Campaign question for Cody Coyote...

[Rami]

Cody Coyote,

I'm asking this question in a thread instead of a PM because it might provide people with questions on campaigns some answers. With that in mind, here is mine...

In my final update to the Me-262 campaign, I'm setting it up so that you have to "graduate" from flying the Focke-Wulf Ta-152 to the Messerschmitt Me-262. If you do not achieve some of the mission goals, you will be disallowed from flying the Me-262 and the campaign will end.

With that in mind, the campaign file looks like this...

[Campaign Global Info]
version=2.0
campaign_name=%campaign_name_string%
overview=%campaign_overview%
soundfile=
imagefile=
textfile=
moviefile=
allegiance=2

[node.0]
true_branch=1
percent_true=100
filler=0
soundfile=

[node.1]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 1
true_branch=2
false_branch=
goals=2
filler=1

[node.2]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 2
true_branch=3
false_branch=
goals=2
filler=1

[node.3]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 3
true_branch=4
false_branch=
goals=2
filler=1

[node.4]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 4
true_branch=5
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.5]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 5
true_branch=6
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.6]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 6
true_branch=7
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.7]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 7
true_branch=8
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.8]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 8
true_branch=9
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.9]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 9
true_branch=10
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.10]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 10
true_branch=11
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.11]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 11
true_branch=12
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.12]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 12
true_branch=13
percent_true=100
filler=1

[node.13]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 13
percent_true=100
filler=1

[Strings]
"campaign_name_string"=Messerschmitt Me-262 campaign
"campaign_overview"=The Germans are getting close to defeat, and in a final attempt for air superiority, they have unveiled the first jet fighter of the war: the Messerschmitt Me-262. The Messerschmitt Me-262 can pull away from anything else in the sky, and has hard-hitting 20mm cannons to boot!

Now, for false_branch=

Am I to assume that if I leave this blank, not achieving some success in these missions will force the campaign to terminate?

And what does this mean? "If the condition if 'false' and there is no false statement in the node, the campaign ends and you are retired."

Where would I place that type of a message, something to the effect of..."Your kommanders have decided that due to your poor combat record, you are not worthy of flying the Schwalbe because we need highly qualified experten who can destroy the indianer. May we suggest flying transports?"

[Cody Coyote]

Hi Rami,

Some of this is old hat to you, but in keeping with the spirit of your post it may provide assistance to others.

If you have a node where you use goals to advance, the player must achieve the number of goals listed to create the True condition and move on to the node shown in the true_branch= line. So, in your node.1 for example, if the player achieves two goals he moves on to node.2.

If the player achieves fewer than the necessary number of goals the condition is treated as a false statement and the player moves to the node shown in the false_branch= line. If the condition is false and there is no false statement in the node, the campaign ends and you are retired. So in the example above, if the player achieved only one goal in node.1 that would be looked upon as being a "false" condition. Since there is no place to send the player when the condition is false the campaign will end right there.

That sounds like it does what you want it to do in terms of ending the campaign if the player doesn't "graduate". You can build your "failure to move on message" into the mission debrief using Triggers & Events. Design two debrief message events, one if both goals are met and one if they aren't. The player will see the debrief message even if the campaign ends because he won't be retired until he leaves the debrief screen.

That should accomplish what you want to do. However, I would make a change to your campaign file. Instead of leaving the false_branch= line in, I would remove it entirely and have only the true_branch=n. So node.1 would look like this:

[node.1]
mission_name=Messerschmitt Me-262 1
true_branch=2
goals=2
filler=1

[Rami]

Cody,

Thanks. I decided to go the "debrief" route and set the triggers and events accordingly, and used your suggestion about false_branch=13.

But doesn't that still allow the player to fly the final mission even if he doesn't "graduate"?

[Cody Coyote]

But doesn't that still allow the player to fly the final mission even if he doesn't "graduate"?

Yes it does and that was my fault comparing it to one of my campaigns which uses an entirely different concept for ending. My bad! :redf:

In your example, leaving out the false_branch= line and letting the campaign terminate would be appropriate.

I've edited my original reply to eliminate reference to the other example which would only confuse people.