Board 24 LOS?

holdit

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I'm working my way through the Squad Leader Training Manual, and at the end of the LOS section there is an exercise on Board 24, looking from the 2nd Level of V3 along the U4-I10 hex grain. According to the course text the visible hexes are S5 (first Level), 07, N7, L8 and I10, but it looks to me as if the only location visible from Level 2 ov V3 should be the rooftop of U4, with everything else along the U4-I10 hex grain out of LOS. This would also seem in tune with the drawing on page B25. The VASL LOS tool seems to think so too, although the reason given is that "LOS must leave the building before...", so I'm not sure if it knows about split level buildings.

Any enlightenment would be appreciated. :)
 

jrv

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You are referring to chapter K, page K11, near the top of the second column.

The split level building rises from level minus one to level one-and-one-half in U4 and from level zero to level two-and-one-half in hex V3. A unit at level two (or on the rooftop at level two-and-one-half) can see to a lower level over an obstacle that rises to level one-and-one-half because the obstacle is below the level of the unit.

In the depiction after B23.722, a man crawling on the floor could not see past to lower level, but if he stood up (or on a chair) he could. Note: I don't want to make too much of thinking about the situation because that's not how the rules are worked out, but it's a hand-wavy argument that might be helpful in seeing what the rules say.

Also this is a question that is probably better placed in the rules & errata subforum rather than vasl.

JR
 

holdit

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I wan't sure if it was a rules problem or a VASL problem, but your explanation makes sense so I think it's a VASL problem. Mystery solved.
 

jrv

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I wan't sure if it was a rules problem or a VASL problem, but your explanation makes sense so I think it's a VASL problem. Mystery solved.
Yeah, vasl is confused. To be honest the rules are assuming a bit here. The outline of the building in V3 hex at the second level is assumed to end at the hex edge going toward the U4 hex. This isn't spelled out in B23.721. And although vasl is a wonderful tool for what it does well, what it is not necessarily good at is applying the rules, especially when there is an odd case. I will guess that it judges whether the LOS leaves the building by looking at the color of the bitmap rather than any more sophisticated method.

Similar things can happen without the split level building if an upper level of a building is rubbled, or even the base level. vasl seems to handle the base-level rubble ok but gets confused by upper-level rubble.

JR
 

DougRim

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I have implemented a fix for the split-level buildings. I am also working on the upper level rubble issue. Just a question of creating some new counters. Both of these fixes should be in the next release.
 

DougRim

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I have coded a fix for upper level rubble. If anyone would care to test it for me I would appreciate it. You can get the test VASL module here.

If you do give it a try I would appreciate your feeback back on
(1) whether the LOS check works properly with the upper level rubble counters; and
(2) what you think of the counters themselves. The counter for level 0 contains a coloured stripe at the bottom which is either gray for stone or brown for wood. Selecting type from the popup menu should switch it. Counters for levels 1, 2, and 3, don't contain this stripe. Which do you prefer?

The upper level counters can be found on the toolbar and also in the counter panel - Info-Destroy-Rubble. Note that I am refering to counters and not overlays.

Doug
 
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