Fancy a game?

[Twin]

I've figured out a way we can playtest Duel of Steel against eachother over the Internets! Hear ye!

Alright, so it's not mine, neither is it new, but it's very good; Vassal 40k mod. Vassal is an engine used to recreate tabletop games into online battles, and someone kind has made a 40k mod for it. This mod has all we need to play DoS vs eachother online;

1. Real-time battlefield with:

-Mechs (very neat ones too!)
-Terrain
-Range/Templates
-Info tabs on each mech where we can fill in our DoS stuff

2. Real-time massed D6 die-rolling. (We'll have to simply trust eachother on the D10s... but we're trusty lads, no? )

----

Now, I tried to squeeze as much as possible of the action into one screenshot for you, so here goes. Mind, everything is a lot smaller than it's supposed to, especially the battlefield viewer;



Edit; another one to show variation (and bigger mechs ;D ):




(Please click it to see full version if the forum snips it)

Alright, so how do we do this? First, you need to download Vassal, and install the 40k mod on it. There's a really neat guide on Heresy Online, which even I managed to understand, so you should be able to figure it out;

Vassal 40k install guide

Then simply enter a Nick and Pass, arrange a battle on these very forums, and we'll see how it turns out ;D I'm aching to actually play this game by now, so don't you dare say nay!

See you on the field!

Edit; Communicating. There's a primitive chat function in the game of course... but I think that some voice chat program like Ventrilo or Teamspeak (or merely skype for that matter) would make the game a whole lot smoother, not to mention funny ;D



Okay, my two cents. What do you think of this whole thing?

[Adam]

I'd wondered if there was something like this, for playing games of whatever online. Excellent! Sounds like a good idea! I'll try installing this and see if we can play. Casinha's coming over on Sunday for a couple games, so that should yield some information and battle reports. This though is a great idea, particularly as it means:

a) we can play without prior organisation, proxying, or models
b) I/Casinha can play you despite the barrier of you living in Norway. ;D

Couple questions:
a) How do we do the D10s then? Is there a way for us to enter values, so I can roll a bunch of D10s and just type the numbers in?
b) Does the game cater for any rule system/weaponry/etc? Does the unit variation only extend to the pictures, and we can use and fire anything we want? Will DoS's rule system work here? Do we just move the miniatures around with the mouse and record damage ourselves/on a table, or something?
c) Why can't we just use normal Vassal? Will that work?

Hey, this means I can play you at 40K, as well. Or any other game you play. Sweeeeeet.

Ninja edit: What's 'Giant Bomb'? ;D

[Twin]

Jun 26, 2008 13:57:05 GMT -5 Adam said:

a) How do we do the D10s then? Is there a way for us to enter values, so I can roll a bunch of D10s and just type the numbers in?

This is somewhat of an issue yes. In the Vassal mod, the only die are D6... I have however found another page, which will roll pretty much any number of die for you, subtract, add and whotever you may need. Actually it's brilliant for dry-testing new weapons, as you won't have to roll/add/subtract the whole thing yourself (especially as you can do it quickly several times to get a thorough test). Anyways, on the D10 issue! I guess that we'll simply have to trust each other not to cheat, and roll the dice ourselves (either fo real or with Hamete)

Here's the die roller thingy; Hamete's Virtual Dice Server

Jun 26, 2008 13:57:05 GMT -5 Adam said:

b) 1.Does the game cater for any rule system/weaponry/etc?
2.Does the unit variation only extend to the pictures, and we can use and fire anything we want?
3.Will DoS's rule system work here? Do we just move the miniatures around with the mouse and record damage ourselves/on a table, or something?

1. The mod does include rather extensive tooltips when you hover over each of the miniatures. IIRC, there's a Notes function where we can write in DoS stats, weapons and the like (in addition to mailing each other our lists of course).

2. The tabletop is basicly a Paint image, where you can move the different pieces around, and it updates realtime for your opponent. So yes, you could play chess on this if you wanted ;D

3. I think it will work very well. We'll have to do some extensive bookkeeping though, but there's a "Wound" counter where we can enter Mass, and there's also a lot of options for 40k's veichle damage effects, which we could just translate to serious damage.

Jun 26, 2008 13:57:05 GMT -5 Adam said:

Ninja edit: What's 'Giant Bomb'?

GIANT BOMB!

[Adam]

Jun 26, 2008 15:02:18 GMT -5 Twin said:

This is somewhat of an issue yes. In the Vassal mod, the only die are D6... I have however found another page, which will roll pretty much any number of die for you, subtract, add and whotever you may need. Actually it's brilliant for dry-testing new weapons, as you won't have to roll/add/subtract the whole thing yourself (especially as you can do it quickly several times to get a thorough test). Anyways, on the D10 issue! I guess that we'll simply have to trust each other not to cheat, and roll the dice ourselves (either fo real or with Hamete)

That Hamete site is great for one reason: It adds them up for you. Time lost working out how to use Vassal = Time saved adding up dice.

Jun 26, 2008 15:02:18 GMT -5 Twin said:

1. The mod does include rather extensive tooltips when you hover over each of the miniatures. IIRC, there's a Notes function where we can write in DoS stats, weapons and the like (in addition to mailing each other our lists of course).

That's pretty good.

Jun 26, 2008 15:02:18 GMT -5 Twin said:

2. The tabletop is basicly a Paint image, where you can move the different pieces around, and it updates realtime for your opponent. So yes, you could play chess on this if you wanted ;D

I get it. So the program's basically a virtual minis table with a dice generator, and we do with it as we would with normal minis/table/dice: ie, anything we like?

Jun 26, 2008 15:02:18 GMT -5 Twin said:

3. I think it will work very well. We'll have to do some extensive bookkeeping though, but there's a "Wound" counter where we can enter Mass, and there's also a lot of options for 40k's veichle damage effects, which we could just translate to serious damage.

Yeah, or just type the serious damage names in or something (or delete weapons from mechs as necessary).

[Casinha]

Downloading this now. Not liking the look of all the tabs, toolbars and menus

For D10s, there's a Messenger Plus! addon that allows people in the conversation to roll a die/dice, and the others in the conversation can see the result without the roller being able to cheat.

[Adam]

Yeah the interface is kinda sucky... (see my 'Fancy a game? II' thread.)