VGA Planets 4 Management Console

From PlanetsWiki

by Rick Glover aka Magik

The goal of this application is to provide access to and makes changes to the information contained in the WAR files generated by the VGA Planets 4 client application (PLANET.EXE). Those files are:

• KAPPAxx.MEM
• KAPPAxx.VVV
• PLAYERxx.RST
• PLAYERxx.TRK
• PLAYERxx.WAR

Access to these files will provide flexibility in managing the game files in such a way that the Planets 4 Client may not already have. Reading and modifying these files will be done through the DLL that Tim Wisseman has provided (actually he will provide after VGA Planets 4 goes gold).

Below is the list of planned features:

Comprehensive Search/Query System
Allow for a comprehensive search for information from various sources.

Example 1: In an attempt to find bases where you have over 1 million colonists that you want to pod off to another base so that you can maximize your resource point allocation, you can use the following search criteria.

Type = Base
Criteria 1: Colonists > 1,000,000
Criteria 2: Has Structure: Pod Launch Pad
Criteria 3: Megacredits >= 25

Example 2: This example demonstrates how to find a nearby base to receive the colonists from the base(s) found in Example 1 above. You can save your search/query and apply it in other searches, like this example shows. The results will be a list of bases within 80 LY of each base returned from Example 1’s search.

Type = Base
Criteria 1: Colonists < 1,000,000
Criteria 2: Distance to Results Example 1 <= 80

Policy-based Micromanagement System
This system will allow you to design policies that will govern the way that you want your empire managed. You can set up searches and actions to be performed against those searches. These policies can be placed into an automated system that will launch upon startup and given priorities so that they launch in the order that you design.

Example 3: In this example, we will have each base in the results from Example 1 pod excess colonists to those bases in Example 2. If there are results from Example 2 that are duplicates (i.e. a base is within 80 LY of two bases in Example 1 results) then the duplicate will be ignored. The Quantity will restrict the number of Pod Launches to 1 per base.

Type = Pod Launch
Source = Each of Example 1
Destination = Each of Example 2, no repeats
Quantity = 1

Regional Management
You can designate regions so that each region can have the policies above applied separately. Regions can have a set of designated shipyards, training bases, breeding bases, etc so that supplies from other bases in that region will be transported automatically to those designated bases. Inter-regional transports can be configured so that when one region is lacking in a resource, a nearby region will supply it.

Minefield Dropping Automation
A region of space can be designated to have minefields placed there and a ship chosen then the ship will automatically cover the area in minefields, maximizing coverage. A point in space (such as a planet or jumpgate) can be designated for maximum coverage.

Ease of Management Wings and Ships can be selected in groups by dragging a box around them or select, Ctrl-select, Shift-select, and/or Ctrl-Shift-select as with the normal Windows selections. The selected wings or ships can all be set to be added to a fleet, a group, configured the same way, have the same waypoint(s) set, etc.