Advanced Third Reich Mod for Global Conflict

[pzgndr]

OK, I'm ready to open up about my latest A3R mod. Desert Dave has been very helpful with playtesting and fine-tuning this beast over the past few months. I believe the mod is playing very well now and should provide players with interesting and challenging games.

So, what's new in this Strategic Command - WWII Global Conflict version for Advanced Third Reich?

- Now includes all four scenarios (1939, 1941, 1942, and 1944)

- Updated military counters with classic Third Reich AF-MF for better visuals

- Updated 3D icons for players who prefer the 3D visuals

- Revised force pools to use the anti-tank slot for Italian and Russian 2-3 infantry, British 2-5 armor, and new variant units

- Adjustments to movement and combat parameters for improved game play

- Adjustments to economics to provide more Axis advantage in early years, with increasing Allied advantage in later years

- Reduced Diplomacy costs and generally reduced chances of variant events, making Diplomacy more interesting

- Revised AI scripting for generally improved computer opponent performance

- Added more variants such as French 3-3 infantry, Free French, German 2-6 armor, and new Army Group HQs

I'll provide some comments and screenshots for a playtest game completed last night. This was for a hands-off AI-vs-AI game on default difficulty settings, which actually played out pretty historically without any major surprises. (Don't be too disappointed; there ARE surprises in every game.) UK and Italy adopted naval strategies, USA adopted a land strategy. France entered the war over Poland, which held out until Oct 39. Denmark surrenders in Jan 40. Luxembourg and Netherlands in Apr 40, plus a pro-Axis coup in Norway. Belgium in May 40. Italy entered war in Jun 40. France held out until Sep 40. Yugoslavia in Apr 41. Germany launches Barbarossa in June 41. Greece in Nov 41. USA conquers Morocco and Algeria in Dec 42, Tunisia in May 43. Italy surrenders in Aug 43. Vichy France in Aug 44. Finland in Dec 44. Romania in Apr 45. Germany surrenders in Jul 45. In diplomacy, Turkey was up to 78% allied influence at game's end, almost close enough to enter the war against Axis. Some screenshots to follow.

I'll be wrapping up the scenario packages for posting at the Battlefront repository.

[pzgndr]

Spring, 1940. Situation following Fall Gelb invasion of the Low Countries in Spring 1940. Germans would occupy Paris in Aug 40 and France holds out until the following month.

[pzgndr]

Spring, 1940. Same situation with the alternate 3D graphics now provided for players who prefer them.

[pzgndr]

Winter, 1941. Axis advance into Russia is proving sluggish. USSR continues to hold Smolensk in the north and Dnepropetrovsk in the south. Russian Winter and Siberian Transfer troops will help hold the line for a while.

[pzgndr]

Winter, 1941. Fairly balanced situation in Egypt. Germany has committed some combat power to North Africa but Rommel did not deploy. Usually a German Army Group HQ is sent to Libya, but sometimes not.

[pzgndr]

Winter, 1942. Germany's 1942 Fall Blau offensive in Russia seems to have been focused in the north and towards Moscow.

[pzgndr]

Winter, 1942. In the south, USSR continues to hold Kharkov and Rostov against the Axis summer offensives of 1942. In North Africa, Axis fails to make much headway against Egypt and the Middle East. UK has managed to push back and take Tobruk.

[pzgndr]

Summer, 1943. Despite the lackluster summer offensive of 1942, Germany held the initiative and has managed to push deep into the Caucasus up to the gates of Grozny and Astrakhan. USSR prepares to turn the tide.

[pzgndr]

Summer, 1943. USA has invaded Sicily and is preparing to invade Italy. Italy will surrender unconditionally to the Allies in Aug 43 once USA has units on the mainland within range of Rome. Germany already has garrisons in northern Italy and is prepared to occupy Rome and Albania.

[pzgndr]

Summer, 1944. Allies launch D-Day invasion of France in Jun, 44. Paris will be liberated in Aug 44 and Vichy France will surrender.

[pzgndr]

Summer, 1944. The Red Army summer offensive of 1944 is in full swing, pushing the Germans back. USSR has retaken Smolensk, triggering a reduction in Lend Lease and Murmansk Convoy economic aid. The western Allies will now retain more of their MPPs to continue their own offensives into Germany.

[pzgndr]

Spring, 1945. Gotterdammerung for the Third Reich. Allies are closing in on Berlin from both directions. Germany continues to hold Budapest and southern Germany. Germany will surrender unconditionally to the Allies in Jul 45, when Red Army troops finally take Berlin.

[pzgndr]

For those who are interested, here are the complete Version Notes:

=================================================================

Advanced Third Reich for SC-WWII Global Conflict v1.00

=================================================================

DATA CHANGES

- updated localization.txt and revised Country IDs

- updated activation_sprites and military_flag_sprites bitmaps

- revised force pools and CTVs to use the anti-tank unit slot for Italian and Russian 2-3 infantry, British 2-5 armor (WDF), and some new variant units (NOTE: infantry and anti-tank research is now disabled for Italy and USSR)

- updated unit_sprites_military bitmap counters with classic Third Reich AF-MF for better visuals

- updated unit_sprites_3d bitmaps for the revised force pools

- updated the campaign file for CUSTOM_SOUND and changed anti_tank_attack to a battle sound

- updated flags bitmaps

- map changes:

-- deleted Florence to reduce Italy production by about 10 MPPs and revised affected scripts

-- deleted Vichy, changed capital to Lyons, and revised affected scripts

-- moved Kharkov 1 tile to northeast and revised affected scripts

-- reduced Astrakhan and Chelyabinsk to minor city (reducing USSR production by about 20 MPPs)

-- changed Munich from alternate capital to industrial center

-- deleted port Al Kuwait and revised affected transport_minor scripts (NOTE: these do not work for Allied AI)

-- deleted Narva River north of Lake Peipus

-- updated map cities to AWAW (Cologne, Kiev, Sevastopol and Ankara now red objective cities)

-- fixed Qattara Depression spelling

- Combat Target Data changes:

-- eliminated artillery DRM modifier +1 for UK/USA/USSR/Ger and revised bitmaps

-- reduced Partisan defensive values and Partisans naval spotting range to 1

-- reduced all soft and tank air/naval defense values to 1 and 2, respectively

-- gave motorization bonus to USA and UK artillery (now 1-4) and revised bitmaps

-- reduced air DRMs by 1, reduced default RA to 3 modified by DRM

-- reduced default Tactical Bomber attack values from 3 to 2

-- increased TAC demoralization by 10%

-- reduced default Strategic Bomber range from 16 to 12 (UK/France/Canada still at 16, USA at 18)

-- increased Strategic Bomber spotting ranges from 4 to 6

-- restricted Carriers to one strike

-- increased transport and operational movement costs from 10% to 15%

-- set Raid Multiplier to 5 for German Battleships and Cruisers

-- eliminated naval DRM modifiers for ASW

-- increased CD for subs to 1 and German subs initial dive % to 30%

-- reduced land unit bombardment values to 1 for Battleships and 0 for other naval units

-- reduced naval DRMs by 1, reduced naval bombardment effectiveness

-- reduced ASW UA/UD to 3, increased subs ND to 3, and increased German U-boat raid multiplier from 10 to 14

-- increased naval movements about 25%

-- increased sub attack/defense evasion to 10%

- changes to force pools, unit names, and scenario setups:

-- revised max HQ attachments and range to 5 for all major and minor HQs (Finland, Romania, Spain)

-- restricted rebuilds to only infantry and armor combat unit-types (NOTE: this limits generic AI rebuilds, allows more MPPs for combat units, and provides better control for other AI builds via purchase scripts)

-- increased 1939 at-start unit strengths for majors to 10 (Germany bomber, UK units in Egypt)

-- deleted Iceland Arctic Bomber

-- changed France setup to have 1-3 garrisons in North Africa and 2-3 garrison in Syria

-- deleted one Italian FTR and UK TAC at start, added UK Bomber at start, and added Belgium FTR to force pool

-- reduced Russian and Italian SOF units to 1-3

-- deleted USA and USSR research chits in PT and IT at start due to reduced costs

- changes to costs and production:

-- restored production delays for French and Russian units to normal (ie, corps 3, infantry corps 4, and armor 6)

-- reduced minor/major Diplomacy influence costs to 50/100 MPP and increased minor influence bonus to 25-40%

-- increased reinforcement costs from 7% to 8%

-- revised air unit costs (Fighters 125 MPPs and Tactical Bombers 100 MPPs, 45 Mpps for minors)

-- reduced naval unit costs by 50 MPPs

-- reduced research costs by 50 MPPs

- implemented scorched earth for Axis minors (Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Romania) and Egypt

- changed Scorched Earth from Full back to On Invasion for Germany and USSR

- increased terrain movement costs to +1 for swamps and mountains

- reduced Hidden Attacker Readiness Bonus to 20%

- revised Europe and Russia weather zone data for spring and fall to allow more clear weather and lengthen summer campaign season

- reset Naval Damage At Sea values to new Global Conflict defaults

- reduced max entrenchment values by 1

- increased attack victory from 0.3 to 0.4

- reduced combat losses variability back to +/-1

SCRIPT CHANGES

- added new #DATE and #FAILSAFE_DATE lines in unit events (now some Third Reich variants that were not applicable in 1939 are now delayed until 1942 or 1943; eg, British commandos and German rockets)

- added new #FLAG_ID lines in supply events

- added new #VARIABLE_CONDITION lines in resource events

- added new #MPP_UPDOWN, #MPP_TURNS, #MPP_TEXT, and #FRIENDLY_POSITION lines in decision events

- added new #DESTINATION_RESOURCE lines in purchase scripts

- changed activation events to new mobilization events and added new belligerence events

- increased chance of national strategy GVs from 10% to 20%; ie, generally 20% land strategy, 20% air strategy, 20% naval strategy, and 40% default strategy

- generally reduced war_entry variants from 10% to 5%, and French colony pro-Allied variants from 25% to 10%

- revised pro-Allied and pro-Axis coup war_entry events, slightly favoring historical pro-Axis coup in Norway and pro-Allied coup in Yugoslavia

- revised AI convoy scripts to slightly reduce USA->UK Lend Lease and increase UK->USSR Murmansk Convoys

- added garrison scripts and AI land loop events for UK and USA to reinforce Iraq if Egypt surrenders (NOTE: this is a workaround for a bug with the transport_minor scripts not triggering with the naval loop to Iraq)

- reduced Russian Winter effects to about [1,3] and [0,2] strength reductions

- revised Urals Industry Transfer resource event to slightly delay the effect

- revised Malta Effect supply event to trigger after Jan 1941 with increased frequency and slightly reduced effect for greater Axis supply uncertainty

- revised Severe Axis Supply Shortage in North Africa event to be slightly less damaging and added another 1943 event

- updated surrender_1 scripts for UK Assumes Control of Palestine and Trans-Jordan when Egypt surrenders

- added surrender_1 script for Germany to assume control of Rome if Italy surrenders (NOTE: This prevents Axis liberation of Italy, but allows Italian free_unit event to trigger)

- added surrender_2 scripts for Germany to surrender to either USSR or USA

- revised territory scripts to delay USSR economic increases to 1943/44

- removed Warsaw from victory script conditions

- reduced Siberian Transfer to single unit event of 1 armor and 3 infantry only

- revised Allied AI unit event for placement of USA air units in Algeria

- added Allied variant unit events for Free French (1-3 in Egypt, 1-3 in Syria, and 3-4 in Algeria) with variable entry after USA enters war

- added British variant unit event for 3-4 Polish volunteers

- added German variant unit events for 2-6 armor and Ukraine Vlasov troops

- revised the DeGaulle unit event to trigger after 1943 and after Allies occupy Lorient

- added French 3-3 infantry variant unit event

- added unit events for Army Group variants (O'Conner, Billotte, Clark, Kuznetsov, Guderian, Balbo)

- revised unit events, research and production scripts for force pool changes involving Italian and Russian 2-3 infantry

- revised diplomacy scripts to generally increase chance of events by +5%

- revised amphibious and transport scripts for UK and USA in Med to better support invasion of Italy, allow greater possibility for British invasion of Greece, and retain some British leadership in Middle East if Axis controls Turkey

- revised Allied 1943 French raid amphibious_minor scripts to be a one-time check

- added continuous D-Day amphibious_minor scripts for Lorient

- added USA fleet scripts to reinforce Med if Axis control Gibraltar

- revised Russian fortification scripting and Moscow defensive line garrison scripts

- revised purchase scripts to slightly reduced British production chance of Tactical Bombers in 39-40 and add scripts for Greece

- revised research scripts to reprioritize and slightly reduce overall spending

- revised research scripts to reduce chances of optional technologies by about 40%

- added transport_minor scripts for withdrawal of British units from Norway

- deleted unnecessary #FRIENDLY_POSITION lines in transport scripts to prevent some odd looping behavior (eg, Allied units embarking in Italy to reinforce Italy)

- revised transport_minor scripts for reduced chance of British belligerent intervention and reinforcement of Norway

- added transport_minor scripts for additional USA reinforcements to support invasions of Sicily and Italy

[Emperor Elliott]

Bravo. This mod looks very interesting and fun to play. Cant wait for it to be realesed

[Snowstorm]

PZGNDR,

This really looks terrific. Have to congrat you (and certainly DD too) on a job very well done. As EE said, can't wait for GC's imminent release (I would imagine sometime in the next 3-4 days, maybe Tuesday after server maintenance?).

One thing: I have heard it mentioned a few times about AI vs. AI.

How is this possible? I have looked at the current games and editors over and over and still cannot see how to set things for AI control on both sides. Any hints on how this is accomplished? Or is it unique to just GC? :confused:

[Cantona66]

Me too can´t wait!

[pzgndr]

The AI-vs-AI feature has been around since Patton Drives East. At the initial Main Menu screen before selecting New Game, you can use the F-keys:

F1 - DEBUGSAVE, to save every game turn for later review

F2 - DEBUGLOGS, to generate log files for decisions, diplomacy, planning, research, and weather for review

F3 - DEBUGANIMATION, to skip over the animated movements

F4 - DEBUGAI, to substitute the AI for the human player

There is a also new F5 key in Global Conflict for generating a summary log file of activity. For example, in the playtest game I ran:

09/01/1939 (LOSSES)

Poland: Lodz Infantry Corps Destroyed

Poland: 1st Polish Fighters Destroyed

Poland: 2nd Polish Tactical Bombers Destroyed

Poland: Krakow Corps Destroyed

Poland: Poznan Infantry Corps Destroyed

09/01/1939 (ACTIVITY)

Poland: Germany Declared War On Poland

France: France Prepares For War

UK: Historical Event - Cyprus Becomes A British Crown Colony

Egypt: Mediterranean/Far East Convoys To The UK Begin

Sweden: Swedish Iron Ore Shipments To Germany Begin

09/01/1939 (RESEARCH)

09/29/1939 (LOSSES)

09/29/1939 (ACTIVITY)

Canada: Canada Declares War On Germany

Canada: Canadian Supply Convoys To The UK Begin

Germany: U-Boat I (72,22) Disrupted Egypt -> UK Convoys. UK Lost 15 MPP

09/29/1939 (RESEARCH)

09/29/1939 (LOSSES)

Poland: Warsaw Damaged From Bombing

Poland: Wyszkow Corps Destroyed

Poland: Karpaty Corps Destroyed

Poland: Pomorze Infantry Corps Destroyed

09/29/1939 (ACTIVITY)

09/29/1939 (RESEARCH)

10/27/1939 (LOSSES)

10/27/1939 (ACTIVITY)

France: France Joins The Allies

France: France Enters War Against Germany

Germany: U-Boat I (72,22) Disrupted Egypt -> UK Convoys. UK Lost 14 MPP

10/27/1939 (RESEARCH)

10/27/1939 (LOSSES)

Poland: Radom Corps Destroyed

Poland: Prusy Corps Destroyed

Poland: Narew Corps Destroyed

10/27/1939 (ACTIVITY)

Poland: Poland Surrendered

Germany: Germany Occupies Western Poland

USSR: USSR Occupies Eastern Poland

10/27/1939 (RESEARCH)

I just cannot say enough how useful these features are for running games over and over to help find and fix issues. Despite the hundreds of games I've run in AI-versus-AI mode or the many games I've played myself against the computer opponent, I make no guarantee that I have found and fixed everything! LOL.

[John DiFool the 2nd]

I wish more people would use variants in their scenarios-the main selling point, for me at least, is that we don't have to almost mindlessly adhere to historical paths because we know the Germans, say, won't have much of a surface navy to worry about, or that the French won't have extra AT capability, for example.

[Armuss]

Fantastic result! I wait for tuesday;)

[Big Al]

Looks great

[SeaMonkey]

Wow ...Bill, got to hand it to you, you've really stayed with this effort. I'd guess this is probably the most accurate representation of this old classic to date and I know the AI will give a good account of itself.

Impressive......very impressive.

[david12345]

Looks great. Third Reich was my first love, still the best wargame ever. Russian Campaign is a close second. Now if you can only change the squares to hexes..

[arado234]

david12345 I used to play Third Reich ALOT.I have the computer game.The A.I.is one of the worst I have ever seen.Its actually possible to beat Russia in two turns.

[hendriks65]

Hi pzgndr, have you posted this Advanced 3rd Reich mod in the repository? I can't locate any files there and am logged in.

Just downloaded the game and would be great to try your mod.

Thanks!~

[pzgndr]

Looks like Moon opened a Global Conflict section in the repository yesterday so I'll upload my A3R campaigns later today. Patience fellas! Enjoy Global Conflict in the meantime.