Tutorial 1

Tutorial 1


The simplest scenario that one can make is to take the initial map and add some units to it. This first tutorial will show how to place units on a map and do the necessary additions that are needed to make the whole scenario work. This tutorial can be found in the tutorial folder as the file "tutorial1.map".

After you start the Joy Of Hex Editor application, you begin working on a new scenario by selecting the New ... menu item from the application's File menu, as is pictured in the image to the left. Doing this will bring up the dialog that is pictured in the image below. Of all the climate and ground state choices that I can make "Europe1" is the most simplest, so I select that popup menu item. I also change the hex map width and height to a smaller 10 by 10 size just in order to be more manageable. With these settings I click on the OK button which will bring up a new scenario document window.

In the lower center of the new scenario document window is the map (in this case all of the hexes have been initialised to clear grassy fields), while along the top of the window is the toolbar. But for what need to do the present toolbar isn't the right one - so we select the Edit Terrain Values menu item from the Toolbar as is pictured in the image to the left.

The scenario that I'm planning to make isn't something that will will awards for great design - basically I will make a scenario that has side 1 along the left of the map, and a mirror image of side 2 down the right of the map.

The first change that I intend to do to the scenario is to include supply hexes. In keeping with the simpleness of the scenario design, I will first click on the left-most column of the hex map chosing a hex about half way up the map, as is pictured in the following graphic:

Having selected te hex that I want to supply side 1 as in the image above, I then go to the toolbar and click the Supply Hexes... button, which will bring up the following dialog:

I only want this hex to supply side 1, so I click in the Does Side 1 Have Supply? check box. I leave the supply level set at the default value and click on the OK button. After the dialog disappears, an orangish hex highlight appears under the familar green highlight.

I next want side 2 to draw supply, only this time from a hex to the far right of the one that we had previously chosen. First we do a single mouse click on the map hex that I want selected, moving the green highlight to the hex that I want, as is pictured below:

As before with side 1, I then click on the Supply Hexes... button (as pictured to the left) which again brings up the dialog that we had before. This time I select the Does Side 2 Have Supply? check button, and leave the supply level set to the default value, before clicking on the OK button as I pictured just below. A new orangish hex highlight then appears, telling me that there are now two supply hexes on the hex map.

The next step in making our scenario is to place some units on the hex map. The present toolbar is not what I need so I select the Unit Requirements menu item from the Toolbar menu to bring up the toolbar that I require.

I want to place down the head-quarter unit for side one, next to the side 1 supply hex, first - so I do a single click on the hex in which I want the head-quarter unit to appear, as is shown in the following picture:

I then go to the toolbar and click on the New Unit... button which is pictured to the left. This brings up a dialog that has many items that need to be attended to - hopefully the following picture will contain enough information for you to understand what I have done before clicking the OK button to make the unit appear.

I then want a vertical column of infantry units for side 1 to appear roughly down the center of the hex map. First I click on the top-center hex in order to move the highlight to it, before shift-clicking the rest of the hexes in a column down the map, as is pictured below:

Again I go to the toolbar and click on the New Unit ... button to bring up the new unit dialog. Instead of describing all the changes that I made to this dialog, I hope that the following picture will make clear what I changed before I clicked on the OK to cause a whole series of the same unit to appear in all the hexes that I had selected earlier. Notice how the editor remembers the options that I had selected before, since there are a lot of similarities within a side this can make creating a large scenario easier.

Next, I want a column of side 2 infantry adjacent to the side 1 infantry. So I first click the top-center hex to undo all the selected hexes that I had chosen earlier in order to select only that single hex, I then shift-clicked my way down the map selecting hexes as appears in the following image:

Again I go to the toolbar and click on the New Unit ... button to bring up the new unit dialog. Hopefully the following picture will have enough information in order to figure out what I've done. The most important change that I've made is to switch the radio buttons from Side 1 to Side 2.

The last unit that I will place on the map is the head-quarter unit for side 2. To undo the previously shift-clicked hexes and to select the one hex that I want, I simply click in the hex alongside the side 2 supply hex as is shown in the following image:

As should be familar by now, I then go to the toolbar and click on the New Unit ... button to bring up the new unit dialog. The following picture should hopefully contain enough imformation for you to understand what I've done.

Having placed supply hexes and units on the hex map, I then need to connect everything up so that everyone can draw supply correctly during the game. I'll work on side 1 first, clicking on the head-quarter unit for side 1. Notice, in following image, that I've only highlighted one hex, and it is the one containing the head-quarter that I want.

Since I want to both attach this head-quarter unit to a supply hex and attach the respective infantry to it, I then go to the toolbar and click on both of the Select HQ buttons, where the result is pictured to the left. I then go to the hex map and click on the supply hex for side one to place the green highlight in that hex, as is shown in the following image. Notice that I have highlighted only one hex.

Once I have highlighted the supply hex for side 1 I then go to the toolbar and click on the Attach To Hex button as is pictured to the left. This will cause the following dialog box to appear. This dialog box merely appears just in case I accidently clicked the attachment button and gives me a chance to stop any changes. But I want the head-quarter to draw supply from the hex so I click the OK button as pictured in the image below:

The next step is to add all the infantry units to the head-quarter for side 1. I first click on one of the units before shift-clicking the rest in order to highlight them, as is shown in the following picture. Notice that I can select multiple units to be attached to a head-quarter. Also note that if there were more than one unit per hex I'd only be attaching the topmost unit.

I then move to the toolbar and and click on the Attach Unit button as is pictured to the left. This brings up another dialog that checks that actually want to make the change that I have requested - naturally I want the units to be added so I click the OK button as is shown in the following image:

After connecting up side 1, I then move on to connect side 2 up. Like before I, I first do a single click on the hex containing the head-quarter for side 2, in order to highlight it as is pictured below:

As I want to both attach this head-quarter to a supply hex and attach units to it I have gone to the toolbar and clicked on both of the Select HQ buttons, creating the result that is pictured to the left. I then go to the hex map and do a single click on the hex containing the supply hex for side 2, as is pictured in the following:

I then go back to the toolbar and click on the Attach To Hex button as is pictured to the left. This brings up the familar warning dialog, in which I click the OK button as is pictured below:

Next I attach the side 2 infantry to the side 2 head-quarter by first clicking one of the infantry before shift-clicking the rest, as is pictured in the following:

I then move to the toolbar and click on the Attach Unit button as is pictured to the left. This causes the familar warning dialog to appear, in which I click the OK button as is pictured below:

To finish up our scenario we need to set the hex ownership. This is possibly the most tedious part of scenario editing in that you have shift-click every hex that side 1 owns as I've shown in the following picture:

With all the hexes selected, I then go to the toolbar and click the Set Ownership... button. This causes the following dialog to appear checking that I actually want to make the changed that I have requested - naturally, I click the OK button. In setting the hex ownership for side 1, I have by exclusion set the hex ownership of side 2.

All that remains is to select the Save menu item from the application's File menu and go through all the familar saving routines, which means that the scenario is fully completed and saved to file. If you like, you can then start up the Joy Of Hex application and give the scenario a play, of course, in being so basic it may not be the most exciting scenario that you can play.


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