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View Full Version : Nation Armies (automation for kingdom Armies from Kingmaker AP for pf1,pf2 and 5e)



sgtwhy
January 23rd, 2024, 01:40
Hello adventurers!

Welcome to those interested in using the new kingmaker rules (2022) with fantasy grounds unity.

It's been over a years since I started my first "side quest"; Nation Builder extension
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?77602

The "builder" app is fully flushed out now, allowing me to start working on the next part;
Nation Armies!

This next mini-expansion can be used together or as a stand alone product -
if used "stand alone" many of the nation actions, etc. will be disabled.
However, you can still create and manage armies, can still conduct battles, etc.

For those with both extensions, this will add new nation army and war actions to the kingdom turns.
And it will use your nation skills and abilities to determine success of the new actions attempted.

In either case, this extension adds (2) new menu options;

Army Actions
War Actions


Army Actions
This will allow you to create new armies, manage the armies tactics and gear and level up the armies over time.
It also adds another "phase" to the nation turns (aka kingdom phases) ... for "Army Actions";
Each of your armies is allowed to attempt (1) army action each month, at the end of the nation turn phase.

note: since these actions are based on nation skill bonuses, its depends on the synergy of both apps installed.
otherwise, it assumes all skills have a default bonus of (0) ... which is checked upon loading.

Upgrades
In addition to creating and managing armies, there is a second tab that is essentially the "store" for armies;
It allows the GM to easily add new tactics or gear to the armies, by selecting an army and clicking to add gear/tactics.


War Actions
This automation focuses around battles between the nation armies. It's a barebones "combat tracker" of sorts.
However, keep in mind that army battles are essentially "theater of mind" ... and do not require a battle map.

So unlike the "true" combat tracker, it is not "map or token, aware" ... but it does manage the relevant meta data.
You kick off a army combat "round" the usual way, by rolling for initiatives ... and then going in high-to-low order.

Each army is allowed (3) basic actions and the bonuses for actions are all calculated based on the selected army.
The tool helps you correlate the relevant bonuses and track the outcomes of actions such as wounds or routing.

Conditions
In addition to tracking the war actions of armies, there is a second tab with all of the "conditions" for armies;
You can easily track / add conditions to the selected army, from the conditions tab ... which adds (1) instance.
Multiple condition instances will stack, up to the hard limit of (4 or less) ... and the GM can click the counter to reduce it by (1).

Current status:
(as of 1-22-2024)
currently at build v0.1.22 ... almost feature complete and ready for user testing.
Will set it up on Forge and add a link here, as soon as its in a "customer ready" state.

For now, my group and I are putting it through testing as we move into the 4th book of the AP.
Screenshots and more, to come shortly!

Feel free to drop any feature requests or other questions in the meanwhile.

sgtwhy
January 23rd, 2024, 01:50
Here are screenshots to provide more context;

ARMY Actions
59744

Creating a new army
59743

Adding gear to an army
59745

Adding tactics to an army
59746


WAR Actions
59747

Morenu
January 23rd, 2024, 18:03
Nice! will definitely purchase to go with your original

sgtwhy
February 18th, 2024, 02:25
Hi folks -

Just wanted to share a new video (with audio this time)
... Nation Armies (w/o Nation Builder)

It walks thru the creation of kingdom armies, for a new campaign ... "without" the Nation Builder app.
LR2AtOBxvW8

Here is an alternative, short URL;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR2AtOBxvW8

Next, will be on how to use the new WAR ACTIONS automation.

sgtwhy
February 27th, 2024, 05:07
Quick update:

The app should now be listed, they resolved the upload issues with the forge.

It works stand alone or in combination with the Nation Builder --
And I am working on more video examples of how to use the tools.

NOTE -- On Sale 03/01 11am through 03/06 11pm
I decided to list the extension at 50% off to encourage folks to pick it up and give it a try.

The tools are fully functional, but targeting is a bit manual until I work out methods to streamline it.

So, during army combat the GM needs to set the DC level of each task manually ...
by updating the DC field based on the actions and targets chosen.

I will add videos shortly to demonstrate how to WAR (Army combat)

sgtwhy
March 11th, 2024, 05:11
Looks like there is not a lot of interest in this toolset and it works for my needs as is.

Since I likely wont have to do much further work on this, going to reduce the price to $5 to match the sale price.

sgtwhy
March 23rd, 2024, 06:11
Another demo video is up!

This recording demonstrates the "combat tracker" for the Nation Armies.
It can be used "stand alone" or as part of the "Nation Builder" toolset.

8YrbraUCp1E


The rules are included in the free updated players guide from Paizo --
and I'd recommend reading them over, for those curious.

sgtwhy
April 3rd, 2024, 04:20
lots of minor tweaks and updates
* rework of graphics (icons, frames, tabs)
* prep work for theme compatibility
* fixed a few logic errors
* set default to DC 10 (for non-nation builder users)

Army combat damage ...
It will show up on the Army details if/when any damage is taken.
(otherwise its hidden from view)

Ranged Ammo
Added a second box to track the remaining ranged shots left ... since during combat encounters, the armies are usually limited to [5] in total.


GUARD or FORTIFY
Added (2) check boxes for both situations.
Guard adds +2 AC vs attacks from other armies.
Fortify adds +4 AC to those inside.

Miloh
May 3rd, 2024, 00:47
Hi Sgtwhy,

Wanted to add some things to the wish list.

When I create armies in the army tab, all my players can see them. That means if I create all the armies around their kingdom, well, its TMI.Is it possible to add a "hidden" check box on the army list so that a DM can hide other armies from players?

Second thing, is I accidentally deleated an army from the Battle tab, and it deleated the army completely. Maybe have it so armies can only be deleted from the Army tab.

Third thing is, it would be nice to have a check box in army tab to say if I want to add the army to the battle tab or not. Currently I do this by setting unwanted army factions to "none" but the reality is my players have about 6 armies, and typically only 1 or 2 of them will be in any given battle. That means I have to set all their factions to "none" except for the ones that will be in the battle.

Food for thought.

Miloh.

sgtwhy
May 7th, 2024, 01:08
Lots of minor improvements in this latest update.

We have been extensively play testing this in our campaign.
Specifically, using the toolset to manage WAR encounters.

As a result, have found a number of ways to improve the gameplay.
Also identified a lot more areas of potential "automation".


Here are a few highlights;


battle selector
On the WAR actions sheet, added a popup list to select "combatants".
(previously, it filtered on all FRIEND/FOE armies)

conditions
Selecting an army in the WAR sheet, will also "apply" any conditional modifiers.
so, if an army is "fortified" it now adds +4 AC to their sheet.
of if they have (1) Shaken counter, it subtracts (1) from all their Morale checks.

war vs army popups
The popup for armies differs between the sheets now, to focus on what is relevant.
i.e. the army sheet popups are intended for modifying the gear and other values.
While the WAR actions popups are for managing units during combat.

PF critical success / failures
Use the result to determine success, except a 20 increases success by 1 tier;
and a critical failure (1) reduce the resulting success by 1 tier.

tooltips
updated a bunch of tooltips ... that were previously missing and/or incorrect.
hovering over the army selection button should now say "select army".

instructional videos
previous feedback requested more videos. So I put together a couple more.
The latest videos explain the usage of each extension, rather than just gameplay.






TO-DO:

tracking target(s) for each army
auto-determining DC (based on target, etc.)
applying damage based on success (requires all the above)
impact of conditions on "army events" (outside of combat)

sgtwhy
May 7th, 2024, 01:11
links to new videos

https://youtu.be/O8irxnFl6MU
https://youtu.be/icx1WiQ7pus

or (inline)
O8irxnFl6MU

icx1WiQ7pus

sgtwhy
May 7th, 2024, 01:48
Here is a screenshot to show how the new army selector works ...

60759


And this one shows the differences in ARMY popup layout ... for WAR events.

60760

sgtwhy
May 9th, 2024, 06:29
Hi Sgtwhy,

Wanted to add some things to the wish list.

When I create armies in the army tab, all my players can see them. That means if I create all the armies around their kingdom, well, its TMI.Is it possible to add a "hidden" check box on the army list so that a DM can hide other armies from players?

Second thing, is I accidentally deleated an army from the Battle tab, and it deleated the army completely. Maybe have it so armies can only be deleted from the Army tab.

Third thing is, it would be nice to have a check box in army tab to say if I want to add the army to the battle tab or not. Currently I do this by setting unwanted army factions to "none" but the reality is my players have about 6 armies, and typically only 1 or 2 of them will be in any given battle. That means I have to set all their factions to "none" except for the ones that will be in the battle.

Food for thought.

Miloh.

Hey Milo - great suggestions. As of the 0.5.5 update 2/3 of these are resolved ... working on the third.

1. Hiding ... hmm. I had not considered that. In theory, I could make the entire thing "GM only" but then players cant see their armies.
>> I have a lot of client side work to do. will see if perhaps I can limit their "view" to ONLY those with the FRIENDLY faction.

2. Delete protection! definitely. I already working on updating the WAR Actions sheets to be basically "read only".
>> Since there should be no changing gear or other army features during War events. (those should only happen during Army actions.)

3. great idea and its done, in current (0.5.5) release updates.
>> There is now a popup listing "all armies" and GM gets to select which ones are in the pending combat. (i.e. which appear in the War events sheet)

sgtwhy
May 16th, 2024, 05:21
Lots of changes wrapped into this release.

1. client vs GM "army list"
Now the players have a different view into the "armies" sheet.
It only shows armies with "friend" faction, no longer (all) armies.
This way, the GM can create armies without players awareness.

2. Delete protection
Only the GM can delete armies. And now, only from the ARMY Events page.
Its no longer possible to delete armies from the WAR events page.

3. Army selector
The WAR tracker page is now empty, until the GM selects units to enter combat.
note: players will be able to view details on all units in the WAR tracker sheet.

4. Player console error logs cleaned up
Addressed about 2 dozen console errors caused by clients lacking permissions.
They have all been updated (where relevant) to only happen for the GM.

over-all progress ... is very near "feature complete".

So, speak up now ... if there are more feature requests!
(and especially, if you find bugs that need to be fixed)