The Korean War Development Thread

[curtsibling]

Downloaded the files, and shall have a shot at NK tonight.

These reds are going to eat lead!!!

[jim panse]

Instead of doing something else (PhD work, for instance), I was giving the Reds a *very* hard time. First thoughts on the scen (save everyting graphics/appearance-related, of course):

* There are an awful lot of units to move in the opening turns (I only played until the landing at Inchon so far), maybe reducing this number would increase the need for improvisation;

* The Reds are lame. I stopped them one town south of Seoul in the Eastern parts of Korea, they never got close enough to Pusan to be of any concern; in the Western parts of Korea I am now (August 1950) at Hungnam ...

Maybe using 2 types of Red infantry would do the trick (I mean like Nemo did in RF, the Wehrmacht with the parachute ability).

Also, using "scorched earth" tactics (i.e. destroying 3 [!] roads leading southwards, I was really able to let the steam out of the Red advance in turn 2.

* BBs are quite useless - I cannot bombard the shores; what is this huge, huge Navy good for?

* I was able to attack a Soviet vessel, maybe some diplomacy tuning is required;

* In-game pop-ups need some refining - after the Chinese discovered "Wartime Ideology" the "Golden Age of Philosophy" began somewhere ...

* Only after the Inchon landing event did the Red resistance become more of a nuisance; the bridgehead was fiercely attacked;

More to come ...

[Harry Tuttle]

I'll reiterate what JP said. Too many ships. Also, playing on Deity, the NK barely got past Seoul. The NK has to be tougher and the initial UN troops in South Korea have to be weak so as to allow for a general advance down the Peninsula. My field guns were by far my best weapon, and by far the most useful, as they have a high attack and an extremely high amount of movement points, more so than the infantry. I got a decent push from some Migs early on in the game, but they were soon overcome. I liked the behind enemy lines propaganda guerilla war, but that was easily overcome with SK defenders.

Another note. Logistics may have been a major part of the war, but I really don't like moving a huge amount of units. I didn't even need my sabres as I had already made huge headway early in the scenario. Make it tougher.

[Patine]

Thank you greatly, Steph and Harry! The impression I get here is less UN units (especially naval ones) and more impressive Communist units, as well as toned down power for SK units. I think I can accomplish that. Am I missing anything (or are there other points)?

[Harry Tuttle]

Fine tune the popups, give us some sound. The In'chon event is lacking some oomph as the landing ships are detroyed too easily. I don't see MacArthur getting his butt handed to him and then proceeding with the war. Oh, and the Twin Mustang, as I understand the vehicle, was mainly used for recon, and had a wide range. I would up the range number and make sure it can't attack.

[Patine]

Well, I managed to delay my computer's servicing for a few days, as they're waiting for a part to come in, so I finished the update for the next beta of the Korean War. Here it is. What's changed follows:
-North Korean Infantry, Communist Chinese Volunteers, Communist Chinese Cavalry, and Red Army Volunteers all now alpine and with higher attack.
-Less UN units in Japan and as reinforcements.
-Far less naval units (only 1 BB, appearing as a bombarding unit at the Inch'on landing).
-Soviets can only skirmish with MiG-15's and subs before their intervention is triggered.
-Twin Mustang is now only a scout plane.
-All artillery now move only as much as infantry.

[Patine]

Here's the second file.

[Patine]

And the third.

[Patine]

And the first sounds.

[Patine]

And the second sounds.

[Patine]

And the third sounds.

[Patine]

And, finally, the fourth sounds.

[jim panse]

I will give it a try sooner or later this day ...

[jim panse]

Playtest Report (June - October 1950)

Well, well, these puny Reds are sorrier than ever that they have been born destined to be cannon-fodder of my mighty U.N. forces

To return to some substantial comments, I shall list my pros & cons - and post my current playtest saved file.

Airpower.

The AI uses its planes better than in the initial version;

Nonetheless Red airpower is somewhat close to inexistency.

Seapower.

Far less naval units to move every turn, good stats that they will not crush anything by shore bombardment.

Pop-ups.

There are no events saying anything about the liberation of Inchon, Seoul and other key cities.

There is no Battle of Choisin Reservoir event (On the other hand - the Reds came not that far.

There is this issue with the game.txt-related pop-up of the Golden Age of Philosophy ...

Gameplay.

As stated above (& can be seen in the attached savegame) the Reds never ever reached the cities surrounding Pusan, the advantage of the U.N. forces is considerably huge. This leads me to comment the means of advance once more. This time I tried to have the roads not pillaged in the South-West of the peninsula - and the Red advance did not move there either. Instead those stupid commies moved their forces one by one into the open in between Segju and Seoul - where they were obliterated by my mighty air forces.

Therefore I suggest giving some Red forces the parachute flag and massive reinforcements into every town they take anew (like in Nemo's Red Front), otherwise they will never ever come close to see Pusan through binoculars.

Also, on the same matter, I suggest you do something about the roads and/or the stats of the Commies. Once pillaged, there advance peters out very fast, even if the roads are not pillaged, they do not advance much further in considerable force.

On another sidenote, many citywalls are razed once the Commies take the cities in the first one, two turns and they run the risk of being razed.

Oh, before I forget, you should get rid of that first-turn money bug!

That is it for now, more to come later on

EDIT: Forgot something.

[tanelorn]

Just downloaded. Looks great. Playing as the commies for a challenge. The map looks nice, though a bit "streched". I'll be back with more.