American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

John Ferry makes the statement within his designer's notes that each Campaign Overland scenario "consists of a map, an order of battle, and a PDT (Parameter Data Table)." He goes on to further state the following. "All of the components of the game are controlled by the PDTs, from weapons capabilities to march rates to weather. One of our references is 'Civil War Weather in Virginia,' by Robert Krick. It features thrice daily weather reports over a four year period, and those for the Overland period -- and Mine Run -- were faithfully reproduced in the PDTs." So each existing scenario, historical and non historical, is intrinsically tied to the actual weather experienced, including those rainy, muddy days within the Spotsylvania epoch.

Scenarios 225 and 226, Myers Hill, recreate the attempt by Grant on May 14th to seek the end of Lee's right flank at Spotsylvania, a movement that was actually initiated the night of the 13th. But the rains created such a muddy condition that the Federal troops could not keep Grant's timetable and became exhausted as a result. These two scenarios recreate through their PDTs the awful movement conditions, reduced visibility and reduced artillery effectiveness cause by those historical weather conditions, a supreme challenge for the Union player to overcome.

And while I fully appreciate this very awesome and historical touch to the Overland Campaign package, I'd like to ask John if anyone wishing to create a modification can turn off or modify the automatic weather for a date or dates indicated should they wish to portray a "What-If" scenario based upon different weather?

_________________
General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

The pdt can be changed by anyone! That is both the good news and the good news. You should always make sure that your opponent is playing with the same pdt that you are.
The demo Overland pdt is a non functional pdt that tells you what all the lines of data are for, including weather. If you are playing Myers Hill, for instance, and you want the weather to be pristine and the roads all paved with sugar cookies, you need to rename the pdt that you change, and then go into the text file for the scenario, change the pdt to the one that you made, and tweak the title to reflect your handiwork. In the pdt you only need to change the weather on the day in question. Easiest is a copy and paste from a day already showing the weather that you want, and change the date on that line. Simple enough, but if you have a question give me a jingle.
J Ferry
2lt 2/20Corps

Actually I would recommend any time you modify a scenario or pdt file
1. you copy the old pdt , using the example of Myer's Hill in this case Overland1.pdt and rename it Overland1_alt.pdt,
2. then using a text editor modify it to create your new pdt
3. copy the original scenario, say 225_640514_Meyers Hill_A1 and rename it something like 225_640514_Meyers Hill_A1_alt
4. change the name of the pdt in the scenario file, using a text editor again
5. then open the scenario file in the scenario editor, go to the Scenario-Description menu and note the pdt or scenario file changes you made for this modified scenario and your reasons for doing so.

Now if you want to play your scenario against another person all you need do is send them the modified scn and pdt files and in this way you maintain all the original .scn files and prevent problems when playing games using them.

_________________
Gen. Ken Miller



The McKeesport Union Guard

3/1/II
Chief of Staff
AotP