
Version 2.00 Design Notes 12/12/04;

I have taken the original Divided Ground Vietnam Mod USA, and increased the equipment/troop types to cover the period 1948 to 1999. This mod is completely compatible with the existing Vietnam Mod scenarios, as all the original Vietnam era units retain their platoon code numbers (P10...). I have added in many late World War II units from Talonsoft's West Front and Rising Sun (changing their platoon code numbers when these have conficted the existing Vietnam era units), and added in a vast number of units to cover the rest of the period. I have added some Vietnam era units that were missing from the earlier mod; for instance CH-21 Shawnee, and CH-37 Mojave helicopters. There are also some other units that were in use by the US army at the time, but were never used in Vietnam; ie Honest John and Little John Missiles, TOW ATGMs, M103 tanks. Scenario designers should be careful not to include these units in Vietnam War scenarios.
 
Higher organisations; I have given basic unit organisations (from Company to Army) to give a framework for scenario designers to work with. The US army went through a number of reorganisations during the period, and I have tried to cover the main formations. This is a vast subject, and I have only scratched the surface here. Unfortunately I have not discovered much information on Marine organisations above company level. If any one wants to carry on this work I would be grateful. The organisations I have included however, should enable creative designers to create their own .org files to cover any historical scenario. 

1) Aircraft armed with long range missile weapons, such as the A-10 Thunderbolt armed with AGM-65 Maverick (unit P10155), are treated as off board artillery rather than traditional Airplanes. They will be found under "platoons" in the Order of Battle editor, rather than in the traditional airplanes selection method.

2) DG gets a bit confused with airplane defence values if you have more than one type of plane on one side in a scenario, you may want to stick to only one type per scenario. This may be a fault with all Campaign Series games, not just DG.

3) I have included some prototype units for hypothetical scenarios, some of these may still enter service in the near future;

M8 Ridgeway AGS 
Stryker Mobile Gun System 
M2001 Self-Propelled 155mm Howitzers 
Stryker LOSAT 
HMMWV (LOSAT) AT Vehicle 
FOTT Team 
F-22 
OICW and OCSW armed infantry
RAH-66 Comanche 

4) I have include LCACs (Landing Craft Air Cushion), but I am not totally happy with the way these are represented in the game. The LCAC is a huge vessel capable of carrying a large amount of men and/or vehicles. Of course Campaign Series games only allow a vehicle to carry a platoon, at most 6 sps. I have allowed these LCACs to be used and moved on map (however they will not be able to fire from deep water, another Campaign Series fault), but would suggest that their cargo be introduced as reinforcements in the desired hex locations. I used movement sound 4 for the Hovercraft, and changed it from the WWII German armoured car sound to a heavy propeller driven plane sound, which is very similar to sound of a hovercraft.

5) Some Weapon attack values may seem a little strange. Some have zero attack values for the first few hexes (this represents minimum ranges of things like heavy mortars, ATGMs, SAMs etc). Some have a big jump in attack values after the first few hexes (this represents units having more than one weapon, one of which has a minimum range, so at first the secondary weapon is in use until the minimum range of the main weapon is reached). Some units may have the same weapon as another platoon, but have different attack values, this represents the effect of better fire control systems.

6) The Honest John and Little John rocket systems modest attack values. This is intentional as these systems were very ineffective when firing conventional HE warheads, due to their very slow rate of fire and extreme inaccuracy. They were really designed to fire Nuclear warheads, and as such their range and warhead size would have made them useful weapons. But DG does not allow for the accurate representation of nuclear warfare, and so I have chosen to assume that they are equipped with conventional warheads only. Just think back to the Gulf wars and how ineffective even later designs of SCUD were.

7) Helicopters; Helicopter gunships armed with ATGMs have been recoded as direct fire only. Those primarily armed with unguided rockets have retained their indirect fire capability. I have recoded all helicopters to give a token assault value (of 1) to all helicopters armed with at least one mg. This is to give some protection from assault by enemy forces, and to allow them to carry troops into an assault situation. Defence values have been reassessed, for the most part this has resulted in only minor changes. Victory points have been greatly increased to discourage gamey tactics, and give a more realistic value to these units. Later advanced ATGM equipped Gunship helicopters have been given increased hard attack values, to increase effectiveness especially at long range against MBTs. MBT's attack ranges (except for those equipped with ATGMs) have been limited to 16 hexes, to allow helicopters to attack them from long range without fear of return fire.

8) Many errors fixed in unit values from the original DGVietnam Mod USA. For instance; infantry movement rates reduced, MG Trucks attack values increased.

9) I have added a Huey Smoke ship helicopter (Strength point only 1). It is armed with an mg, and can fire smoke in direct fire (like the Early war British Cruiser Support tanks in WF). You have the option of firing mgs at range 1, or smoke at range 1 or 2. I have given a fire cost of 20 so that the smoke ship can move and still produce a lot of smoke.

10) Corrected movement sound for AC-130s.



Paul Adaway

12/12/04