Revising The Road to Montebourg campaign

[Vacillator]

13 hours ago, Warts 'n' all said:

Roll on the New Year. 

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/heritage-highlights/did-oliver-cromwell-really-ban-christmas/

Well who could blame him (sorry, you)?

Edited December 22, 2023 by Vacillator

[Warts 'n' all]

An interesting piece. I like the story of how he used to invite himself into people's houses around Westminster, if he heard music being played. And rather than tell them to stop, he'd have a beer, and a sing song with them. 

Of course, he was still a right-wing s***, who'd have had me strung up if out paths had crossed.

[Vacillator]

14 minutes ago, Warts 'n' all said:

a right-wing s***,

LOL.  We still have plenty of those.

[Paper Tiger]

That's both Licornets and Labrynth completed. I wasn't planning to do a complete overhaul of these missions but I just couldn't leave them alone and so both these missions have entirely new AIs. Licornets has been particularly overhauled to create the illusion of an actual intelligent response but as usual, if you do something that goes off the plan, well, there's not much I can do about that. Triggers are a 'do this now or later' condition and can't branch so I have had to anticipate what the player might do and put the hurt on him if he's careless.

I was also a bit concerned that these two missions were samey and so I redid the German OB to give Labrynth its own unique flavour. No spoilers but it's different. But that's more than half way through the campaign now and so far, they've all been reworked quite substantially. That's far more work than I had planned to do but hey, that's just how I roll.

I have no plans to overhaul the chapter 2 finale but we'll see what happens when I test it tomorrow. I might end up re-doing it all as well. But even if I do, it's not going to take much more than a day to do.

I really won't be changing anything much with the chapter 3 missions except for Le Ham which doesn't have any AI. I'm not planning anything special there beyond having two plans and some AI reaction to player moves. And that means there's only the final three to consider.

But I really am getting impatient to get this finished asap now as I'm beginning to feel the itch to do something else.

[Warts 'n' all]

Thanks for keeping us updated. Merry Christmas, or some such humbug.

 

[Paper Tiger]

As well as reassuring folks that I'm not taking a break on this project again, posting updates serves to keep me actively working on this. If I didn't post my progress, I'd probably take a break from it and 'forget' for a few weeks. I REALLY want to get this finished preferably by the end of the year but as long as I keep working on it, it will get finished either on time or a bit later. Having said that, there probably will be a short break in updates from tomorrow for a day or two for obvious reasons.

Predictably, I couldn't leave Neuville alone. I've already made some small but important changes to the German forces that will make them a little bit more effective. The defending force is TINY as well so I can assign each unit to its own AI group with some to spare so it would be foolish not to take advantage of the new tools to make the defence more responsive to the player's moves. That's the point of making this revision after all.

[AlexUK]

Probably my favourite campaign. I've played through it several times and really looking forward to playing it again!

[Erwin]

On 12/23/2023 at 6:20 AM, Paper Tiger said:

Triggers are a 'do this now or later' condition and can't branch so I have had to anticipate what the player might do and put the hurt on him if he's careless.

Am not familiar with the design mechanics, but I thought one could have "action areas" where if a unit reaches/enters it, then an AI plan is executed.  That would give the illusion of the AI oppo reacting intelligently.

[Paper Tiger]

On 12/25/2023 at 12:33 AM, Erwin said:

Am not familiar with the design mechanics, but I thought one could have "action areas" where if a unit reaches/enters it, then an AI plan is executed.  That would give the illusion of the AI oppo reacting intelligently.

Yes, that's one way that you can trigger an order. But this only tells the unit to go now rather than go later. So execute when an enemy unit triggers the order or at T+20. Either way, it can only perform that order.

Of course, that 'later' can be never which means if the trigger is not activated, it will stay in place. But the trigger can start a whole chain of orders which the player would otherwise not see.

 

I had a day off yesterday, not surprisingly, watching a couple of movies with the wife to relax instead, but I did some work this afternoon. Neuville is now done and I'm currently working on 'Holding Action', a late chapter 3 mission. It's a small action on a small map so it didn't take long to get a working AI plan up and running. After finishing that, tomorrow I suppose, I'll tackle Le Ham and that will complete chapter 3 which leaves the final three missions to do.

I'm not going to change very much with regards to the earlier chapter 3 missions as they are pretty substantial in size and the AI is fairly passive in them anyway so they should be fine. If I change nothing, it doesn't need further testing. 'Hell in the Hedgerows' has been 'improved' though as a loss here puts you on the historical path. Winning it has always meant an easier path to Le Ham so why not make it more historical. I've firmly placed my sadist hat on for this one change.

The chapter 4 missions might take some time to do though  - Ecausseville was another historical 'knee to the groin' for the 2/8 INF so i'd like to use all the tools I have to make that one as challenging as possible too. The Farmhouse is very small, tiny in fact so I don't think that's much more than a day's work. The finale, Eroudeville, is going to take some time to do properly as it has a BIG German counterattack so I'm hoping to get this finished first week of 2024. I could just call it a day now but I want to really polish off those final missions as they'd all benefit from some attention.

I jotted down some notes as well regarding the new structure and the VP awards earned by both sides in each mission so that the player can plan accordingly. I have also clarified the briefings so that the player understands beyond a shadow of a doubt that the friendly casualties BONUS is just that, a reward for an exceptional performance and not a punishment. I feel it is necessary to make that clear although some folks will always see it as a punishment.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Paper Tiger

[AlexUK]

Im kind of dreading the new Hell in the Hedgerows but as long as a defeat is the historical path I guess I’m ok with that. I fear there won’t be much left of the attackers at the end though - I remember many a slaughter on my previous playthroughs. 

[Paper Tiger]

10 hours ago, AlexUK said:

Im kind of dreading the new Hell in the Hedgerows but as long as a defeat is the historical path I guess I’m ok with that. I fear there won’t be much left of the attackers at the end though - I remember many a slaughter on my previous playthroughs. 

After much deliberation, I've decided against the inclusion of nebelwerfers in the Hell mission as one half-decent strike pretty much ends any chance the player has of winning this. It's too random and there's no real player skill involved and bottom line, it's just not fun at all. 

In real life, 2/325 recognised the impossibility of the task in front of them and stopped. No shame there because they were attacking on a narrow front into well-prepared German defences in very difficult terrain with artillery registered on all the approaches and in appalling weather to boot. I get SAD syndrome just looking at that map

I want the player to persist with trying to win the mission and accept the losses and so I've made the following mission, Breakthrough, much easier as a result of a win. Just quitting or losing will result in a much tougher follow-on mission, Stalemate, as was historical. And a win in Hell earns you bragging rights. Of course, I have made Hell more difficult in other, more subtle ways which do not require increasing the German on-map unit count.

I'm working on Le Ham today. I just need to make an actual AI plan and then that's the end of Chapter 3. Since it's a defensive mission with a narrow front, that should be fairly easy to do. It will just be a bit more reactive now than before. Only 3 missions left to go after that.

 

[Warts 'n' all]

On 12/27/2023 at 2:56 AM, Paper Tiger said:

I get SAD syndrome just looking at that map

Looking at the rain lashing down here in Limeyland, the above gave me a bloody good laugh.

[Paper Tiger]

13 hours ago, Warts 'n' all said:

Looking at the rain lashing down here in Limeyland, the above gave me a bloody good laugh.

It's the rainy season out here but the mornings start out with glorious sunshine and it starts to cloud over by lunchtime. I've already got my morning walk in by them. Mid-January and February is when it is gloomy all day, every day with those lovely tropical thunderstorms I love so much. They're even more exciting since we moved to a house atop a hill to the south of the city just over a year ago. Oh the fun! Definitely a 'two pairs of underpants' experience every day.

[Paper Tiger]

Well, it's funny just how much you can get done if you just focus. I'm just wrapping up work on Farmhouse and will start the final mission later today. I wasn't planning to do very much in the way of revising the chapter 4 missions but the first two are so small that they were begging for an AI rework. There are three AI plans for Ecausseville and you better make sure you win the le Ham chapter as you'll get a much tougher version of this mission if you don't (now ahistorical since the PIR and GIR did the job IRL so I can do what I like with it within reason  )

Le Ham wasn't nearly as much work to get done as I'd anticipated. It was only necessary to make the AI react more to the player's moves as far as the triggers will allow me so it was an afternoon's work only. Ecausseville has three AI plans and I'm just polishing off the attack in Farmhouse this morning and I'll get at least one variant made up.

 

There are some pretty substantial changes made to the campaign structure so I'll give you a heads-up now. As before, losing two consecutive missions ejects you from the campaign, That stays for the most part but the old 'losing two consecutive formation missions and you're out' condition  is now gone. This greatly simplifies the campaign structure with no more than one variant possible for chapter's one and three and two for chapter two.

However, chapter three is where the rules change. This contains one of the most challenging missions of the campaign and I'm sure some of you will find it too hard so instead of being ejected from the campaign for a loss, you will simply skip to chapter 4. But the chapter four opener, Ecausseville, will be much tougher as the failure to capture the le Ham area allows the Germans more time to bolster their positions. So fret not if the new chapter three missions are pigs. Let's just say though that I've given the player added incentive to try and win Hell. The following missions will be much easier if you get the win but the historical missions, especially Stalemate, will be much tougher if you lose. After the initial two missions, any loss results in the player skipping to chapter 4.

So we're nearly finished with this. I'm hoping to have the last of the real work done by tomorrow allowing me some time to revisit Turnbull and make sure the briefings and tac maps explain what the player is expected to do to win. And then I should have this up some time next week.

[Warts 'n' all]

The progress that you are making is really whetting my appetite. I'm really looking forward to sending those colonial ne'er do wells to their deaths.

[Paper Tiger]

An observation after watching Hapless's run at this last mission in preparation for reworking the finale - he seemed to think that I'd doubled up the bocage to prevent the player from making a left swing which is a reasonable assumption to make given that I'm obviously I am a bit of a sadist.  But funnily enough, I only did that because I thought those sunken lanes were cool. I liked his idea though and so I've 'opened' up the map a bit to allow the player more freedom to decide how to approach this mission as a result and so all the doubled bocage lines are now gone. As they are on most maps except for Ecoqueneuville where that seems to be some sort of creek.

But I also corrected an improperly placed bunker which would have prevented him from doing what he did with such a small force. There were a few other misplaced units which I've also corrected. I am just going to devise a better AI counterattack and then call it a day. After all, most folks are going to take a few more casualties this time around because the 2/8 INF are a mix of Green and Normal training and so won't be quite so resilient.

The player also has some air support which was absent in the original version so I think it all balances out. But beware, the alternative if you fail either of the earlier Chapter four missions is not so kind.

[Warts 'n' all]

47 minutes ago, Paper Tiger said:

I'm obviously I am a bit of a sadist. 

Rumour has it that when the de Sade was locked up in the Bastille, he played a game called Mission de combat, based on the exploits of Lafayette.

[Paper Tiger]

When I was at uni, I was a D&D dungeon master and devised a brutal world with several large, complex dungeons as well as some small, brutal ones. I was a total bastidge but people seemed to love the adventures I created. Tough but (not very) fair was how I rolled. I blame D&D for my sadistic impulses.

Getting difficulty right is pretty tough - make it too easy and people will ignore your work. Make it too hard and some folks will think it's the best mission ever while most will just give up and avoid your stuff in the future.

[Paper Tiger]

And there we are. I finished devising and testing the AI plans for Eroudeville today and it's all working as I'd like it too. I've played through the first 30 minutes of it too and it was tough so I made a few further adjustments that are non-spoiler in nature. The mission is now 1 hour and 50 minutes long with the possibility of 10 minutes of overtime. This extra time has been added at the start so that you have more daylight time.

I've also added some new toys for the US player to play with. Since the new AI plans alone will make things a bit more challenging for the player, I think some extra help is needed. You get a couple of M8 SPA vehicles at the start to help with the bunkers and at around the 30 minute mark, you'll get an M10 Tank Destroyer, a breach team and a flamethrower unit as well as some more air support. You have a few FOO available to keep your artillery and air support on the go as well.

Now, is it balanced? I doubt it. I suspect it will be a very difficult mission for the player especially if he has had a bad result in Ecausseville. Or it could be a cakewalk. Luck always plays some part in such a game, a single lucky hit or miss can decide the entire game and there's not much I can do about. I lost two Shermans to lucky hits in my first play through and that was basically game over for me. True, I wasn't playing smart but rather ensuring that a rash player who just throws his forces ant the enemy and hopes to win by brute force gets this posterior handed back to him but the second hit was entirely unexpected and so we have the M10. 

So, I will spend the rest of the year polishing things up, writing new briefings and making new artwork where necessary and then compile the thing to upload as soon as possible.

[Paper Tiger]

Well, that was a full day's work. Fortunately, the wife has been busy and hasn't minded me spending 6+ hours doing the artwork and the briefings for all the missions while listening to some early-70s Prog Rock albums and Thin Lizzy (Johnny the Fox is a seriously underappreciated album). All of the new work has just been imported into all the missions and their variants and all that's left to do is rewrite the campaign script and compile it.

Now I COULD upload this later this evening and be able to say that I revised it in 2023 (just) but I'd like to spend a bit more time making sure that everything is as it says on the tin (I did a lot of that today but a second pass is always a good idea.) I like to make sure that all the AI plans are active (I switch them off while testing a new plan) and make sure that the variants have the proper changes implemented.

I expect to have this done tomorrow morning which means it will still be up before the New Year if you live in Hawaii. Or failing that, early on Tuesday (for me)

Edit to add:

I just tested compiling the new version and it all works fine. Yay! There were a few errors but I found them all and corrected them. Now I just have to set those parameters in the script correctly and it's a day!

Edited December 31, 2023 by Paper Tiger

[Warts 'n' all]

I prefer to send my men to their deaths with Woody Guthrie's "When the Yanks go Marching in" ringing in their ears. but, each to their own.