Adding new units question

[Aranthus]

I am trying to add extra units to the game. Is it possible to add additional bit map pages? When I go beyond 22, the system doesn't seem to recognize those pages and my units get the generic image or a white square for transports, convoys, and subs.

[AlbertN]

I believe some units are "recyclable" as per the old 1936 planes can be erased in the bitmap and new graphics added in replacement.
I understand they'd be handy for a Days of Decision session but as DoD is only tabletop at the time being I do not see anyone wise of mind to not scrap a 1 or 2 Air to Air factor fighter for example at the start of 1939 campaign.

[Aranthus]

You're right about recycling units, and I have done that. Now I'm looking to add more than the 22 pages of bit maps. The program doesn't recognize the graphics on pages 23 and up.

[AlbertN]

Ah I wish I had graphical skills to do that because I had a few plans for planes but I am a complete ... hmm ... well let's say that my reaches in Paint is to draw stickmen and cut and copy from other images!

[TrogusP96]

Aranthus,

How far have you gone with adding extra units using existing symbols etc?

Any repercussions/

TrogusP96

[Aranthus]

I haven't done much with land units. My main goal has been to crate a more rational and historic air order of battle. WiF has a few historical inaccuracies and some fudges to keep the Americans from being as powerful as they should be. One example is the P-39's. There is a P-39I represented in the game, and the Americans never used that designation (because the I could be confused with a 1). Also, the P-39's are underrated. Partly that's because they had problems at altitude (I'm working on an altitude rule which should help), but part of that is because if the American planes are properly rated, the game is not balanced. So I have re-designated the P-39I as a P-39N and increased the air-to air factors.

Another problem is that there aren't enough planes. There's a limit to how many ship and plane counters the game can handle. 2,200 if you use all the slots on the bit maps. If you try to add more units than that, then all units after 2,200 show as generic white counters. I struggled a long time trying to get all the counters the right color before I figured out what was going on. Once I realized that the system does not recognize any bitmap after 22, I was able to work on trying to get it all to fit into the slots available. That means getting rid of some minor country units (all the Czechs, and most of the extra minor air units), pre-war planes that everyone scraps anyway, and some of the planes that were not actually built in large enough numbers to make a difference (such as the Me-210).

The other major change I'm working on is to increase American production to its historical level which is double what is represented in the game, plus the Yanks get a lot more oil.

In terms of the running of the program, I haven't had any problems after I limited the graphics to the 22 bit maps. I'm working through the balance issues. It should be pretty obvious to anyone that having the US at its historical abilities means that the Axis has almost no chance to win. So to make this work at all, I'm probably going to have to reduce the American production some.

Also, if anyone knows how to get the program to recognize more than 22 pages of bitmap images for the air and naval units, I'd be grateful for the info.

[AlbertN]

USA planes underrated?
Do you mean German and Japanese planes underrated? But Japan for example accounts for pilots too which are of "lower quality" in '42 (because the Japan '42 planes are much superior in technical terms of their '39 counterparts which have anyhow 4 and 5 rating).

USA did not had excellent pilots, but even German aces (which got whittled away over time and replaced with more and more hastily trained pilots) could not match the ratio of numbers the USA were churning out.

And if you wish to augment USA production, they should probably start with a 0 multiplier and not 0.25.
Currently the game is already Pro-Allies; if you feel to make the Allied life easier, by all means.

[Centuur]

I don't think the US should get better planes. They have the better ones already, since they have far more long range FTR's than the Axis has. Those will win the game for the US, if they elect to empty their FTR3 force pools.

[Aranthus]

The only thing I will say is that you are right that as a game the game is pro-Allied. As history it isn't. That's fine. It's a game. I am trying to create a more historical simulation. Of course it won't be balanced, and will in fact be more pro-Allied than the game already is. I'm doing it for my own amusement. I have no illusion that gamers will be interested.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Aranthus

I am trying to add extra units to the game. Is it possible to add additional bit map pages? When I go beyond 22, the system doesn't seem to recognize those pages and my units get the generic image or a white square for transports, convoys, and subs.

The bitmap requirements of the game have already just about tapped out the capacity for same in Windows. I had to do several programming tricks to reduce the necessary bitmaps (hence the coastal hex bitmaps are packed very tightly). Similarly, the use of pages cut down the number of Windows bitmap resources used by MWIF. Adding a 23rd page of units would almost certainly cause the program to fail immediately when it tried to load all the bitmaps into memory.

[Aranthus]

Thanks for the info. Maybe someday computer science will catch up with my dreams.

[TrogusP96]

I have been adding land units using the existing unit ID sequence and continuing that on and so far no issues.

1) I assumed that the 6,000 IDs could be used with existing symbols within each unit type: land, air or naval or special too I suppose. Is this not correct?

2) Also I changed the second cycle build time for some subs in the data files, but it hasn't altered the build time when they appear in the force pools. What am I missing?

3) It would be fun to change(lower) division, artillery etc. costs, but I gather this is not possible. They seem cost prohibitive.

Aranthus I would like to see your airpower changes.

As for US production I have yet to see the game that shows the full scope of construction or industrial output naval types warships, merchant ships, airplanes, vehicles (AFVs and transport) not to mention the Manhattan Project, code breaking - I think the U.S duplicated like 50 "bombes" - the British mechanical computer.

4) I have added resources and factories across the map to pay for divisions and that's had the nice side effect of rendering monkeying with CW convoys less nerve wracking and time consuming.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: TrogusP96

I have been adding land units using the existing unit ID sequence and continuing that on and so far no issues.

1) I assumed that the 6,000 IDs could be used with existing symbols within each unit type: land, air or naval or special too I suppose. Is this not correct?

2) Also I changed the second cycle build time for some subs in the data files, but it hasn't altered the build time when they appear in the force pools. What am I missing?

3) It would be fun to change(lower) division, artillery etc. costs, but I gather this is not possible. They seem cost prohibitive.

Aranthus I would like to see your airpower changes.

As for US production I have yet to see the game that shows the full scope of construction or industrial output naval types warships, merchant ships, airplanes, vehicles (AFVs and transport) not to mention the Manhattan Project, code breaking - I think the U.S duplicated like 50 "bombes" - the British mechanical computer.

4) I have added resources and factories across the map to pay for divisions and that's had the nice side effect of rendering monkeying with CW convoys less nerve wracking and time consuming.

Land units do not have bitmaps - their counter depictions are calculated on-the-fly every time they are shown. So using all 6000 (if that is what I allotted way back when) numbers should be fine.

Moat of the construction costs and time are hard coded:

===================

const
BaseProductionMultiple: array[TMajorCountries, 1939..1948] of Extended =
((0.75, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5), // Germany.
(0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5), // Italy.
(0.75, 1, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5), // Japan.
(0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5), // Vichy.
(0.25, 0.5, 0.5, 0.75, 0.75, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1), // China.
(0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5), // CW.
(0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5), // France.
(0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25), // USA.
(0.25, 0.5, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5)); // USSR.

UnitFixedCost = [fpConvoy, fpPilot, fpRetrainPilot, fpFactory, fpFort1,
fpOffensive];

UnitFixedTime = [fpConvoy, fpPilot, fpRetrainPilot, fpFactoryRepair,
fpOilRepair, fpNavalRepair, fpNavalRepairSub, fpFactory,
fpFort1, fpOffensive];

ForcePoolTime: array[TForcePool] of Byte =
(
2 { fpInfantry }
, 2 { fpInfantryD }
, 3 { fpCavalry2 }
, 3 { fpCavalry2D }
, 3 { fpCavalry3 }
, 3 { fpCavalry3D }
, 4 { fpParatroop }
, 4 { fpParatroopD }
, 4 { fpAirLanding }
, 5 { fpAirCav }
, 3 { fpMarine }
, 3 { fpMarineD }
, 3 { fpMountain }
, 3 { fpMountainD }
, 3 { fpSki }
, 5 { fpEngineer }
, 3 { fpInfantryHQ }
, 4 { fpArmorHQ }
, 1 { fpMilitia }
, 1 { fpTerritorial }
, 2 { fpGarrison }
, 3 { fpMotorized }
, 3 { fpMotorizedD }
, 3 { fpMechanized }
, 3 { fpMechanizedD }
, 4 { fpArmor }
, 4 { fpArmorD }
, 4 { fpArmoredMarine }
, 5 { fpArmoredParatroop }
, 3 { fpFieldArtillery4 }
, 3 { fpFieldArtillery5 }
, 4 { fpFieldArtillery6 }
, 3 { fpAntiTank3 }
, 3 { fpAntiTank4 }
, 4 { fpAntiTank5 }
, 3 { fpAntiAir4 }
, 3 { fpAntiAir5 }
, 2 { fpSupply }
, 0 { fpLeader }
, 2 { fpWarlord }
, 6 { fpCarrier }
, 6 { fpLightCarrier }
, 6 { fpBattleship }
, 5 { fpCruiser }
, 2 { fpASWEscort }
, 3 { fpASWNCarrier }
, 4 { fpAmphibious }
, 3 { fpNavalTransport }
, 3 { fpLiner }
, 4 { fpConvoy }
, 3 { fpSubmarine }
, 4 { fpFrogmen }
, 2 { fpFighter2 }
, 3 { fpFighter3 }
, 4 { fpCarrierAir0 }
, 4 { fpCarrierAir1 }
, 4 { fpCarrierAir2 }
, 2 { fpNavalAir2 }
, 3 { fpNavalAir3 }
, 4 { fpNavalAir4 }
, 2 { fpLandAir2 }
, 3 { fpLandAir3 }
, 4 { fpLandAir4 }
, 5 { fpLandAir5 }
, 2 { fpAirTransport2 }
, 3 { fpAirTransport3 }
, 4 { fpAirTransport4 }
, 1 { fpSubHunter }
, 1 { fpVWeapon }
, 1 { fpABomb }
, 6 { fpSynthOil }
, 2 { fpFactoryRepair }
, 2 { fpOilRepair }
, 2 { fpNavalRepair }
, 2 { fpNavalRepairSub }
, 0 { fpConstruction }
, 0 { fpConstructionSub }
, 3 { fpPilot }
, 0 { fpRetrainPilot }
, 4 { fpFactory }
, 5 { fpFort1 }
, 3 { fpOffensive }
);

var
ForcePoolCost: array[TForcePool] of Shortint = // For 1st cycle only
(
3 { fpInfantry }
, 2 { fpInfantryD } // D indicates a division sized unit
, 2 { fpCavalry2 } // 2 indicates that the corps unit costs 2 BPs
, 1 { fpCavalry2D }
, 3 { fpCavalry3 }
, 2 { fpCavalry3D }
, 5 { fpParatroop }
, 3 { fpParatroopD }
, 2 { fpAirLanding }
, 8 { fpAirCav }
, 5 { fpMarine }
, 3 { fpMarineD }
, 4 { fpMountain }
, 2 { fpMountainD }
, 2 { fpSki }
, 3 { fpEngineer }
, 5 { fpInfantryHQ }
, 8 { fpArmorHQ }
, 2 { fpMilitia }
, 2 { fpTerritorial }
, 2 { fpGarrison }
, 4 { fpMotorized }
, 2 { fpMotorizedD }
, 5 { fpMechanized }
, 3 { fpMechanizedD }
, 6 { fpArmor }
, 4 { fpArmorD }
, 4 { fpArmoredMarine }
, 8 { fpArmoredParatroop }
, 4 { fpFieldArtillery4 }
, 5 { fpFieldArtillery5 }
, 6 { fpFieldArtillery6 }
, 3 { fpAntiTank3 }
, 4 { fpAntiTank4 }
, 5 { fpAntiTank5 }
, 4 { fpAntiAir4 }
, 5 { fpAntiAir5 }
, 3 { fpSupply }
, 0 { fpLeader }
, 2 { fpWarlord }
, 2 { fpCarrier }
, 1 { fpLightCarrier }
, 2 { fpBattleship }
, 1 { fpCruiser }
, 1 { fpASWEscort }
, 1 { fpASWCarrier }
, 3 { fpAmphibious }
, 2 { fpNavalTransport }
, 2 { fpLiner }
, 1 { fpConvoy }
, 1 { fpSubmarine }
, 1 { fpFrogmen }
, 2 { fpFighter2 }
, 3 { fpFighter3 }
, 0 { fpCarrierAir0 }
, 1 { fpCarrierAir1 }
, 2 { fpCarrierAir2 }
, 2 { fpNavalAir2 }
, 3 { fpNavalAir3 }
, 4 { fpNavalAir4 }
, 2 { fpLandAir2 }
, 3 { fpLandAir3 }
, 4 { fpLandAir4 }
, 5 { fpLandAir5 }
, 2 { fpAirTransport2 }
, 3 { fpAirTransport3 }
, 4 { fpAirTransport4 }
, 1 { fpSubHunter }
, 1 { fpVWeapon }
, 1 { fpABomb }
, 7 { fpSynthOil } // Place holder, the actual cost varies by unit.
, 4 { fpFactoryRepair }
, 4 { fpOilRepair }
, 0 { fpNavalRepair }
, 0 { fpNavalRepairSub }
, 0 { fpConstruction }
, 0 { fpConstructionSub }
, 2 { fpPilot }
, -1 { fpRetrainPilot }
, 8 { fpFactory }
, 2 { fpFort1 }
, 15 { fpOffensive }
);

[Aranthus]

I will post it this weekend.

[TrogusP96]

Steve/Shannon


Are the above build costs and times being offered because that information can be used by us to change them?

Jim

[paulderynck]

Doubtful - they are hard coded. I suppose it was posted to show how all are defined.