The Hinge of Fate - Playtest/Release Thread

[tootall_2012]

Quick question:

It's already Early August 1942 and I've been wanting to research 'Winter Warfare' to avoid the effect of the coming winter but the prerequisite 'Winter 1942' advance, so far in 1942, is never an available tech when comes time to select a new technology to research. I'm I missing something?

 

[Prof. Garfield]

As requested, I replaced the lua file with the latest version and continued to play. Unfortunately, it might have resolved some other issues but apparently not the one that I keep experiencing. The console goes by very fast as it's printing out the different messages but I managed to capture a screen shot of this particular reference to the unitKilledinCombat trigger. I don't know if that helps?

By the way, is it possible to pause the console as it's going through its process or do you have to wait till the end?

View attachment 624259

@JPetroski
Line 2385 and beyond, triggerEvents.lua

--Code to prevent Soviet partisans from taking over cities (will mean I'll need new Polish unit...)
if aggressor.owner == object.tUSSR and aggressor.type == object.uPartisans and defender.owner == object.tGermany and defender.location.city then 
civlua.createUnit(object.uConscripts, object.tGermany, {{defender.location.x,defender.location.y,defender.location.z}}, {randomize=false, veteran=false})
end

It looks like 'defender' should be either 'victim' or 'loser' in this section of code.

By the way, is it possible to pause the console as it's going through its process or do you have to wait till the end?

I don't think so, since ordinarily it wouldn't matter. In most circumstances, an error stops the program entirely. However, with Civ II, the error only stops the code that was triggered by the event, and then the game keeps going.

My preferred solution for this kind of "text wall" is to comment out print statements when I'm no longer trying to debug anything. Most of the print statements are just verifying that the supply module (and possibly some other events) are working properly.

Attached to this post is a supply lines module with the print statements commented out. I did this for an earlier version of the scenario (probably when I was helping to debug ship movement), but I doubt very much this file has been changed. Extract this zip file and replace the file with the same name in LuaRulesEvents.

 

[JPetroski]

Quick question:

It's already Early August 1942 and I've been wanting to research 'Winter Warfare' to avoid the effect of the coming winter but the prerequisite 'Winter 1942' advance, so far in 1942, is never an available tech when comes time to select a new technology to research. I'm I missing something?

View attachment 624267

I believe it becomes available in the actual Winter of '42 and you're still in the summer.

 

[tootall_2012]

@JPetroski
Attached to this post is a supply lines module with the print statements commented out. I did this for an earlier version of the scenario (probably when I was helping to debug ship movement), but I doubt very much this file has been changed. Extract this zip file and replace the file with the same name in LuaRulesEvents.

Thanks Prof. Garfield. Inserting the modified supplylines.lua file I can now get the full print out of the error message (see atached).

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Thanks Prof. Garfield. Inserting the modified supplylines.lua file I can now get the full print out of the error message (see atached).

Most of the errors are explained in this post, but there is still a strategic targets error that I thought I offered a validation code for here, and for which @JPetroski uploaded a fix here. I'll recommend adding this code (untested) to triggerEvents.lua. It will give a more useful error, by telling the city and improvement that are actually causing the problem.

                    if not (strat.cityCoordinates[city.id] and strat.cityCoordinates[city.id][prod.id] and
                        strat.cityCoordinates[city.id][prod.id][1]) then
                        error("Strategic Improvements: strat.cityCoordinates has a problem for"..city.name.." ("..city.id.."), "..prod.name.." ("..prod.id..")")
                    end

just before

                    local xcoord, ycoord = table.unpack(strat.cityCoordinates[city.id][prod.id][1])

which is around line 2674.

 

[tootall_2012]

Late October 1942, BAKU CAPTURED and the SOVIET UNION SURRENDERS!

After capturing Stalingrad and as a task force of Army Group South was advancing deep into the Caucassus, the Russians launched their great offensive, Operation Uranus, in a bid to turn the tide around Stalin's city. Another fierce battle ensued and after three turns the Germans were able to sufficiently stabilize their position around that city in order to resume moving south towards Baku.

A further couple of turns later and the Russian offensive was effectivley defeated and Army Group South was just on the outskirts of Baku which it captured at the beginning of Late October 1942 (turn #60).

The European situation:

With the surrender of England and Russia that primarily leaves the French and Yugoslavian Resistance movements in Europe. But as you can see in the image below, Tito's position in the Balkans is about to get a lot more uncomfortable (he's already been wounded 3 times). One would wonder, without either England or Russia to supply his band of rebels how will he still be able to continue the fight?

I started getting the message below maybe at the beginning of the summer and thought it might be a residual message from prior to England surrendering, but that's until I started finding American troops in northern Scotland. I suspect they might be appearing because Britain still controls Scapa Flow?

America:

With 15 of 19 objectives, I already hold a 'Decisive' victory but to gain an 'Ultimate' victory one needs to invade the United States and grab the 4 objective cities of Boston, Detroit, New-York and Washington D.C. I have over three and a half years to do it (84 turns), and as such I can't imagine the AI would be able to prevent me from accomplishing this.

All the same, I will at least play to see if I can establish a firm foothold on the American continent. As such, I've already started researching the 'Naval Build Up' advance which will lead to 'Plan Z' and 'Naval air Arm' advances. The last will allow me to build the Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier class necessary to have an air component as part of any invasion plan.

 

[tootall_2012]

Hi John,

In Early November 1942, I received the following message, which confirmed my victory in Europe and the challenge ahead:

I noticed that some of the following message weren't printing correctly

I believe that's because you're not using the func.splitlines in your america.lua file between lines 240 - 245: It should look like this instead:

    text.simple(object.xAmerika1,"The Invasion of America",object.mAmerikaAttack)
    civ.ui.text(func.splitlines(object.xAmerika2))
    civ.ui.text(func.splitlines(object.xAmerika3))
    civ.ui.text(func.splitlines(object.xAmerika4))
    civ.ui.text(func.splitlines(object.xAmerika5))

But even more importantly, in Late December 1942 the Allies invade Sicily. I thought this wasn't possible after I captured Suez.

Furthermore, one of the subsequent message indicates that the island is supposed to be reinforced by the Herman Goering division, but once it's the German turn I find no such units present.

Can you confirm if this is an anomaly and if so, whether you are able to provide a fix before I continue?

 

[JPetroski]

Working on fixes right now hang tight.

 

[JPetroski]

Most of the errors are explained in this post, but there is still a strategic targets error that I thought I offered a validation code for here, and for which @JPetroski uploaded a fix here. I'll recommend adding this code (untested) to triggerEvents.lua. It will give a more useful error, by telling the city and improvement that are actually causing the problem.

I've added it to the events but I suppose it's not going to fire until that city actually attempts to produce something. I tested a turn and didn't get anything. If @tootall_2012 remembers what turn it happened perhaps he can run it through or else at least we'll see on a later game someone plays.

After capturing Stalingrad and as a task force of Army Group South was advancing deep into the Caucassus, the Russians launched their great offensive, Operation Uranus, in a bid to turn the tide around Stalin's city. Another fierce battle ensued and after three turns the Germans were able to sufficiently stabilize their position around that city in order to resume moving south towards Baku.

I'd be interested in a PM about how you viewed this event - I wouldn't want to spoil it for others There was another event like this that could fire in another city but from looking at the way you approached it you may have isolated it before it happened?

Changes made:

-Implemented the fix to some of the text not coming out right.
-Added a check to ensure Sicily only happens if Suez hasn't been conquered.
-Got rid of the American reinforcements after Great Britain is conquered.
-Changed trigger events 2385 to loser (I assume "victim" merely means the one that is attacked, and "loser" means the unit that loses the match, and this event restores a German unit when killed in certain circumstances, so I only want it firing with "loser").
-Added an event where Scapa Flow as well as all British units north of Milan on map 0 surrender after Great Britain is conquered. This will clean up any RAF or potential cities that may have fallen to a commando raid. I allowed British naval units to survive as "the Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, shall carry on the struggle." Note this takes an "onTurn" qualifier so it will happen the turn after Great Britain is conquered. I chose onTurn rather than afterProduction so the last remnants can fight on.
-Decided not to eliminate partisans after Great Britain and the Soviets fall simply because I think that makes the game too easy. You should at least have to consider leaving some forces behind in Europe while you prepare for the USA invasion. Given the limitations in art this will mean the partisans may have curious equipment choices but it is what it is. I would submit that we've seen plenty of resistance activities stretching for decades where the resistance hasn't had much help from others.

These are large enough and necessary changes that I'm going to be updating the resource. However, here are the events files (I think it's easier for everyone to just give the folders changed rather than direct you where to put what).

Very many thanks to you @tootall_2012 for catching these and to @Prof. Garfield for assisting in helping them.

 

[tootall_2012]

Hi John,

Thanks for the quick return. This will allow me to begin again from the end of Early December 1942 (turn #63) and no longer have to consider or redirect forces to Italy to deal with an invasion of Sicily or Italy (though I may still want to see if an assault on Malta is possible).

Is there normally an Operation Torch in the game as well? I'm wondering because the event seems to have skipped it and moved directly to Operation Husky. I imagine these invasion events are randomly generated by the event file and that in this case the code only failed to properly remove Sicily as an option if Suez was captured?

I'd be interested in a PM about how you viewed this event - I wouldn't want to spoil it for others There was another event like this that could fire in another city but from looking at the way you approached it you may have isolated it before it happened?

It was already my intention to provide you, in a PM, my feedback at the end of my play through. As you say, I don't want to give away any spoilers to those who haven't played this amazing scenario yet.

This would not only include my comments on some of the 'special' events, the Afrika Korps, but also some of the primary reasons why I believe I was able to be successful in my campaign and provide some recommendations for you to review.

I believe it becomes available in the actual Winter of '42 and you're still in the summer.

Yes, you were correct. It becomes available to research once winter returns.

Furthermore, one of the subsequent message indicates that the island is supposed to be reinforced by the Herman Goering division, but once it's the German turn I find no such units present.

Did you also have the chance to review why the Herman Goering Division didn't appear in the case of a permissible Allied invasion of Sicily?

On a similar vein, I later noticed that once the British activated the Eight Army during the battle of El Alamein that one of the text mentioned the appearance of General Montgomery. But, in my play through, I didn't encounter this unit at all. Is this correct?

On another note, I was beginning to grow suspicious about whether the game was properly updating my treasury every turn . As such, in the last 5 turns, I kept a meticulous count of how much fuel I should have in my treasury at the beginning of each successive turn and each time I was short 250 fuel. I suspect that the Ploesti oil bonus isn't being added properly.

I can definitely confirm that the fuel bonuses that Germany should be receiving each turn doesn't work. For example, here is my fuel situation at the end of Early December 1942 (turn #63):

78,507 (treasury) + (2496(income) - 1109(cost)) + 1250 (fuel bonus) = 81,144 (expected size of treasury on beginning of turn 64)

But once it is Germany's turn 64 its treasury is only adjusted to 79,931. Thus 81,144 - 79,931 = 1213

As a consequence, I believe players may well be deprived of thousands of extra fuel surpluses during the game. I've attached the game file from the end of turn #63 if you want to review.


Finally, as part of my preparations for the invasion of America, I'm building a fleet of Fw-190 fighters and Ju-87 Stukas to station on my carriers once I've finished researching the Naval Air Arm tech and built the corresponding naval units.

Question: I personally, would not be inclined to do so, but technically do you allow the player to base the heavier bomber type units on carriers (like the Do-17 and Ju-88)? But if not, how can these air units transit to North America once you acquire airbases there? Perhaps, a rule that states you can base them on carriers but they cannot operate from them?

 

[JPetroski]

Is there normally an Operation Torch in the game as well? I'm wondering because the event seems to have skipped it and moved directly to Operation Husky. I imagine these invasion events are randomly generated by the event file and that in this case the code only failed to properly remove Sicily as an option if Suez was captured?

Torch is in the game, but was working properly unlike Husky. Thus, you never saw it because you captured Suez.

Did you also have the chance to review why the Herman Goering Division didn't appear in the case of a permissible Allied invasion of Sicily?

I did not and I'll have to double check.

On a similar vein, I later noticed that once the British activated the Eight Army during the battle of El Alamein that one of the text mentioned the appearance of General Montgomery. But, in my play through, I didn't encounter this unit at all. Is this correct?

The Allies had leaders in an earlier game but I found they were such a pain to move along the map for one, and secondly really had no effect on the game that I just removed them. So there's no longer a unit.

Question: I personally, would not be inclined to do so, but technically do you allow the player to base the heavier bomber type units on carriers (like the Do-17 and Ju-88)? But if not, how can these air units transit to North America once you acquire airbases there? Perhaps, a rule that states you can base them on carriers but they cannot operate from them?

Of the available options I'd probably prefer to have these be "shippable" at a key press once a city on map 3 is captured, but I really didn't account for this, so I'll have to add it. Germany's options for effecting a landing would have been to use carrier-borne planes (which I actually have to check and see if I've added - honestly I did no testing on carriers here) and the Ho-229.

Thanks again for all of your help

 

[tootall_2012]

Here is a quick update. It's Early July, 1943

Operation America:

As seen in the image below, the necessary naval and amphibious task forces have assembled just off the border of the Western Atlantic and are ready to proceed with the preliminary invasion of North America.

My primary concern at this point, is will my ground units be able to attack without controlling any supply source on the 'North Amercia' map, i.e. are they still in supply on the turn they debark from a ship? I guess I will find out soon enough.

Preliminary reports indicates that this going to be a battle of epic proportions!

Malta Falls!

In Early June, 1943, the island of Malta finally succumbed to a combined German/Italian operation, which allowed me to capture the 'Fortress Malta' wonder which provides an extra 2 MP to all naval units. This will be very useful as the ocean distances to travel are great and some of my naval units are quite slow for a map this size.

I also found another strat.cityCoordinates error, this time related to the city of Sarajevo...

Of the available options I'd probably prefer to have these be "shippable" at a key press once a city on map 3 is captured, but I really didn't account for this, so I'll have to add it. Germany's options for effecting a landing would have been to use carrier-borne planes (which I actually have to check and see if I've added - honestly I did no testing on carriers here) and the Ho-229.

In the meantime, I've established a personal house rule: Carriers may transport heavy bombers but these must be physically picked up/dropped off from within a friendly port city (no flying to or from the carrier). In essence the carrier acts strictly as a transport vessel in this case, and as long as any bomber is aboard it no other plane may operate from it as well.

Torch is in the game, but was working properly unlike Husky. Thus, you never saw it because you captured Suez.

It's what I suspected but thanks for confirming.

 

[JPetroski]

My primary concern at this point, is will my ground units be able to attack without controlling any supply source on the 'North Amercia' map, i.e. are they still in supply on the turn they debark from a ship? I guess I will find out soon enough.

Your Schutzen have the amphibious flag and can attack from the sea. However, if you discharge them onto land first, they will be out of supply, so make sure to plan an attack on one of the supply cities first.

I also found another strat.cityCoordinates error, this time related to the city of Sarajevo...

Thank you - I'll fix it.

 

[tootall_2012]

Quick update:

By Early Sept, 1943 after fierce naval battles in the North Atlantic, my forces established their first beachhead on the North America map by capturing St-Johns on the island of Newfoundland. With this vital supply depot firmly in hand I will be able to work my way down the coast towards the American homeland!

Your Schutzen have the amphibious flag and can attack from the sea. However, if you discharge them onto land first, they will be out of supply, so make sure to plan an attack on one of the supply cities first..

It's only after reaching St. Johns that I realized that amongst the 90 plus ground units of my invasion force, I hadn't brought a single Schutzen infantry unit ... Only Panzer Grenadiers and fortunately some Kommandos (who also have the Amphibious flag) and who where sufficient in numbers to capture the city! Up till now I had prided myself on mastering the capabilities of all my units and their various abilities. Oh well, live and learn!

I also found another strat.cityCoordinates error, this time related to the city of Sarajevo...

Another strat.cityCoordinates error but for the city of Banja Luka.

 

[tootall_2012]

Quick update:

Late Nov 1943, Invasion of America begins:

After securing the Canadian cities of Sydney, Halifax and Shelburne, the German army invades the American coastline on Late November 1943 and secures the cities of Dover, Boston, Providence, New London and lastly Bridgeport.

New-York city is within our grasp!

Another strat.cityCoordinates error but for the city of Banja Luka.

Another other strat.cityCoordinates error but for the city of Scapa Flow.

 

[Dadais]

Hey, @JPetroski , from what I saw in your scenario, here's a little tip if you whish to enhance your minimap :

First, change colors (used Gimp to do it fast) on a tile layer's copy to have it bicolor.

Second, superpose all the layers' tiles so we have in the end the part which is ALWAYS under the layer.
Then, apply the "small box" tile over it to avoid borders pixel (mixed with neighbor tiles)
At that moment, change it to an extrem color to alter the colormix used in the minimap.

Thirdly, to end it, one shall paste it on its tiles (just showed the unsnowed ones there)

That may be a lot of work not for that much. Up to you !

 

[tootall_2012]

Quick update:

Late January 1944, the Big Apple falls!

The north eastern states have all fallen under German control. On to Philadelphia, Baltimore and the next to last objective city: Washington D.C.

From there only Detroit remains before ultimate victory!

Had to include the following pic of cool looking planes designed by Fairline, two Ho-229 Horten 'Amerika' bombers on their way to the East Coast ...

 

[tootall_2012]

Hi John,

So after a very long Atlantic transit my carrier transporting my fleet of bombers finally arrived in the port city of Sydney, Nova Scotia.

On the following turn, when I tried to send out my very first mission with an He-177, which has an attack value of 0, I pressed on the 'k' key to launch a bomb but received the following message instead...

Then I remembered you had a similar kind of mechanism in, I believe, both OTR and Midway, whereby the air unit has to be homed to a specific city to arm it before it can be launched on a mission.

Once it launched its bombs, it becomes unhomed and you have to return to base to rehome it again.

What I cannot recall is whether lua homed the air unit automatically in the city it was based in or whether the player had to do it manually.

I had a second He-117 to test my theory and it worked as expected, i.e. I homed it first in Sydney than was able to launch a successful air strike with it and it then became unhomed.

In either case, some clarification on whether the rehoming should be automatic or not would be appreciated. It would be useful to update the ReadMe accordingly as I can find no reference to this functionality in it.

 

[JPetroski]

I mean, I was under the impression that it is automatic given the call to payload, but perhaps the rearm function itself is not included in munitions?

I've found that in 100% of the time this means I've bumbled something but I'd still ask @Prof. Garfield if that is the case.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

I mean, I was under the impression that it is automatic given the call to payload, but perhaps the rearm function itself is not included in munitions?

I've found that in 100% of the time this means I've bumbled something but I'd still ask @Prof. Garfield if that is the case.

There are a couple functions to make this automatic, but it looks like they weren't integrated by default in Hinge of Fate (and probably still aren't in the current template, but I'll check later).

You will need to use one or both of these functions to make rearming automatic:

munitionsSettings = require("munitionsSettings")
munitionsSettings.activationReArm(unit) -- place in onActivateUnit event, don't worry if the unit isn't payload, that is handled internally
munitionsSettings.afterProductionReArm()