Copyright: ®EMPEROR'S HAMMER 1995


Contents
Shekinah Fleet Systems

Created by the shareware evaluation version of the HelpGen Help File Generator.

© 1994 Rimrock Software.  All rights reserved.

•	 Missing Ships

•	 My Mission won't even Start...

•	 Craft won't fight...

•	 Ships on My own side attack me!

•	 Handling Large Battles

•	 Tricks to Make Players hate You!


Disclaimer

This is a basic troubleshooting guide and in no way is intended to replace reading the instructions in the TMB programs. Always back up your mission files and the FLIGHT.OVL file prior to any modification or editing. The author is not responsible for bugs or crashes as a result of using TMB, TIEDIT or any editor.


 Missing Ships

•	 You Have More Than 30 Ships

•	 The Ship doesn't have a Starting Waypoint

•	 Craft has an inappropriate Mothership


 My Mission won't even Start...

Games can crash for a variety of reasons

•	 No Player Flight Selected

•	 Briefing Error

•	 Wrong Filename


Missing Ships (def.)
The Game has a limit of 30 ships maximum on the screen at any given time. If you schedule any more than this, they simply won't appear and any craft after may get "gridlocked" out of play. Try reducing craft by adding more waves and less in each wave!)


The Ship doesn't have a Starting Waypoint (def.)
Your ship may not have an X,Y,Z coordinate to start with. Use TMB and check the Ship which is missing. Hit the F1-key and see if the coordinates are highlighted in Blue.   If the numbers are all dark gray, you simply haven't told the computer where to put the ship and it ignores it.


Craft has an inappropriate Mothership (def.)
You wouldn't expect an elephant to pop out of a Volkswagen now would you?! Well the TIE game knows better than to launch an X-Wing out of a Shuttle.   A FG must use a capital ship (starship) or come from hyperspace.   Fighters and other small craft just won't do!   This can be caused by deleting a few flight groups and when the FG numbers change, it assigns the wrong mothership.


No Player Flight Selected (def.)
If the mission crashes when you enter it, you probably don't have a Player's ship selected. Go to the Edit Flight Groups under Select Player's FG and Pick a ship by clicking on the 00 of XX.   Save the mission and you're all set

This type of crash can also be from using the wrong type of ship for a mission (i.e. An ISD for the player's ship or using the wrong IFF code)


Briefing Error (def.)
This is complicated...If you use TMB 1.2 or 1.21 and make a file from scratch (NEWFILE.TIE), it doesn't have a briefing component set up right.   Users of TMB 1.2 are frankly screwed because the system doesn't have a briefing editor.   If you use TMB 1.21 and you REGISTERED it, you can edit the file by typing BSL FILENAME.TIE and using MS-DOS Editor to change 1 thing:

Make the commands as follows:

TIME 00

TITLE 00

END

and change the number occurrences of each command to the right number.   Save and use COMPILE FILENAME.BSL.


Wrong Filename (def.)
This can be either filename or in the briefing under FILENAME:_________. The Filename in general must match the original missions or the game gets mad and locks up. If it's in the briefing, usually it can be traced to a mistyped filename or using lowercase letters for the filename.


 Craft won't fight...

* Was it given the order 07 Attack Target AND given targets in the 4 dependent boxes?

* Does the craft have weaponry to begin with?

Unless specially modified, ships such as FRTs, CONs, etc. have no weapons mounts nor can they fire because of a byte in the data that tells the computer it is non-combatant.

* Craft is occupied with other orders (such as creating craft, holding station, or awaiting boarding)

* Craft is disabled


 Ships on My own side attack me!

You probably fired at them first OR they're on Escort Duty.

Escorts will fire on Craft FRIEND OR FOE within 4 km.

Try using Protect (even though it says Starship!) to gain the desired effect.


 Handling Big Battles

Large battles can easily overwhelm with the 30-ship limit.

Try using a cascade effect with small "bite-size" FGs and use more waves.

This provides more flexibility since when a small FG of 2 or 3 is destroyed, another group can pop in as opposed to destroying a group of 6 or more. Remember that if you want to fight 36 fighters you can do it - just not all at once!


 Tricks to Make Players hate You!

There are a few tricks that I have found which can easily render a challenging mission into a milk run... As the Emperor's Hammer strives for excellence, I include some food for thought on making missions more demanding.

•	Timing your Waves

•	 Challenge vs Impossible

•	 Adding Realism to Missions

•	 Planning Ahead


Timing your Waves (def.)
In any mission where you're up against a FG with more than one wave, a few shots with an ion cannon can bring an exciting firefight to a standstill while you sit back and charge up to the max.   If you play your cards right, you can dictate the terms of an entire mission!

The way to defeat this is play the mission through and time how long it takes to bring down a wave of fighters (try 2 or three runs).   Instead of using a wave of fighters add another flight group using Duplicate and set the time of entry around your average time to kill an FG.   You can use ions all you want but they'll still come.

Bottom line is in the end you can wind up with several disabled fighters locking up game space and getting the same effect mentioned above but it will keep the player on their toes.


Challenge vs Impossible (def.)
The whole point of making a good mission is challenge.   There has to be a chance to lose.   Test your mission by sitting like a bump on a log and see how long it takes to lose the objective.   Five minutes...Ten...FIFTEEN?!  What difference is the player making here?   If the objective can survive more than 5 minutes without intervention, the mission isn't really testing skill.

EXAMPLE: In Battle XI, Mission 4 the ISD Avenger(whose Primary Goal is to survive) is under heavy attack.   Several tests showed that she held an average life expectancy of 2-3 minutes before going down.   Earlier trials had her lasting as much as 10-15 minutes!


Adding Realism to Missions (def.)
While it may be fun to just use ANY Imperial, those 4 slots are there for Priority. If you're a Rebel what will you attack first: A T/I or an MISS?   Obviously the MIS is much more deadly (and harder to kill) and hence a more valuable target.

Why do B-Wings engage TIE interceptors instead of the Nebulon-B Frigate which is not supposed to live another day(from their viewpoint)? Realism can make a big difference in mission quality (no duh).   Consider the objective/goals of the mission from the Rebel viewpoint.   Put yourself in the X-Wing Game point of view.   The B-Wings will make a bomb run with a few A-W's to cover while the X-W's and T-W's try to lock up defensive fighters.   Secondary targets may vary but an overall schedule of how the battle should evolve needs to be considered.


Planning Ahead (def.)
Using a Word Processor or Text Editor and laying out the basics of the mission can save a lot of time.   You can plan to stay under the 30 ship limit and work out when ships should appear and or leave.   Consider the time you spend exiting TIE, entering TMB or TIEDIT, making changes, and reboot TIE again should prove the point.

UNLESS OF COURSE YOU HAVE OS/2 WARP and you can run TIE in a cozy little window while taking notes...