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el cid again -> RE: Map question - Rivers (10/29/2016 2:45:23 AM)
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The ship size limit for rivers is, IMHO, too large.
But it is indeed not up to me. It is hard coded.
Generally, I classify navigable rivers in different ways:
1) A major, navigable river is more or less what stock has in mind.
Such a river is simply navigable all the time, but not for ships
over the size limit. I think it is also realistic to NOT conduct
carrier flight operations in rivers at all - as a house rule.
But the primary RHS House Rule is, if you know it can't be done or
the historical commanders would not do it - don't do it. So it is
covered by that without a special house rule.
2) A seasonally navigable river. Rivers often change their navigable
length. This is of significance in particular in China in game
terms. Because I have seasonal pwhexe.dat files, I can lengthen
or shorten the navigable part of a river. Most of the time, rivers
are more navigable in Spring than in Winter. Often also in Monsoon
and Fall. In the North, rivers become frozen in Winter seasons.
The peculiar Irrawaddy above Mandalay is not navigable in Spring due
to TOO MUCH water flowing in narrow canyons. These and other special
cases are noted on RHS maps if you use the ones I make.
3) Very minor navigable rivers. These are rivers navigable by tiny
craft only. They are modeled in RHS by trails - so supplies
(etc) and units may move slowly down them. These are called
"portage routes" in RHS map notes. They function in a similar way
to "low capacity ferries" in RHS and may be thought of as "long range
low capacity river ferries." Such routes sometimes follow navigable
rivers in places lacking normal roads and railroads and where native
craft are important. Sometimes they follow non-navigable rivers.
And in some cases, it depends on the season if the river is navigable,
but it is always open as a portage route. EXCEPT in the Arctic.
In the far North, however, rivers often become ice trails or
even ice roads. Thus Sakhalin Island is connected to the mainland
at two points by ice bridges and ice roads. Lake Baikal has an ice
road and two ice trails. The Lena river has a long ice road which
is important to this day (see "Ice Road Truckers"). There are others.
These are indicated on the RHS maps I make, and are ALWAYS seasonal.
Almost all only exist in Winter. Unusually, Sakhalin Island also has
them in Spring - as the ice between the island and the mainland does not
melt until later.
A variation is that there are landlocked lake and river systems.
Full RHS scenarios permit naval vessels on them. Simplified RHS
scenarios never give you naval units on them. But the rivers remain
navigable. The important case is the Upper Yellow River - above
Kaifeng - where the dykes were broken by the Chunking Regime. Other
cases include the upper and middle Mekong River, the Murray River
in Australia, and portions of half a dozen Arctic rivers. In the
North rivers become navigable in Monsoon, but those that open onto
the Arctic Ocean are blocked by ice except in Fall. [The important
case in North America is the MacKenzie River. The important case
in Asia is the Lena River. Both are usable by ships in Monsoon,
but unable to reach the sea. In Fall, an enemy could invade down
them from the sea!
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