Denial

I think that WW1 trench warfare in France might be a fun wargaming concept to explore in the next game in the series:



The game will introduce strategic/economic bombing (through airships/zeppelins) and ranged attacks (via artillery).

Trench lines will play a huge factor in strategy. If you deploy your infantry behind these, you will have a near-impregnable defense.

Once again, Ghislain makes the games I wish I could make.

Ditto . Thanks Ghislain for this series of wargames, filling a gap in VIC's range of games.

Ooooo, new features... although GB vs Germany might be a little more accurate... to a degree.

Jeff-20 wrote:Once again, Ghislain makes the games I wish I could make.

Well, thank you. You're far too kind, considering that you're the greatest VIC-20 BASIC games programmer ever.

orion70 wrote:Ditto . Thanks Ghislain for this series of wargames, filling a gap in VIC's range of games.

I'm kind of running a bit on the afterburner fumes of the original game, I'VE even conceived of more follow-ups like the Seven Years' War in New France for musket type battles and even a fantasy RPG-themed war game with orcs, knights, elves, etc.

Mayhem wrote:Ooooo, new features... although GB vs Germany might be a little more accurate... to a degree.

Yes it's true that there was multinational force in France in WW1 for the Western Front, but considering that the game takes place in France, that most of the Allied casualties in the Western Front were French, and the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces was Ferdinand Foch (French) during the Ludendorff offensive in the timeline of this game, then I made it France vs Germany. It wasn't meant to discount any contributions of the other participants, I just wanted to simplify the number of combatants to two nations. The game just assumes that the engagements you see on screen are mostly France vs Germany with other nations' forces appearing off-screen.

The human player is going to be Germany this time, but it's starting position will be on the right (eastern) side of the screen to represent the geography on the western front.

With these games, the human player is always on the side that lost historically, because he or she has to overcome large numerical odds against the historical winner played by the computer.

But these games are really more fun when it's two human players going at it.

Jeff-20 wrote:Once again, Ghislain makes the games I wish I could make.

Jeff, Your games are are just as special

... and it can be said, too, that Jeff is special who makes VIC 20 games.

Ghislain, top-notch fitting into such a modest machine... kudos!! The look alone takes me back to many an SSI session at a local CUG meeting.

Thanks, everyone! I'm flattered. But I have to give praise to the pure awe Ghislain's work can generate. The devotion and scale of his games are really beyond impressive.

Jeff-20 wrote:Thanks, everyone! I'm flattered. But I have to give praise to the pure awe Ghislain's work can generate. The devotion and scale of his games are really beyond impressive.

I appreciate the kind words, coming from someone whose body of VIC-20 work is pretty impressive. I'd personally like to see your entire works placed into a single collection.

rhurst wrote:Ghislain, top-notch fitting into such a modest machine... kudos!! The look alone takes me back to many an SSI session at a local CUG meeting.

Thanks. I remember seeing all of those SSI war game ads back in the 1980s, but the only SSI war game I ever played was Panzer General.

Here's the splash screen:

Here's a very quick rundown of the situation of the war at the start of the game.

These are the 9 units that will be available to you in the game:

1. INFANTRY
cost: 10
move: 2
vs infantry: NORMAL
vs cavalry: NORMAL
vs armor: WEAK
vs artillery: STRONG
vs anti-tank: STRONG
vs anti-air: STRONG
(can move through trees)

2. CAVALRY
cost: 20
move: 4
vs infantry: NORMAL
vs cavalry: NORMAL
vs armor: WEAK
vs artillery: NORMAL
vs anti-tank: NORMAL
vs anti-air: NORMAL
(can move through hills)

3. ARMOR
cost: 30
move: 3
vs infantry: STRONG
vs cavalry: STRONG
vs armor: NORMAL
vs artillery: NORMAL
vs anti-tank: WEAK
vs anti-air: NORMAL
(can move through water)

4. ARTILLERY
cost: 20
move: 1
vs infantry: NORMAL
vs cavalry: NORMAL
vs armor: NORMAL
vs artillery: NORMAL
vs anti-tank: NORMAL
vs anti-air: NORMAL
(attacks from 2 spaces away)

5. ANTI-TANK GUN
cost: 10
move: 1
vs infantry: WEAK
vs cavalry: WEAK
vs armor: STRONG
vs artillery: WEAK
vs anti-tank: NORMAL
vs anti-air: WEAK

6. ANTI-AIR GUN
cost: 10
move: 1
vs infantry: WEAK
vs cavalry: WEAK
vs armor: WEAK
vs artillery: WEAK
vs anti-tank: WEAK
vs anti-air: NORMAL
vs fighter: NORMAL
vs bomber: STRONG
vs airship: WEAK

7. FIGHTER
cost: 10
move: *
vs fighter: NORMAL
vs bomber: NORMAL
vs airship: NORMAL

They are not deployed on the screen but are rather hidden on the respective player's side of the screen. When they attack, they fly a random path to the other side to attack other air units. They attack other fighters first, and when those are eliminated, they then attack bombers second, and airships last.

8. BOMBER
cost: 20
move: *
vs infantry: NORMAL
vs cavalry: STRONG
vs armor: WEAK
vs artillery: STRONG
vs anti-tank: NORMAL
vs anti-air: WEAK

These are deployed in the same manner as fighters, however when they fly their random flight path from one side of the screen to the other, they do not attack other air units but rather enemy ground units.

9. AIRSHIP
cost: 30
move: *
vs supply: NORMAL

These air units are also deployed like fighters and bombers. They do not attack fighters or ground units, but if they're able to fly unscathed to the other side of the screen, they can attack the enemy's supply line.

More good stuff! Will II and III be released through Chronosoft?

robinsonmason wrote:More good stuff! Will II and III be released through Chronosoft?

Always good stuff--I'm on a roll as of late. I even wrote an outline for IV which I plan to do.

As for Cronosoft, they mostly do tape-based games. There is no practical way of converting Theater II and III to tape, so I will probably release a 'commercial' disk some time in the future when I put together a game pack based on the games I've been working on since 2010.

This is how the playfield will typically look like:

I'm still working on this game, but I still have to get rid of a few bugs.

I think that this will be the last one, but I've been known to contradict myself before.

wow, that is a neat series... I think I will try these with a visiting friend during the holidays. I can'T remember the last time I played hotseat on a computer with someone , it's probably been since pre-teen years.

I've got to say those little unit icons are neatly done.

if you continue like that we might have axis and allies for the vic-20 one day

Question: how hard would it be to have a war map that is larger than screen display?, for example a 4-pannel map (four screen size) which you could switch from one pannel to another using arrow of F keys?