[OPN] HexCode - Opinions

Panzer / Allied General Remake: Strategies, Tactics, Efiles, Custom Campaigns, Customizations, Documentation.

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[OPN] HexCode - Opinions

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-27 22:09, Saturday

CONTENT LINKS
==============

Intent & Utility
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8276

Six "Computer Somethings"
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8278

Children & Books
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8280

What Play System ?
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8281

Scenario Balance is Elusive (Part I)
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8283

Scenario Balance is Elusive (Part II)
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8284

House Rules: Basic Concept
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8285

House Rules: Scenario Uniqueness Enhancements
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8286

House Rules: FoW Examples
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8287

Modding: Elements & Realities
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8288

Modding: Mindsets
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8289

Modding: Platform Stability
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8290

Going Up the Modding Ladder
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8291

Content Conversion & Adaptation
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8292

Shoehorning External Content (Part I)
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8293

Shoehorning External Content (Part II)
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8294

Modding: Depictive Ensemble
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8295

Modding: User Interface
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8296

Border Crossers Beware
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8297

H2H Play Oriented Modding
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8298

Adventurous Modding
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8299

Heroic Modding
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8300

Modding: A Very Personal Opinion
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8301

Symbolic Effectiveness vs. Pictographic Meaningfulness
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8302

E-File: Concept
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8303

Hex-Editing... Psychology
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8304

Interconnected Scenarios
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8305

Coreless Campaigns (Part I)
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8306

Coreless Campaigns (Part II)
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8307

Glory & Precision: Peaceful... Coexistence ?
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8467

WWG Hobby Conservatism
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8548

Scale Consistency & Scalability (Part I)
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8518

Scale Consistency & Scalability (Part II)
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p8583

PGF: The Hobby
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=503#p9530


INTENT & UTILITY
================

This topic will be dedicated to posts of mine containing commentary on diverse wargaming subjects generally applicable to PGF. There's no reason for me to adhere to some strict, sequential coverage of such subjects.

It's important to note that this topic's contents strictly reflect my ideas and opinions. By the way, some of the commentary dates back to... Father Time's Jurassic Period... :)

On some, admittedly rare, occasions, I've usefully directed posters to similar posts of mine so as to save my keyboarding fingers unnecessary... punishment. :)
Last edited by HexCode on 2021-05-02 20:46, Sunday, edited 19 times in total.

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[OPN] Six "Computer Somethings"

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-27 22:32, Saturday

The transition from board wargaming to computer wargaming has been characterized by SIX (6) consecutive "computer somethings":

Computer-Assisted

The earliest envisaged usefulness of computers in wargaming was to relieve players from the drudgery of having to count hexes, roll dice and the like (i.e., wargame "bean-counting").

Computer-Moderated

A bit later, the appearance of "robust / responsible code" opened the way for players to begin trusting the underlying software's ability to impartially and accurately observe and "police" a wargame's play rules.

Computer-Enhanced

Eventually, Designers / Developers embarked on a trip the purpose of which was to come up with and implement features which, without the computer's assistance, would be virtually impossible to emulate in a board wargame environment (e.g., Fog of War, "dummy stacks" notwithstanding).

Computer-Challenged

The real break with board wargaming came about through the industry's introduction and continual embellishment of Programmed Opponents (POs), usually referred to as Artificial Intelligence (AI). In theory as well as in demonstrable, widespread practice, a player couldn't care less about "finding" another player to, well, ... play, anymore. Instead, the "computer" would be there at a moment's notice... It's here that video wargaming entered the hobby picture in a major way.

Computer-Glorified

It didn't take long for the industry to realize that a hitherto untapped, customer cohort was there to be commercially exploited. To this end, role-playing elements / features were introduced directly aiming at inducing "heroic, larger than life" emotional states in such players. Ever since, such players have been identified as the dominant slice of video wargamers.

Computer-Entertained

Finally, multimedia elements / features were also introduced aimed at entertaining video wargamers not so much by lionizing them but rather by inducing psychological "being there" states (antiseptically presented, of course, since no virtual stray bullet / bomb could ever threaten such players).
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[OPN] Children & Books

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-27 23:54, Saturday

The following quotes are attributed to the rather well known Roman personage Marcus Tullius Cicero.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

AND

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

Commentary

1) It's often said that computer wargames are the "children" of older vintage board / tabletop wargames.

2) Video wargaming is the current, popular form of "virtual" wargaming.

3) At present, quite a few Video wargamers are vaguely familiar with board / tabletop wargames. Thus, not only are they "children" in a chronological sense, nay, they're also "children" in Cicero's sense.

4) Video wargames routinely shield hobbyists from the "Boardgame Rulebook" that is embedded in the code. Instead, Video wargames invariably provide flimsy documentation (known in the industry as "player fluff") that just glosses over things...

5) Cicero's quote regarding books does apply in spades in the case of Video wargamers who routinely refuse to read anything pertaining to the wargames they play.

6) But, what about Video hobbyists who do read whatever documentation is available and "go no further" ?

a) Any such hobbyists who don't wish to "go further" are the equivalent of students who go to the nearest library (let's leave the Internet out of this), pick up an introductory book on the subject they're interested in, skim through it and, well, that's that !

b) The very few (?) hobbyists who do wish to "go further" will endeavor to somehow "enrich" their "private bookcase(s)", thereby making Cicero... proud ! :)

7) The following Video wargaming "industry dictum" as it applies to the Design, Development and Publication of their wargame titles merits some reflection, I should think:

"The Play Crowd dislikes reading with a passion. But, what they hate most is effective clarification".
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[OPN] What Play System ?

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 00:05, Sunday

The following excerpt is from a book entitled "The Complete Wargames Handbook", 2nd Edition -- Ch. 6: "Computer Wargames". The author is Mr. James Dunnigan.

One thing wargamers were not comfortable with was the inability to know exactly what was going in inside the wargame. One major advantage of the manual games was that all the numbers and procedures were right there in front of you. Not only could the player see how the game did its stuff, but the player could, and often did, change things he did not agree with. This was not possible with computer games...

The following excerpt is from a post authored by Mr. Alexander Shargin, PGF's programmer. It appeared in the JP's Panzers forum dedicated to Panzer Corps (PzC).

It is not all that important to know internal game mechanics. Exact PG2 game formulas were not known until I researched them for Luis, a few years ago. Which did not prevent the enthusiasts here from creating a lot of great campaigns for PG2. Only file formats are important, because these are needed for creating modding tools.

Commentary

1) It's not very often that Mr. Dunnigan makes the case for old-fashioned, strategy wargaming concerns. More often than not, the hard-nosed, "grognard" wargaming tradition that he has played such a big role in fostering has been preoccupied with markedly different interests:

a) Historical notes accuracy and completeness.

b) Order of Battle (OoB) accuracy and completeness.

c) Participating military hardware accurate engineering specification.

d) Map geographical accuracy and scale appropriateness.

e) Event timetable accuracy.

f) Detail fixation.

Historically, way less emphasis has been placed on:

A) Symbolism and abstraction necessities.

B) Dynamic aspects.

2) So, why was it that some old-fashioned strategy wargamers became increasingly alarmed by the relentless advent of "PC Wargaming" ? Well, no strategy wargamer worth his old-fashioned salt feels comfortable playing without having the wargame rulebook at his disposal. PC wargame titles ushered in a new wargaming "era". Namely, rulebooks became "embedded" within the wargame title's source code, thus becoming largely inaccessible to players. By the mid-1990s, even feeble attempts at providing "internals" documentation to customers were seen by publishers and developers alike as... exotic; a waste of time and resources as well...

The obvious question, then, arises. Was there no backlash against PC wargame title publishers and developers by old-fashioned strategy wargamers ? Well, yes, quite a few of them stopped buying PC wargames or did so very selectively. However, this didn't matter an iota in the marketplace. The reason for this is so evident nowadays. Namely, "PC Wargaming" was the... Trojan Horse that facilitated a major hobby transformation / mutation -- enter the video wargame and its customer, the video wargamer !! For every old-fashioned strategy wargamer lost as a customer, the industry welcomed and financially benefited from many more video wargamers itching to buy all these new, fun-filled wargame titles...

3) Mr. Shargin's statement clearly states an important fact regarding video wargamers. Whether as Players or Modders, video wargamers develop their strategies in the absence of any significant knowledge pertaining to the "embedded" rulebook(s). In fact, the dominant view among video wargamers is that, well, there's no view whatsoever. Video wargame title "internals" are like the dark side of the moon; out of sight, out of mind...

There is an interesting footnote to all this. On occasion, video wargamers have railed against the very existence of "internals" documentation in the rare cases where such documentation somehow saw the light of day. Case in point, Prima's Official PG1 Strategy Guide (not to be confused with SSI's manual). That said, SSI never repeated that "collaboration mistake" again...
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[OPN] Scenario Balance is Elusive (Part I)

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 00:45, Sunday

Identical Opponents

A lot of game balance theory is based on an, admittedly, unrealistic assumption that the opponents involved are omniscient and, hence, perfectly matched at the highest caliber level possible. Once this assumption itself becomes part of the theory, the question of the "first move advantage" can be of paramount importance in certain "symmetrical" games.

Let's briefly consider two dimensional (3x3) Tic-Tac-Toe. It has long been practically known and mathematically demonstrated as well that, the "first move advantage" is not sufficient to carry the day for the player who goes first, given "optimal" moves on the part of his opponent. In other words, this game, when played by two omniscient (well, even "well informed" will do ! :) ) opponents, will always inexorably peter out to a draw ! What about three dimensional (3x3x3) Tic-Tac-Toe though ? Interestingly enough, again, it has long been practically known and mathematically demonstrated as well that the "first move advantage" is sufficient to carry the day for the player who goes first even in the face of "optimal" moves on the part of his opponent. In other words, this game, even when played by two omniscient or just well informed opponents, will always result in the player who moved first winning ! The "god" who doesn't get to move first is doomed from the start....

What can one say about chess, that venerable "symmetrical" grand daddy of all strategy wargames ? Its perfectly "symmetrical" starting position constitutes a seductive invitation to our intuition to proclaim it "balanced". What about white's "first move advantage" though ? Could this be as devastating as in the case of three dimensional Tic-Tac-Toe ? Well, to date, nobody has been able to demonstrate mathematically that white's first move is the prelude to an inexorably unfolding, winning strategy irrespective of what black does to counter this. In fact, the practical, decades-long, over the board acquired experience from playing the game has resulted in a voluminous body of knowledge known as "chess opening theory". The current opinion of chess theorists and grandmasters alike is that, white's "first move advantage" is only a transient factor and that, in fact, best play by black dissipates its advantageous effects around turn 20 ! In other words, although no definitive proof exists, chess is treated by the overwhelming majority of serious players as a provisionally, perfectly balanced game. Nevertheless, just to possibly err on the side of caution, in most "official" chess competition events, players alternate playing white and black (this has everything to do with fairness and does not render chess "inherently balanced" in case the experts and all the rest of us are actually wrong about the importance of white's first move.... :) ).

Turning now to PGF, we immediately realize that things are much much more complex and uncertain than in chess.

1) Classic Chess has only one scenario (i.e., the "standard" set up of the pieces) while even "plain vanilla" PGF comprises 77 (ex-SSI) scenarios !

2) The "standard" setup position in chess is symmetrical. This concept is obviously inapplicable in PGF's case.

3) Since "plain vanilla" PGF scenarios are clearly not symmetrical, the "first move advantage" issue is just one of many other considerations that enter the assessment as to whether a scenario is "inherently / objectively balanced".

4) Ideally, PGF play would involve some a priori assurance that, if two identical (but not necessarily omniscient) players were to play a particularly calibrated scenario (e.g., specific prestige and experience settings) over and over again, each one would be chalking up victories 50% of the time. That's all ! All scenario balancing efforts here would revolve around this a priori expectation. This does not mean that every game would go down to the wire (e.g., air combat uncertainties, weather capriciousness and other imponderables just cannot be exorcised ! ).

5) Unlike chess which has enjoyed a reasonably stable player rating system for decades, PGF play is essentially virgin territory by comparison ! We do not have PGF theorists and grandmasters to play test scenarios for the rest of us. We don't even have a crude system to assist us in rating players on the basis of relative game mastery. Consequently, we wouldn't even know where to begin if someone were to ask us to match players of roughly the same playing caliber over the silicon board, an important precondition for the practical testing of "objective" scenario balance. Therefore, whatever scenario-specific conclusions we were to derive concerning "inherent balance", they would of necessity be quite tentative.
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[OPN] Scenario Balance is Elusive (Part II)

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 00:50, Sunday

Unevenly Matched Opponents

Such characters locking horns in the context of games have been with us for many centuries. This is a historical fact. Although the underlying unfairness of such contests has, for the most part, been readily acknowledged, the standard response has always been that the less skilled players should grin and bear it. The principal reason given has been that, players generally improve their gaming skills over time by confronting better skilled players and learning from such encounters. If this learning process were to involve some ignominious defeats, well, it would be a reasonable and, perhaps, unavoidable price to pay to improve one's gaming skills.

PGF isn't unlike many other games when it comes to the issue of unevenly matched opponents. In principle, the setting up of scenarios for ideal competitive play is, most certainly, a laudable objective. As already mentioned in the immediately preceding post, such an endeavor would be no picnic; nevertheless, it would certainly be something extremely desirable to eventually achieve. However, the actual modification of an ideal competitive play scenario's parameters and specifications to take into account "perceived" or "objectively documented" differences in player skills so as to re-introduce balance and excitement into gaming is an entirely different matter....

i) First and foremost, even if there were no downside to doing so, one would need a very sophisticated calibration scale to match players ratings differences with, say, specific "re-balancing" Prestige and / or Experience settings. From where I stand, this looks like a technical pipe dream, plain and simple !

ii) Even if such a technical fix were feasible, I'm of the opinion that its ultimate effect would be detrimental to gaming quality. Although the fix would conceivably introduce balance in the short run and, hence, some transient enjoyment, it would impede players' skills improvement and, hence, deliver an indirect but powerful blow to their gaming enjoyment down the line.... You see, I'm also of the opinion that players generally improve their gaming skills over time by confronting better skilled players and learning from such encounters ! Given an appropriately well thought out and fostered friendliness & education gaming culture, these uneven matches shouldn't leave any appreciable bitter residue behind...

Historically, the above caveats have led some hobbyists and play clubs to adopt a "concurrent, mirrored gaming system".

In a concurrent, mirrored gaming arrangement, each player tries his hand at leading each one of the two sides in two separate games conducted more or less simultaneously under as many identical conditions and settings as practically possible.

In my opinion, concurrent, mirrored PGF gaming is very desirable for the following reasons:

1) Ever since the beginning of competitive gaming among humans, a certain time-honored, gentlemanly tradition of giving one's opponent a "second" chance at play has developed over time; the tradition's practical manifestations exhibit considerable resilience and staying power from chess to poker to backgammon and so on. Clearly, such gentlemanly ways have a lot to do with friendliness. At a minimum, there's a recognition that lady fortune is a fickle ally and, hence, everybody should get a fair chance of being bestowed upon with her favors... Concurrent, mirrored gaming addresses such concerns head on ! It also does so in a most efficient manner.

2) Many scenarios involve combat where one side is attacking while the other one is grimly hanging on to fewer and fewer objectives as the game unfolds. Although the defender may eventually prevail by hanging on to that last precious objective, his psychology of being pushed to the wall and witnessing the wholesale decimation of his units can be problematic, to say the least. This represents a tangible threat to friendliness. Concurrent, mirrored gaming seems to be what the doctor would order here... For starters, the concurrent, symmetrical experiences of the two players won't allow either an attacker or a defender type of psychology to rigidly set in. Moreover, such experiences are bound to put a "human face" on all forces on the battlefield, a definite plus for friendliness.

3) The implicit camaraderie fostered by concurrent, mirrored PGF gaming tends to make players more communicative than they would otherwise be. Aside from the obvious boost to friendliness, better communication invariably results in better player education as the two opponents may readily exchange friendly opinions and analyses. In fact, the greatest thing that concurrent, mirrored gaming does is that it allows the players to view the two symmetrical games as one entity to be talked about and, possibly... studied. :) The symmetrical nature of goings on leaves very few things in the dark... The concurrent nature of goings on ensures a positive dynamic in that the two opponents are increasingly drawn together as the mirrored games progress by dealing with and discussing successive layers of common experiences...

4) By playing both sides of a conflict, players develop an all around appreciation of scenarios and the types of forces involved, thus enhancing their education. Even well disciplined and serious hobbyists may exhibit a tendency to gravitate towards certain types of familiar or aesthetically pleasing situations... Concurrent, mirrored gaming is a great way to ensure that such lopsided preferences won't be allowed to interfere with a player's all around education.

5) By its very nature, concurrent, mirrored gaming is ideal as a "research" tool in instances were scenario balancing experimental information must be extracted, massaged and distilled into some appropriate body of knowledge of some lasting utility... Lest I forget, concurrent, mirrored PGF gaming is "fair" if / when such game(s) are registered for "ladder" status. Who knows, such arrangements may even dissuade certain PBEM "wargamers" from... replaying their moves ! :ihope

Bottom line is this. There can be no such thing as "objective" scenario play balance. A "concurrent, mirrored gaming system" goes a long way towards practically ameliorating many of the sharp edges present due to the rather obvious absence of "objectivity".
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[OPN] House Rules: Basic Concept

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 00:57, Sunday

FPGE and direct editing of content under PGF allow Modders to do many interesting things. However, when it comes to Players, content editing in no way circumscribes the limits of their gaming experience. There's another aspect to playing which enriches gameplay tremendously: "House Rules" (HRs).

HRs are akin to contracts that human players voluntarily enter into (many times just with themselves !) which invariably commit them to abstain from engaging in certain actions that are normally available during gameplay. The main idea here's that human players possess the discipline to police themselves (on the honor system) in adhering to such "contracts" even in the face of... extreme battlefield adversity ! :)

For example, within the context of the rather well known Submarine Stubbornness "oddity", a PGF aficionado clearly possessing a sense of humor posted elsewhere on the Web:

As for multiplayer, there can be just a house rule "we do not set epic fortifications with submarines in ports".

Naturally, this kind of HR applies to human behavior. On the other hand, PGF's AI knows not of honor systems and the like; its sole ethical master is the... source code !

In the past, objections have been raised in regards to the obvious fact that PGF's AI cannot "take advantage" of HRs and consequently (?) it's "unfair" for human players to engage in such... unorthodox practices. My response has always been as follows:

a) Since when are humans obligated to "obey" machines ? :dunno :)

b) Asymmetrical gameplay capabilities aren't necessarily unfair. In chess, Rook vs. Bishop & Knight endings are definitely asymmetrical but hardly always unfair. Closer to PGF, is it not asymmetrical warfare when the AI is often given oodles of prestige that its human adversary can only dream of ?

PGF's underlying programming makes no serious allowances for "sophisticated" play by its AI Module... Now, it may not be totally unreasonable to consider such behavior to be akin to a bunch of AI Module de facto HRs. To boot, adherence to such HRs is one-sided -- at least in principle. Of course, there's nothing that stops an "AI Warrior" from... returning the "favor", thus re-establishing... "fairness" through "symmetry" ! :) It's also somewhat interesting to consider the fact that it doesn't matter an iota whether the AI Module might not have been the beneficiary of top notch programmer involvement... In the present context, the only thing that's pertinent is the AI Module's actual play behavior and an "AI Warrior's" purposive response to it.

Gentlemen, you may try letting your imagination loose and see what happens when one cuts off the umbilical cord of "SSI-Style Campaign Orthodoxy"... :2cents
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[OPN] House Rules: Scenario Uniqueness Enhancements

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 00:59, Sunday

Throughout the years, I've liberally employed all kinds of HRs to enrich my gaming experience. Interestingly enough, my conclusions in regards to the desirability and practicality of adopting and adhering to HRs bifurcate as follows:

1) Campaign play invariably assumes that the scenarios to be serially played will be subject to play system uniformity, more or less. Although HRs can and, in fact, have been called upon by players to enrich / rejuvenate their gaming experiences, apparently there've been significant psychological barriers at play (no pun intended)... :)

2) Most probably because of my H2H play orientation, I've found HRs to be invaluable in standalone scenario, all-human play. The reason is this. Very much like Avalon Hill's approach to tabletop / board wargaming a few decades ago, the emphasis is not on a few commonalities that a player has to be aware of in order to enjoy many hours of play without having to "study" much any particular situation. Instead, the emphasis is on the unique characteristics underlying the design and intent of a particular scenario.

To further illustrate the point, here's an interesting parallel, courtesy of the late Czech(oslovak) chess grandmaster Ludek Pachman {Complete Chess Strategy}:

The principles of strategy to which these volumes are devoted have therefore limited validity, because events on the chess-board cannot be confined to hard and fast rules and are full of contradictions. In chess we often have situations which cannot be compared with any "model" examples or explained by the principles of chess theory. Such situations arise more and more frequently at the higher levels of play, as chess theory becomes more advanced and complicated, and are characterized by their peculiarity and uniqueness.

However, it is precisely here that the beauty and attraction of chess lie. We are not dealing solely with a mathematical problem but with creative imagination at work. In the games of leading players we see, alongside their thorough knowledge of chess theory (which we can compare with a writer's technical skill), an element which we can justifiably term artistic intuition. It is this which helps them discover the hidden possibilities in a position, create the conditions for surprising combinations and produce games of lasting aesthetic value. In this fusion of scientific and artistic elements lies the true greatness of chess, that wonderful product of the human mind


Of course, one need not rise to such... lofty heights. That said, a little... hiking may not hurt either ! :lol
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[OPN] House Rules: FoW Examples

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:03, Sunday

There's no practical limit to HR combinations a Player may decide to abide by. This post focuses on a couple of HR examples specifically addressing play under "Fog of War" (FoW) conditions. Under PGF, FoW prevails when the "Hidden Units" setting is ON (i.e., its box is checked).

No_Screen_Gaze

A Player may decide to:

a) Avoid gazing at the computer screen while his opponent is on the move in real time;
b) Abstain from replaying his opponent's half-turns.


Relatedly, Prima's Official Strategy Guide (PG1-DOS) opines:

When you're exercising this option to watch the enemy units perform their movement (you always get to see them conduct their attacks on your units as well) ... you have some idea of where the enemy is going, but it is more difficult to remember their exact locations ... Honestly, though, watching enemy units move while playing with the Hidden Units ON option is tantamount to cheating (after all, you know about where the enemy is by watching its moves).

No_Sys_Recon

This HR prohibits a Player from utilizing the "Undo Move" button to sequentially and systematically probe ever so deeper into unscouted map (grey hex) territory, by repeatedly moving back and forth one or more of the units he controls, thereby inching ahead one hex at the time and, consequently, potentially avoiding "Rugged Defense / Surprise Contact / Out of the Sun" nasty mishaps...

The foregoing can be distilled into the following readily observable HR:

Any unit provisionally moved to a destination that is an unscouted hex (greyed out / shaded hex) cannot be recalled via the "Undo Move" button and, hence, its provisional move must be completed and made permanent precisely as first attempted.

This is conceptually similar to the "Touch:Move" rule in chess ! :)
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[OPN] Modding: Elements & Realities

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:24, Sunday

Generally speaking, Modding entails a number of key requisite elements:

1) A generator concept.

2) A willingness on someone's part to get his development hands dirty.

3) The existence or determined pursuit of the requisite know-how and talent to carry through the Mod implementation.

4) The perseverance on the part of the designer(s) to play-test and fix the inevitable shortcomings and bugs.

5) If applicable, an invitation to PGF enthusiasts to constructively participate in the development and play-testing phases of the Mod and, more importantly, in the identification of rough edges and bugs.

6) Carefully written, easily accessible and responsibly updated documentation both at the technical as well usability levels.

The preceding list is kind of... academic. The actual reality on the "ground" invites the following observations:

A) Invariably, Modding is a solitary affair. Modded content very seldom attracts critical commentary from hobbyists at large.

B) Technical know-how is neither easily accessible nor particularly sought after either as documentation or as "live consultation".

C) The programmers of support utilities theoretically aiming at facilitating Modding tend to be "unreachable". The documentation accompanying their software tends to be inaccurate and woefully inadequate, if not outright misleading.
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[OPN] Modding: Mindsets

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:27, Sunday

I believe that the overwhelming majority of PG1 World wargame players have been making no distinction whatsoever between the underlying play system and the behavior exhibited by the content which defines the wargame in the hearts and minds of its adoring following... Thus, for instance, PG1 is a game, period ! To boot, the game is "POLAND", "WARSAW" and so on...

Historically, Modders-lite have been tinkering here and there, largely within the framework handed down to them by a wargame title's trademark content. In other words, Modders-lite have been staying away from internalizing the implications inherent in the separation of play system from designed content. Putting it somewhat differently, Modders-lite have been having a very hard time entertaining the apparently uncomfortable notion that a wargame title is a Play Platform and can easily serve as a Modding Platform as well...

Earlier, under this topic, I posted that "adventurous" Modding Is triggered by a hobbyist's desire to break free of "popular" or "prescribed" content authorship recipes and approaches. Well, yes; unless such... radical desires do fly in the face of hobby "conservatism", nothing much out of the ordinary (i.e., same old, same old) is likely to happen...

I also wrote that "adventurous" Modders don't exclusively depend on support utilities, whether bundled or independently provided and, in any case, "adventurous" Modding presupposes extensive technical knowledge regarding what's going on "under the hood".

Almost all support utilities have been "conservatively" coded. Modders-lite invariably have depended on them to perform... technical miracles on their behalf; the critical point here being that Modders-lite have been banking on automatism. God forbid, that they might have needed to "dirty" their "player hands" by understanding something about such... arcane things as external support file data structures and play system advanced mechanics...

All that said, the main obstacles to content authorship innovation have little to do with the absence of "hardcore" technical proficiency per se. Nay !! Overwhelmingly, hobbyists have been unwilling to spend some time experimenting with (their ?) content so as to understand the possibilities as well as limitations of a wargame's underlying play system. Instead, they've been peppering this or that forum with one-liner questions of the type "Does anybody know... ?". Also, to add insult to injury, they'd very seldom acknowledge "suckers' responses", if any, by returning to the relevant topic and continuing the "discussion"...
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[OPN] Modding: Platform Stability

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:30, Sunday

Something that was posted on the Web almost a generation ago still resonates with me. It went something like this:

Strangely enough, a "dated", "orphaned" game engine is the perfect "gift" that a wargame's programmer can make to a bunch of die-hard enthusiasts

Now, whether prospective Modders realize it or not, the very act of Modding does away with the inevitably narrow perception of a wargame title in that it transforms the game into a re-design platform. The occasional presence of bundled editing tools may quite intentionally conceal this transformation from "Players Plus". No matter, it's still a transformation.

Why Design Custom Content ?

From a prospective Modder's standpoint, the aforementioned "dated", "orphaned" game engine guarantees platform stability. The Modder doesn't have to worry about a programmer's fickleness, inconstancy or, simply, need to continuously experiment and tinker with things, which inevitably keep on altering the wargame's technical specifications.

What about game titles that are under development though, especially those that the relevant programmer has explicitly flagged down as "under construction" and "subject to revision" ? Is it worth designing custom content in such situations ? My personal view is that the activities which would make more sense would be ones that principally aim at testing the wargame's features, especially as they morph over time. As such, such activities would be way more intensive than extensive in character.

Is The Programmer Relevant ?

To ask this question is more or less tantamount to answering it.

A) Clearly, when it comes to de facto "abandonware", yesteryear's Programmer is totally irrelevant. Happily, the Modding feast doesn't require that individual's "presence" in the least.

B) The situation where the Programmer is still "around" is more nuanced. Not unexpectedly, the critical issue becomes the kind of hobbyist stuff that that individual is made out of... Practically speaking, some Modders may find their interaction with the Programmer to be more productive, even warmer, than others. To this effect, there've been instances where the Programmer and some Modder have been so incompatible with one another, that meaningful communication proved to be impossible... The other, happier, side of the coin has seen the Programmer and some Modder(s) finishing each other's sentences with a smile... :)
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[OPN] Going Up the Modding Ladder

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:34, Sunday

A) Some prospective Modders wish to use content editing tools that may come bundled with PGF and stop right there. Well, other than a functionality allowing one to convert "tame" PG1-DOS content to appropriately formatted content playable under PGF, PGF does not sport any bundled, content editing tools.

B) Some other Modders do bother to acquire aftermarket editing tools capable of editing content playable under PGF (e.g., FPGE). It's important to realize though that Fred's Panzer General Editor (FPGE) is not a bundled editing tool. Neither SSI nor PGF's programmer have been behind it's original development and long-winded evolution... Therefore, Modders expecting "technical seamlessness" are bound to be disappointed; on occasion, at least ! Yeah, FPGE is just an aftermarket labor of hobbyist love... :yes

C) Even fewer Modders bother to acquire the requisite, technical knowledge which would allow them to "tamper" with PGF's numerous, external support files. Granted. The... good news is that no one is forcing Modders to hit the books... :) If such hobbyists are happy with their custom content in "as designed condition", well, good for them; :bullhorn end of story !

D) Theoretically, some Modder may yet bother to acquire the requisite, technical knowledge which would allow him to hex-edit PGF's main executable (i.e., engine). We shall certainly see about this... :evil
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[OPN] Content Conversion & Adaptation

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:39, Sunday

SSI's PG1, AG and PacG collectively feature more than 100 scenarios. Over the years, custom content designers crafted quite a few, diverse scenarios and campaigns, playable under SSI's 1990s vintage engines. PGF's arrival on the scene triggered considerable interest and activity in (pardon the neo-barbarism :) ) "foreverizing" a lot of the aforementioned, "older" content.

PGF and, to a certain extent, FPGE as well, feature a few rudimentary content "conversion" mechanisms. Fair enough !

BUT

Successfully taking advantage of software conversion features is rather the beginning and in no way the end point in rendering "older" content playable under PGF. That's were multi-faceted adaptation comes in. It's almost an art. Many, many details need be re-calibrated and in many ways modified. In most instances, the nature, capabilities and shortcomings of PGF's AI Module loom large as the critical factors to underlie a designer's content adaptation efforts.
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[OPN] Shoehorning External Content (Part I)

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:46, Sunday

Quite a few of "us" are familiar with Modders' attempts to shoehorn content originating with some wargame title other than the "target" game title, into the "target" one. SSI's (stock) "classic" PG1/AG content playable under PGF immediately comes to mind.

Example - Diametrically Opposing Views

In the PG1 World, Pacific Panzer General (DOS) still is the... poster child. The scenarios / campaigns that constitute SSI's Pacific General (PacGen) (stock) content were shoehorned into PG1-DOS ("target" game title).

A diametrically opposing view / sentiment went like this:
My idea wasn't to adapt PacGen contents as closely as possible to the PGF engine and create a "PacGen Forever", but to make a Mod within the limits of the existing PGF engine that makes good use of custom scenarios and equipment. Otherwise I could simply play PacGen
Why Shoehorn ?

Back in the early days of PC wargaming, shoehorning external content was intimately related to "importing" tabletop wargame Orders of Battle (OoB) into PC wargames supposedly concerned with old-fashioned, SPI-style, "grognard" concerns and preoccupations.

In more recent times, PC wargaming matured into what these days goes by the name "Video Wargaming". More often than not, under Video wargaming, shoehorning external content is largely a matter of... aesthetics. Say a wargame title focuses on the WWII European Theater of Operations (ETO); some hobbyist "misses" the Japanese wartime flag and wants to see icons depicting the corresponding Japanese military hardware... Ergo, here comes the impetus behind shoehorning !

But You Said It'd Be Easy...

Some of "us" are familiar with these, now... superannuated, numerous, highly optimistic, one-line posts regarding Modding in the PG1 World. The sentiment expressed was akin to that cultivated by contemporary approaches to commercialism based on a... postmodernist, warm and fuzzy relationship between commercial entities and their customers. Ok, SSI was no longer around. Does it mean that it was all... Slitherine's "fault" ? Far from it....

In my opinion, overly optimistic one-liners had absolutely nothing to do with an attempt to either inform or assist Modders in their endeavors. Their main function was to please the posters themselves by maintaining that the "Hobby" is "easy" and, hence, "fun". Notably, the aforesaid posters very seldom engaged in Modding activities themselves !

Support Utilities

Invariably, Video wargaming shoehorning entails the usage of one or more wargame title support utilities.

It's in this area that programmers' omissions are tantamount to unfortunate... commissions. Basically, unless programmers of support utilities proactively and explicitly warn Modders about the caveats and limitations underlying their "babies", they become de facto "collaborators" of the posters mentioned in the previous section of this post.
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[OPN] Shoehorning External Content (Part II)

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:48, Sunday

Under preceding Part I, I dealt briefly with PG1 World wargame title support utilities. As most of "us" know, the support utility that rules the roost in the PG1 World these days is none other than...

FPGE

Lest I'm misunderstood, I never intended to imply that FPGE's programmer has ever intentionally misled hobbyists in any way. Far from it... In the past, I've "publicly" interacted with this gentleman on a number of occasions and found him to be very helpful as well as refreshingly straightforward. He certainly cannot be held responsible for a certain widespread... postmodernist optimism (especially when it comes to super-friendly one-liners).

Where lies the danger here ? Well, FPGE attempts to "convert" many things to many other things... The first thing that comes to a Modder's mind hellbent on shoehorning external content into somewhere is to... convert "things". Hey, isn't it wonderful that FPGE can do all that ? By the way, on the basis of all these wonderful optimistic one-liners, it should be a piece of cake, right ? No need to "dirty" "our" hands, right ? :sarcasm

WRONG !! SORRY BROTHERS !! :2cents

Only A Coder's Challenge ?

FPGE's programmer considered his "conversions" to be the ultimate, thorny, technical challenge. So, how on earth can anyone believe that shoehorning external content can be... automatic, fun, perhaps, too ?

Here's what I posted in that "other" (now defunct) Web venue:
I believe that you're essentially caught in between the horns of a serious support utility Developer's dilemma here. In my opinion, a lot of thought should go into this.

Here's an attempt to describe the first of the... two horns !

It doesn't matter how a conversion is done as long as it's internally consistent, right ? The issue, then, becomes one of "authoritativeness". If there is such a thing as an "authoritative" conversion paradigm (e.g., PacPG ?), then your job as a support utility Developer is already half-done. All you've got to do is hard code all those wonderful "authoritative" conversion assumptions and parameters that are written in stone, so to speak, and, well, that's it ! If a Modder doesn't agree with some element of this paradigm or another, he better look elsewhere for assistance or be prepared to do quite a bit of "remedial" post-FPGE hex-editing...

The second horn represents, of course, the real challenge that you're obviously struggling with; namely, what is FPGE's programmer to do in the absence of conversion paradigm "authoritativeness" ? It's similar to a critical decision underlying wargame title coding as well. Does a programmer allow for in-place Modding by players and Modders or does he hard code this or that (just look at the PG1-DOS / PGF evolutionary saga) ? Despite its... proverbial shape, the second horn is all about empowering hobbyists by explicitly accepting, even welcoming divergent Modding philosophies and approaches. Not surprisingly, it's more involved to code...
So, prospective... shoehorners beware. Postmodernity isn't necessarily your factual ally. Yeah, sometimes one has to hit the... books ! :yikes :)
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[OPN] Modding: Depictive Ensemble

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:54, Sunday

Historically, computer-enabled wargames have sported a Depictive Ensemble comprising two broadly defined sub-components: Battlefield Depiction (BD) and User Interface (UI). As is the case with most real life situations, there've always been gray areas...

Here's an example from PGF. The New Unit Purchase Screen has a well known format. It includes those TV-screen like windows which depict various unit types available (or not) for purchase. However, a good case could be made to the effect that the depicted unit icons aren't UI components but rather BD components referenced by the UI. Conversely, almost everything depicted on a unit's Stat-Info Screen invoked during scenario play (i.e., in a "live" BD environment) could be considered to be a practical manifestation of the UI's format.

Pushing the present conceptualization a bit further, one may wish to reflect, for instance, as to whether PG1 Battle Animations are BD components. Eventually, movie reels and the like will have to be somehow categorized as well.

The preceding notwithstanding, the technical means available to operationalize a wargame's Depictive Ensemble are dictated by a number of factors. Here's a very short list.

1) Graphics and multimedia file formats that are:

a) Broadly compatible with OS's of reasonably recent vintage.
b) "Easily" editable by means of employing "mainstream" utilities or methods.
c) "Aesthetically" acceptable due to their relative popularity.

2) External support file formats that allow easy editing by means of (hopefully ?) employing dedicated utilities to that effect.

Interestingly enough:

A) Functionality is predominantly a matter of judgment once certain basic technical preconditions are met.

B) Customization potential is heavily dependent on both basic technical preconditions and the practical means available to a hobbyist / Modder aiming at tweaking things "his way".

C) The aesthetic dimension is, well, a matter of taste, what else ? I would imagine this particular dimension to be of paramount importance in instances where the game title is part of some commercial venture... :doh
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[OPN] Modding: User Interface

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:55, Sunday

Modding a game title's User Interface (UI) is kind of, well, ... exotic. It doesn't fit neatly into our general understanding of what Modding is all about.

Historically, a lot of attention has been paid to Battlefield Depiction (BD) aspects such as maps and unit icons. Many a hobbyist are reasonably familiar with Customization Potential in this rather time-honored context. Way less attention has been paid to UI Customization Potential though. There're very good reasons for this hobby... deficiency, of course. SSI's UI setups have never been particularly amenable to customization.

HOWEVER,

PG1 / AG and PG2 have provided certain Re-Designers with relevant points of departure in regards to UI coding. Specifically, the Hobbyist Programmers of PGF and OpenGen have rendered UI "tinkering" by users way easier than was the case with SSI's commercial releases... :clap

Why UI Customization Potential ? Basically, no game title design can ever anticipate the totality of customization demands which will ultimately originate from hobbyists. Thus, the more flexible the UI design, the more likely it is that fewer hobbyists will end up being disappointed, even stymied... It's all about maximizing the degrees of freedom available to "serious tinkerers". :)

By the way, I believe Functionality and Customization Potential to be intimately related with one another. Namely, real Customization Potential can be relied upon to enhance Functionality more often than not.

The basic paradigm underlying PGF's UI coding which clearly distinguishes the UI graphical components themselves from the way they're visually arranged is sound enough. This is achieved through the judicious use of external support files sporting formats "friendly" to Modders.
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[OPN] Border Crossers Beware

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 01:59, Sunday

Historically, quite a few hobbyists have been suggesting that:

"we're just Players who almost accidentally came across Modding"

I believe that the preceding expression of sentiment is extremely helpful in making a sharp distinction within the wide area of "mainstream" Modding.

"Players Plus"

In the PG1 World, some wargame titles come with editing utilities bundled. Players who stumble into employing such utilities to Mod "things" and stop right there can be referred to as "Players Plus". The general expectation is that the programmers of the aforesaid utilities have done their technical homework and, therefore, "Players Plus" don't need to do anything else but just use the pretty (?) UI. Paradise on earth...

To Cross Or Not To Cross...

What happens when a "Player Plus" wishes to go beyond the familiar, bundled, editing utility UI and Mod... "strange" things ? More to the point, what if the wargame title in question, like PGF, sports no bundled, editing tools whatsoever ? What then ?

I would respectfully suggest that "Players Plus" and / or Players get rid of many key beliefs / assumptions underlying the "Hobby's" warm and fuzzy automatism and psychologically cross the... Rubicon river.

"Mainstream" Modding without / beyond existing, in-built editing tools requires Modders to:

A) Accept the fact that they'll have to learn things via lengthy, laborious "trial and error" sessions since it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever come to their assistance in a meaningful, let alone practical, way...

B) Properly discount the all too common, overly optimistic, one-liners to the effect that "yeah, such and such programmer made modding easy in every respect" (just don't ask such posters to give you details)...

C) Understand that the programmers of support utilities may be pursuing their own agendas which will significantly impact on:

i) How much and on what level they may be willing to communicate with inquisitive Modders.

ii) How long they may be willing to maintain their software.

iii) How much documentation they'd be willing to provide.

D) Understand and accept that:

1) They cannot avoid getting their hands "technically dirty".

2) Tantrums to the effect that they're "sovereign" consumers and that things should be "easy" (since instant gratification is a... postmodernist inalienable right) will provide great material for... illustrative, anecdotal postings. :sarcasm

3) Beyond "Player Plus" status, Modding is an extremely solitary affair, barring very few exceptions...
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[OPN] H2H Play Oriented Modding

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:08, Sunday

This is old hat; nevertheless, it bears repeating: SSI's (stock) scenarios were never designed with an eye towards challenging H2H play. That said, historically, such "amputee" scenarios have been put to widespread use by various PBEM clubs primarily concerned with the maintenance of "glory ladders". Online play realities haven't been that much different either...

There're very good reasons why challenging H2H play necessitates that players be well versed in the advanced mechanics and internals of the wargame they're utilizing. If so, observations / implications for the design approach to scenarios explicitly aimed at H2H play naturally follow:

1) SSI never bothered to document wargame advanced mechanics and internals. Commercially, this wouldn't have made any sense. Video wargamers aren't known to care about such things...

2) SSI never bothered to author content specifically aimed at all-human play. Commercially, this too makes a lot of sense. Video wargamers are predominantly "AI Warriors"... Also, "amputee" scenarios seem to have satisfied most all-human play tastes in the PG1 World... So, again, why bother ?

3) Whatever Modding tools have been bundled with SSI's wargame titles have directly reflected a commercial view of what Modding flavors were likely to be sought after by their customer base. More often than not, such Modding tools ended up prescribing the kinds of Modding which would eventually see the light of day. Historically, Video wargamers have been neither particularly innovative nor persevering...

4) On occasion, "serious" H2H players have been the beneficiaries of... offbeat documentation tendencies attempting to shed some light on what sort of things may be hiding under some wargame's "technical hood" (e.g., Prima's Official PG1 Strategy Guide).

5) Very rarely, "serious" H2H players have "demanded" that the scenarios they'd rather play be designed specifically for such "custom" play mode purposes.

THUS, the following "burdens" were placed on the shoulders of prospective H2H play oriented scenario designers:

A) Being "friendly" to all-human play.

B) Being familiar with a wargame's advanced mechanics and internals.

C) Being technically knowledgeable so as to utilize all available means rather than be "enslaved" by the Modding tools (if any) that come bundled with the wargame titles.

D) Understanding the fundamental implications arising out of the practical differences between PBEM and Online / Hotseat play modes.

E) Aiming at scenario uniqueness (as opposed to campaign uniformity) and repeat playability (easier said than done).
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[OPN] Adventurous Modding

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:10, Sunday

What It Takes

On occasion, I've made reference to "adventurous" Modding / Modders in this forum. Where does Adventurous Modding stand in relation to Mainstream and Heroic Modding which have already been covered in some detail under this topic ?

Adventurous Modding straddles the boundary that conceptually separates Mainstream from Heroic Modding. It takes place in no man's land, so to speak. Specifically, Adventurous Modding:

1) Is triggered by a hobbyist's desire to break free of "popular" or "prescribed" content design recipes and approaches.

2) Doesn't exclusively depend on support utilities, whether bundled or independently provided.

3) Requires extensive technical knowledge regarding what's going on "under the hood".

4) Presupposes considerable technical familiarity with computers, especially hex-editing of binary files (main executables included).

Infuriating Obstacle

Whatever obstacles an Adventurous Modder may be faced with are part of a Hobby's "public" culture. Coders are free to service or not some perceived technical need "out there". In practice, they seldom oblige unless they themselves are Adventurous Modders...

In the PG1 World, Adventurous Modders have been faced with an... infuriating obstacle.

Even twenty five years ago, software could readily utilize initialization (INI) or configuration (CFG) files the contents of which would override selected hardcoded values found in executables. Given sufficient technical knowledge, software users would be able to customize various features by changing the relevant values in such readily editable, external support files.

On the basis of my understanding of what the PG1 World has been technically all about, I'm not holding my breath that such files will be making an appearance anytime soon. Video wargaming doesn't really care about the underlying play system. Therefore, there's absolutely no need to tamper with its arcane parameters, right ?
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[OPN] Heroic Modding

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:14, Sunday

Heroic modding entails massive changes to a game title's engine and external support files. Often, it aims at coming up with radically different "skins" as well. One could say that heroic modding takes off at precisely the technical stage at which the wargame title's programmer exits the scene, never to return...

Heroic modding requires detailed technical knowledge and perseverance in order to bear fruit. Only a foolish after-market developer would spend so much effort on something that's akin to a... moving target. Hence, the "RIP" requirement. From that point on, it's the... hip graveyard that becomes all the rage ! :)

By the way, here's the perfect example of a "heroic mod" from within the confines of the PG1 World: Pacific Panzer General (DOS). I very much doubt its developer would've spent all this time developing his Super-Mod if SSI were still around... Not just because of... copyright infringement issues !
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[OPN] Modding: A Very Personal Opinion

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:16, Sunday

Elsewhere, I wrote:
The intent here isn't to tell modders how to mod. Far from it. Some modders design custom scenarios intending for PGF's AI to lead a specific Alliance (i.e., side) and no other. Other modders are quite comfortable with symmetrical play where the AI may be called upon to lead either one of the two Alliances (i.e., sides). Finally, there are modders who don't mind viewing their creations as dual-purpose (i.e., fighting against PGF's AI or playing H2H).
When it comes to Human vs. AI play, I'm a strong believer in scenario designs which exclusively focus on assigning the AI to lead a specific side. In other words, I'm no fan of "role symmetry". This "role specificity" allows the designer to sharply focus on relying on the AI's strengths while compensating for the AI's weaknesses in rather concrete, situational terms.

When it comes to H2H play, I'm not at all in favor of dual-purpose scenario design. I'm a strong believer in scenarios specifically designed for H2H play and for nothing else. :)

Now, whether his opponent is another human or PGF's AI, a human player may always elect to observe certain "house rules" which, more often than not, enrich play quality. Unfortunately, PGF's AI can't reciprocate for rather obvious reasons. That said, PGF AI's inability to engage in certain actions which are routinely available to human players might be interpreted as sticking unilaterally to "program-dictated", restrictive "house rules"... :P

Finally, I have a recommendation for modders contemplating the introduction of modding innovations, Go through the complete and intensive mental exercise focusing on human players first. Once you're satisfied, and only then, think about ways (if any) that PGF's AI may be able to usefully relate to the aforesaid "researched" innovations.

Getting off the proverbial... soapbox now ! :lol
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[OPN] Symbolic Effectiveness vs. Pictographic Meaningfulness

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:27, Sunday

General Commentary

Historically, the term "symbolic effectiveness" has been associated with a critique of computer wargames from the standpoint of prior board wargaming traditions. The argument / concern has revolved around the trend of using the computer's technical capabilities to enhance "being there" emotional states in players. Invariably, such images, sounds and so on were viewed as distracting threats to a player's ability to be at his best during actual play.

A computer wargame can handle a lot of detail "behind the scenes". However, all kinds of stats are routinely accessible to the player via mouse clicks or keystrokes. Terrain tiles or unit icons have nothing to do with a wargame's play mechanics per se. They have everything to do with... aesthetics. Nevertheless, there are two fundamental aesthetic tendencies that oppose one another. Symbolic effectiveness is austere, minimalist (e.g., NATO symbology). This is "classic" boardgame territory. There's no room for "heroic" role-playing and the like. Pictographic meaningfulness is baroque, maximalist. This is miniatures territory. Depictive detail is of paramount importance. The twain shall never really meet...

Not unexpectedly, there's always a subjective, fine line which can be drawn between graphics aiming at supporting symbolic effectiveness (a board wargamer's key concern) and those aiming at rendering a computer wargame, well, ... a video wargame.

The preceding commentary is part and parcel of a much wider civilizational struggle, of course. The struggle pits abstract symbolism against visual realism.

A Typical Example

Wargame maps are intended to enable and facilitate play:

a) In the board wargame tradition, a human looks for terrain-related threats and opportunities on the basis of the human's proficiency in dealing with the underlying play system (rules). It's all about symbolic effectiveness...

b) In the computer wargame tradition, things are like immediately preceding point (a) with one, sometimes important, additional thing. Namely, if the computer wargame is a video one, the human may indulge his aesthetic side for better or worse...
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[OPN] E-File: Concept

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:29, Sunday

Let me state the obvious here: WWG E-Files are:

a) Irrelevant to hobbyists who just play content that comes bundled with some wargame title.

b) Tangentially relevant to hobbyists who just play stock / custom content.

On the other hand, Modders need to know quite a bit in regards to E-Files...

Origins

The term "E-File" made its debut way back in the mid-1990s and specifically referred to the PG1-DOS Equipment Specifications File PANZEQUP.EQP. Frankly, the term did not really add anything to the mix... PANZEQUP.EQP was, well, a DOS binary file and, as such, was not... hard copy for sure !!

SSI's licensed... "confusionists" made darn sure that the future would be, what else, rather... confusing ! :)

Due to some complaints by a minor slice of the WWG hobby, SSI progressively "externalized" some features and capabilities, thus making it possible for a few interested customers of theirs to engage in some Modding. In fact, SSI's aim was to bundle editing tools with their newer vintage wargames so that the very existence of such... friendly tools would kill off any... deviationist tendencies by establishing a Modding Orthodoxy of sorts...

Technically speaking, an ever increasing number of files became the object as well as the target of WWG Modding. So, how on earth did one go about describing a collection of moddable files as an... E-File ? One would've expected the terminology to... welcome the term "E-Folder" or, perhaps, "E-Ensemble", right ? Well, no such luck...

Clearly, the "E-File" concept... cries out for a new term. In my opinion, "E-Folder" may just not be enough. In all probability, "E-Ensemble" is closer to the mark; reason being:

Not all moddable files necessarily reside in the same folder !!
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[OPN] Hex-Editing... Psychology

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:33, Sunday

Hex-editing of binary files has been described as "poor man's programming". Sorry, I don't buy it. Why not ? Well, the adjective "poor" betrays a sense of terminal, technical helplessness, even inferiority... Consequently, the psychological door is being kept open for all kinds of lamentations and calls that some Developer "better" return to the "public" fold and do this or that, mostly out of his heart's kindness and a sense of hobby... camaraderie.

In my opinion, hex-editing can readily be viewed as "proud and independent Modder's programming". "Advanced" Modders just say thank you to the relevant Developer once and move on, never looking back. They most certainly don't "beg" on their hobbyist knees...

Obviously, hex-editing PGF's engine and certain external support (binary) files which enable the game to actually run is definitely in the realm of possibility... :)
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[OPN] Interconnected Scenarios

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:36, Sunday

One can say that any two PG1 World scenarios are related by virtue of certain readily observable commonalities in gameplay and visual presentation. However, this is too broad a perspective for our present purposes.

Enter the Interconnected Scenario Play Mode (ISPM). The main idea behind this play mode is rather simple; namely, two or more PG1 World scenarios can be "linked chain-like" in a cascading causal manner. SSI-style campaigns are familiar examples of the aforesaid play mode. Let's take a closer look at an SSI-style PG1 World campaign.

1) The top causation level is the one where the victory level just achieved by the human player determines the next scenario that his forces will be asked to fight in. Occasionally, a rather limited choice is put on the General's table for his consideration and ultimate decision... Sometimes, the top causation level effects a tangible shift in the relevant theater of operations.

2) The second causation level is the one where the victory level achieved by the human player determines the amount of prestige that he'll be allowed to "carry forward" into the next scenario that his forces will be called upon to fight in. Occasionally, this level also accommodates extra prestige expenditure(s) triggered by some of the General's decisions (invariably, quite ambitious). The second causation level effects an abstract transfer of accumulated prestige from one scenario into the next one.

3) The third causation level is the one where the human player's surviving core units are automatically transferred and available to fight in the next scenario. Thus, the third causation level effects a seemingly tangible transfer of specific (all core) units from one scenario into the next one.
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[OPN] Coreless Campaigns (Part I)

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:38, Sunday

Before anyone answers this question as a definite "NO", just look at {PG1-DOS} with a fresh eye. No, not the one where you see yourself at the front of 10, 5-star, Tiger IIs pounding on the miserable and poorly lead AI units. I'm talking about a challenge here and, preferably, play against another human.

Why do I ask?

I'm in the middle of making a campaign or rather redesigning the original one. The further I progress the less I like it; it becomes increasingly easier. The AI requires incredible amounts of prestige just to make it a bit challenging. But what does the AI do with all that prestige? You guessed it. It buys a bunch of 24 point AT guns and 75mm Arty. Essentially, I keep asking myself: what's the point? Another problem is that because of the huge advantage given to the AI, many scenarios are virtually unplayable against another human via PBEM or hot-seat. And this is my dilemma.

The solution to my dilemma is actually simple and easy to implement. Get rid of all core units in each scenario and replace them with auxiliaries. In doing so, the player will still be advancing through the campaign, except that he will not be carrying any "ueber-units" along with him. This is more like a general being transferred from one operation to another. I also think this to be a more realistic approach.
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[OPN] Coreless Campaigns (Part II)

Post by HexCode » 2021-02-28 02:41, Sunday

A long standing "grognard" gripe has been that SSI-style campaigning is essentially an ahistorical exercise in... glorious futility. Well, "grognards" holding such views are unlikely to touch anything in the PG1 World anyway!

What about "grognards-lite" though? It's possible that a Coreless Campaign may be a bit more palatable to them since the scenario-based Order(s) of Battle (OoB) will remain unmolested despite the Campaign Play Mode. The assumption here's, of course, that these hobbyists are reasonably satisfied with the standalone OoB picture to begin with; otherwise, well, you know... :)

. . .

I consider a Coreless Campaign to be a viable option for those who'd like to create battles / operations more in line with historical "accuracy" when it comes to OoBs. However, without core units what's the point of playing a campaign anyway? Why not play standalone scenarios instead? Well, I can think of two possible reasons: an underlying branching tree and a more gradual increase in difficulty.

. . .

I'd imagine that accumulated prestige will allow the "campaigning" alliance to replace strength points lost during combat with elite replacements. Furthermore, "smart" opportunities to upgrade units during actual play will come to the fore as key elements leading to victory. All this means, of course, that the rather "abstract" carryover prestige management exercise will become the critical thing which will ultimately decide the fate of an aspiring "Campaign General".

. . .

Ok, a Coreless Campaign decidedly does away with "ueber-units".

The retention of the Campaign Branching Tree feature will likely appeal to players who're drawn to a "larger than life" warfighting canvass, replete with role-enhancing briefings. It'll also appeal to players who welcome historically counterfactual situations and outcomes provided they're "reasonably" plausible. Finally and, perhaps, most importantly, prestige management will become the operational level feature to focus on; this, provided a Coreless Campaign is carefully designed to impose an appropriately biting prestige scarcity most of the time...

As for the gradual increase in difficulty, I'd imagine that it'd depend on the OoBs of the constituent standalone scenarios. Obviously, a designer has many degrees of freedom here...
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[OPN] Glory & Precision: Peaceful... Coexistence ?

Post by HexCode » 2021-03-09 05:21, Tuesday

The Issue

Elsewhere on the Internet:
I've read somewhere that, way back in the mid-1990s, "people" purporting to represent SSI's views were claiming that players not being privy to victory determination details were very lucky indeed. Such wonderful... mysteries were essential if players were to "truly" enjoy the game !
SO, that's where I draw my playing line. I've absolutely no desire to play content under SSI / # Rudankort # ... emulation (worship ?) conditions. PGF's briefings to the... glorious :) General can easily accommodate a section containing precise parlance describing victory conditions. This does (would) not in any way interfere with whatever role-playing "fluff" a content designer may choose to present a player with, say, at the beginning of each scenario during a campaign. :2cents

NOW, I don't want to be misunderstood here. I'm not suggesting that "others" should necessarily agree with me on this point. However, the Modders (if any) who do agree with me may find this post somewhat useful. :ihope

Technical Background

Historically, Outcome Conditions (OCs), commonly referred to as "Victory Conditions", have had a rough time... More often than not, custom content designers emulated SSI's (and much later, # Rudankort's #) ways of leaving "things" kind of vague, even dangling...

Under PGF, OC parlance (if any) naturally resides either in files *.PGSCN or in files *.PGBRF, depending on whether the Play Mode is Standalone Scenario or Campaign, respectively. Most importantly, these files sport plain text formats which allow for easy editing.

My Own... Shorthand

The following examples illustrate how I've chosen to go about documenting OCs in my own private :) modding domain. I can only assume that SSI's "stock" PG1 scenarios are rather well known "around here"...

POLAND

Standalone Scenario Play Mode ==>

Xv = Iv

meaning: "Axis Victory IF & ONLY IF (IFF) the Axis Score an Instantaneous Victory"

Campaign Play Mode ==>

XMv = Iv CT < 8
Xmv = Iv CT <10


meaning:
"Axis MAJOR Victory IFF the Axis Score an Iv in fewer than 8 completed turns";
"Axis MINOR Victory IFF the Axis Score an Iv in fewer than 10 completed turns",
respectively.

TUNIS

Standalone Scenario Play Mode ==>

Xv = Iv || Xown: "TUNIS" & 2+ OOHs

meaning: "Axis Victory IF the Axis Score an Iv OR IF they own "TUNIS" and at least 2 other Objective Hexes at scenario's mandated end".

Campaign Play Mode ==>

XMv = Iv || Xown: "TUNIS" & 5+ OOHs
Xmv = Xown: "TUNIS" & 2+ OOHs


meaning:
"Axis MAJOR Victory IF the Axis Score an Iv OR IF they own "TUNIS" and at least 5 other Objective Hexes at scenario's mandated end";
"Axis MINOR Victory IF the Axis own "TUNIS" and at least 2 other Objective Hexes at scenario's mandated end",
respectively.

ARDENNES

Standalone Scenario Play Mode ==>

Xv = Iv || Xown: ALL OHs BUT "BRUSSELS"

meaning: "Axis Victory IF the Axis Score an Iv OR IF they own ALL Objective Hexes BUT "BRUSSELS" at scenario's mandated end".

Campaign Play Mode ==>

XMv = Iv
Xmv = Xown: ALL OHs BUT "BRUSSELS"


meaning:
"Axis MAJOR Victory IFF the Axis Score an Iv";
"Axis MINOR Victory IF they own ALL Objective Hexes BUT "BRUSSELS" at scenario's mandated end",
respectively.
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[OPN] Scale Consistency & Scalability (Part I)

Post by HexCode » 2021-03-10 17:56, Wednesday

Half a century ago, two seminal hex-based, turn-based wargames, Blitzkrieg and Panzerblitz, launched two partially overlapping wargaming traditions. Blitzkrieg ushered in the era of Strategy Wargaming. Panzerblitz did the same for Historical Wargaming.

Three of the topmost concerns in Historical Wargaming have been how to establish geographical, turn duration and magnitude consistency as well as pursue scalability across the board. The object has always been to render multiple battle situations playable under the same rules and unit specifications.

1) The goal of geographical consistency is to establish definitive, unchanging dimensions underlying a typical map hex. In this context, scalability poses the challenge of designing maps sporting hexes of varying dimensions while somehow tinkering with rules and unit specifications . . .

2) The goal of turn duration consistency is to establish definitive, unchanging interpretations of wargame time elapsed. In this context, scalability poses the challenge of designing scenarios of varying time durations while somehow tinkering with rules and unit specifications (especially movement, fuel and ammo consumption) . . .

3) The goal of magnitude consistency is to establish definitive, unchanging interpretations of the meaning of a typical unit strength factor. In this context, scalability poses the challenge of specifying units of varying sizes while somehow designing appropriate maps . . .

so as to keep "things" objective...

In my opinion, PGF's design isn't adequately suited to effectively pursuing "objective" scale consistency and scalability aims in the context of custom content generation. :2cents
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[OPN] WWG Hobby Conservatism

Post by HexCode » 2021-03-11 17:12, Thursday

WWG = World War General (i.e., SSI's 5-Star General play systems and their numerous emulations)

To quote the Duke of Wellington of Waterloo fame:
Look at those French. They are coming at us in the same old way. And we
shall meet them in the same old way.
Even In Chess ?

I have the perfect example of "hobby conservatism" here. Some of you may know that, for some time now, a chess movement called Chess360 has increasingly been gaining steam and acceptance. What Chess360 does is to shuffle the first row pieces according to the laws of probability while maintaining the symmetry between the white and black starting position. In essence, all "received" opening theory goes out the window... The overwhelming majority of grandmasters and masters have been going up in arms. You see, a depreciation of their "investment" in "standard opening theory" is simply non-negotiable. Without it, these "mainstreamers" feel kind of... naked. As for a certain small minority of... adventurous souls, well, they did embrace the... "revolution".

Perceived Looming Threats

If one thinks about it, a "WWG conservative" with a deep psychological need to "defend" his "sacred hobby territory" is bound to perceive of many and varied looming "threats".

a) Consider the case where some hobbyist might employ his own set of "house
rules" to play a WWG campaign. In this case, neither the wargame's programming nor the technical specification of the particular campaign would be altered. Yet, if the "conservative" designer of the campaign were to get wind of such goings on he would, in all probability, feel... rather uneasy. Why ? This is where social psychology enters the picture. The key sentiment is this one:

"Who are you to play my campaign "baby" in a way that I didn't sanction ?"

I believe this to be the crux of the matter. Notice that nothing was done to the designer's "baby". Rather, a hobbyist did something with the "baby" that the "baby's" designer didn't... emotionally authorize !

b) On the basis of the preceding point, one can go up the perceived "threat
ladder" by visualizing the following broader situation. Namely, what if a
group of hobbyists were to decide to employ certain "house rules" across a
wide spectrum of scenarios ? To begin with, the wargame's programming would still be intact. Moreover, no particular "baby" would be subjected to any kind
of... technical surgery. All that notwithstanding, if a WWG "conservative"
were to get wind of such goings on he would, in all probability, exclaim:

"Who are you to routinely play WWG scenarios in such an... unorthodox way ?"

c) The next perceived "threat" up the "ladder" would encompass tinkering with scenario definitions and, possibly, a wargame's play system itself; a tweak here, a minor addition there. Well, the following not entirely unexpected exclamation comes to mind:

"Who are you to tinker with the / my "sacred" content and, god forbid, even the wargame's "sacred" play system at the technical level ?"

Yeap, such are the "conservative" ways of the WWG Hobby ! It's all about emotional attachment to this or that "sacred cow"... :2cents
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[OPN] Scale Consistency & Scalability (Part II)

Post by HexCode » 2021-03-13 15:13, Saturday

The below beautifully addresses the post's topic within PGF's context and beyond. I've taken the liberty to reproduce it herein. The author is none other than this forum's Moderator and Veteran Custom Content Designer.
It would be a herculean task to rework the entire PG/AG SSI map catalogue to a consistent single scale. PacGen had a scale modifier value in scenarios which would change firing ranges (so that Iwo Jima and Central China make more sense within the same campaign, especially with appropriate turns per day / days per turn settings). Unfortunately, we don't have that in PG / AG/ PGF and if we try to stick to a consistent scale, Sevastopol would be just a single hex on a map rather than a whole scenario map. Every single map would have to be redone from scratch. So, in my opinion, that ship has sailed a long time ago.

Trying to model single units as divisions - in fact, anything larger than a battalion - these would have to include everything at once (except planes and ships), infantrymen, artillery, cavalry (where applicable), tanks, armored cars, bridging equipment, your uncle and my grandma... And there's no good way to model this under PG rules as a single unit; you can't give it the capabilities of infantry and tanks and artillery all at once. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

So HexCode is right in that the game rules favor smaller unit modeling where an infantry unit is chiefly made up by infantrymen, a tank unit by tanks/armored vehicles, an artillery unit by artillery pieces etc. Once you go above the battalion scale this breaks down and no longer can suit the purpose. But if you go below battalion scale, you're no longer talking kilometers for a hex size but meters (and we arrive at Steel Panthers territory); so larger scale PG maps no longer make any sense and if we reduce the scale to company level you're no longer invading a country but at best maybe a railway junction or a river crossing. I mean, that's perfectly fine too for those who like it like that; let there be a 1000 blossoms bloom I always say, but then we're no longer talking about Operation Barbarossa or Normandy landings or some such - which will not sit well with others who like it that way. :dunno

So, since the map scales are already widely inconsistent, in my humble opinion, as the best compromise (and you're free to disagree with me), battalion scale for unit modeling is a perfect fit because it's the largest organizational unit that is still made up largely of the same type of troops - with some added support elements that we can calculate into the stats - an infantry unit is still (mostly) infantry, a tank unit is still tanks etc. This is also considered as the smallest military unit capable of independent operations. It works (somewhat) in a Sevastopol / Washington scenario type, it works (somewhat) in a Moscow / Stalingrad scenario type and everything in between; so there you have it.

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[OPN] PGF: The Hobby

Post by HexCode » 2021-05-02 03:38, Sunday

This forum is essentially dedicated to PGF. However, the PGF "hobby" entails much much more than this forum's posts.

Private Aspects

No one really knows how much PGF playing and modding goes on in private. It's the dark side of the... "hobby". One can always speculate, of course. In my opinion, such speculation would be almost pointless. The fact is, "we" will never know.

Public Aspects -- Accessible Information

The "hobby" includes diverse sources of information which are "publicly" accessible (invariably, in electronic format). PGF's Library, this forum's posts and a host of "legacy" documents immediately come to mind. Players and Modders alike are free to take advantage of such information if they so choose. The information's quality and reliability vary widely across the board.

Public Aspects -- Software & Mods

The "hobby" also includes PGF's own software, a few content editing software and a host of diverse mods. Due to a rather obvious manifestation of "hobbyist camaraderie", these software and mods are readily and freely downloadable and, hence, "publicly" accessible to interested Players and Modders alike. Once again, though, the quality and reliability of these software and mods vary widely across the board.

Public Aspects -- A "Community" ?

I confess that I've always been rather skeptical regarding the very essence as well as practical utility which one may attach to the term "PGF Community". Undoubtedly, hobbyists who truly believe in the "objective" existence of such a "Community" get a... warm and fuzzy feeling. Who am I to... burst their bubble(s) ?

Ok, then, for all practical purposes, this forum's goings on could be viewed as a very very incomplete descriptor of something which could be referred to as the "PGF Community".

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