SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - Another Quick Mission Editor Tutorial (basics)

Ahoy! Before we dive right into this thing I want to be sure everyone knows that you can find the dangerous waters mission editor manual in DW's installation directory here: Dangerous Waters\Manual\SCS-DW_Mission EditorManual.pdf

You can also download a copy from anywhere right from strategy first's (one of the publishers) website here: http://www.strategyfirst.com/app/web...itorManual.pdf

OK, so this time I wanted to go over another basic task in the editor. Randomized starting locations! We will use the same mission we created in my last tutorial. But you can use any mission you like.

First lets change the tactic of our target ships from barrier to a random box so that they don't head toward the same spot on the map every time we play the mission. Our goal is to have a dynamic, unpredictable enemy while still keeping the mission consistently playable and interesting.

http://puu.sh/rdUHf/fa47ae1eb6.jpg
http://puu.sh/rdUSe/8785d8cc5f.png
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Now lets get to why you actually came here: Dynamic locations.

Go ahead and add one!
http://puu.sh/rdV1f/e6e816409c.jpg

Once you select "Dynamic Location" you must click on the map where you want the location to be. Then you can add or remove units from the location. Add the fishing boat to this first one. You might remember something about the generation options from the last tutorial's bonus reading. For this one unit we will use Min: 1 Max: 1 of course :up:

Now the fun part. You can go to the next page and start adding additional locations. All the locations will be linked and at the start of the game, the server will choose one of the locations at random, with an equal chance of picking each location.
http://puu.sh/rdVVy/e68e56d716.jpg

For the Kilo we will use a slightly more complex method which will allow us to favor certain starting locations over others:

Click on the Kilo then press Ctrl-C to copy it exactly. Now press Ctrl-V and click somewhere else on the map. Two Kilos with the same random box. Now add the new kilo to the "Dynamic Group" with the first kilo. Assuming the generation options for the group stay min 1 max 1. only 1 Kilo will ever spawn after the fishing boat is killed.

Let's have the mission favor spawning the Kilo either north or west of us, with a 1 in 3 chance of spawning to the south or east.

To do this, you need to add 2 dynamic locations for each Kilo. Place them around the player platform.
http://puu.sh/rdWnY/763bf56a4a.jpg

Finally modify the individual Kilo's probability of inclusion so that the North-or-West Kilo has 3 times the probability of inclusion than the other (I used 300 for it and left the other at 100. 3 & 1 or 6 & 2 etc. would work exactly the same). You do not need to sum them to 100%.

http://puu.sh/rdWGh/66ab3e6c40.jpg

Now go test it a few times with truth on to make sure it's randomizing the mission how you intended.

Afterthoughts: Once a unit is assigned to a random location, the units location on the editor map is mostly unimportant. In this example the location IS important, but maybe not how you think. Notice how the Kilo's don't have to spawn at the center of the random box. They will spawn and then drive toward a random point within their box, looking for hostiles while they transit. If the unit has a waypoint based tactic, it will always head directly for the first waypoint and so on, not where you have placed the unit on the map.

Thanks for reading and I hope this all made sense. Post questions, comments and example missions below!