Re: DM - DM DBase reaction

From: john1@zen.holonet.net (John Holt)

Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 14:15:26 +0000

johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu (John Carlos White) writes:

>So, I just downloaded the DM database from the pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/utils
>directory at wuarchive.wustl.edu, and I have some reactions and thoughts.

>First off all.  I've been wanting to do something like this for a long
>time, but I never seemed to have the time to learn how to use some of
>the database building tools out there.  I would like to thank John for
>taking the time to do this.

>I really like the way that this utility is set up.  The framework is
>there, but not in the most useful way... Here are my suggestions.

>Name:
>The program needs a /warriors subdirectory, and should create one if it
>isn't there already.
Thats my fault. I meant to mention to use the '-d' option when unzipping.
The program will do it for you now if the directory doesnt exist.

>The program saves your warrior information under a filename that eliminates
>spaces, but not any other forbidden dos filename characters.  For example,
>if you enter Butt.Head in the name field, you won't be able to save it.
Fixed.

>Skills:
>In the warrior information sheet, there is a section that speculates on
>the skill base of the warrior.  Unfortunately, this part of the game is
>not mapped out perfectly, and this information isn't really useful on a
>sheet that should give me hard information on my warriors.  I think that
>the better thing would be to include a field that is normally hidden that
>provides an area to enter exactly how many skills that it takes to get to
>expert in a field.  Perhaps even a span of up to 4 skills, and an area
>that compares speculated and actual bases.  I guess, my main beef is that
>there's no way for me to enter my actual skill level, if it doesn't match
>the speculation.
I included some more fields to keep track of your actual skill scores.

>Warrior Skill Optimization:
>Ok, I don't know what the algorithem was that was used to optimize warriros,
>but it doesn't work for me.  Try this:  take a dream warrior with 21's in
>wit, will and deftness.  Subtract 6 points from wit, will, and 2 from deft.
>Enter these numbers into the field and optimize.  Would you make this
>warrior?
I did try it. I entered 5-5-5-15-15-6-19 and the program suggested
5-5-5-21-21-6-21 for maximum skills. What did you get? The algorithm
calculates EVERY possible combination for adding the 6 points (not letting
any stat go over 21 of course). For each combo it adds up total starting
skills according to the stats.dat table (which you can change at will).
It keeps the best combination with the most starting skills. However I
will add more so you can tweak the optimization to what you want.

>A better system would have the initial number fields user alterable like
>now.  The center field would let me play with the numbers that I want
>to add to each by myself.  That way, I can see what designs will get what
>skills, and take into account things like the benefits of high will that
>an algorithem can't handle.

>Fight History:
>The best way that I can think of for this to work would be for the fight
>history to be a set of fields a bit more detailed than the opponents list.
>That way, the Dbase can create an opponent entry from the fight history.
>There should be an entry for which skills were learned when, and this
>should feed right into the main data sheet's record and statistics keeping.
>The same should go for skill trains.
Different people want different things here. For now I've left it as is. I can
just type in 'Turn 89 Yellowbeard fought Cyryth 48-2918 and won. Learned Init'
to keep track of above.

>View/Edit Opponents:
>I am unclear as to exactly what the "next" tool is supposed to do.
>Intuition says that I should be able to enter something in a field, hit
>next, and have the dbase run through any warrior that matches what I entered.
>But it doesn't seem to work that way.
When you click on View/Edit, its asking what, if any, fields it should
specifically search for. The 'Next' button does nothing here. Say, for
instance, I type '48' in the Arena field, click done, and the program
will then search for all warriors in arena 48, sort by their id, and display
the first one. Now you can click on 'Next' to scroll through the list.
I will change it so it will work as you expected it to as well.

>Create List:
>I would like to be able to output any list that I create to a text file
>that I can choose the name of.  That way, the net can trade lists, and
>a hard copy isn't the only output that I have to deal with (besides, my
>print access is only over a network).
Added it in.

>What is the "unknown" anyway?
Unknown is when a field is blank. For instance, I add the style masters
from my turnsheet to the database. However, it only lists the warrior,
their id, and their style. So I leave Handedness blank. Now if you do
a list that includes this warrior, it sees the Handed ness is unknown,
so you receive a summary like follows:
Found 47 warriors out of 268.
	62% Right handed
	19% Left Handed
	 9% Ambidextrous
	10% Unknown

>Outputting some of this stuff:
>Is it possible to output some of the screens to a printer and to a .ps
>file?  That would be cool...
I assume you mean the GUI screen? Right now you'll need a screen capture
program to do that.

>As I said, I think that this is a great utility!  The above is just what
>I would like changed for it to become actually useful for me.  I think that
>this utility could very well become the standard for people to use to keep
>track of their warriors.  I wonder how much work John is willing to put
>into it?  I encourage all of you to grab this thing and try it out!

Thanks for the comments! Keep the suggestions coming. I hope to have an
update with these changes done in a week or so.

-John

>John White
>--
>John White
>johnjohn@unholy1.caltech.edu
>The Kings are Stanley Cup bound.  Really!

References

DM - DM DBase reaction
johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu (John Carlos White)
Mon, 14 Feb 1994 04:07:38 +0000

Referenced By

DM - DM DBase reaction
johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu (John Carlos White)
Mon, 14 Feb 1994 04:07:38 +0000