Looking for beta testers for El Aurens v2

[Boco]

Small Allied cities have no graphic, showing only the underlying terrain and city name. Turn on the grid to see how the terrain fits. In practice, when a reinforcement arrives, a continuous link is established between the reinforcement city and a transit city.

For example, if you want to move an RE/Works Coy from Rwy Op Div on the OOB map to Matruh on the main map, use Civ's "Go to" order to send it first to Matruh Railhead, one of the transit cities. At this city, type 'n' (a reminder shows in the status pane), and your unit will hop to the main map. Movement costs along the yellow lanes are 0, as is the cost for intermap hopping. So after this movement, your RE/Works Coy will arrive in Matruh with its full mf available.

Agricola, you don't seem to have any problem kicking the AI's butt, so far.

[AGRICOLA]

Small Allied cities have no graphic, showing only the underlying terrain and city name. Turn on the grid to see how the terrain fits. In practice, when a reinforcement arrives, a continuous link is established between the reinforcement city and a transit city.

Apologies, but I don't seem to understand the message. Could you please try again, perhaps with some actual city names?

By any chance, is this what you mean?

From Operational Summary for EAII, with comment by Boco and reply by AGRICOLA
I’ll probably revise the text for capturing Al Tur to mention that the Gurkhas will be leaving soon. Will that work, or did you capture Al Tur with the EA Inf?
Took city with EA Inf. Gurhas used transporter to go to OOB and a second one to reach Port Said. Then they hustled over to Dakhla Oasis, where they went AWOL a few turns later.

I used the keypad all the way. I had some disastrous experiences with GOTO many years ago.

[Boco]

An example of reinforcements

Agricola, your initial quote of mine was an answer to Patine. You're absolutely right about the danger of using "Go to" on the main map. RL's demanding at the moment, so it'll take me a little more time to look at your latest Opsum. Thanks much for sending it.

Patine, here's a more detailed example of a typical reinforcement.

During a test, on the July, 1917 turn, I requested the 60th London Div from the War Office (i.e. I chose to discover this tech). At the start of the August turn, the W.O. granted the request (i.e. my scientists discovered the tech), as evidenced by a brief blurb:

from the events file

Grateful to leave the ‘Birdcage’ at Salonika, the 60th London Div assembles.

In addition, during the city update phase at the start of August, 1917, another dialog pops up:

from @SUPPORT in Game.txt

Reinforcements for the EEF
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
New Unit Type…….Infantry (1917)
Parent Formation….60 London (TF)
_____________________________

Click "City Screen", then "Clear Orders" for each Infantry (1917) on sentry duty

Finally, the terrain of square (40,20) on the OOB map changes from "•" (ocean) to "Supply Column" (hills, 0 mf cost). When you activate an Infantry (1917) unit in the city of "60 London (TF)", you can type "g" to order it to go to "Cairo (Zeitoun)", a transit city on the OOB map (unlike "unit" cities, "transit" cities on the OOB map have the name of the city on the main map that they are "under"). At "Cairo (Zeitoun)", I type 'n' to move the unit to Cairo on the main map, where it is free to join the fray.

A word about "Go to" on the OOB map. It actually works a fair amount of the time! When it doesn't, it will stop at an interim point and ask for manual input. There is never a cost in mf's when the Civ2 engine gets confused about a "Go to" order on the OOB menu. Say in the above example, you wanted to send the unit from "60 London (TF)" to "Gaza Railhead". Here the "Go to" doesn't work. You can, however, send the unit initially to "Cairo (Zeitoun)" and from there to "Gaza Railhead". It's a simple matter of typing "gc" then "gg". Using the "Go to" is not necessary, but it can be considerably easier.

[Patine]

I get it now. Thanks Boco! I still doubt I'll make the headway AGRICOLA has, though I'll give this my best shot.

[AGRICOLA]

HELP !!!

@Boco
The scen is playing fine but I'm having a bad time playing with the brown impassable terrain markings, especially in Palestine. What is worse, I can't figure out which graphics file needs to be altered to change the outline of the impassable terrain to something like fire engine red or to put an octagonal red stop sign in the middle. Can you help?

In the game, I'm on turn 15; Beersheba and Akaba have been captured; Lawrence and his pals are about to tackle Burqa; Bedouins have recced the desert as far north as Tadmur; others are systematically investigating Palestinian cities and making copious notes as to what immobile defensive units there are in each city and what their home cities are. I'm looking forward to figuring out the optimal attack sequence for the final offensive.

However, I thoroughly blew it when the Arabs from Wejh attacked RR stations between Medain Salih and Tebuk. They got hurt and, as Tebuk is impregnable, there was no place to hole up. The battered camel jockeys are now limping west along a wadi, hoping for a gunboat to take them to Akaba for R&R. Bummer.

I'll send you the OPSUM and saves tonight or tomorrow.

[Boco]

Looks like you're crushing the AI pretty well. Since you received Larry, you must've captured Wejh, which indicates you mastered the early phase of the Arab Revolt. You're going to make players think its a breeze to win this.

For impassable terrain, change the entry in @UNITS_ADVANCED for Terrain so that the sprite is disabled. Then, change the appropriate icon in units.bmp to your favorite garish combo.

That you haven't been caught stranded in the desert with your pants down before now is a testament to your tactical skills.

Btw, in some alpha tests, a loaded gunboat on the open Red Sea has been a magnet for Airplane Coys, even when I thought they were unspotted and out of range. It's that AI missile bug.

Soon, let's set up a 3-way email with Fairline to make an eventual wish list for graphics. I'd like to get your ideas on how these can be 'coded' visually so that impregnable and wimpy defenders can be easily discerned from average defenders. Perhaps a characteristic posture? Fairline's pretty jammed at the moment, so we can take our time. Although I'd like to make certain cities practically invincible, it should not be difficult for a player, who scouts well, to figure out which ones are easy or impossible.

I'd also like to get your ideas, in private, on how the AI can mount mildly threatening attacks in the Western, Sudanese, and Arabian deserts. Just enough to keep a player on his toes.

Any trouble learning how to move Bedouins from the Tribal map to the main map?

[AGRICOLA]

@Boco
I.

For impassable terrain, change the entry in @UNITS_ADVANCED for Terrain so that the sprite is disabled. Then, change the appropriate icon in units.bmp to your favorite garish combo.

1. Thanks for the help. By zooming out, the overall pattern of impassable terrain becomes visible and one can at least guess at what you have in mind. Impassable terrain definitely plays a critical role in several areas. BTW, can one change the sprite for impassable terrain?

2. While most people agree that my taste is all in my mouth, that is still not a nice thing to say.

II.

That you haven't been caught stranded in the desert with your pants down before now is a testament to your tactical skills.

Awww, come on, don't sugarcoat it. That debacle was nothing more than another Gallipoli.

I forgot that:
1. Arabs should be employed like American Indians, light cavalry, and not like European infantry.
2. Don't let thy reach exceed thy grasp and don't bite off more than thou can chew.

III.

Any trouble learning how to move Bedouins from the Tribal map to the main map?

No, probably because I spent several days in figuring how the 4 maps interacted. I think that players are well advised to invest some time on the maps because the way you use them is novel, highly ingenious and, initially, a bit confusing. However, by the time one gets to the Arabs, one has learned to how to work with Order of Battle and Darfur maps. At that stage, the Arab Tribes map poses no problems because it works the same way as the OOB map.

IV. I think that I am starting to see how you are assigning a key role to the Arabs in the outcome of the scen. It's a brilliant scheme and I'm itching to see how it plays out. As always in a short scen, it looks like time and distances will be of the essence.

No problems as yet with Gunboats in the Red Sea. Both are now in the Gulf of Akaba.

[GhostOfDisco]

Well, I played it a little while last night, and some thoughts:

• The "rough" (read: inaccessable) terrain of the desert. Thanks to it, only light cars, Egyptian units, Gurkha units, and camel-borne soldiers can cross it (maybe a few units more, but still...) What does that mean? That I've got a ton of British, Indian, ANZAC etc. units (including tanks and Siege Artillery) up in Egypt that I can't move across the Sinai, even when I build a full-gauge railroad! I but some Commonwealth units to "sleep" up in Damietta in hopes I could use a transport to bypass the Sinai and land them in the Holy Land (where the terrain is not so "rough") but to no avail, as the only units I can build are engineers and garrison units.
• Gaza. You said that the Turks based their defenses around this city, and it indeed is tough to break. I haven't broken it yet, but I need to do so in order to use my British/ANZAC/Indian etc. units in a decent manner. So far, to no avail.
• Apparently, you've decided to block the passage from the Red Sea to the Suez Canal. OK, so while the Red Sea ships may not have been in the Meditteranean Fleet's jurisdiction or whatever, what physical boundary would prevent a British warship from going up the Red Sea through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean in RL?

Anyway, looks like a great scenario. I particularly love the fact that on the main map, the "black" terrain is desert. Fitting.

[Boco]

Thanks for taking a look!

Originally posted by GhostOfDisco
Well, I played it a little while last night, and some thoughts:

• The "rough" (read: inaccessable) terrain of the desert. Thanks to it, only light cars, Egyptian units, Gurkha units, and camel-borne soldiers can cross it (maybe a few units more, but still...) What does that mean? That I've got a ton of British, Indian, ANZAC etc. units (including tanks and Siege Artillery) up in Egypt that I can't move across the Sinai, even when I build a full-gauge railroad! I but some Commonwealth units to "sleep" up in Damietta in hopes I could use a transport to bypass the Sinai and land them in the Holy Land (where the terrain is not so "rough") but to no avail, as the only units I can build are engineers and garrison units.

• In EAv2 Readme.rtf
  Soon you’ll want to attack the Turks. Usually, you can advance most readily into Palestine and Syria by an overland route. U-Boats and limited sealift tend to restrict amphibious invasions. By first transforming impassable Darb into passable Raah with RE/Works Coy units, then building a railway, you can build a fast route eastward from Cairo/Suez, your sites for barracks and reinforcements, to Palestine. Your workers will need protection, however, since the Turks usually mount frequent attacks with air and desert forces.

  Yes, I could be snotty and say RTFM, but the ReadMe is also in beta test form (i.e. not well-organized). As players dive into EAv2, I'll be looking for feedback about not only what should be in the ReadMe, but also how it should be laid out. Clearly then, this information should be at the front rather than buried in its current section.
  
  [Edit]This reads harsher than was my intent. I do know the Readme is very long, and that this vital piece of info is buried on page 9. The player should not have to wade through that much verbiage to get essential information. I'll change that for the final release[/Edit]
  
  

  Originally posted by GhostOfDisco

• Gaza. You said that the Turks based their defenses around this city, and it indeed is tough to break. I haven't broken it yet, but I need to do so in order to use my British/ANZAC/Indian etc. units in a decent manner. So far, to no avail.