Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

SPWaW is a tactical squad-level World War II game on single platoon or up to an entire battalion through Europe and the Pacific (1939 to 1945).

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DBoutwell
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by DBoutwell »

Another....
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DBoutwell
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by DBoutwell »

Doh!! Same image! Another try..
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DBoutwell
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by DBoutwell »

I know these aren't Earth shattering, but I had to scale the images way down to get them to fit. reducing larger images messes up the picture so much that the details can't be seen. So, you'll just have to settle for the small ones.
DBoutwell
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by DBoutwell »

Noooooo! Where's the attachment! Lack of sleep (the family is gone and I worked on SPCW until 4:00 this morning) has nothing to do with this, I promise!
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h_h_lightcap
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by h_h_lightcap »

I have you all beat. I have a 2 yr old that thinks he is 14 stays up till 11:00 and a 14 yr old that KNOWS she is 30!!!!!!! God knows who will survive in this family!!!!


HH
"My soul knows my meat is doing bad things, and is embarrassed. But my meat just keeps right on doing bad, dumb things." ----Kurt Vonnegut
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tracer
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by tracer »

ORIGINAL: wodin
Can those buildings be used in SPWAW insteda of the original ones?
With David's OK I could add these to the existing SHP files, otherwise as he pointed out you (and anyone wanting to
use maps/scenarios created with them) would need to swap files. Adding them would also insure that all previous
maps/scenarios display correctly.
Jim NSB ImageImage
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M4Jess
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by M4Jess »

David!

These look great dude! Keep it up! I love it!

Jess
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Im making war, not trouble~

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benpark
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by benpark »

Any word on this great ACW mod's release? (or is it out there somewhere, and I missed it...)
"Fear is a darkroom where the devil develops his negatives" Gary Busey
Fidel_Helms
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by Fidel_Helms »

This would be cool if it works. A couple of questions:

Will you be doing Zouave icons?

Is it possible to have multi-hex units? Also will 99 men remain the upper limit for individual units? I'm worried about having realistic frontages; your Lee's HQ screenshot has 50-man units, which means that the men are about a meter apart. Definitely not a realistic frontage. Even if you go up to 99 men it's still not dense enough.

Can you give some details about ironclads? Will the Confederates have a generic ironclad icon, or will they have unique icons for each ironclad?
DBoutwell
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by DBoutwell »

Do you know the sound that Homer makes?? I had a long reply to benpark's and Fidel's post, including detailed descriptions of all of the new and modified buildings that I've done for each building ter icon. Then for some dumb reason I checked my inbox and lost the whole damned thing.... So, I'll have to give shorter answers this time....

Benpark, I'm making progress every day, spending more time on it than I should.


Fidel, the current game engine only allows for only one infantry-type icon that shows troop numbers and "step loss", etc. per icon set. If you know something that I don't and something that overturns everything everyone else has told me, please let me know!

The scale in this game is 25 "yards" per hex. That is 1 man per yard in a two rank company (yes you can dress right on a parade ground and pack tighter, but that is pretty correct for the batlefield. If you want to increase the troop density, put more than one company in a hex. Some regiments were lucky to have 99 men at Antietam. I think a 99 man company is unrealistic for most of the war, especially for the South.

I plan to create unique icons for any of the transports and gunboats that I do for the first "installment".

If anyone has tried to contact me lately, including Matrix guys, I had to delete all of the email accounts on the PC that is connected to the Internet so that all of my wife's mail would reroute to her new laptop. The problem is, her brother in law, whose server we use, and who is my "customer service agent" won't return our calls so that I can reset my password and create a new account. For all I know, my mailbox my be about to explode, but I can't open it! So, please know that the moment I can reply....I will.

I welcome questions about my work, as it forces me to keep folks posted on my progress. As it is, I often don't have enough time, or take the time, to be proactive in that area.


Regards,

David Boutwell
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Goblin
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by Goblin »

Anxiously awaiting even just a word on it, David! Chomping at the bit to fix bayonets!


Goblin
DBoutwell
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by DBoutwell »

I'm curious to know to what degree of completion people would hypothetically prefer before I make the mod. available.....Would you rather that I make it available with scenarios and maps included (which would take more time) or without? Would you prefer naval and fortifications in a first release, or release a primarily "infantry battle" installment (earlier), with that other stuff included later?

Including forts is going to require a lot of graphics work, as will the naval. Plus, with the naval units, I'll have to beg for someone's help with the naval unit armor, and associated pentration values for naval ordinance. The Fort/Naval "factor" might cause issues with the artillery values, which had to be bumped up to cause them to "work" more accurately with infantry targets. It's all definitely a work in progress that will surely benefit from the scrutiny of others. But with adjustments, it will only get better, just like SPWAW did.

Regards,

David Boutwell
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Goblin
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by Goblin »

Hmmm, good question.

ASAP!!! Lol.

Can you PM me your email address?


Goblin
DBoutwell
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by DBoutwell »

Goblin, I'll send it to you, but your best bet is to PM me because of the problem with my email that I mentoined above.


Fidel, you mentioned that "This would be cool if it works." The good news is that it does work, and it is, I would imagine, as good as an SP1 beta. The graphics are definitely better, as are the sound files. I have a hell of a good time playing it. I think you will too.

Regards,

David Boutwell
Fidel_Helms
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by Fidel_Helms »

ORIGINAL: DBoutwell

I'm curious to know to what degree of completion people would hypothetically prefer before I make the mod. available.....Would you rather that I make it available with scenarios and maps included (which would take more time) or without? Would you prefer naval and fortifications in a first release, or release a primarily "infantry battle" installment (earlier), with that other stuff included later?

I'd say release it without scenarios and maps; people will pick up this ball and run with it, more than likely. As for the naval, why don't you start with a couple of icons in the initial release and go from there? Most of the naval units should be riverine ironclads. Union ironclads(monitors, to be more correct) were all pretty much the same make, AFAIK. Really no need for different icons. Confederate designs were more varied, but I'd rather have a generic icon and then edit the .SHP files than have no naval component at all. Ocean going ships would really have to be represented as off-board artillery to keep their use somewhat realistic. This is probably a bigger deal for me than most because I'd like to do up some scenarios that take place in North Carolina, many of which involved a naval component.
Including forts is going to require a lot of graphics work, as will the naval. Plus, with the naval units, I'll have to beg for someone's help with the naval unit armor, and associated pentration values for naval ordinance.

Penetration values? In all seriousness, it should probably be zero across the board. Neither side had any sort of perforating shot. Sometimes the Confederates didn't even have explosive shot and had to resort to using antiquated roundshot instead! If an ironclad had gotten into a direct confrontation with, say, one of the Union steam frigates like the USS Wabash or USS Minnesota, those ships could probably have sunk or disabled it by sheer volume of fire. This never happened, of course. I've got armament for those two ships listed as follows(source: Trotter, Ironclads and Columbiads):

42 9-inch rifled guns, four 100-pounder rifles, one 11-inch rifle, and one 150-pounder rifle.
Fidel_Helms
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by Fidel_Helms »

ORIGINAL: DBoutwell

Fidel, the current game engine only allows for only one infantry-type icon that shows troop numbers and "step loss", etc. per icon set. If you know something that I don't and something that overturns everything everyone else has told me, please let me know!

I'm no expert, but I don't see why you couldn't put a Zouave icon, for example, in an entirely separate OOB for another nation. It's not like you'll need them all for this expansion.
Fidel_Helms
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by Fidel_Helms »

BTW, David, you talk about working on "fortifications" and those needed a lot of graphics work? What exactly are you referring to? Most of the useful battlefield fortifications were earthworks and could be represented with terrain icons. If it's the masonry coastal forts that you're referring to, all of those which were attacked were reduced to rubble pretty quickly. No need to spend a lot of time making pretty graphics which depict them in pristine condition-they didn't stay that way long! Besides, I can't think of any land assaults(as opposed to sieges) against masonry fortifications. Generally the Union plastered them with naval gunfire until the Confederates surrendered due to grossly inferior artillery and/or lack of ammunition. At the other extreme, the Confederacy held Fort Sumter for years against heavy Union bombardment, but the conditions there did not permit any kind of land assault.
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Goblin
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by Goblin »

Roger that David, PMed you on it.

Goblin
WestKent78
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by WestKent78 »

I'd like to have this version available sooner rather than later, even if it is just infantry combat at present.
And if you ever get round to using other nations' OOB, might I suggest including the relevant British, Canadian, French, Spanish and Mexican forces with Austrians and Belgians for the "what-if" intervention scenarios. You can see I'm planning already!
I really appreciate the work you've put in and for one am really eager to see the end product.
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bob55
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RE: Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

Post by bob55 »

A Civil War version? It's a dream come true!! I'm eagerly awaiting the release!
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