Advanced Techniques Using X-ED 2.62
This is designed to be an enlargement of the basic functions of X-ED. This covers details the gives a professional look to the mission. By the end of the course, you should be able to create excellent missions.
The course is broken up into the following lessons:
Lesson 1 - Briefing
Making
Lesson 2 - Giving
Orders
Lesson 3 - IFF
Lesson 4 -
Starship's speed
Lesson 1 - Briefing Making
Building a
briefing takes a long time. It can take you more time than
building a mission. Specially if you want to make a realistic
one. At the begining you'll find it a little complicated but with
some practice you'll become an expert briefing builder.
This lesson
will be practice-oriented because I think that the best way of
learning something is doing it. At the end of the lesson we will
deal with more theorical concepts.
Open the
mission that you builded at the basic course,then press the
Briefing Icon (the one that seems a green world sphere). The
first thing to do is to think about the messages, texts an title
that you want that appear on your briefing.
Go to String
Tab. The box of the bottom is called Briefing texts. It's
contains many blank lines of text which can be edited. Select the
first one, go to the box called "Editing Briefing Text
#1" and enter this title "Academy mission one". If
you add a > at the beginning of the text, you'll got your
title centered and enlighted. Select the second line from
Briefing Text box and enter this text: "Escort corvette Echo
Base". At the third line set this text: "Be aware of
any imperial attacks". This will be a very short briefing so
we will use the fourth line for a short explanation of the
mission. Put this text: "High Command believes that
one of our
oldest corvettes, [Echo Base], is going to fall under attack by
imperial forces. 3 Y-Wings from MBA will be sent to escort it on
it's way to the jump point. Defend it at all costs." This
will be the text that will appear at the second page of the
briefing. Enlight the words Echo Base by putting it in brackets.
Now let's go
for the Map Tags. Select the first one and insert this text
"CRV Echo Base".
We have all the text defined. Now it's time to configure the mission map. Select the Briefing Setup tab. Here we have a list of all the flighgroups that will appear on the map. If you don't want some of them to appear, throw them at the trash bin. These will be useful when you build big missions with many flight groups. You can also set lines of text belows the map. For our briefing, delete the Y-Wings because we don't want them to be shown on the map. If you have large briefing instructions select 3 or more lines.
Now let's
go to the Page tab. Here we have the two default instructions.
Select the first one and, at the right side of the screen, select
the title text that we have entered before. That will insert the
title on the briefing screen. Click on the second order
(briefing) and select, at right side, the first briefing text.
With this, we have the first text phase defined. In this phase we
have to enmark the corvette icon and show it's name. So insert
this new order: FG Box Instruction from the upper right side of
the screen by clicking on the icon that seems a tie in a box.
Then select the corvette to be boxed. Now we want to make that
its name appears on the screen, so click on the Insert Map Tag
Instruction Icon and select the tag that we have defined before
(CRV Echo Base). To finish this phase, you must adjust the
timing. Set two seconds for the FG Box order, and three for the
tag order.
Let's start
with the second phase of text. Before inserting the new
instructions, be sure that you let your previous work to be shown
by inserting the new instruction about five seconds after the
other ones. Now, you MUST clear all texts, title, tags and box
from the briefing screen. Otherwise the new text that you attempt
to be shown won't appear. Click on the icons to insert a clear
text order, a clear all tags order and clear all boxes. Now
insert another title text order and another briefing text order
with the second text defined before. This instructions should be
just after the clear orders to avoid dead-times. In this second
phase we will show some imperial crafts so insert a move map
instruction four seconds after the briefing instruction. Select
to center on the Gunboatīs flight group. Now we will enmark
these imps. Add FG box #1 and FG box #2 two seconds after the
move map instruction and with three 1/10 seconds of delay between
the two box orders.
Now Let's do the second page of the briefing. On the Page Tab click on the right arrow to change to page 2 of 2. This will be easy. Click on the right box and select the briefing text edited before: "High Command believes that one..." as well as the title text. For larger briefings you'll need more pages of text, then you can click on the icon "Add a new page".
The last thing to do is to configure the map screen. Click on the WYSIWYG tab. By drag'n drop you can move the flight groups and the Tags. So distribute them accordingly, in a similar way that you've seen in the game. Remember that it isn't exactly wysiwyg so you'll have to run the game to check if your Tags are correctly situated. At the right side of the screen there's a box called Total Running Time(sec). If your briefing lasts 15 seconds, you must change this value to about 20 (maybe a little more). If not you will be waiting until second 30 till your briefing is repeated.
The briefing is complete.
List of all available orders and a little description:
Wait for click: Is used at the hints page.
Briefing Text: Adds the text that you have edited on the briefing editing box, at the strings tab.
Tittle Text: This order is used to show a title on the briefing screen. With the ">" simbol before the letters, you'll have your title centered and enlighted.
Clear Text: Clean all the text from the birefing map screen. At the beginning of a new phase you must put a clear text order as well as another title and briefing order.
Move Map To: Moves the map to a designated location. You can choose to center on a flight group.
Zoom Map to: Zoom the map, but not moves. You can select between eight preset deafults. Zoom orders use to go after move map orders or at the beginning of the mission.
FG Box #1...#4: Enmarks a flightgroup by creating a box around it. You can only box four flightgroups at once.
Map Tag: Adds a short text on the map. (i.e. X-W Crimson (you)) You have to select the coordinates or you can drag-n-drop it at the WYSIWYG Tab. The text of the tab is defined at the String Tab.
Lesson 2 - Giving Orders
Here is a detailed description of the orders and some examples to use them. Note that there are some specifical orders (*) that require that you specify a command target. Without it, the ship won't execute the orders properly. However, you can set primary and sec targets to all the orders just to improve the eficiency.
Hold Steady: Sits inactive. Appropriate for containers, or stationay targets.
Fly Home: Goes to hyperspace jump point or to mothership. If mothership doesn't exist, the flight group circles last waypoint. Good for shuttles or transports in blockade-style missions. An excellent usage of this order is in missions about capturing starships. You can have many small crafts (shuttles, transport) entering into the enemy staship hangar, they won't capture it but they'll give an awesome realism feel. If you use this order on a enemy starship whilst it isn't disabled, then it will attack and destroy your craft.
Circle & Ignore: Circles through waypoints while ignoring enemy actions.
Fly Once & Ignore: Flyes through waypoints once while ignoring enemy actions. Then hypers out if able to do so.
Circle & Evade: Circles through waypoints while evading enemy attacks.
Fly Once & Evade: Flyes through waypoints once while evading enemy attacks.
Close Escort: Flies close escort for designated command target. If enemy comes within 1Km they will be attacked. *. The 1Km distance is a bit short, so you'll find that some fighters are firing at you while your escort rests at your side.
Loose
Escort: Flies loose escort for designated command target. If
enemy comes within 4Km they will be attacked.(*)
Remember that
Tie Bombers fire at a greater distance than 4Km.
Attack Escorters: Attack any ships with escort commands.
Attack Pri & Sec Targets: Attack primary and secondary command targets. (*) If you select only the primary target, the attacker will ignore any enemy action and will go directly after the target. The most common order in the X-Wing game. you can add flighgroups with this order just to increase the difficulty of the mission. When you set thise order on a three-craft flight, two fighters will attack the primary target, whilst the third attack the secondary.
Attack All Enemies: Attack all enemy crafts. Fighters, TRNs, SHUs... You can use this order after finishing the mission if you feel that you need extra difficulty.
Rendezvous: Fly to waypoint and wait to be boarded. Interesting order that allow some nice possibilities.
Disabled: Sits inactive and it's disabled. Do you have a disabled rebel freighter, and you want to recover it? Then, set this order on the freighter and create a shuttle with the Board to Capture command.
Board & Deliver: Dock with designated command target and deliver cargo. *. Imagine that the empire has discovered the ship where you carry the important holos. You can mount a mission about changing the cargo from one ship to another just to avoid future controls by the empire. The same applies to the next orders.
Board & Take: Dock with designated command target and take cargo. *
Board & Exchange: Dock with designated command target and exchange cargo. *.
Board & Capture: Dock with designated command target and capture vessels. *. You can use this order to repair any disabled ship as well as capturing enemy ones.
Board & Destroy: Dock with designated command target and destroy vessels. *. This order won't work out if the command target is neutral.
Disable Pri & Sec Targets: Disable primary and secondary targets. *. The ions are a very unaccurate weapon, so better use them over slow moving crafts.
Disable All: Disable all enemy vessels. That's a strange order to be used in a mission, most part of the targets are so fast that the IA controlled fighters won't be able to disable almost anything.
Attack Transports: Attack all transports.
Attack Freighters (Includes corvettes): Attack freighters and corvettes.
Attack Starships: Attack capital starships. Clear enough, The fighters will attack any starship they they find.
Attack Sat & Mines: Attack satelites and mines. A strange order, it doesn't work well...
Disable Freighters (Includes corvettes): Disable freighters and corvettes. If you want to capture a freighter, you must use this order with a Y-Wing or a B-Wing. It's useless to use it witha shuttle because she doesn't carry ion cannons.
Disable Starships: Disable capital starships. If you want to capture a starship, you must use this order with a Y-Wing or a B-Wing.
Starship Sit and Fire: Capital starship sits stationary and fires at targets if available. A common order. The starhip won't escape from the mission. You can use it in missions like... raid on an imperial shipyard, destroy damaged STD... Lots od possibilities.
Starship Fly Once: Capital starship flies through waypoints once and fires at targets, if available. One of the most used starship orders. With it, you can give to your players a certain amount of time to destroy the starship. You set some waypoints, and then with the help of the fourth lesson of this course, you can easily calculate how much time will take to the starship to enter into hyperspace.
Starship Circle: Capital starship cicles through waypoints and fires at targets, if available. This order is specially good for missions with an imperial base and some starships patrolling the area. For example, you can have a couple of corvettes doing a patrolling route around some imperial containers.
Starship
Await Return: Capital starship sits stationary and waits for
all ships that have this ship as mothership to return. Use
this order
with missions about re-supplying a starship, or protect the
return of fighters. The returning craft must be able to enter
into the starship's hangar, so it's silly to place a corvette, or
a freighter as primary target.
Starship Await Launch: Capital starship sits stationary and waits for designated command target to launch. *. This order is extremely useful when you don't want that your players destroy a starship. If you set the command target as a one wave flight of bombers, then the capital ship will leave the area as soon as the first and only flight has launched from it.
Starship
Await Boarding: Capital starship sits stationary until
designated command target have boarded this ship. *. You can use
this order to represent the exchange of important cargos beetwen
starships i.e. corvette and a cruiser, or other kinds of smaller
transports.
Lesson 3 - IFF
Having
neutral ships in you mission can be a touch of quality too.
However you have to know that neutrals have some different rules
than imperial or rebel ships.
The neutrals,
as the word say, don't attack anybody. Neither imperials or
rebels. You can attack them, but they won't answer your fire.
Then it's silly to assign them orders like Attack enemy, Cap Sit
and fire, Attack escorters, Attack starships, Close escort...
unless you specify for them a concrete primary and/or secondary
target. If you don't do it, they'll simply ignore them because
they're not allowed to attack ships at their own initiative. The
same will happen if you give to your Xwings an order in the kind
of Attack Starships. They won't attack any neutral capital
(because they don't want to start a war with a possible ally...)
Then, if you want to have neutral ships attacking you, you'll
have to force the situation by assigning rebel or imperial
primary targets.
Lesson 4 -Starship's speed
If you
want to make missions with a professional look, you should know
something about the speed of the starships. This chapter will
help you to calculate the exact distance run by a ship, giving
you a good control over all the situation and a good view for
timing the mission's events. In this lesson you'll learn the
speeds of the ships.
There are
many situations that require a good control over the timing and
the speed. For example imagine that there's a frigate in the
mission and you want to give to your players a certain amount of
time to destroy it before she escapes. To do this you can set a
Starship Fly Once Order and assign some nav points and a
hyperspace point at a specific location. If you know the speed of
the frigate you can easily calculate the time that it will take
to escape. You have to be aware that when she has passed
troughout all the navpoints, she will accelerate to max speed in
order to arrive to the Hyp point.
In this
lesson you'll learn the speeds of the ships.
Another
situation to use this lesson is in blockade-style missions. You
have to protect a corvette whilst she tries to hyperspace out. If
you know it's speed you can adjust the time that she will need to
escape and you won't find that she leaves too early or too
late...
Another good
an interesting use of this chapter is to make big battles beetwen
capital crafts. You can easily know how much time will take to
each startship to get in range of the other.
There are
many more usings of this chapter and all of them will make you
mission to look better.
| Ship name | Distance | Time | Km per Minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Destroyer | 10 Km | 21'55" | 0.45 |
| Calamari Cruiser | 10 Km | 21'55" | 0.45 |
| Nebulon B Frigate | 10 Km | 9'55" | 1.008 |
| Corvette | 10 Km | 7'55" | 1.26 |
| Freighter | 10 Km | 9'50" | 1.017 |
| Shuttle | 10 Km | 2'30" | 4 |
| Transport | 10 Km | 3'00" | 3.3 |
This
timings have been calculated with the ship at full throtle
(100%). If it's running at 20% then you'll have to divide the
speed by five...etc. The Kilometer is the unit used in X-Ed.
Other editors use different ones.
You have to
be aware that the reduced throtle will only be used while flying
beetwen navpoints. If the ship is flying directly to a nav point
it will go at max speed.
The above way was written by a previous instructor. Here is an easier way, using some algebra:
MGLT
X-W 100
Y-W 80
A-W 120
B-W 90 or 91
T/F 100
T/B 80
T/I 110
T/A 125
GUN 90
TRN 55
SHU 65
TUG 11
FRT 18
CRV 22
FRG 18
CRS 11
ISD 11
MGLT is calculated as follows: 1000 multiplied by klicks divided by seconds.
Algebraically: x = 1000 * K / S
x = MGLT (the numbers above)
K = klicks (the numbers used to measure distance, both in mission editors and the game itself)
S = seconds
Hope this helps!
":)
Rear Admiral Licah Fox