Slitherine

ColonelY wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:15 am Ah, Flying Tigers!

Considering the number of French planes available at the start, I believe that we would need at least 3 units of P-51 Mustangs, what do you think?
Of course, they could be named "Flying Tigers".

bru888 wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 12:54 pm EDIT: I just realized that I neglected to include a couple of messages that briefly explain the SOE Force 136 and Corps Léger d'Intervention units. These will be in version 0.63, shortly, and will be the only difference between versions 0.63 and 0.62.

bru888 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 1:44 pm I love the flat lowlands of Holland. Much farm terrain means no mountain arranging and less tree decorations.

But, the place names! ¡Ay, caramba!

"Amsterdamscheveld"? "Beetsterzwaag"? "Gasselternijveen"? "Hollandscheveld"? "Klazienaveen"? "Musselkanaal"? "Oosterhesselen"?

I could go on and on ...

You are going to need a magnifying glass to read these names in this Amherst Drop scenario.

ColonelY wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:42 pm 21Indochina:
(v0.65, 2nd test)

You’re right, it's much better with the Japanese destroyers active from the start - they go straight to the attack in effect, which increases the impression of being in defensive mode, so that one is directly "plunged in".

And it's also much better with the Japanese planes spread out like this... they still have the luxury, from time to time, to target a "target of opportunity", without insisting, so it's all good. And we’ve more opportunities to keep some of the Free French dogfighters a little longer in these skies!

Very good also the couple fortress & Japanese detachment...
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The randomness is great in itself, but then the luck factor can have a pretty big role to play... maybe too big, in fact. I like the randomness. Luck plays a role in all of life, particularly in war.

I usually don't trust luck too much, they say it's a capricious mistress... Well, I wouldn't know. I would like to know, maybe, but I wouldn't know. About the mistress part.

Look: In the short term, Dien Bien Phu and Son La, both in the southwest, are doomed. So are, in the southeast, the cities of Ha Long, Haiphong and, a little later, Hai Duong... => So, 5 down out of 12, so almost half of the towns to be lost, that can’t really be avoided. As intended. The player is supposed to look at the map, gauge the situation, and make decisions. One decision might be to withdraw forces from those southernmost towns, fortify the rest, and hope for the best. Another might be to see what is happening, in the southeast perhaps, and figure that if you can fortify Haiphong or Hai Duong, you will buy time for the towns to the west and north.

But then it means that, there is then almost 50% chance to see no evac vehicle being spawned per turn… and, if the player gets a little unlucky, this can be like this several turns in a row. (I’ve encountered this situation this time! ) As intended. See note below*

Then, probably the bombers will destroy one or two of them (that’s excellent! ), and now this may happen at various places over the battlefield (instead of “only” in the East as in the previous version – so that’s even better! )… I'm glad to hear this.

At the very last turn, I’ve seen one evac vehicle being spawn at Hanoi , starting to move… and being directly ambushed by a Japanese infantry unit hidden between trees! But so much in the South, at that time, it would have no chance at all to exit the map anyway… My response:

At scenario end, there were three or four evac vehicles moving on the map… but only 16 out of 18 evacuated for good! Now, bear in mind that I could dial it back to 16 again. See note below*

Well, I’m not really known for being a lucky guy! ( ) You are lucky to have OOB and a dedicated designer working with and for you! (And I am lucky that you have taken the time to be so involved with this project.)

Anyway, here is bunch of suggestions about French evac:
1. Delete both “Random trigger T35” and “Random trigger T36”, and perhaps even “Random trigger T34”… no real need to spawn a few of them that won’t have time to leave the battlefield anyway. Eh, they aren't harming anything. Are they? You have not mentioned whether the game is overly slow when running this scenario, especially in later turns.
2. In case of the “Lose Border Crossings” (nope, I haven’t lost any of them!)… why setting an idle AI status? One could instead use a “move to hex” targeting the next closest border checkpoint. Ok, it’s rather unlikely to happen anyway, but there is no reason to then just sit down and wait death… they would try to find another exit, wouldn’t they? So, just in case… This, in fact, makes a lot of sense and would be easy to do: Just Exit the Map if the assigned border crossing town falls. This alone may restore balance. I should have thought of this, because it would be more realistic than stopping dead in their tracks. Thanks! See note below*
3. To compensate for the “unluck” possibility (doesn’t matter how good the player actually is, if it happens there is not much he can do), I’ll suggest to increase evac rate at some point… one way to do it would be to eliminate, from a certain point in time, the four towns that we’re sure they can’t be defended for long (namely the border towns Dien Bien Phu and Son La, as well as the coastal towns Ha Long and Haiphong). But, seeing the amount of “Random trigger” it wouldn’t be very nice for you… Another option, coherent anyway on overall as there is NO indication in the pri obj description about the NUMBER of units possibly spawned per turn, would be to choose several turns around the middle of the scenario (3 or 4, but that don’t necessarily have to be taken in a row!), so to open the corresponding “Random trigger TXYZ” and to increase the amount from 1 to 2!
******* Too much complication. How to gauge when to make adjustments, and where? No, the random aspect stays as is; it's a built-in challenge to hold off the enemy for as long and in as many places as possible.
Well, and one could stop the enemy from getting land reinforcement towards scenario end as well (the 2 or 3 last turns, I mean). At that time, it makes less sense, as they shouldn’t have enough time anyway to reach actual fighting areas… (And may slow, a very little bit, of course, but still, the turns because unless the player does a decent amount of damages to Japanese units, there’ll be more and more that the AI will have to manage.) Eh, I'm not sure about this. Say the player guesses correctly and rushes defenders to Dien Bien Phu (or next-in-line Muong Lay), Son La (or next-in-line Nghia Lo) and/or Ha Long (or next-in-line Haiphong). Especially in the southeast; the second (or third) time around — don't forget that the campaign can be restarted from the previously successful save — he might have figured out that the best strategy would be to leave at least one unit behind (so the evacuation triggers fire) and move the tank and four infantry battalions from Hanoi, Hai Duong, and Haiphong to Ha Long. That would hold up the Japs considerably! Ha Long may still be in contention at the end of the scenario. But again, have you noticed any degradation of performance in later turns?
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Having failed (but not from much!) the pri obj, the scenario ended in a “Minor Defeat”, which lead then to a campaign defeat… Well, well… But this has allowed me to make two observations:
1. Awesome choice for picture, in case of a defeat! Very immersive (and giving the envy to start immediately to do better! ). You mean the rising sun flag? It is striking, I must say. It reminds me of the decision made very early in this campaign to use flags for outcome images. That decision has saved me a ton of time that would have been spent trying to find appropriate ending images for every scenario; e.g., "Happy Japanese / Sad French" versus "Sad Japanese / Happy French."
2. There is this bug related to the campaign defeat text… I don’t remember where, but it has been mentioned somewhere in the Forum: now, one may encounter this text which comes from, well, I think it was from the Pacific DLC… => It’s not the proper message (the phrase you’ve written, I mean) that appears there, but I don’t know if we can do something about this (I doubt it). It's their bug, not something we can do anything about. I've been meaning to mention to you that I saw it in our own campaign end. viewtopic.php?f=541&t=105558
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Let’s forget about my previous suggestion related to bridge… the problem is that the player has to think about it, to move one unit able to blow up a bridge and to let it wait here when it’s the AI turn… and there may be some Japanese unit charging from some nearby trees and, in a single attack, doing a blasting attack against this unit of ours, making it retreat one or two hexes backwards… and thus missing the opportunity to actually blow the bridge, as being no longer over it!
And the fact that many hexes could contain enemy hidden units make this tactical maneuver somewhat aleatory... thus a risk-taking, in spite of a reflection which can be correct, which has great chances not to carry these fruits.
As consequence, probably simply "just" a gift of 10 extra RPs for the player… becoming less and less meaningful in this scenario… Plus it makes little sense to be blowing bridges that evacuation vehicles may need to cross.
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When I’ve played, Hanoi was kept under control throughout the entire scenario. Nghia Lo was lost only around the last turns of the scenario. But there was some concern about Lào Cai (threatened but never lost), with reinforcements sent in rather urgently on that side.

Around Lang Son, the fortress was destroyed, but the Jap detachment whipped out soon after that… and now the AT-unit near Lang Son is perfectly relevant!
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To help the player a little bit, I’ll suggest two elements:

1. One could blow up a bridge using triggers… If yes, which one? I would then suggest the one that seems most relevant: east of the city of Son La (evac town), there is a Black River flag... southeast of it, a bridge (about 7 hexes from Son La, then).
When? When Japs have taken Son La and have their first unit closing in at perhaps 2 or 3 hexes away (or even less!) from this bridge… Then, yes, a nice and immersive event would be welcome.
That shall definitely delay them a little: They can pass anyway, but slower, or use the bridge upstream or the bridge downstream (which one is which? ), thus making a small detour... I forgot that commandos and Chindits can blow bridges! I was meaning to ask you about this ... Your refining this bridge blowing idea (as opposed to the previous version) makes it more enticing. See note below*

2. One could add 2 Free French MG-foxholes, in the western sector, on mountainous hexes… From Lào Cai (border town), if we follow the road westwards, we’ll find (at about 6 hexes away) a crossroads from which three roads start... just 1 hex southeast of there, there is a mountain... There, the first one!
Then, if we follow the road roughly southward, on about 10 hexes, we find another similar crossroads, close to another mountain... There, the second one!
They will offer a small visual on this sector as well as a support... that will delay a little the enemies while allowing to make them some damage. See note below*
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Then, well, I’ll replay this a third time, looking especially at evac numbers… If you are willing, I do appreciate it. Besides, with the amount of changes that we have been making in each of these revised versions, I am thinking that you find it interesting to replay the scenario to see what works.

Speaking of which, well, one last idea, perhaps. It might help the player, in terms of overview and clarity, to add a counter of remaining evacuation towns.

For example with a new secondary objective: "Don't lose all evacuation towns", starting enabled and checked directly, showing "XYZ/12" and switched to failed only in the (very unlikely) case if these 12 places have the Japanese flag! Meh, I can make just a counter which will show as a (perpetually) completed objective, like what I did for the body count in Operation Nordwind.

Et voilà!

bru888 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:38 pm

ColonelY wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:42 pm 21Indochina:
(v0.65, 2nd test)

[...] Well, I’m not really known for being a lucky guy! ( ) You are lucky to have OOB and a dedicated designer working with and for you! (And I am lucky that you have taken the time to be so involved with this project.) Yes, it's true, and good teamwork is really something beautiful.


[...] Are they? You have not mentioned whether the game is overly slow when running this scenario, especially in later turns. No, there is no problem here. (You did mention this later as well, I am glad to be able to reassure you on this point.)


[...] I’ll suggest to increase evac rate at some point… [...]to choose several turns around the middle of the scenario (3 or 4, but that don’t necessarily have to be taken in a row!), so to open the corresponding “Random trigger TXYZ” and to increase the amount from 1 to 2!
******* Too much complication. How to gauge when to make adjustments, and where? No, the random aspect stays as is; it's a built-in challenge to hold off the enemy for as long and in as many places as possible.

Too much complication? Huh, I must have rambled on about too many potential options , resulting in not being clear enough in the end...

What could be (easily) done would be to choose a few turns "at random" (there I mean chosen by us/you once and for all). Let's say, for example, turns 13, 17 and 19 (why not?).

Then, in the Editor, select the "Random trigger T13" trigger (path: "French Evacuations" -> "Random Triggers" -> "Random trigger T13" -> under "Effects", click on the "Random Trigger" -> then, above the list of 12 locations:) change "Amount" from 1 to 2.

So, for this turn, there will be 2 evacuation vehicles that may be spawned instead of one. The "luck" factor remains (by the way, maybe the 2 randomly chosen locations will already be under Japanese control and, therefore, no vehicles at all will appear in this turn), but this increases the chances a bit...
Then do this again for - say - "Random trigger T17" and "Random trigger T19".

This way, the whole system stays the same. It's just that for a few (pre-defined) turns, there will be a little more chance of a vehicle appearing... with even the possibility of 2 vehicles appearing - why not, by the way? Finally, people will board when they are ready, where they are... so regardless of what's happening on the other side of the province.

I would prefer that to dialing back the number of vehicles to be evacuated.
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bru888 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:38 pm

ColonelY wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:42 pm 21Indochina:

[...] 1. Awesome choice for picture, in case of a defeat! Very immersive (and giving the envy to start immediately to do better! ). You mean the rising sun flag? It is striking, I must say. It reminds me of the decision made very early in this campaign to use flags for outcome images. That decision has saved me a ton of time that would have been spent trying to find appropriate ending images for every scenario; e.g., "Happy Japanese / Sad French" versus "Sad Japanese / Happy French."
Using these flags for scenario victory, or defeat, was indeed a great idea!
Well, there I was rather referring to the campaign defeat picture , you know, the Frenchman who weeps (defeat.png in the campaign folder)... ( )

[...] Then, well, I’ll replay this a third time, looking especially at evac numbers… If you are willing, I do appreciate it. Besides, with the amount of changes that we have been making in each of these revised versions, I am thinking that you find it interesting to replay the scenario to see what works.
Yes, I do. That's what it takes. You have an idea, you weigh the pros and cons, then you test it, etc. And it's also a great way to learn well.

[...] • For now, I will leave the threshold of evacuation vehicle exits at 18 but bear in mind, if after this it's too difficult, that could be the next quick fix.
Of course.
With, as a bonus, perhaps the chance to have in some (rare) occasions (thus at the time of some predefined turns, I mean) more chances to get an evacuation vehicle and maybe even a second evacuation vehicle... (And it can be quick and easy to implement, as we saw in the previous post. )

[...] I will also add an evacuation town counter. I will mention in the explanation that as the number of French-held evacuation towns fall, the chances of generating an evacuation vehicle each turn falls with it. Excellent!

bru888 wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:18 am

ColonelY wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:42 pm It really makes you want to see what French Indochina will look like!

It will look like this: [...]
Evacuation units will generate in the towns marked with green circles, and those vehicles will proceed to the border checkpoints marked with red circles, trying to escape into China:

Screenshot 1b.jpg

[...]