Paper Tiger Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 (edited) Well, it's been a lot more work than I'd anticipated. This is a rework of my old USMC campaign, a six mission campaign I put together shortly after the British Forces module for CMSF 1 was released. I spent SO much time making 'The Road to Dinas' that I missed playing with the USMC, which has turned out to be my favourite US formation to work with. I thought I was just going to have to make up a new core unit file, sub in the new units and tweak a few bits and pieces to take advantage of the new systems but I ended up pretty much redoing it all from scratch. Anyway, let me show you the old maps and the new versions. Each picture is taken a 6 am in the morning from the same position so that you can see main differences. The first mission is Meet the Flintstones. This is a NIGHT Missions and this is the old map... And this is the new map... As you can see, it's pretty much doubled in size. If you've played the original, it will probably feel reasonably familiar with the old version. The next mission is The High Chaparall and the map for this one has changed very little. it's a DAWN mission. And here's the new... It hasn't changed much although there was a LOT of deforestation which took place to the new. Apart from the map, it's been reworked very substantially and the AI improved. The third mission was a real problem for me. It was originally called CAAT Fight and it took place on this map... The problem wasn't with the map but the battle itself. It was rubbish! It was an interesting idea and was inspired by the first episode of Generation Kill but it wasn't anywhere near as much fun as that episode. So this one got a new map and new forces with the same concept: I really enjoy playing this one. It's a NIGHT mission and, like the original, you only have the CAAT units to work with. But it feels completely different and I find it a lot of fun to play. Now we come to the HUGE reworks. These took over a week each to fit up and the missions needed to be redone entirely, new AI forces, new objectives etc... the first of these is Watching the Detectives. here's the old map... And here's the new... It's more than doubled in size and there has been very substantial enhancement of buildings complexes etc. This is a DAWN mission and has gone through several iterations before the right battle was found for it. it's a tough mission with the player attacking down a slope in full view of the defender with little cover to work with. it took many attempts to make this feasible and I'm happy with the end result. You need to take this one slowly. Then Mission 5, Bridges. Once again, the old map has been massively expanded. And the new one is almost entirely different... There are some similarities but as you can see, it's almost entirely new with new, more realistic villages added. Again, finding the right battle for this map has taken a lot of time and this is the mission I'm currently playtesting. it'll probably change a little before I finish with it but I've finally whittled down the forces on both sides so that i can carry out the mission without having too much at my disposal. Al Qusayr The map for the last mission is almost the same. there are some significant improvements for it but you won't see these from such a wide angle. the mission has also been redone with new forces added and all-new AI. And there it is. I'll go into each mission in a little more detail later. This is very close to finishing now. I expect to have finalised it by the end of this month. Edited March 26, 2023 by Paper Tiger 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paper Tiger Posted March 26, 2023 Author Share Posted March 26, 2023 A quick word about the missions themselves. I play the game in Real time and I don't PAUSE the action very often so I tend to focus in one one area of the map and leave the other areas to manage themselves without my supervision. This means that the missions will be reasonably small, certainly a lot smaller than the battles you're probably more familiar with. I don't manage battalions in Real Time with any efficiency but I can manage a reinforced company without any trouble. So all the missions will feature a maximum of one USMC company with some attachments. This is my sweet spot. as it happens, a USMC platoon manages the same as most companies. the manpower and firepower they have is awesome but it's easier to manage a platoon than a company, even when the squads are broken into three teams. I also like to have a slow-ish start with a small force on the map at the start with the rest of the force arriving in stages. I often find it much easier to manage quite a large OB in this manner as I get it set up and into the action before the next packet arrives. However, both Watching the Detectives and Al Qusayr have the entire OB on the map at the start so they both have a faster pace. On the other hand, CAAT among the Pigeons is very small with only about twenty units to manage. And most of them arrive 10 minutes after the mission starts. You start with just three units but there's plenty to do. I also like to play with all the bells and whistles so you'll have access to a lot of artillery and air support in these missions. The USMC is a light infantry unit but with the artillery and air support is more than capable of going up against the best the Syrians have. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilts Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 Excellent! It's always good to get new and revised campaigns to play, from a craftsman. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexUK Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 Very much looking forward to playing a new (for me at least) Paper Tiger campaign! A very unexpected but great surprise after all the years 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paper Tiger Posted March 31, 2023 Author Share Posted March 31, 2023 AI testing is now over and I'm in the process of making up the alternate versions for the campaign as well as the amended briefings and artwork needed for them. Once that's done, I'll get the campaign briefings and artwork done, compile it and test it over the weekend. Of course, I'll go through each mission carefully to make sure that everything is set up properly but when you're doing this all by yourself, there's always something that gets through the net though so I'm curious to see what it will be this time. (For those who remember, there was a real stinker of a placement error in the original version of The Road to Dinas) Even though it's likely all that will be done later today, there's definitely not going to be an April 1st upload because what could possibly go wrong with that? Hopefully, this should be wrapped up and uploaded early next week. I'm pretty burned out with this particular project now and want to get started on a new one instead. But it will be a fresh experience for you guys even if you've played the original version. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paper Tiger Posted March 31, 2023 Author Share Posted March 31, 2023 And there it is... Obviously, I have to polish it up but the variants are all done, and it all compiled without a hitch. I'll spend the day tomorrow checking that everything's okay but it's a load off my mind to know that the script is working as intended. It's a new script and I haven't made one of those for a few years. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergeltungswaffe Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyg Posted April 1, 2023 Share Posted April 1, 2023 Hi, I recently replayed both "The road to dinas" and "Hasrabit" campaigns and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, "The road to dinas" didn't age that well due to the engine/balance updates (the AI conscripts won't run after being hit by artillery anymore, which change the dynamic and the balance of the campaign (and I think the supression by artillery is less effective now but I might be wrong on this one). Saying that, do you plan to rework "The road to dinas" campaign in the future? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paper Tiger Posted April 2, 2023 Author Share Posted April 2, 2023 Yes, I plan to revise both. In fact, Hasrabit is probably going to be my next project after this is finished later this weekend. Why Hasrabit and not Dinas? It's because I was still learning the craft of map making and scenario design when I made Hasrabit. The maps are largely okay (and one or two of them are surprisingly good) although I'll have to rework some of the rather blocky and weird looking compounds I used way back then. I'll also need to expand some of them dramatically but that's not the issue. The issue is that I used the old 'paint a set-up zone and paint the group set ups' system which I abandoned not long after so the AI is absolutely abysmal compared to what I can do with it now. US airpower was used because there were no Syrian air units in the base game as well so you still here 'Take a look at that!' with a US twang from time to time because there are US spotters. Besides, I get to work with the Republican Guards and the Special Forces in that campaign so that should be fun. Dinas is in a much better shape and many of the maps are good enough as is. However, I feel that this is my 'great work' and so would like to make sure I do the best job of revising it. I've been using Dinas maps in Gung Ho! and so these new versions will be used in the revised campaign but they'll be further improved. For example, Gung Ho's opener, 'Meet the Flintstones' uses a third generation version of Dinas' opener, 'Petani' (third generation because the original Gung Ho revised it already). I almost did a fourth revision a couple of weeks ago as I want to expand the map much further but doing so would require replacing all the AI units again correctly and checking that AI plans are not affected and ... AARGH! ... I just can't... 'The High Chaparral' mission is an improved version of Dinas' 'Orchard Road', 'Meet the Detectives' is a MASSIVELY improved version of 'Sabatani', 'Bridges' is a MASSIVELY improved version of 'Where Farmers Dare' and 'Al Qusayr' is an improved version of 'Sulit'. I also found that I revised several Dinas maps for the British Forces scenarios I made so many of Dinas' maps have already been reworked and improved since. Of course, they'll all be further improved regardless. That's just how I roll. So in a way, a revised Dinas is already under way. A new folder has already been created with the most up-to-date version of these maps in it so it will get done at some point later this year. As for this project, new artwork has been done for the campaign menu, the campaign briefing written and all the AI plans checked so I'm pretty much done with it. I just need to give it one or two more passes to make sure I haven't missed something. And of course, my favourite, more proof reading (Dear God, the typos!). I'm probably going to drink a lot of tea and listen to some Thin Lizzy while I work today and then figure out how to upload it all to the new site. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37mm Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 On 3/31/2023 at 9:45 AM, Paper Tiger said: And there it is... Great news! May I suggest using something like an "UPDATED" or "SF2" suffix? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paper Tiger Posted April 2, 2023 Author Share Posted April 2, 2023 (edited) That's a good point. Thanks. UPDATED might help to differentiate it from the earlier version. How does that look? Edited April 2, 2023 by Paper Tiger 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37mm Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 35 minutes ago, Paper Tiger said: That's a good point. Thanks. UPDATED might help to differentiate it from the earlier version. How does that look? Great! Interestingly I recently discovered that the Marines inherent [brown] tag, designed by BFC for their uniforms, will work for vehicles & voices too. So as part of the upcoming SF2 'All in One' I've been playing around with & adding [brown] to @Mord's Marine voices & vehicles. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paper Tiger Posted April 2, 2023 Author Share Posted April 2, 2023 Well, I guess it's time to post this up at the depot. I've really hit the wall HARD with this and just can't play it any more. That's not because it's so bad but because I've played nothing but these 6 missions for the last 12+ weeks. I'm going to do one last pass and boot each mission up (10 in total) to ensure that units are all in their proper place (again), make sure the briefings and the timings all match and that's it. I forgot that when I worked on those larger projects 10+ years ago that I took regular breaks and played a game of Civ 5 or something like that for a few days every so often before returning to the work refreshed and often with new ideas. I haven't done that this time around so I guess that's why I've hit the wall so hard this time around. So, hopefully, it will be up on the new site in a couple of hours or so. I'm sure there will be issues but by now, we all know we can fix issues quite quickly and so a v1.01 is a thing that can happen very quickly. I don't want to make you guys my testers but I can't test it properly anymore, at least without taking a break for a week or so and keeping you all waiting. Having said all that, instead of playing Civ 6 or Old World, I think I'm going to work on 'Hasrabit' next. It's the oldest and needs a lot of love. It's not a long campaign, only 10 missions and the core forces promise to be fun to work with. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paper Tiger Posted April 2, 2023 Author Share Posted April 2, 2023 It's up now... https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-shock-force-2-2/cm-shock-force-2-campaigns/cmsf2-usmc-gung-ho/ Have fun and don't be afraid to tell me what you think 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halmbarte Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Downloaded and I'l be tucking into it directly. H 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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