World War Two Europa vII

[McMonkey]

I found the answer to my question. I created an event that spawned an Allied Battleship and checked it appeared. I then changed its home city to Berlin and it still appeared but with its home city set as NONE!

Thats that idea out the window then, unless anyone can think of a way to get around it.

[McMonkey]

I have finished (for now) the first set of units for this game. What I hope to do is have yearly sets from 41-45 which the player swaps over each year. This way the standard units appearance will update as the war goes on (EG. The American Heavy Tank starts as M3 Grant, progresses to M4 Sherman and ends up as the M26 Pershing and so on)

What I want to know is peoples preferences for swapping the files over. My idea is quite simple. In the scenario folder will be five folders named 1941 through to 1945. At the beginning of each new year (does not need to be exact) the player opens the scenario folder and moves the current Unit file into its year folder then cuts the next years units from their folder and pastes them into the scenario folder. When the game is reloaded the new units will be in play. This seems simpler than creating batch files.

I know some people don't like swapping over files but as this does not effect the game in any way, other than the appearance, it is not essential that it is done. If a player is happy to use the same units throughout the game then I would suggest picking the 1943 or 44 units and just using them!

I am sure that all WWII units buffs will be happy to spend a few seconds swapping the files to get the full WWII feel!

Your opinions are welcome.

[McMonkey]

Also, could someone tell me the lowest value for this cosmic principle:

5 ; Base time for engineers to transform terrain (x2)

And what does the (x2) mean? If it was set at one would it take two turns for an engineer to transform?

[McMonkey]

Units Gif swapover

Just to illustrate what I was talking about a couple of posts above about swapping the Unit Gifs I have created the following screenshots. Would most people be happy to use this method?

[McMonkey]

Does anyone know whether an AI naval unit which has recieved a GO TO command through events will stop and attack enemy units it encounters on its way?

I expect they do but I never (well rarely) assume anything. Unfortunately I don't have the time to test his just now.

[GhostOfDisco]

Just thought the GI and French Infantry units could use a bit of sprucing up...

[McMonkey]

Thanks Ghost

[McMonkey]

Can someone help me out? I cannot get the Soviets to produce Partizans when their cities are captured. I have given Uncle Jo's boys Communism and Guerrilla Warfare and swapped the Partizan unit into the correct slot. I have experimented by capturing Soviet cities stuffed full of Partizans but still none appear!

I know this is quite remedial stuff but could someone point out what I have missed

ALSO

Would anyone like to run a playtest. I think it is close to being ready now and it should be fully playable. I just need to make some minor alterations and add a bit of polish.

[AGRICOLA]

1. No can find the scen for download. Consequently, no idea why partizans absent.

2. A month ago, I was completely Civved out. However a 3 week, 9000 km tour of Canada's maritime provinces, mainly Newfoundland, cured the Civ problem but did result in a severe case of scenery overload. So, if you can produce a copy of the scen for downloading, I'll be glad to give it a shot.

3. Can you settle on one name for the scen? The opening shot of D-Day calls it WWII Europa 2 while the units graphics are labelled Fortress Europe Units 1941.

[McMonkey]

Thanks Agri

I will build a page for it at the Scenario League now.

The scenario is going to be called Fortress Europe (World War Two Europa version two sounds crap!)

I will post here again when the page and file downloads are ready.

What I want to achieve in this major upgrade of WWII Europa is a much more challenging game for the allied player with tougher AI supported by well thought out events. I have also created a brand new tech tree.

Glad you are back from the wilderness with an appetite for Civ

[AGRICOLA]

Re Partisans:

Following up a hunch, I ran a quick and dirty test with 4000BC vanilla Civ and I'm pretty sure that partisans appear only in the Modern? era. The Conscription tech ushers in that era. I think that the Russians or somebody else must have that tech in order for Russian partisans to appear.

For example, by giving either the Romans or the Chinese all techs, Chinese partisans appeared in 4000BC when the Romans captured a Chinese city [of course, the Chinese had Guerilla Warfare, BUT they did not need to have either Communism or a communist government for partisans to appear].

[McMonkey]

I will test it out, though it may me swapping the tech tree around a bit! It is not a huge problem as I have created Partisans behind the German lines by events and I don't expect the Axis will capture that many Soviet cities. Would be a nice touch if I can get it working though!

I am just putting the finishing touches to the Beta version tonight and probably tomorrow and I will post the files at SL tomorrow afternoon (I hope!).

This version features stackable terrain, different objectives, some new units (no more useless anti-tank guns) and some new concepts. The events file is brand new and I think it will make the game a real challenge!

I am just going over the units stats to make sure that every allied unit is worthwhile building. In the original you could get by just building tanks and mobile artillery, hopefully this version will be a bit more interesting.

I have created lots of Axis units vie the events with fallback co-ordinates starting in North Africa and ending in the Reich (for example). I have also made sure that the Axis can only build units. They start with all the improvements they need. They cannot produce taxes either (capitalization) so hopefully they will just churn out units!

I have also strengthened the Atlantic wall to make an early invasion much harder. His is backed up by Axis events.

[McMonkey]

The Beta version (that is the initial test?) is ready for dl here:

Fortress Europe Beta

I will post some more info about it in a bit!

[McMonkey]

I think the game should work well. I have done a little testing and I will start a full test tomorrow. The one aspect that I am not sure about is the economy. I remember Agricola had to make some changes to overcome the deficit in Europa.

What I am aiming for is a very tight economic situation for the allies at the start of the game. The events generated trade units in New York will need to be shipped safely to Britain to keep the allies afloat. As the game progresses the Allies should capture Axis cities and the initial deficit should be turned into a surplus.

If I have made things a bit too tight for the Allies to begin with I could increase the frequency of the trade unit creation or give the allies more economic improvements or alter where they appear on the tech tree.

The other thing I still need to do is add polish. The units stats will probably need tweaking to make the Axis tougher or to make Allied units more useful and therefore worth producing.

Although I am happy with the tech tree I am still willing to swap around where units and improvements appear. The names of the techs also need attention to make their sequence more logical. In the final version I will include a printable tech tree to help the player plan ahead.

I have just found that the Allied bomber seems to have lost the ability to transform terrain. I am not sure what I have done wrong as it was working OK before!

I look forward to hearing what Agricola has to say

Another screenie:

[McMonkey]

Agricola
How is the playtest going? (That is if you have had time to do any testing )

I have started a thorough playtest and I am pleased with the results so far. Of course there are a few minor problems but they should be easily fixed.

Here are my notes so far (I am posting here as I tend to end up with thousands of bits of paper!):

- Boston and Liverpool are building Trade convoys at start of game and need to be changed.

- I need to add note to briefing warning player not to change production (unless necessary) in cities producing units which the Allies don't have tech for at start of game.

- Cardiff is building Barracks. As no barracks are permitted this needs changing.

- Plymouth starts with small food deficit.

- Aleppo needs one of its farmers redirected to an irrigated square.

- Mosul begins with unhappy citizens.

- I need to consider which units should be in production at the start of the game as the units the allies can produce are limited until they move up the tech tree. Some of the rare units (M3 Grant etc...) should be in production from the start.

- Pollution icon in city screen needs changing as well as some better improvement icons.

- There are still some Axis Partisans about (old ATG!) that need deleting.

- Text message when Axis capture Rostov needs amending (succeed instead of succeeds).

- Add an airfield in Northern Ireland so US aircraft can cross to Britain.

- Is Sortavala short of food? Noticed it was size 1!

- Are Axis submarines too tough?

- Turn 4 (4th Week Nov 1941) the Spanish sneak attack Allies. Not a major threat but not what I wanted so early in the game. Could solve with better relations with Allies or an event forbidding negotiations.

- Kalinin liberated by Soviets on Turn 6 (2nd Week Dec 1941). This is roughly accurate

- The Axis capture Rostov after 2-3 turns. Should one of the Axis unit production events be altered to produce Heavy Armour in Rostov to help their drives on Stalingrad and Grozny?

- The idea of using RAF Bombers to alter the Industrial terrain does not seem to be working (strange as it worked before). If I cannot fix it I may use the bombers in a conventional role and make them a little more powerful.

- Turn 7 The Axis attempt a 'Pearl Harbour' attack on Scapa Flow. The Allies lose a few ships but the Axis get mauled the next turn.

- Tobruk falls to the Axis around turn 6. I counter attacked and managed to capture Bardia with 8th Army units. The Navy was called in to help secure Bardia.

- Tank Regiment developed in Turn 9 allowing the production of Allied Armour.

- By Turn 9 the Allies were down to 196 Gold (I had lost a lot of Freighters at -150 Gold per turn!). Three Lend Lease shipments (Trade Convoys) from New York arrive in London for a total of 408 Gold. Should last until the next convoy arrives (Trade Convoy generated in NY every other turn). Battleships are essential for escorting convoys!

I have learned from this test that conservation of Allied forces is essential as there are lots of roaming Axis subs and planes! Limited range patrols lead to less losses!

The most ambitious Allied Invasion of the early war was the Torch landings in North Africa. To arrive at the historical date the US Casablanca bound convoy would need to leave the USA (from Washington) on Turn 39 (3rd week of Aug 42) while the British Oran convoy would leave Plymouth on Turn 38 (11 Turns sailing) and the Algiers convoy would leave on Turn 36 (13 Turns sailing). This is based on the movement rate of the Battleship which would be essential for escorting the transports.

I have added these dates to the DATES document to aid the player. Of course the player may wish to launch Torch in November 1941 or skip it altogether and take Tunis with the 8th Army. It is worth bearing in mind that North Africa must be taken to meet the objectives. Also, trying to launch Torch is a lot of fun!

If anyone else would like to join in the playtest then let me know and I will post the improved scenario files at Scenario League

NOTE: The first turn of combat between the Axis and Soviets on the Eastern Front is quite long. Bear with it. As the game goes on the AI turn speeds up. The AI tends to Kamikaze a lot of their units in the fist few turns!