The Alcan Highway

[el cid again]

Now we have gone over to multiple pwhex.dat files (for WITP - we will do something more sophisticated for AE)

we should revisit the Alcan situation.

AE is getting rid of it. And to be fair - it is useless anyway - in game terms (if not IRL).

What we CAN do is

a) get rid of the ALCAN at the start of the game (it is not there anyway)

b) create an optional upgrade all the way to RR as an option - the plan was to go all the way to Nome with rail -
and this would occur at the same time other RR upgrade - or not - using something we might call

ALCANRRpwhex7.dat

Another thing we should do is break the road to Kenai at start - it isn't there either

and add it back with RRpwhex in 1943 - possibly renaming the hex Kenai/Soldotna

(Soldotna means "soldier" in Russian)

Soldotna was built during the war as part of the road building effort - involving crossing a forbidding mountain range at Turnagain Pass.

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: el cid again
Another thing we should do is break the road to Kenai at start - it isn't there either

This means the road between Anchorage and Seward, correct?

Since you seem to be discussing AE in this post, I suggest posting map comments and suggestions in the map thread in the AE forum area. It would be more helpful there than here, where it is much more likely to be missed.

Thanks,
Andrew

[el cid again]

NOT correct.

There was NO road between Anchorage and Seward before WWII - but there WAS a railroad. When the road to Kenai was built - so was a road to Seward. [The Alaska RR was ultimately funded by the US Government - private efforts preceeded that - and ran from Seward to Fairbanks - with Anchorage built along the way as its operating base - at a point heavy equipment could be landed. Seward was the main port - where ships could use piers - and Whittier was a deep water port - suitable for (about two) large tankers. Whittier got a RR spur (through a mountain by a spectacular glacier) and an 8 inch pipeline - still used to send fuel to Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage. The CANOL Project took oil from Canadian oilfields and routed it to the West Coast - where it went by tanker to Whittier - to feed operations in Alaska. Most of the route was by pipeline.]

Kenai is sort of a "spur" off the middle of the rail line between Anchorage and Seward - it is all very convoluted because of Cook Inlet - and when the war began - Kenai was an isolated port (not present in CHS at all). It was a vital forward air base - so we put it in RHS. But it is connected by road to the rail line. That road should disappear in 1941 - and reappear when we do the RR upgrades.

We were toying with the idea of just changing certain features of pwhex during the game - rather than swapping entire files. For AE we MUST do that - because the game will no longer permit pwhex swapping. But an image of the original pwhex file must exist - so in theory we can change a value here or there - as in making the road 'appear'.

We are actually talking about WITP I.

We are about to issue the useable form of an installer - which also is a pwhex switcher - and we want all pwhex files to be in the best possible form - so I am talking about possible changes to them.

Since Kenai is in no mod (except I assume those by AKWarrior) or stock, I see no point in talking about a road to a point that does not exist. It would be in the hex SW of Anchorage - and should be blocked so you cannot move from Anchorage to it by any means (by Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet) - instead the RR goes SE - to Whittier - then SW and SE to Seward. Along that Southern portion of the route is a road going due west to Kenai - which was just a port on Cook Inlet before it was built mid war.

When writing the first item above, it occurred to me that players might want to implement the plan to build the RR to Nome - the ALCAN was just a pioneer road to facilitate the RR when concieved. It was not known if the Japanese would force Russia into the war or not? But if it were - we wanted to use bases - in particular developed airfields near Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk - and we felt these could be best served by a SLOC based on Nome rather than Seattle/Vancouver.

Because the Matrix AE project has refused to consider changes in (pwhex) infrastructure, seasons, or damage - and because we picked up a software engineer on the team - we are proceeding to demonstrate why it should be done. First in WITP I - and assuming Matrix sticks to its plan not to do it in AE - we probably will do it there as well. We will let players control what is done - when - and where - or (for seasons) make it automatic. We hope to see some version of this in WITP II one day. [It is like the days when it was not possible - code wise to do Soviet ships - or to have functional Soviet ports: we did it anyway - and eventually Matrix changed the code.] Rivers and lakes in the North should freeze, poor foundation roads should "disappear" during the Monsoon in the tropics, etc. We also are experimenting with RR building - and here I proposed to add road building to the list. Right now there are eight different RHS Level 7 pwhex files - a basic one - and variations players can use in different situations. We are about to issue a utility which will both install RHS - let you control the pwhex options - and also play stock. [I wanted to permit selection of CHS, RHS Level 5 and RHS Level 6 as well - but sheer size of the program - which INCLUDES all the art and scenario files and pwhex files - prevented that. Many computers could not then hold it.]

[JeffroK]

[>:]

[Andrew Brown]

I agree about the road to Seward not being built until after the war. That is something I will have to fix on the AE map because I think it is on there currently.

Andrew

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: el cid again
Because the Matrix AE project has refused to consider changes in (pwhex) infrastructure, seasons, or damage - and because we picked up a software engineer on the team - we are proceeding to demonstrate why it should be done.

Map data changes were considered for AE, but were not added in the end due to lack of time and priority. There is no need to demonstrate why it should be done. It is well understood.

Andrew

[el cid again]

Do you have a road beside the rail road? I thought it was one or the other. There WAS a rail line. The road built during the war turned half way long - to go to Kenai. A big airfield was built at Kenai. Kenai was a very small place before that - very little there at all - but at one time it was one of the principle Russian settlements (with Kodiak, Sitka and something in the Aleutians- presumably Dutch Harbor).

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: el cid again

Do you have a road beside the rail road? I thought it was one or the other. There WAS a rail line. The road built during the war turned half way long - to go to Kenai. A big airfield was built at Kenai. Kenai was a very small place before that - very little there at all - but at one time it was one of the principle Russian settlements (with Kodiak, Sitka and something in the Aleutians- presumably Dutch Harbor).

In AE, the road network and the railway network are separate. You can have either, or both.

Andrew

[Nomad]

Just what we need - more pwhex files to try and keep synced on. I have all ready had to restart a game because of different pwhex files, I do not want to contemplate changing them in the middle of a game and multiple times at that.

[el cid again]

The pwhex files in RHS are almost identical - and they will not mess you up. You also are perfectly free to use the standard one only - as in all other mods. This robs you of options - but it is no worse than they are.

The changes ONLY affect a few hex sides and communications codes. Essentially

you can build some railroads mid war -

you can damage the Panama Canal/Railroad any time

you can damage the Honshu/Kuyshu rail tunnel any time

and you can open the interior river systems to the sea - or close them - any time

Nothing in any of this can mess you up.

We want to give you winter and monsoon pwhex - but we lack the art to do it. IF we do it - we may make it automatic.

[Jaypea]

Hi -

I was just going to try my hand at RHS. I assume you all are in the middle of making some updates and it sounds like you have an auto installer?? I searched the RHS website and did not find anything. Can someone kindly directly to the location of the installer when you get a free moment?

Thanks
Jaypea

[dwbradley]

ORIGINAL: Jaypea

Hi -

I was just going to try my hand at RHS. I assume you all are in the middle of making some updates and it sounds like you have an auto installer?? I searched the RHS website and did not find anything. Can someone kindly directly to the location of the installer when you get a free moment?

Thanks
Jaypea

I am updating the installer right now. I need to test a bit and if all goes well I will post a link later this evening. Please stand by.

Dave Bradley