For next patch: Programming error on objective for Day 1 of "Week in Mekong"

[Ronzy]

Alright, I am supposed to clear this island south of the base as part of the Day 1 objectives.

But when I took the final objective on the island (far east end of the island), which was labeled with a "1" and a PAVN flag, I immediately got dinged with -1,000 EP penalty ?!?!?

Screenshot 2024-02-11 185005.jpg (148.95 KiB) Viewed 1652 times

And here is the village name -

Screenshot 2024-02-11 190956.jpg (167.81 KiB) Viewed 1652 times

And here I had been all impressed about how I cleared the entire island super fast, though with some casualties (lost 2 PBRs and 2 squads {4 steps} of infantry). I took almost the entire battalion (minus vehicles and 1 infantry platoon that would not fit on available transports) out there and cleared it all by turn 10. But this EP penalty was not what was expected from that

[Jason Petho]

The funny thing is that I thought I had fixed that prior to the 1.30 release. Looks like it snuck back in.

Fixing it again!

[Jason Petho]

No, it is already fixed. How weird.

Code: Select all

    -- 4/47 DAY ONE OBJECTIVES   ALPHA
	THOI_SON_ISLAND_AREA = {OBJECTIVES[545],OBJECTIVES[565],OBJECTIVES[576],OBJECTIVES[582],OBJECTIVES[597],OBJECTIVES[608],OBJECTIVES[627],OBJECTIVES[673],OBJECTIVES[713],OBJECTIVES[738]}    
	
  

That is OBJECTIVE 738, as you can see when you go OPTIONS - MAP HINTS.

[Ronzy]

So I was thinking this could be something else (I am definitely running v1.30)...

Could it be this is nothing about how the particular hex is programmed, but rather that there is a programmed EP Award Event that is supposed to occur when the US player succeeds at clearing the last objective on the island (i.e., has all objectives on the island under their control)?

I was actually expecting that kind of EP Award Event when my troops marched into that village (and got the above result instead of what was supposed to take place).

I imagine there was supposed to be a positive EP Award to the US player (rather than the negative EP punishment), and that the message was to be an "atta boy" message to the US player.

Could it be that the coding for the "out of bounds" EP event was "copy pasted" because the programming language was similar, but the next step of editing what was "copy pasted" (to make it a positive EP award to US player and different message displayed) did not occur?

[Jason Petho]

You get rewards after holding the area for 4 turns.

Code: Select all

            -- American gains for securing THOI_SON_ISLAND_AREA
            if owned(THOI_SON_ISLAND_AREA, US_SIDE) then
                TURNS_US_HOLD_THOI_SON_ISLAND_AREA = (TURNS_US_HOLD_THOI_SON_ISLAND_AREA or 0) + 1
                log(LUALOG, LOG_DEBUG, "in on_next_turn(), Turn " .. turn .. ", TURNS_US_HOLD_THOI_SON_ISLAND_AREA " .. TURNS_US_HOLD_THOI_SON_ISLAND_AREA)
                if TURNS_US_HOLD_THOI_SON_ISLAND_AREA == 4 then -- not >= 4, to ensure one-time only EP gain
                    inc_event_points(US_SIDE, 100)
                    dialog("US forces clears Thoi Son Island area", "For clearing and maintaining the Thoi Son Island area for 4 turns, the US side gains 100 EPs.", US_SIDE, US_SIDE)
                end
            end	

It is likely that I made the edit AFTER the 1.30 release as someone else pointed it out.

[Ronzy]

Well, I am not going to quit my attempt at this "Week in ... " over that, as I am having fun with it so far.

For narrative, I imagine this -

Some of the US troops on this island clearing operation committed what could be perceived as a "atrocity/war crime" and a LIFE magazine reporter with camera crew happened to be there to witness and document it. Their story made a subsequent issue of LIFE magazine (with full color photo spreads of the atrocity) and it gave a significant amount of "ammo" to the anti-war movement in the US homeland.

I will persevere.

P.S. - I am looking forward to a "A Week in ... Hue" covering an intense week early February 1968 with the US Marines trying to take back the Citadel in Hue (Hint, Hint)

[Jason Petho]

For sure, that would be an interesting A Week In to design!

I'm trying to figure out the actual play, as being in such a confined area with the scale, I'm not sure how to make it last a full week.

[Ronzy]

For sure, that would be an interesting A Week In to design!

I'm trying to figure out the actual play, as being in such a confined area with the scale, I'm not sure how to make it last a full week.

Though the actual battle for Hue from the US Marines going in to counter the move, to Hue being liberated, lasted close to a month (26 days).

I suppose you could concentrate on the most intense week(s) ... but a "Week in..." might not be long enough to reflect the battle that lasted 26 days.

I believe the USMC forces involved would be on Brigade (or perhaps larger) scale, and there was very heavy involvement from ARVN forces as well (which would broaden geographic and unit scale on the project). The opponents would involve both massive VC and massive PAVN forces (this was one of the largest most intense battle of the Vietnam War in terms of forces involved ... only rivaled by the Khe Sanh battle which was spread over many months {rather than 26 days}).

Geographic scale would be condensed considerably due to Urban scale in a relatively restricted geographic area compared to Mekong and II corps area in your current "Week in ... "s ... So it might even involve a reduced scale map (similar to how some Stalingrad games do it ... where the environs battle is at X scale, while the in the city battle is at half X scale (e.g., 100m hexes rather than 250m hexes)).

Something to consider ...though something keeping the current map scales intact could also be considered that covered more of the "environs" surrounding Hue.

There would have to be relatively massive amounts of USMC tank assets in the battle, as well as massive amounts of air support and artillery support to replicate the historical situation (but alas would it be a "boring grind" of massive firepower versus dug into the hilt in urban terrain commies?) ...

I don't know. Just sharing the thought.

But how can you do a Tet/1968 module without including the battle of Hue in some way? That would be sacriledge.

[Jason Petho]

Yes, all good ideas.

I don't think messing with the map scale would be wise, but yes, I will have to think of how to do so for the longer campaigns.

There are already a handful of stand alone Hue scenarios, but they are short and depict only certain elements of the engagement. I have yet to script them.

So many option, so little time. *laughs*

[Ronzy]

So many option, so little time. *laughs*

I feel your pain.

A bunch of shorter scenarios representing the Hue battle on a particular day in time could suffice (and be more manageable for you and your team {I do hope you have a team to help you? Otherwise, I grieve for your pain even more}).

I am sure you will come up with something great, since your current designs and implementations are already great.

[Jason Petho]

I appreciate the compliment and support, thank you!!

Certainly more manageable for me, indeed. Yay for grieving!

I have quite a few ideas for A Week In style campaigns, but they are very time consuming, so will get to them when I have more time. The videos I post are showing what I am currently working on behind the scenes.