Crimson1 http://localhost/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page MediaWiki 1.15.1 first-letter Media Special Talk User User talk Crimson1 Crimson1 talk File File talk MediaWiki MediaWiki talk Template Template talk Help Help talk Category Category talk 1413 1517 2009-11-07T14:50:43Z Mccwiki 2 The crimson fields AI, like most AI's, has it's weaknesses, and these can be used against it during the battle. This page documents the current known AI weaknesses, as judged by [http://crimson.seul.org/ CrimsonField] human players, these can be used either by novice players, or by developers who work on improving the AI engine. ====The AI does not use ''Factories'' correctly==== Factories are a good thing to owe during the battle, especially if they also produce crystals - they enable reinforcing the front line, and serve perfectly as your last stand in case of defeat. Since different units has different costs, it often makes sense to wait until your factory has enough crystals to produce the units you ''need'' However, the AI chooses to produce as soon as there are enough crystals for any kind of unit. since infantry in often the cheapest one, the AI just builds a large repository of infantry units, when it actually needs tanks or artillery units. ====The AI is non-aggressive when no forces are on the field==== When facing an AI enemy with superior number of forces, one can easily "cheat" by just moving his forces back to the base. when there are no longer forces in the field, the AI will often just fallback it's entire task force back to it's own bases. The only units which keep advancing are infantry, and once the rest of the armada is several turns away, they are not a real threat if one acts on time. that's pretty useful trick for holding the 1000 crystal base for long periods at '''LostFactories''' ==== The AI easily diverts forces from the front line==== One way to break through the AI lines often simply requires dropping a small number of fast ground units behind the lines (Delivered by an air/sea carrier or hovercraft). Even if no infantry units on the task force (which could take over bases), the AI will devote a large portion of it's main task force to chase 2-3 units, creating a weakness in the front line. 1371 1439 2009-11-06T22:23:53Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/CampaignForTyarin]] to [[CampaignForTyarin]] This is a work in progress. Ideas are still being thrown in and out, and I will update this as soon as possible. ==== Introduction==== The campaign for control over the Yalwa province ended miserably. Many commanders lost the battles, lost their freedom to the Kandelians, and thus lost their heads to the Emperor. The FNA was steadily weakening and insufficient supplies were taking its toll on the army. Their victory at Ultha was short lived; Kandelian reinforcements arrived and surrounded them, cutting off all means of escape. What followed was a massacre of massive proportions that was unlike anything the Nexians had ever seen. The rebellion fell and was crushed under the heel of the Kandelian emperor. Kand rose in triumph while the rest of Nexus suffered under turmoil, confusion, heavier taxes, and demands for more crystals. Even so, many Nexians were inspired by these events to take back their freedom. One such group on an island offshore of the mainland of Tyarin came into existence during the rise, and ultimately the fall of the rebellion in 2528. Forced to slave and mine for the Kandelians in their war effort, the Nexians decided that the time had come to take matters into their own hands. The Nexians rose up and formed a kingdom instead of an empire, feeling that Nexian rule would not be much different as Kandelian rule, and also would not benefit the people of Nexus. The leader of the group, whose name shall not be disclosed, claimed to have noble blood. At the time, he was only 8 years old. He also claimed that he was an ancestor of the empress Jani Vers. He proved himself on both counts, and rose up as King of Nexus. His Majesty certainly did have the talents of the Great Empress. He was a peacemaker and a politician who had his way with words. He hated war, but felt it was necessary to rid the Kandelians from Nexus. He also possessed great wisdom in dealing with tough situations. At such a young age, the King was already a powerful man. In 2547, as King, His Majesty made many important decisions. The first was to create an army and organize the training of his troops. He wrote many pages and plans concerning the reconquest of Tyarin, Kerlo, and the Kingdoms of the East and his effort to free the Nexians and restore power to the long-lost lineage of the royalty of Allantha. Weapons were piled up deep underground in the mines. The second decision was making political alliances. His Majesty worked very hard and travelled all over the world with his Royal Guard to get as much help as possible. Kandelian sympathizers provided supplies, food, weapons, and crystals. Nexians all over the world were helping. The third decision was to organize an expedition to find Allantha. His Majesty felt that this would change the course of the war if Allantha was found. In many ways, the campaign for Tyarin was much stronger and had much more preparations than the Yalwa campaign. Though the military was still not as strong as they had hoped, there were more than enough supplies and crystals to capture a base that could produce enough armies. For 39 years, the kingdom worked in secret, by which time the King was old enough to rule. The miners kept a hidden arsenal of weapons and crystals underground, far from the reach of the Kandelians. Plans were made, and every so often there were top-secret meetings with other organizations on stand-by. Everyone was alert, ready for the signal that would begin another rebellion. On the week before the start rebellion, His Majesty finally took up his throne. Nexians all over the world celebrated. Unfortunately, somehow word MAY HAVE leaked through to the the Kandelian government, and His Majesty disappeared while on a trip to Kerlo. His Royal Guard was found dead, all of them assassinated. Historians believe that he was kidnapped by an unknown party, possibly the Kandelians or the LFNK, although no ransom was demanded and there wasn't a public announcement. There were rumors of an execution by torture, although historians deem this highly unlikely. Later, the King's most trusted advisors decided to continue the rebellion because that was what the King had wished. Therefore, things continued as planned. Three days later, in the year 2569, the Kingdom of Tyarin declared its independence from Kand. Your job now is to win and continue His Majesty's quest for peace and freedom across Nexus. Good Luck! Long live the dead King ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is not the map. lol. I'm going to try contacting other people to get a real map of Tyarin. Maps, in the order they will be played. ==== Insurrection==== With high tax rates and unforgivable demands for crystal mining, the Nexian population has become angry and rebellious. The Kingdom of Tyarin can not stay in secrecy for much longer. Any day they might be discovered. The rebellion begins. Nexians have only scouts, bunkers (homes for miners), and infantry, and no heavy weapons because those can't be hidden. Status: Almost done 1372 1444 2009-11-07T12:03:56Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/CampaignforTyarin]] to [[CampaignforTyarin]] This is a work in progress. Ideas are still being thrown in and out, and I will update this as soon as possible. ==== Introduction ==== The campaign for control over the Yalwa province ended miserably. Many commanders lost the battles, were lost their freedom to the Kandelians, and thus lost their heads to the Emperor. The FNA was steadily weakening and insufficient supplies were taking its toll on the army. Their victory at Ultha was short lived; Kandelian reinforcements arrived and surrounded them, cutting off all means of escape. What followed was a massacre of massive proportions that was unlike anything the Nexians had ever seen. The rebellion fell and was crushed under the heel of the Kandelian emperor. Kand rose in triumph while the rest of Nexus suffered under turmoil, confusion, heavier taxes, and demands for more crystals. Even so, many Nexians were inspired by these events to take back their freedom. One such group on an island offshore of the mainland of Tyarin came into existence during the rise, and ultimately the fall of the rebellion. Forced to slave and mine for the Kandelians in their war effort, the Nexians decided that the time had come to take matters into their own hands. The Nexians rose up and formed a kingdom instead of an empire, feeling that Nexian rule would not be much different as Kandelian rule, and also would not benefit the people of Nexus. The leader of the group, whose name shall not be disclosed, claimed to have noble blood. He also claimed that he was an ancestor of the empress Jani Vers. He proved himself on both counts, and rose up as King of Nexus. His Majesty certainly did have the talents of the Great Empress. He was a peacemaker and a politician who had his way with words. He hated war, but felt it was necessary to rid the Kandelians from Nexus. He also possessed great wisdom in dealing with tough situations. As King, His Majesty made many important decisions. The first was to organize a military rebellion and keep their presence secret. He wrote many pages and plans concerning the reconquest of Tyarin, Kerlo, and the Kingdoms of the East and his effort to free the Nexians and restore power to the long-lost lineage of the royalty of Allantha. The second decision was making political alliances. His Majesty worked very hard and travelled all over the world with his Royal Guard to get as much help as possible. Kandelian sympathizers provided supplies, food, weapons, and crystals. Nexians all over the world were ready to rebel. The third decision was to organize an expedition to find Allantha. Only his most trusted personnel could go. In many ways, the campaign for Tyarin was much stronger and had much more preparations than the Yalwa campaign. Though the military was still not as strong as they had hoped, there were more than enough supplies and crystals to capture a base that could produce enough armies. For 12 years, the kingdom worked in secret. The miners kept a hidden arsenal of weapons and crystals underground, far from the reach of the Kandelians. Plans were made, and every so often there were top-secret meetings with other organizations on stand-by. Everyone was alert, ready for the signal that would begin another rebellion. On the week before the start rebellion, His Majesty finally took up his throne. Nexians all over the world celebrated. Unfortunately, somehow word MAY HAVE leaked through to the the Kandelian government, and His Majesty disappeared. Historians believe that he was kidnapped by an unknown party, possibly the Kandelians or the LFNK, although no ransom was demanded and there wasn't a public announcement. There were rumors of an execution by torture, although historians deem this highly unlikely. Even so, however, the King's most trusted advisors decided to continue the rebellion because that was what the King had wished. Therefore, things continued as planned. Three days later, in the year 2569, the Kingdom of Tyarin declared its independence from Kand. Your job now is to win and continue His Majesty's quest for peace and freedom across Nexus. Good Luck! Long live the dead King! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is not the map. lol. I'm going to try contacting other people to get a real map of Tyarin. Maps, in the order they will be played. ==== Insurrection==== With high tax rates and unforgivable demands for crystal mining, the Nexian population has become angry and rebellious. The Kingdom of Tyarin can not stay in secrecy for much longer. Any day they might be discovered. The rebellion begins. Nexians have only scouts, bunkers (homes for miners), and infantry, and no heavy weapons because those can't be hidden. Status: Almost done 1373 1518 2009-11-07T14:52:07Z Mccwiki 2 ==Programming suggestion: conquering buildings== ====Background==== Probably the strangest feature of Crimson is the fact that you can conquer a building by just entering it. Even if there are twenty units of infantry inside, the conquerer does not have to fight them, he just walks inside with his near-to-death weak unit and the twenty units will at the same moment become his own ... Probably everybody did already (mis)use this strangeness: we let our unit wait behind the building like a gentleman "ladies first, please" After the other unit did enter, we follow and conquer the place and the other unit ... But this is so unlogically, that one doesn't like it. So this suggestion is about a new concept to avoid this. ====Infantry defends buildings==== The suggestion is, that infantry units inside a building can defend it, so if an enemy unit steps into the building, it is first handled as if there was a fight between the two units. If the unit inside is destroyed, the conqueror walks in, otherwise he stays on the tile where he was. 1374 1472 2009-11-07T12:43:09Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/CreatingPatches]] to [[CreatingPatches]] === What is a patch? === A path is a textual representation of the differences in two versions of the same file(s). They allow a developer to quickly see the modifications that have been made. Sending patches instead of the complete modified files also makes applying those changes to the source code much easier for the maintainers, especially if other changes have ben made in the mean time. Suppose you download version 1.0 of Crimson Fields. You discover that it lacks a Klingon translation, so you decide to add one. Among other things you need to add bits to the unit set description. You update the respective file and send it back to the maintainer who could just replace the current file with your version, because, well, it's more up-to-date, right? It might be, but then again, it might not. Suppose that, two days before you did, someone else downloaded the same files and found it lacking an Eldarin translation. He modified the unit set and sent it to the developers who put it in their repository. Now, if they would just replace the unit set file again, they would lose all the changes made between the 1.0 release and the time they replace the file. Eldarin would stay a dead language. Using patches gets rid of this problem, because the Eldar can modify the Eldarin parts while the Klingons can modify the Klingon parts without interfering with each other (mostly, anyway). === How do I create a patch? === Patches are created using the diff utility which should exist for all platforms out there. Calling <pre> diff -urNp file.old file.new >mypatch.diff </pre> will create a patch containing all the differences between file.old and file.new (see below for the meaning of the parameters). Such a patch can be applied using the patch utility like this <pre> patch <mypatch.diff </pre> For further information about diff and patch please refer to the appropriate documentation. ===Is there anything else I should consider when creating patches?=== Definitely. The following guidelines are much appreciated by the developers. * Use unified diffs (the <code>-u</code> parameter to diff). This uses a different text format which is much easier to read by humans. * Create a separate patch for each logical change. For example, if your modifications include both a bug fix and the addition of a new feature, create one patch for each. * Do NOT create a separate patch for each file as long as the modifications belong to the same logical change. For example, if you add a new language (for which you need to touch several files), group all those changes into a single patch (use the <code>-r</code> parameter to diff to recursively diff entire directories and use <code>-N</code> to include any new files you added to the sources, e.g. <code>diff -urNp ../crimson-1.0/ ./</code>). You could also create several individual patches and simply string them together into one file. It is, however, important that all individual patches be created from the same base directory, preferably the project's root directory. * Test your patch. After creating your patch with diff, apply it to the original sources and check whether it still works as intended. * And last but not least: Document your changes. Describe what you are doing and why, even if it seems obvious to you. Thanks for listening. We are looking forward to your contributions. 1375 1519 2009-11-07T14:53:33Z Mccwiki 2 == Crimson Fields Background Information== ==== The Story of Nexus==== Where is Nexus, and what are they. This is the [[Story of Nexus]]. ==== The Empire of Kand==== Where is Kand, and what are they. This is their story, [[The Empire of Kand]]. ==== War and Conquer==== Kand invaded Nexus awhile back, this is [[The Invasion of Nexus]]. ==== The Uprising of Nexus==== The main focus of the game, Crimson Fields, is the uprising of Nexus, where Nexians are trying to throw off the Empire of Kand. Read about [[The Uprising of Nexus]]. == The Campaigns== [[The Province of Yalwa]] - The initial uprising and establishment of the Free Nexus Army, battling for the mineral rich but otherwise poor province of Yalwa. === Victory, you say?=== That's entirely up to you. 1369 1375 2007-06-07T20:39:41Z 198.214.186.130 [http://www.lanipage.de/jens/crystals1.jpg] Crystals are the main ressource on Nexus. They cannot directly be found on the maps but they are stored in buildings. Some buildings generate a constant amount of crystals per turn [http://www.lanipage.de/jens/crystals2.jpg]. Crystals can be used for the following: * repair your units in a factory or a workshop [http://www.lanipage.de/jens/repair.jpg] * build new units in a factory [http://www.lanipage.de/jens/build.jpg] Crystals can be moved from one building to another [http://www.lanipage.de/jens/move.jpg] by using any transporter unit, e.g. transport planes or personnel carriers. As a special case, aircraft carriers are very similar to workshops in that you can use them to repair aircraft. 1377 1452 2009-11-07T12:19:53Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/Development]] to [[Development]] Here's the development documentation. * [[ProgrammingGuide]] ===== Campaign Development ===== (Note: the campaign pages are riddled with spoilers. If you don't want to make a map in a campaign and you care about not having the story spoiled, do not read any of these pages!) * [[YalwaCampaign]] * [[CampaignforTyarin]] * [[CampaignForTyarin]] ===== Map Ideas ===== If you have an idea of a map but you're too lazy to make it and want someone else to do it, put it here. You're welcome to edit it. * [[OtherMaps]] ===== Development Requests ===== If you would like a feature added to the next version of Crimson Fields, add it here, and hope that some programmer will create it for you. Please be descriptive. Programmers, please edit this page and put "done" next to a request that has been fulfilled. * [[DevelopmentRequests]] <br /> 1378 1458 2009-11-07T12:27:03Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/DevelopmentRequests]] to [[DevelopmentRequests]] List your ideas here, and describe each in detail. Write in this format: Request Description<br /> Request Status (waiting, in progress, done, canceled) '''Description''': Port of CoMET and other Crimson editing tools (bi2cf, cfed) to Mac platform that has full features as on Linux and on Windows. <br />Status: Waiting '''Description''': Limit view of territory/field to the spaces that each unit can see. If a unit can see three hexagons in a direction, that should be all the owner of the unit can see. Since there are many units, the territory that a player can see is greatly expanded, but enemy units and their movements can not be seen. Units must move in direction of enemy to see the enemy units and their territory, making enemy strategy more concealed. Enemy units must also be unable to see the other player's units, though the AI must not retreat as usual and must move towards the enemy. In default unit set, all units should have five-hexagon view-space, while Scouts should have ten. This would also help make secret infiltration into enemy territory more possible. <br />Status: Waiting '''Description''': Allow multi-targeting. It gets kind of tiring to select each unit and fire at the same enemy unit. Though each unit can fire only once per turn, it would be a good idea to be able to select multiple units and focus their firepower on one enemy unit. This must also increase the effect of the attack. <br />Status: Waiting '''Description''': Allow multi-unit moving. It gets kind of tiring to select each unit and move them in the same direction. Allow selection of multiple units, and move them in the same direction, the same amount of hexagons. <br />Status: Waiting '''Description''': Allow air units to pass over ground units, sea units, and other air units, but can not stop on top of other units. <br />Status: Waiting '''Description''': Let each unit have a unique arsenal to choose from, and each weapon to be effective against a certain kind of unit. Also, each unit should have limited ammunition and limited fuel. <br />Status: Waiting '''Description''': Each unit should have a different amount of individual units, instead of the standard six. For example, while a fighter squadron has three units, a infantry unit might have thirty units. However, infantry units are easier killed and killed faster than fighter squadron units. <br />Status: Waiting 1379 1418 2009-11-06T17:45:45Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/Experience]] to [[Experience]] Taken from the Island Hoppers map, played as the Empire of Kand: "When I got the first depot as the Empire, I moved the interceptors immediately to engage fighters on his island. They fought, and since they were superior in strength they didn't get wasted immediately. They had to do something while I was waiting for his transport to come in range, and it had to come in range of the interceptors if he was to take the middle depot. When that happened on the next turn, my interceptors had racked up enough experience that the two of them together took out his transport on one turn, so he didn't get to land his infantry and take the middle depot. That was the decisive moment of the game, actually. After that, it was just a matter of taking out his troopship with fighters." - Units with more experience will fight more efficiently. Since they usually deal more damage, it's encouraged to let them attack stronger units first, while your weaker units finish those weakened enemy units off, yet at the same time also protect your experienced units more. Repairing units makes them lose some experience. 1380 1455 2009-11-07T12:22:54Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/ExtendableMapFormat]] to [[ExtendableMapFormat]] ==Extendable Map Format== Creating a Map is a very time consuming process even so creating a tileset. Both pieces of hard work should be able to survive all changes in program flow and game philosophy so that work once done must not be redone. Nobody knows what happend in a long process of game development. What is needed for an extendable map format or the other way round: What can change in games life? To be prepared for the future the map format should show following qualities: * [[GameFeatureIndependent]]. The game gets new features and the game flow will change over time but old maps should still be playable. The map format must be [[GameFeatureIndependent]]. * [[TileSetIndependent]]. The default tileset may change or the user wants to play a map with another tileset. The map format must be TileSetIndependent. * [[UnitSetIndependent]]. The default unitset may be extended or reordered. The map should be UnitSetIndependent. There might be some more. The complete this list is the better is the resulting map format. 1381 1475 2009-11-07T13:07:29Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/GameFeatureIndependent]] to [[GameFeatureIndependent]] === Game Feature Independent === One major problem are new features or changes in game flow that haven't been considered in existing maps. The development is going on and nobody wants to constantly update all the old maps. Some changes might be simple and the maps still work and is playable but if we think about new building and restrict the abilities of the old ones or about logistics we come very fast to the conclusion that old maps can't simply be moved to new game versions. To solve this the map must contain information about the game features it uses and needs. With this information the game could enable or disable certain features to make the map playable the old way. The easiest way to do this is a flag word. Which new features needs a flag must be decided from case to case. The only thing what we have to define now is that all extra features as disabled with a ''''0'-flag'''. This means that all new and yet unknown features will be disabled for old maps and must explicitly enabled for new ones. This guarantees a high compatibility level and full freedom for new flags and features. Possible feature extensions might be: * logistics, fuel and ammunition * buildings only usable by or restricted to certain units like airfields, harbours, etc. * Special buildings like roads, rails, bridges which might be build or destroyed during the game * ... 1382 1520 2009-11-07T15:00:26Z Mccwiki 2 == Crimson Fields Documentation == This is the documentation for the game Crimson Fields. You can find the game itself at http://crimson.seul.org * [[User Manual]] * [[TacticsGuide | Tactics Guide]] * [[Crimson Fields Background]] * [[MappingTutorial | Mapping Tutorial]] * [[Development]] * [[Translating]] - adding support for additional languages * [[ToDo | To Do]] - stuff we need help with 1383 1469 2009-11-07T12:37:01Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[/Line Tactics]] to [[Line Tactics]] == Line Tactics == Inevitably, you have to set up a line somewhere in order to prevent your enemy from just walking right through your land and taking everything for themselves, leaving you ''nothing''. So work on that line, it's the only thing stopping ''him'' from having his way with your women, food, land, home, and whatever else is yours. * [[Staggering the line]] 1 1511 2009-11-07T14:26:14Z Mccwiki 2 == Crimson Fields Documentation == This is the documentation for the game Crimson Fields. You can find the game itself at http://crimson.seul.org * [[User Manual]] * [[TacticsGuide | Tactics Guide]] * [[Crimson Fields Background]] * [[MappingTutorial | Mapping Tutorial]] * [[Development]] * [[Translating]] - adding support for additional languages * [[ToDo | To Do]] - stuff we need help with 1384 1436 2009-11-06T22:20:09Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/MappingBasics]] to [[MappingBasics]] === Map structure=== In Crimson Fields maps consist of several building blocks: # the map itself (the terrain) # units # shops # events The map itself should be pretty much self-explanatory so I won't elaborate. ==== Units==== Units are the pieces players use to fight against one another. A unit belongs to one of the players (there is one exception from this rule that is explained under 3) below). Only the owner can move a unit and use it to attack enemy pieces. Some units are transporters which means they can carry other units and/or crystals. Again only the owner can inspect a transporter to see what it carries (if anything). Some transporters can simply carry more than others, others may place restrictions on the type or the size of the units they can carry (e.g. aircraft carriers can only load aircraft). ==== Shops==== Shops are important tactical locations. They can be used to repair or produce units. These actions consume crystals. Shops can also be configured to "produce" crystals. Like units, shops are usually owned by one of the players. Only the owner can repair or produce units in a shop. Shops can, however, also be neutral or unaligned which simply means that no player can use them. All units inside an unaligned shop also become unaligned and thus cannot be controlled by any player. Players can peek into unaligned shops to see what's inside, though. To take over a shop (either enemy or neutral) you need to move a special unit into it. In the default unit set this is the Infantry piece. In such a case all units inside the shop switch their alignment to the attacking player. ==== Events==== You can play a map just fine with only units and shops, or even just units. However, such a mission is never going to "end". Even when all units on the board have been destroyed there will be no victory message or somesuch. That's what events are for. They provide a mechanism for checking for certain game conditions and variables and triggering actions based on these checks. An event always has two components. The first is the "trigger" which defines the conditions (ie. WHEN the event is executed), the other is the event itself or "action" (ie. WHAT happens when the event is executed). Examples for triggers are the ''Timer'' which simply checks whether a specified turn has been reached or ''Unit Destruction'' to do something when a certain unit has been destroyed. Available actions include ''Create Unit'' to place new units on the board and ''Score'' to award points to one of the players. Every event is assigned to one of the players, and upon execution it acts on behalf of that player, eg. a ''Create Unit'' event will create a unit for the assigned player, not his enemy. A mission ends when one of the players reaches 100 points. With this information and the above examples we have everything we need to create a simple mission that actually has an ending: Just create a ''Score'' event with ''Unit Destruction'' trigger and award 100 points to the player when all enemy units are destroyed. Of course, you need one of these events for each player so that both can win. ---- Next: [[MyFirstMap]] Up: [[MappingTutorial]] 1385 1426 2009-11-06T21:52:39Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/MappingTutorial]] to [[MappingTutorial]] This section contains documentation for mappers. * [[MappingBasics]] * [[MyFirstMap]] * [[PortingMaps]] from Battle Isle and History Line 1386 1423 2009-11-06T21:50:49Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/MyFirstMap]] to [[MyFirstMap]] ==== Mapping for minimalists==== The following text was written for Crimson Fields 0.4.2. For different releases the procedure may differ slightly. Note: The map editing programs may not be included with pre-compiled packages. They are included with the source code. The minimum setup for a map is this: * a map, whatever you like best * a few units for each side (technically, you don't even need this, but a map without units is pretty boring) * one event per side, defining the victory conditions The first two items are fairly straight-forward, but the last one deserves some more attention. Let's walk through the steps required. Select ''Events''..., ''New'', ''Score''. A score event, you guessed it, awards points to a player. The player who first reaches 100 points wins the map. Using ''Triggered by'' we can define when the event should be executed. For our minimum scenario we select "Unit Destruction" because we want the map to be over when a player has lost all his units. Hit ''OK''. Now you can configure the event. This window always looks the same, no matter what type of event you are editing. The ID is a technical thing and needed in a few special cases. ''Player'' is the player for whom the event will be executed, in this case the player who gets the points. Obviously we need to create (at least) one such event for Player 1 and one for Player 2. Select Player 1 for the first message. When executed, an event can optionally display a message to the receiving player which you can configure with ''Msg Title'', and ''Set Event Message''. If you have started a new map, you won't have any messages to choose from, yet. We'll come back to this part later. With ''Depends on'' you can chain several events together, but we don't need this for our scenario, so leave it alone for now. The last two buttons, ''Edit Trigger'' and ''Edit Event'', are the really interesting ones. Both will open a new window which varies according to the event and trigger type you selected when creating the event. Select ''Edit Trigger''. For the ''Unit Destruction'' trigger type we can only select a unit and a player. This is a score event for Player 1, so we want to execute it when Player 2 lost all of his units. When clicking on ''Unit'' you can also select a specific unit, but we don't want that. ''All'' is fine. For ''Player'' you need to select Player 2, of course. Hit ''OK'' and the trigger is done. Now click ''Edit Event''. We want the map to be over when the event triggers, so enter 100 points in the ''Score'' field. With ''Lose Title'' and Lose Message you can configure a message to display to the loser of the map (or, if you had entered less than 100 points, simply to the player who does not get the points). Again, you don't have anything to choose from right now. If you have created an event for each player, you are mostly done. If you select ''Project'' -> Validate however, you'll get a few errors and warnings. CoMET complains about missing map name, player names, player briefings, and the like. To fix these we need messages. You cannot create messages with CoMET, yet. Therefore, select ''Project'' -> ''Export'' to save the map to the text format used by cfed. (Note: Since version 0.4.4 you can create simple (as in no line breaks, plain ASCII) messages using CoMET via the ''Messages...'' menu item.) Fire up your favourite text editor and load the exported file. Move to the end and create a messages section: <pre> [messages(en)] My Map Name % Player 1 % Player 2 % We'll make this the briefing for Player 1. Hello P1, you must defeat your opponent! Good luck. % And this is the one for Player 2. Hello P2, have fun! % And the level info: The is my first map. Don't sue me! [/messages] </pre> Save the file and run it through cfed: <code>cfed <mymap>.src --units /path/to/default.units --tiles /path/to/default.tiles -o <mymap>.lev</code> If the conversion was successful, cfed will have create the file <mymap>.lev in the current directory. Copy the file back into the .crimson/levels/ directory and load it into CoMET. Then select ''Project'' -> ''Settings'' where you can set up everything CoMET complained about. You can now select messages from the section you created. If you run ''Project'' -> ''Validate'' afterwards it should report success. Voilà, your first minimal map is done! For more information on event types, triggers, and the format of the exported maps in general, please have a look at the cfed manpage. If you still have questions, the mailing list is the best place to get the answers. ---- Up: [[MappingTutorial]] Previous: [[MappingBasics]] 1387 1481 2009-11-07T13:20:07Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/OtherMaps]] to [[OtherMaps]] List your ideas here, and describe each in detail. Also write your name and email address so a developer can contact you about the map details. Write in this format: - (number). (name of map) <br />- (short description of map and background story) <br />- (unit specifications, as in how many of each kind of units for both sides) <br />- (terrain specifications, as in what kind of terrain are in play) <br />- (your name) - (your email address) ===== 1. Warfare Series/Campaign ===== This campaign or series of maps would be good for showing players what kinds of war there are. Here's a list of the kinds I brainstormed: *guerilla warfare *trench warfare *biological warfare *chemical warfare *nuclear warfare *total warfare *terrorist warfare Because this is a series of maps, and not an individual map, I can't give specifications for all of them. William - will1wu1i1am@aol.com ===== 2. World War 1 ===== (global map, including all countries participating) <br />No description as of today. ===== 3. World War 2 ===== (global map, including all countries participating) *Allies and Axis powers fight for control over the world. Russia and United States and Japan come in play at a later date, when events occur. Germany fights the British. *Units: all kinds of units. *Terrain: terrain of the world. William - will1wu1i1am@aol.com 1388 1428 2009-11-06T21:54:19Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/PortingMaps]] to [[PortingMaps]] To port maps from Battle Island or History Line, you need the <code>bi2cf</code> utility. Depending on the distribution channel you got Crimson Fields from, you may have to compile it yourself. Otherwise you can skip step 1. 1. compile bi2cf 1a. <code>./configure --enable-bi2cf</code> <br> plus any other options you may want to pass 1b. Change into the tools directory 1c. <code>make bi2cf</code> Then copy the maps from your Battle Island disk (the map folder). Now we got to convert the maps: 2. <pre> for i in *.fin; do bi2cf -f b $(basename $i .fin); cfed BI-$(basename $i .fin).src --tiles PATHTOCRIMSONSRC/tools/default.tiles --units PATHTOCRIMSONSRC/tools/default.units; done </pre> 3. Then place the *.lev files in your level folder. Don't expect too much. :-) 1389 1486 2009-11-07T13:28:25Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/ProgrammingGuide]] to [[ProgrammingGuide]] ==Programming Guide== ====Introduction==== This guide should serve three main purposes: * offer general advice for those interested in contributing * provide technical details of the program and * collect concepts for further developments. It is always difficult to read and understand someone else's source code because most programmers have their main focus on programming and not on documentation. This fact is very understandable because programming is a creative and interesting process whereas writing documentation is a boring and time consuming activity at least for the programmer. He already knows what his or her program does. This site should relieve this lack of documentation and also provide a platform for developing new concepts. The discussion could be done on the mailing list but here is the place for the results. Additions to this part should always make clear whether the article describes an existing part of the program or a concept paper. I don't know if we can always keep up with this but we will see. ===Writing code=== * [[CreatingPatches]] ===Program Documentation=== * Description of the [[TilesetFileFormat]] ===Future Concepts=== This area is intended for tossing around ideas. Everything below is up for discussion, and may or may not represent the developers' opinion. When a decision has been made on a concept, it should be removed from this section and moved somewhere appropriate. * Concept of an [[ExtendableMapFormat]] * [[ConqueringBuildings|Conquering buildings]] 1390 1464 2009-11-07T12:32:43Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/Staggering the line]] to [[Staggering the line]] == Staggering the Line == You know how you're frequently faced with setting a straight line? The question is always "How do I stagger my line so I made wedges?" The problem is always that to stagger your line and make a wedge, you have to give a wedge in return and leave a guy out. Well, you '''should''' do this, and if you have green units to back up the line, after a round of attacks you should move the guy who was standing out and being wedged back to the line and move lesser-experienced units out to take his place. That makes your line stronger, and keeps the experienced units on the board longer. See, in order to make the wedge you have to sacrifice a unit to make the wedge. The first unit will usually survive the first round of combat, and would normally be replaced at his death with an inexperienced unit, and your line will lose units as well that would use inexperienced reserves. So switching that guy out early is the thing to do. And you keep doing that. So when confronted with a straight line, wondering how to make wedges, the real question is "how many reserves do I have to maintain the wedge?" 1391 1489 2009-11-07T13:31:54Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/Story of Nexus]] to [[Story of Nexus]] == The Story of Nexus == === the new Cold War === In the year of 2162, Jens Rasmussen piloted a test craft developed secretly by the European Union and became the first human to travel faster than light speed, sparking mankind's largest controversy since the development of the atomic bomb. The main problem was that the drive developed functioned by using gravity waves. While that, in itself, was not a problem, the fact that the drive could easily be converted into a terrible weapon capable of destroying entire planets was a problem. The People's Republic of America demanded that the technology be suppressed and that faster than light travel was not needed. In any case, in a politically embarrassing episode the People's Republic of America got their hands on the original designs for the drive and began building their own. As a new Cold War began, the European Union defiantly sent exploration missions powered by the new drive, and the People's Republic of America secretly did as well. During this period, mankind found itself once again balanced on the brink of destruction. Once liberated from the destruction that could be wrought by simple nuclear weapons, the new devices were capable of destroying entire planets. Of course, it was generally ignored that it would take so much energy to destroy a planet, even with this new technology, that the likelihood of it ever happening was pretty small. In the otherwise forgotten year of 2179, a mineral-rich planet was found by the secret PRA missions. Found in a binary star system surrounded by black holes, this planet contained more natural resources than any other three planets put together thus far known to mankind. It was a valuable prize, but would be extremely risky to capitalize. While it was only accessible from two directions, the PRA moved in and settled this planet, ruthlessly driving their astronauts inward and losing hundreds to the black holes that surround it. By the year 2187, this planet, known as Nexus, had started producing weapons that would shift the balance of the Cold War in the PRA's favor. While the PRA was off diddling around black holes, the EU discovered an intelligent, space-faring race known as the Empire of Kand. Making a quick alliance, the EU felt that if war were to break out between itself and the PRA they would be in a superior position due to their alliance with Kand. In the year 2201, war broke out between the EU and the PRA. In 2204, as a result of certain losses taken by the PRA during this war, contact with Nexus was lost. === Nexus, on its own === On its own, Nexus was incapable of supporting the technology base enjoyed by other planets settled by mankind and was forced to revert back to steam power in order to survive. The reversion didn't go smoothly, entirely, either. The PRA had always been plagued by factions competing for power including several groups poised to overthrow the totalitarian government, and when Nexus lost contact with the PRA various factions revolted. The result of the revolts found Nexus largely held in anarchy, and most of the technology known to Nexians fell into disrepair and disuse. A small group of intrepid settlers gathered together any and all literature they could find on the planet and founded a city high up in the Mountains of Tiaer. In this city they created a library that stored the collective technological knowledge of all of Nexus. The city was named Allantha. The next 400 years, reckoned by Nexus's revolutions around its own primary, found Nexians more or less in a state of anarchy. Governments were thrown out quickly, boundaries redrawn frequently, and stability was unheard of. In a year mostly unmarked, one woman rose up to a state of respect and love by most of the population of Nexus. In the midst of a brutal battle, Jani Vers called for peace amongst Nexians, and throughout the remainder of the war, this native of Allantha rose ultimately to the title Empress of Nexus. As Empress, Jani made two important decisions. The first decision she made was to make an effort to contact the rest of the human race. To this end, she commissioned the building of three observatories in various locations. The second decision was to start numbering the years of Nexus from the founding of Allantha, reasoning that the founding of Allantha was the single most important event to happen to Nexus, since it signified Nexian independence and represented the birth of the finest culture of Nexus. The Empire of Nexus stood for 500 years, and during the time of the Empire Nexus entered a golden age. Some technology that had been lost had been rediscovered, and towards the end of the Empire the Nexians developed technology comparable to the 20,,th,, Century of Earth. Eventually, the Empire came to an end, leaving as its sole memories the dating system and the observatories. The city of Allantha itself was overrun, and in a great avalanche, disappeared, possibly forever. Nexus split off into many small principalities after the fall of the Empire, and for the next 200 years experienced more anarchy and instability. When the period finally ended, much technology had been lost again. The planet finally started to stabilize into territories that would, for the most part, not change again. Governments would continue to change periodically, but for the most part stability was finally achieved. This stability would remain for 130 years, the end of which saw Nexus in this configuration: In the East, the Kingdoms of the East developed as a series of city-states ruled by hereditary monarchs. The Island of Tyarin continued as a totalitarian nation, but unlike the PRA, adopted capitalism as its economic model. To the south and west of the Kingdoms of the East, the nation of Kerlo developed as a democracy using communism as its economic model. The western portion of the continent adopted a series of democracies not unlike the European Union of old. Peace was enjoyed throughout Nexus broken by occasional warfare. Governments changed, regimes changed, but the same borders were kept, more or less. Contact was never reestablished with the outside world of man, and the Nexians had come to believe they were the only life left in the galaxy and that mankind had finally blown itself up. Knowing how dangerous space travel around the Nexus primary's system would be, the Nexians decided not to try to develop space technology until they could be sure not to get sucked into the black holes. They prospered and went through the proceeding ages of technology, once again developing nuclear technology, armored warfare, robotics, genetic engineering, and others. === The Crisis of Tyarin === In the year 2473, the Island of Tyarin invaded it's nearest neighbor, Kerlo. Forced by environmental and population pressures, the citizens of Tyarin truly believed they had to conquer or die, and they weren't willing to give up their way of life. They quickly tore across the continent, capturing cities until they reached the Kingdoms of the East in 2475, where they struck a treaty of mutually assured destruction and broke off the war. It was just as well, since the former democracies were seeking already to overthrow the new totalitarian masters. Facing a civil war of epic proportions with many citizens calling for 'ethnic cleansing', the Tyarins began a series of ethnic cleansings of their own. Seeing this barbarism, the Kingdoms of the East decided it was time to intervene, but crippled by their own sharply factionalized society, they quickly became entrenched in a war that wouldn't reach its conclusion. The turning point in the war came when the former People's Republic of Kerlo managed to overthrow their Tyarin overlords and establish a new democracy. They went on to conquer the Island of Tyarin, where they were able to solve most of the problems that had originally motivated the Tyarins to war in the first place. Claiming to know that the fabled city of Allantha existed within its borders, although not specifying if they referred to their old borders or their new ones after taking Tyarin, they declared themselves to be the sole government of Nexus. This new force began moving across the main continent towards the Kingdoms of the East. When the two armies finally defeated the last of the Tyarins, they faced each other across the battlefield. === The New Nexian Republic === Seeking to end the war quickly, both sides struck a treaty to end the war. Under the treaty, the Republic of Nexus was born and the Kingdoms of the East got to keep their way of life. They had to join the Republic of Nexus and maintain their own representation within the Republic, but they could keep their hereditary monarchies in place for regional control. While the claims of Allantha never materialized, Nexus began to stabilize itself again as the war finally ended in the year of 2437. Looking forward to another period of prosperity, they restored one of the ancient observatories, built two more, and once again began looking to the skies, wondering if there were any surviving humans left in the galaxy. In the year of 2483, the Kandelians arrived. 1392 1492 2009-11-07T13:33:45Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/TacticsGuide]] to [[TacticsGuide]] == Crimson Fields Tactics Guide == So you know all about the rules, but you still haven't figured out how to win? Well, winners aren't born on Nexus, they fight and struggle and spend a lot of time eating kjar. They also read the Tactics Guide to Crimson Fields, and are well versed in all the rules of battle. * [[Wedging]] * [[Line Tactics]] * [[Experience]] * [[Artillery]] * [[AIWeaknesses]] 1393 1467 2009-11-07T12:36:22Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/The Invasion of Nexus]] to [[The Invasion of Nexus]] ==== The Invasion of Nexus ==== Kand's campaign strategies have typically received less focus on military power than you might think would be need to conduct a full-scale planetary invasion. Kand will typically use military to take a few resource-rich areas, engage in some heavy bombing of an area to "make an example", and then enlist large commerce groups. As a result, Kand minimizes the risks that individual troops face, keeps military losses down, and manages to avoid having to produce a large military for the sake of conquering a planet. This approach has its drawbacks, however. === Kinetic attack === The Empire of Kand waged war on Nexus for a full two years in which the Nexians were completely unaware they were under attack! This happened as a result of Kand's first attack, which is predictably a kinetic attack. Due to Nexus' unique position, the Empire of Kand was unable to accurately target the planet with their meteor cannons. The result was that very few meteors made it through the Kandelian hole in the gravitational fields around the system, and still fewer actually made planetfall. The ones that did were shrugged off by Nexian astronomers as just chance meteors making it into the system. === Planetfall === The invasion itself, therefore, found the Empire of Kand descending on an already war-weary population that had not been weakened at all by the kinetic attack. When the Kandelian gunboats descended from orbit, Nexus had very little difficulty returning fire. Having already suffered from years of war previously, the Nexians were able to quickly adapt to the attack from orbit that they received. Taking a step back, the Empire of Kand returned to orbit to reconsider its attack. === Second Kinetic Attack === What the Nexians failed to take into consideration, however, was that the Empire of Kand were very skilled miners, and there were several other planets in the system from which the Empire was able to reload their meteor cannons. The Second Kinetic Barrage was significantly smaller than the first, due in part to time constraints as well as the actual size of the cannons the fleet carried with them, but it was far more effective. It was so effective, in fact, that a second planetfall wasn't needed in order to exact surrender from Nexus. The Nexians had had it, and they just wanted to get back to living. === Subjugation === The Empire of Kand never completely subjugated the population of Nexus. For the most part, every Nexian will tell you that they are not Kandelian subjects. Economically, however, Nexus was successfully pulled into serving the Empire. All of Nexian production became focused around making the Empire richer and more dangerous. The Empire moved troops in, but never saw the need to land significant numbers of troops. Their orbital emplacements were good enough to ensure the security of their holdings. For local security, the Empire frequently employed mercenaries, or just created local security forces. As a group, the Empire never really became more than just another faction on Nexus. A foreign faction, to be sure. And the controlling faction, but still just a faction. 1394 1495 2009-11-07T13:37:24Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/The Province of Yalwa]] to [[The Province of Yalwa]] ==== The Province of Yalwa ==== The Campaign for the Province of Yalwa is a historical campaign in which the Free Nexus Army achieved its first foothold in the old Republic of Kerlo. It's important for many reasons, not the least of which includes that it was the first time the Nexians were able to meet Kand on the field of battle and win. While strategically it was monumental to the FNA, in the grand scheme of things many historians are in heated debate over its influence on the war. The Campaign itself didn't exist as an isolated incident, and we should take a few minutes to review the bigger picture of events on Nexus, and specifically in the old Republic of Kerlo. === Kandelian Politics === Shortly after the invasion of Nexus, the Kandelian Emperor began to weaken. While historians now believe the Emperor to be suffering from a form of cancer that was incurable, nobody has ever come out to say why he was weakening. All that is known is that the family that held Nexus had to shift their focus away from Nexus and start positioning themselves for the power struggle that was developing in the capital. In order to ensure that Nexus remained under their heel in the event a civil war broke out in the empire and to increase short-term production for their forces, they resorted to brutality on Nexus. === Waves of Genocide === The Empire has never been noted for its mercy, but its also never been noted for its monstrosity. Various Nexian radical groups engaged in what amounted to a series of attacks on Kandelian officials. These attacks, terrorist in nature if not in definition, certainly had their role in provoking Kandelian retribution. But it's very difficult to look on Kand's retaliation as being less than excessive. Historians now tend to take the view that both sides dealt a series of atrocities to one another and prefer not to place blame on either side. The Kandelian Lord who ruled Nexus ordered a series of "ethnic cleansings", using steadily weakening claims of evidence that the recent attacks had been initiated by specific ethnic groups of Nexians. In carrying out their orders, Kandelian forces rampaged throughout three main areas, raping, pillaging, and generally destroying everything in their path. The intent was to place fear into the hearts of Nexians, and also to stir up the Nexian factions against one another. In the second part, they certainly succeeded. In the first, it's difficult to say what a cowardly Nexian would look like, since none are known to have ever existed. === The Province of Yalwa === The FNA had already been in existence secretly for several months when the attacks in Kerlo happened, but was unable to do anything when the Empire came to reap its destruction. Kerlo was economically important to Kand, which is why the Empire sought to use it as one of its examples. But due to its importance, the Empire had to choose carefully when it moved into the area with its wave of destruction. During the Empire's attacks in Kerlo, the FNA took advantage of the opportunity to raid supply lines and increase its military buildup, but they were never able to do any significant damage. Within a few months of the Empire's attacks, however, leaders within the FNA determined that it was time to claim their independence. Popular opinion in Kerlo was against the Empire at that time, so the FNA found support from within the population. Establishing secret supply lines to areas of Kerlo that are rich in agriculture, the FNA chooses the Province of Yalwa to begin their military campaign. FNA leaders figure that if they can secure the Mines of Yalwa and banish Kand from the province, they will be able to quickly grow to a size that will allow them to retake the old Republic of Kerlo, a blow which would significantly weaken the Empire of Kand and also provide the FNA with a solid logistics base from which to launch a proper revolution for Nexian independence. === FNA's Campaign in Yalwa === The campaign is '''the''' campaign for control of the province of Yalwa, a name which means "Desert" in Nexian. The land itself is a desert in that it gets less than 10 inches a year of precipitation, but is actually fairly well-grown with grass and trees and stuff. The main reason it's called "Desert" is because there isn't a lot of natural resources. Farming is tricky because of the lack of rainfall, the lack of springs, and the lack of rivers. While there are rivers, they are mostly minor, but none are enough to irrigate much of the area for farming. The crystal mines are nearly nonexistant throughout most of the province, although the famed Mines of Yalwa are to be found in the region. As a region, it's not logistically interesting to Kand, except for the mines, but due to the nature of supplying their own forces in the area, Kand has historically kept a significant force only around the mines, leaving short-handed garrisons in a few other cities in the area. For the FNA, however, the region represents an excellent starting base with plenty of crystals to fuel a start-up rebellion. The plan is to take its first city by flushing out the garrison and emptying the barracks around Rhintura. After successfully taking Rhintura, FNA intends to recruit many citizens of Rhintura to reinforce their budding army. They intend to divide their forces into two parts: The main body will advance up the road to the city of Ultha while the smaller body will march up the mountains in the western part of the province to secure a supply route from the west. == The Main Body == The main body of the FNA will march from Rhintura to the city of Ultha, taking every city in its path. From Rhintura they will move to Lula, a fairly large city whose chief industry is processing crystals from the Mines of Yalwa. Since Lula is one of several cities that process crystals from the mines, it is not heavily garrisoned. FNA leaders anticipate a quick victory in Lula, and then a forced march north to Ultha, bypassing Kandelian HQ entirely. Once Ultha has been taken, and the western supply routes have been secured, FNA Leaders expect the regional Kandelian HQ to surrender without significant fighting, and without having to actually march to the HQ. Ultha is heavily garrisoned, however, and FNA leaders expect the siege to take several days. Since the main body of the army will have cut off communications with the lightly-garrisoned regional HQ, they do expect the siege to be successful and the city of Ultha to fall. The citizens of the city will be with them, and they expect there to be little trouble at the mines themselves. == The Small Arm == The smaller arm of the FNA intends to move through the western portion of the region and simultaneously cut supplies to Kand's regional HQ and secure supply lines to Ultha. The timing of this group is critical and it must move quickly to secure the supply lines, because those supply lines will be crucial to the siege of Ultha. 1395 1499 2009-11-07T14:00:34Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/TileSetIndependent]] to [[TileSetIndependent]] ==Tileset Independent== Another big problem is that a special map is drawn with a specific tileset. If this tileset changes the map becomes unusable. The same is valid, if a tileset should be replaced by another one but this tileset contains only a tile subset of the first one. This examples and a little bit phantasie draw a horrible scenario for the future of this game. If nothing changes the time will come where all developers only rework old maps rather than doing new ones and push the game development further. What is needed here is an translation layer between the map and the game. Currently the map definition contains directly the number of the tile in the tileset. Insert or remove a tile will destroy all related maps. This could be avoided if the map only contains tile symbols which tell the game what tile it should use, similar to the X11 keymap definition. Instead of '''112''', which should be a plains tile here the map would contain for example '''PL03''' (third plains tile). The map reader could translate this '''PL03''' internally to '''112''' and work as usual. The change in game flow were limited to the map reader which have to do the translation. If the current tileset doesn't have a '''PL03''' tile, the map reader could automatically replace the tile with an equivalent tile from the same tile class. For example the current tileset only contains '''PL01''' and '''PL02''' but no '''PL03'''. The map reader automatically choose '''PL02''' as replacement because this tile has the smallest difference in properties. The result: The map is still playable. ===Suggestions for a Tileset Symbol System=== * The tile symbols should be hirarchical organised * each symbol should be a 4 char long string containing the class and the tile number. This makes it possible to handle the strings as 32-bit identifiers including a lot of performace advantages. * The tile classes should have a significant difference in behaviour like the classes currently used: Plains, Forest, Mountain, etc. * Tiles within a class might have different properties ===Tile Classes=== {| style="background-color:#ddeedd;" border="1" cellpadding="5" |- |'''Name''' ||'''Short''' || '''CF''' ||'''Description''' |- |roads || RD ||(x)||Roads makes movements of ground troops faster but they can be destroyed by gun fire. |- |rails || RL ||(x)||terrain independent fast moving but inflexible. Trains stick on rails and they can be destroyed by gun fire. |- |plains || PL || x || |- |debris || DB || x ||small movement disadvantage, bonus in defence |- |hills || HI || x ||bigger movement disadvantage, bonus in defence |- |mountains || LM || x ||too steep for all sort of ground vehicles |- |high_mountains || HM || ||only crossable by high flying aircraft |- |forest || FO || x ||the bigger the vehilce the slower it can cross this field |- |mud || MD || ||wet and soft ground. Heavy vehilces will cave in |- |swamp || SW || x ||wet and soft ground with water holes. Bad terrain for vehicles |- |snow || SN || ||soft and slippery ground. Movement will be hard and slow |- |deep water || DW || x ||deep enough for diving vehicles like submarines |- |water || NW || x || |- |shallow water || SW || x ||shallow water, only up to a few meters deep. |- |iced water || IW || ||frozen water, solid enough to carry heavy vehicles |- |fortress || FT ||(x)||human built barricades and trenches not easy to cross but destroyable by gun fire. |} Classes marked in the CF column are already implemented in Crimson Fields. 1396 1502 2009-11-07T14:10:01Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/TilesetFileFormat]] to [[TilesetFileFormat]] ==Tileset File Format== This description is based on Crimson Fields 0.4.7. A tile set consists of two files: * the bitmap (*.bmp) containing the tile graphics and * the tile set source (*.tsrc) containing the tile properties The bitmap file must be a Windows bitmap format with up to 256 colors. The colormap must be indexed (8 bits). No other formats are supported yet. The bitmap contains all tile graphics. Each tile has an area of 32x28 pixels. The first eight tiles are special tiles like cursors and markers. The game and also the level editor expect them at these locations. The tile set source file connects the tile image with properties. It is divided in sections. The name of a section is enclosed by '[]'. The first section is named '''tileset''' and contains general options: * name = name of the tile set * icons = name of the bitmap file * class = Each section is a tile and starts with '''tile'''. Below this header follow the properties in the widely used format: <pre> property = value </pre> The tile section supports following properties: * terrain = terrain type this tile belongs to * icon = index of the image in the bitmap file representing this tile * color = color of the tile used in the overview map display * move = how expensive is it to cross this tile * attack = attack modifier * defend = defence modifier ====Terrain Class==== Any number of terrain types can be assigned to a tile. The identifier 'terrain' might appear multiple times to define more than one terrain type, or it may be ommitted completely to define a tile no units can move to. The class id at the beginning of the tileset file roughly corresponds to these terrain types: Class0 = 'plains', class1 = 'forest', etc. Possible terrains are: 'plains', 'forest', 'mountains', 'trenches', 'rails', 'shallowwater', 'deepwater', 'shop', 'rough', 'road', 'swamp', 'water', 'restricted' ====Icon==== The number of the icon in the image that should represent this tile. The smallest number here is 9 because of the special tiles. ====Move==== The move cost associated with this tile. Values below -1 will be clipped. This value specifies how many movement points are needed to cross this tile. ====Color==== The color definition consists of three byte values representing red, green, and blue, separated by commas. This value defines which colour this tile should have in the map preview. ====Attack==== The attack modifier, -20%..+20% ====Defend==== The defence modifier, -20%..+20% 1397 1505 2009-11-07T14:17:10Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/TilesetIndipendentMap]] to [[TilesetIndependentMap]] ==Extendable Map Format== Creating a Map is a very time consuming process even so creating a tileset. Both pieces of hard work should be able to survive all changes in program flow and game philosophy so that work once done must not be redone. Nobody knows what happend in a long process of game development. What is needed for an tileset and game version independent map? ===Game Extensions=== One major problem are new features or changes in game flow that haven't been considered in existing maps. The development is going on and nobody wants to constantly update all the old maps. Some changes might be simple and the maps still work and is playable but if we think about new building and restrict the abilities of the old ones or about logistics we come very fast to the conclusion that old maps can't simply moved to new game versions. To solve this the map must contain information about the game features it uses and needs. With this information the game could enable or disable certain features to make the map playable the old way. The easiest way to do this is a flag word. Which new features needs a flag must be decided from case to case. The only thing we have to do now is to define all extra features as disabled on a '''0-flag'''. This means that all new and yet unknown features will be disabled for old maps and must explicitly enabled for new ones. This guarantees a high compatibility level and full freedom for new flags and features. ===Tileset Dependency=== Another big problem is that a special map is drawn with a specific tileset. If this tileset changes the map becomes unusable. The same is valid, if a tileset should be replaced by another one but this tileset contains only a tile subset of the first one. This examples and a little bit phantasie draw a horrible scenario for the future of this game. If nothing changes the time will come where all developers only rework old maps rather than doing new ones and push the game development further. What is needed here is an translation layer between the map and the game. Currently the map definition contains directly the number of the tile in the tileset. Insert or remove a tile will destroy all related maps. This could be avoided if the map only contains tile symbols which tell the game what tile it should use, similar to the X11 keymap definition. Instead of '''112''', which should be a '''plains''' tile here the map would contain for example '''PL03''' (third plains tile). The map reader could translate this '''PL03''' internally to '''112''' and work as usual. The change in game flow were limited to the map reader which have to do the translation. If the current tileset doesn't have a '''PL03''' tile, the map reader could automatically replace the tile with an equivalent tile from the same tile class. For example the current tileset only contains '''PL01''' and '''PL02''' but no '''PL03'''. The map reader automatically choose '''PL02''' as replacement because this tile has the smallest difference in properties. The result: The map is playable. ===Suggestions for a Tileset Symbol System=== * The tile symbols should be hirarchical organied * each symbol should be a 4 char long string containing the class and the tile number. This makes it possible to handle the strings as 32-bit identifiers including a lot of performace advantages. * The tile classes should have a significant difference in behaviour like the classes currently used: Plains, Forest, Mountain, etc. * Tiles within a class might have different properties To be continued ... 1398 1509 2009-11-07T14:23:48Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/ToDo]] to [[ToDo]] Want to help with Crimson Fields? Even if you cannot write code there is a lot of stuff we would like to get help with. We list some of those areas and maybe even some coding tasks below. (Note that the list is most probably incomplete. I'm sure you can think of even more improvements.) The best place to discuss any of the tasks is our mailing list (http://crimson.seul.org/mailinglist.php). === Graphics=== ==== Tiles==== The default tile set still contains a number of placeholders (marked by a small red dot in the lower left corner) and (black) dummy tiles. Most of these were added with a specific use in mind but we are still missing the proper images. For a detailed list of what we are looking for you should send a request to the mailing list. Additionally, there are still a few empty slots. Also, some of the existing tiles need a makeover. The hills immediately come to mind. Others, like the water tiles, are not as annoying, but could be improved as well. ==== Units==== One unit that is planned for addition is a Battle Ship. We need an image for it. Crimson Fields also uses unit "portraits", larger unit images which are shown in the unit info dialog. At the moment these exist only for a handful of units in the default set (e.g. Infantry and Artillery). We'd like to have portraits for all the other units as well. ==== Maps==== For campaigns or individual levels it would sometimes be nice to have "real" maps, displaying them in-game or using them as illustration for mappers. Details are open to discussion. === Sound=== ==== Soundtracks==== There currently is a single (MIDI) soundtrack included with the game. We'd ultimately like to have one for the main menu, and one for each map (or at least close to it). Due to size considerations we'd like MIDI or (preferably) MOD music to distribute with the game. Ogg Vorbis (http://www.vorbis.com) will be accepted as well, but it will probably be offered as a separate download. Note that right now, the game only supports MIDI and Vorbis, but we'll add MOD as soon as we get a contribution in that format. ==== SFX==== We only use sound effects very sparingly. We would like to add effects for moving and firing units, and possibly others you can think of. SFX should be in WAV format. === Mapping=== ==== Tutorial Campaign==== We are always happy about new maps, of course. One of the features that is regularly requested, however, is a tutorial campaign. It should comprise a number of mostly small maps, introducing a new player to various aspects of the game. For some ideas see <br />http://archives.seul.org/crimson/users/Mar-2004/msg00012.html. 1399 1513 2009-11-07T14:39:14Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/Translating]] to [[Translating]] ===Internationalisation=== Crimson Fields supports localisation (currently latin scripts only). This document describes the steps to make the game speak your language. ====Known Problems==== The font distributed with Crimson Fields lacks a number of glyphs which may be required for proper display of your language. If some characters are not displayed (correctly) this is most probably the cause. A temporary solution is to locally replace the <code>Bepa-Roman.ttf</code> file with a more complete TTF font file. ====New Translations==== Adding support for an additional language to Crimson Fields is a matter of three separate, but similar steps: =====Translation of the in-game messages===== The best way to do this is to copy the file <code>locale/en.tmpl</code> (or a template of another language that you want to use as the base of your work; the English version is authoritative, though) to <code>locale/<yourLocaleCode>.tmpl</code> and then translate all messages contained in this file. The underscore is used to define the keyboard equivalents to buttons etc. This mechanism currently only works with standard 7-bit ASCII characters. Also make sure that you don't use the same shortcut for two or more widgets which can appear in the same dialog. When the translation is complete call <pre> tools/mklocale -l <yourTemplate> <locale> </pre> to transform the template into a language data file <code><locale></code> and copy this file to the Crimson Fields data directory as <code>locale/<yourLocaleCode>.dat</code>. Upon launching the game, your language should now be available. Having a translation for the in-game messages is prerequisite to the following steps. =====Translation of unit names===== (up to and including version 0.4.5):<br /> This currently has to be done in the sources (<code>tools/default_units.c</code>). Copy one of the existing names sections at the end of the file and modify it. To check the results, run <code>make</code> in the tools directory and then copy the file <code>default.units</code> into the Crimson Fields data directory. (versions 0.4.6 and later, including current CVS):<br /> Unit stats are defined in the file <code>tools/default.usrc</code>. Each unit has one or more lines of the form <pre> name(en) = Infantry </pre> To add another translation, simply add a new line for your language. After adding e.g. German the above example would read <pre> name(en) = Infantry name(de) = Infanterie </pre> To check the result after you have finished your modifications, run <code>make</code> in the tools directory and copy the file <code>default.units</code> into the Crimson Fields data directory. =====Translations of missions===== Each mission (<code>levels/*.src</code>) contains one or more messages sections ("~[messages(<localeCode>)]"). Copy one of these sections (again, English should be considered authoritative) and translate the messages. After that, run the file through cfed again (usually <pre> tools/cfed levels/<mission>.src --tiles tools/default.tiles --units tools/default.units </pre> ) and copy the resulting file into the Crimson Fields maps directory. All messages must be encoded in UTF-8 format! If translations for unit names or a mission do not exist in the selected game language, the english version will be used. 1368 1374 2007-06-07T20:39:08Z 198.214.186.130 From an archived post on the crimson-users mailing list: To attack ground enemies: The artillery has a shotrange of 6, which is long, second to the railguns which have the longest shotrange, 7, while the scout and torpedo boat have a shotrange of 2, and others 1. To attack enemies in the air: The Anti-aircraft guns and the carrier are most powerful, with a shotrange of 6. For others, including heavy tanks, infantry, hovercraft, personnel carriers, patrol boats, and anti-air tanks, the shotrange is only 1. Tactic hints: Use your artillery well, it is one of the most valuable units in this game, they should not be sacrificed. The infantry is the only unit capable of capturing cities, factories, camps, etc. Watch the grade factor, more experienced units are able to stand longer under enemies' fire, and pack a heavier punch. If the carrying unit is damaged, so is the carried units, usually. 1367 1373 2007-06-07T20:38:34Z 198.214.186.130 This page collects links to the documentation for Crimson Fields. * [http://crimson.seul.org/docs/crimson.html Crimson Fields manual] * [http://crimson.seul.org/docs/cfed.html cfed manual] * [http://crimson.seul.org/docs/bi2cf.html bi2cf manual] * [[Units]] * [[Buildings]] * [[Crystals]] 1402 1433 2009-11-06T22:13:48Z Mccwiki 2 moved [[Convertis/YalwaCampaign]] to [[YalwaCampaign]] == Seeds of Resistance== === Introduction=== The campaign is '''the''' campaign for control of the province of Yalwa, a name which means "Desert" in Nexian. The land itself is a desert in that it gets less than 10 inches a year of precipitation, but is actually fairly well-grown with grass and trees and stuff. The main reason it's called "Desert" is because there isn't a lot of natural resources. Farming is tricky because of the lack of rainfall, the lack of springs, and the lack of rivers. While there are rivers, they are mostly minor (maybe some are major?), but none are enough to irrigate much of the area for farming. The crystal mines are nearly nonexistant, although the famed Mines of Yalwa are to be found in the region. As a region, it's not logistically interesting to Kand, except for the mines, but due to the nature of supplying their own forces in the area, Kand has historically kept a significant force only around the mines, leaving short-handed garrisons in a few other cities in the area. For the FNA, however, the region represents an excellent starting base with plenty of crystals to fuel a start-up rebellion. Food, however, will mostly have to come from elsewhere (second campaign: conquering farmland? ;) ). This is '''not''' intended to be definitive; we'll need a real artist for that, but this map should give the general idea): <pre> \ ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ | | ^ * 4.4 Ultha^^^ | / ^^ ^^^^^^^ / / ^^^ * 4.3 ^^^^ ^^/ / ^^ ^^^^^^^^/ / ^^^^ Renus ^^* 4.2 Enolia^^/ / ^ ^^^ * 2.5 ^^^^ ^^^^^/ | ^^^^ * 3.1 * 3.2 Kand HQ^^^ ^^^^^^/ \ ^^* 2.2 ^*^4.1^^^^/ \ * 2.3 * 2.1+3.3 Sarakhad^^^^^^/ \ * 1.6+2.4 Lula ^^^^^^^ / | ^^^^^ | | * 1.5 Lake Yukarwa ^^^ | | * 1.4 Sarot Plains ^^^ | | ^^ | | ^ * 1.3 Mhran airfields ^ | | ^^^^ | | ^^^^^^ * 1.2 | | ^^^^^^^^ * 1.1 Rhintura | | ^^^^^^^ | </pre> === Act One=== ;Uprising :Introduction of the campaign, FNA gets their first win and a physical command. Before this, they existed in secret. They don't even have uniforms. The outpost is fairly isolated and there's a lot of area to cross that's just plain empty, making supply lines run thin. But there's this "fertile corridor" that they can march up, but it's also the most heavily defended part of the region. The "fertile corridor" is a well-watered route from Rhintura to Ultha, through Lula. Kand placed their HQ on that route on the ruins of Neeno, a city they destroyed as an "example" of what happens when you don't mine like you're supposed to. (or something, that's a little mroe brutal than the goal of "No definitive bad guy in this game") ;Swords and Plowshares :Controlling key areas to the northwest of Rhintura, the only farming district in the area, and also a barracks dump, the same barracks that provided the troops for the battle of Rhintura depicted in the Uprising. ;Clipped Wings :While the main body of the FNA army moves towards the Sarot Plains, a small contingent is dispatched to knock out the Mhran airfields to prevent Kand from mobilizing their air units stationed in the southern part of the province. ;Baptism of Fire :FNA moves across the Sarot Plains towards Lula, all the while harrassed by Kandelian airstrikes and other unpleasantries. ;The Shores of Lake Yukarwa :To support operations in Lula, a force is sent to Lake Yukarwa to stop Kand from finishing a channel they are building. The channel would connect Lake Yukarwa with Lake Lula and enable Kand to move units and supplies quickly from Renus. Besides the strategic importance of stopping Kand from completing and possessing this channel, FNA wants the channel so that they can use it. Taking this channel is of immediate importance to the FNA in their operations in Lula and planned operations in the northern part of the province, and is of long-term importance for both continued operations and the economy in the newly liberated province. ;Sixth map :The battle for Lula. The commander at Lula is a known incompetent. He's a standard paper-pusher that haunts armies everywhere. A cowardly bureaucrat, he'll only go into battle when he doesn't have to lead and when he outnumbers his enemy. Fearing for his command, he runs to Lula's twin city, Sarakhad, to command operations. Lula has a large garrison, recently (and unknown to FNA until the arrive at Lula) stationed in Lula to support the channel construction in the lake area. At the close of this map, FNA holds Lula, and Kand holds Sarakhad. FNA cannot advance past Sarakhad without losing their supply lines back to Rhintura and the farms taken in Plowshares, but FNA cannot take Sarakhad on its own. They are stalemated, and the campaign has become one of attrition. === Act Two=== ;First map :FNA moves troops from the Lula to the west, with the goal of approaching Sarakhad from the Northwest in a coordinated two-prong attack. The western force gets ambushed, surrounded, and must fight to the last man, ala Anthill (in fact, Anthill could be adapted for this map). So they win the map, but don't have anybody left with which to run their flanking maneuver. The main force remains in Lula, unable to make their own attack without that flanking force. ;Second map :To convert one of Kand's supply routes into a supply channel for FNA, FNA has sent some troops to the mountains to advance on Renus, moving through an area that looks a lot like SW Wyoming (nobody lives there except a few small towns supporting a shipping industry). At the foothills of the mountains, they discover Area 51, or Kand's equivalent of it. Both sides being surprised, FNA moves to take it. That's what this map is about. It's here that they first hear of a biological weapon that was engineered by Kandelian scientists to aid in the approaching power struggle in the Empire. The weapon itself is believed of such design that it won't harm Nexians, but is quite dangerous to Kandelians. Some barrels of this stuff are unaccounted for, although a newly liberated Nexian scientist claims to know where it is. This scientist makes a deposition where he says he's part of the Liberation Front of North Kerlo, and through him FNA and LFNK hook up. Part of the strikeforce is sent to escort the scientist back to Lula. (New unit acquired?) ;Third map :FNA sends a contingent back from Area 51 to Rhintura that gets ambushed by unidentified participants. They must survive the attack, of course, but there is much mystery surrounding the unidentified attackers. Who are they? To whom is their allegiance? (LFNK, of course, working for Kand) ;Fourth map :Kand launches a flanking attack to the east of Lula. FNA diverts a small portion of their troops to defend their flank. Yadayada, FNA must win, but not with enough troops to press further. The move itself confuses FNA leadership because it shows initiative and boldness, traits they know the commander at Sarakhad doesn't possess. It also comes dangerously close to succeeding. ;Fifth map :FNA moves North to Renus, a small town which is used as the supply base for the secret research lab. This is the battle for Renus. There they learn about the General. They also find in Renus a population willing to lend their support quite readily to FNA and several Kandelian supply dumps. This force that left at company strength is able to grow to a respectable field army. === Act Three=== ;First map :FNA forces at Renus learn that the General is in the area attempting to run an army to the channel from an earlier map. They take the opportunity to try to grab the General as well as prevent this force from reaching its goal. General escapes, and with his army weakened, runs to Kand HQ. While FNA doesn't accomplish their goal, they do manage to secure the area completely as well as put their new units into action. ;The General :Using the forces that moved up from the mountains and were reinforced unexpectedly in Renus, the opportunistic commander decides to take the Kandelian HQ in the area. Intel from the General's staff (using techniques not quite Geneva sanctioned) corroborates the story of biological weapons that only kill Kandelians, and troops are dispatched following the guide. The intelligence is in the form of inventory sheets that show missing barrels and signed orders from the general to find them, but FNA moving in prevented the General from issuing the orders. ;Third map :The Second Battle for Lula. In this battle, the incompetent commander in Sarakhad has learned the General was taken captive, and after being reinforced by what was left of the army at Kand HQ he figures he can take Lula easily. If he takes Lula easily, he will then be able to move to retake the Kand HQ and be a hero. FNA, on the other hand, has to destroy this army. After they destroy this army, they will control most of the province, and Kand will no longer have a field army in the province. FNA will then be able to advance on Ultha, which has a pretty good-sized garrison, but their force situated at the Kand HQ and their newly-acquired air force will be able to link up. While the FNA doesn't itself have enough forces to destroy the Sarakhad army, the FNA can hold their positions until the other units arrive, so the other units would logically be placed far from the map (or appear as reinforcements on the 10th turn or something like that). So it's Kand's forces making a last-ditch effort to take Lula, knowing that if they don't they'll get caught in a nasty pincer, but if they win they might be able to throw off the air strike and then retake their HQ and advance on Rhintura and crush the FNA. === Act Four=== ;First map : The battle for the barrels of Kand-killer. The troops are betrayed by the LFNK contingent that accompanies them. Another Anthill-like scenario. Due to the betrayal, at the end of this map it is unknown where the barrels are, or even in what direction they may be found, but it is suspected that they are somewhere in the province of Yalwa, since the General was responsible for dealing with their disappearance. We will, of course, introduce the barrels of Kand-killer into a later part of the story, but this is it for this campaign. But I do intend for them to be real, and deployed against Kand. ;) ;Second map : The Battle for the Enolian Air Fields. Just a fight for empty depots that happen to have airships in them. The air fields are discovered after rifling through the General's files, where orders are found to bury the air fields, due to the outdated nature of the technology and the fact that the area won't be well-reinforced. ;Third map :On the march to Ultha, where Kand managed to coerce LFNK into trying to hold off FNA. So this is FNA's confrontation with LFNK over the betrayal, and should finish that subplot. ;Fourth map :The Battle for Ultha itself.