RED FRONT is BACK! Version 1.1

[Mao]

I think Overdrive has a great idea. I always feel a bit guilty letting the Nazis take cities and getting overrun to establish historical positions. This way, I won't have to hurt my pride!

[Captain Nemo]

I am working a little on the new version. I played around some more with the Barbarossa strategy to see if I can get the AI to push harder for the historical positions...
I could potentially split up the summer of 1941 where there isn't enough room for all the events and make a required re-load in September... but maybe it would get too tedious? How about having to load a new Event file at the end of each turn...
The Germans get a new mobile artillery unit (105mm "Wespe") for the initial push. This guy ignores city walls and moves fast so it can help the blitzkrieg along...
It's replaced by the heftier 150mm "Hummel" when the Germans develop mobile artillery.

On another subject: Red Front is getting beaten 2-4 by... the MICROPROSE WWII SCENARIO! (Aaaarrrgh!) on another thread in this section.
How about getting over there and voting? (Is this considered cheating as bad as the AI bribing units?)

[Mao]

Hey, I was first to vote for you Alex!

[Captain Nemo]

Thanks Mao,
I did notice you were the first vote for Red Front. Right now it's tied 4-4. I am not sure who Stefan voted for, only that he DIDN'T vote for the MPS WWII "saved game" (I can hardly call it a scenario since it doesn't have events, special units, special rules or any concern for history)(I cringe when I see helicopters, AEGIS cruisers and stealth jets slug it out in 1944...)(Almost as bad as the CiC scenario where Napoleon commands a fleet of destroyers in 1815)

BTW, Nemo and Alex are two distinct people. Alex made Spartacus, Quebec, Conquest of the North and Peloponesian War. I made 2194 Days of War, The American Civil War and Red Front. But Alex did make most of the infantry units for Red Front.

[Mao]

Oops, Sorry! I put Captain Nemo on the vote thread though.

[Captain Nemo]

I am currently playing the first bits of version 1.3... So far it's only changes in AI strategy for 1941 and a little bit of cost/stats tweaking for the units. I also made some unit graphic upgrades from year to year, ie some units becomer more modern as the game progresses. (Example STuG III ausf C > ausf F > ausf G).

The new strategy increases the challenge to the point that Moscow can really fall in November 1941 (My first test game was really iffy, I thought I was finished when ALL units in Moscow ended the last summer turn in the yellow/red).

Absolutely all cities that were captured in 1941 fell in the testgame + Tula & Demyansk. Leningrad is seriously threatened.

I used a new strategy for advancing the German units that really works! Small limited area moveunits commands centered around a staging area outside cities. New German units are created in the staging areas once they are cleared. In the beginning of the game they are occupied by Soviet stationary "fortified positions" similar to German hedgehogs. These defend double against air so German Luftwaffe can't kill them. They only get destroyed when the main German force reaches their location and then the reinforcement can appear in the midst of the advancing German column! This is a good tip for anyone designing a scenario requiring a very agressive AI.

Red Front 1.3 will definitely become a reality...Strictly for those who aren't completely burned out on 1.2...

[Mao]

Damn, and I thought I was doing good on v1.2. Nemo, you won't rest until I die in 1941 will you?

[Captain Nemo]

No Mao, my goal is actually to give a good human player a very difficult challenge at deity level... Then the game can be tuned down by choosing emperor or king.
I have never lost Moscow, Stalingrad or any of the oil production cities in my games at deity so I concluded they were too easy.
(I even make it "extra" historical by not pillaging the roads and not airlifting any units)
Mike Jeszenka said version 1.0 discouraged him because he stopped the Germans cold in 1941...Well that won't be happening anymore!

[Mao]

Oh, so it's MJ's fault I can't get any ego boost by beating the Germans...

MJ! Where are you!?