New Mage Wars Module

Bad news everyone, found a really major flaw in the spell book points calculator, that’s directly related to a vassal bug here: https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-3-2-8-global-property-numeric-overwrite-bug/6456/1

Basically, the calculator isn’t reliable if you have cards of one type of school in your book adding beyond 100 points worth. Example: Say you took 20 Earth Elementals, for what ever reason, you crazy Earth Wizard you… This would bring you to 100 Earth School points, which would add up in your book. Now if you took another Earth Elemental, or any spell which has Earth School, it will NOT count the Earth points further in your total. But if you added any other school type it would still count, until you reached 100 points worth of that other school at least…

For most mages, this isn’t really an issue at all, hence why it was never discovered until now. Except for maybe, say, the Forcemaster, who will likely take a majority of mind spells and eventually hit this 100 point cap. Or even a Druid who almost soley relies on Nature spells, or a Necromancer with Dark.

Okay, so maybe most experienced players wouldn’t likely reach 100 points worth of one type of school, but the problem is still there, and I want to hear an opinion from the player base on my course of action.

I can wait and see if this bug will be fixed sometime hopefully soon before releasing the upcoming update, or I can release the update anyway and then later on a second update when its fixed.

Right now the update will have:

A fixed and working Obliterate command, it is still broken in the current release. (Done)

Made some minor rotation changes regarding damage numbers being upside down on rotated cards. (Done)

Changed the wording of Use/Add Mana to Change Mana. (Done)

Added dice pieces for the attack dice and effect die, for better feel with real dice rolling sound. (Done and thanks to GonzoGonzolas for the idea!)

Starter books and apprentice books will be built in to the module for new player ease. (Working on it)

A tutorial log that follows the example play through found in the rule book. (Working on it)

Added the Deflect token for the Forcemasters defense ability, accidentally forgot about it last time. (Done 3 minutes after posting)

So its not a big or major update, and I’m still on the look out for any more minor or major problems that could be fixed before this is pushed out. This problem would probably count as a major one lol. The only reason I’m bringing this up is because this bug was confirmed two vassal versions ago, and I am uncertain of how long it will actually be before it is fixed.

All the same, I’m glad to see so many people are enjoying the module so far, and I highly encourage any suggestions anyone has to further improve it while the iron is hot! Along with posting any other problems that people have encountered. And a quick thanks for taking the time to read this, I know it was a bit long.

Given the serious implications it has on constructing spellbooks, I’d say it requires immediate attention. But that’s coming from a consumer’s standpoint. I don’t know how involved it would be to fix it, but I’d say address that issue immediately before it festers.

My 2cents,
tb

How do you create spell books to be used for new games. I could only use a spell book I created with my current saved game. I read the help stuff that said to save the spell books as a .txt file but when I started a new game and tried to import the spell book it wasn’t recognized. Don’t want to rebuild the spell books for every game. Is there a step-by-step tutorial on how to save and load spell books so you can build multiple books to have ready to play? Thanks - look forward to giving the module a whirl.

Could you send me your spell book so I can see what might be causing the problem, and tell me which version of the module you are doing this with?

In the next version I’m going to re write that help file to be a bit more clear on some things such as this.

Reddeblu,

Disregard my PMs. I figured out how to load the spell books. I was using the Load button along menu and nothing was happening. When I went down to Spell Book and right clicked - it gave me the load option that took me where the spell books were at and it loaded fine!!!

T-Mo

Okay no problem, like I said I’ll be sure to clarify that whole process in the help file during the next update. It is admittedly very confusing.

Okay guys, I’ve been pondering something in my play test. Do you think the mages status board should be kicked to the curb for a more streamlined and automated system like the creatures, conjurations and spawnpoints, concerning damage, mana and channeling?

I personally would just love to put it all on the mage cards themselves, unless people actually like using the status boards. So the question is, which would you all prefer?

The status boards is how the game is played but there is a plus to having the info on the Mage cards since the status boards are basically hidden unless you bring them up. If it is toggle option then I think it would be a good feature. They are just numbers so having them on the Mage card gives you the feedback you need for planning your turn and tracking life pts.

So, I was building a spellbook this morning and there’s a slightly frustrating issue with the card placement. It does allow you to place cards off the left side of the spellbook and it’s impossible to drag it back over. The only solution I found was to save the book into your save/load book area and find the misbehaving hard and drag it back into your spellbook to delete it. Dunno if there’s a way to fix that, but spellbook builders beware! It’s quite irritating.

An easier way to fix this would be clicking the Undo button in the top left side of the toolbar until the offending card is removed by observing the points, or after undoing an earlier card.

I might be able to solve this with a zone, or by adjusting the books grid and graphic slightly. Will look into possible solutions before the update, which should be soon now if all testing checks out okay.

By the way, don’t get too attached to your spell books, or prepare to take some time to update them. When this update comes out current spell book cards will be obsolete and need to be replaced with newer versions. It’s pretty easy as delete card, get its replacement, delete next card, get that replaced, ect.

The updated cards will have a working Obliterate command, the calculators flaw will be fixed on them, some minor menu arrangement, and the mage cards themselves will be overhauled for stat tracking on the card itself.

As previously, your old spell books will still load and work (save for 1.0 books), but will simply be missing the current features. I may look into actually making a spell book updater in the module, if no one minds the update taking a day or two more. I know how I can do it now that I’ve got the pre built books in, but will report back with how successful it turns out. I’m too intrigued now not to try it.

EDIT: This possible book updater will only be able to update books made after it, not prior, so you will still have to update your books manually, this time…

It works! Your books can now update themselves AFTER you manually update then this one last time. And then, your spell books can forever be current huzzah!

I’m still pondering what T-Mo said about making the new stat tracking optional, I could it’s not really out of my way. But should I? Is the question I’m not sure on. If it isn’t optional, then I can get rid of the Status Boards all together, the button, the images, the cubes, If I do make it optional then that will all have to be left where it is. Anyway, to help figure this out I’ve taken a preview shot of what will be the new stat tracking for mages. This is as of right now, the final version, though any suggestions for improvement after I post this are more than welcome.

As you can see, Life and Channeling are also shown on the card and can be changed. Everything has a keystroke for easy changing too without needing to go into the menus constantly. Mana is auto channeled every Channeling phase just like the spawnpoints and familiars. And starting stats are auto set up on each mage according to what they should be. Mages that come from the pre built apprentice books will have apprentice stats set to them instead of their normal stats however.

I’ll be the first one to say the damage looks kind of awkward hanging off the side like that, so if anyone can think of a better arrangement of the numbers I’m all ears. :3

Now the question remains, should this be an optional feature? If it is, it will have to be mutual to both players. I.E. One cannot use the new tracking and the other use the status board at the same time, it would just get confusing… And it is much easier to make this optional if it is applied to both players.

So yeah, once I finish the book updating system, do more play testing, and get some solid opinions on this (and perhaps make changes to it), then the update should be ready to go! Don’t forget to keep posting about current issues though still, like a card vanishing to the side of the book, thanks teberger I am still on that. No matter how small, I’d like to hear about them, the more I can get fixed and improved now the better.

P.S.A big thanks to jcollard for suggesting the current vertical spell book design, it is actually great and I’m surprised even how much of an improvement it was over the previous one.

P.S.S Looking back, I’ve been holding off this update a lot haven’t I? I know its only been about a week, but I was expecting to have released this many days ago. Just new things and new ideas come jumping out of no where and I just have to add or change them. I’m just happy that the current version is in fact stable enough for people to be playing and enjoying it while they wait, and with that I have to say thank you all for playing this module and supporting Mage Wars. If it wasn’t for the interest you’ve all shown in it, I would have likely never updated and improved it this far. Time to go back to work.

I tried to reply to this before the servers went down for the migration. Anyway, here’s my opinion a few days later:

First off, thanks for all your hard work!

I personally don’t mind the overhang due to the added convenience of not having to open even more windows. I would suggest that you drop the status stuff into its own drop-down (accross?) menu in the root of the right-click menu. Going 4 levels into a drop-down is a bit cumbersome. I would say to make it mandatory, as it streamlines the game and gets rid of some extra windows that I’m sure people have already been trying to juggle.

Also, you may want to include the Corrode token on the next update as well. It seems to have been left out. If I just forgot to send you the image, let me know, I’ll get it to you ASAP.

tb

tb

You did send me the corrode token, I just forgot to add it. Had it all prepped and ready to go into the module too, but never put it in for some reason.

It’s in there now, And I have proof!

Anyway, I moved the numbers around a bit and so far me and my playtester/s think it looks better than before. This is actually from our last game doing apprentice mode, beat her as the priestess. Found a problem with the pre built apprentice books too so gotta fix that.

Since the forums have been down I’ve done some re arranging of the menus cause we did find the 4 layer drop down quite cumbersome. But your idea teberger is actually much better than what I’ve already done, so I’m going to re change them again.

A few other tokens also got left out of the last version, I forget which ones, but they have all been added so far last I was aware. Everything else appears to be checking out okay, save for the minor problem here or menu adjustment there. I finished the book updater and so far it works beautifully, I’ve already started making my own permanent spell books ahead of you all haha! So once this update comes out, any book made in it, or old books replaced with the new cards, will never have to worry about being outdated again!

After play testing a bit and so far so good, barring any major unforeseen issues this update should be ready in a couple of days or less!

Been getting a better chance to play with/against the new mages, and yes I can see how the Forcemaster is over powered. Beat my brother with it in 20 minutes, using the starter book, it was pretty sad yet hilarious at the same time. Summoning a Guardian Angel? Nope! Mind control!

I almost beat a custom Forcemaster book though playing as the Necromancer, almost being the key word. Though I was killed she will inevitably choke to death on the poison gas cloud, trapped between 3 Wall of Bones and the arena edge, with a hoard of zombies, 2 rot conditions, and only 3 life remaining lol. It was pretty damn close.

Still I doubt the arena managers will ever want to tear down those walls to find out what ever was left behind them.

Let me know if you need any more playtesters. I am always looking to play more ^-^

The necro is actually my favorite right now

Also, as a side-note, the game actually isn’t over when the mage dies. It is over when the phase in which the mage died is over. So, if you died during the creature action phase, you technically had the chance to finish all your actions on your creatures before the game is over. That way games can actually end in draws. I’ve managed a few draws before this way when my mage died but I had a bunch of archers to finish the other dude off

Mage Wars 3.0 Released!

Here we are everyone, the long waited update that turned from a few bug fixes, into whole system overhauls, I hope it was worth the wait.

I want to thank everybody who helped me test the nonliving heak out of this update over its development, and making great suggestions to better improving and furthering it. So basically if you don’t like the update you can blame them! Hehe I’m joking.

Here is the changelog as best as my memory can make from 2.1 to 3.0. It may not be completely… complete, but all the major highlights should be here at least.

Changelog:

• Removed the status boards and implemented full stat tracking on mage cards.

• Created a book updater. Now any book made in “this version” or later can easily be updated if any future updates make changes to the cards.

• Added all the apprentice and starter books into the module pre built, simply select a book from the list in the new Book Options menu in the spell book windows. WARNING: Do not have two players loading a pre built book at once, vassal may break reality!

• Added dice pieces and got rid of the dice button. You can now find dice to the right of the play area and roll them separately, or together in the box.

• Added reporting for every stat change on every card by every player, all reports are in the chat window.

• Conditions and like tokens now have a counter in their top right corner to keep track of multiples.

• Removed the peek command. Now you can always view face down cards, and still know they are face down to your opponent.

• Fixed the major calculator problem of magic schools capping at 100.

• Fixed the Forcemaster not calculating arcane creatures in the blue players spell book.

• Fixed cards sometimes getting placed in the spell book outside of reachable space.

• Fixed many many other things I just can’t keep track of, including the Obliterate command. I swear it works this time.

• Added black outlines around many tokens.

• Reduced the file size drastically!.

• Changed and spruced up the play area a bit.

• Added an option to toggle realism.

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. If anyone encounters any problems or has any questions about this release, please please post it here. Me and all my volunteer testers did our best to make sure this release was bug free, but we may not have caught everything. Right now it seems extremely solid so I decided to release it. If there are more problems found however, I may release a hot fix update depending on the severity of the problems found.

And again thanks for playing!

Side Notes: Testers, if you made books after the updater was made then you should update your books now in the current version. If those books take 10-20 mins to load in it is because of a bug I have since fixed, and once updated your books will no longer be affected by it.

Everyone Else: I forgot to mention, you should replace your old books in this version. Every single card, I’m sorry but it will be the last time from now on.

Okay people, general heads up.

I advise you avoid selecting and deleting mass amounts of cards from your spell book at once. (Outside of the reset book option)

If you do, it will likely break vassal and freeze it for half an hour.

If you MUST mass delete cards at the same time for what ever reason, do so using the keystroke ALT D, this will not cause the freezy breaky problem.

I discovered this the hard way when I accidentally saved two books on top of each other. x.x

Thank you for your time.

I have a star trek fleet captains module questions. I have downloaded the base module and works great but when i try and download the romulan and borg modules it keeps asking me what do i want to open these with. I didnt have this problem when downloading base module. If any one can help me i would really appreciate it. Also is there a way to open the board larger? Thanks

You’re on the wrong thread dude.

Wrong thread yes, but these are simple problems which I can still answer.

The modules you are referring to are actually called extensions, and are added on to the base module rather than opened as individual ones. To do this, simply open vassal and find the Star Trek: Fleet Captains module in your library list. Right click on it and select “Add Extension”. Navigate to the place you downloaded the files and open them one at a time.

As far as making the board bigger, there are a few options you can try. Maximizing vassal is a good first step, and then clicking the bottom of the chat box and dragging it up can provide much more room. Further most modules come with zoom buttons, by default they usually have magnifying glass icons on the toolbar somewhere. You can use these to zoom in our out of the board to your preferred size.

In the future you should go into the Module Support section here: http://www.vassalengine.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=8 And then find or make a new thread for the module you need support with.

Thanks, STFC extensions are working great. Now just waiting for Dominion extension to be downloaded by Vassal.