A Dice Stat Too Far?

[jyoung]

My opponent and I have always felt that the dice stats at the end of a VASL session just don't do justice to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that occur each and every time we play. The averages will mostly (ok not always) average out, but timing is everything when it comes to ASL. We want to feel fully justified in wailing and gnashing our teeth (instead of just doing it anyway) by seeing the full horrible story of that glorious advance into a 4 to 1 CC, followed by the seemingly inevitable whiffing of the dice and the 1,1 by your opponent in response, played out in the stats afterwards.*

I modified the dicebot code in VASL (I know how that sounds - just the bit that outputs stats, not the bit that actually rolls the dice) to produce the following:


It's nothing near as ambitious and impressive as @Pacman Ghost's graphical display and "dice hotness" in his excellent vasl-templates program, but was a very simple change to the code as the stats are all stored in VASL currently, just not displayed. However I can't figure out how to do this as an extension (I'm not sure that it's possible) rather than a core code modification, and as there is nobody in charge of VASL development, the next best thing is to ask the community (or as much of the community as frequents Gamesquad) for their opinion on whether it should be incorporated into a future release. I'm not fussed either way, I can keep modifying my own copy of the .vmod file, just thought I'd put this out there to see if anyone else would like it.

* PS: we're not actually concerned about the dice, it's just a bit of fun after the game reflecting on the craziness that ASL throws up.

 

[Actionjick]

My opponent and I have always felt that the dice stats at the end of a VASL session just don't do justice to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that occur each and every time we play. The averages will mostly (ok not always) average out, but timing is everything when it comes to ASL. We want to feel fully justified in wailing and gnashing our teeth (instead of just doing it anyway) by seeing the full horrible story of that glorious advance into a 4 to 1 CC, followed by the seemingly inevitable whiffing of the dice and the 1,1 by your opponent in response, played out in the stats afterwards.*

I modified the dicebot code in VASL (I know how that sounds - just the bit that outputs stats, not the bit that actually rolls the dice) to produce the following:
View attachment 19233

It's nothing near as ambitious and impressive as @Pacman Ghost's graphical display and "dice hotness" in his excellent vasl-templates program, but was a very simple change to the code as the stats are all stored in VASL currently, just not displayed. However I can't figure out how to do this as an extension (I'm not sure that it's possible) rather than a core code modification, and as there is nobody in charge of VASL development, the next best thing is to ask the community (or as much of the community as frequents Gamesquad) for their opinion on whether it should be incorporated into a future release. I'm not fussed either way, I can keep modifying my own copy of the .vmod file, just thought I'd put this out there to see if anyone else would like it.

* PS: we're not actually concerned about the dice, it's just a bit of fun after the game reflecting on the craziness that ASL throws up.

Lol very cool I suppose but as an OMOOT I would rather just set up the scenario again and start gunnin'. You can always reflect on past dice misfortunes while creating new ones.

 

[JoeArthur]

No big deal if you want to do it or not.

It is tough to capture how critical one dice roll can be in ASL. A double one when you have 1FP and no officer is useless because you cower. A double one when you are a US TD firing at a Panther - now that is a joy

 

[ColinJ]

If someone is going to expand the die/dice stats, I would appreciate the statistics being in a consistent order to make comparisons between opponents stats easier.

 

[ScottRomanowski]

I'd like to see the dice statistics reset whenever I load a game. I often go through logfiles for several PBEM games in one session without closing VASL, and the statistics accumulate so the averages for game #3 also includes what I rolled when creating logfiles for games #1 and #2.

 

[Larry]

There few things more discouraging than seeing that you diced the hell out of your opponent ... and still lost.

 

[brunger]

Lol very cool I suppose but as an OMOOT I would rather just set up the scenario again and start gunnin'. You can always reflect on past dice misfortunes while creating new ones.

“Stats the way to do it!”

Apologies I went into Punch and Judy mode.
A bit like pantomime mode “Behind you”

It’s the fun of the fight for me. Not the maths test at the end??

 

[Actionjick]

There few things more discouraging than seeing that you diced the hell out of your opponent ... and still lost.

Yes, I agree. Trust me I know. It's amazing what skill can overcome.

Lol, take joy in winning the battle if not the war.

 

[Actionjick]

“Stats the way to do it!”

Apologies I went into Punch and Judy mode.
A bit like pantomime mode “Behind you”

It’s the fun of the fight for me. Not the maths test at the end??

Well said. If I only cared about winning I would have said goodbye to Fish after he beat me the first fourteen scenarios we played. I didn't because the guy was just amazing to play against.

 

[SSlunt]

Everyone knows that the VASL dice bot and the random.org dice bot are not truly random. They produce a greater number of 3/4 and 10/11 that is statically random. Either accept or find another alternative like using your actual dice.
To me using the Dice bot does not feel like I am playing a board game.

 

[Neal]

As a retired engineer...data is good. I can get a general feel when the fortunes and randomness of war go against me (that's what die rolls represent), but I like to know where it impacted me. This helps me learn how to make adjustments in gameplay to avoid the impact of negative rolls, either by myself or by an opponent.

 

[jyoung]

If someone is going to expand the die/dice stats, I would appreciate the statistics being in a consistent order to make comparisons between opponents stats easier.

Hi @ColinJ, just to clarify, do you mean always having the same order of TH, TK, IFT, CC, Rally, etc? What order would you want to see?

 

[Paul John]

iming is everything when it comes to ASL

This.
One of my most fond memories is my opponent firing his BMG to test LOS, and rolling 1,1 to verify that it was good. He then missed with the MA. Not once, not twice, but three times in one scenario! Talk about living on the edge!
But the stats at the end of the game miss this completely, so I generally never bother to look at them.

 

[ColinJ]

Hi @ColinJ, just to clarify, do you mean always having the same order of TH, TK, IFT, CC, Rally, etc? What order would you want to see?

Right now the order is shown on VASL by average DR ranking, low to high. I would prefer if it was a list with the left hand column in a consistent order. Rally, (TC, MC, IFT, TH, TK,) CC, and finally Other. The items in brackets, really for all the items listed, the order doesn't matter much. Just would like to compare row 1 between me and my opponent and not have to search down the list to make sure we are comparing Rally to Rally, CC to CC, etc.

Thanks @jyoung

 

[von Marwitz]

Everyone knows that the VASL dice bot and the random.org dice bot are not truly random. They produce a greater number of 3/4 and 10/11 that is statically random. Either accept or find another alternative like using your actual dice.
To me using the Dice bot does not feel like I am playing a board game.

Everyone knows? Now, really?

I contest that.

Follow this link to VASL.info to get here:



Then follow this link to see the analysis.

Until I am made aware of an analysis disproving the aforementioned one, I'll keep waving my flag embellished with "Dice(-bot) Superstition".

That said, what really matters is on what particular occasion(s) during the game you roll good or bad.
Losing your single crucial 88 ATG to a single roll of boxcars makes all the difference, while rolling a dozen of boxcars on PTCs with unconcealed units having received fire in the AFPh while not threatened by CC makes none at all.

Of course, everyone is free to have one's personal preferences.

von Marwitz

 

[SSlunt]

Follow this link to VASL.info to get here:

And you can believe the bible is true because it says it true.
I made no reference to what or when you are rolling. This has nothing to do with the the Randomness of the Dice. People want to believe that they are using a fair system, and as long as you both agree to use what you want then roll on. No one is stopping you.

 

[Stewart]

The DR's are meaningless unless you have the DRM's associated with them.
Similar to ROAR Records


Is a DR 1,1 better than a DR of 4,2 on the IFT?
You can apply a hundred situations where the DR 6 has had greater impact.

 

[Carln0130]

Hi @ColinJ, just to clarify, do you mean always having the same order of TH, TK, IFT, CC, Rally, etc? What order would you want to see?

J, do you have this as something that can be loaded into one's VASL in extension form? If so, I would be very interested in it.
Thanks

 

[jyoung]

J, do you have this as something that can be loaded into one's VASL in extension form? If so, I would be very interested in it.
Thanks

I'd much prefer to do it as an extension but can't figure out how to make it work. As it stands I have three compiled java files which just have to be added to the VASL .vmod file manually (easy, but which you would have to do again when a new VASL release comes out). PM me and I'll send you the files and instructions on how to add them.

 

[Carln0130]

I'd much prefer to do it as an extension but can't figure out how to make it work. As it stands I have three compiled java files which just have to be added to the VASL .vmod file manually (easy, but which you would have to do again when a new VASL release comes out). PM me and I'll send you the files and instructions on how to add them.

Thanks. Will do. Will it track my opponents rolls too, or just mine?