Chapter 3. The Time-Line and Security
One of the most important War Room Applet concepts is the timeline. Almost all the information you put into War Room Applet has a start time and an end time that defines when this operation/status change/intelligence report happens. When you first start War Room Applet, by default you are looking at what is happening right now. Every five minutes your view of the data will automatically be updated to reflect changes that other War Room Applet users have added, or that have been made automatically to reflect the current in-game status.
The title bar of the main War Room Applet window always shows the date and the time that the application is displaying. All dates and times in War Room Applet are always entered and displayed in the time zone set on your PC (although they are stored in the database as GMT). All dates and times reflect "Real" time as opposed to "in-game" time. If the time the map is displaying is the current time, the title bar will also display "Current". When you are looking at the "Current" situation, the display and the title bar will be updated every five minutes.
War Room Applet remembers everything that happens. So you can turn the "clock" in War Room Applet back, to see what has happened in the past. For example, on Aug. 29 2002 at 15:10 EST (19:10 UT) the map was reset; if you set the clock to that time you will see how the map looks at reset.
You can also turn the clock forward, to see what is scheduled to happen in the future, or to schedule something to happen in the future.
Setting the Time
To change the time that War Room Applet is showing, you use the Set time... command in the World menu. This brings up a dialog that allows you to enter the time you want to look at. War Room Applet accepts a number of different date/time formats, but you might find it easiest to just change the values in the displayed time string. Remember that the time is entered in your local time zone.
When you have entered a valid date and time, you can press the OK or Apply button, and the view of the map and the title bar will change to reflect the date and time you selected. The difference between the OK and Apply buttons is that the Apply will leave the Set time... dialog displayed after the time is changed.
When you select to look at a time other than the current time, that time will remain displayed until you explicitly change it. The view will not update every 5 minutes.
If you are not looking at the current time, the Return to Current Time button will be enabled on the Set time... dialog. This button will immediately return your view to the current time.
What is Visible or Changeable and When
The timeline is the basis for information security in War Room Applet. The idea is that information about future happenings is very secret and must be kept secure, while information about things that have already happened can be made more freely available. As events or plans in War Room Applet move from the future to the present and finally into the past, they get declassified.
In War Room Applet your identity is confirmed either by loggin in to the AHC forums or, for Java Web Start, the login screen. Once your identity is established, you are assigned a security clearance a security clearance based on the groups you are in in the AHC forums.
If you are in the Theater Staff or AHC Generals groups, you have access to Top Secret information.
If you are in the AHC Colonels group, you have access to Secret information.
If you are in the Allied group, you have access to Confidential information.
If you are not in any of the groups, you only have access to Public information.
When granting access to information, War Room Applet divides it into three different categories:
The real, or projected status of chokepoints. This information is automatically updated to match the current game status every five minutes--but officers with appropriate clearance can set their projected status in the future.
Notes and intel attached to chokepoints. This information is assumed to be valid for two hours after entry.
Operation Plans. This information is entered in the planner; it is set to be valid for two hours by default but this can be changed.
The following table lists when information is available to see, or modify, at each level of clearance.
Table 3-1. War Room Applet Security Summary
| Clearance | Information Type | Read | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top Secret | CP Status | Anytime | Anytime |
| CP Intel | Anytime | Anytime | |
| Op Plans | Anytime | Anytime | |
| Secret | CP Status | Up to 6 hours ahead | Up to 2 hours ahead |
| CP Intel | Up to 6 hours ahead | Up to 2 hours ahead | |
| Op Plans | Up to 6 hours ahead | Up to 2 hours ahead | |
| Classified | CP Status | Up to 30 minutes ahead | Current |
| CP Intel | Up to 30 minutes ahead | Up to 30 minutes ahead | |
| Op Plans | Up to 30 minutes ahead | Current | |
| Confidential | CP Status | Current | Never |
| CP Intel | Current | Never | |
| Op Plans | Current | Never | |
| Public | CP Status | Current | Never |
| CP Intel | 6 hours old | Never | |
| Op Plans | 24 hours old | Never |
Security restrictions are enforced by the server, so you are unable to circumvent them by modifying the War Room Applet client. Your security clearance will also influence the parts of War Room Applet that are available to you.
How to Plan Secretly in War Room Applet
You can see that all information added to War Room Applet eventually becomes available to the public. If you put in information that must remain secure, it is your responsibility to explicitly delete that information from War Room Applet before it becomes public.
What if you are planning an operation and you are not ready for anyone to see it, even your fellow officers? What you should do in this case is hide your operation in time. Set the time in War Room Applet before you start creating the operation, several years in the future (if your rank allows it) or several years in the past. If you do this it will be nearly impossible for anyone else to stumble across your operation.