An update to the official game map

[Andrew Brown]

Given this game is still being actively played I thought I would do an update of the map that came with the game. There are no major changes for this update, just a few very minor corrections and a few similarly minor updates and additions, with none of them of game-altering significance.

This work came about as an offshoot to ongoing tweaks I have been making to my own WiTP-AE map, which I have also been back-porting to my extended map. I am still working on an updated version of the extended map, but once I have finished that I will make it available here as well. The map art for the extended map is done, but I still need to update the map data. I am also doing something I resisted doing for ages, which is to use map updates for later changes to the transport system that occurred during the Pacific conflict, such as the construction of the Alcan highway, the Burma railway, and the Ledo Road. My updated extended map will come with those date-based map updates as well. These can be swapped into an ongoing game at the appropriate time.

While the extended map is not yet finished, I can make the updated 'stock' map available, so here it is. There are two versions of this updated stock map:
[ol]
[*]A standard version with the default style hexes
[*]A 'World in Flames' style version, with small hex dots used instead of hex borders for all 'ocean' hexes.
[/ol]
In addition a separate version of the 'stock' map data file is available that also includes stacking limits, as added by the 'Da Babes' scenario developers.

Latest map data file date: 2022-02-04.

The changes are as follows:

• The terrain art in hexes 80,13, 81,14 and 81,15 changed from Clear to Forest+Rough so that the map art matches the existing map data.
• The main road between hexes 94,163 and 91,161 (Gwydir Highway) in Northern NSW has been corrected.
• Some of the terrain in Northern Australia has been changed to increase map accuracy and reduce the large expanses of clear terrain:
• Hexes 72,127 and 72,128 changed to Rough
• Hexes 73,127 and 74,127 changed to Rough
• Hex 70,129 changed to Rough
• Hexes 77,127, 77,128 and 78,128 changed to Rough
• Hexes 78,127, 79,127, 79,128 and 81,128 changed to Jungle+Rough
• Hexes 81,135, 81,136, 82,136 and 81,137 changed to Rough
• Hexes 83,141, 83,142 and 83,143 changed to Rough
• Hex 76,128 (Katherine) changed to Cultivated
• Hex 86,147 (Winton) changed to Cultivated
• Hexes 91,146 and 91,149 changed to Cultivated
• The map text for the base ‘Anking’ shifted a little so that the road underneath it is not obscured.
• Ocean hex 71,67, in the South China Sea, has been changed from deep ocean to shallow ocean. This is the location of the Paracel Islands (which were occupied by the Japanese during the war). I have not placed an island in this hex, however, as there will not be a matching base in the official scenarios.
• The map data for the Skeene River between Prince Rupert and Terrace now matches the map art.
• The map data for the road from Prince George (hex 204,40) to Terrace (hex 200,41) now matches the map art (primary road all of the way).
• The one hex long stub of road leading north from Fort St. John in Canada (hex 203,34) has been removed. This was part of the ALCAN Highway which was not constructed until after the start of the Pacific War.
• The roads to the hex locations of the Canadian towns of Hay River (hex 201,24) and Yellowknife (hex 199,21) have been removed. Apparently these were ‘winter roads’ and construction of proper roads only started at the end of WW2.
• Most of the roads between Edmonton (hex 210,35) and Fort St. John (hex 203,34) have been downgraded from Primary to Secondary roads.
• The hexsides of hex 211,22 have been modified to match the map art (changed W and SW hexsides to Land).
• The island of Kalao in the DEI (66,110) has had its map data corrected so that amphibious assaults of the hex are now allowed.
• Hex 84,110 has been changed from a land hex to a coastal hex to match the map art.
• The rail line on Shikoku Japan, between Takamatsu (hex 107,59) and hex 107,60 has been removed.
• A minor railway line has been added connecting the railway in hex 106,59 and Kochi (hex 106,60).
• The data for the secondary road between Takamatsu (hex 107,59) and Kochi (hex 106,60) has been corrected.
• A phantom river has been removed from the hexside between hexes 75,128 and hex 74,127 in Australia.
• A phantom river has been removed from the hexside between hexes 211,26 and hex 210,27 in Canada.
• River hexside data added for the river hexside between hexes 90,114 and 89,113 in Dutch New Guinea.
• Mildura (hex 80,164) is now connected by railway to hex 79,165.
• Canberra (hex 87,169) is now connected by railway to hex 88,168.
• The map data for the road leading west from Kendari has been added in hex 70,106 to match the map art.
• Phantom river hexsides removed from the E and SE sides of hex 62,55 (near Luangprabang).

Thanks to the following Matrix Games forum members for pointing out some of these fixes/changes:

• Kull
• DesertWolf101
• Dutch_slith
• Wirraway_Ace
• HnsBolter

Note: Several forum members pointed out errors in the base names printed on the map. I have not corrected these for this version of the map (the ‘official’ map) so that the map continues to match the official scenarios. I have included the base name changes on a new version of my ‘extended’ map.
Another note: Many of these changes are in Canada and are most unlikely to affect play in any way whatsoever. I came across most of these corrections while working on an alternative ‘extended’ map variant that includes the ALCAN Highway, and is intended to be used from late 1942 onwards.

Update 2021-11-14: I have uploaded a newer version of this map update, which now includes a fix for the island of Kalao, allowing it to be amphibiously invaded.

Update 2022-01-26: I have uploaded a newer version of this map update, which now includes the following new fixes:

• The rail line on Shikoku Japan, between Takamatsu (hex 107,59) and hex 107,60 has been removed.
• A minor railway line has been added connecting the railway in hex 106,59 and Kochi (hex 106,60).
• The data for the secondary road between Takamatsu (hex 107,59) and Kochi (hex 106,60) has been corrected.
• A phantom river has been removed from the hexside between hexes 75,128 and hex 74,127 in Australia.
• A phantom river has been removed from the hexside between hexes 211,26 and hex 210,27 in Canada.
• River hexside data added for the river hexside between hexes 90,114 and 89,113 in Dutch New Guinea.
• Mildura (hex 80,164) is now connected by railway to hex 79,165.
• Canberra (hex 87,169) is now connected by railway to hex 88,168.

Update 2022-01-28: I have uploaded a newer version of this map update, which now includes the following new fixes:

• The map data for the road leading west from Kendari has been added in hex 70,106 to match the map art.

Update 2022-02-04: I have uploaded a newer version of this map update, which now includes the following new fixes:

• Phantom river hexsides removed from the E and SE sides of hex 62,55 (near Luangprabang).

The updated map is available at this website:
War in the Pacific - Admiral's Edition: Updated Official Map

[RangerJoe]

Thank you.

[Ian R]

Thanks Andrew - probably raised before, but hex 66/110, Kalao - is it intentional that ships cannot dock/load/unload "at this location due to coastal conditions"?

[SuluSea]

Thank you Andrew! [:)]

[btd64]

Thanks Andrew....GP

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: Ian R

Thanks Andrew - probably raised before, but hex 66/110, Kalao - is it intentional that ships cannot dock/load/unload "at this location due to coastal conditions"?

No I am not aware of that. What is the exact issue?

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Thank you.

Thank you for your help also.

[Andrew Brown]

Update: I found a small error in the updated stock map art - one of the islands in the Solomons was slightly 'shifted' in its hexes compared to the original map, a leftover from some island 'moving' I was doing for the extended map update. It is not very noticeable and doesn't affect gameplay, but I fixed it and uploaded updated maps to the same location.

I also stumbled upon Google Sites, so I quickly set up a site for housing this (and future) map updates. Here is the link:
sites.google.com/view/witp-ae-maps-and-scenarios

[witpqs]

[&o]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Andrew Brown

ORIGINAL: Ian R

Thanks Andrew - probably raised before, but hex 66/110, Kalao - is it intentional that ships cannot dock/load/unload "at this location due to coastal conditions"?

No I am not aware of that. What is the exact issue?

I looked at the old official map - the east side of the hex has a reef and is a red hexside, but the island should be approachable from other directions. The SPS is (0), so it would be affected by the inability of Naval Support squads to help with loading/unloading (even after a port was built). That may be the reason people thought there was a problem unloading there.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Andrew Brown

ORIGINAL: Moltrey

Sounds great Andrew. Looking forward to the implementations.

At the risk of being too presumptuous, have you by chance talked to Andy Mac with regards to his scenario updates and mods?
He has modified the AI in the original scenarios and made alternative scenarios 1 and 2 with slight map changes.
I am curious to see if he would be willing to incorporate your new maps into his work, as (if memory serves) he was hesitant to do much besides add dot bases to "prod" the AI and correct some unit data, etc. (I am missing some things).
All that is from memory, so I don't know the whole story.

Thanks.

I am aware of the extra dot bases Andy added. As long as the map data itself was not changed from the original then his scenarios should be compatible with the updated official map. Similarly, scenarios developed for the extended map should work with this updated extended map as well - the only issue will be that this update includes a few islands that won't have corresponding bases (unless a scenario is updated to include them).

Thanks for the updates and all of your hard work Andrew! Was wondering about this combination as well. Hopefully Andy Mac can update his standard map with yours as I don't think he updates an extended map scenario as Moltrey says.

Also is it possible to use other map art with your updated work? Such as Kamikaze Bellum?

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4268822

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: Tanaka
Thanks for the updates and all of your hard work Andrew! Was wondering about this combination as well. Hopefully Andy Mac can update his standard map with yours as I don't think he updates an extended map scenario as Moltrey says.

Also is it possible to use other map art with your updated work? Such as Kamikaze Bellum?

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4268822

My update to the official map does change some of the transport links and terrain, but if you prefer to play with another set of map art it should be pretty much OK, as the changes to the map data are mainly in inland Australia and Canada, which won't see much if anything in the way of action.

[Andrew Brown]

I noticed while I was working on my 1942 'extended' map that I left something out of my work on this map update: I had changed the Richardson Highway between Valdez and Fairbanks in Alaska from a main to a secondary road in the map art, but forgot to change the map data to match. I have fixed that and uploaded the updated zip files to my site (linked in the first post).

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Andrew Brown

ORIGINAL: Tanaka
Thanks for the updates and all of your hard work Andrew! Was wondering about this combination as well. Hopefully Andy Mac can update his standard map with yours as I don't think he updates an extended map scenario as Moltrey says.

Also is it possible to use other map art with your updated work? Such as Kamikaze Bellum?

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4268822

My update to the official map does change some of the transport links and terrain, but if you prefer to play with another set of map art it should be pretty much OK, as the changes to the map data are mainly in inland Australia and Canada, which won't see much if anything in the way of action.

So to do this we would only need to replace the:

- pwhexe.dat
- pwzlink.dat
- pwzone.dat

with your version and use whatever art we prefer and this should work ok correct?

[HansBolter]

I'm presuming that since this is not just a map art update and contains map terrain data files that it will NOT work as a replacement for a full stacking limits everywhere version?

Is that a correct assumption?

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: Tanaka

ORIGINAL: Andrew Brown

ORIGINAL: Tanaka
Thanks for the updates and all of your hard work Andrew! Was wondering about this combination as well. Hopefully Andy Mac can update his standard map with yours as I don't think he updates an extended map scenario as Moltrey says.

Also is it possible to use other map art with your updated work? Such as Kamikaze Bellum?

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4268822

My update to the official map does change some of the transport links and terrain, but if you prefer to play with another set of map art it should be pretty much OK, as the changes to the map data are mainly in inland Australia and Canada, which won't see much if anything in the way of action.

So to do this we would only need to replace the:

- pwhexe.dat
- pwzlink.dat
- pwzone.dat

with your version and use whatever art we prefer and this should work ok correct?

Yes that is right. You need my new map data files, which are the ones you have listed. There will be some differences between the new map data and any old map art for the stock map, but those differences are in out of the way places so should not be a big issue.

If you want a complete match, then you need to use my updated stock map art as well as the updated map data.

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

I'm presuming that since this is not just a map art update and contains map terrain data files that it will NOT work as a replacement for a full stacking limits everywhere version?

Is that a correct assumption?

Yes that is right - my updated map data file does not include stacking limits.

However if you have a stock map variant with stacking limits I MAY Be able to port them over and create an alternative map data file with the stacking limits included. If you can provide the map data file with the stacking limits included (or point out where it is available) I can take a look.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Andrew Brown

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

I'm presuming that since this is not just a map art update and contains map terrain data files that it will NOT work as a replacement for a full stacking limits everywhere version?

Is that a correct assumption?

Yes that is right - my updated map data file does not include stacking limits.

However if you have a stock map variant with stacking limits I MAY Be able to port them over and create an alternative map data file with the stacking limits included. If you can provide the map data file with the stacking limits included (or point out where it is available) I can take a look.

The extended and stacking limit maps are available on the last page of the Big Babes site: https://sites.google.com/site/dababeswitpae/

[HansBolter]

Thanks BB.

I'm playing a Babes based mod that uses the original map (non-extended) but with the stacking limits everywhere data files from the Babes site linked by BBfanboy.

Others may have an interest in an extended map stacking limits update.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Thanks BB.

I'm playing a Babes based mod that uses the original map (non-extended) but with the stacking limits everywhere data files from the Babes site linked by BBfanboy.

Others may have an interest in an extended map stacking limits update.

Is this the B-Mod? https://sites.google.com/site/bigbsshipyard/b-mod-ae

Or the Bottlenecks in the Pacific? https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4262848

I had forgotten about these. If so how do you like compared to stock and Dbabes?

You play AI only correct? Have you played AndyMac's updated stock scenario AI's? Or do you still prefer B-Mod/Bottleneck/Dbabes?

I see a lot of people now using these stacking limits as house rules sounds like they are an improvement on the game and I should transition as well...so indeed others would have interest...