PacLink: Pacwar - Carrier Strike Link Tool

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Mon Jan 15, 2001 8:41 am

Pacwarriors, are you tired of Yamamoto kicking you from one end of the Pacific to the other? Is Halsey not aggressive enough for you? Think you could do better if you only had the chance? Then PacLink may be the answer.

PacLink will port any 1700 mile by 1400 mile area of your Pacific War map into Carrier Strike, and it will bring every base, ship, and air-group in the area with it. Create all new scenarios taken from Pacific War for play in Carrier Strike at an operational level. The entire Pacific Theatre is represented down to a 17 mile hex size. If you want, when you have finished your game in Carrier Strike, you can port the results back to Pacific War for continued strategic level play.

Best of all, it’s free, and finally available for download at my website:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tmflood/page3.html

This is the first release, so I’m expecting you to find some bugs. Let me know what you encounter, and I’ll do my best to fix them. In this first release, the return of data back to Pacwar is not yet functional. It will probably take a few more weeks to complete this work. But in the meantime, you can use PacLink to generate new scenarios for Carrier Strike. Besides the PacLink tool, you’ll also find improved graphics in this download. To get you started quick, I’ve included 2 scenarios created with PacLink: Pearl Harbor in savea, and Coral Sea in saveb. Have fun!

Hopefully this new tool will add some new enjoyment to your Pacific War and Carrier Strike play while we all wait for Matrix Games great new Pacific Theatre products!

Regards,

Rich Dionne

sw30 · Post by **sw30** » Mon Jan 15, 2001 11:30 pm

You are a God. I worship you. Now all I have to do is dig up my Carrier Strike box...

mogami · Post by **mogami** » Tue Jan 16, 2001 7:47 am

Hi, Rich you are the man!!! Anyone without Carrier Strike can find it for free at www.theunderdogs.org

------------------
I'm not retreating, I'm attacking in a differant direction!

grumbler · Post by **grumbler** » Sat Jan 20, 2001 4:32 am

This is really cool. Except...

It now reminds me of why I don't play CS anymore!

The search stuff is interesting, except that your scouts don't "shadow" their targets. That I can live with (just plan multiwave searches to keep the spottings "fresh").

The surface combat routine is ridiculous, though. I just had an untouched force of 2 Kirishima BB, 6 CA, 2 CL, and 11 DD spend an ENTIRE DAY tracking and battling an enemy force of 2 CA, 1 CL (Atlanta Class) and 9 DD (all the remnants of an enemy CV screen). Both the enemy CAs had been torpedoed twice by Kates, so I had a sinificant speed advantage (historically deadly in these types of meetings, as ADMs Spee and Crace would testify). The battles started at 1000. Each time the forces would meet, it was at 25,000 yards. There would be a desultary exchange of fire, and then the battle would end. I would putz around in the hex waiting for the next turn. Then the desultary battle would go on. Sometimes the enemy TF would change course without my being able to respond, and would get a turn without combat. Finally, darkness fell. At that point, I got a single round of combat at 6,000 yards and the US force got hurt badly (losing 2 CA, 1 CL, and 1 DD). The US inflcited losses of no more than 10% on any of my units, and only 4 got hurt at all. Higher command took control of my surface force, however, and it was out of the campaign.

I love the ability to play some interesting games of CS using this system. However, I am not sure the "porting back to PacWar" is really much of a priority with me!

Thanks for the effort. It promises endless hours of entertainment, and it certainly makes CVBG on CVBG actions much more interesting thasn was the case in either game alone. If there is a promise of surface action, I think I will let the PACWAR system (with all its flaws) handle it.

And you cannot beat TWO free games with a stick!

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Sat Jan 20, 2001 5:59 am

Thanks Guys.

Yes Grumbler, I have to admit that CS does have its shortcomings. I wish we had more control over land based air; or that the AI routine for LBA strikes was improved. The surface combat routine is sort of hit and miss. I also haven't gotten into the running battle at long range that does little. But other times the surface combat is quite decisive. Even at these times, however, the surface combat groups are too quick to retire. If I only had the source code...

Regards,

Rich Dionne

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Thu Feb 01, 2001 1:24 am

I've uploaded a new version of PacLink 1.0 along with a couple of screenshots from PacLink generated scenarios at my website:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tmflood/page2.html

The zip file should now include all system files you need to run the game. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to add any new features to the program yet.

Hopefully, this will solve the problems some users have experienced in running the program.

Regards,

Rich Dionne

showboat1 · Post by **showboat1** » Thu Feb 01, 2001 6:49 pm

Anybody know how to get a copy of the Carrier at War remake that came out around 1990/91? I haven't played it in years and I just discovered that one of my disks is defective. Thanks for PACLINK Rich!!! Can't wait to give it a go.

showboat1 · Post by **showboat1** » Fri Feb 02, 2001 7:44 am

Okay, anyone else getting a runtime error message when exporting to cstrike?
run-tim error 53
file not found

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Fri Feb 02, 2001 7:59 am

Showboat,

You need to make sure that all files installed with PacLink are copied to your Carrier Strike directory. For example, the BigPac.map file was installed to the same directory as your Paclink10.exe file. This file and the others in the same directory must be copied to the directory indicated in the Carrier Strike Save File box before export.

Regards,

Rich

Von Rom · Post by **Von Rom** » Sat Aug 25, 2001 10:24 am

You can find Carrier Strike at

http://www.theunderdogs.org/

I have edited this link and changed it to the correct URL, thanks to the observations of Chanman <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

BTW, will the new icons that were made for the original PacWar or for Matrix's version of PacWar work with Carrier Strike?

[ August 26, 2001: Message edited by: Von Rom ]</p>

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Sat Aug 25, 2001 9:03 pm

The aircraft and ship icons Major Tom and I made for Pacific War cannot be used in Carrier Strike. However, I have finished a rework of the ship icons and sound effects for Carrier Strike, and should have them up at my website soon. The current version of PacLink includes revised icons for the carriers, map, and miscellaneous other symbols. In addition, you can use my icon editing tools at my website to create your own icons.

One final note, The Underdogs website has recently uploaded the Carrier Strike Expansion Disk, which adds new scenarios, night operations, and Okha bombs / guided missiles. Check it out!

Regards,

Rich

RockinHarry · Post by **RockinHarry** » Sat Aug 25, 2001 11:49 pm

Wow...If I wouldn´t be that soaked into SPWAW, I would try on this PacLink right now!
(..darn,..I need more time)
Nevertheless...just downloaded it.

Great page Rich <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> ...also new bookmark.

____________
Harry

chanman · Post by **chanman** » Sun Aug 26, 2001 2:16 am

I think that url that Von Rom posted above is supposed to be:

http://www.theunderdogs.org/

FYI.

Zakhal · Post by **Zakhal** » Sun Aug 26, 2001 2:27 am

Originally posted by Rich Dionne:
Showboat,

You need to make sure that all files installed with PacLink are copied to your Carrier Strike directory. For example, the BigPac.map file was installed to the same directory as your Paclink10.exe file. This file and the others in the same directory must be copied to the directory indicated in the Carrier Strike Save File box before export.

Regards,

Rich

I got around "file not found" error, but now its displaying "run time error:9, subscript out of range" when i click the export to cs button.

Great work with paclink! Always hoped for more detailed way to fight off the biggest naval battles in pacwar.

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Sun Aug 26, 2001 2:37 am

Zahkal,

Why don't you e-mail me (tmflood@earthlink.net) the Pacwar save file you're trying to export to Carrier Strike, and I'll try to figure out why you're getting the error (send the savex, savex.cd, and savex.md files and make sure you zip them first).

Regards,

Rich

[ August 25, 2001: Message edited by: Rich Dionne ]</p>

Zakhal · Post by **Zakhal** » Sun Aug 26, 2001 3:59 am

Originally posted by Rich Dionne:
Zahkal,

Why don't you e-mail me (tmflood@earthlink.net) the Pacwar save file you're trying to export to Carrier Strike, and I'll try to figure out why you're getting the error (send the savex, savex.cd, and savex.md files and make sure you zip them first).

Regards,

Rich

[ August 25, 2001: Message edited by: Rich Dionne ]

Problem solved. I was just using a filename of same name with both pacwar and pacstrike. Now that i use separete filenames for both it works just fine.

RayM · Post by **RayM** » Sun Aug 26, 2001 4:46 am

Originally posted by showboat1:
Anybody know how to get a copy of the Carrier at War remake that came out around 1990/91? I haven't played it in years and I just discovered that one of my disks is defective. Thanks for PACLINK Rich!!! Can't wait to give it a go.

Hello Showboat1,

While not free, I did discover the SSG site that hs CAW I & II. They put togther both I and II together as well as the constuction/scenario kit into a one, well documented package. Highly recommended in case do not find it elsewhere. I really enjoyed playing it. You can find them at http://www.ssgus.com./ccaw.html

Good luck.

Ray

Von Rom · Post by **Von Rom** » Sun Aug 26, 2001 10:02 am

Great job Rich. I'll be looking forward to your new updates.

I downloaded the expansion pack off the underdogs for Carrier Strike and everything works great. The graphics in the old game aren't much, but it's pretty exciting to spot an enemy task force and then be able to launch carrier planes to attack it.

*Sigh* I guess as you get older, it doesn't take much to get the 'ol blood pumping. . .

Von Rom · Post by **Von Rom** » Tue Aug 28, 2001 3:51 am

Comments above were made about the surface ship action not being more engaging. But I think this is what the game designers had intended. It was supposed to be about carrier battles. The carrier in this game is the decisive weapon:

Surface Action (From the manual, pp.54-57):

GENERAL WITHDRAWAL

The General Withdrawal rule was placed into the game to help further simulate the actual
conditions that existed during wartime. Most
players usually play over aggressively in
wargame simulations which tends to lead to
excessive casualties and produce ahistorical
results. Eliminating the entire enemy carrier
force would lead to a fast and rather boring
Campaign Game with some months being
skipped due to the lack of enemy carriers.

This might also apply to surface ships, since, if I was playing as the Japanese with superior ships, I would expect the American forces (AI) to avoid combat, and break-off unbalanced engagements.

Except for Marianas, all of the scenarios
included in the game may be used as starting
points for a Campaign Game. The campaign
allows you to fight up to one battle a month
until the June 1944 ending. Ships sunk or
damaged in battle will be unavailable later in
the campaign. You cannot afford to use your
ships like there’s no tomorrow.

Bombardment Task Forces
should stay 250-300 miles away from enemy
land bases until dark in order to avoid enemy
land-based airstrikes. Once night has arrived
move towards your target at full speed, bom-
bard, and then withdraw before daylight
breaks and you find yourself being attacked
from the air. For most of the war the
Japanese player has an advantage in capital
ships. The Allied player should therefore try
to avoid surface combat against a Japanese
Surface Combat TF if possible.

With Regard to Land-Based Aircraft (Manual, p.34):

You do have control over land-based aircraft under the following conditions:

AIRFIELDS

Airfields are located on bases shown on the
map with either American or Japanese flags
displaying which player controls the base.
The airfield’s aircraft missions are automati-
cally controlled by the computer with a few
exceptions explained below:

• The computer controls launching CAP,
Search, and Strike missions. However, once
launched, you may change the Strike mis-
sion’s target by entering Strike Mode (if
using a mouse ) and placing the map cursor
over the strike. Next press Alt/ S or click the
left mouse button to bring up the Unit Menu
and select STRIKE TF or STRIKE AF. Then
you may select another target on the Select
Target Display.

• You may recall an airfield strike by enter-
ing Strike Mode (if using a mouse) and plac-
ing the map cursor over the strike. Press
Alt/ K or press the left mouse button to get the
Unit Menu and then select RECALL STRIKE.

You may assign airfield aircraft on CAP
missions to Long- Range CAP missions.
Place the map cursor over the hex (TF or AF)
you wish to place L- R CAP over. Click the left mouse button to enter the Unit
Menu. Select L- R CAP. Next move the map
cursor over the airfield and press the “A” key
or the left mouse button to list the CAP over
the airfield. Select the Air Groups you wish to
provide L- R CAP.

Hope this helps. I'm just digging through the manual and playing a few games. It is a lot of fun. I hope more can be done to improve this game in the near future <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[ August 27, 2001: Message edited by: Von Rom ]</p>

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Tue Aug 28, 2001 7:36 am

Thanks for the comments guys!

My personal experience has been hit and miss on the surface combat routines, Von Rom. Sometimes there is little action, but other times, it has been pretty awesome.

Regarding bombardment, for some reason, I often see them come in whether it is a night turn or not. Maybe they're more bold when there is carrier air cover around.

Yes, you do have some control over LBA once it's in the air, but many players have expressed the desire to micro-control LBA like you can the carrier air groups. Of course, as the carrier group commander, you would not have much control over LBA, but more control might make the game more exciting.

I have working on an LBA interface for player control. I am almost ready to put out a beta version. The only downside is you must save and exit the game, and then give your LBA missions from withing the PacLink tool.

Regards,

Rich