Portable BTech Files

[MORIBUND]

I've been giving some thought (oh no!) to the idea of a portable btech
specification file (for export/import from/to your favorite btech program).
The advantages to this are many (you can use any program you like and
import/export data with impunity). Seeing as I have about six or seven btech
programs (for the PC), and I like features of each one, I think the time has
come for such a 'standard.' Here goes...

A note:
[] = optional
() = one of a series of symbols
... = variable length string

<design section> ; start of DESIGN SECTION
designer=[name of designer] ; name of designer
from=[program exported from] ; where did this file come from?
createtime=[time of creation]
createdate=[date of creation]
name=... ; name of design
date=(3025,3050) ; old (3025) or new (3050) tech?
race=(is,cl) ; Inner Sphere (is) or Clan (cl)
type=(mech,vehicle,other) ; battlemech or vehicle or other(note1)
subtype=(lmech, mmech, hmech, amech...) ; subtype of unit type (note2)

<tech section>
tonnage=n ; weight of this monster
cruise=n ; walk/cruise speed of element
flank=n ; run/flank speed of element
jump=n ; jump distance of element
armor=n|n|n|n|n|n|n|n|n|n|n ; armor locations (note3)
ip=n|n|n|n|n|n|n|n|n ; internals (note4)
hs=(n,Dn) ; heatsinks and type (note5)
power=(n,Xn) ; powerplant and type (note6)
powertype=(I,F) ; ICE (i) or Fusion (f) powered

<equipment section>
equipnumber=n
equip1=MEDLASER|RA ; equipment entries will be somewhat
equip2=... ; variable. Though the minimum
equip3=... ; entry will be ITEM|LOCATION
equipN-1=...
equipN=...

NOTES:

Note 1 = TYPE sets the field for the rest of the file. This field may
be set for battlemechs, vehicles, or other. Other allows
this format to support items like infantry and anything else
FASA should add in the future. The setting in this field also
denotes what data will be found in the TECH SECTION. The
information shown above is for a battlemech, if a vehicle
had been specified, then the amount of armor values would
not be 11.

Note 2 = This field furthur specifies the btech element within the
broad field of TYPE. If TYPE = MECH, then SUBTYPE would
equal (LMECH, MMECH, HMECH, AMECH). If TYPE = OTHER then
SUBTYPE would equal (RINFANTRY, JINFANTRY, etc).

Note 3 = This field specifies amount of armor in each location. The
example shown is for a battlemech (with its 11 armor locations)
a vehicle would have a shorter string here (as vehicles don't
have the same number of armor locations).

Note 4 = This field shows the number of Internal Points the element
has. (you know, those things you lose when armor is lost?)

Note 5 = Heatsinks entry. The value can be either a number denoting
number of regular heatsinks or a number following the letter
'D'. This represents double heatsinks (ex: D10 = 10 double
heatsinks with the ability to rid 20 heat points per turn).

Note 6 = Powerplant. The value can be either a number denoting
size of powerplant or a number following the letter
'X'. This represents an XL powerplant.

So folks, does this hold water with anyone? It's an easy thing to implement in
any program (at least I think so anyhow). You could probably implement such
import or export functionality with the addition of only a few more routines
(depending on how your code is structure).

Any comments?

Damond Walker

[Mirko Streckenbach]

MORIBUND (c2mx...@fre.fsu.umd.edu) wrote:

: So folks, does this hold water with anyone? It's an easy thing to implement in

: any program (at least I think so anyhow). You could probably implement such
: import or export functionality with the addition of only a few more routines
: (depending on how your code is structure).

does anyone read what i post here? i allready mentioned my meX package three
or four times... however nobody seems to be able to grap it from the ftp-site.

: Any comments?

looks quiet good. it is ascii, human readable and very expandable. it is
similar to the format used in my mech package. my format is also capable
of recording damage to a battlemech. although i don't like clan stuff, i
think there should be special possibilities for omni mech pods.

as a free (with full source) implementation and more than 1000 mechs are
available in this format, i think it's worth for every programer to have a
look at it.

ciao,
mirko
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