Victory Games Vietnam

[Grymme]

Well i have started what i think will be my next big project after FITE

I made a Vietnam scenario a long time ago. I usually dont go back and do new scenarios on the same topic. But i have for a long time been wanting to totally redo this scenario.

Anyways. The scenario will be a recreation of Victory Games Vietnam boardgame. I will try to be as faithfull as possible to the boardgame. I rarely have much time to work on this so estimated project time is 1 year untill completion. If it gets completed.

So far i have created a basic map, se screenshot. Screenshot shows most of the map, but not all of the delta.

[Grymme]

I am also working on events. The boardgame has a very complex eventsystem to simulate the US/RVN NFL/PRNV struggle for pacification/suppression of the population. The boardgame and scenario will have 30+ provinces and each province has a specific population that can be loyal to RVN or PRNV depending on circumstances.

Here is my preliminary scripting for the pacification of one of the province. Comments are in bold text. Anyway, this is one event of 36 or 37. What i would like to do is a loop that could fit all provinces into one event.

Anyway the way it works is that each time pacification is checked it rolls one random dice. With a high roll the population is drawn to RVN. A low run the population is drawn to PRNV. The roll is modified by
-1 if the regional capital is occupied.
-1 if RVN morale less than 70
+1 if RVN morale more than 140
-1/ 20 enemy powerpoints in province
-1/30 powerpoints in cultivated or town in province.
+-/ per population more than 50% of total population in allegience to either side.

Here is my preliminary event


0) ' Tempvar1 is all modifiers. It starts with a check for NVA strength
1) SETVAR: TempVar201 = South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1)
2) SETVAR: TempVar1 = CheckPowerPointsInArea(1, 1, 1, 1)
3) SETVAR: TempVar1 / 20
4) CHECK: CheckHexOwner(35, 4) == 1
5) ' If capitol is occupied +1 modifier
6) SETVAR: TempVar1 + 1
7) END CHECK
8) ' Check PPs in cultivated & other town hexes
9) SETVAR: TempVar2 = CheckPowerPointsInArea(2, 1, 1, 1)
10) SETVAR: TempVar2 / 30
11) SETVAR: TempVar1 + TempVar2
12) ' Check influence by SVN Morale
13) CHECK: Gameslot_SVN Morale(#37) < 71
14) SETVAR: TempVar1 + 1
15) END CHECK
16) CHECK: Gameslot_SVN Morale(#37) > 140
17) SETVAR: TempVar1 - 1
18) END CHECK
19) ' Check influence of population allegience
20) SETVAR: TempVar100 = Gameslot_Quang Tri(#1)
21) SETVAR: TempVar100 / 2
22) SETVAR: TempVar1 + TempVar100
23) SETVAR: TempVar1 - South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1)
24) ' tempvar5 is the diceroll modified by tempvar 1
25) SETVAR: TempVar5 = CheckRandomPercent
26) SETVAR: TempVar200 = TempVar5
27) SETVAR: TempVar5 - TempVar1
28) ' Apply results
29) CHECK: TempVar5 < 1
30) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) - 4
31) END CHECK
32) CHECK: TempVar5 < 21
33) CHECK: TempVar5 > 0
34) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) - 3
35) END CHECK
36) END CHECK
37) CHECK: TempVar5 < 31
38) CHECK: TempVar5 > 20
39) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) - 2
40) END CHECK
41) END CHECK
42) CHECK: TempVar5 > 30
43) CHECK: TempVar5 < 41
44) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) - 1
45) END CHECK
46) END CHECK
47) CHECK: TempVar5 > 60
48) CHECK: TempVar5 < 71
49) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) + 1
50) END CHECK
51) END CHECK
52) CHECK: TempVar5 > 70
53) CHECK: TempVar5 < 81
54) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) + 2
55) END CHECK
56) END CHECK
57) CHECK: TempVar5 > 80
58) CHECK: TempVar5 < 91
59) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) + 3
60) END CHECK
61) END CHECK
62) CHECK: TempVar5 > 90
63) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) + 4
64) END CHECK
65) ' Finally corrections in case result is less than 0 or more than 18
66) CHECK: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) < 0
67) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) = 0
68) END CHECK
69) CHECK: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) > 18
70) SETVAR: South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1) = 0
71) END CHECK
72) SETVAR: TempVar202 = South Vietnam_Quang Tri(#1)
73) EXECUTE: ExecMessage(0, 1, 0, -1)

[Grymme]

Another thing i have slowly started to work on are historical SFT units.

The issue i have right now is what scale i should use for SFTs.

Here is an OOB of a standard US battalion

US Infantry Battalion
43 officers
2 warrant officers
779 enlisted men

50* trucks
26* 7,62 machineguns
110* 40mm grenadelauncher
4* 4,2 inch mortar
12* 81mm mortar (5 crew)
846* M16 rifles
12* 90mm recoilles rifles
12* portable flamethrower

The issue here is that a US battalion had something like 36-42 rifle squads. That sounds ok. But if you are going with squads as the normal element it would have something like 13 mortar squads and 15 MG squads. It sounds like a lot of heavy weapon squads compared to the riflesquads. I could convert 1/3rd of the MG squads to recoilless rifle sq

Anyway here is the results so far

US battalion (ingame)
42* M16 Rifle Sq.
12* 81mm Mortar Sq.
1* 4,2 Inch Mortar Sq
10* 7,62 Machinegun Sq
5* 90mm Recoilless Sq
4* Flamethrower Sq (unsure about this)
-------------------
For a total of 74 SFTs.

[Grymme]

Here is a pic of the basic US manouvre element

A standard Infantry Battalion

[Grymme]

And here we have another unit

A US tank battalion

[mllange]

Complex and detailed, this looks impressive. I, for one, will patiently await your development and offer encouragement.

[Grymme]

Thanks Nim8or.

Here is a link to the boardgame i am trying to emulate

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/ ... -1965-1975

I will describe another couple of events that i will have to try and implement

ARVN Efficiency
In the boardgame each ARVN division, Corps etc has a leader. They have leadership ratings. Each round you have to check if each division is effective. If not then the entire division has to remain static for the round.

So i am looking at the Checks and Execs. There are checks for each HQs and then checks for unit HQs, there is also an exec that changes a units AP. So i think there should be a way to loop check HQs and then immobilize all HQs and units that fail the check, but i have not been able to figure out how to do it yet.

Free Fire zone
In the game US artillery and airpower is impaired unless a province is declared a Free Fire zone. If a province is declared free fire then artillery/airpower is more effective but this drives the people in the province into the hands of the NVA/NFL. I have not figured out how to do this yet, but hopefully it will be possible.

In the meantime i have been working some more on US SFTs. Here are a couple of more units. The Infantry strength of the battalions are guesstimations. In the TOE i do not see any riflesquads etc. But the TOE inclides huge amounts of M16 Rifles, M60 Machineguns etc and as i understand it it was more a rule than a exception that auxilliary personell (radiopersonell, chefs, mechanics etc) were used for base security. Also all hvy weapon crews had their personel weapons as well.

[Grymme]

Here is my current ARVN leadership event check. It should look through all units, check if they are HQs and check through the whole map for units not american (checkunitsfrom) then check random percent and reduce AP. Somehow its not working. A gold star to anyone who can get the event working.

0) LOOPER: TempVar0 FROM 0 TO CheckTotalUnits
1) CHECK: CheckUnitHQ(TempVar0) == 1
2) CHECK: CheckUnitsFrom(3, 1, 1, 0) == 1
3) CHECK: CheckRandomPercent < 99
4) EXECUTE: ExecUnitApModify(TempVar0, -100, -1, -1)
5) END CHECK
6) END CHECK
7) END CHECK
8) END LOOPER


And here is a preliminary VC regiment OOB, see screenshot

[Rosseau]

It shows what a knowledgeable person can do with this game. I hope more time opens up for you to design over the next year. (This one you may want to charge money for ).

[RealDarko]

Looks amazing mate!! Will be possible to airlift infantry units using choppers? And will the massive air power of the states be available?
BTW, the M48 pic you posted doen's look like a Patton to me, but I can be wrong of course.

[Twotribes]

You could do platoons for basic unit. Army had 3 squads with a leadership section per platoon, same with Marines.

[Grymme]

Rosseau: Yeah, if this gets finished it will likely be one which i charge for. On the other hand i will most likely upload my old scenario once i get far enough to know that i will most likely finish this.

Realdarko: Airlifts/choppers will be simulated in one way or another. In the boardgame there are 2 US divisions that have embedded airmobility and all other units can be made airmobile for a round using a strategic resource called airmobile points.


Twotribes: Do you mean 1 platoon=1SFT or 1 platoon= 1 unit?

[RealDarko]

Sounds cool!!

[Twotribes]

ORIGINAL: Grymme

Rosseau: Yeah, if this gets finished it will likely be one which i charge for. On the other hand i will most likely upload my old scenario once i get far enough to know that i will most likely finish this.

Realdarko: Airlifts/choppers will be simulated in one way or another. In the boardgame there are 2 US divisions that have embedded airmobility and all other units can be made airmobile for a round using a strategic resource called airmobile points.


Twotribes: Do you mean 1 platoon=1SFT or 1 platoon= 1 unit?

I platoon equals one sft. Tank wise that would be 5 tanks per platoon, 45 men or so per platoon, the only problem being some of your squad weapons wouldnt fit then, you could count them as pairs maybe, most Heavy Machine guns worked as teams.

[Grymme]

A small update on the progress with this.

I am working on SFTs, units, the map and events at the same time.

Here is a small update on the map front.

White lines are province borders (seing these can be turned off ingame).
White names are province names.
Cities with a circle in them are provincial or other capitals.

[ernieschwitz]

How did you make the white lines? I am curious

[Grymme]

And here is another couple of units

From top to bottom

ARVN Regiment
NVA Tank Battalion
US Airmobile Battalion

[Grymme]

Ernie: I used the original border graphics from Advanced tactics and modified them a little. Then i added them as a new sprite for a landscape (doesnt matter which one).

Then i used "Specials" in the draw type. It can be used to draw all kinds of things on top of normal graphics. I used the same method to draw the Provincial capitols.

[ernieschwitz]

Sounds simple, i bet it really isn´t that simple. I haven¨t dabbled alot with graphics yet... so they are still somewhat a mystery to me... I only just discovered how to change the prehex sprite, and enable 64 bit roads...

[Grymme]

A small update on how this is going a day or so before i go on a two week holliday.

So, this will be a scenario VERY different to other ATG games. It will most likely be human only because it will use actioncards very extensivly.

Anyway. Here is a couple of words on how units will be created.

This scenario will most likely not use normal production instead you have different resources that are used to create units.

US units are created by increasing US commitment to the war. You can create as many units as you want as long as US commitment is not higher than US Morale. Raising the commitment (and a lot of other factors) affects US morale so at some point it will most likely be impossible to create new US units. A typical US division might cost 9-10 commitment and US morale starts at 520.

ARVN units are created by expending personell and military supply. The only way to create military supplies is by increasing US commitment. 1 US commitment nets you 7 supplies. You also need personell to create units. When you create an ARVN unit it generally follows an increase in the ARVN draft. Units can only be created as long as the ARVN draft is lower than the SVN controlled population. At the beginning of the game ARVN controlls ca 600 population, but this can increase or decrease depending on the result of the pacification efforts. For and example of cost creating 3 ARVN battalions cost 3 personell and 2 supplies.

The NVA has a system similar to USA and the NFL has a system similar to the ARVN. NVA morale starts really low and rises instead so that eventually NVA will be able to intervene in strength in the conflict by being able to increase NVA commitment. NFL relies on NFL controlled population and supplies created by increasing NVA commitment.

So it seems that you could just create a huge amount of units, but this is affected by other factors as well. For example the rate of new commitment increased each round affects how fast US morale. So for example say you want to go for an imeadiate kill and pay 90 commitment imediatly to get you almost all US divisions available. But increasing the commitment by 90 decreases US morale much faster than doing it in increments of 5 or 10 each round and it also gives a huge boost to NVA morale which allows it to commit larger forces. So it all becomes a delicate balance. And USA have to hold Saigon for almost 10 years (115 rounds) to win the scenario. Do you want a big war or a small war?

This sounds very complicated, but once you see it its quite logical.