Improved Awards #1670
Improved Awards #1670
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This list takes the Default Set, expands the list, and sorts it in order of precedence as they should appear. The set is called 'standard' to provide better English when awarding them (i.e. 'Awarded Good Conduct of the standard award set' instead of 'Awarded Good Conduct of the Default Set award set'). This adds 'standard.xml' to ...\MekHQ\data\universe\awards\ and the 'standard' folder to ...\MekHQ\data\images\awards\. I recommend deleting ...\MekHQ\data\universe\awards\Default Set.xml to remove it from the list of award sets, since it is all duplicated and expanded in the standard set. The ...\MekHQ\data\images\awards\standard folder also includes a ReadMe.txt with this info as well as a description of all included awards, plus an Excel file titled AwardTracker.xlsx with a PowerPivot Table that can be used to import saved .cpnx campaign files to see what awards have been earned for individuals, lances, companies, and battalions based on kills, as long as your TO&E is arranged by battalions, companies, & lances.
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I can tell one thing immediately, this branch will require migration to be implemented. |
Added Origin Tab to autmatically create a background story based on tables found on dev Tab.
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I'm slowly reviewing this, but a few initial comments and one requested change:
The ReadMe.txt should instead be ReadMe.md
Let's have the (albeit very useful) Origin tab addition to the AtB rules in another PR, please. Let's try to keep this to the single issue the PR is dedicated to.
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I agree with the rename request, and this sounds/looks good on paper. Just needs a few changes.
This PR contains the following changes:
Additions to the XML:
position: (Order of Precendence, I believe) - great idea, and one I'd be glad to see implemented in the code - maybe rename to precedence? - why is this in three parts, not two? And why the extra zero on the second part?
qty: Quantity of required to earn the award
item: The thing one must do to earn the award - maybe rename to requirementType? - Options: Hero, Kills, Gunnery, Rank, Security, Honor, Instructor, Drill, Time, Covert, Foreign, TFS (rename to TFSerpent), CW (rename to FedComCivilWar), Clan (rename to ClanInvasion), 4SW, 3SW, Periphery, Civilian (rename to CivilianDefence), Pirates (rename to AntiPiracy), Enlist, House, Conduct, Prisoner, Combat, Wounded
size: The size of the force that would earn the award together, and the size of force to track the counter for - Options: Individual, Lance, Company, Battalion
range: The duration the goal must be obtained within - Options: Scenario, Mission (rename to Contact? - probably a better idea), Career, Event, Months (rename to duration?)
Metal Additions:
Medal Of Honor, Covert Ops, Longevity, Drill Instructor, Military Training Instructor, Ceremonial Duty, Security Guard, Officer Graduate, Warrant Officer Graduate, NCO Academy Graduate, Basic Training, Expert Marksmanship, Marksmanship
Changes:
Modified ribbon file names to be in order of precedence
Added Stackable to most of the existing medals that were not originally stackable.
Modified a few of the awards to be significantly different from their original use.
Changes requested outside of the comments:
The ReadMe.txt should instead be ReadMe.md . I'd recommend the addition of a how-to for the Excel sheet, especially relating to loading the data.
There are a bunch of rename ideas in the XML additions listed above, plus questions about what how they work.
This will require migration to be added for current campaigns, as is it will break any campaigns that have awarded default set awards.
Let's have the (albeit useful) Origin tab addition to the AtB rules in another PR, please. Let's try to keep this to the single issue the PR is dedicated to.
Removed modified AtB TT Rules 2.31.xlsx. Replaced ReadMe.txt with well made Awards.md. moved all related documentation files to \docs\Award Stuff folder.
I arranged the CampaignDataForAwards.cpnx to be a better example for the PivotTable in the AwardTracker.xlsx
I believe it was the same info in the Default Set.xml that I used as a template to create the standard.xml. I'm not sure what it should be. Co-Authored-By: Justin Bowen <39067288+Windchild292@users.noreply.github.com>
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In the new Awards.md, I describe the parameters of each tag within the XML, to include the new ones I added. Please refer to it for clarity on their use.
The 3-part numbers in position (I'll rename to precedence) correspond to the order of precedence sections, subsections, and award position (personal decorations, military unit awards, military campaign, etc) as described on wikipedia, which I further explain in Awards.md. Why reinvent the wheel, right? The extra zero allows for proper alphanumeric sorting, since it is not a true number.
The rearrangement of awards served two purposes. 1, some of the Default Set awards had erroneous duplicate requirements. 2, this new arrangement keeps the order of precedence in line with the level of achievement. For instance, it is harder for a company to kill 144 units than it is for a battalion to kill 216 (average of 72 per company), so the House Superior Service is more fitting as the company award. Since a battalion kill count of 432 is an average of 144 kills per company, it's more prestigious, and warrants a higher honor, such as the House Distinguished Service. Since the duplicate numbers required an overhaul of award assignment, I used it to better assign awards. Refer to the Color Key tab in AwardTracker.xlsx to better understand the rationale behind the arrangement:
| name | xp | qty | item | size | range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze Star | 3 | 4 | Kills | Individual | Scenario |
| Silver Star | 4 | 8 | Kills | Individual | Scenario |
| Combat Cross | 5 | 12 | Kills | Individual | Scenario |
| Combat Achievement | 1 | 6 | Kills | Individual | Mission |
| Meritourious Service | 2 | 9 | Kills | Individual | Mission |
| Distinguished Service | 3 | 12 | Kills | Individual | Mission |
| Meritourious Unit Commendation | 1 | 24 | Kills | Lance | Mission |
| Combat Commendation | 2 | 36 | Kills | Lance | Mission |
| Legion of Merit | 3 | 48 | Kills | Lance | Mission |
| Combat Unit Commendation | 2 | 72 | Kills | Company | Mission |
| House Meritorious Service | 3 | 108 | Kills | Company | Mission |
| House Superior Service | 4 | 144 | Kills | Company | Mission |
| House Unit Citation | 3 | 216 | Kills | Battalion | Mission |
| Armed Forces | 4 | 324 | Kills | Battalion | Mission |
| House Distinguished Service | 5 | 432 | Kills | Battalion | Mission |
Citations are lower than the other combat awards, so they went the to lowest requirements for Battalion, Company, & Lance (House Unit Citation, Combat Unit Citation, Meritorious Unit Citation, respectively). The Combat Achievement award is the lowest personal decoration available, so it went to 6 individual kills in a mission. The action of an individual in a single scenario earn the Bronze Star (4 kills), Silver Star (8 kills), and the second-highest award available, the Combat Cross (12 kills). Everything else between the Combat Achievement at the Combat Cross was used to complete the middle and high mission kill counts for the Battalion, Company, Lance, and Individual.
As for the affects of removing the Default Set, we can keep them in place (messy with so many duplicates), or maybe redirect them somehow to the new awards.
As for the placement of FedCom CW and TF Serpent, that was a mistake of my poor recollection of which happened first. During my research for the updates I made to Awards.md & AwardTracker.xlsx, I discovered a few more campaigns to be added and will address them soon. Based on your notes I reviewed, I need to make some changes to the XML.
I removed the modified AtB Rules. Rather, I transferred the tab into the AwardTracker.xlsx and added Award Assignment Tables to help with the guidance within the Awards.md.
Placed TFS & FCCW in proper order.
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I'll take a look at the changes today. |
Based on our conversation, I'm putting back the old awards for backward compatibility. We can just encourage the masses to transfer over and leave them as an option until we can automate their recommendation, at which time we will phase out the Default Set, and hopefully create a transition patch to swap them over automatically.
I placed TFS above FCCW within the XML, and renamed the .png files accordingly. I also changed the item name CW to FCCW across all related files.
Removed incorrect schema reference.
Corrected capitalization errors.
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I'm converting to draft until I clean up the XML as discussed |
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Redirect is the preferred way to handle it, which I can code if you'd like.
The AwardTracker queries are all only set to your exact location, so they won't work unless modified. I've not looked into it, but is a relative path an option for power queries?
CampaignDataForAwards.cpnx shouldn't be included in the download, even if it does provide an example.
Otherwise, the changes look better, and I'll be interested to see what changes you are making to the XML.
- Renamed Awards.md to Award Guide.md. - Changed position to precedence in the XML. - I added campaign ribbons for Andurien Wars, Ronin Wars, War of 3057, Capellan-St. Ives Civil War, and the WoB Jihad. - Added Support Person of the Year award. - Better structured Award Guide descriptions for Criteria, Benefits, Gameplay, & New Personnel. - Based on your questions about the rearrangement of kill-based award criterion, I reassessed them.
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I did successfully setup up relative links for the power query! |
I believe this pull is ready to go!
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Added a place to specify Filepath, Filename, & FileExtention for campaign data on the Settings tab.
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I'll review shortly, but for help in getting setup please join the slack channel and I'll see what I can do to help from there. |
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@Windchild292, I've been meaning to ask you what do you mean by this requires migration? |
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Two parts:
I'm still reviewing, just trying to take time to think about the changes... and I got distracted by reading about the real world awards. |
Yes, I realize the Awards XML tab is linked with a non-relative path to the standard.xml file. Unlike the PowerPivot, there is no way to set the XML link relative without VBA Macro. I just severed the link. That info doesn't need to be refreshed anyways. |
Here's a spreadsheet I made to show the differences between the two: I hope that table can help in setting up a migration. I also hope you found the US decorations interesting. :) |
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Still having issues with the power query, but I think it is close. I made some changes to the Persons and Units-Drivers queries, which I'd like for you to take a look at, and have included my .cnpx for a bugfix on the Kills query (which I have not been able to get working). Also, would it be possible to only get the column you want instead of removing the columns in the power queries? I haven't had time for migration yet, but I should be able to soon (and that can be handled post-PR as part of removing the default set) |
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Forgot to include: |
So, I started my campaign back on 47.2 and was too lazy to use newer versions for game play, which is really embarrassing to say out loud. Anyways, I built AwardTracker using the 47.2 syntax instead of the 47.5 syntax. The biggest diff is 47.2 uses the single field
The power query syntax for importing XML only goes to the file level, which will pull all data. The following lines are used to clean up the data into the usable formats. Even though all the data is in the same file, I have to query it differently to create tables with unique IDs for each dataset that I use to funnel the info (refer to the Power Pivot Diagram View for the relationships). I realize it's a bit data intensive to pull the full .cpnx file 11 times just to whittle them down into useful info, but the AwardTracker is just an interim tool until MekHQ can make the suggestions for us. |
- Brought Campaign Kills in line with MekHQ 47.5 .cpnx xyntax. - Corrected the conditional formatting for the Pivot Table to handle multiple mission veiw. - Added Missions tab & Scenarios tab to determine numbering on Pivot Table.
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It works now. I left your data loaded since it better demonstrates a multiple mission view. If you want your mind blown, take a look at the conditional formatting formulas I had to make to get it to work. |
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If you need any help with the setup, development process, or run into any questions regarding these improvements (or anything else), please join us on the Slack here, as that provides a quick means of communication with the dev team. |
This list takes the Default Set, expands the list, and sorts it in order of precedence as they should appear. The set is called 'standard' to provide better English when awarding them (i.e. 'Awarded Good Conduct of the standard award set' instead of 'Awarded Good Conduct of the Default Set award set').
This adds 'standard.xml' to ...\MekHQ\data\universe\awards\ and the 'standard' folder to ...\MekHQ\data\images\awards.
I recommend deleting ...\MekHQ\data\universe\awards\Default Set.xml to remove it from the list of award sets, since it is all duplicated and expanded in the standard set.
The new medal images comply with the same 87-pixel high .png file format as the Default Set.
The ...\MekHQ\data\images\awards\standard folder also includes a ReadMe.txt with this info as well as a description of all included awards, plus an Excel file titled AwardTracker.xlsx with a PowerPivot Table that can be used to import saved .cpnx campaign files to see what awards have been earned for individuals, lances, companies, and battalions based on kills, as long as your TO&E is arranged by battalions, companies, & lances.