I am (very slowly) starting to figure out the more complex elements of module design and I must say I am stumped on quite a lot of fronts, for now I will simply focus on trying to make an Action Rounds and Game Rounds tracker work.
My Goal:
-To have two tracks on the main game board, one for Action Rounds and one for Game Rounds. Each is numbered 1 to 5 with a tokens to keep track.
-Each player will get to do one action then it goes to the next, once all players have done an action, the Action Round tracker should move to the number 2 mark, so on and so forth until all players have taken 5 actions each.
-At this point the Game Round tracker should advance to position 2 and the Action Round tracker should return to position 1.
So in other words a game lasts 5 rounds, each round has 5 action phases in them.
What I have so far:
-I have set global properties in the module for Action Rounds and Game Rounds, both are set with a range of 1 to 5 and the Action one can wrap around.[attachment=0]game.PNG[/attachment][attachment=1]action.PNG[/attachment]
-I have zones on the map named Action 1 to 5 and Game 1 to 5, and my tokens have a send to location for each of those zones.
My problem:
-I tried positioning my tokens with an at start stack but they will not recognize the send to location commands for some reason. So I don’t know how to have the tokens be in place at the start of the game without having to place them myself.
-I have tried using trigger actions but i have had no remarkable results thus far. Should the “trigger action” entry be above or below the “send to location” entries to be able to influence them?
I don’t know how to make the tokens advance automatically when all players have hit the “I am done” button after they have taken their actions.
I am in the process of going through the same analysis.
You might want to look at the Turn Counter feature. It will allow you to nest rounds within a turn (or any other arrangement needed). I have done this, and it is quite simple once you know how. What I have yet to do is link the turn counter actions to updates on the board.
I have some ideas on how to do this in another thread. Note the words of caution on my intended approach from experienced VASSAL Module authors though. I am inspired by the Twilight Struggle module which does exactly what you are after I think - maybe look there for guidance.
If you crack this please post. I will do the same (probably in the thread below).
I actually discovered the Turn Counter feature shortly after posting this and I’ve been able to setup what I wanted and am now stuck in the same spot as you where I want it to control tokens on the board. It has something to do with Global Commands and how to properly syntax it I think. I just don’t have a clue how…yet.
Thank you for the heads up about those threads I will definitely post anything noteworthy.
No problem on the heads up. The difference with the Turn Counter is that when configured, they generate Global Hotkeys. I can only see that counters can have triggers that respond to Global Key Commands. The only way I could see to relate these two events, is to have a toolbar that reacts to the Global Hotkey, and issue a Global Key Command, then have the counter trigger on the Global Key Command.
If anyone else has a better way to do this would appreciate knowing, as this is a bit of an indirect method!