DBB: DEI Scen and Map Mods

[JWE]

Well, this is becoming the Scenario from Hell. Positioning all the units in their Jan.1 configs and on Jan.1 positions had people looking at the base and hex arrangements for the PI. I added some bases in Malaya (dot hexes) at Port Dickson and Batu Pahat, and the "secret" Dutch airbase at Merak (Samarinda II) on Borneo, so what could I say to folks wanting to tweak Luzon?

Never really been thrilled at the Iba/Clark/Subic/Bataan base/hex definitions. Combining Clark and Subic, thereby giving Clark a port, always seemed to be a bit of a pain. Then along comes Dave Bradley with a hex editor, and boy, I'm in trouble now! Splitting Clark and Subic/Olongapo makes a lot of sense in the context of the scenario. It spreads out the concentration of units so that they aren't "all" in one hex: the Japanese ran some barge/amphib ops (failures, but what the hey) from Olongapo down the West Coast of Bataan, and having a separate Subic hex would be kinda neat to support these, so ...

Top pic is what there is. Yellow hex boundaries highlight the areas of interest. Middle pic is the PI rotated to superpose over Andrew's map projection. Put 45nm hexes over the image to see whas-sup. Ok, looked doable, so ... tweaked art and stuff and bottom pic is what resulted. Not bad. Gonna have to get with Dave Bradley and make sure our pwhex stuff works as planned.

Bottom line - the scen will be more than just scenario files. There will be "specific" map art and a "specific" pwhex file. Groin! That's the one thing I wanted to avoid - having a Babes Scen require a different 'background' installation from stock. Oh, well, can write two batch files - 'Play_Babes_DEI" and 'Play_Babes_Normal' that will do the old switcheroo; Babes normal will also be stock normal when it comes to 'background' art/map/etc files.

[DuckofTindalos]

"Groin!", John? Really?

You've been spending too much time around big things that go KA-BOOM![:'(]

[JWE]

Yep. That's the body part that always seems to hurt the most. [;)]

[JWE]

Ok, have a question for ya'll out there. Edited map art and map data to get a base at Olongapo/Subic Bay and make Clark Field an inland airbase hex. Here's what it looks like with hexsides turned 'on'.

Question is regarding the SE hexside of Subic (and NW hexside of Bataan). As used in our version of the scenario, these hexsides are 'white', meaning they are 'both' ocean and land, thereby allowing for barge movement and troop movement across them. This has the effect of allowing the Japanese to stage attacks on Bataan from two hexes ; the Clark hex and the Subic hex. One could think of it as attacks on either side of Mt Natib. Of course, Japan needs to put troops in both hexes, so that there's no 'easy' retreat for the Bataan forces. This does tend to disperse the power of the Japanese assault forces over two hexes while retaining the Allied power in a single hex. This has advantages and disadvantages for both sides.

However, there is an opportunity for 'gamey' play with this; the mega stack, whack-a-mole, thingy. So not really sure what we should do for a general release version. We can do one of two things: 1) keep it as is, or 2) make those hexsides 'ocean' - suitable for barge ops but uncrossable for troops.

Up to ya'll. Thanks to Dave Bradley, it's a simple switcheroo. Comments encouraged.

Ciao. John

[DuckofTindalos]

I'm in favour of anything that keeps Japan from overrunning Bataan outright. They couldn't do it in real life.

[JWE]

ORIGINAL: Terminus
I'm in favour of anything that keeps Japan from overrunning Bataan outright. They couldn't do it in real life.

Well, I'm with you Kristian, doing it right is doing it right. I'm just worried about how the scenario will impact all the little preteen weenies that will whine, bitch, and moan about just about everything. Woof!

[DuckofTindalos]

Stuff 'em. This is not a kid's scenario anyway.

[JWE]

ORIGINAL: Terminus
Stuff 'em. This is not a kid's scenario anyway.

Yeah, gosh Termie. That was my first thought - just deal with it. But there's players out there that aren't buttholes, and don't post, but still want to use the game as the tool for which it was intended. It's to them that I address the question. For the 'usual' weasels, I'm totally inclined to have them crawl up my ... erm ... thingy. But this game is so much more than what those "usual' pimples can conceive of. So the question goes out. And trust me, I know how to parse the answers. Ciao.

[Don Bowen]

I like it. A good solution to the old problem with the configuration in that part of the Philippines.

I'd vote for making the two hexsides ocean. Lots of mountains along the coast, it would be better to encourage land attack from the Clark Hex.

[Andrew Brown]

From the way you have redrawn the Subic bay hex I would say that its SE hexside (between it and Bataan) should be ocean. The other one (NE) looks to be borderline, but if the coastal area there is difficult to move along then it could be made ocean as well. Or if it is feasible to move along that part of the coast then leave it as ocean+land (white). Let form follow function.

As you are aware this is a difficult area to fit to a hex map at this scale, and I had to play around with it a fair bit originally. I was never happy with the way it ended up but this version looks interesting. If it plays OK I may modify my map in the same way.

Andrew

[Alfred]

JWE,

For what it is worth, I would vote for an ocean hex between Subic Bay and Bataan. Regarding the uninformed POV, that would only be relevant if they were to obtain access to this mod. Control the distribution and presto, no uninformed criticism results.

Alfred

[stuman]

Man, this looks cool. I will be happy with whatever [:)]

[JWE]

Ok, here's what it looks like. Subic Bay SE hexside is ocean, NE hexside is both (ocean + land). Only way into Bataan is from Clark. However, there are no roads in the Subic Bay hex, so land movement between the Iba hex and the Subic hex will be difficult. Put a minor road from Clark to the W Clark hex edge (in the general neighborhood of Olongapo) but the road doesn't cross the hexside so again, land movement will be hard into or within the Subic Bay hex. This should protect against an amphib op into Subic Bay, thereby trying to cut-off Clark - it will have hard going to get anywhere and the Clark hex defenders can re-orient much more quickly.

[JWE]

@Andrew Brown
The following (and attachments) are to the latest stock pwhexe release, not yours. Don’t have your latest, so can’t be sure which rev to tweak, but the changelog should cover everything.

Well, here’s some things for people to play around with to get a flavor of this witch. Some files attached in a zip. There’s a pwhexe.dat file that has the noted edits. There’s Philippines H and Philippines N bmp files that are for modifying the standard map art. The following changelogs and instructions are also included in a readme.doc file.

PWHEXE_editor Map Edits:
Clark Field
079 : 076 – Change Hex Type from Coastal to Land (01 to 02)
– Change W Hexside from Blocked to Land (04 to 01)
– Change SW Hexside from Both to Land (06 to 01)
– Add W Hexside Road Type = 01-Trail - optional
Subic Bay
078 : 076 – Change Hex Type from Ocean to Coastal (00 to 01)
– Add Terrain = 11-Rough Jungle, Malaria = 01-Malarial
– Change NE Hexside from Ocean to Both (00 to 06)
– Change E Hexside from Ocean to Land (00 to 01)
Bataan
078 : 077 – Keep Hex Type as Coastal (01)
– Change NE Hexside from Both to Land (06 to 01)
Iba
078 : 075 – Keep Hex Type as Coastal (01)
– Change SW Hexside from Ocean to Both (00 to 06)

Database Edits:
– Add Base : Subic Bay to Locations, at slot 619. Type = 01-Port, X=78, Y=76, Port=2, Port Build=1, Airfield=0, Af Build=1, Forts=1, Japanese VP=2, Allied VP=2.
– Modify Base : Clark Field at slot 624. Change Type to 05-Primary Airfield, change Port to 0.
– Move LCU : Subic Bay Defenses from 624-Clark Field to 619-Subic Bay.

Art Edits:
Copy Philippines H.bmp and paste into WPEH09.bmp. Copy Philippines N.bmp and paste into WPEN09.bmp. Take care to line up the pixels; The right edge of the “s” of “Philippines” and the bottom edge of “Altimonan” are set as alignment marks.

Needless to say, backup the originals.

[Mac Linehan]

JWE -

A sincere Thanks to you and the Babes Team - this is absolutely intriguing; a first class piece of work. I also appreciate the detailed change log with instructions, so that a editing wanna be (like me!) can have a go at it!

Also:

Original:
Well, I'm with you Kristian, doing it right is doing it right. I'm just worried about how the scenario will impact all the little preteen weenies that will whine, bitch, and moan about just about everything. Woof!

JWE - This is no different than dealing with Middle School Kids on a School Bus, who can be hormonally unbalanced, immature, and thus mentally unstable. Usually I move them up front to the "Seat of Shame" (just behind me - so I can monitor their language) and call mom.
Hope this helps....

Mac

[JWE]

Mac, if there is one thing that Don Bowen taught me, it is that doing it right is doing it right.

[Don Bowen]

ORIGINAL: JWE

Mac, if there is one thing that Don Bowen taught me, it is that doing it right is doing it right.

And I was taught that by a bar girl in Olangapoo.

[oldman45]

Maybe my thinking is too simplistic sometimes, but why somebody would complain about a change which makes things closer to reality is beyond me. Keep plugging away!

[SuluSea]

I have to say JWE and the babes team fantastic work and dedication here, much thanks....

I'd love to see this added to the GC map if it works well.

[JWE]

Ok, we found another teensie, weensie map thingy that we’re gonna tweak. This time across the So China Sea in Malaya. Now we already added some bases to the W Coast of Malaya (in Babes) that allow for the historical Japanese barge movements. One of these is Batu Pahat (hex 50 : 82). Unfortunately, this hex is on the main drag, from Kuala Lampur to Singers, But Batu Pahat was on the coast, connected inland by very minor dirt roads. Also, this hex includes Kluong, which was a major intersection of the road from Mersing to Singers, as well as the HQ of Aus 8th Div.

It won’t do to have Batu Pahat share a hex with Kluong. The Guards Division did indeed conduct landings at batu Pahat, which turned the defense line and provided some impetus for the decision to retire to Singapore island. Given the map, however, the short IJ Guards Bn would have to assault the Aus 8th Div to get ashore, on the one hand. On the other hand, Batu Pahat didn’t have the road connections going inland for rapid troop movements. And on the gripping hand, it would allow the clueless gamey to sneak in a company of Korean laborers and cut off Malaya Command.

So, went to Google; found Malaya; rotated the map to conform to Andrew Brown’s map projection; made some 45nm hexes, and populated the thing. Once again, Andrew’s map is about as good as it gets. It covers 1/3 of the entire Earth’s surface, and all I can find to tweak is two coastal hexes? Woof!!

So here’s Malaya from Google. We propose to pooch out the coast from hex 50:82 into hex 49:82. Then we move Batu Pahat to 49:82, and rename the base at 50:82 to Kluong. No roads from 49:82 to 50:82 (maybe a trail), so Batu Pahat won’t support gamey doo doo, but maybe a trail so it has some small worth as a barge landing target.



{ed} btw, the orange line is the main drag from Kuala Lampur to Singers. As you can see, it should bypass Batu Pahat, but go through Kloung.