Sneak Peeks, Coming Attractions, Works-In-Progress

[Jason Petho]

As part of the Campaign Series Vietnam 1.00 release, we are including a set of 7 tournament style scenarios designed for Human vs Human play. Instead of the usual historical scenarios, I was a little creative and made a set of Chinese vs Marines 1967.

[miraton]

amazing)))

[carll11]

ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

Hand off to Matrix is the end of October to be released in November (ideally)

[:)]

[Jason Petho]

As mentioned before, Linked Campaigns won't be included with Vietnam 1.00 (they will be in the future though!)... in lieu will be a couple of "a week in..." scenarios that has you commanding a brigade over the course of 7 days. Each day has a new mission. Here's an example of the planning that goes into the scenario creation.

[z1812]

I am quite looking forward to this. I started playing digital wargames with Close Combat 2, followed by West Front.....then eventually all of the others CS titles. They have never been off my hard drive. Excellent games.

[lecrop]

For me CS wargames have always had a distinctive feeling that is difficult to explain, very fun and at the same time interesting to play.

[Crossroads]

Frequently Asked Questions section has been updated on our website with some CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 1.0 specific new tidbits: https://cslegion.com/about/faqs/

Any other questions you'd like to have raised there?

[Crossroads]

Playtesting the French Indochina War scenario "Quest to Kem Pass" (13 Nov 1951) against the CSEE Scripted computer opponent with Fog of War on. A simple task of getting the column to Kem Pass while establishing a couple of check points on the way. Can't be that difficult now can it?

[*] 3440*1440 wide screen, 2D Normal View with NATO symbols, 3D unit images on Unit list side bar opted to left side. (I had to save this with less data to be able to upload here due to file size so a bit blurry, sorry about that)
[*] "Static All" toolbar option used at the bottom, as I prefer to have all icons in front of me. There's a really nifty toolbar option to group and show these per functionality, too!
[*] A night scenario, so map drawn with night hues. A couple of flares available only, seems the French were not quite prepared for what events are about to take place next...

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

Playtesting the French Indochina War scenario "Quest to Kem Pass" (13 Nov 1951) against the CSEE Scripted computer opponent with Fog of War on. A simple task of getting the column to Kem Pass while establishing a couple of check points on the way. Can't be that difficult now can it?

[*] 3440*1440 wide screen, 2D Normal View with NATO symbols, 3D unit images on Unit list side bar opted to left side. (I had to save this with less data to be able to upload here due to file size so a bit blurry, sorry about that)
[*] "Static All" toolbar option used at the bottom, as I prefer to have all icons in front of me. There's a really nifty toolbar option to group and show these per functionality, too!
[*] A night scenario, so map drawn with night hues. A couple of flares available only, seems the French were not quite prepared for what events are about to take place next...

And here's the same situation with

[*] HD (1920*1080) screen resolution,
[*] Dynamic toolbar with Combat related icons showing,
[*] 2D Normal View with 3D unit images on chits.

This is today's fresh BETA, so as always, everything subject to change until the release version.

[R_TEAM]

mmhh .... nice ....
but one thing is for me "important" ...
native UHD support ... not native FullHD support and on larger screens it relays back on the windows 10 OS scaling api - and with win7 / win 8 you are loost on anything larger as FullHD ....
would be nice to get here an statement if the game run without OS scaling (DPI adjustment) - or simply - it is run on win 7 / win 8 on UHD the same way as on Win 10 then it is native (as older Win10 versions and anything lower [win 7/8/8.1] have not the requiered scaling api)

Regards

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: R_TEAM

mmhh .... nice ....
but one thing is for me "important" ...
native UHD support ... not native FullHD support and on larger screens it relays back on the windows 10 OS scaling api - and with win7 / win 8 you are loost on anything larger as FullHD ....
would be nice to get here an statement if the game run without OS scaling (DPI adjustment) - or simply - it is run on win 7 / win 8 on UHD the same way as on Win 10 then it is native (as older Win10 versions and anything lower [win 7/8/8.1] have not the requiered scaling api)

Regards

I for one haven't had anything but Windows 10 systems for a while - although I know Berto runs autotests on older systems as well - but what you see is two screenshots with no Desktop scaling in place. I don't use it all, I prefer the screen estate that the native resolution offers.

So in my case, with a 3440x1440 what you see above is what you get with no Desktop scaling. The HD, ditto, with me having first changed my resolution to 1920x1080. The game is compiled with the latest MS Visual Studio C++ compiler, so what goes on with the OS scaling should be supported. Every now and then I do test how it displays with the various scaling options, and that seems to work, too.

I am not sure if I answered your question though as I don't have an older OS to compare...

[Crossroads]

... so the game works very well with no scaling in place, but it supports scaling as well, if that's what you asked?

[R_TEAM]

it looks so
(more the part with "... so the game works very well with no scaling in place" )
as i have bought Command Modern Operations (an not old title..) and he work only on FullHD native ....
On UHD it uses an little extra exe to set the (new) Win10 scaling options on start - so here it works o.k. too ...
But on older OS (win 7/8/8.1 and Win10 before version~1700) this new functions not here - so it looks horrible ...
Have CS:ME and here i know it is an old engine and dont work with UHD .. but on CMO i was shocked ... so i better ask before ...

Regards

[Crossroads]

I am sorry to hear about your experience with CMO R_TEAM. Scaling is as far as I know nothing we do or handle at our code level, it is something the Windows OS does. Since CS Middle East 2.0, there's a newer Visual Studio out now that is in use iirc, also, W10 and it's various updates handle scaling better than the older versions. I believe scaling started with W7?

What you see with Middle East 2.0 is what you should see with Vietnam 1.0, more or less, albeit both W10 and Visual Studio have newer versions since then.

[R_TEAM]

On older OS than Win10 version~1700 (dont know win xp have this) was only an compatibility option "disable high dpi scaling for this app" ....
So it was 2 situations
- without this option active :the OS scaling the app more or less, thats give mostly bad results (overlapping buttons etc..), and so many dont like this on older apps
- with option active the app stay "small" - but usable
With win 10 ~v1700 it becomes more granular options -> advanced scaling settings - and with this, the OS scaling is surprisingly good (not as perfect as native .. but very usable)

So it is nothing bad CMO use this "fix" to get here actual only FullHD native user interface to work nice on UHD .... but thats was nothing i expected in 2021 (where 5k - 8k .. and even 16k on the horizont ..)
[the small exe that is running at every CMO start is "4KFix.exe" - it sets the right settings on advanced scaling settings, but naturaly dont help if the OS dont have this options..]

Regards

[Crossroads]

OK, gotcha. We should be good with Campaign Series regarding scaling afaik.

[berto]

Another recent (private) Dev Forum post...

Here is a technique to have a company defend randomly selected fortified hexes around a central point:

---

function battle_plan_a (turn, side)

...

do local units = _3RD_41ST_INF_BTN_60_B_125
if is_dawn (turn) then
local positions = hexes_fortification (hexes_within (counters_center_hex (units), NODIR, 8))
for i=1, #units do
defend_strong (units[ i], random_pick(positions))
end
end
end

...

end

---

counters_center_hex() returns the central point of a collection of units. hexes_within (counters_center_hex ()) roughly describes an area around those units. We use hexes_fortification() to get the list of fortified hexes within that area. (You could instead use hexes_bunker() or hexes_trench() etc.)

If you have set defensive zones in init_constants(), you might instead have something like

---

local positions = hexes_fortification (ZONE_D)

---

What if the enemy might occupy some of those fortification hexes? You might instead do something like

---

local positions = hexes_fortification (hexes_not_occupied (ZONE_D, other_side(side)))

---

In any case, you use random_pick() to assign each unit's defensive position randomly from among the different alternatives.

The

---

if is_dawn (turn) then

---

has the defend orders reassigned only once each day, at dawn. What if you want these reassignments done in the turn just before dawn (while it is still the darkness of night)? You might instead have

---

if is_dawn (next_turn (turn)) then

---

Loads of exciting possibilities with these techniques.

Happy scripting!

[Jason Petho]

You will notice in the screenshot the long red line. That's the Cambodian and Vietnamese border.

You will also notice that each hex is assigned a "n/a" or an "A". This representation is found in the scenario editor and shows you the exclusion zones.

This means, that any hex that is classified as an "A", will not allow Side A units to cross into (on the ground, you can still fly over them). And, as you look along the border, there is a couple/few hex buffer along it that will not allow Side A (aka the USA/ARVN/etc) to cross into Cambodia.

Well, what is the point of the landing zones then, with "A" shown? Because there are some units that will be allowed to do so, of course. In the particular scenario that this comes from, there are LRRP units that can be inserted "behind the lines" to keep an eye on NVA/VC supply routes - and avoid being detected.

So what happens if you load up a regular infantry unit and cross into Cambodia and try and land? Well, because they don't have the right flag, they will not be able to unload, forcing them back to their own operating area.

A whole new world for the Campaign Series!