Alternating Initiative

just created an extenstion and put it up on FG Forge.

This extension will put 2 icons at the bottom of the GMs combat tracker. After rolling the initiative for everybody, the Alternating Initiative button can be pressed to change the order of the combatants to follow The Simple Initiative System described here:
https://youtu.be/SXleyDvtqls - Taking20 Youtube video describing the Alternating Initiative idea

The combatant with the highest initiative will go first, then the combatant with the highest initiative of the opposite faction will go, then the next highest of the first faction, etc. alternating between factions.
Combatants of the same faction that roll the same initiative will be lumped together.
Also, if needed (say if a new combatant will be entering the mix), the GM can hit the other button and the initiatives will be reset to the original rolls.

Attachment 56588

Attachment 56589

you can grab it at https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/1088/view

I just purchased this to give it a shot, but it doesn't show up in my extension options prior to loading a campagin. The .ext is in my folder though.

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Originally Posted by Fistan77

I just purchased this to give it a shot, but it doesn't show up in my extension options prior to loading a campagin. The .ext is in my folder though.

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I am sorry, I have re-compressed the extension and and tested on my end.


Also. Please refund yourself as I will be changing the price. There was a typo. I meant to list this for 100 coins, not 1000.
Sorry about that. ( but thanks for trying at the wrong price lol ;) )

It is working great now, thank you. I used it this morning in a game. If I can make a recommendation: Would there be any way to move button placement to the left of the faction icons (or at the top of the CT frame). The clear dead extension uses the exact button placement so I have to turn it off to use alternating initiative and it is one of my most used extensions so I imagine it would be for other folks also.

Thanks for the great extension!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fistan77

It is working great now, thank you. I used it this morning in a game. If I can make a recommendation: Would there be any way to move button placement to the left of the faction icons (or at the top of the CT frame). The clear dead extension uses the exact button placement so I have to turn it off to use alternating initiative and it is one of my most used extensions so I imagine it would be for other folks also.

Thanks for the great extension!

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No problem! I will move the icons this afternoon.

Done

noticed in a session last night that if you know how the initiative numbers are supposed to line up, the PCs could figure out if there were hidden foes in the combat tracker. I am updating the extension so that if you have hidden foes, they will keep their original initiative roll and everybody else will be set to the alternating initiative order with the correct initiative numbers. Then when the hidden character iin the combat tracker needs to come out, you can hit the reset initiative button, unhide the character, then hit the alternating initiative button and everything is put in its correct place again.

Update -
This might not be the best way if yhe GM needs to know where the hidden NPC is in the order. Re-working

Update 2 --

now the hidden characters will be where they are supposed to be in the GMs tracker. Players will see what they are supposed to see in alternating order as before. The GM can just unhide the NPC as needed and it will be where it is supposed to be for everybody.

Outstanding extension! Works like a charm!

I am contiinuing to fix small things I find. For example, there was an issue that would pop up sometimes that made the GM need to hit the reset button before the Alternating Initiative button would work. That has been resolved.

Please leave comments and I will fix things that pop up.

After enabling the extension it is not showing up in the CT.
I have enabled the extension by itself, but it still doesn't show the buttons on the CT for me.
I am using FGU Version 4.5.0.

Updating to FGU to see what is up.

Haven't had any problems for a while. Let me look into it. Do you have any other extensions that put buttons at the bottom of the CT?

Also which rule set are you using? As it is set up to work in core, pathfinder2, 4E and 5E

Figured out the problem. The functionality is still there, but the update removed the icons I was using as the buttons so it was just invisible.
Update will be uploaded shortly.

Thank you for informing me of the issue

Thank you, it's working as expected now. I highly appreciate the help and quick response to figuring it out. I'm really looking forward to not having to manually update the initiative for everyone.

Hi, I like this extension. I have discovered that it doesn't play well with Combat Groups extension (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/154/view). That extension allows me to load into CT ahead of time NPCs into groups and then "hide" them on CT. I can also "hide" PCs. When I use this extension, it includes all the "hidden" groups into the popcorn initiative. If possible, it'd be great if it could avoid the "hidden" groups of NPCs or PCs.

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Originally Posted by Gilafron

Hi, I like this extension. I have discovered that it doesn't play well with Combat Groups extension (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/154/view). That extension allows me to load into CT ahead of time NPCs into groups and then "hide" them on CT. I can also "hide" PCs. When I use this extension, it includes all the "hidden" groups into the popcorn initiative. If possible, it'd be great if it could avoid the "hidden" groups of NPCs or PCs.

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I did this on purpose so that the hidden NPC/PCs could pop into the fight when they are supposed to. However, the math is done so that the PCs won't know that there are hidden NPCs. At least that is how I tried to do it. It has worked well in all of my play testing.
I will add an option in the settings that will allow you to pick whether the hidden CT elements are part of the initiative or ignored.

Update 2.0: Added an option that allows the GM to pick whether or not to include hidden characters in the alternating initiative. If the option is set to "No" these hidden characters inititive will be set to 0 so they are not in the middle of the alternating order.

Awesome! Thanks!

Hi lprchaun, I tested out alternating initiative with 5E Combat Groups. Unfortunately, 5E Combat Groups must do something that makes all NPCs hidden. When I set Include Hidden actors? to No, all NPCs get set to zero (blank) initiative. If the setting is Yes, then it includes all NPCs in hidden combat groups. I'm not sure how 5E Combat Groups is configuring the NPCs to show or not.

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Originally Posted by Gilafron

Hi lprchaun, I tested out alternating initiative with 5E Combat Groups. Unfortunately, 5E Combat Groups must do something that makes all NPCs hidden. When I set Include Hidden actors? to No, all NPCs get set to zero (blank) initiative. If the setting is Yes, then it includes all NPCs in hidden combat groups. I'm not sure how 5E Combat Groups is configuring the NPCs to show or not.

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hmm. Want to make sure I understand correctly. You are saying that ALL NPCs get the blank initiative whether they are hidden or not. I don't have the Combat Groups extension, but assumed it utilized the hidden/visible option inside of FGU. I will look into it more....