Matrix Games Forums

Hi,

it never really clicked for me until I started playing the Allies in PBEM:

The transit time from on-map to Balboa and to Cristobal respectively shows a 30+-day difference.

Huh? Transiting the canal doesn't take that long, no?

I first noticed that the ships I have sent from San Diego to Cristobal took a bloody long time to arrive.

Checking the TFs in the holding box, they showed three weeks of transit time remaining. WTF?

So I ran a few tests - one TF each from San Diego to Cristobal and San Diego to Balboa, and one TF each the other ways round, all with ships of same class and thus speed (12 knots max, 10 knots cruise)

San Diego - Balboa or the other way round takes 12 days.

San Diego - Cristobal or the other way round takes 45 days.

I'm not a sailor, Google tells me that a transit takes 8-10 hours nowadays.

Let's say it took three times longer in WWII. Even adding delays due to wartime congestion, security checks etc. - I find no valid reason why it takes a full month in the game to cross the canal?

Beware that there are multiple versions of pwzlink.dat files, depending on patch version or mod -I have tested with versions from 2010, 2021 and 2026. YMMV.

I often send the xAKs that show up in Balboa to Cristobal to load supply - bigger port and more supply there. It usually takes one turn. Maybe the trip estimator is off for that route?

Edit to add: Scenario one, version .1126A, standard original map.

Maybe the ships are sailing around South America! I would ask the map person about this issue.

Yes, Balboa to Cristobal or the other way round takes one turn.

So San Diego to Cristobal should take 12 days (to Balboa) plus one day transit = 13 days - not 45.

If the ships were sailing around South America, they would go to the holding box of the "Port Stanley" base in the Falklands and from there to Cristobal (that may take longer than 45 days).

I don't see that problem.

I use Andrew Brown's updated map, so maybe it's fixed in it.

https://sites.google.com/view/witp-ae-m ... arios/home

I have also tested with Andrew Brown's pwzlink.dat file from https://sites.google.com/view/witp-ae-m ... tended-map (it is called pwzlinks.dat in his files, I have deleted the "s").

I use the Pacifica Bellum v3 extended map, but the map files are just graphics and have no impact on the game mechanics, so which map shouldn't matter.

I have tested with my Bottlenecks, the DaBigBabes and with Scen 1, always the same - 12 days for Balboa, 44 (not 45, sorry) for Cristobal.
I know Scen 1 is for the standard map, but there are no differences regarding Panama between standard and extended maps.

Edit/ I just see it now - funny, both TFs have been created and sent away the same day, they have identical composition, they are in the same hex - but the weather is different

You could sail round Cape Horn faster??? Seems odd. I assume you tested it and it's not a mouseover clitch.

I've just test under v28.4 and there's a two or three days difference depending upon TF instructions. From E US its 9 day and 12 days set to return, from England its 22 and 24 days set as home port and destination.

Possibly something's corrupt your end but I don't have bad weather. But I can't see weather adding all that time?

@Chris21wen Could you please test from San Diego?

From the UK and the East Coast, I get 24/22 and 12/9 days as well, like you.

I have tested from LA as well, same 12/44 as with San Diego.

And this is the same picture with different files from different years (different patches / map mods).

Could it be something else than the pwzlink.dat file after all?

Alright, I apologise for wasting your time. I have followed the time-honoured approach of "If everything else fails, RTFM." I have checked the documentation for the different hexe, link and zone editors and now some misconceptions have been cleared up and I understand better how the three files are interconnected. In fact, my issue stems from a pwzone.dat file that was not in sync with the pwzlink.dat file - I must have mixed them up between different patches or mods. Sorry!

It can happen to anybody!

Join the club.

welcome to the club

No biggie LST, version control is a real son-of-a-bitch. Can't tell you how many times in various settings IRL this has reached up to bite people in the ass.
It is just SO easy to mix up files and saves and labels for said files. I think it's also why in crucial jobs those folks get paid a lot of $$ to keep it all straight.