Advanced Third Reich Mod for Global Conflict

[pzgndr]

I've uploaded the 1939 campaign and it's pending Battlefront review. Once it's official and I verify it's working OK, I'll then upload the other three campaigns.

[yolo911]

do they have an AI player?

[pzgndr]

do they have an AI player?

The screenshots I provided were from a hands-off AI-vs-AI game, meaning Axis AI versus Allied AI from 1939 to 1945. That's not to show how brilliant the AI is, but it is fully capable and will provide challenging gameplay for both sides throughout the war. As shown in the example game, the default results were fairly historical.

On higher difficulty settings the AI is tougher and may pursue alternative strategies: Sealion, Spain, Turkey, 1943 D-Day, etc. Let me just say that even though I scripted this myself and generally "know" what to expect, the game still surprises me every time and I cannot afford to be complacent.

[pzgndr]

OK all the campaigns seem to be available now in the Battlefront Repository. I'll monitor here for comments and suggestions. DesertDave and I are into a pbem game to have some fun and assess the head-to-head play balance. Other game reports are welcome. I'll probably make an update in several weeks as necessary depending on how things go and other feedback. Enjoy!

[aceymi]

This is my first SC game and I am not up on using mods. After I download the mod, where do I place it? I remember many great evenings playing this as a boardgame (back in the stone age).

Thanks.

[Cantona66]

You place the "Advanced Third Reich 1939.cgn" file and the "_Advanced Third Reich 1939"folder in the "campaigns" folder, then you are good to go!

[abulbulian@gmail.com]

What is the difference between a 1-3 and 3-3 German unit and others similar units differences? They both have 10 strength and are corps level units? What am I missing. Love the mod BTW, just trying to understand it better.

[John DiFool the 2nd]

So, Bill, are you going to attempt to make A World At War-in other words expand the A3R motif to encompass the Empire of the Rising Sun as well?

[huhr]

I notice in the Repository that this game has like 4-5 different versions from a 1939 download a 1940 download and so on. I am wondeing if I am missing something, I thought it was just one large mod for a download? Thanks and looks good

could someone explain?

[pzgndr]

What is the difference between a 1-3 and 3-3 German unit and others similar units differences?

All of this is actually explained in quite some detail in the 15-page pdf "A3R Design Notes" included in the download(s). Basically the original unit factors are used where a 1-3 infantry with combat factor "1" and movement factor "3" has attack/defense factors of "1" and AP of "3". The 3-3 infantry has attack/defense of "3", thus relatively more effective than the 1-3. The visuals help show the strong units versus weak units, adjusted by the strength value of course. Ah, nostalgia!

I notice in the Repository that this game has like 4-5 different versions from a 1939 download a 1940 download and so on.

These are four separate campaigns, starting in 1939, 1941, 1942 and 1944. All based on the four original board game scenarios. I know many players don't bother with anything but the whole shebang, but sometimes the later year historical situations offer their own challenges. I previously had only the 39 and 41 campaigns for the PDE version, but once I got everything up to speed in this GC version it wasn't difficult to add the other two.

So, Bill, are you going to attempt to make A World At War-in other words expand the A3R motif to encompass the Empire of the Rising Sun as well?

Sorry no. Frankly I prefer the ETO and I'm just not into the PTO and global campaigns. Others are welcome to take up the torch and create a Rising Sun adaptation. I would actually like to spend some more time playing my mod rather than making it. That was my whole selfish motivation all these years; I'm just sharing my toy with y'all for free!

[jjdenver]

Thanks for the mod - looks pretty good!

I'm not clear on how to invest in industrial and production tech. I found the paragraph about that in the notes rather confusing.

Should every country try to invest in IT and PT? Or should some countries not invest during certain years (or ever) because there is some scripted increase?

Thanks

[huhr]

Oh, Thanks thats just the starting points thanks for the clarification another brain lock moment

[pzgndr]

Should every country try to invest in IT and PT? Or should some countries not invest during certain years (or ever) because there is some scripted increase?

All countries should try to invest in IT and PT. I've kept all those increases the same, 5%, with some countries like Germany which had 50% growth rate being able to go to L5 and Italy which had 20% only being able to go to L2. It's not perfect but maintains the old sense of growth rates as best as possible. USSR and USA get some additional scripted economic growth, gaining new resources on certain later years.

The reason I did this was to ensure relatively historical Allied economic growth without relying too much on the randomness of IT and PT research with larger increases, like up to 25%. If the Allies got these tech advances too fast or too slow, it really skewed the game. Now the research provides modest variation without the adverse effects. You'll still notice some Allied advantage if they get rapid advances and vice versa, so games will remain interesting and unpredictable.

[huhr]

Hi Pz,

I just installed the 1939 mod and I like it, I really just want to play the Euro component and this is nice, I guess I can just play the mod 1939 right until the end, i'll have to check out the other ones but it looks like this game has a lot of room for mods and even larger maps for specific battles. Just a suggestion for installing the mod is to make sure your an admin and that you drop and drag the file into the campaign folder, it wouldnt extraxt directly

[huhr]

I also like the way the German Cross disappears after you move the unit. One thing, in snow conditions hard to see where the limit of movement is. looks nice, reminds me of clash of steel by SSI

[HardRock]

Installed the mod. Was looking where did the PTO go...DOI! its 3R:)

Looks good. Going to savor playing the original before I get to 3R mod. Definitely an extra game here. I played the other 3R mods. Very good. WTG Pz and thanks.

[Rosseau]

Just downloaded the mod, but have to learn the game first! Wanted to thank you guys for this tremendous effort. Kind of cool that AH lives on despite Hasbro.

[hendriks65]

pzgndr , thanks first for your upload, after an unfinished normal global campaign I switched to your A3R mod, after not really liking the small european map of vanilla.

Great to see so much space in A3R!

I played on most difficult settings but +0 bonus first. First remark I would make is that once you DOW Poland, only the UK is at war with Germany, France stays at 89% allied and only after you attack another country does it join the allies. This gives the possibility to destroy the UK after Poland and leaving the rest as is, only to turn on the west in full swing after the UK goes down. Not sure about this feature, what made you choose it?

Second, haven't played on much but am surprised with the huge distances aircraft can cover, but seeing most turns are 1 month, I would agree with this, a pity the whole mod was not scaled down to shorter turn times with less range for aircraft/army units.

With the 2 hits a panzer gets and these only costing 120 to Germany that is, you are quickly able to use the maximum of tanks and blast into virtually everywhere. Most upgrades are switched off, so no worry there, or do they turn on later in game? (army and tank research)

I found Oslo difficult to take as it has a full 10 corps in it, you really need your 3 stuka's for this, which makes sense. France was easy, but doesn't give up easily, you really need to occupy a lot more then Paris, which is good.

Italy has possibilities in this mod. I found that building up quickly and using all units in the north I was able to attack Greece and be victorious quite quickly and have enough in north africa to swing around El Alamein and destroy the fleet in Alexandria, the fighter unit and a corps. Haven't moved on since but UK looks in trouble there.

All in all VERY enjoyable certainly because of the huge european map, as I said something I found particulary disappointing in vanilla global war. I hope the USSR puts up a good fight and with the big atlantic coast, I can see you really need to keep an army in the west...

Thanks for the mod!

[pzgndr]

Thanks hendriks65. Glad you're having fun.

I set France to have a 50-50 entry chance, since historically they hesitated over Poland if only a few days. I had not considered the England-only path to keep France neutral, so I could add some French mobilization scripting similar to USSR and USA increases if England is invaded. There are some interesting new strategies to consider if France remains neutral, but the jury's out on how effective they are?

Aircraft distances too much?? Same scale as the board game. Strategic bombers have some extra reach beyond escort range, as they should. So I don't understand the comment. For armor, sure you can max out and blitz early, but how far can you go without your infantry support?? Again, interesting strategy choices to consider!

[hendriks65]

Yes, it's probably just getting used to the much wider space on the map and the aircraft ranges, it looks good so forget my comment

One thing I noticed in my current game, the USSR is not going for the Baltic states and part of Romania. Baltic states in December 1940 are neutral while France was Vichy'ed by me in July 1940.

That's probably a variant you put in, although rather unhistorical that the Baltic lands virtually given to the USSR (except Lithuania) under the MRP. Romania now also starts much further east, so although weird, interesting and I'll see how it works out, playing now on max difficulty and +0.5 for the AI.

[pzgndr]

That's probably a variant you put in ... so although weird, interesting and I'll see how it works out...

Uh-huh. My suggestion to you and others would be to play a couple/few games from both the Axis and Allied sides and see some of the variations. Like I said in an earlier post, every game has a few surprises.

[pzgndr]

Hi fellas. I will be working on an update over the next few weeks. I've noted a couple Global Variable errors in my production and research scripts that I want to fix, plus Hubert resolved an issue in the upcoming patch that I can use. There are also a couple of other minor issues I plan to work on.

I'm looking for feedback. Anything not working quite right? Any suggestions for improvement? Let me know. Thanks. Enjoy!

[Big Al]

It looks good. I stole your graphics for my mod and modified them to fit.

[hendriks65]

I just finished a complete A3R game, on 100% diff and +0.5 It was not really a challenge, it was difficult to get the USSR to surrender, I had ALL cities/minor cities except one in the complete north, the capital had already fallen in the Urals, but I think they only surrender when there are no USSR units next to that city, finally just now they caved...

So, January 1945, USA only landed 3 units in France and was mostly occupied with Italy, which they did well but you can build a line in the mountains next to Rome and that never cracked, they weren't clever enough to try more north. Italy surrendered though, and weird thing was that it had just taken Bagdad, so that part kept Italian (3 units of the 10, rest was deleted) colors and Bagdad was the capital but Italy was out of the war.

I had too much MPP, there was always too much apart from the say 1st year, very soon I had build everything, not even my allies could build anything extra, and research was maxed and dilpo as well. USSR defence was not bad, but due to the large scale of the map, you get to move your tanks everywhere, I'm not even able to breal into the north of the USSR in the vanilla game...

Anyway, excellent mod, well done, thanks!

[pzgndr]

I just finished a complete A3R game, on 100% diff and +0.5 It was not really a challenge

Agreed. +0.5 really doesn't help much; I recommend +1.0 or +1.5. +2.0 gets kinda weird. The Intermediate and Expert levels affect some plunder MPPs and spotting ranges, but the computer oppoent really needs the additional experience bonus to overcome its generic AI weaknesses (eg, reckless overextension of some units resulting in unnecessary losses). Bottom line: crank it up a notch or two and see how it goes! Skipping the opening campaigns and starting with the 1941 or 1942 scenarios also tend to be a little more challenging.