Excellent project!

[johandenver]

Hello!

I just found out about this project and I must say this sounds like a wargame that could fit my taste rather nicely. [:)]
I loved Civil War Generals 2 from Sierra and this indeed seems like an updated and more detailed version of that game.
I've also played Take Command and now Scourge of War: Gettysburg a lot but in my heart I've always wanted a new turnbased game.

I actually did something similar to what you've been doing for this game. I compiled a huge database with units and leaders of the civil war.
My original intention was to use all the units and leaders in CWG2 but the game wasn't really up to what I wanted to do so I put the idea to rest.
However I continued compiling my database until it was finished and my database now probably has over 200'000 entries (haven't really checked exactly how many there actually are but there are close to 19000 entries for New York alone).

Will there be any way I can make use of my db?
For example, mod some new units and leaders that aren't included?

Anyway, thanks for making this game. It sure gives me something to look forward to.

[johandenver]

Forgot to say that the screenshot is of union units raised in Mississippi.
Leaders for some of those units were impossible to find

[Gil R.]

My goodness, that's incredibly impressive. Mind-bogglingly so, given what's out there to work with.

I can pretty much guarantee that you will be able to find ways to use your work. For one thing, my own OOB's, though including the names of as many top-three officers as I could find for each regiment, battery or independent company, has numerous gaps, and I have a hunch you'll be able to fill those.

WCS has no plans to release a map-editor, but I will gladly work with modders who want to create battles that we currently do not plan on covering by map-editing for them any maps they submit, if those maps meet certain standards. So let's say that someone wants to do Cedar Creek, which we probably won't do, and creates a good map in the proper format: I would spend a few evenings map-editing it while watching TV (it's mindless work for me, once the map itself is drawn), and you could help work on the OOB end. Overall, the BAB series will cover 20-30 battles, so there will be plenty for modders to do, and your database could be invaluable.

[freeboy]

screan shots?
scale?
 

[johandenver]

Great to know that my work could be of some use [:)]

[johandenver]

One idea I had to put my database to use was to make some sort of OOB-creator app.
In this you would select which regiment you wanted added to the OOB from a list and then all eligable leaders would be pulled from my db and put in different boxes to select.
Of course, a leader eligable for both Major and Lieutenant Colonel would dissapear from the Lieutenant Colonel-list if he was selected as Major.
I tried to make something like this in MS Access but then I discovered I was not a programming wizard and put the idea to rest

[johandenver]

I've published my database now at my very own site... CWDB

[nicwb]

Gil, R No Cedar Creek !?! [:(]

I was hoping that you would cover some of the lesser known battles rather than just concentrating on the familiar ones.

[Gil R.]

Johan,
It's great to see that you're sharing your rather amazing database with everyone. I definitely look forward to poking around in it for years to come.

nicwb,
Just to make sure, you definitely did mean Cedar Creek and not Cedar Mountain, right? Cedar Creek we might include if the BAB series proves popular enough that we come out with more releases than the six that we definitely plan. (As I've written elsewhere, we could do the whole war in six, but can certainly draw it out and have 7-10 releases total.) So if we do a "Valley Campaigns" release, or some such thing, it may well make it in. As for Cedar Creek, if I had reliable maps and OOB's it might be included in the "Lee Takes Command" release, even though Lee wasn't there. It would probably make more sense to wait and have a release devoted to Stonewall Jackson's battles, if the series's popularity merits additional releases.

[nicwb]

Ouch ! yes you're right - i did mean Cedar Mountain [8|]

Still my main point was - it would be nice if the game covered some of the lesser known battles - Gettysburg, Antietam & Shiloh are always covered by various games but its hard to find anything that deals with other lesser known battles such as Stones River, Chatanooga or Brandy Station

[Gil R.]

We definitely plan to do some of the smaller battles -- how many is the question. Stones River will definitely be in our "Civil War in the West (1862)" release (out sometime next year, I hope). Chatanooga is hard, if for no other reason than it might be too large an area to be mapped. Brandy Station will depend in large part on how well mapped it is.

Cedar Mountain's possible, but it's not likely to be in the "Lee Takes Command" release, in part for the reasons given, but also because that release would already have Gaines' Mill, Glendale, Malvern Hill, and 2nd Manassas, and probably Mechanicsville as well, and that's a pretty good number of battles and scenarios.

[nicwb]

Thanks Gil - that sounds very promising.