Kuniworth

Yes but as I want to reduce number of tanks to a historical figure(6 tank armies) there is no need to have a soft build limit higher than 12, a hard build limit at 12 is better. I would gladly reduce it down to 6 tanks and set it as hard build limit but that is not possible as many mech corps were positioned near the border and must be in the starting line up. That's why 12 mech corps start on the map and the rest that was not under immediate threat arrives through scripting. Yes that was a good name for it, as long as we are talking about number of units you can rebuild and field on the map and not the number of times a certain unit can be destroyed and brought back.

Interesting, I tested to set the mech corps to extremly poor values and then make them amphibious, alter Russia's tank values back to normal and then turn the mech corps back on land but it turned back to normal lol

No soft build limits still approve a lot of tanks even if there are 100% penalty, so when the russian get strong they will just massproduce tanks instead of the historical numbers of remaing armies and game will collapse faster than ever. Meanwhile if you replace scripts with soft build limits they will still start with 29 tanks before soft build limit kicks in. What I would like is the next version in the series make it possible to place out more units than the build limit. When you go to country data you can never set the build limit smaller than unitws on map and in production. If only that function just would let you set what ever number you want and then kick in during the game instead.

I tried it and the unit scripts do not fire right away, but on the next soviet turn. Which is the way it already works. Maybe I tried the wrong way? Another not quite irrelevant question I have concern the WaW D-day scenario. Some british tanks there got 1 strike while others have 2. How do you do that? Also that scenario lacks the 506th PIR which is too bad as it was the unit with "Easy company" from the band of brothers. But that is another story.

Problem is that germans move first. They historically smashed a lot of soviet mech corps on the first move, if you script all of them to appear, all of those in the frontline will appear at the soviet turn(cant appear in start of german turn unfortunately) ready to go without the german player able to touch them. Thus creating an even worse position for the german player. What I tried to do so far in the scenario was to place all mech corps in script that was not in the immediate frontline. This way I could cut down the build limit to like 10-12 instead of 29 but it still too much considering that later in the war the Soviet union fielded only 6 tank armies(although larger than a panzer corps each of them of course) This is the reason Ive been bugging poor Hubert for the ability to start with a lot of units but have a lower hard build limit for producing new units. That would simulate the bye bye of the mech corps and emerging of the tank armies. I could then also make the same with the airforce, simulate the transformation from military district organization into air armies.

First of all I aim to get a historical correct OOB in this is scenario. This is actually what the eastern front looked like in early 1941, all free unit is armies that STAVKA raised on these dates to fight the invader. Maybe we can play around with strength values and combat values but the OOB I want to be historical while in the same time the game should play out historical. The german player should in short have the initiative during 1941-42 and after that the russian side will be too powerful. Like what happened. What I would like, but unfortunately the game does not allow it, is to set a lower build limit cap on russian tanks. The soviet player would start with all mech corps(like 29 of them) but have a hard build limit of 6(number of tank armies during the war) so almost every tank that is lost except 6 cant be purchased back. Meanwhile 6 tank armies would be in production queue from 1942 onwards on the historical dates so if the russian player loses his initial tanks he must wait until may 1942 to begin to get them back and only can have 6 of them! That would probably slow down the soviet advantage quite a bit and make it able for the german forces to penetrate deeper into Russia and preserve the panzer-corps.

Take care and I believe you could not have found a better scenario designer than Bill101. Would be cool to the current line up add JerseyJohn to dev team for historical aspects and to get him back and Terif/Rambo/Xwormwood/Sombra for playtesting. Maybe also throw in Nupremal/Vypuero for some work, he is a workhorse. Maybe Im naive but I think it's a huge strength for this series of game that we have such a dedicated and critical community. We should use it so people feel involved. But not my decision of course lol

One minor thing that bugs me is that majors like Germany and Soviet not have flags to show their units on the war map and non-moved units. Instead there are the iron cross and the red star, would be cool if they could have flags too. Like I did in the Nach Stalingrad scenario for sc pacific.

FancyDresser65: That is a good idea. If you cant trace supply back to ports and stuff you should not be able to get supply.

In 2008 Moon said that work had begun on two new sc2 games, both were ww2. Now one of those were sc2 pacific. As it's been over a year can we get some update on the next game, - is it ww2 world campaign as we all believe? - what's the ETA? - Any more interesrting additions? Moon said the new games should not be seen as a "mere expansion" but add so much new features to entitle them to be a completly new game. Sure SC2 Pacific provided some new features. But I can't honestly say I think the improvement were that much bigger compared to what the "expansion" WaW was to sc2. But anyhow can you give us something? I also think you should really consider this: - Hexes instead of tiles(tiles are just not ww2 on grand scale, works much better on divisional and regimental level, see Bill Runacre's Poland scenario for proof it is so) - Automatic retreat for units on defence that got to much damage(but you need hexes to get this to work, tiles give to much directions) - Research should not be random but you should get a fixed time to get stuff. Want tanks level 2? Well will take 10-12 months to achieve.... - Some more tank slots and infantry unit slots so you can customize your units much more. Maybe a special fort/coastal battery slot too so you dont need to use the rocket slot. A speical garrison unit would also be great. Oh and give people a cavalry slot too, thats needed. Would be an infantry unit(soft target) with some higher mobility. I think Hubert improved this area over the games with for example tactical bombers, just give us the ground units too that's needed to complete it. - The ability to start a game with more units of a sort than is allowed in the hard build limit. So you can start a game with lots of a certain unit but just can rebuild a certain amount of them later. - Diplomacy, with a world game you need to split up alliances, so for example USSR can be at peace with Japan and at war with Germany. - Sea mines, so you can block ships in port. - For the new game, update all the old scenarios for all games in the series and add them so people can get them all, probably bad business but good for consumers. - The possibilty to give amount of MMP:s to a certain side in a script instead of have to give them a resource working. - An overhaul of how cut off cities work must be looked into. As it stands now there is no point cutting of a city and enemy troops as they wont lose that much readiness. That makes it impossible to simulate ww2. As I said sc2 works on a smaller scale with space but not on a grand scale with cities close to each other.

Please do. When I was there I met a lot of germans. I remember especially an older woman who's father never made it home from captivity. She had visited the city three times before and it was a way to mourn I guess. She showed me pictures of Goroditje(northwest of Volgograd) that her father sent her and what it looke like today. Over 60 years had passed since his death but she still come to Volgograd. It's so tragic.

some more pics: Seargeant Pavlov's medal "hero of the soviet union" Vasily Zaitsev's mosin-nagant sniper-rifle. Memorial for the unbeliavable courage of the worker milita of the tractor factory that against all odds slowed down the german panzers advance on the factory. At Mamayev Kurgan, the motherland mourns the dead Hall of valor at Mamayev Kurgan with the eternal flame

Video-clip is not working properly...maybe have to post on youtube

Hey guys, thought I post you a link to the general forum and my travel report from Volgograd(former Stalingrad). You find it here with pictures: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=87943

The tear of lakes. Just one of many memorial spots at Mamayev Kurgan. And finally, this is a 85-year old armenian veteran of the tank recon troops on Mamayev Kurgan. He was there during the whole battle directing from a tank where the tank formations should counterattack. You know guys when you meet a person like this its a relly humbeling experience. If you survived the hell of Stalingrad and still beeing sane, and also participated in the worst fighting of the war you are extremly capable and mentally strong. This guy was tough as nails; "the germans were weak, when we captured them we thought they were having manicure because there hands looked so nice. Weaklings"

Pavlov's house. Or the remnants of it. The house was rebuilt and the brick left from the original was used to recostruct part of the original wll. It was in this house Pavlov and his platoon fought of the german attacks for almost two months. It's located right to the ninth january square and you will really get a feel that this building commanded the square as the history books teach us. The grain elevator, located in the south of the city maybe 15 minutes by car from the city center. It was here that a small garrison of navy and soldiers of the 35th guards division held out for 5 days in september 1942 against the overwhelming german forces. The grain elevator is still there and running and birds like it so they sit in droves upon the roof. It's a gigantic building of concrete and you will understand why it was so hard to capture as there is almost no way in. On the wall behind big memorial statue outside, is a scripted declaration from the defenders stating "....for all living beeings on this earth we give our lives" Traktor factory. This is far off to the north. It's said to have gone bakrupt but there are lot of people working there so it is still in business. It's very large. The other famous factories the barrikady and and the red october metal works can also be seen. Of the Barrikady gunfactory only ruins remain today, but the Red october is still in use. May 9th veterans with familes make their way to their seats(building in background is Univermaag department store, von Paulus HQ). The russians lost 27 million dead in world war 2(btw all the names are written in memorial books in long hall at the museum at Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow) and they have not forgotten. Victory day is a huge holliday with proud russians visiting the memorials and giving flowers to the veterans. It's been 64 years and it is both tragic and nice to see all the commotion. Tragic because they can't move on and nice because the memory of the war is certainly not forgotten. The day starts of with a big military parade at 9.30 AM on the fallen heroes square. The troops are congratulated by their commander for the victory over Nazi-Germany. There are music, artillery salutes and LOTS of bystanders. After that people are out on the streets the whole day visiting memorials. Mamayev Kurgan. Hill 102. This hill saw perhaps the most intese fighting of the second world war as the russians fought to the death here to avoid giving away the high ground. Still they find bones and metal pieces here just below the statue are the graves of the commander of the 62nd Army, Vasily Chuikov and the famous sniper Vasily Zaitsev among others. The big statue at the top is called "The motherland calls" and was erected in honor of the victory. It's bigger than the statue of liberty. At may 9th this place is packed with celebrating russians! as you can see and it takes forever to get to the top. The hill is very steep at the side facing the Volga(the side shown in the picture) and not steep at all on the other side.

Univermag department store is a famous location located on the avenue of heroes. It was the spot of fierce fighting and also the headquarter of von Paulus and where he was captured on january 31st 1943. The department store is sill running today, you can enter it and the walk down to the basement which have been preserved to show what the german hq looked like. This is one of the rooms, now used for ww2 lectures: This is the rebuilt central railway station. It's not looking as the one during the war but roughly the same size. The docks at the end of the avenue of heroes. Right behind me is the Volga river. It was up here the russian forces rushed to halt the germans on the crest from capturing the river bank. If you watch the movie "enemy at the gates" this is the slope they rush in the opening sceen. In Volgograd they have an absolutely excellent museum of the battle. It's among the best I've ever seen and if you come here go and see it. They have for example a complete miniature of what the city looked like during the war, it's pretty amazing. And also there are some really great historical peices like Vasily Zaitsevs mosin-nagant sniper rifle. Or like this one: the sword of Stalingrad, a gift from King George the VI and the british people to the citizens of Stalingrad. It was handed to Stalin from Churchill at the Teheran-conference 1943. The saw mill. This is right behind the museum and close to Pavlov's house. It's has been left standing to give you a feel of what the houses looked like at that time.

I went there on may 9th, anyone else been there and want to share impressions of the city? here is my travel report GETTING TO VOLGOGRAD Let me start with saying that this was one awesome trip. It's rather expensive going to Volgograd if you stop by in Moscow for a few days which I did. But it was definately worth it. One thing I don't like about Russia is the strictness for tourists and visitors, you'll have to get a lot of papers and receipts to get into the country. And when you get in hold on to receipts from hotels otherwise you can't prove you visited certain locations stated in your VISA and it's a lot of trouble. But getting there was easy. Aeroflot got nice new airbus aircrafts which will m ake it a pleasant flight. THE CITY Volgograd is a nice city with approximately 1,000,000 people living there and russians are a really nice and friendly people. And they are getting richer so people drive modern cars and dress nice like any other european country. They got McDonalds there but no KFC yet In Volgograd not so many people speak english as in other european countries but a lot of young people to do so it's changing rapidly. If you go there I suggest you hire an interpretor or get in contact with someone living there to help you around. Because you will need a car to get around to see some distant locations and have someone talk to police if they'll ask what you are doing there I never felt unsafe in the city but the biggest trouble is the police. According to my friend they are corrupted so you'll have to pay them some rubles if you bump into them and they notice you are a foreigner. The terrain is filled with sloping hills at the west of the city. You will land at the airport which is at the old german airbase of Gumrak and then travel by car to your hotel. You got a lot of slopes and ridges you will see on the ride from the airport, and the city itself is sloping down to the Volga riverbanks as you will see in the picture of the docks below. Prices are fair by western standards but not as cheap as one can imagine beeing half the way to Asia. The hotel was average, I lived at Hotel Volgograd at the fallen heroes square which is said to be the best. Ok I think I will let the pictures do the writing: This is a memorial on the avenue of heroes not far from the fallen fighters square which swesterners refere to as the "red square". The flame is always burning. There are hundreds of memorials of the battle all over the city, and everywhere you go you can see them. This is common, young pupils out marching and saluting the war-memorials of the battle. It's some kind of duty every student have to do on these certain days like may 9th. The avenue of heroes runs from the central station through the square all the way down to the docks at the Volga. As you walk you will see a lot of memorials, this is one. It is some of the names of those awarded the title of "hero of the soviet union" during the battle.

So Bill when can we expect the next game to be out? Give us something...

Moon said before the release of sc pacific that they were working on two standalone sc 2 games of which pacific was on of them. But both were world war 2 he said. So that leaves it up to speculation. I'm guessing world campaign but that's already been done brilliantly but Nupremal and others so I can't see how they could make a better map or improve that much. Maybe some new features like changes in diplomacy but it will be very similar to sc 2 series. Moon said that these two games were not to be seen as expansions but as stand alone game. So what did we get from pacific, practically the same game but with new scenarios and a new map. I'm expecting the same from this next game. What would be cool though is a return to the sc1 but with the development of sc 2 under the hood. I mean add hexes, top-down view(with splendid map to attract others and the wargaming crowd), retreat rules, the great AI, simplicity in the game and an editor that can change practically anything. Then we would have a winner. Unfortunately Hubert continue with the tiles which I think is the biggest let down of the sc2 series. It's the tiles and lack of retreat rules that make not feel like ww2. And I also feel it would be difficult to implement retreat rules in a game with tiles as there are too many directions of retreat to make the AI work properly.

Yes, you need to change seasons so it will to 100% be same weather.

Well good for you. Now continue with that and stop complaining. You saw what Moon wrote, leave the moderation to the admins.

You need to get it at the battlefront repository. It needs tweaking though I think.

This island-question is hard for me to answer as I have'nt played operation Z that much. But I know Bill101 is a great guy and I'm sure he is listening on how to improve things. But with all the silence they may be working on the sc2 world campaign(or perhaps divisional-sized game).

This forum is not a joke. I challenge you contribute anything of worth except trying to get people banned and talk about some clique(who are they anyway, those 30 guys that been around since 2002?). Start an AAR, post a valuable thread, make mods(like me) or perhaps even attempt to sign up for beta testing the new game. Whatever you do stop whining about how awful everything is. If you don't like it here stop posting. Simple as that.