Civil War Strategy – 9. Data Files

 9                D A T A    F I L E S

 9.1   Initialization File (CWS.INI)

The data files are simple “flat ASCII” files and may be customized as you wish to change game conditions. (It is good practice to copy the original as a backup before you create a new one.) The program probably will not run if you make errors in these files.

Examples of the actual data lines are shown below in the boxed areas; comment lines before each of the data lines describe the information in that line.

Text for sides (Side 0, Side 1, Side 2)

“NEUTRAL”,”Union”,”Rebel”

Month names (game uses odd months only; but all are required)

“January”,”February”,”March”,”April”,”May”,June”
“July”,”August”,”September”,”October”,”November”,”December”

Beginning Dates and End Game Conditions

Begin:

  • starting year (1861)
  • beginning month (3)

End:

  • year to end game (1865)
  • month to end game (3)
  • integer % of cities controlled to end game (80)
  • integer % of income to end game (80)
  • 1 = capital capture ends games; 0 = inactive
  • integer ratio of armies to end game; e.g., 3 means a 3:1 ratio

3,1861,3,1865,80,80,1,3

Number of Union armies at beginning of play

5

Data lines for each Union army at beginning of play

  • city # (39 = Washington)
  • strength in 100’s (400 = 40,000 men)
  • experience (1)
  • supply     (9)

39,400,1,9
7,200,0,9
13,75,0,9
34,100,0,5
31,125,0,5

NOTE: These are assigned commanders starting with commander 1 for army in line 5, commander 2 for army in line 6, and so on. There must be one line for each Union army that starts at beginning.

Number of Rebel armies at beginning of play

4

Data lines for each Rebel army at beginning of play

  • city # (33 = Richmond)
  • strength in 100’s (300 = 30,000 men)
  • experience (1)
  • supply     (7)

33,300,1,7
12,200,1,6
26,150,0,7
38,75,0,4

 

Starting Cash Position

Starting Union cash (300)

Starting Rebel cash (50)

Base attacker casualty rate – ATKFAC (11%)

Base defender casualty rate – DEFASC (9%)

Total combat range – TCR (20)

300,50,11,9,20

Union Navy Data

String showing the number of Union ships & composition of fleet. (I=Ironclad, W=Wooden).

Maximum of 10 ships per side.

Union fleet start location (30= Philadelphia)

“IWWW”,30

Capital Cities

Union Capital (39=Washington)

Rebel Capital (33=Richmond)

39,33

LAST LINE: More Graphics Data:  DO NOT CHANGE THIS LINE !

75,40,75,205,566,40,566,205,205,82,205,162,436,82,436,162,0

9.2  Commander File (CWSLEAD.DAT)

Commanders will be assigned to armies in the order listed in this file, with first 20 assigned to Union, second 20 assigned to Rebels. There MUST be exactly 40 commanders total. First one listed goes with army 1, second with army 2 and so on.

Format:

  • Name
  • Rating (1-10)

McDowell,4

9.2   Configuration File (CWS.CFG)

This file is automatically updated when you save a game in progress.

Format:

  1. Side chosen (1=Union 2=Rebel)
  2. Graphics (0=off 1=on)
  3. Sounds (0=none 1=sounds only   2= sounds and music)
  4. Play Balance (1=Rebel++ 3=Balanced  5=Union++)
  5. Number of players (1-2)
  6. Display speed (1=very fast 2=Normal  4=very slow)
  7. Random event balance (0= off; 3= favor Rebels; 5= neutral; 7= favor Union)
  8. Union railroad capacity (in 100’s; 600 = 60,000)
  9. Rebel railroad capacity (in 100’s; 300 = 30,000)
  10. January campaigns (0=prohibited  1=allowed)
  11. Realism toggle (0=off 1=on)
  12. Cumulative number of battles won by Union side
  13. Cumulative number of battles won by Rebel side
  14. Cumulative Union casualties
  15. Cumulative Rebel casualties
  16. History switch (0=off; 1=on)

1,3,2,3,1,1,5,600,300,1,0,21,18,238,252,0,3

9.3   City Matrix (CITIES.GRD)

Unless you are very experienced, don’t change this file. Even if you are experienced, you should make a back up copy.

Please note: Cities MUST be in alphabetical order based on the city abbreviations used; the program depends on this order for army movement, fortification identification, and other options. STRANGE things may happen if your cities are not alphabetized. There must be exactly 40 cities.

Format:

  • City #,
    x VGA coordinate (1-530),
  • y coordinate (16-440),
  • city name (text),
  • which side initially possesses (0=neutral, 1=Union, 2= Rebel)
  • income value (0-99)
  • next 6 numbers indicate which cities this connects with
  • port indicator (0=not a port, 99=port city),
  • fortification level (0-2))

1,265,290,”Atlanta”,2,25,6,8,25,35,0,0,0,0

Explanation of example line above:

  • Atlanta is city 1
  • at (265,290)
  • possessed by side 2
  • income is 25
  • links to cities 6,8,25, and 35
  • is not a port (next to last 0 indicates this)
  • is not fortified initially (last 0 indicates this)
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