The Forgotten Kingdoms Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 5/10]

It has been a while since we've put up an Epic Hero Special Rule Applicability List. Time has just been flying buy and I am quickly running out of it! Here is the list for The Forgotten Kingdoms' Epic Heroes. For only having 3 Epic Heroes within the list I was surprised at how many special rules and Epic Rules that they have. It looks like their primary focus is to augment the formations in which they are included:

 

So, there it is ... If we look at the applicability column, it is interesting to see that the following spread exists:

• Only the Hero - 4/21
• Hero's Company - 1/21
• Hero's Formation - 9/21
• Target Enemy - 1/21
• All Friendly Formations within Range - 4/21
• Target Friendly Hero - 2/21

As you can see above, 13/21 are Formation-centric and only 8/21 are not. This would be very useful for formation augmentation.

LINKS TO OTHER SPECIAL RULE EVALUATION POSTS

1. Gondor & Arnor Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 1/10]
2. The Kingdom of Rohan Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 2/10]
3. The Elven Kingdoms Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 3/10]
4. The Dwarf Holds Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 4/10]
5. The Forgotten Kingdoms Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 5/10]
6. Mordor Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 6/10]
7. The Fortress of Isengard Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 7/10]
8. The Misty Mountains (Moria) Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 8/10]
9. The Fallen Realms Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 9/10]
10. Angmar Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 10/10]

LINKS TO OTHER UNIT COST ANALYSIS POSTS

1. Gondor & Arnor Warriors
2. Gondor & Arnor Heroes
3. The Kingdom of Rohan Unit Cost Analysis
4. The Elven Kingdoms Unit Cost Analysis
5. The Dwarf Holds Unit Cost Analysis
6. The Forgotten Kingdoms Unit Cost Analysis
7. Mordor Unit Cost Analysis
8. The Fortress of Isengard Unit Cost Analysis
9. The Misty Mountains (Moria) Unit Cost Analysis
10. The Fallen Realms Unit Cost Analysis
11. Angmar Unit Cost Analysis

WFMC - Implementing the Options for Rotation [Part 8/11]

The last three weeks has been busy with real life, so trying to find the time to squeeze in a little bit of coding has been quite the struggle; and to add salt to the wound, the majority of the work that I've been working toward accomplishing has been refactoring code within the Business Logic Layer of the Application, which is non-functional - paying back my Technical Debt over the last two months or so … Long story short - I've gotten some work done on features that are necessary but not super "flashy", but hopefully it will be enough to keep everyone interested until I can unveil more fun and exciting features.

WHERE WE LEFT OFF WITH PART 7/11

Here is what the application looked like on the 20th May 2015.

We had added the zoom in/out capability (in the top right of the OpenGL View. We had also added the code to ensure that the checkboxes for Hornblowers, Difficult Terrain, Enemy Upon Us, At the Double, and Heroic Move were all adjusting the Remaining Move Value to allow them to be fully functional.

MORE PROGRESS THAT HAS BEEN MADE

The first thing that you should notice is the newly enabled feature and the placeholder for a new future feature.

We have enabled the Rotation Radio Button Options in the Center on the Left and added the Clear All placeholder button to the bottom right of the Application. You may have noticed that the Radio Buttons for the Translation Sliders have also been renamed to the function that they are appropriately performing. As of right now, all Translation is Vector Based, so that is the default selected Radio Button.




I had originally intended to also include the functionality for the "Use Vanilla WotR Move Limit Rules" Checkbox in this update, but alas - I had run out of time and that feature is requiring more Non-Functional Refactoring and effort than I had originally anticipated. Perhaps it was the 20-hour SmallWorld ©, Star Wars Epic Duels ®,  & Diablo III © XBox One © Extravaganza I had with my brother over the weekend that consumed all my time … NAH! That couldn't be it.




The first thing I want to show is the changed availability of the Hornblower Checkbox. Previously, it was enabled and disabled only by the selected Desired Formation and Desired Unit's availability.




We have changed it so that once a formation is Baselined, the state of the Hornblower Checkbox is committed and persisted for the formation. That is to say, there is no way to remove a Hornblower from a formation after it is in play - so why should the checkbox be enabled after the formation is baselined. With leaving it enabled, I was able to check and uncheck the checkbox at my leisure round-after-round (effectively allowing me to add +1" Move whenever I wanted extra Move Value). This defeats the intent of the Application, so it has been locked down once the formation is Baselined. If you then make a change to the Desired Unit, it will re-enable allowing the new formation to be selected for Hornblower availability.


As mentioned earlier, We have also turned on the Radio Buttons for the Rotation Options.

Recall back to previous posts about Rotating via Spinning (which occurs about the center of the formation) and Rotating via Wheeling (which occurs about a specified corner of the formation).

The way that the Application up to this point has been using a combination of the two above, because the formation was rotating about the Origin of the crosshairs (which is actually located at the bottom-center of the Command Company within the Formation. Furthermore, the Expended Move Value for the Rotation had no bearing in reality - and didn't take into consideration the width or length of the Formation for calculating cost. So, basically, we were letting everyone "Get Away with Murder" and not calculating realistic rotation costs! The Translation Costs were accurate and as of today's incarnation, now the Rotation Costs are correct, as well.

The Expended Move Value is still not "compounded" until the Formation is baselined; so any Rotation or Translation or Reconfiguration to orient and place the Formation before Baselining will not occur Expended Move Value Cost (just like before).

Now, this is actually going to be rather difficult to show with static images. I guess I'll just have to give it a shot and see how it goes. I'll start with the rotating about the center option, first. It is the "Rotate via Spinning" Radio Button Option.

Here is the Formation that we were just playing with for the Hornblower. It is a Formation of Minas Tirith Archers in 2x3 Configuration with the "Rotate via Spinning" Option selected. The formation has been Baselined (so it will start to accrue Expended Move Value based upon the dimension of the Formation).

Here we go, I'll move the Rotation Slider and watch how it rotates about the center of the Formation, which is 1 Company in from the left/right sides and 1.5 Companies in from the front/bottom sides.

Hopefully that is enough to give the idea of how it works for Rotating via Spinning about the Center of the Formation. I'm going to Reset the Round (for Round 1) to get the Formation back in its original location and then I'll do the same for Rotating via Wheeling.

Once the Radio Button is changed from "Rotating via Spinning" to "Rotating via Wheeling" the drop down ComboBox under the Radio Button is also enabled (since you have to select a corner via which the wheeling will be applied).

When you select the drop down for the ComboBox, it right now only has the option for the two front corners of the formation. I plan to add the back corners, but I need to think about a cleaver way to do that for non-rectangular Formations.

So, let's start with Rotating via Wheeling for the Front-Right Corner of the Formation:

Here is a Cavalry Formation of Elves in a 5x2 Configuration Wheeling about the Front-Left Corner of the Formation:

A few other minor fixes included the fact that the Zoom Buttons were not working for Cavalry Formation. It was a happenstance that I stumbled upon while testing the Rotation functionality. So, there we go. I guess it wasn't as small of a change as I had originally thought - in fact this filled up a post quite nicely.

Any thoughts or feedback? It's getting close to my original "Definition of Ready" that I had created for myself!!

LINKS TO OTHER PARTS OF THE WFMC PROGRESS SERIES

• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Work in Progress [Part 1/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Update ... Progress still being Made [Part 2/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - WFMC Continuing to Come Together [Part 3/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Formations Look Like REAL Formations and Groundwork for Reconfig Costs Put in Place [Part 4/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Load Previous Data & Reconfig Costs/Restrictions [Part 5/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Fixed Expended Move Costs Round-to-Round and Added Color to the Reconfiguration Combo Box [Part 6/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Movement Modifier Checkboxes Work Properly and Zoom Capability [Part 7/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Implementing the Options for Rotation [Part 8/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Calculating the Translation Distance for Vanilla WotR Rules of Movement [Part 9a/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Calculating the Translation Distance for Vanilla WotR Rules of Movement (Continued) [Part 9b/11]
• WotR Formation Movement Calculator - Starting the Implementation of the Mobile Version on iPhone/iPad [Part 10/11]
• TBD [Part 11/11]

LINKS TO OTHER PARTS OF MOVEMENT TYPES AND LIMITS SERIES

• Movement Types and Limits Series - Translational and Rotational Movement [Part 1/23]

• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Infantry Formations Comprised of 2-3 Companies [Part 2/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Infantry Formations Comprised of 4 Companies [Part 3/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Infantry Formations Comprised of 5 Companies [Part 4/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Infantry Formations Comprised of 6 Companies [Part 5/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Infantry Formations Comprised of 7 Companies [Part 6/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Infantry Formations Comprised of 8 Companies [Part 7/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Infantry Formations Comprised of 9 Companies [Part 8/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Summary of Infantry Formations by Company Size [Part 9/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Infantry Restrictions of Reconfiguration by Formation Name Summary [Part 10/23]

• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Cavalry Formations Comprised of 2-3 Companies [Part 11/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Cavalry Formations Comprised for 4 Companies [Part 12/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Cavalry Formations Comprised of 5 Companies [Part 13/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Cavalry Formations Comprised of 6 Companies [Part 14/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Cavalry Formations Comprised of 7 Companies [Part 15/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Cavalry Formations Comprised of 8 Companies [Part 16/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Movement of Infantry Formations Comprised of 9 Companies [Part 17/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Cavalry Movement Example 1 from Page 33 of WotR Rulebook Analysis [Part 18/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Cavalry Movement Example 2 from Page 33 of WotR Rulebook Analysis [Part 19/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Cavalry Movement Example 3 from Page 33 of WotR Rulebook Analysis [Part 20/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Reconfiguration Summary of Cavalry Formations by Company Size [Part 21/23]
• Movement Types and Limits Series - Cavalry Restrictions of Reconfiguration by Formation Name Summary [Part 22/23]
• Using WFMC to Verify Movement Examples [Part 23/23]