Portuguese Colonial War: Angola 1961-1974


IN-GAME SCREENSHOTS POSTED AHEAD


Current Status:

- Playtesting Multi-Player only yet



Portuguese Units:

These units will not be available at the same time, some are upgrades of other.

From top left, to lower right:

- Madsen MG / MG-42 / HK-21 MG
- Jeep / Chaimite / Commando / Loose Mortar
- G3 Infantry / Mauser Infantry / Panhard EBR / Panhard AML
- Fiat G91 / DO-27 / Harvard T-6 / Alouette III
- Puma / Daimler Dingo / Sapper / Precision Mortar
- Paratrooper / FN Infantry

These are probably final, except Panhard EBT, i'm waiting for a replacement.

Some feedback on units, terrain, etc, would be appreciated :)

Scenario Notes:

- Time limit ranges from February 1961 to April 1974, with 2 weeks / turn.
- Both Fascism and Communism governments now have paid labor.
- Drafting will not be possible for the portuguese.
- Most portuguese units will be autoproduced.
- Guerillas will have no air units at all, but will have AA defense.
- Irrigated Plains now produce +2 food (3 total)
- There are no luxuries, and resources are "special", only required for some specific wonders, so you won't have to deal with that.



Guerrilla's Units:

From top left, to lower right:

- Flak / Tripwire Mine / Marxist Guerrilla
- Musketman Infantry / Thompson Infantry / AK-47 Infantry
- RPG-2 / RPG-7 / CLF Guerrilla
- MG-42 / Motorized MG-42

[U]Units (FINAL):U]

Portuguese:

Infantry:
- Mauser Infantry (4/5/1)
- G3 Infantry (9/7/1)
- FN Infantry (8/8/1)
- Paratrooper (9/8/1) (Airdrops)
- Commando (16/13/1 +2 HP)
- Sapper (4/6/1) (Can detect mines and other invisible, Radar)

Machine Gunners:
- Madsen (3/7/1)
- MG-42 (4/9/1)
- HK-21 (5/11/1)

Artillery:
- Loose 60mm Mortar (6(7)/3/1)
- Precise 60mm Mortar (7(12)/3/1)

Armor & Motorized
- Panhard EBR (12(7)/9/2)
- Panhard AML (14(10)/10/2)
- Jeep (6/4/3)
- Daimler Dingo (8/6/3)
- Chaimite APC (6(4)/11/2)

Air Units:
- DO-27 (3(7)/2/6)
- Harvard T-6 (4(11)/4/8)
- Fiat G91 (6(15)/6/10)


Guerillas:

Infantry:
- Musket / Katana Infantry (3/3/1)
- Thompson Infantry (7/6/1)
- AK-47 Infantry (10/8/1)

Machine Gunners:
- MG-42 (4/9/1)

Artillery:
- RPG-2 (5(12)/3/1)
- RPG-7 (7(16)/4/1)

Land Mines:
- Tripwire Mine (1/7/1) (Immobile)

Other Auto-Produced
- CLF Guerrilla (7/8/1)
- Marxist Guerrilla (7/3/2) (Invisible, ignores move cost)
- Motorized MG-42 (9/5/3)

Credits:


Special Thanks:

- El Justo

Units:
- Christ2000
- Kinboat
- Balou
- Pesoloco
- Hunter
- J-S
- Doragon
- Wheel Gator
- hiddenpix
- utahjazz7
- smoking mirror
- CivArmy s. 1994
- ripptide
- Vuldacon
- TVA22
- BeBro

Other Graphics & Stuff

- Spyncrus
- Snoopy
- Zulu

The graphics are still not definitive, some of them may not be used, still, the credits remain here :)

I don't know if the idea has been mentioned elsewhere, but consider having a minelayer or IFV unit which "enslaves" to an invisible, immobile land mine unit with a high defense and/or zero range bombard. This would work for a naval unit as well, methinks.

Another idea that I know has been mentioned is having an immobile mine which you "paradrop" in the battlefield, with the obvious problem that the AI won't do anything with them.

I don't know if the idea has been mentioned elsewhere, but consider having a minelayer or IFV unit which "enslaves" to an invisible, immobile land mine unit with a high defense and/or zero range bombard. This would work for a naval unit as well, methinks.

Another idea that I know has been mentioned is having an immobile mine which you "paradrop" in the battlefield, with the obvious problem that the AI won't do anything with them.


GREAT! i never thought about that! a minelayer that enslaves into an immobile mine is pretty cool indeed! only the problem that a human player will know where the mines are, but in real war, many minefields are also known.

i like the paradrop one, but the ai sucks... :(

thanks a lot for your idea, i'll probably use it :)


PS: i'm making a map myself, but i'm a terrible mapper, it's not accurate at all, especially the terrain, but i've done my best. i'll post a screenshot when it's half-done :mischief:

ok, there are still much to do on the map (place more cities, improvements, resources, etc) but the terrain is pretty much done

i would really like suggestions :)

land mines are really, really difficult to implement and i try and stear as clear away from them in civ as i would in RL ;)

however, i am always open to suggestions...

El Justo: yes, i don't think they will be correct any way i implement them, but they are just too important to skip, as half the portuguese soldiers killed on the colonial war were due to land mines :(

can you give me some suggestion?

i'm glad i just found a map of 1960, so i can have city names, railroads, etc very accurate! :)

also, i will have to make the city owners quite arbitrary, as this was more like a guerrilla war.

some cities will have to be given to the guerrilas, although portuguese military presence was constant.

i'll give them the cities in which combats were more frequent, the northern and eastern ones.

hey this sounds like a cool idea.. unfortunately i don't have a lot of knowledge about this time period of history, so i don't think i can be of any real help... but it sounds like an interesting idea...

right now i'm placing roads and railroads, trying to be as accurate as possible with the 1960 map

land mine units are tough b/c we just don't know what the AI will do w/ them. i presume that they won't do anything w/ them so for the sake of balance, i am skeptical...

however, there are several methods that are employed and you can look some of them over in this thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=99440&page=6&pp=20

sidenote: "balance" is probably the most important part of any scenario. i'm not saying that if you add in a land mine unit it'll throw everything out of whack but you should try your damnedest to add units that serve a particular purpose or offer a unique ability as well as trying to stay simple and straightforward at the same time...

yes el justo, thanks, but i think the best option would be the one GRM7584 said: having a unit which enslaves into 1/D/1 immobile, invisible land mine.

of course it's location will be known, but during a game you can happen to forget, especially when there are lots of it.

i agree when you say balance is the most important in a scenario, this one is my first, i'm not daring even to think of reaching some scenarios i've played, but i'm trying my best to make it at least "playable".

thanks for your support!

ps: this can be also considered a cold war age scenario, as colonial war was for the portuguese much like vietnam was for the american, except that vietnam was not an american colony, yet, guerillas in angola and other portuguese colonies were supported by communist countries to spread it's influence.

okay. good luck!

Do you have a civ list yet?

I'm sure I saw the untis of the requests, just don't know the links. I did the Brazilian Cascavel light armor, it is not equal of that units that u need, but in case u didn't find the right units u could use it if u want :)

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/cascavel011.jpg

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/cascavel-run1.gif

Do you have a civ list yet?

i considered making all the 3 guerilla factions and the portuguese, but to make it more playable i've decided to just make it 1 on 1, a guerilla faction and the portuguese.

I'm sure I saw the untis of the requests, just don't know the links. I did the Brazilian Cascavel light armor, it is not equal of that units that u need, but in case u didn't find the right units u could use it if u want :)

thanks a lot!! i'll use for the Panhard EBT, i only think the blue part won't look very nice in that environment, if you could change it to brown or something i would aprecciate it a lot :)

thanks a lot!! i'll use for the Panhard EBT, i only think the blue part won't look very nice in that environment, if you could change it to brown or something i would aprecciate it a lot :)

All these "blue"s that u see in my units previews r the "color specific", it is the blue R=58 G=100 B=255. This color is used to u identify what unit below to what civ :) Ex: if the Romans build this unit the blue turns red (the color of Roma in Civ3)

oh my! how stupid am i?!

LOL thanks a lot then, i'll surely be using it :))

i'm considering making two versions of the scenario, one for Single Player, focused on the AI behavior, and one Multiplayer, with a more realistic play (helicopter airdrops, landmines placement, etc...)

what do you think?

personally i think this can be a good MP scenario, it's simplicity with only 2 civs and a small map can make it cool and fast playing turns :)

CivArmy S. 1994: Your cascavel unit has some texture problems while in game, it seems like some parts of it turn white after it moves :(

i'll be replacing it for the time being, if you can fix this then please let me know

CivArmy S. 1994: you can see what i mean in the first page, i've posted a screenshot

I gather some of the units will be new? Or are you using existing / altered units?

what do you mean with new? i didn't create any units, they are all from other users, and some are in the original civ too.

can someone give me some feedback please? does it look good, bad? any ideas? :(

Oh OK. I just haven't seen the Alouette anywhere... Got a link?

But: feedback... well it looks enticing to me. I am all for historic-"ish" mods. Always.

Oh OK. I just haven't seen the Alouette anywhere... Got a link?

But: feedback... well it looks enticing to me. I am all for historic-"ish" mods. Always.


for the alouette i just used the Huey graphics.

you can see a picture of a real Alouette III:

here is the final (i think) tech tree for the portuguese.

there are some more buildings/units to include, but the techs and dependencies will be these:

(please note that those buildings are auto-producing, so there are only a few units which you can build in cities)

i've decided to make this multiplayer only for now.

pardon me all those who think that civ 3 AI is a blast (who are they?!), but the AI is just too stupid to do things required in the scenario, like building some wonders... i dunno why, but they seem to prefer producing units instead of losing a few turns to build some auto-producing improvements...

i think this can be a very good multiplayer scenario, i'm doing my best to make this accurate yet balanced, and now, with the ai off my way, i think i can make it more playable. i just would like some opinions / ideas

i'd make sure to have a sinlge player version, too...

El Justo: i'd like to do that, but i can't find a way to make the AI build the improvements / wonders it takes to be competitive...

the only way i can think of, is giving them the improvements from the start with a lower production frequency, but that would almost make their tech tree useless and spoil the realism of the scenario... :(

do you have any ideas?

i've encountered the same issue w/ the vietnam thingie...

i've concluded that:
a) the scenario ought to be relatively short (under 150 turns) and
b) pre-placing the autopro'ing wonders is the most effective and fool proof way to make sure the AI spits out the units at the preferred rate...

thanks el justo, ill probably do the same thing in the singleplayer version, right now i will finish the mp as soon as possible!

i hope i have someone interested in playing, at least one to play with me :P

using the autopro' wonders allows you to control the number of units on the map...very important if you want to retain historical accuarcy.

yes, i'm trying to do that even in MP.

for the portuguese only a few units can be produced in cities, and guerrilla's have about half that can be produced.

the units that can be produced are usually infantry / artillery.

air units and vehicles all come from auto-production.

naval units are not used in my scenario as they were of little or no importance in the colonial war.

for multiplayer, what do you think is better: 158 or 316 turns?

remember that this is 2 civ scenario, turn speed will be quite fast.

definitely 158. we live in the age of short attention spans so yeah, 300+ turns in a MP game would last until civ 5! ;)

i have a fool-proof way of adding in all of the autopro'ing improvements/wonders. it doesn't take a lot of time either...i can share it w/ you if you'd like.

158 it is then :)

sure!!! share it with me, i'm always willing to learn new things :)

good news el justo: seems like the AI still has some kind of a brain, as it CAN and will use helis as troop transports! :)

well, okay...

have the following 3 open when putting in the improvement/wonders:

civilopdiea.txt, pediaicons.txt and the biq file

now, add in the description in the civilopedia according to the exisiting entries (C&P works very well w/ all text files), the gfx in the pediaicons (use existing civ3 gfx so that you don't have to include any other...it just makes it easier).

edit: be sure to put in an entry for the wonder splashes if it's a SW or GW. the game'll crash w/out them!

next, make sure you C&P the updated text files and have them in the referenced scenario folder...if you don't, the biq file will not be able to 'read' the updated text entries that you made...and you will not be able to link the added improvement up w/ the correct civilopedia antry and pics. this all sounds complicated but it really isn't. just make sure you add in the text entires before you add them into the editor.

there's also a way of restricting only certain cities to be able to build certain wonders. this process is a tad bit more complicated and i'll only go over it if it's necessary. i had to do this for TCW and it worked pretty well; although it is tedious.

tkx el justo, i had a lot of problems due to crashes and some entries not appearing in the editor, now i know why :)

i also use restrictions to where some improvements must be built, i don't know if you use it like i do: i created some resources and placed them into city squares and requested that goods must be in city radius. i think it works pretty well, in MP of course...

in SP the AI just keeps popping out units and doesn't give a dime about wonders or improvements, looks like some sort of fanatism :P

anyway, thanks for your tips! :)

ok i placed starting units on the ground and i'll start my first playtest now, to catch bugs, see if it is balanced etc

don't rush it...try to make sure everything is fairly polished before you release it. this makes a big difference.

hehe yes, i'm trying to release it fairly playable, but i'm counting on others experience to give me some ideas if it is not balanced and other.

i played a couple of turns with both civs and had to end because of a missing wonder splash :P

the units are all done, same with the improvements, now it's just playtesting, get rid of bugs and check out the balance of the scenario.

if anyone would like to play with me, contact me and i'll send the scenario.

The Eastern Front, Week 5 1961

Guerrilla's Attack at the Northern Front, Week 5, 1961

hey...it's Pancho Villa ;)

also, i would restrict wheeled units from travelling over hills, mountains or jungle tiles.

hehehe yes it is! :) i think it looks nice for a peasant guerrilla. it only has 3/3/1

i have resticted mountains and jungle, i think hills will be too much as there were very few roads (at least good ones) in angola by this time, and LOTS of hills :)

...then i would make sure their is a pretty good mvmt penalty for hills.

yes it has 2, and most vehicles have movement 2, except jeeps which have 3, but these are used for exploration.

Week 49, 1962

The North-Eastern Front: Guerrillas armed with Thompson strike and destroy farms near Malanje.

Portuguese G3 Infantry Army is sent to control the rebels.

a few bugs and lots of corrections/tweaks made to assure scenario balance, i now think it is pretty cool to play either side.

it is more complicated to play with the portuguese, because you have to manage air units, build auto-producing improvements, and especially because you have to supply the entire front with only a few core cities; many of your cities will only be able to produce a couple of units during the scenario, due to corruption.

playing as guerrilla is more simple. you have less units, but must be aware of portuguese air force, so build those flaks / rpgs!
also be aware of heli airdrops near your cities, don't leave them undefended!

(The techs are being tweaked to make a few more turns to research)

Week 21, 1964, Deep Angola Interior

Portuguese helicopter raid turned out successfull as troops captured Lutuai in a surprise attack.

However in the north, Ambrizete has fallen into guerrilla's hands.

i'll make a scenario release which includes music. i highly recommend it! it contains music from the sixties, woodstock 1969 and a couple of portuguese revolutionary songs (forbidden, but the soldiers managed to get those somehow :) )

i'd be careful w/ releasing any copyrighted material. it could be seen a file sharing. plus those file sizes are ENORMOUS.

yes maybe you are right, although i doubt i would have problems with that, but maybe it's better...

the size is not a problem cause i would make it another file.

i will not make it available at least for now.

yeah, you're probably better off not uploading them...

i have my own custom music folder and will probably insert it for my personal use in my vietnam mod. jimmi hendrix, the doors, the rolling stones...all so cool.

there's nothing like mowin' down some VC w/ hendrix's "Machine Gun" playing ambiantly in the background.

hehehe it's kind of what i wanted too, hippie style music, to give some ambience, i'll sure use it :P

dsada .......