I haven't played De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) for decades, but I do own a copy of the latest version. Who knows I may use it one day.
I built this a few months ago after I spotted a nearly full data set on the Fanaticus DBA forum. This was just before I left the forum and was looking for a small data project to occupy some dead time.
Tech tip
YouTube automatically calculates the resolution of videos based on the screen
size of the embedded video and so the above defaults to a low resolution
(360p). To see the video at it's best click the "Settings" icon (Gear
symbol) and select 480p from the "Quality" menu. This is especially
useful if you prefer to watch the video in a "pop-out" window.
Get your own copy
If you use Google Docs, use
this link to create your own copy. If you don't, use
this link to download a copy. The downloaded version isn't quite as pretty but, in my limited
tests, works fine.
Data issues
Some lists had to be split into sub-variants (ie not in the official lists) so
that they worked as true logical records. Here's an example:
The original data set was courtesy of someone on Fanaticus. Please report any errors in the comments.
An siginificantly updated version is now available.
10 comments :
that's brilliant and thanks Martin. I dont play DBA often enough but this may persuade me to get back into it...once I have modded it to add grids of course :-)
Martin, I do not play DBA either but I admire and appreciate a fella that takes on a data project like this simply for the sake of accomplishment. Congratulations!
Thanks guys and you are spot on John.
I just stumbled across this. That's a very nice addition to the sheet. I did run into a bug: lists without variations blows up the lookups (for example II/12). I stuck a "." into the Var column (C) and that fixed it.
At first the Elements and Player Choices columns threw me until I realized they weren't auto-updating. So I added a couple of formulas to autofill those columns where it could.
Thanks for reporting the bug Chris. I've fixed it.
If you're interested it was because the cell used to select the army ('Army list!!B4) wasn't formatted properly; it interpreted 1/3 as a number not text. Once formatted as plain text the selection works as do the lookups.
Please download a copy of the new version using the link in the post.
It hadn't occurred to me to make the Element column auto update. It does now. Now the only thing you have to do is chose the troop types. Thanks for the prompt Chris.
Please download a copy of the new version using the link in the post.
Finally, I haven't found a way to autofill the Troop types column.
It's easy enough to select the type when there're no options but, and it's a big one, when you have to manually select an option it replaces the formula meaning it won’t autofill when you write your next list.
Ideally, I'd like to automatically clear the Troop type column when starting a new list. However, the only way I've found uses a custom script. That would be fine for my use, but, because the way the scripts work, it would prove problematical for others due to security concerns.
If you've found another way send me an email with your approach/formulae.
A much improved version has been released. It includes an app script which provides the autofill functionality discussed above.
I wanted to post a quick follow up on this. I made another small-ish tweak to my copy of the file; I simply added another copy of the form that I reduced sizes so it would more conveniently fit on my phone screen.
I used it during a recent tournament and it made picking my army options, noting aggressiveness, and defender terrain type much easier than flipping through the rule book.
Good idea.
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