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Old 03-26-2021, 08:18 PM   #1
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Starting wealth over-ride?

Hi Folks,
Is there a way to set starting wealth as an over-ride with a GDF file? My goal is to set it up such that all standard GURPS Equipment prices are removed from GCA when I load my OLD WEST.GDF file last, and from there, enter in new equipment with historical prices for goods, including currency. I've been playing around with using the Table View, then finding Starting Wealth, and then modifying the 500 to a somewhat different number (1/10th of what I want the starting number to be) but that isn't working as expected.

A simple TL 5 set up, with a starting wealth value would be GREAT if possible.

Help?

Thanks,
Hal
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Old 03-26-2021, 11:31 PM   #2
ericbsmith
 
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Default Re: Starting wealth over-ride?

Starting Wealth is an attribute, and can easily be changed with a data file as an attribute by changing its basevalue(). You'd just need to drop something like the following into a custom data file and load it with your data set:

Code:
[ATTRIBUTES]
Starting Wealth, basevalue(314195)
This would give starting wealth of $314,195

The cost of equipment is far more difficult, as you would need to edit the basecost() of every piece of equipment you intend to allow in the game. It would need hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of lines like:

Code:
[EQUIPMENT]
#ReplaceTags in "EQ:Revolver, .38" with basecost(200)
The easiest way to expedite this would be to configure your data set to remove any equipment you don't want to use (by loading the Remove Equipment TL datafiles, High-Tech, or whatever else you want). Once you've got that you can go to the Equipment Tab in GCA then select all of the pieces of equipment. In the View Info pane on the right (top menu View - View Info Window) you can copy all of the descriptive text. Each item is separated by a line of dashes; the first line after the dashes is the equipment's name; the fourth line is the cost. You can then drop this information into a spreadsheet which will allow you to begin separating out this info, sorting it, adding your new cost, and then automatically generating the #ReplaceTags lines for a custom data file.
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Last edited by ericbsmith; 03-26-2021 at 11:38 PM.
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Old 03-27-2021, 06:16 AM   #3
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: Starting wealth over-ride?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ericbsmith View Post
Starting Wealth is an attribute, and can easily be changed with a data file as an attribute by changing its basevalue(). You'd just need to drop something like the following into a custom data file and load it with your data set:

Code:
[ATTRIBUTES]
Starting Wealth, basevalue(314195)
This would give starting wealth of $314,195

The cost of equipment is far more difficult, as you would need to edit the basecost() of every piece of equipment you intend to allow in the game. It would need hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of lines like:

Code:
[EQUIPMENT]
#ReplaceTags in "EQ:Revolver, .38" with basecost(200)
The easiest way to expedite this would be to configure your data set to remove any equipment you don't want to use (by loading the Remove Equipment TL datafiles, High-Tech, or whatever else you want). Once you've got that you can go to the Equipment Tab in GCA then select all of the pieces of equipment. In the View Info pane on the right (top menu View - View Info Window) you can copy all of the descriptive text. Each item is separated by a line of dashes; the first line after the dashes is the equipment's name; the fourth line is the cost. You can then drop this information into a spreadsheet which will allow you to begin separating out this info, sorting it, adding your new cost, and then automatically generating the #ReplaceTags lines for a custom data file.
Thank you Eric - I very much appreciate the guidance. What I'm doing is grabbing information on what guns come available by what year, and I'm using the following information for starting cash on the premise that monthly income is about $30 per month for struggling jobs, and about $60 per month for status 0 jobs etc. It follows the standard x1/5, x1/2, x1, x2, x5 etc of GURPS wealth levels. If I could figure out what numbers to change so that it doesn't match the original starting wealth rules from GURPS, and fill in my own value that will give me what I'm after - I'd be really happy. I only want this to work for TL 5.

Ultimately, starting wealth for a struggling character should be about $180, or $360 for status 0.

Having already done work with my AdventureGuns1.gdf file, I know what goes into the work. In fact, I created a macro that would take all of the spreadsheet data row by row, and write it to a txt file after putting the mandatory headers and such at the start of the file - and placing a gdf file extension in the name. Worked out nicely. :) In theory, I could add new guns NOT in the GURPS HIGH TECH: ADVENTURE GUNS that are the results of my research as to best GURPSify guns not listed in any of the High Tech series books - but hey, what I have already is good.
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Old 04-06-2021, 07:48 PM   #4
hal
 
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Default Re: Starting wealth over-ride?

Ok, I've now gotten the hang of how to deal with modifying Wealth overall. New question:

Is there a way to format things such that it shows all values to the nearest hundreds? For instance, money could be seen as $1.00 where possible. Weights would be seen as 1.00 instead of 1.00991 for example.

Also, I'm looking to create a thing called "Coins" where depending on whether it is a Gold Eagle ($10), a Double Eagle ($20), a Morgan Silver Dollar ($1) etc - that the coins will have weights that are in decimal pounds. I want to be able to format the display in GCA such that it will never be anything worse than .99 lbs (not .99111111 lbs)

So, is that possible?

Thanks.

:)
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Old 04-08-2021, 02:40 PM   #5
Armin
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Location: Portland, OR
Default Re: Starting wealth over-ride?

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
Is there a way to format things such that it shows all values to the nearest hundreds? For instance, money could be seen as $1.00 where possible. Weights would be seen as 1.00 instead of 1.00991 for example.
No, not at this time, I'm afraid.

I can add such options to the next version, which I'll be happy to include if needed once that hits the streets. (I've already added something to allow formatting GCA's display of equipment dollar costs and weights in the trait lists. Expansion of that later should be possible.)
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Old 04-08-2021, 08:12 PM   #6
hal
 
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Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: Starting wealth over-ride?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Armin View Post
No, not at this time, I'm afraid.

I can add such options to the next version, which I'll be happy to include if needed once that hits the streets. (I've already added something to allow formatting GCA's display of equipment dollar costs and weights in the trait lists. Expansion of that later should be possible.)
Hi Armin,
I look forward to your next iteration of the GCA. What I've been doing lately is to utilize other game systems for starting wealth values and even currency values. For example, I've gone as far as to research coin weights for the Double Eagle, Gold Eagle, Half Eagle, and Quarter Eagle coins. My intention is to make is such that the player has to "buy" currency to use up their "starting money".

I've never really be much of a fan for the GURPS economics rules, and have adopted my own in which cost of living is roughly 85% gross monthly income, leaving a discretionary income of 15% - and it largely works well as a rule of thumb for my Cyberpunk campaigns.

One thing to keep in the back of your mind is that there is an Australian Gent who figured out how to use GCA to export characters for use with Fantasy Grounds in an XML format Hopefully the new version will permit that - as that is one of the really NICE features of having GURPS supported for use with Fantasy Grounds.

If you ever would like to see what Fantasy Grounds (FG) is like, let me know and I'll arrange a demo of it for you. All you have to do is download the demo version of the software (It is free as a Demo mode) and I can host a game from my end with the license that I purchased. You'll need to download the classic version for me to be able to give you that demo. I was able to set it up for my cyberpunk campaign where I used the PDF version of NIGHT CITY for inclusion in my online campaigns - even the floor plans of various establishments. The nice thing about FG is that it permits you to use the characters created in GCA as imports into the game, where the player need only click on a die roll symbol, and the program will roll 3d6 against the skill, and show not only the roll against the skill, but whether it was successful or a failure (or a crit for that matter). The user of FG (ie the GM) has to create their own "modifications to rolls" table, but once you input that, the players can use the modifiers table to modify their own rolls and have the FG code lower the success target value from its original to +/- modifiers to its new value. Thus, gun penalties for range can be included, hit location penalties can be added, etc.

In any event - being able to format the out put will come in handy for the coins so that if you have 30 coints to a pound in weight, that you don't end up with a weight like 3.2965461. I can probably simply round all answers to 2 digits and force it to format that way

Well, I'm babbling so I'll bring it to a close here.

Thank you for your work and I will purchase the next edition to insure that you get some reward for the hard work you're putting into this!

Oh, almost forgot!

Would it be possible for you to have an alias section for skills such that if you have a skill that has multiple defaults to it, that it be in the Skills section instead of the equipment section? I created a macro for use with Excel, that would take all the attributes of a gun, and create an "equipment" section for a GDF file. The royal pain it was to have to include default skills for pistols and rifles and shotguns was a pain to code in VBA.

For now, the project I'm currently working on, is to get every piece of equipment listed in any of the GURPS modules gdf so that I can create something that permits me to reprice the "goods" without too much major effort.
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Old 04-09-2021, 10:31 AM   #7
Armin
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Default Re: Starting wealth over-ride?

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
I look forward to your next iteration of the GCA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
Thank you for your work and I will purchase the next edition to insure that you get some reward for the hard work you're putting into this!
Thanks! I'm really looking forward to people getting to try it out. I hope everyone likes it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
use GCA to export characters for use with Fantasy Grounds in an XML format Hopefully the new version will permit that
I am familiar with Fantasy Grounds, although I've not yet used it at all.

GCA had to switch what it used for writing sheets, going from VBScript to .Net, but it still supports fully custom print and export sheets as plugins. With .Net it's much more powerful.

I'm aware of the folks working on VTT stuff. I think we'll continue to see VTT export support for GCA in the future.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post
Would it be possible for you to have an alias section for skills such that if you have a skill that has multiple defaults to it, that it be in the Skills section instead of the equipment section? I created a macro for use with Excel, that would take all the attributes of a gun, and create an "equipment" section for a GDF file. The royal pain it was to have to include default skills for pistols and rifles and shotguns was a pain to code in VBA.
I'm afraid I'm not following here. I don't see how you see this working. GCA5 does have a substitutions system, where one trait can claim to substitute for another, but that doesn't seem to fit this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hal View Post

For now, the project I'm currently working on, is to get every piece of equipment listed in any of the GURPS modules gdf so that I can create something that permits me to reprice the "goods" without too much major effort.
Good luck!
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