--- In [email protected], Joel Uckelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> Thus spake "carrington_ward":
> > Tim,
> >
> > Thanks again for your help on this. I'm once again up against
> > Vassal's Clausewitzian character: "in vassal everything is
simple,
> > but the simplest things are difficult."
> >
> > I wonder if anyone has a thought about how to handle a problem
I'm
> > facing with Vietnam population: as I noted, I digitized it to
match
> > the game: 1-,1_,1+ of two different layers, the numerals and the
> > +/_/- suffix: essentially an eccentric base 3 number system.
> >
> > Once digitized, this presents three challenges, especially if I
want
> > to increment the suffix "digits" by more than one --
> >
> > A) Floor: how to get the suffix digits to stop spinning at 0-:
so
> > that decrementing one step from 1- will go to 0+, but 0-
decremented
> > one step will stay 0-.
> >
> > B) Ceiling: Ditto at an arbitrary ceiling (often 15).
> >
> > C) Triggers for the above are not bad, but they seem to break
> > repetition: I have not yet found a way to build a trigger that
will
> > fire my basic counting triggers repeatedly. (I'd like to be
able to
> > build a "decrement two" trigger that should fire two "decrement
one"
> > triggers in succession.) I can only use the "decrement one"
> > triggers twice in succession if I get rid of the "property
match"
> > conditionals that make them respect floor and ceiling.
> >
> > I'm reluctant to move back to defining "decrement 2"
> > through "decrement 6" and "increment 2 through increment 7"
> > independently -- the trigger conditions look like they'd get
awfully
> > nasty, especially because I don't know how to define an "else"
> > command when the triggers fail.
> >
> > I suppose my best bet would be to fall back from the double
digit
> > layering to (instead of 16 layers X 3 Layers, I can go to 48
> > layers). But this is tedious as well...
> >
> > Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Carrington
>
> Not to denigrate your efforts, but I think that your problem is a
round
> hole and traits are a square peg. Writing a little bit of Java to
do this
> would be 1) easier, even if you had to learn how to do it first,
and
> 2) less fragile, and 3) more maintainable. The algorithm for
calculating
> the population sentiment would be only two or three lines of code,
plus
> maybe a lookup-table. All you'd need to do is make a widget that
has
> a grid of labels in which to display the results, and a button for
> recalculating. Doing this with traits reminds me of trying to
program
> a Turing machine, actually.
>
> If you want to do it this way, I'd be willing to help. However, my
copy
> of Vietnam is 7000km away right now, so I can't consult it.
>
> --
> J.
>
Joel,
Globally, you're probably right that programming it from scratch is
the best way to do it. And I'd certainly be interested in seeing
your thoughts on the problem -- thanks much.
That said the tools have gotten me this far, and the next step seems
reasonably simple -- frustratingly so. The problem to surmount is
that I need nested triggers -- specifically a routine to run one
specific trigger (with its attendant conditions) repeatedly. In
theory, a trained parrot --peck, peck, peck -- would suffice... (as
would a for-next loop).
The machinery that got me to that point might be somewhat rickety
(though because it's all visual, it's reasonably easy to test), but
at this point I'm just trying to return my parrot to his state of
unemployment.
Thanks again for your thinking on this. I'd be more than happy to
post relevant materials from the module as it stands, or from the
paper game, if that might help.
Best,
Carrington
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