WOV Oct 08 "Noi Bai" campaign bug fix... kinda...

[+gerwin]

Eric,

I am very interested in your results!, and sure all I have to do is read the above. But I won't have time to do so until tomorrow...

[+gerwin]

About my tool, I am sorry to hear it did not behave well on your system. The v0.2 has not given me any issues though, so I will keep using it myself as long as it seemingly works. What I see is that all kinds of missions are generated, also armed recon, and a certain amount of MiGs remain present. so that is fun.

 

Folks:

 

Final update on my test campaign: I'm now 26 missions into the campaign. Missions 19-20 the game tasked me with hitting targets at Kep air base. The MiGs also came back those same missions -- and were based at Kep. They were swiftly put down. The game got Vinh-happy for a couple of missions, tasking me with targets at that port for 4-5 missions in a row. Once the targets there were exhausted, the campaign continued against targets elsewhere. I got one armed recon mission total. Even 26 missions into the campaign I'm not even close to exhausting all the targets or target areas that are available in the expanded VietnamSEA terrain. (And, I might add, I never hit Noi Bai airfield.)

 

Based on what I've seen, I think the problems that players have reported with the WoV 2008 campaign are actually the product of several bugs or issues. Start with the fact that the VPAF's MiG force gets wiped out early on in the campaign. After that, any unit capable of doing strikes is doing only strikes -- no air-to-air. Not surprisingly the game runs out of non-airfield targets rather quickly. In the whole terrain there are only four bridges, two power plants, one PT boat base, one factory complex, three harbor areas, and a handful of misc. single warehouses. That's not much to work with. Once the non-airfield targets get pounded to dust, the bug TK mentioned kicks in. With no non-airfield targets left and no MiGs to tangle with, the game tasks players with hitting the one working MiG airfield over and over and over.

 

Expanding the terrain with a wealth of new target areas pretty much breaks that vicious cycle. The lack of a credible MiG threat for long stretches is a problem, but fixable (I think). At any rate, that's the assessment I've come up with.

 

Eric L. Howes

I am surprised to read this. So you think more ground targets made the difference, whilst the previous suspect was the lack of a ground war. Yet it is not really fair to judge this when all MiGs are destroyed for the big part of the campaign, because that would be very similar to Malibu's somewhat undesirable fix. What I saw was that the Noi Bai bug happens when MiGs were alive and stationed at that airfield.

In any case some additional target areas are very welcome, the amount of stock targets is quite limited according to your counting.

[+eburger68]

Gerwin:

 

You wrote:

 

So you think more ground targets made the difference, whilst the previous suspect was the lack of a ground war.

 

That's exactly what I'm saying. I tested my theory once more with another campaign. This time I flew a dedicated ground pounder -- the A-4C with VA-93. I also cut short missions in order to save the MiGs. That means that soon after I achieved my mission objective I ended the mission.

 

Results? Very good. This time the MiGs lasted through mission #11. During those eleven missions I was tasked with hitting the runway at Bac Mai once. I also hit the barracks at Noi Bai once. Every other mission was against targets ranging from just north of the DMZ to north of Kep along the northeast railroad. I'm now on mission fifteen, and the campaign is still playing beautifully. I got two SEAD missions and 2 armed recon missions -- the rest were strikes. I hit bridges, barracks, POL dumps, and even one power plant in addition to the targets I mentioned above.

 

So, yes, I'm saying the lack of a ground war has nothing to do with the problems reported with the WoV campaigns. There are actually several bugs or issues acting in concert with one another. And what makes them esp. nasty is the fact that the stock VietnamSEA terrain is simply target-deprived.

 

Yet it is not really fair to judge this when all MiGs are destroyed for the big part of the campaign, because that would be very similar to Malibu's somewhat undesirable fix.

 

The problem of the MiGs getting wiped out early is a problem with the stock campaign. I also think that with some work this problem can be alleviated to a great extent. What's important is that my two test campaigns demonstrate that even while the MiGs are active, the game will not fall into endless-missions-against-Noi-Bai trap as long as the terrain is populated with sufficient targets to keep the ground pounders busy.

 

Eric L. Howess

[malibu43]

...because that would be very similar to Malibu's somewhat undesirable fix. ...

 

Oooh.. ouch! :(

 

Just kidding. Glad to see that it's getting figured out, and that the fix for the problem is something that makes the game better anyway!