Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: comte

When do you guys expect to release Vietnam? At the end of this year?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hoplite1963

There is no such thing as a book problem, just more book you just must have.

quote:

The British Army in Germany: An Organizational History

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

Next, moving on to implementation of no-go zones...

Still a work-in-progress, but here it is so far:




You toggle on the Exclusion Overlay with the menu item indicated. (Note also the new Toggle Awareness Overlay, to supplement the automatic ON toggle in the previously released vnengine.exe.)

The hexes marked "A" (green circle) -- meaning those hexes are off-limits to Side A, Side A is excluded from those hexes -- were applied to the then hotspot hexes singly by means of the Tab hotkey.

The hexes marked "B" (yellow circle) -- meaning those hexes are off-limits to Side B, Side B is excluded from those hexes -- were applied to the middle hex in that cluster, the current hotspot hex by means of the Shift+Tab hotkey. (Note the similarity to the edmap Shift+ cluster feature.)

Not shown: It is also possible to toggle through A and B to AB, where both sides are excluded from such hex(es).

I still need to work on the L(ock) feature. But all in all, this is taking shape nicely.

And oh yes, marking the hexes for Side A and/or Side B exclusion does indeed work. In game, if you attempt to move units into an exclusion zone (hex, cluster, or wider array of excluded hexes), you are blocked with the message "Units are excluded from entering."

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hoplite1963

I wonder what happens if units that rout are backed up against hexes they are not allowed to enter ? Would they be eliminated ? If so this might have its uses as a scenario design tool.

quote:


Regards

quote:

ORIGINAL: carll11

I have been playing the new cs for a few weeks now, my admiration of the design/mod/code team is off the chart,the tank trench bridging, boffo, and when I see the Vietnam set up here, its simply stupendous, I am very eager.


The issues I do have are a matter of taste perhaps; a) I just cannot get the new toolbar, its so alien to me ( not very intuitive imho) I am constantly getting frustrated trying to navigate it...from my perspective I keep asking why the complete redesign was necessary what was intended as the benefit?



b) the white outline on the graphics symbols, it creates a ....'busy-ness' or halo affect, I like the symbols and would use them minus this, as I have to play nato only at this point ....I dont remember the 'black' graphical symbols having an outline or highlight...

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

The player must think outside the box. This is not your father's Campaign Series, with its simpler and more straightforward victory conditions. Yes, right.

This bears emphasizing, somewhere prominently in the game docs and What's New. Otherwise, expect lots of complaints from players about scenario imbalance etc.

In the older, legacy Campaign Series, the things that mattered were only two:

Loss Points, typically positive only

Objectives, with unchanging, end-of-scenario-awarded VPs

In Campaign Series Next Generation, all of the above plus:

Loss Points, positive and negative (for civilian casualties etc.)

Objectives, with possibly variable VPs and possibly accruing per turn; and possibly varying also via the CSEE

Event Points, for all manner of things, including extra points for unit losses and kills

It is a much richer, more nuanced battlefield now. Don't be thinking in the past. For victory, what matters more now than losses and taking objectives might be other, special considerations and events.

Pay close attention to the scenario description and (if available) CSEE scenario briefing (at scenario start).

It requires that the scenario designer (and Lua script author) take special care to explain the mission carefully, and to drop hints, subtle or hammered home, as needed.

Then it is up to the player to read and digest those explanations and hints, and to think outside the box.

Again, this all warrants special emphasis.

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto


Last December (while we were waiting for CSME's soon-to-be release), I was playtesting the then current CS:Vietnam. With helicopters that could park themselves over the battlefield, fly around and shoot things up, never have to return to base to refuel or resupply. Queens of the battlefield they were. (Think chess. Yes, they were that powerful.) Lots of fun, but ... was it truly Vietnam?

So I set to work on implementing, in Jason's description, "Helicopters 2.0". Also implementing other new game features, and the tweaking of older features, to better simulate warfare as it was truly fought in Vietnam. We are introducing some new things, but not every new thing or wish list item. It will still be recognizably the Campaign Series, just with a few more needed bells & whistles.

There will still be set piece battles, even battles of a more conventional war type, especially in the later years (when the impatient NVA brought push to shove; think also Dien Bien Phu). But there need to be smaller scale guerilla war type battles also, with a strong political element as depicted in the victory conditions and other game features.

There will be much variety. But consistently an old-style, straightforward WWII era shoot-em-up? No, not Vietnam. Not if we want to remain true to history.

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

I have achieved scripted AI movement by way of Lua CSEE commands. Not just unvarying scripted movement hard coded at the point of scenario design, but dynamically scripted movement adapting to changing game conditions as the scenario plays out.

If you don't appreciate how this will revolutionize the game, you haven't been paying attention.

A quick, brief sneak peek at a simple, rudimentary test case:

---

function on_next_phase (turn, side) -- DO NOT REMOVE

if turn <= 15 then
set_ai({33}, 39, 78, MOVE_HIGH)
elseif turn <= 35 then
set_ai({33}, 78, 39, MOVE_LOW)
else
set_ai({33}, -1, -1, NO_ORDER)
end

end

---

That's just the barest of beginnings. We can extend the concept far, far beyond that. For example, dynamically compute the turn, the trackid, the hex, the aiorder. In a complex web of interactive Lua functions taking into account, and responding to, all manner of game conditions and events.

Imagine the possibilities!

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

Another quicky mock-up:

---

function on_next_phase (turn, side)

...

if map_above (_21ST_PARALLEL, VIET_MINH_SIDE) then
set_ai(2ND_BATTALION_FR, TAM_DUONG, MOVE_HIGH)
end

...

end

---

Now imagine where every one of

_21ST_PARALLEL

TAM_DUONG [the 2nd Battalion destination]

MOVE_HIGH [MOVE_LOW, ...]

(and so much more) is, not a hard-coded value, rather a computed variable showing the Viet Minh presence threshold row, the 2nd Battalion destination hex, the order given.

Potentially dozens and dozens of such contingent movements, on and on and on, as complex a battle plan as the scen designer/modder cares to make it.

Take a look again at all the many CSEE functions we have available, and still more to to come.

The possibilities are nearly endless!

Stuff like

---

if random (100) <= 50 then
french_battle_plan_a ()
else
french_battle_plan_b ()
end

---

for a 50-50 chance of the French pursuing Battle Plan A, else B.

How about?

---

if isolated (_3RD_BATTALION_US) or
not cleared (GIO_LINH, NVA_SIDE) then
set_ai(_2ND_BATTALION_US, THON_CAM_LO, MOVE_HIGH)
end

---

And on and on and on.

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

quote:

ORIGINAL: berto

I have achieved scripted AI movement by way of Lua CSEE commands. Not just unvarying scripted movement hard coded at the point of scenario design, but dynamically scripted movement adapting to changing game conditions as the scenario plays out.

Seeing is believing.

In the video available here, you will see:

Beginning at Turn 1, the left force moves northward. The right force stays put.

At Turn 10, the left force takes a sharp right angle turn to the east, and moves in that direction. The right force begins moving northward.

At Turn 20, both forces start moving, diagonally in parallel, to the northwest.

Up until Turn 30, these are scripted AI movements of a type never before possible in the Campaign Series. Until now, the Campaign Series AI has only been able to move forces, generally in a straight line, directly toward objectives. Now, with scripted AI, forces can be moved here, moved there, moved anywhere, with the here, the there, and the anywhere being completely arbitrary. This is a fundamentally different type of AI movement.

At Turn 30, the scripted movement ceases, and normal, legacy, AI attack ensues.

Even though control has passed to the attack AI, at any point in the attack we can instruct the AI to redirect the attack, to call off the attack, to retreat even, again as scripted actions.

Here is the CSEE Lua code directing the force movements in the video:



The top section is the code to script the left force. The bottom section scripts the right force movement.

'{160,161,162}' are the trackids of the units in the left force. '{293,294,295}' are the trackids of the right force units.

Instead of numbers, we could employ mnemonics, the code could read something like

---

if turn == 1 then
set_ai(COMPANY_A, WAYPOINT1, MOVE_HIGH)
end
if turn == 10 then
set_ai(COMPANY_A, WAYPOINT2, MOVE_HIGH)
end
if turn == 20 then
set_ai(COMPANY_A, WAYPOINT3, MOVE_HIGH)
end
if turn == 30
set_ai(COMPANY_A, NOWHERE, NO_ORDER) -- end scripted movement, the legacy AI attack assumes control
end

---

And so on.

Again

quote:

That's just the barest of beginnings. We can extend the concept far, far beyond that. For example, dynamically compute the turn, the trackid, the hex, the aiorder. In a complex web of interactive Lua functions taking into account, and responding to, all manner of game conditions and events.

Imagine the possibilities!

So imagine, now we can script the AI to do

Flanking movements, and round-about attacks from the rear.

Way-point movements.

Starts and stops.

Retreats.

And all manner of fancy maneuvers. Whether in a single, pre-determined battle plan; or a set of such plans, with one of them selected at random; or a complex mix of plans and sub-plans selected on the fly in response to changing battlefield conditions.

...

That is just one battle plan. We could script others. To be selected at random, at scenario start. And/or adapting randomly or "intelligently" -- as intelligently as we can script it -- based on how the battle plays out.

I'm not saying that scripting like this will be easy. We can build framework code to simplify the scripting (hide away fussy details in high-level Lua functions, etc.). We can employ mnemonics (rather than numbers) to the hilt. But for all the challenges that lie ahead...

Imagine the possibilities.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nicholas Bell

If this can be tied to force correlation, losses/kills, etc it might be possible to better replicate human behavior on the battlefield. In any case it will be of great help in designing more realistic and replayable scenarios for those who understand how to use it.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nicholas Bell

If this can be tied to force correlation, losses/kills, etc it might be possible to better replicate human behavior on the battlefield. In any case it will be of great help in designing more realistic and replayable scenarios for those who understand how to use it.