Fields & Zones...

[Kanawa]

Hi all!
Me again on another topic.
I 'm obviously new at this...so be patient.
I'm a bit confused   (least I can say...) about the difference between fields and zones etc.
Could someone help?

ty again

Kanawa:confused

[MachNix]

Kanawa,

I'm not the expert but maybe I can answer some of your questions.

A field, as you probably know is an airfield, vehicle base, or port.  A zone is where a field lives or belongs to.  Each zone will have strategic elements such as radar, refinery, ammo, etc. that can be destroyed which will have an impact on all the fields assigned to that zone.  Some basics:

1. Each country needs at least one zone and the first three zones (zones 1, 2, and 3) can not be in the same country.  So if you were building a map with 6 zones, 2 zones per country, you would assign zones 1 and 4 to Bish, zones 2 and 5 to Rooks, and zones 3 and 6 to Knights.

2. Each field has to be assigned to a zone.  The default is going to be to zone 1.

Hope that helps a least a little.  Maybe you will have a more specific question as you work along.

MachNix

[Kanawa]

Yes tks for your tips.
I'm afraid I'll need some more of those ;-)
I am still struggleing to assign each object to a country...when i assign them ( or so i think) they keep changing!
Plus ...that "zone" tab in the terrain editor, i have no clue what do do with it...
Really ...is it me or the help file is actually of little help? lol
Tks for any help anyway...
and btw...Merry Christmas.
May Christ peace be with you.

Kanawa

[MachNix]

Oh yea, I guess there are even more tips.

As you add fields they don't get assigned to a country.  Just make sure the field is assigned to the Zone you want, is Field Owned, has a Field number, and the Object Type is Group Master.  Once you have added some fields, click File/Save and then Exit the Terrain Editor and click Yes to save changes.  Restart the Editor and open your map.  Then click Settings/Field Setup and you will see a list of all the fields.  If a field is not assigned to the right country, select it from the list and change the Original Country to the correct country.

The Zone Tab shows all the fields and what zone they are assigned to.  Each zone has to have one and only one Zone Master.  Put a check mark next to the field number that will serve as the Zone Master and remove any other check marks in that zone.  The Zone Master controls which country the strategic elements such as Ammo, Barracks, etc. in that zone belong.  The exceptions are Zones 1, 2, and 3.  The HQs are the Zone Masters for these zones.  To set the HQs as Zone Masters, go to the Objects Tab, click Shape in the Select Objects section, select HQ0 from the list and click OK.  All the HQ objects will then be listed in the Selection List.  Double click the first one to bring up the Object Properties window.  Object Type should be HQ, Field Owned should be Unchecked and a Country number (1, 2, or 3) should be there.  The Zone number should also be either 1, 2, or 3, and the Is Zone Master should be checked.  Click OK to save changes and then do the same for any remain HQs in the Selection List.

The last tip for now is to always Save/Exit/Restart/Reopen the map before the Build.  Some of the files do not get updated until exiting the Editor.  Also, limit your terrain names to 8 characters or less.

And yes, the help file need more help.

Merry Christmas

MachNix

[Easyscor]

Originally posted by MachNix
...The exceptions are Zones 1, 2, and 3.  The HQs are the Zone Masters for these zones...

Is this right?!  I've never heard that before.

I've been assigning the HQ to zone 1, 2, or 3 with an airfield as the zone master.  What are the differences?

I keep learning more about this game all the time.

[MachNix]

Again, I'm no expert and you may be able to assign airfields to be the zone masters for zones 1, 2, and 3.  But what happens if the zone master is captured?  A country could be left with out any zones.  HQs are un-capturable.

If you look at other maps such as ndisles you will see that they assigned the HQs to be the zone masters.  I don't think the help info says anything about it and I'm going by what other maps have done to say the HQs have to be the zone masters.

MachNix

[Easyscor]

Brilliant MachNix, that rings true.

[Kanawa]

Hi there..
I'm slowly getting closer to my goal.
You sais something about looking at analready existing file
like ndisle
How do you get to look at the file.
I have this map in the terrain folder but since it's already in .res type i can't see it...guess we need to reconvert it into its previous format?
How do I do that?

Kanawa

[Skuzzy]

A word about zones.

In the new TE, you will not be able to assign zone masters for zones 1, 2, and 3.  Those zones are country zones, and the HQ is the zone master, by default, and cannot be changed.
It also goes, your HQ's must be in the first three zones as well.

[MachNix]

Kanawa,

When I was talking about looking at an already existing file like ndisle, I meant looking at it in Aces High 2 – not the terrain editor.  You can't see ndisle's source files such as ndisle.elv, ndisle.typ, etc.  

You probably already know haw to do this but to look at an existing map, start Aces High 2 and click the LOAD TERRAIN option on the first screen.  A list of existing maps will open.  Select a map like ndisle and click OK.  Click OFFLINE and when you get to the tower, right click on the clipboard map and select Zones.  A series of white lines will appear that link all the zone objects to the zone master.   The ndisle map has all the zone objects linked to the HQs.

MachNix

[Kanawa]

Allright....I'm making constant progress and I managed to build my terrain and all...

Problem: I dont have a Clipboard map and when I look in the help file , well... u know...

How do I build this clipboard map....I think I pushed every dern button on that TE.

Sucks cause I cant go fm 1 base to another right now and actually "test" my 1st creation

BTW...All your help has been really appreciated....Could not have done it without you guys.
Tks again.
Anxiously waiting for your reply:aok
Kanawa

[MachNix]

Unfortunately, the File/Make Map function in TE2 does not work properly.  It makes an all blue bitmap called "map.bmp".

If you have a map, it would go in your terrain's subfolder called "texsrc" – you will have to create this subfolder.  So you will end up with something like: MyTerr\texsrc\MyTerr.bmp where "MyTerr" would be replaced with the actual name for your terrain.  I use a map size of 1024x1024 regardless of the size of the terrain.

If you don't have the ability to make a map, you could just use the map.bmp by copying it into the texsrc subfolder and renaming it to your terrain name.  The clipboard map will be all blue but you will be able to move between bases.

The next version of TE will be out soon.  I have a terrain of my own that is on hold until the new TE is released.

MachNix

p.s.  There is a dot command you can use to move between bases in Aces High:

.move x

where x is the base number.