Hi Don,

>I was looking at this feature today, but did not see a way to
>dynamically set the send to location. The global key is not the
>problem. The problem is in the "send to location" trait of a piece. It
>looks to me that that the send to location must be fixed at module
>build time. Is this true? Or can one place a variable into the send to
>location? What am I missing? Which modules should I look at that
>"deal" pieces to different locations?

This is a Version 3.0 enhancement.

I have done several things to make Send to Location more flexible:

Already in 2.9.9:
 - The X and Y co-ords can use $..$ names.
 - Add the additional X, Y offset fields. These can use $...$ names.

New for 3.0:
 - The Map and Board selectors are now input fields also, and can use $...$ 
names
 - Added a new 'Destination' selector that can be one of the following ($...$ 
names supported in all options:
   
1. Location on Saved Map. This is the same as the existing option and is the 
default.

2. Zone on Selected Map. Enter a map name and a zone name and the counter will 
go to the center of the named zone on the named map. 

3. Region on Selected Map. Enter a map name and a Region name (i.e. a named 
location on an irregular grid) and the counter will go to the location of that 
Region.

4. Another counter, selected by properties. Enter a Property Match Expression. 
The counter will find the first counter that matches those properties and go to 
the same location as it, stacking on top of it if they are in the same layer.

Number 4 is the biggy, it allows counters to 'Home in' on other counters. 
Here'e how I used it to randomly distribute flak counters to start a game:

 - In the starup file, I create an always shuffled, face-down Deck containing 
the full set of Flak counters counters on a scenario card, plus a button to 
deal them.

 - On the map, the Flak tower positions are marked with a special marker than 
can be identified with a property match expression.

 - The flak counters have a 'Send to Location' property match option to home in 
on the flak counter markers. If no counter matches the property, the counter 
goes nowhere

 - The 'Deal flak' button does a GKC to the flak deck to fire off a trigger 
action that first, does a 'Send to Location' to send the Flak counter to the 
first Flak tower marker, then does a GKC 'type=flakMarker && 
locationName=$locationName$' to delete the flak tower marker it just landed on.

The net result is that clicking the 'Deal Flak' button randomly distributes the 
correct number of flak markers to the flak tower locations and deletes the flak 
tower markers. The same technique can be used to deal cards out etc. Instead of 
deleting the target marker, you can just change a dynamic propery in it to mark 
that it has been dealt to.

Cheers,
Brent.
 
____________________________________________________________
Brent Easton                       
Analyst/Programmer                               
University of Western Sydney                                   
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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