Playtesting "The River War v4 beta (for ToT)"

[fairline]

I think I've hit a snag: the cataracts don't appear to open in 1898....

[Boco]

Originally posted by Allard HS
It only worked for existing units. There appears to be some kind of a security against homing event-given units to foreign cities, and instead they are homed to NONE (or "not assigned" here) when given.

I still haven't playtested this new version!
At the risk of posting something really stupid, I'll put up an idea. In Darthveda's Bulge scenario, reinforcements were 'activated' via Leo's workshop or a alternative Rules.txt load. Prior to activation, the units had a 0mf and were deployed on a 'reinforcement road'. Upon activation, they gained the appropriate mf. If you need to activate reinforcements from a particular foreign city, could you do it via Leo? Just deploy appropriate 0d 0mf precursors in Wady Halfa or map1. (hope this isn't too far off in left field) (is there a football, rugby, or cricket idiom that means the same thing?)

[Allard HS]

@Boco:

well, activating them isn't too much of a problem, the only thing is that the cities they need to be homed to need to be British, which is less neat than if they were "nature". So, even though that trick of yours is very nice and original, this works as well.

However, it ís an excellent way to inactivate units that need to be transported back to England, as it can simply "upgrade" the units to blank, motionless things.

So.. I think that solves my units-disbanding problem. I can make two units of the same unit. One of them will be upgraded and rendered useless, the other one can stay. An element of surprise can be added to the player as to which units leave by using .alt events for creating these units.

@Fairline

Hehe, I didn't think of that yet. Adding more turns to the game should also require more events.. Well, you can just open them up yourself then, if you need, while I am working on a new events file.

Well, it seems this scenario is approaching its final phases. Still need some event-work, the addition of sounds, and some touching up, and we'll be almost ready to release it.

[Boco]

Originally posted by Allard HS
@Boco:
So, even though that trick of yours is very nice and original, this works as well.

It may be original, but I got it from Darthveda. Techumseh has a similar trick in Red October, and I'll bet it goes back further.

Originally posted by Allard HS
However, it ís an excellent way to inactivate units that need to be transported back to England, as it can simply "upgrade" the units to blank, motionless things.

Since I'm spouting other's original ideas. Here's one from Kull's discontinued Guns of August. Upgrade the units to range 1 air units. Then change @FUEL in Game.txt, so that their withdrawal is announced when they run out of fuel. If their stats are weak enough (e.g. 0a,0d,1h,1f), then the player has an incentive to 'crash' them even if they're in cities/airbases at the time of upgrade.

None of this is necessary, since an edit of @UPGRADE suffices as a withdrawal announcement using the Leo scheme, but this does clear the map of unneeded units. Immobile units scattered along the wayside might provoke the AI into odd behavior and force the human to deploy many guards in strange places for much of the game.

Originally posted by Allard HS
Well, it seems this scenario is approaching its final phases. Still need some event-work, the addition of sounds, and some touching up, and we'll be almost ready to release it.

I'm about to test it today and will keep my remaining comments within the realm of the practical.

[Boco]

Just tell me to quit whining and play...

Didn't get far.

The historical feel is so improved, you almost feel like you're the Sirdar sailing up the Nile on the Akasha!

I like the scoring system: it penalizes costly engagements as much as the press of the time would have. Assuming you capture the map, I'd estimate that citizens could contribute 7-800 points and WoW's 1300. So the loss of a single unit could reduce your score by 5%.

Tokar and Wady Halfa have me frustrated, though. I suspect that typically you could lose 0-3 units depending on if and when the beleaguered garrisons Tokar, Wady Halfa, and possibly Tambuk become veterans.

Against unwalled cities (Tokar, Wady Halfa), it takes an average of 1.3 Raiders to eliminate one nonvet entrenched defender, but 2.5 against vet entrenched defenders. These cities have <2 entrenched defenders on 3/96. Since there are three Dervish attackers within range of each, the one defender will face two attackers. If this defender remains nonvet, it will likely be eliminated. If it becomes a vet against the first attacker, it is likely to survive. In short, your score will likely hinge on whether defenders in these cities become vets against the first attacker or not. (Anecdotally, it sure seems like the random seed on my computer is anything but random. It seems like I get either a bunch of vet statuses in a turn or none.)

For some reason, that bugs me. As a player, I'm frustrated to let my score (up to 15%) be a function of pure luck. Historically, I know that these hamlets weren't threatened in 1896. Taking liberties here for playability, however, is no problem for me. I know this is opinionated, and my calculations are likely inaccurate, but letting up to 15% of my score depend on gaining vet status in 3 early battles doesn't increase the fun factor. I suppose I should play the odds and assume that (1) Tokar will fall and (2) Wady Halfa will lose one unit.

I'd suggest either walling these two cities, reducing the attackers by 1-2 units, or making one of the defenders veteran. Just remember this suggestion is being made before I've played beyond the second turn.

[Boco]

September '96

This is fun!

Placing a fortress in Kerma is a masterstroke. It sure pays to read the book. Rather than bombard Kerma from the river, I captured it by landing the Sirdar, HA, and a CC in the adjacent square.

Good AI reaction to the capture of Dongola.

[Boco]

Gunboat Creation Bug!

Uh-oh! Don't know how often this happens, but the "Sultan" was created under a Dhow2 in 67,67. Changing the Dhow2 to a land unit and/or 1a unit doesn't stop the problem.

Did this happen in anyone else's playtest?

[Boco]

Forgot the screenie.

[AGRICOLA]

This can happen only on ocean squares.

On land, having a unit in a spawning square will prevent the spawning of hostile units in that square. In ocean squares, spawning cannot be prevented so that you can get a stack of both hostile and your own units. I think that it is a bug in the program.

Coincidentally, I'm trying to sort out a stack containing a German destroyer and Stuka as well four freshly spawned US transports.

[Boco]

I was afraid of that. Rats! It was an elegant solution. Now it needs something more involved.

Has the USN discovered the Corvus and Testudo?

Allard, unless you don't want Gunboats/Steamers bombarding units in Dry Desert, etc., you may want to turn on their impassable terrain overrides.

[Allard HS]

Hmm... That's what I dislike about civ2, it just isn't designed for making scenarios! Anyway, the most basic solution would be to create the gunboats on land squares next to the squares where they spawn now. That shouldn't be a problem, because the British plays first, before the dervish player, so there's no danger of an inland ambush of the gunships.

Boco, how did you make the three 0's so small in your screenshot where it says 334000 pounds?

Here's one from Kull's discontinued Guns of August.

Hehe, yes that used to be a project which we were planning to do together once. Well, actually, him to finish a scenario of mine. Still have the files though.. Even converted them to ToT.

[Boco]

Originally posted by Allard HS
Boco, how did you make the three 0's so small in your screenshot where it says 334000 pounds?

Umm, uh, Paintshop Pro? You weren't supposed to notice that. Yes sadly, I play with scenario text files the way Fairline plays with Units.bmp. With the "Windows: Western" character set that Civ2 uses, the keystroke Alt+0186 gives º.

Originally posted by Allard HS
Hehe, yes that used to be a project which we were planning to do together once. Well, actually, him to finish a scenario of mine. Still have the files though.. Even converted them to ToT.

Now that is old history! I had forgotten that he was working on your foundation. That's ironic. I was giving you one of your own ideas.

The playtest is going quite well. Escaped the Mahdist hordes near Omdurman without a scratch by occupying the hills and city before triggering the Dervish. Only glitch I noticed was that some of the longer 'epitaph' events were truncated. The Text action must have a max length (512 characters?).

You could simply name many wonders after the town in which they are placed. Then @CAPTUREWONDER announces "Our troops have captured %STRING2%STRING1!" Might need to drop one of the string variables.

This version requires a more careful distribution of your units after Omdurman. Having only a few steamers, but lots of objectives several turns upstream, forces you to plan the expeditions up the Blue and White Nile several turns ahead. That has a good feel to it. The drive on Darfur is under a lot of pressure. Lots of AI units and little time give it a good tension. Looks like it'll take a mix of engineers, maxims, and 2mf attack units. Hopefully that will allow a 4 square Rwy per turn construction rate.

Looks like I botched my troop distributions in this game. That'll cost me several months. The time extension was a good idea. The best players won't need it. The rest of us will. I'll let you know whether I think 54 turns is long enough.

[Boco]

3 suggestions

Originally posted by Allard HS

- Three new wonders have been added, but haven't been named yet. Any suggestions?

• Khalifa's Gallows or Charles Neufeld (a famous German merchant captured by the Mahdi)
• Gordon's Palace or Cartridge Factory
• Berber Grain Store

Charles Neufeld as a prisoner in Omdurman

The fate he avoided.

[Edit] Are these photos from http://al-nafitha.com/n1990/ displaying? [/Edit]

Btw, 18 years later Charles Neufeld resurfaced in the Hejaz immediately prior to the Arab Revolt.

26. Mär. 1916: Othmar von Stotzingen erreicht Damaskus. Ziel ist eine Erweiterung der „Dschihad“-Propaganda in Arabien. Das spätere Zentrum der deutschen Aktivitäten sollte Medina werden von wo aus der „Dschihad“ im Sudan und in Somaliland gefördert werden sollte. Im jemenitischen Sana sollte ein Sender zum Kontakt mit „Deutsch-Ostafrika“ eingerichtet werden. Der deutsche Agent Karl Neufeld wird in den Sudan geschickt.

http://www.fdj.de/infoportal/index_d...bz/I_1916_1918

Hogarth, TE Lawrence's mentor, mentions him in http://www.telsociety.org.uk/journals/a1_1_5.htm , but calls him the notorious Heinrich Neufeld. It's a long link, but search for 'German lady'.

[Boco]

Uh-oh this is long.

Okay, I've played through to April 1900. Since most of the map is conquered, except El Obeid, Rosaires, and Dara, I think I can make some halfway sensible suggestions (honest, most of these can involve quick fixes).[list=1][*]This is a vast improvement over earlier versions.
[*]It would be less frustrating for the player, if one unit each in Tokar and Wady Halfa is a vet at the start. An alternative, giving Zeribas to these towns, changes the AI's behavior.[*]One way to fix the Gunboat bug is to change the upstream generation points to Wad Hamed and Atbara Camp.[*]Consider changing the location of the Great Wall to Omdurman, and don't make it obsolete. Possibly do the same with Sun-Tzu. This could simulate the broken moral of the Ansar after Omdurman.[*]Place Omdurman triggers in (70,78), (71,79), Omdurman, and Khartoum.[*]Extend Fedil triggers SE from (82,86) to (99,103).[*]The events that have truncated text need fixing. IIRC, these were mainly the amirs' epitaphs.[*]Move Rosaires to the Blue Nile (97,101?). Possibly found Dakhila at the navigable limit of the Blue Nile (e.g. on a stream at 99,105) for Ahmed's penultimate stand.[*]Don't 'withdraw' any units unless you change the Darfur segment of the game. Agricola's right about this. Have to admit that I'd prefer less emphasis on Darfur and more on the Blue Nile campaigns, but that should be saved for v5. [*]Consider moving the Scouts to the Spy slot and disabling all of their abilities except 'investigate city'.[*]Allow the player to build Zeribas and Barracks.*[*]Give clues to the location of Gedaref, Gallabat, El Obeid, and Dara.**[/list=1]
*New buildable improvements[list=a][*]Zeribas should cost about the same as Naziriyahs.[*]Barracks should be at least as expensive as Naziriyahs (maybe more), but with very high maintenance.[/list=a]
**City location clues (instead of simply switching the uncharted setting)[list=a][*]Link Gedaref to Rufa'a by river (the Rahab) and trade route. [Edit] See Churchill's Blue Nile Campaign map in RW and http://www.maproom.org/maps/general/...ieler/0069.jpg [/Edit]. Forgive my ignorance, but I'm not sure what river the stream leading south from Adarama represents. Keep Gedaref uncharted.[*]Extend the Atbara to Gallabat as a stream. Keep Gallabat uncharted.[*]Link El Obeid to Shakka or Shirkela by Trade Route. Wingate mentions that one existed in 1916. Make El Obeid charted (clearly from the Hicks disaster, its location was known)[*]Link Dara to El Fasher by Trade Route. Keep uncharted.[*][Edit] Yeah, I'll put my money where my mouth is. If you want some help on some of the more mundane map edits, I'll be glad to lend a hand. [/Edit][/list=a]
Some suggestions for unit names. Generally the main 'improvement' is that these don't overwrite stats on the [F2] dialog.

Sd. Reserves
Rail Engineers
Muluazimayya
Taaisha Rifles
Eg. Infantry
Nubians
Jehadia
Beja Infantry (pikemen?)
Dinka Spears
Indian Infantry
Br. Regulars
Highlanders
Nuba Spears
Sd. Infantry
Col. Marchand
21st Lancers
Tirailleurs
Indian Lancers
Eg. Camel Cps
Sd. Camel Cps
Scouts
Jaalin Guides
-
-
-
-
-
Baggara Horse
Raiders
-
Fur Horse
Eg. Cavalry
Dhow
Old Gunboat
Steamer
Gunboat
Unnavigable1
Unnavigable2
Unnavigable3
Unnavigable4
Unnavigable5
Unnavigable6
Unnavigable7
-
-
Osman Dïgna
Khalïfa
Ahmed Fedil
Gen. Caneva
Bersaglieri
Ascaris
Arab Irregs
Menelik II
Gondari Rifles
Osman Digna
Khalifa
Sheikh-ed-Din
Ali Wad Helu
-
-
Br. Officer
the Sirdar
-
Maxim .303"
Krupp 7pdr
M-N 75mm QF
12pdr QF
5" Howitzer
9pdr Screw Gun
Brass Cannon
-
-
-
-
Dhow† (may no longer be necessary)
Impassable
DarfurTrigger
FedilTrigger
Trigger
FashodaTrigger

[techumseh]

I'm looking forward to this!