Fortress Europe

[McMonkey]

And I have also copied the event structure from Tech's FTG scenario and still no luck:

@IF
CityTaken
city=Nicosia
attacker=Axis
defender=Allies
@THEN
FLAG
continuous
Flag=12
Who=Allies
state=On
@ENDIF

@IF
CITYTAKEN
city=Rhodes
attacker=Allies
defender=Axis
@AND
Checkflag
Who=Allies
Mask=0b000000000000000000001000000000000
Threshold=1
State=Off
@THEN
CREATEUNIT
unit=Turkish Infantry
owner=Allies
veteran=no
Count=25
homecity=NONE
locations
187,125
endlocations
@ENDIF

[MacGalleo]

If I am not wrong, I think that the game is testing the value of the flag only at the beginning of each turn. So when you modify a flag, the consequences are felt in the next turn...

[Jerec]

Originally posted by McMonkey
I have also tried changing the flag to #12 as I think I remember someone (Catfish?) saying that there were not really 32 flags, just 16 (?) but it still does not work!

There are 32 flags, numbered 0-31.

Have you tested the creation of Turk Inf. (after the Axis have Nicosia) for more than one turn?

[Jerec]

Originally posted by Catfish in CGW thread
Flag initialisation occurs right at the beginning of the turn, before the player movement phases, so if you're testing your flag events, you need to either start the game as a new scenario or load the save and advance the game a turn (Ctrl+N will do) before you will see any of them work

I (and Catfish, going by the quote) think MacGalleo is right.

[McMonkey]

I did not think of that. I will test it out tomorrow but hopefully that solves my dilemma. I know it would be something obvious I was missing. Thanks guys.

BTW, I was only using Nicosia for test purposes. I think Turkey's entry on the Allied side will be dependent on keeping Tobruk which the Allies did not do historically. If you can change history there then why not change history and have Turkey join the Alliance when Rhodes and say Salonika are captured?

In reverse, if the Axis capture Nicosia and launch an invasion of the Levant then it is feasible that Turkey may have thrown in its lot and joined the Axis. I'm not sure what Ataturk would have made of this but he was no longer around to prevent such a thing!

Re: Number of flags. In William Keegan & Cam Hills guide it clearly states there are 32 flags per nation (0-31 in reversed notation ) but I am sure someone said there was a bug and this was in fact halved and there were only 16 per nation. I will try and track down the thread where I read this unless someone can confirm it either way.

[Catfish]

Originally posted by McMonkey
I have also tried changing the flag to #12 as I think I remember someone (Catfish?) saying that there were not really 32 flags, just 16 (?) but it still does not work!

Wasn't me.

Assuming that you've properly initialised your flags and there are no typos in the strings (@DEBUG), I think MacGalleo has it. Therefore, if the two events occur within a turn of each other, ie, within a full cycle of player turns, the success of the second event will depend on movement order.

Originally posted by Jerec
I (and Catfish, going by the quote) think MacGalleo is right.

Flags are initialised only once. That basically sets up a blank flag matrix (all set to off). Thereafter, the table is read by the game at the beginning of each turn, probably at the same stage as initialisation, so you're pretty close to the mark anyway.

[McMonkey]

Thanks for clarifying that guys. I can crack on with the events now which are all planned out, just waiting to be added.

I did not realise before that the @DEBUG Report tells you the remaining memory space at the bottom. I realised I still have space for about 200 create unit events! Is the ToT event file really only 3x the size of the MGE one? It seems a lot bigger!

I think I am a fully fledged convert to ToT when it comes to single player scenarios, though I will continue making multiplayer ones for MGE.

[Catfish]

Originally posted by McMonkey
I realised I still have space for about 200 create unit events!

Each event takes up 284 bytes minimum, plus strings (including nul terminators).

Originally posted by McMonkey
Is the ToT event file really only 3x the size of the MGE one? It seems a lot bigger!

Thereabouts. It has 104 kB of events memory. It probably seems bigger because the macro language has been expanded, making events more economical. It's not very big really - once you get stuck in. I could've easily filled another events file for WotR. I would've dropped Civ2 as a platform for turn-based scenarios ages ago if I'd been stuck with the limitations of MGE. Plus you've got that horrid 8-bit terrain!

[McMonkey]

Just want to check something else about flags.

Today I have been wrighting the events for Poeration Torch. I would like Torch to begin in November 1942 if the Allies have taken Benghazi.

@IF
TURN
TURN=49 ; NOVEMEBER 1942
@THEN
FLAG
CONTINUOUS
FLAG=1
WHO=ALLIES
STATE=ON
@ENFIF

@IF
CITYTAKEN
CITY=Benghazi
ATTACKER=Allies
DEFENDER=Axis
@THEN
FLAG
CONTINUOUS
FLAG=2
WHO=ALLIES
STATE=ON
@ENFIF

@IF
CHECKFLAG
Who=Allies
Mask=0b00000000000000000000000000000011
Threshold=2
State=ON
@THEN
JUSTONCE ; ?
CREATE UNIT
UNIT=Mechanized Infantry
OWNER=Allies
Veteran=no
Count=6
Homecity=NONE
locations
?,? ; WESTERN TASK FORCE
endlocations
@ENDIF

Does this appear to be correct? Do I need to add the JUSTONCE line to stop this event triggering every turn after the two flags have been switched on?

[Catfish]

Originally posted by McMonkey
Does this appear to be correct?

OK, except one of the flags in the mask is wrong. Your mask checks flags 0 and 1. You want 1 and 2.

Originally posted by McMonkey
Do I need to add the JUSTONCE line to stop this event triggering every turn after the two flags have been switched on?

Yes.

[McMonkey]

Thanks. I have read the part of William Keegan's guide reminding the designer to beware of the flags starting from 0 many times and I still forget it

[Jerec]

I'm having a hard time with CivSwap. The "Start New Game" command works fine, but when I press "Continue Game" the program can't seem to lock on to the autosave.

What does CivSwap swap around, anyway? Events? Rules? Or just units? I'm hoping that it is just units, and therefore nonessential...

Opening thoughts-

From the decisive victory calculations, it seems to look like the Allies are at war with Russia. But I can't find out for sure.

1) The "Fleet Air Arm Aircraft" unit is not in the civilopedia. *sigh*

2) When I made a quick scan of the German coastal defences in France, I promptly scrapped the half-baked idea of a Normandy landing and decided to attack the southern French coast or the Hamburg area, where there were no bunkers or defensive terrain. I'm not sure if you wanted this type of thinking or not. It is quite feasible, all I would have to do is cover the landing ships with battleships and carriers, taking however long to get to the amphibious invasion site.

3) The "U-Boat" unit is not in the civilopedia either.

4) "British Light Armor" is not in the civilopedia. I assume that is what is being built in Cardiff.

5) Why are there 4 fortified Anti-Aircraft units scattered around Dover and London? What purpose do they serve?

6) Scapa Flow can't build ships.

7) "Freighter" isn't in the civilopedia, I do need to know how many units it carries. Had to look it up in rules.

8) When my full-strength non-vet RAF Fighter attacked a badly damaged non-vet Luftaffe Ground Attack (Stuka), my fighter lost out. Methinks ground attack fighters, Stukas at least, should have much lower defense. In RL the Stuka was very slow compared to fighters, and even with a rear gunner was pitifully easy prey to Spitfires and Hurricanes.

9) On turn 2 the Germans destroyed all of the Tobruk garrison with their African air force, minus the Royal Artillery. Not sure, but it seems a little unrealistic.

10) If only Fleet Air Arm Aircraft are allowed on carriers, how do US Tactical Bombers and US Fighters get across the Atlantic to Britain? And you didn't include Marine Bombers in the rule...for now I intend to disregard this rule, sorry.

11) Of the 2 freighters that started in the Atlantic, the one nearest to the U.S. was promptly sunk. My marine bomber went to that area in the next turn, and found/destroyed six stacked subs and 1 other a square away. When I later checked in cheat mode, I discovered that those 7 subs had been the entire German U-boat force in the northern Atlantic.

12) Ships can't go into port cities. Strange.

13) As this is a SP game, you might want to consider cutting out the 2 turn range of ordinary fighters. It is a good idea, but only the human player will use it to cover land/sea units. Mind, Fighter Bombers should probably retain the ability because they had a farther range anyway.

[McMonkey]

Thanks for the initial response. I will address your points in detail tomorrow evening. Some of these things are intended, others are errors that need fixing.

While I have it in mind I will answer point #6. Scapa Flow is a naval base but as far as I know it has no industry and therefore could not build ships. I will probably give it the Port Facility Improvement along with Portsmouth and Plymouth to represent its importance as a base.

[McMonkey]

@Jerec

I will take a look at Civ Swap. I have not really used it yet so I'm not sure what the problem is. As well as swapping the graphics it should swap between summer and winter rules.

I need to look at the objectives again. I want the destruction of the Axis to be the main goal but war with Russia to be an option. I will probably change the objectives to just Axis cities.

1,3,4 & 7) I will add these units to the Civlopedia!

2) I will need to extend the Atlantic wall to cover Denmark and the Hamburg area more thoroughly. I would like to Chanel the player to the Normandy area where there are some gaps in the defences. I want to make an attack on Calais very difficult as this was the strongest area of the Atlantic Wall.

5) The scattered AA units in the south east are there to represent British anti-invasion defences.

7) The Freighter should be able to carry two units. I will add this info in its description.

8) The Axis Ground Attack is quite strong all round. Later in the game it evolves into the FW190. I tried to make unit types generic instead of representing a specific aircraft. You could assume that Ground Attack aircraft would have fighter cover and this is why they have a good defence. Other Ground Attack aircraft are Lightnings, Thunderbolts, Typhoons etc...

9) I want the battle for Tobruk to be hard. If you can hold onto it then Turkey may eventually join the Allies, if you lose Tobruk (as the Allies did historically) then the Turks will stay neutral, even if Tobruk is later recaptured!

Before posting the files I tweaked some of the nit stats so things may flow a bit differently from my last playtest.

10) I will need to find a solution for getting aircraft across the Atlantic. I may have to scrap that house rule. I just don't like the idea of Carriers launching masses of B17s!

11) I will need to check the Axis subs. There should be much more than 7 to begin with with others created via events!

12) I forgot to set ships to ignore impassable terrain. As all towns are built on defences terrain now ships can't move into ports. This is easily fixed by giving all ships the ignore impassable terrain flag in the rules file.

13) Good point about the aircraft range. I wanted to avoid the player simply covering convoys by stacking them under aircraft. Submarines can attack aircraft at the moment but it may be better to give aircraft limited range. I need to give this some careful thought!

Thanks for your observations. This has given me a few more things to add to my TO DO list

[Jerec]

I keep wanting to disband the Anti-Aircraft around Dover/London, no matter how realistic. I know I can't but I want to. They have London as a home-city, and take a shield to support...set to none as homecity, perhaps?

1)Since the Fleet Air Arm Aircraft can spot subs, it should probably have the sub flag to make sure that it only attacks sea units...unless it is intended as a generic bomber unit.

2) Take away the sub abiity to attack air units. I have had U-boats indiscriminately torpedoing down Maritime and RAF bombers!

3) Methinks 3 infantry per city in the US/Canada is a bit drastic. As the Germans won't exactly invade there, I took 1 infantry from each city to be ferried to Britain.

4) Taking into account the $$ losses from the freighters initially placed (and of course sunk), there is not enough money in the Allied coffers to last until the first Lend Lease arrives. My Industrial Complex in Boston was sold...

5) The German U-boats in the Atlantic are a very real threat. After I cleaned out the initial, stacked batch, 2 more popped up and sank a damaged battleship...the British naval losses have been tremendous so far, something like 6-7 destroyers, 3 cruisers, and 1 battleship. I'm not complaining, just thought you might want to know. Next turn- 2 more U-boats appeared, and 1 more cruiser/destroyer sunk. 2 U-boats per turn, or is it random?

6) Just noticed, the Atlantic U-boats, right after being created, have a tendency to destroy 1 unit and then hide in Ireland's inlets after being created...if I keep out of their initial range after being created, I could destroy them in Ireland easily with no harm done...just thinking out loud.

7) A Wehrmacht Light Panzer went on Defences terrain...