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Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWIF Game Interface Design (3/26/2008 12:16:42 AM)
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Here is what I have for the context sensitive help for the Naval Review Details form:
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Use of Naval Review and Task Force Forms
(as of March 25, 2008)
Introduction
There are four closely related forms for working with naval units: Naval Review Details, Naval Review Summary, Task Force Details, and Task Force Summary. These are referred to as NRD, NRS, TFD, and TFS respectively. The NRD and TFD forms have very similar visual designs; and the same is true for the NRS and TFS forms. Also, each of the forms only uses half of the minimum screen area, so that two of these forms can be shown side by side.
However, it is important to understand that each of the four forms is used to accomplish different tasks while playing. You might start by showing the NRD form to see all the units in a port, and then bring up the NRS form alongside of it, to see a summary of naval units in other ports and sea areas. From there you can use the NRS form to select a port or sea area, and refresh the NRD to see the units in the selected port/sea area.
Or, you might start with the NRD form for a sea area and bring up the TFD form for a task force that is in that sea area. You could then replace the NRD form with the TFS form to locate all the task forces under your command. Just like using the NRS and NRD forms together, you can use the TFS and TFD forms together, clicking on a task force in the TFS to refresh the TFD form with the information on the selected task force. The combination of TFS and TFD lets you review all your (or your enemy’s) task forces quickly and in great detail.
Another common use for these forms is to bring up the NRD for a port or sea area section box and then create a task force from the units in the selected port/sea area section box. It’s not possible to create a task force using units from different sections of a sea area, since the rules forbid them from moving as a group. The setup form has a button to initiate this task where the NRD form contains the units in the setup tray’s current location (e.g., US West Coast) and the TFD is placed alongside the NRD so you can create a new task force from the units to be setup. The advantage here is that once you have defined your task force, you merely place the single TF unit on the map, instead of having to place all the individual units.
By giving your task forces meaningful names and attaching Notes to them, you can identify the task/purpose for each of them. Though I would advise against naming them Invade Calais Task Force, unless you really meant to use them to invade Normandy.
A common activity when the NRD and TFD are shown side-by-side is to exchange units between them, modifying the composition of your task forces. Since task forces are purely MWIF administrative units, they have no interaction with the WIF rules. Creating, disbanding, and modifying task forces can be freely done at any time during game play, completely ignoring all rules concerning game play.
Naval Review Details
The NRD form depicts the units in a port, sea area section box, or sea area (i.e., all section boxes). Because there can be dozens of units in any of these locations, the units are split into four main columns: carriers, battleships, cruisers, and transports + submarines.
The carrier column has 3 sub-columns, which show the carrier in the leftmost column and up to two carrier air units aboard the carrier. Likewise, the transport column has two sub-columns with the transport on the left and the unit it is transporting on the right. If a surface combat ship (SCS), such as a cruiser, is transporting a division, then it is shown in the transport column instead of the cruiser column. If a naval transport is carrying two divisions, then two rows are used in the transport column to show all three units: the transport and the first division are in the top row and the second division is alone in the second row.
When displaying a port, there can be land and air units that are not currently aboard a transport, but that have the potential for being picked up during naval movement. Therefore, the transport column also shows these units, but they appear in the left sub-column and are at the bottom of the column.
Controlling which units are shown in the NRD are check boxes. For the most part these are cumulative filters. Checking Mine means that units belonging to the current major power are shown. Allied and Axis check boxes include those units respectively. Submarines are excluded unless the box for them has been checked. Lastly, the Available check box is unusual because checking it means that some units are not shown. When the Available box is checked, units that are disorganized are not shown.
There are two sets of navigational buttons which lets you cycle through all the ports, and all the sea areas. When you are cycling through either ports or sea areas, the program skips those that have no units satisfying the current filter settings. As you modify the filters to include more units, you are very likely to increase the number of ports and sea areas to be cycled through. The numbers adjacent to the Ports and Sea Areas labels, show how many of each currently contain at least 1 unit that satisfies the filters.
The Transfer Units button moves the currently selected units to the TFD. If the TFD is not currently visible, it creates the TFD form, creates a new task force, and transfers the selected units to the newly created TF.
Naval Summary button brings up the NRS form alongside the NRD form. The Map button centers the current detailed map on the current port/sea area being shown. Done closes the NRD form.
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