Questions on the Battle Calculator

[Andreas the Wise]

Here's a novel idea. Instead of everybody complaining they don't understand QUARREL, why don't you do two things?

First, read the rules. If you haven't done this, you can hardly protest that the system doesn't make much sense.

Second, if you still have questions about the calculator, ask them here and I'll answer them. I'll admit, the calculator has been done up without help interfaces or the like, on the assumption that people have got the basic grasp of the rules - but if it isn't clear what to do from the manual, please, please, ask us questions and tell us what's not clear so we can actually change that. Also, note there are some stuff in italics at the bottom which should explain what things do specifically in my interface that aren't clear from the general manual.

EDIT: A quick run through anyway. You should already have made your orbat from official units. Now, when you have a battle to run, you go to the calculator, enter the name of the battle (to find it later) and attacker/defender names.

Then you enter your first unit and their first unit. Click on the name of the unit to select it. If the unit has any upgrades, select them (you can select multiple upgrades - just hold down Control to do so). Then enter the number of each unit you have (eg if you have 3 Infantry, you enter 3. If you just have 1, enter 1 etc.). Next, select the unit's Priority. The battle calculator calculates which units die for you - so if you want your infantry to take damage before your Armour, you would set the infantry priority high (like at 10) and the Armour priority low (like at 2). Priority 1 means it's the unit least likely to take damage.
Finally, if your unit has a different name to the standard unit (like "First Batallion", you can enter this here, and it will be displayed in the damages as "First Batallion".

If you have more than one unit, click the New Unit link, and a new one will appear for you to add etc.

After you've added all the units, enter any further input and settings (I'm not sure Scott's explained them all so just ignore them if you don't know yet). Finally, if you want the full results of the Battle, select "Battle Results". If you'd like just a summary of what you and your opponent lost, select "Battle Summary." If you'd like an orbat generated for you, tick orbat. And if you find the amusing messages not amusing ... tick the other one.

NOTE: If you like the nice write up of results, you'll have to copy paste it. The log doesn't release it in that format.

[Allot]

I've read the rules. Here's what I understand from them. It's like Risk (kinda). Here's what I think happens:

I have my OrBat, Bob has his. I decide I want to attack Bob's city. I run over to ATTILA, and put in my units AND Bob's units. I hit Go. It tells me if I won or not. Right or wrong?

Here's what I REALLY don't understand, even though it has nothing to do with the calculator. Moving units. How, where, how far, when, who?

[Andreas the Wise]

Your basic grasp seems to be quite good.

As to moving units - all that's done within your backstory. So if you move from Eliria to Shirekeep, so say so in your backstory.
Now, you might have noticed that units have a speed and range. Both are in pixels. So an infantry, say, can move 50 pixels a day; and after it's stopped moving, if an army is within 5 pixels (it's range) it can engage it.

If you have an army with Infantry (speed 50) and Armour (speed 150); then you can either move the total distance of the lowest unit (in this case, 50), or split your army and move the Armour's further.

And, of course, Artillery are bombard units and so have a big range (30) - so there might be times they can bombard the other army, but the two armies can't fight eachother in a direct battle.

That help?

[Allot]

So how do I measure pixels?

[Andreas the Wise]

Unless people get antsy, you shouldn't need to calculate it too seriously. If you do need to, get the map in paint, put the marker to the point where you start, and read your X/Y location. Move to your destination, and do the same. Distance = Square Root (x^2 + y^2).