carverrt

If making scenarios are hard, how about working out the bugs and asking for help on this forum? If you can download a file from CMODS you can rewrite a script or two, send it back to the author and I bet he’ll post it. If he doesn’t want to post, I bet the next author will. Just email and ask. Also, maybe we can help each other by sharing information. One of the best web sites I’ve seen for war gaming research is the Army’s Command and Staff Collage. http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/glantz3/glantz3.asp Here is a challenge. Take the document at the link above and create a scenario for the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, 1945. Don’t try to be too detailed. Just make a map, add some units, an offensive script and ask others to contribute. I think with cooperation, scenario building can be easier than at first thought. My one rule is that I try not to be perfect. Robert

Frost, Thank you for the great comments. Yes, those HQ names need to change. I’ll do that! Robert

Philippe I just downloaded that five 10 minutes ago! Will do, I’ll use them! Robert

Kuniworth, Good links. I have some solid information I can rework the German unit designations with. I’ll correct the spelling on the Guderian HQ counter. I’ll lower the movement. I’ll play with the weather tool and see if I can get the mud/rain/snow right. Robert

Kuniworth; Thank you for the suggestions and pointers. Here are some of my thoughts… - HQ unit quantities I lowered the number of German counters, and I can do so again. - Artillery Regiments I am not sure about artillery regiments. If it were latter in the war we would see Soviet artillery Division, but I do not have any information on the Russian organizing their artillery outside their Divisions in 1941. Do you have any information on the German artillery formations? - Movement While I was building the scenario I gave this some thought - I too felt the movement was too much. How about this… I lower the infantry movement and let the armor and mech units stay the same? Maybe this will show how tanks can get way too far in front of the rest of the army. How does this sound? -Unit Designation I have to be honest, I muddled through the unit designations. I knew Panzer Divisions 1 through 20 were in Russian by Fall ‘41, but I do not have any other information on the Germans. Late in game development I came across a book by Walter Dunn called "Stalin’s Key to Victory, the Rebirth of the Red Army." Dunn's work goes into detail how the Red Army stayed alive and turned the tide on the Germans. He has a great list of Division at Moscow in 1941, I can use that. But, I need a good reference for the German Divisions. Please send me any links that may be available. -Game Unit Type Most of the Divisions are generic. So I would love to add color by including the SS and Guards Divisions. But, I am not sure I need to use different types (like the special forces piece). Maybe I can just increase experience or technology to match the capabilities of these elite Divisions. I have a little history on the Guard Divisions, but nothing on the SS Divisions. Again, send me any links that are available. I’ll keep working to make the scenario better. Robert

I just posted the file at CMODS http://www.cmmods.com/ This is my second attempt and I could not have finished it without Bill101’s (SC Forum alias) help. He found a very unusual error in the Media folder that was preventing images from appearing with a related popup. This scenario is about Germany’s 1941 attack on Moscow and the Russian counterattack. It is big – lots of units. I hope that this leaves the player with a sense of how large this battle was and the enormity of the casualties suffered by both sides. In researching this I was struck by how well the Red Army had rebuilt itself since the start of Barbarossa. Enjoy. As always, send me your comments and thoughts. I will improve the scenario as I get feedback. Robert

All; Bill101 fixed the problem. So we can all take advantage of his good work, I am placing his success here: “I seem to have solved it, but I really don't know what the problem was. I tried loads of things and was about to give up when I thought I would export all your scenario's data into a new map. I then added one pop up script with an image, and hey presto, it worked! I can only think that your scenario became corrupted in some way, because there was nothing I could see that was wrong. Are you ok doing that? If so, I would recommend that you don't copy the old media folder over into the new scenario, but instead make it afresh.” - Bill101 Thank you Bill!

All; You are right. I'll take advantage of Bill101's offer. Robert

Frost, Have you tried strategic bombing yet? I increased USA & UK Bomber strengths a little. Try placing bombers as close to the USSR (or occupied territories) as possible and hit their cities. I did not add an offensive script for Italy/Rome – that is a powerful AI. Have you had any luck with your aircraft carries? Robert

All; I thought I would ask one last time. If anyone can take a look at the script below and let me know what I might be doing wrong I would appreciate it. The script is to a new scenario I will post soon, so I’d like to have images and media ready when I post. Thank you. Robert

Frost, Thank you for the fine complements. I saw the spelling errors and I will correct. The backward Cuban flag is actually the Occupation flag Germany flew just after the war; the tricolor Germany uses today came a few years latter. Not sure about Saudi Arabia, maybe I should give America a better diplomatic rating. But, I did not change any American- Saudi aspects. Yes, I do think new military sprites would add to the flavor of the game. I have not tried to work with that, but I might. I am working on another scenario, a historical one. It should be posted within a week. Robert

Good point on the negative consequences of attacking a particular minor country. If invading Switzerland cost the Germans financially, then what economic effect/adjustment occurred when they invaded other countries. In the game today, there are military consequences once the USA enters the war. If the UK invades Ireland or Germany invades Switzerland, these actions take away units from the main effort for 2-3 turns. If I were Russian in the Summer of 1942 I would love to experience the effect of German units to Switzerland for a season. If the Germans used units in France, I would conduct a few UK raids on European cites. I think any invasion of a minor post-1942 will have an effect that may be exploited.

I guess these changes would require programming. But, if they add to game play, it might be worth it. I think stacking might be hardest to tackle and might be the least return on time and effort. Two additions that would add to game play are a defensive retreat option and an amphibious attack (from a sea hex) on an occupied land hex option. Robert

I know, that looks like the problem... the file is mispelled. Let me know if you see anything else. Happy New Year, Robert

Good afternoon all; I am tiryng to add an image to a popup event script. I created the bitman image, 627x422, wrote the script including the image file name and placed it in the campaign’s media folder. All I get when I test it is the popup text. Below is the script. Can anyone help? { #NAME= Zhukov appointed #POPUP= Stalin places Zhukov in charge of Moscow defenses #IMAGE= zukov_10Oct41.bmp #SOUND= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 0 #AI= 0 #COUNTRY_ID= 4 #TRIGGER= 100 #DISPLAY_ORDER= 0 #DATE= 1941/10/10 ; 1st Line - USSR politically aligned with Allies 100% and not surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 4 [2] [100] [0] ; Dummy condition position (always satisfied) #CONDITION_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [0,0] [0] [0] }

I just read through this string and find it interesting. Granted, the case Malta presents may be unique in the European theater of operation, and might not be worth devoting a large amount of development effort. However, this discussion is pertinent if we ever want to improve scenarios designed for the Pacific. This is an idea: Allow land units in amphibious transports to attack occupied single island hexes. If the attacking unit is victorious, it then advances onto the vacated island. If unsuccessful, the attacker takes high losses and stays at sea. Any ways, something to chew on…

Thank you John, I just updated the zip file. It now has the .cgn file.

I just posted a new SC2 WaW scenario at CMMODS http://www.cmmods.com/ I got the idea from an old copy of Avalon Hill’s General Magazine. In that issue they describe an alternate scenario for Hitler’s War based on the Berlin Crisis of 1948 igniting open warfare. Since SC2 WaW is similar, it seemed a natural adaptation. It was interesting researching the time period just after World War 2. I incorporated many historical events into the scenario. The most prominent event in relation to the geographical area of SC2 WaW was the situation in the Middle East. In 1948 Israel declared its independence and the Arabs immediately attacked. Both sides used old British equipment and were influenced by the British military. In fact, the Transjordan Arab Legion was lead by British general Glubb. In this scenario I borrowed an idea from SC2 Global War and the Chinese Civil war using different script to simulate the effects of the war. Although the Algerian revolt did not start till a few years latter, I insert this conflict to add some additional interest. My rational is simply that communist influence speeds up the process that lead Algerian nationalist to revolt. Early in 1948 Tito broke with Stalin. But, here again I take liberty to add a little more interest. Yugoslavia stays loyal to Moscow. A key American strategy at the time was to use bombers with atomic weapons. Although I do not intend my increases of USA and UK bomber range and firepower to replicate atomic weapons, I do hope to simulate the Allied striking power of its emerging bomber force. I’ve spent a few weeks modifying the order of battle and scripts. I welcome all suggestions and would love to include some of your ideas. Let me know how I can improve this scenario. [ December 13, 2007, 07:30 PM: Message edited by: RobertC ]

Normal Dude: I do have a scenario I could publish. It needs lots of scripts written, but the units are in place and ready to go – I took the newest Global War release and moved up the start date to 1 June 1941 and called it the Axis High Watermark scenario – after my favorite SPI game of all time! JP Wagner: My posts are not an attack – I sensed you felt I was attacking the non-WW2 modders. I want to encourage WW2 modders and let non-WW2 modders know that their tool (SC2 Editor) is designed for another time. I also sensed you thought I wanted scenarios designed only for my pleasure. Not true. However, I really do enjoy playing scenarios designed by others. But, thanks for keeping me humble.

How about incorporating signals intelligence (sigint) into the game? Ultra and Magic had notable successes, although arguably of the two, only Magic produced the one strategic success (Midway). But, both (and Axis sigint programs too) were significant in uncovering enemy plans and movements. This is my proposal: As the intelligence technology level increases give a better chance to recognize (or uncover) major enemy scripts like planning for amphibious landing or grouping for major offensives. Also, let units embarked in sea transport be revealed and let the number of resources assigned to convoy routes be revealed (the Germans were effective during the first part of the war in uncovering shipping departures).

Lars, CAP has many uses. Sometimes carries provided combat air patrol for amphibious operations or surface shore bombardment. The point is to make the naval part of the game feel more realistic. Maybe mode options do the trick. Maybe the Special Forces units should include Marines – the Japanese called their Marines Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF). But, the point is to find a way to allow for attacks on occupied hexes.

pzgnder, I understand your position on different carrier modes – they already have a flexible CTV. How about replicating hit and run raids?

Xwormwood, I agree with you AT (anti-tank) busting is for land based tactical air. The carries are supporting fleet operations, amphibious assaults and raiding.

Lars, The discussion is about additional Carrier and Special Forces capabilities. The main ideas for Carriers are changing/adding the options available to real carries; we’ve discussed different modes and replicating hit and run tactics (my newest addition to this thread). My point is that we should try to make the naval game have the right feel. Focusing on carries is just one aspect. The other part of this post had to do with special forces amphibiously attacking occupied hexes. Actually, another part of Naval warfare. Just to summarize what my take on this is. - Carries need to act more like real carries, possessing the same tactical options WW2 carries had like armament choices for their embarked air wings and methods to replicated hit and run raids. - Special Forces need Marine-like capabilities and be able to assault defended beaches – especially one hex islands. I hope this does the topic justice. But this is not the end. I really hope we have more discussions so we can refine these thoughts.

So we seem to agree the Doolittle Raid could be a script, the results/effects of a script are still up in the air. EMF says all first raids should be handled a special way. Maybe, but the response of the Doolittle Raid was out of proportion to the attacks. The German reactions to British bombing can be left up to the players. Germany switched from attacking the RAF to attacking civilians in cities. The game lets players replicate that strategy – stop attacking the RAF fighters and go after London. The Doolittle Raid was an anomaly, but did have an impact that could be replicated. CV’s. I agree technology enhancement would give the game a better feel for the cost of carriers in fleets. Also, hit and run raids should be dealt with. This aspect of the Pacific and Mediterranean wars should be replicated in the game mechanics to give the game a better – more realistic – feel. In the current game engine, subs disappear/move. Maybe we can have carries do the same. A CV attacks an Italian Battleship in a port, the next turn the Italian bombers attack the British CV, but the CV jumps six hexes toward the Suez and avoids any damage – sounds like an actual raid - no?