modifying Core units

[blow56]

Here's a Campaign question for long-time designers in SF and Normandy. I have not yet tried it myself yet, but hope someone else will save me the tedious trouble of having to playtest such an event.

If you have Battle One of a Campaign, those are the units which become Core units.

What happens if you upload Battle Three as Core units? Which would be the original Battle One units plus, say, additional reinforcements you want to carry on the Campaign with? Will the AI pick up on losses as normal? Will it even show up?

For instance, I am noticing that Core unit bunkers, foxholes, minefields etc don't seem to carry on from battle to battle and are best created anew for each Battle in a Campaign.

[Boche]

well just saying, I dont think fortifications are designed to be core units.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but I always put ALL core units for all battles into a separate battle that never gets fought, and use that battle to "Make Campaign." It's another way of doing it that I think works rather well. Just FYI, I have no idea whether this answers your question or not.

[winkelried]

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but I always put ALL core units for all battles into a separate battle that never gets fought, and use that battle to "Make Campaign." It's another way of doing it that I think works rather well. Just FYI, I have no idea whether this answers your question or not.

I think this approach is also preferrable since the briefing, maps etc of the core battle become the campaign briefing etc. whereas the briefings of the individual battles (also battle 1) become the briefings etc for the respective battle.

[bardosy]

If I change something (eg unit names) in the CUF, can I import it into battles without placeing the all units again in all missions?

[Field Marshal Blücher]

If I change something (eg unit names) in the CUF, can I import it into battles without placeing the all units again in all missions?

I believe so.

[winkelried]

I believe so.

Even if you change the type of a tank or so.

[blow56]

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but I always put ALL core units for all battles into a separate battle that never gets fought, and use that battle to "Make Campaign." It's another way of doing it that I think works rather well. Just FYI, I have no idea whether this answers your question or not.

Having trouble getting my head round this - if you Make Campaign on a battle it has to be in the Campaign Text, usually as Battle One. How can you have a 'separate battle that never gets fought' and still is used to Make Campaign? If you Make Campaign with a battle surely it becomes the first battle you fight? And, if not, how do you avoid it?

As for my original point - I am talking about Import Campaign Units. You can import them from any battle - so what happens if, in designing Battle Four of a Campaign, you Import Battle Three's units to be used for that (and subsequent) Battles rather than the original? Will the AI still calculate losses on it?

[winkelried]

Having trouble getting my head round this - if you Make Campaign on a battle it has to be in the Campaign Text, usually as Battle One. How can you have a 'separate battle that never gets fought' and still is used to Make Campaign? If you Make Campaign with a battle surely it becomes the first battle you fight? And, if not, how do you avoid it?

Yes you can have a "campaign battle" that is never fought, but where all campaign units reside on (the largest I currently work with has two full divisions + reinforcements in this file - sure only elements get used throughout the campaign - but who knows :-) - and I don't make a map for it). In order to make the campaign, prepare your campaign.txt file with your battles. The open the "campaign battle" and select "Make Campaign". Then select the campaign.txt file. Woops - The campaign is created. When you start the campaign it will show the "battle image" and the briefings/maps etc from the "campaign battle". When you start it will start with the first battle from your campaign.txt. Hope this helps.

As for my original point - I am talking about Import Campaign Units. You can import them from any battle - so what happens if, in designing Battle Four of a Campaign, you Import Battle Three's units to be used for that (and subsequent) Battles rather than the original? Will the AI still calculate losses on it?

I am not sure what happens. I always import from my "campaign battle". As I understand the logic, CMBN takes the campaign units from the "campaign battle" when a battle starts and returns what remains of those units to the "campaign battle" after the battle. It then calculates reinforcements etc and the updated "campaign battle" is then used again in the next battle. Anybody knows more?

[Field Marshal Blücher]

Having trouble getting my head round this - if you Make Campaign on a battle it has to be in the Campaign Text, usually as Battle One.

Actually, this is not the case. It doesn't have to be anywhere in the campaign text. In fact, I've never even tried hitting "Make Campaign" on an actual battle scenario before.

How can you have a 'separate battle that never gets fought' and still is used to Make Campaign? If you Make Campaign with a battle surely it becomes the first battle you fight? And, if not, how do you avoid it?

Nope! The campaign starts with the first mission listed in the campaign .txt file, not the file you hit "Make Campaign" on.

As for my original point - I am talking about Import Campaign Units. You can import them from any battle - so what happens if, in designing Battle Four of a Campaign, you Import Battle Three's units to be used for that (and subsequent) Battles rather than the original? Will the AI still calculate losses on it?

No idea. That's why the campaign battle idea works so well--you just put ALL of the core forces (including those for Battles 1 AND 3, if they're separate units) in there, and then you can be sure that losses will be calculated appropriately.

[blow56]

I can now answer my own queries - you can't do what I want to do. If you Import Campaign Units from anywhere other than the original Campaign Battle file you stuck them all in you pretty much discover - no units at all!

[Gen Von Television]

Actually I believe you can do it blow56: if you want your core unit come up at battle #3 you do just create as it was suggested above a battle where you assemble the full Order of Battle; then you create Battle 1, loading the core units but deleting from there the units you want to enter at battle #3. And so forthwith. When you create your scenario #3 you will eventually delete all other units except the ones you need.

If on the other hand you mean you already have a battle setup that you want to become the third battle and the basis for a new Campaign, you can just do that: save the present battle as 'CampaignX_Core-Units'; then you create the first two battles importing core units and delete them, 'till you import again the Core units in actual 3rd battle and of course you have to redeploy them on the map.

From what I gather Core Units are so marked by the game engine anytime you use the Import Campaign Unit and are marked as Core; thereafter you can decide to use them or not in any phase of the Campaign.

Just to clarify and have a confirmation about this: I have a map setup (but eventually you can even do it with a plain default terrain, since it won't matter, isn't it?!) so I create a

1. full Order of Battle if needed for both sides detailing units' names etc.

2. create a new scenario by loading a map (or creating a new one) defining missions, ai etc.

3. Import Campaign Units and they will be marked as [Core] at the highest level

2. Delete the units that do not engage in the actual battle, add some other units eventually, and so on

4. Save the Scenario as i.e. <X_Campaign_Battle1> or any name you like, but keep track for the battles sequence.

5. Create subsequent scenario repeating steps 2 to 4 above: keep in mind to name the branching battles (in case the player loose) as 1a, 2a, or something that makes sense to you and if you want to use alternatives as this is optional.

6. Create the Campaign Script File and double check the battles' names. Put this file in the same location with battles for the Campaign.

7. Hit the Compile Campaign.

HTH