Readme.txt des Programms "Strategma"
Stratagema
Version 1.12 Alpha
Copyright (C)1998
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Updates
2. What doesn't work in this version
3. Getting Started
4. The Copy command
5. The Resources Menu
6. What makes the simulation tick
7. Copyright notice
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Contact
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You can contact me at warrunes@home.com
You can find the latest updates at
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/3046/
Ya ya, Geocities and all... home of the designing impared. But to tell
you the truth, besides the long URL and the annoying advertisment,
Geocities is pretty good... Speed wise that is. The bandwidth they
give you is huge. Unlike other servers I've tried that have blown
chunks.
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1. Last Update - March 11, 1999
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* Added Brood War Units
* Made changes to correspond with those of StarCraft patch 1.05
* Fix several Zerg unit 'bugs' (i.e. Mutalisk/Guardian's Start-Time)
March 3, 1999
* Fixed the Lair and Hive upgrades. They were upgrading before the spawning pool/
queen's nest were finished.
* Miniture LARGE update - Added Upgrades for all races. They can be found
under the new menu "Upgrade"
* Fixed several units that could be built a few seconds before their respective
required buildings were done.
March 1, 1999
* HUGE update - Added full zerg compatibility
February 26, 1999
* Added edit boxes to "Advance Resources..." menu option
* Added Nexus and Command Center to build list
February 24, 1999
* Fixed a small bug with Pylon warp signature been registered early
* Added Status bar help message for Protoss
* Updated the "Copy to TXT" to work with the new Battle.net forums
* Fixed the Maximize button on document windows, finally figured out
how to disable it :)
* Added the mouse hand scrolling function to the Protoss documents
* Also added the Copy function to the Protoss documents
* Coded a new function, that formats build orders into HTML tables and
copies it to the clipboard
* Resources->Change... now displays a message on the document when used.
* Did a MASSIVE Protoss update, 99% of it now works, yay! Including the
Resources menu
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2. What doesn't work in this version
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* Undo, Cut, Paste, & Preferences
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3. Getting Started
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You will want to begin by creating a new document under the
File menu. At the moment only the Terran build order is fully
functional(Setting asside the Armor & Attack upgrades.) You can
have multiple document windows open to compare build orders if
you wish.
Starting conditions for all new documents are:
- 4 worker units
- 1 main center building
- 8 mineral patches
- Also the simulation runs at Starcraft's normal speed setting
By going to the Build menu you'll be able to choose what units
you want trained and what buildings to construct. Menu items that
are grayed out are because you've not yet built the proper
buildings required to choose that option.
Each time you order a command, there will be an entry added to the
document you have selected. Each entry tells you at what time the
command was executed, what the command was, how much ore & gas you
have after the command is executed, and at what time the command
ended executing.
If you make more entries than what your screen resolution can hold at
one time, instead of having scrollbars appear and take up space, you
can drag the entry list up and down. In other words, move the mouse
cursor within the document window, click and hold the left mouse button,
as soon as you start to move the mouse up/down the cursor will turn into
a hand and scroll the document data.
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4. The Copy Command
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The Copy menu item (under Edit) will copy the contents of the current
document into text format. So you can paste into any text program or
even on the Battle.net forums
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5. The Resources Menu
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At the moment there are two Resource menu items.
- Change...
- Advance Resources...
Change... Changes the amount of worker units gathering Ore and Gas. Thus
the option is grayed out until you have a Vespene Refinery(or are in the
process of building one.) When you select this menu option, a window will
popup with the number of workers gathering ore and gas. You use the up & down
arrows to tell Stratagema how many workers you want on ore & gas. Then click
OK or Cancel when done. Side Note: Although Stratagema shows you how many
workers are assigned per resource(ore/gas), it doesn't necessarly mean that
is exactly how many units are gathering resources at that one time. In other
words, say Stratagema displays 9 SCVs assigned to Ore. That does not mean that
there 9 seperate SCVs working on 9 seperate crystal patches at that very
moment. It means that 9 SCVs have been assigned to gather ore. Some SCVs may
be at the actual patch, other SCVs may be in the process of returning ore to
the command center, and another SCV may be construction a building... as soon
as that SCV is done on construction it is sent back to mining ore.
Advance Resources... So far, when you've ordered something to be built or
researched in Stratagema, worker units would gather resources as necessary.
If you had enough stored resources to build whatever you wanted, Stratagema
would order the immediate construction of the building. However, there are
some of you out there who like to gather resources to a certain point in
the beginning of the game and then begin construction of multiple buildings
at the same time. That is what this option allows you to do. When selecting it,
a window will popup with the current amount of resources. You can then tell
the Stratagema how much ore/gas you want and the simulation time will advance
to that point in time once you click OK. So say you built up to 10 SCVs. Now
you want to wait till you have 300 ore to build two Barracks at the same time.
So you go to Advance Resources and press the up arrow on ore until you have
300. Once you press OK, a new entry will be added to the document, with the
build order description of "Gathered more resources". It displays how much
ore & gas you ended up with and at what time you finished gathering it. Side
Note: "I tried the example, built 10 SCVs, order for 300 crystals, but ended
up with 318, what happen?" - Well... worker units bring in resources by 8 units
each. So say you were at 294 ore, the next SCV to bring ore will add 8 more to
that, resulting in 302 ore. In the example above, three SCVs apparently reached
the command center at the same time.
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6. What makes the simulation tick
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This section is for all of you out there who want to be set at ease about
whether they are working with estimates or actual numbers. Stratagema works
with ACTUAL numbers. Well that was easy, wasn't it? Testing has shown that
it comes remarkably close. It scared the hell out of me when timing my double
barracks rush was the same as the time the simulation suggested.
Of course, results are expected to vary among players. Why? Because Stratagema
doesn't take into account the distance workers take to construct buildings.
Also, the crystal patches are evenly spaced from the command center. However
since you will be comparing building orders under the same
enviorment(Stratagema), those few seconds variations between the actual game
and the simulation won't matter.
The simulation has worker units behave just like those in the game. A worker
unit is commanded to mine a mineral patch. It walks over to it, starts mining,
then returns the load to the command center, and then it's sent back to the
same mineral patch it was last working at. However, if you have more workers
than mineral patches, when a worker reaches a mineral patch and is under use,
the worker unit will go on to the next closest patch. If that one too is under
use, the worker will continue to go from patch to patch until it finds one that
is free, just as in the game.
When building a Vespene Refinery, the SCV that was used to construct the
building will be assigned to get gas once construction has been completed.
When ordering construction of buildings, Stratagema first searches for any
worker units that are not in the process of mining at the moment. If there
aren't any, it will take a worker out in the middle of mining. If for some
reason all the worker units assigned to ore are busy doing a task
that Stratagema can't cancel (such as constructing buildings) then the
simulation will look for worker units gathering gas.
Stratagema has 250 entry limit at the moment.
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7. Copyright Notice
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By hacking, ripping, or modifying Stratagema without the author's consent,
you give him full rights to hunt you down and skin you alive in the most
painful matter possible.