MWiF Map Review - Pacific Islands

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp
...
Also what are OfsX, OfsY ?
Have you got a schema of the 0-24 positions within an hex ? I could try to pre-position some names.
About the positions, I'll take the positions I showed in my posted bitmaps.

Edit : While I'm at it, I'll include the Chinese names from the China map too, and those of Caucasus, and those of Urals.

I promise nothing about the Chinese and Caucaus names, map clutter being a concern. In the Pacific, there is mostly blue water so including the island names shouldn't make the map too congested.

OFsX and OFsY are offsets for the upper left corner of the first letter of the name within the starting hex for the label. The scale is 0 to 67 across and 0 to 75 vertically. So, 0,0 places the upper left corner of the first letter in the upper left corner of the hex. Since a hex doesn't have an upper left corner, this means it is located in the upper left corner of the rectangle in which the hexagon is inscribed. You asked! I'll adjust these if you just put in zeroes.

The 0 to 24 positions are only used for placing icons (ports, cities, factories, and resources). Zero is the center of the hex. 1 - 12 are the 12 clock positons midway between the center and the hexagon edge. 13 - 24 are the same 12 clock positions but closer to the edge (2/3rds of the way). Probably more information than you wanted, but what the heck. These are set to zero for simple labels. They are used for labels such as London and Antwerp.

[Froonp]

I promise nothing about the Chinese and Caucaus names, map clutter being a concern. In the Pacific, there is mostly blue water so including the island names shouldn't make the map too congested.

There are the lakes names, the names of the added cities, the names of the mistspelled cities (Lan-Chow who becomes Lanchow you remember ?).
There is also the rivers' names. Do you also write the names of the rivers on the map using the same CSV files ? I was also thinking of adding the river names to the file.

Just a couple of questions too :
You also said there could not be blanks. There can be no blank in the text label neither ?
Is it possible to have 2 names for a given hex ?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

I promise nothing about the Chinese and Caucaus names, map clutter being a concern. In the Pacific, there is mostly blue water so including the island names shouldn't make the map too congested.

There are the lakes names, the names of the added cities, the names of the mistspelled cities (Lan-Chow who becomes Lanchow you remember ?).
There is also the rivers' names. Do you also write the names of the rivers on the map using the same CSV files ? I was also thinking of adding the river names to the file.

Just a couple of questions too :
You also said there could not be blanks. There can be no blank in the text label neither ?
Is it possible to have 2 names for a given hex ?

I would like the lake and river names, if you would be so kind. CWIF was missing a whole lot of those. The name/text comes last in the data record so blanks are ok there. Multiple names in the same hex are ok too (Aachen and Rhineland for example). All labels for the map come from the same CSV file.

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: composer99

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: composer99

As long as they're close enough for strat bombers & (maybe) escorting fighters.

At 12 hexes away, only a few of the USA fighters can reach Tokyo from the Bonins islands. Most of the USA bombers can but they would have to fly at extended range.

Hmm... It is true historically (as far as I have read) that the US did not have much in the way of escorting fighter power on its bombing raids over Japan, but in WiFFE it certainly does given the ranges Patrice quotes. Plus bombers can reach without necessarily flying at extended range. I quite like the changes on the whole but I suppose they may make it more difficult for the US to hammer away at Japan in the late game (if the Japanese are prepared) than perhaps should be the case. Ah, well, that is something that playtesting will ultimately determine.

Both P-51s and P-47Ns were based on Iwo Jima to escort B-29s. The P-47N was a fairly radical redesign of the basic P-47 platform with longer, square tipped wings that included fuel for the first time (as well as new ailerons that in concert with the revised wing shape, significantly enhanced roll rate and overall manoeuvrability). This extract about basing fighters on Iwo Jima from an account of the USAAF in the Pacific (http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/V/AAF-V-19.html) indicates a much larger combat radius than the 13 of the P-47N in WiF anyway...

This was on 21 July; a week later, assuming with his usual optimism that the JCS would go along, Arnold approved a project for assigning to XXI Bomber Command as many as 5 fighter groups, to include P-51's and P-47N's, the latter rated as having a tactical radius of 1,350 miles.

A quick, back of the envelope calculation gives a figure closer to 20 for the range of the P-47N in MWiF.

As a side note, having another look at the combat factors on the late war US fighters, I'd have to say they are all over the place. The P-59 Airacomet was a dog and doesn't deserve 8. The later P-38s probably should be higher. The P-47N's air-cooled ruggedness and total dominance of the P-51 at high altitude due to its massive turbocharger should see it with higher ratings than the later P-51s. I'll be making a few changes to the CSV files.

Cheers, Neilster

[YohanTM2]

ORIGINAL: Neilster
I'll be making a few changes to the CSV files.

Cheers, Neilster

Not if I'm playing Japan you won't <g>

[Hortlund]

I love the new map, looks great.
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Just one thing though. Do we have to name every single island? It just clutters up the map something immensely. Maybe we could just have island-names at the most important ones?

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

This is the image I had in mind when I wrote that post btw.

[YohanTM2]

I have to agree, it is overkill

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Yohan
I have to agree, it is overkill

Well, we'll see how it looks on the final map (this one is just an edited printscreen). Anyway, I already entered all of them into the CSV files. We'll remove some of them if it looks bad.
I for one love to see all the islands [:D]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

ORIGINAL: Froonp

This is the image I had in mind when I wrote that post btw.

If you compare the top of this map to the bottom I think you will agree that the bottom looks ok. So perhaps the solution is to alternate the placement of the names from the left to the right of the islands to reduce it looking like troops passing in review.

There isn't any 'action' going on in this area: no other terrain features to show and the only units will be occupying the island hexes. Naval units at sea will be in sea boxes.

What I am getting at here is that without the names, there is nothing but blue ocean, and you can visually get your fill of that in many other places. I think at least one island in each hex should be named so that players can communicate with each other without having to refer to hex numbers.

But, as Patrice said, it is trivial to delete names. I'll let everyone review this again after we get the pretty version of the map.

[composer99]

My guess is you'll probably want to go down to one name per hex if you do delete island names.

[Zorachus99]

I would agree one island name per hex would be easier for players to reference mutually, than having two.

[Froonp]

Here's how the Philippines look, without the Coastlines.

[Froonp]

Here's how they could look with the coastlines.
It is pretty good already, I only made 2 changes from the map as it was :

- Removed 2 All Sea hexsides in the Samar and Leyte Islands
- Removed 1 All Sea hexside in the Island south of Legaspi

[Froonp]

Here're how looks the NEI before the coastilnes (it misses PaPua because I've not yet finished, but as I leave for some beach, I post it anyway).

[Froonp]

Here're how they look with the coastlines.
I was not too happy with the islmands arount Sumbawa & Flores, but it is OK anyway from my point of view.

Also, it show the change we talked about in another thread about the singapore hex :

- Singapore should be a jungle hex, with 2 jungle hex next of it from where it can be attacked, without a strait hexside.

[composer99]

These maps of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies look quite nice. I rather like the way the borders can be more free-form in the ocean.

[Zorachus99]

I am so looking forward to getting my hands on this game!
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[Peter Stauffenberg]

Great looking maps as usual. [:)] So far I only noticed that the text Manila is missing for
the Philippine capital.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I have one question about the nice coast lines you draw for the different map parts. Is it possible to use your coastal lines directly by sending them to Steve's MWIF map designer or does he have to draw all these coast lines all over again?

I hope your coast lines can be used and it will save Steve's map designer from a lot of work with the map. You've done a truly great work. [:)]