Versus Vietnamese Verewolves (A Vietnam '65 AAR) (COMPLETE)

[JasonPratt]

Jomni,

Strat maps with intel as requested.

The first shows my units only, for comparison, and the whole map. The other maps will remove my units to show enemy tracks more clearly, and zoom into the eastern half where the only activity I've detected is.





The second shows "enemies", which is a 3 day running contact trail. I think.



That dot in BC Village couldn't be seen earlier, so I think my units overlap it -- but I'm not sure because there ought to be a 3-day track contact dot for the unit that attacked me outside Bel, shouldn't there?


The third map shows VC contacts (there are no NVA contacts yet, I've double-checked).

I accidentally trimmed off a bit of the eastern portion of the previous map, but it didn't matter there were no dots. This shows out properly to the north, south, and eastern edges.



It and the previous map seem to confirm very solidly that the VC moved two hexes through the jungle overnight and into the village while I was there.

On the other hand, that happened the same time I had a fight with the VC farther south, where the lone contact dot is. So why is one dot still remaining in Banzaicat's town, but no dot remaining north of Belisarius' village?  ???

The only guess I can make is that the southern VC unit didn't exist long enough as a contact to be registered on the "enemy" tracking map afterward, or that it registered but then was removed after the fight because we destroyed it (in contrast to the "enemy" contact from the first fight, up in the rice paddy northeast of Banzaicat, which we fought and lost against -- that dot stayed on the enemy track a while. It can still be seen on the third VC history map.) That way we don't freak chasing false contacts already destroyed. But then again the VC are never there anymore after a fight, so it isn't like we can go looking for the winners.

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day nine epilogue

At the very tail end of Day nine, my 1st GB finished training the second ARVN unit for Forbase-1. This is... weird. I mean, I'm glad the game remembers to continue an ongoing mission for me if I forget, but I specifically clicked "continue mission" once back during the training of the 1st ARVN company, and it seemed to take four days not three as a result.

Oh well. I plan put them on patrol near Belsarius (the closest town to Forbase-1), and start leapfrogging my American infantry companies up the road to the next town.

This however leads to the question of overextension. I'm already down to 3950 p-sup at the end of Day Nine, and could already stand to have a fourth Huey (one per village area). It's probably time for me to look at building my one and only allowed "firebase", more centrally in the map, so my copters can reach new areas better, but THAT's going to take some cost because even though the firebase is free (unlike forward bases) it's also vulnerable to attack, like forbases, so I'll need to spend p-sup to secure it. ESPECIALLY if somehow the VC have managed to trigger a tank on the way, or could fairly easily do so even if the H&M score isn't down below 40.

Ideally, I would be able to send American troops home and recoup at least some (if not all?) of their p-sup. That was pretty much the point, in terms of this game, to train ARVN units in real life! But the game (currently??) doesn't allow this, even as an option.

Oh well. Come forth werewolves, so that I may nip your ears and sell them back to my masters for the bounty!

(Okay, that was a terrible reference to something that often happened in real life -- but it fits the game scenario, too. :P )

[JasonPratt]

Situation and leapfrog plan at the end of Day 9.

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day ten
This map is still from end-of-day-9.



I wanted to clarify where I need to think about putting my firebase soon.

My engineers reached and cleared the jungle one hex northeast of the Banzaicat rice paddies today, so when 4th Co gets there we can set up a rotating ambush position. Come to think of it, though, I need to do the same for 1st Co to the southwest of the village.

I didn't move 3rd Co. up the road because they're going to need resupply soon and I figured it would be better to get that done closer than farther away. Being able to trade in Hueys for Chinooks (or any unit for unit), at the cost difference in p-sup, WOULD BE REALLY REALLY NICE! But maybe a little too game unbalancing. Would be nice as an option, though. Just saying, Johan.

My H&M score dropped back to 51 despite the ARVN actually moving Belisarius village to a score over 75 -- that village isn't just allied to the ARVN now, it's allied to the US. USA! USA! They still didn't want to tell their own people where the werewolves are, however.

There are still 5 VC and 2 NVA on the map, somewhere.

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day eleven

Day eleven. Still no sign of the werewolves, but the augurs say another NVA unit has arrived. Seeing as how I was at 52 and now am at 50, and seeing as how the augurs say the new unit isn't a base, I'm going to guess that's a tank and an infantry company on the way -- tomorrow it'll be four NVA, then.

At this point I think I can safely say the enemy would be best advised to ignore the eastern half of the map, start making bases to whittle me down in the west by another 250 p-sup every night, and terrorize the western half. I can only pick up more p-sup if I win fights against units, and I can't feasibly go forward yet, so if they just leave me alone I'm going to lose eventually.

This sucks but there isn't much I can do about it. I'm already feeling a hard pinch from only having three copters to service a large number of troops in four areas; and they have to get fuel every once in a while, too. Which necessarily eats p-sup in itself.

Oh, and I can be pretty sure there are two werewolf tanks out there (or will be by tomorrow). Plus two strong packs (by tomorrow) and five weaker ones rotating in and out.

Werewolf. Tanks. Plural.

[Vietnam65]

Unit and base naming included in upcoming update  :)

Based on the average HM across the village, NVA has a % chance of spawning a base attack or ambush mission. Higher average HM lower the chance and vice versa...

When a village reaches below 40 HM a NVA unit is dispatched to setup a support base close to that village.

If Average HM score drops three consecutive turns an NVA offensive in the form of NVA armor enters the fray.

Hope this helps ....

Thanks for the village .... :D

[JasonPratt]

Ah, okay, I was missing the third rule then! -- chance of spawning an NVA mission based on average H&M. It seems likely a tank was spawned at least once, though: I do think my H&M score dropped three times consecutively at least once. Does that spawn only one armor, or multiple units?

(Note: at this rate we may not ever reach Village Johan. ;) We'll see.)

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day twelve

Couldn't get a snapshot, but 3rd Company, patrolling the road northwest of UGeek, got attacked last night, and won their fight. So that helps my p-sup score, and my H&M score!

Even better, we must have successfully questioned survivors, or something because we got word of an RPG unit parked southwest of Jomni!

I know it had to be that, because the only unit in a village at the start of the day were the GBs down across the river in the jungle village of Ubercat; and not only could they not question villagers before, and not only didn't I think it's time for that village to light up again, and not only did questioning in a village have to follow an action in a village such as minesweeping which hasn't happened yet {inhale} -- but UGeek's village fire lit up, and I only do one village a day, so it couldn't have been UCat's village. Thus I got the intel from the fight.




I honestly don't know how to interpret that contact, in terms of looking for a netherhole. The augurs (and my brief visual of them) showed them as VC, so they couldn't have had a mission of fighting me directly, but I can't see how they could have had a mission to terrorize a village and run into me out there. Consequently they were either setting up an RPG trap (like those other rocketwolves to my west I got intel from them on), or they meant to lay mines but attacked me instead. Either way, the netherhole could have been anywhere generally west to north of my position: the holes are spaced out, not clustered, and had they popped out of the one southwest of 1st Co... well, okay, I might not have seen that yet, they only just got in position yesterday (and need to move out of the way today so the engineers can clear a copter landing).

Anyway. More p-sup, thank God!

Soon to be taken away, since the augurs say yep a base was generated last night, so there's 250 a night down the toilet until when-if-ever I find and zorch it. On the other hand, a second NVA didn't show up. I don't know if that'll be tonight (because the base was built last night), or not at all and if not why. Also, I don't know whether the tank did or didn't show up.

I couldn't get 3rd Company close enough to launch an attack on the rocketwolves today, and I didn't think it would be a good idea to park them next door where I might provoke an attack! (I couldn't have choppered them in, as the rockets would have instantly ambushed the copter had I tried to drop off even one hex closer.) So I stood off a hex; we'll test how that works tomorrow.

I did however risk buying another Huey (at 2500 p-sup), since I badly need the extra supply lift. I also decided the ARVN across the river near UCat should go home to resupply when not needed for interrogation. That probably won't completely work, since the Forbase only resupplies one tick a day, but it'll give me more time to maneuver my supplies around. Ditto for the ARVN assigned to scout near Bel: I've probably garrisoned off the VC hole there anyway.

[JasonPratt]

Further note to Johan: really, Green Berets can't question villagers?? Is that supposed to be an actual rule (for balancing purposes), or a bug, or what???

[Vietnam65]

NVA armor only appears if your net HM drops three turns in a row. C:-)

Only one is spawned and the counter is set to 0 , waiting for the next three consecutive turns.

GB's gather Intel covertly (greater detection range) , infantry gather Intel overtly (village patrol)

All about balance, can't have any one unit a super unit  ???

[JasonPratt]

Eh, I wouldn't call the GBs superunits even if they could get local intel. They can't fight worth a hoot, and it's weird that they can train ARVN and yet not get local intel.

Still, okay, they're getting A DIFFERENT KIND OF local intel -- you could call it very local intel, within three hexes, all the time not just once every five days. 

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day thirteen

Either the rocketwolves didn't see me last night, two hexes away, or they can't shoot infantry at a distance and they didn't want to close and shoot.

Time to see if they're even still there...




Oh yes they were. USA! USA! WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU-OU!!

(The psup score went up afterward by 1000, btw.)

Time to start marching 3rd Co back down the road, so I can resupply them in a day or two.

Oh and we got intel from the fight. Hai sneaky werewolves!!




This is a bit of a puzzle. Neither of my two closest infantry can get next to them and still have energy to fight. Nor can I chopper someone close enough, even if I had the copter range to do it which I probably don't -- but it doesn't matter because I'd still have to walk into the jungle and that would take too much energy to fight afterward until tomorrow. Ideally I'd like to cover that hex between them and UGeek village, but putting a team in the village won't keep them out tonight and I've already established the VC can march in at that range. Nor can I move... whoever those are, 5th Co I think... up a hex and set an ambush to cover the jungle between the wolves and the village, because the Viets don't like people setting ambushes in or near their villages. (Which kind of makes sense in the milieu, and I understand the game balancing behind the rule.)

Lastly, they're two hexes outside Forbase-1's artillery range. I could call in an air-strike, but I'm saving that for their arty base or tank whichever I find first.

At the end of the day, all I can do is move 5th up to block and hope for the best.

I did take a loitering copter out to pick up the now-very-experienced 3rd Co; the plan is to ferry them more quickly back to somewhere they can be supplied tomorrow (though they aren't in danger of problems yet). Worst case, an RPG shows up tonight and shoots the copter for damage.

Score at end of day: still 50 HM (the least possible win), 2411 psup (-250 for the NVA base overnight). Nine werewolves (including three strong packs -- can't be a tank per Johan, as I'm pretty sure the net never dropped three times consecutively) and a werewolf base still on the board.

[JasonPratt]

That village on the far left edge of the screenshot will be "Johan" someday, btw, or that's naturally the plan anyway. All three other villages are much farther off than that.

Twill be a delay for real-world lunch.

[JasonPratt]

Okay, back from lunch with an experimental observation and another question for Johan.

Question: when I click the engineer option to clear a hex of terrain within range of the company, any village in range lights up as a potential target. What happens if I try to bulldoze a village??!

EDITED TO CORRECT BY HINDSIGHT: nothing, it was an optical illusion from being surrounded by trees. Villages and rice paddies cannot be cleared.

However, there might be some interesting tactical possibilities in clearing them -- for example, doing so gives a general drop to the H&M score but a 'bad' village would no longer be affecting the overall average and the penalty could be recovered at ten percent a day. That won't be coming in the first big update, and the engine may not allow it anyway, but I'll suggest it as a possibility later.

[JasonPratt]

Oh, uh... I forgot the experimental observation. 

I saved the game and then put the computer to sleep, to see if being asleep affected the game and if so how/much.

At the moment, the only affect seems to be that the sound hasn't come back. But it's a problem, because continuing the game into the next turn didn't return the sound; nor did loading from the save. I had to quit completely to the desktop and restart to reset the sound.

So: don't put the game to sleep (on the PC anyway), unless you aren't playing with sound to begin with.

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day fourteen, end of week 2

Hm. The VC didn't attack me, so they must not have been trying to get to UGeek village from a portal between it and Banzaicat village. Or they changed their mind to another mission... can that happen in the game? Or they decided to try going around a longer way... can that happen in the game?

At any rate, they ran off to the southeast, in the general direction of Belisarius.

And then a new VC appeared to the northwest of 5th Company. So they'll certainly have someone to fight, but... what does the tracking mean? Neither one looked to be carrying RPGs, but (in game terms) do VC change into that when they reach their position, if they have that mission, or do they spawn as RPG? (Hopefully Johan can answer that.)




(Opps, mislabeled Bel's town, sorry.)

Based on their travel, the running VC should be two hexes away along that red line-x, or possibly one hex that way and then one hex south. I know there has to be at least one portal northeast of Banzaicat village, so it isn't likely that the closest portal to the mission area would pass through the hex I saw them at and then turn north (though I can't strictly rule that out yet).

The appearance of the new contact to the NW suggests that the portal SW of Banzaicat Village may be farther away than I was thinking... no, that can't be true. Whatever mission my very first contact had (whom I lost against), that second contact coming up from the SW to BCvillage definitely had the mission of going into the village because that's what it did instead of attacking me (since it could fulfil its mission without risking a fight). And (per the written manual anyway) the code doesn't spawn the VC randomly from portals, they're assigned to spawn at the portal closest to their intended mission objective. And there HAS TO BE a portal pretty close to BC Village somewhere to the north of it in one direction or another, and not too far away because that happened early in the game.

So there must be a portal somewhere between UGeek village and Banzaicat village.

And all visual evidence I've seen of portal placement when the map is generated, indicates they don't cluster. So for operations near UGeek village to the north of it, that portal must be the closest. There can't be another portal even closer which would be spawning werewolves; and they wouldn't be spawning from farther away in order to operate here, much less southeast of here.

That by the way suggests there are no portals in the yellow areas shown below.




Now, I didn't see anyone show up and run away from the hex 1st Company is camping in for ambush -- much less did any ambush trigger -- so the portal can't be there. Nor can the portal be south of them to any significant degree; the werewolves don't run back to a portal (so far as I know?) and any portal there would be closer to their mission compared to whence they were moving. Also, I didn't see those current werewolves coming into range, but then I'm not sure there's a graphic effect for that (and I might have just missed it, being distracted by what was happening with the VC I thought might be fighting) so I can't take that as evidence they're sitting on the portal though they might be.

But if they aren't sitting on the portal itself, they must be near it; and considering that the VC who entered Banzaicat to the north had to have come from it, and also had to have come from a portal no farther distant than wherever the VC had come from the north (or they'd have spawned from there instead, to get to the village more quickly), that suggests the P? directly north of the current contact is the spawn point!

(Note to Johan -- being able to write notes on the game map would be nice!)





My VC contact history tends to bear this out. Note that it confirms the line of travel of the VC who disappeared; the pack is either one hex southeast of that, or one hex east. (I just checked, the game hexes are oriented e/w like my paint graphic, not n/s.) Assuming they only run two hexes at a time in the jungle, not three, but that feels pretty safe as an assumption.

It could of course be a hex farther west or northwest. Theoretically it might be under the contact, but I don't know the rule on how close a portal can be to a village: that's would only be two hexes out. I'll have to test it by moving my ambushing infantry over to scout it.

I haven't actually done any actions yet on this game day, so I'll post here and continue.