scottsmm Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 As some of you have already seen I've made a new Operation Z MOD, and it's currently available for download on the Battlefront Repository. Anyway I was just wondering what peoples feedback is for this MOD, as I did it pretty quickly (roughly 30 min). Feel free to report any problems/suggestions that you think I should change for this MOD on this thread. Thanks and good luck. btw feel free to make any comments on Midway Major too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsmm Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Feel free to give advice guys, I expect that I'm not that perfect, and there are areas for me to approve upon. I'd prefer to get bashed (honestly) then to get praised when everyone doesn't like what I did. In truth there is only one way to get better, and that is to learn from your mistakes, therefore I want to know what my mistakes were. I've played quite a few MODS recently, and I noticed I made some errors, but I'm sure there are more errors that I made that I've missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludi1867 Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I did a trial as the Japanese of this mod. I found it entertaining, in a Dr Evil, Moo Haa Haa kind of way, but this mod must clearly be an effort to give the Japanese a better chance - I started thinking of the Mod as "Japan on Steroids". I played at neutral (no computer experience, etc) - not because that is a great idea, but because I have only played the base Op Z scenario at that level (once), and eked out a tactical victory, and that was my baseline for comparison. I quit playing this scenario in November 1944, at which point I had secured a Strategic Victory (Delhi and Canberra were mine, as I had forced India and Australia to surrender by this point). It got a little too bizarre trying to play past this point - a few turns earlier, despite all western and northern Australia being captured much earlier, a tiny US landing had occured in the DEI (one corps and an HQ), transports kept showing up just off French Polynesia (now part of the Japanese empire), and US landings in Japan were being attempted, without first gaining the Marianas and the airfields there. Now, I am sure that much of that is just the basic AI doing strange things, but the basic point is that the Japanese were very powerful by this point, and it was just getting tedious. When I quit there had been 150 Allied land casualties to 2 Japanese, 30 Allied air casualties to no Japanese, and 22 RN, 86 USN and 8 IJN losses. I could easily make this harder for the Japanese against the AI by increasing difficulty, but the basic comparison shows how much more powerful the Japanese in this mod are than the basic packaged scenario. So history is out the window, but playability seems interesting. One example of the lack of realism is that at one point I had about 16-18 land units embarked in transports (mainly en route from India to Oz). Now. the entire Japanese merchant marine could not have done that during the war, let alone continue to carry oil and raw materials from the new possessions back to Japan. The game engine makes this kind of thing so easy that its easy to forget the realities behind it. In the basic Op Z the Japanese player does not have so many units that this kind of situation should ever arise. But in this mod, with the Japanese forces given so many extra units, it is all too easy. There were oddities that may be directly related to the mod. The created corps garrisoning the cities in Manchuria could be upgraded at no cost. Having these garrisons is a great benefit to the Japanese player, but perhaps free upgrades is a little over the top! This next one may be the basic AI. When I was adjacent to Port Hedland, Australia, and about to assault, the Australian garrison embarked in an amphib. Needless to say, that made attacking Port Hedland far easier than it should have been. Overall the mod is playable, and fun in a kind of bizarro alternative history kind of way, but it provides far too many additional forces to the Japanese to be considered even modestly close to the historical campaign, in my view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaMonkey Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Is this the same mod that cleaned my clock on Expert+2 when I played against the Allied AI? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsmm Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 Okay Ludi Appreciate the feedback. To be honest I can't do anything to change the US from attacking Japan without first taking the Marianas so if they go off to invade Japan it is bizarre. This mod overall was just meant to give the Japanese player a shot to win a big victory (maybe even take out the US). I did it in about 30 min so it's clear I probably should have spent a bit more time on it, but I thought it seemed about right. Then again If I spent more time on it I definitely would have caught the free corps upgrade. Anyway let's just leave this mod as a test/interesting what if type of mod. SM I think your thinking of Midway this mod here is much easier to be won as the Japanese. It also starts at the Historical Operation Z date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludi1867 Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hi Scottsmm I figured it was done pretty quickly. It does, nonetheless, make the war much more winnable for the Japanese. So in terms of playability it certainly is entertaining. I also figured that some of the strange AI behaviour was more the base game than your mod, so not to worry. Just thought I would let you know that someone played it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsmm Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 Alright thanks. In one of my operation Z games when I was playing as Japan (I also took Australia and French Polynesia) the allies did the same thing as I guess they thought they could just storm Japan without getting attacked at sea before they ever got close to Japan. They also went with no escort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts