Sandbox Utility : Development Tool for EoC Ship Attribute Testing

Coded by Shane/ shanemaness@msn.com /Concept by GrandpaTrout.

Created as supplement for Epic Modification of Edge of Chaos.

5:30 PM 12/08/2002

The Sandbox Utility is a device for testing ship types, specifications, and systems in an easy-to-setup format. The modification will create, per the user's input, a scenario in which a group of friendly forces (i.e., wingmen) and a group of hostile forces meet and combat one another. The ships which comprise these two groups are selected by the user and are then brought together to initiate combat. The user (player) may either participate in the combat, or may simply hang back and observe the combat. In this way, ship balance (play balance) may be judged by the programmer.

To install:

1. Place the Sandbox.zip file in the mod folder of the main EoC directory.

2. Cut and paste (or copy manually) the keybind into the default.ini (which is located in the

configs file folder in the main EoC directory)

[Sandbox.SandboxToggle]

Keyboard, B

3. Begin the EoC game and activate the Sandbox mod on the 'EXTRAS' screen.

4. Once in space, press the 'B' key (or the relevant keybind if it was changed) to open the Sandbox screen.

The Sandbox Scenario Selection screen:

When the Sandbox Utility is activated by the keypress, the Scenario Selection screen opens. There, the user may choose between an Attack scenario (a scenario where the friendly forces attack the enemy at the Enemy Waypoint) or a Defend scenario (a scenario where the enemy forces attack the friendly forces at the Friendly Waypoint). When the user has made his decision, the “CONTINUE TO NEXT STAGE” button is pressed.

Controls of the Sandbox Scenario Selection screen:

CLOSE SANDBOX WITHOUT DESTROYING SIMS: This button closes the Sandbox, but does not destroy any sims or combat objects. If the Sandbox is opened by mistake while running a simulation, this is the correct button to close the Sandbox, while continuing to run the simulation.

ATTACK SCENARIO: This button selects an attack scenario as the current simulation. In an attack scenario, the player, upon starting the simulation, will travel to the Friendly Waypoint and rendezvous with any wingmen selected. Then, the player will travel with the wingmen to the Enemy Waypoint to engage the enemy forces.

DEFEND SCENARIO: This button selects a defend scenario as the current simulation. In a defend scenario, the player, upon starting the simulation, will travel to the Friendly Waypoint to rendezvous with any wingmen selected. Upon approaching within 20km of the Friendly Waypoint, a thirty-second countdown begins. At this time the player may prepare for an attack. At the end of the thirty-second countdown, the enemy forces will arrive and attempt to destroy all ships in the friendly fleet (player included).

CONTINUE TO NEXT STAGE: This button stores the scenario selected by the user, and opens the main Sandbox screen, where the fleets will be selected.

ABORT AND DESTROY ALL COMBAT OBJECTS: This button closes the Sandbox screens and destroys all ships, waypoints, and combat objects. This control is used to halt the Sandbox, or to reset a simulation.

The Sandbox Screen

The Sandbox GUI screen is the user's means of determining the number, type, size, skill, and composition of the friendly and enemy fleets. It is divided into these functions:

ABORT SIMULATION AND QUIT THE SANDBOX: This button immediately aborts the Sandbox, closing the screens and destroying all ships, waypoints, and combat objects. It is used to clear the simulation.

START THE SANDBOX SIMULATION: This button is used to start the Sandbox simulation. When pressed, the screen closes, and the player is free to travel to the Friendly Waypoint.

FRIENDLY FLEET TEXT BOX: This window shows the ships currently selected to be in the Friendly Fleet. Any ships selected can be seen here. NOTE: For reasons not clear at this time, the script seems to have a problem printing to this box. This must be worked on further... At this time, the boxes do not display anything.

ENEMY FLEET TEXT BOX: This window shows the ships currently selected to be in the Enemy Fleet. Any ships selected can be seen here. NOTE: For reasons not clear at this time, the script seems to have a problem printing to this box. This must be worked on further... At this time, the boxes do not display anything.

ADD TO FRIENDLY FLEET: This button determines which fleet a ship created is sent to. For instance, if this button was selected, and then the “cops/fighter” button was pressed, a cops/fighter ship is created and assigned to the Friendly Fleet.

ADD TO ENEMY FLEET: This button determines which fleet a ship created is sent to. For instance, if this button was selected, and then the “cops/fighter” button was pressed, a cops/fighter ship is created and assigned to the Enemy Fleet.

SHIP SELECTION LIST: This is a list of all ships available for the Sandbox Utility. All ships used in the standard single-player game are here (including player ships controlled by AI). To add more ship types, see “Adding New Ships to the Sandbox Utility”.

When one of these buttons is pressed, a ship is created immediately, assigned the skill level shown on the Skill slider bar, and sent to the Enemy Fleet or Friendly Fleet (depending on which fleet button is selected).

AI PILOT SKILL LEVEL SLIDER: This slider controls the skill of the AI pilot assigned to a ship. The higher the setting, the higher the skill level of the AI pilot of any ship created. At the highest level, the AI poses a significant threat to the player. It is important to remember that the slider must be positioned BEFORE the ship’s button is pressed.

Combat Object Buttons:

ASTEROID/DEBRIS/NONE RADIO BUTTONS: These buttons determine if an asteroid field or a debris field are to be present at the combat area. For example: If the user selected a defend scenario, and selected an asteroid field, the asteroid field will be placed at the Friendly Forces waypoint, since that is where combat will take place.

LDSi FIELD ON/LDSi FIELD OFF BUTTONS: These buttons determine if a LDSi field is to be present at the combat area. For example: If the user selected an Attack scenario, and selected the LDSi Field On button, the field will be placed at the Enemy Forces waypoint, since that is where combat will take place.

NEBULA ON/NEBULA OFF BUTTONS: This button creates a very large nebula (10,000km diameter) which shortens sensor range and visibility considerably. The nebula’s colors can be changed by modifying the sims/regions/alien_cloud_10000k.ini file located within the Sandbox.zip file. There are several different colors to choose from, and modifications may be made easily. See the ini file for more detailed instructions.

The nebula sim-object is destroyed by the Abort Sandbox buttons, but cannot be “cleaned up” as easily as waypoints and ships. The clouds will remain. For this reason, if a nebula is used, and the user wants to run further simulations without the nebula, he will have to travel (via LDS) outside the nebula field and start the Sandbox Utility again.

NO STATION/UNARMED STATION/ARMED STATION RADIO BUTTONS: These buttons determine if an unarmed station or an armed station is to be present at the combat area. For example: If the user selected an Attack scenario, and selected an armed station, the station will be placed at the Enemy Forces waypoint, since that is where combat will take place. Since the station is at the Enemy Forces waypoint, it will be hostile to the player and the Friendly Fleet.

If the armed station was selected in a Defend scenario, the station would be placed at the Friendly Forces Waypoint, and set to be friendly with the player and the Friendly Fleet.

Other Sandbox Utility Information:

In the interest of easing testing abilities, the Sandbox mod contains all the original ship ini files of the original single player game. In this manner, the ini files within the Sandbox.zip folder may be modified to a great extent while preserving the ability to turn off the Sandbox mod and play the game with the original ship specifications.

The Sandbox does not specify individual Attack Type orders for each ship. Ships created will have the faction/default Attack Types normally attributed to each ship.

The Sandbox Utility was created so that the user would have great control over any combat simulation. For example: If the user was running an Attack scenario, and realized he had made the enemy forces too strong, the user may open the Sandbox, select Attack scenario, select more ships for the friendly forces without interfering with the simulation already created. Then, the use can start the simulation and call the newly created ships from the Friendly Forces waypoint into the battle currently running (like calling for reinforcements...). In a similar manner, enemy ships, stations, and even combat objects can be brought into existence while the simulation is running.

NOTE: Some ship types are unsuited for combat. They, by default, lack LDS drives or some other necessary piece of equipment. For instance; the aliens have no LDS drive, and so can only move a maximum of 800kps. In addition, they have no specified attack (the alien attack seen in the game is a

scripted element). Therefore, they make poor wingmen.