Fortress Europe

[McMonkey]

I have finalized the units for this scenario and have more than enough graphics to cover everything except for an up to date Swordfish Torpedo Bomber graphic.

The one I have is by Nemo and while it does look good it does not match with the rest of the units. I was wondering if a Fairline Swordfish exists or if someone could help me out making one as it goes beyond my limited cut and paste abilities.

I have not had much time to work on this project in the past few weeks on the computer but I have been putting a lot of thought into it, been fixing up the events file and have put all my many notes into an ordered document.

Hopefully I will get the time soon to crack on and be ready for the first playtest!

[AGRICOLA]

Originally posted by McMonkey

EDIT: Just tested and the Wonders are fine in the game. Its just the descriptions that are wonky! Can't work out which file needs to be ammended.

The file you need is DESCRIBE. You can get a copy from the TOT folder. If you are using 80 units, get an amended @@UNIT INDEX list with 80 entries from one of curtsibling's scens like DICTATOR VI. If you don't have the proper list, units that should appear in PEDIA/UNITS do not.

[McMonkey]

Thanks Agri. I will probably try and fix this minor problem later on as is the least important thing on my TO DO list.

My current priorities are:

- Finish the Events (aprox 60% done)

- Test Unit stats play well

- Re-evaluate the German garrisons

- Make sure Allied Government (Communism) is balanced

- Make sure Battle of the Atlantic is essential early in game

- Run my own playtest

When these things are done I will be looking for an early playtester. I can polish the game while I am getting feedback, fixing bugs and adding extras.

I would love to say that the first playtest would be ready next week but lately I seem to be too busy or too tired to get the vital work done.

I have got better at slogging through boring jobs and actually finishing them one at a time so I am making gradual progress. When I get a few days off work I should be able to make a push and get this project to the testing stage.

I am very optimistic about the game from the limited testing I have done so far but I can't wait to hear what a playtester has to say about it. An non-biased view always throws up loads of issues and new ideas!

Lots of grand ideas bottled up in my brain or in my notepad just waiting to be implemented and never enough time/energy to really get on with making them!

Anyway, too much wine powering the keyboard now, must sleep!

[MacGalleo]

Originally posted by McMonkey
I was wondering if a Fairline Swordfish exists or if someone could help me out making one as it goes beyond my limited cut and paste abilities.

May this Swordfish be usefull...

[MacGalleo]

and the bmp file...

[McMonkey]

That does not appear to be a Swordfish but it may be useful as a base for conversion as the colour is right. The stringbag was a fair bit longer. Thanks MacGalleo, I will atempt to modify this unit

[fairline]

Originally posted by McMonkey
.... I was wondering if a Fairline Swordfish exists or if someone could help me out making one as it goes beyond my limited cut and paste abilities.

Doncha just love rainy bank holiday Fridays?

Preview only:

[fairline]

here's the swordfish bmp:

[McMonkey]

Thank god for the glorious British weather and Fairline Thanks a million!

Just as a quality comparison, here is my cut and paste effort, not terrible, but not a patch on the one above!

[McMonkey]

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC

I think I have finally fixed one of the major flaws of WWII Europa, the Allied economy.

My intention was to make the Battle of the Atlantic vital to allied success. I hoped to do this by forcing the player to get trade units across the Atlantic in the face of a determined U-Boat menace in order to survive economically.

I have been testing and tweaking and think I have come up with a solution but I would like to hear your opinions in case I have missed something.

Here is the plan:

Each turn events create two Lend Lease (Traders) and one Freighter (carrying two units).

The Lend Lease units have a payoff of 200 gold each if they terminate in Glasgow, Liverpool or Belfast. As the Allies start with a deficit of -343 gold per turn they will need two Lend Lease shipments to arrive each turn to keep their heads above water and get a small gold surplus for rush building units/improvements or against any reverses inflicted by the Axis.

To see the Allies through until the first shipments arrive I have given them enough gold to last for five turns, the time it will take for the first shipment to arrive.

Later in the game when the Allies have developed their economy and captured some Axis cities the economic pressure will be less and the Lend Lease units can be disbanded in Allied cities to boost production (each Lend Lease is worth 100 shields!).

On the downside the Allies will loose 150 gold (via events) for every Freighter sunk as well as loosing any Lend Lease or troops carried.

My next challenge is to make the U-Boat menace a threat to allied convoys that may be escorted by Battleships and covered by Maritime Bombers.

My one concern is that I may end up with hundreds of surplus Freighters as the game goes on, making Allied Amphibious invasions a breeze. I may be able to solve this by switching off their creation at a set turn using flags. Some of the Freighters will no doubt be sent back to the US to ferry across troops to Britain. I guess some more testing will be required to get the balance right.

If anyone can see any flaws in this plan please let me know

Now I just need to work out the best way to represent strategic bombing and I will be laughing!

[MacGalleo]

It's a good idea.
You could use the freighter as a trade unit. There will be no surplus freighter and it let one unit slot free...
For strategic bombing you could transform a terrain with industry (to eliminate the industry) by events. With the flag system you could choose the right moment to do that... You could use a terrain with rubble...

[McMonkey]

@MacGalleo
That was not exactly what I had in mind but it would solve the problem of too many Freighters, thanks a million!

It will also free up a slot as there will be no need for a separate Lend Lease (trader) unit.

I can then use the Transport unit to ferry units from the USA to Britain and these can be built by the player.

I will test this idea out now. Amazing what a fresh pair of eyes can achieve!

Re: Strategic bombing
As the Axis get a majority of its units through events bombing its industry may not be worthwhile. I will take a closer look at this once I have sorted out the Lend Lease.

I guess I could use the spare slot as a Factory unit which the Allies could bomb. This could trigger an event. Not sure what event though. I could either -gold from the Axis or reward the Allies. I suppose rewarding the Allies is not very realistic but I'm not sure that punishing the Axis will have much effect!

[McMonkey]

Ah, one minor problem. It seems that you cannot set a sea unit to be a trader Thats a pity as it was a grand idea!

I could make Freighters an events only unit and give them a large shield value so that surplus ones can be disbanded to boost Allied production. I will need to take a closer look at this. The game is 200 turns long, therefore if there is no incentive to disband these units there would be 200 surplus freighters knocking about by the end of the game.

How about this idea. Belfast is set to produce an Escort Cruiser/ASW unit at the start of the game. No other Allied city can produce a this specialized unit which costs a lot to build. This way the player will need to disband the Freighters to produce enough of these units to protect the convoys?

Not an ideal solution I know but I really want to find a way to get the Battle of the Atlantic concept running smoothly!

Ideas welcome!!!

[McMonkey]

I need some advice/reassurance

I plan to make Turkey join the war on either the Axis or Allied side depending on how things pan out. I need to know if this event would work:

If Allies take Rhodes and Turkey has not gone to war on the side of the Axis then the Allied take control of a Turkish Army. If I can get this part to work then I will create a make aggression event as well.

(If Axis take Nicosia then Allied Flag 20 is switched on!)

@IF
CityTaken
city=Nicosia
attacker=Axis
defender=Anybody
@THEN
FLAG
continuous
flag=20
Who=Axis
state=On
@ENDIF

@IF
Checkflag
Who=Allies
Mask=0b000000000000100000000000000000000
Threshold=1
State=Off
@AND
CITYTAKEN
city=Rhodes
attacker=Allies
defender=ANYBODY
@THEN
CREATEUNIT
unit=Turkish Infantry
owner=Allies
veteran=no
Count=25
homecity=NONE
locations
187,125
endlocations
@ENDIF

I just tested this with the Allies taking Rhodes while still holding Nicosia and it worked fine. When I tried it again with the Axis taking Nicosia before the Allies took Rhodes it still triggered. What have I missed?

The intention is to make a more complex set of events, either to represent a joint Axis/Turkish invasion of the Levant or alternatively a joint Allied/Turkish offensive in the Balkans depending on how the game has progressed. I just need to get the basics right before I can develop this idea!

EDIT:
I also plan to use a similar system for turning off U-Boats that are randomly created in the Atlantic once their 'Base' cities are taken and also a Spanish attack on Gibraltar.

[MacGalleo]

In your first event it's axis flag and in your second event you test the allied flag.
Sorry for the trade unit, I didn't think it would not work.