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North Africa Mini Mod


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FYI, the date of the scenario is of course limited by the editor and I have it as the earliest I can dial in, Op Husky July '43 and "standard" US uniforms are those brown tropical shirts which don't match Feb '43 in Tunisia. So that is what pappagoat did, and I know it is tedious work because I have done it many times myself, he renamed the later M41 field jackets so they are displayed as "standard" appearance for US troops.

Google earth contour line process. I just redid the contour line process and saw a setting in Google Earth to go to a higher resolution of topography and it really gave me a much better overlay. So, that combined with some scenario author magic wand actions will make the final map. What I mean there is slightly tilting the map to better align the dirt and paved roads to avoid the zig-zag issue. Maybe 20 degrees clockwise is all. And finally my 4km x 4km sandbox has been slightly consolidated at one point to get those cool wadis to be on the map.

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20 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

Thanks for trying it. I used those touch objectives as an experiment with scoring for a recon mission. I have a rework of the Kasserine Station map in progress to include the Kasserine train station with lovely white walls and blue shuttered windows. They show up too dark so far...but anyway, the map is much much enlarged and more accurate topographically. The town itself will be more accurate per a period French map. I will redo the allied AI plan or maybe switch it around and have the axis be the AI and the player commands the troops hoping to delay the Germans. But meanwhile I am focusing on Sidi Bou Zid. It should be a blast for desert battle fans. 

 

Redo the allied AI plan please, hopefully I am not late in responding...  ;):)

Edited by Blazing 88's
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23 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

<snipped>

Google earth contour line process. I just redid the contour line process and saw a setting in Google Earth to go to a higher resolution of topography and it really gave me a much better overlay. So, that combined with some scenario author magic wand actions will make the final map. What I mean there is slightly tilting the map to better align the dirt and paved roads to avoid the zig-zag issue. Maybe 20 degrees clockwise is all. And finally my 4km x 4km sandbox has been slightly consolidated at one point to get those cool wadis to be on the map.

@kohlenklau, can you show the Googel Earth contour line process and settings process you describe?  I've spent no time with it and would appreciate your lessons learned.  Pointing to tutorial URL's or video's would help just as well.  Thank you.

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Google Earth is your friend Part 2

This thread first explained it to me.

I can add only a bit more based on doing this just 2 or 3 times. But my way might be less than optimal. Any feedback is appreciated.

-examine first to see the lowest elevation and highest elevation in your area of interest.

-For an Ortona map I just did increments of ten. For Sidi Bou ZId the range was 320 to 360, so I did single digit increments.

-create one layer say at 360m and copy it and then just paste it in numerous times and then edit each one to their new value.

-Each elevation layer is really a layer that says the "ground below me is at this value or less" 

-once a few layers are displayed, say 345, 346 and 347, you see the contour lines!  

-I experimented with various colors. Too many layers displayed at once makes it hard to see the differences. just display a few increments at once. 

-have thumbtacks on the map as corners markers for alignment.

-in google earth if you zoom, you start to see detail so find where is best for your map. 

-take screenshots and annotate onscreen 325, 324, 323 etc

-make a composite and crop to be that scenario editor overlay

-I will report back later where that one HD setting is located.

 

Edited by kohlenklau
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On 2016-07-24 at 8:17 AM, kohlenklau said:

-I experimented with various colors. Too many layers displayed at once makes it hard to see the differences. just display a few increments at once.

I found this as well.  So I often end up with two or three images one each for ranges of elevations. I can then swap the overlay a few times to get all the contours in place.

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One more thing on using GE for CM map planning. In GE in the lower right corner you see your "eye alt" (eye altitude in km).

I had a very large map for Sidi Bou Zid and had to be way up at 16km to see all the box and get my screenshots.

But for my normally smaller maps for CM, you can really dive down close to ~ 1 km and that is where I think the high quality terrain will show all the subtle holes and hills in the elevations. 

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I have one play tester for "First Blood" (Battle of Sidi Bou Zid). My ever stalwart ally @Heinrich505.....is firing back reports and observations left & right.

I could probably use 1 more person for a variety of play types. Is anyone else interested in doing some playtesting on this new scenario? 

 

@Erwin  Want to test that new computer out? :)

 

Edited by kohlenklau
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Yes I would...  :)

But, I still have to reinstall a LOT of software and games, (+ your huge mod sets - really want to play Stalingrad now computer can handle it!) get e-mail sorted out and stuff.  (Had nightmare issues already with MS tech support.)  :(

Life, computers and game installs seemed to be so simple in the old days...

I may be ready to play next week.

 

 

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@Erwin  OK, PM me when your machine is ready for a thorough burn-in of the CPU! ^_^

Here is the Rev B briefing.

^
It is 1500 on Monday 15 February 1943. The day is clear with only a light wind from the west. The ground is dry but the last several weeks of rainy weather have left some low areas soft and muddy. You are Lieutenant Colonel "Gentleman Jim" Alger, CO of 2nd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment of "Old Ironsides": the United States Army's 1st Armored Division. Yesterday the 3rd Battalion was destroyed in combat with German Panzer forces. As part of Combat Command C, you and your troops have been on the road since late last night. Your mission: "Seek the enemy armor and destroy it."
^
On the battlefield at this moment only some of your forces are on map. Dog Company is on map with orders to secure Sidi Salem, Fox Company will arrive at 1530 sharp and is assigned to swing out on the right flank towards Sidi Bou Zid. Easy Company is following in reserve and will arrive by 1545. Love Company from 3rd Bn, 6th Armored Infantry Regiment is following Dog Company and will arrive by platoon at 1505, 1510 & 1515. On call fire support is provided by the off-map 68th Armored Field Artillery Battalion's Baker Battery. Additional assets include your Battalion reconnaissance section (on map) and various HQ Company units (arriving at 1520).
^  
The location of the enemy is unknown. About 30 to 40 tanks were reportedly seen coming out of the Faid Pass headed towards Sbeitla. After wiping out Hightower's battalion, they bypassed several of our infantry positions on the surrounding hills and apparently settled back somewhere near Sidi Bou Zid possibly awaiting orders or supply. While *their* Luftwaffe has been providing significant support, sadly our own air force is seldom seen. Hightower made it out on foot and warned of hidden anti-tank guns. Expect combined arms. Be alert for any "reports" that are radioed in....
^
This area is crisscrossed with several steep wadi's. Watch out for muddy areas and salt marsh bogs! Find a good crossing point and then get your tanks deployed back into a tactical formation. Use the terrain to your advantage. Probe forward carefully to locate the enemy, then strike boldly to overwhelm them.
^
There are occupy objectives for Sidi Salem (250 pts), Wadi Al Juju (150 pts) and Sidi Bou Zid (500 pts). Up to 1000 points can be racked up for destroying the enemy. A 500 point bonus is given for keeping friendly losses below 30%. A long strip of exit objectives is located at the west edge of the map to allow a withdrawal if you deem prudent. Good luck Jim.
Edited by kohlenklau
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The big "First Blood" battle is out to several testers and then I will release it in a few weeks...

..so sitting around bored last night I downshifted gears and dialed back to a nice 208m x 208m small unit action called "Kasserine Rearguard". I love these tiny battles as they are so much easier to create and finish. I feel almost MORE energetic doing them versus the big maps where I honestly start to feel pretty dang drained during the process.

I wonder why?

4km x 4km map = 250,000 action spots! if you had to click on each spot for any reason that is 70 hours of map making and it still feels unfinished. Uggggh.

208m x 208m = only 676 action spots. You could spend just a relaxed evening of a few hours babying the map with love and goodness.

...anyway, you will play as Lieutenant Hartmann who is in command of a composite 1st platoon rearguard at a mountainous position astride a road on the shoulders of the Kasserine Pass on 19 February 1943 ordered to delay the advancing German-Italian Forces.

 

 

Edited by kohlenklau
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22 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

<snipped>

..so sitting around bored last night I downshifted gears and dialed back to a nice 208m x 208m small unit action called "Kasserine Rearguard". I love these tiny battles as they are so much easier to create and finish. I feel almost MORE energetic doing them versus the big maps where I honestly start to feel pretty dang drained during the process.

<snipped>

Real Life just doesn't afford me any time for big battles.  One of the many I reasons I never volunteer to play-test them.  Small scenario's however, really appeal to me.  Would love to see as many of them as designers can crank out.  Am also much more inclined to help play-test these small ones at The Proving Grounds II (http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tpg2/).  Good luck with this and please keep us posted.  Thank you for your time and efforts.

Edited by Badger73
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The big battle was a bear to make but playing it actually is not so different from a "small" battle as due to the way I slowly add in the assets. The scenario is 1500-1620 but you slowly get more units arriving over the wadi 1505, 1510, 1515, 1520 & 1530 and don't get all your stuff until 1545.

@Badger73   Please reconsider to give it a try once released and see those long range vistas.

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I fear the day is coming that the big community made scenarios or campaigns are going to be no more.  Eventually just little squad battles and small maps will be all that populate the most recent uploads...  I sure hope not.  Hopefully I am going to be totally wrong about that.

The bigger the battle the better for my tastes as I usually don't sit down to finish a battle in one sitting, can take me days, weeks or months to finish one and I love it that way.  It does not help that I flip flop my interests in different theatres and don't concentrate on one CM game most of the time.  As well as other games of interest (CMANO, WITE, MegaMek /MekHQ, WOFF, FC2). 

Just putting my support out there for the large battles as it seems more and more people are commenting for more smaller scale stuff...  nothing wrong with that, just a voice for the large scale crowd.

Edited by Blazing 88's
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"...big community made scenarios or campaigns are going to be no more."

Agreed.  I hope there is a market for BF to produce good campaigns that feature huge scenarios that we can buy as modules.  (And one can always extract the missions and pay individual scenarios if one prefers standalone missions.)

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2 minutes ago, Erwin said:

"...big community made scenarios or campaigns are going to be no more."

Agreed.  I hope there is a market for BF to produce good campaigns that feature huge scenarios that we can buy as modules.  (And one can always extract the missions and pay individual scenarios if one prefers standalone missions.)

+1

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4 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

The big battle was a bear to make but playing it actually is not so different from a "small" battle as due to the way I slowly add in the assets. The scenario is 1500-1620 but you slowly get more units arriving over the wadi 1505, 1510, 1515, 1520 & 1530 and don't get all your stuff until 1545.

@Badger73   Please reconsider to give it a try once released and see those long range vistas.

Okay, I will when you release it.  I recently played TDSII CMBN scenario "MG The Wrong Tool for the Job" (http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy/cm-battles-for-normandy/mg-the-wrong-tool-for-the-job/).  It uses a similar approach; initial assets that receive supplementary forces as time progresses.  I really liked it because it did not overwhelm me with deploying for a big battalion all at once.  The author describes it as a small scenario which is why I played it.  By the end of the game it more closely resembles a medium sized battle.  For me, that's a better way to develop larger battles; set them up to engage with a manageable (no more than a company) sized predetermined initial force and grow it organically as the situation develops.  Good luck with "Kasserine Rearguard".

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