mission phase (players alternate placing Aircraft)
D. Air Defense phase
E. Air Attack phase
F. Surface Attack phase
G. Torpedo Attack phase
H. Air Return phase
I. End of Turn
Casualty is performed after each individual attack sequence.

Example: The way I understand it if a ship is sunk during the Air Attack phase it is removed at the end of the Air Attack phase and can not attack during the Surface Attack phase, Torpedo Attack phase.