RED FRONT is BACK! Version 1.1

[Captain Nemo]

Revised Red Front files were sent to Allard today for uploading to CSC. It should be available by this weekend.

Many new units, new sounds, new events, 8 different unit files, 8 different rules files, 9 successive event files. ALL infantry units have distinct summer and winter uniforms.

1944-45 events includes progressive collapse of Germany, allied bombings destroying the German industry and advanced units becoming more and more scarce.

Many new cities added to the map and the AI is much more difficult to beat than in the first version.

[Captain Nemo]

Not a lot of activity along the "Front" this week so I'll kick it off:

After finishing the revision to Red Front I started a fresh test game (Deity level) to see how my new improved AI does against me...

It's July 1944, almost 3 years since those treacherous Nazis broke our mutual non-aggression pact and started the war:

The first 6 months of operation Barbarossa were harrowing for the Soviet people. Without Red Guard units there isn't much to be done to stop the Nazi tanks. 7 cities fell in June from Riga to Kirovgrad, followed by 5 more in July. Odessa held in July because Naval infantry units were rushed by sea from Sevastopol to reinforce the garisson. The fortress at Brest-Litovsk was eliminated in July. Minsk also fell but Kiev held with minimal units left over...

August sealed the fate of Kiev, and the Germans are hammering at Perekop in Northern Crimea, Kharkow is under siege... Kholm and Luga have fallen putting the huns on the doorsteps of Leningrad in August, still 3 months to go before winter!

September sees the fall of Kharkov, Smolensk and Narva, the Germans are rolling in siege artillery against Leningrad, my Red Army units are fast pillaging all the road squares around the city but my Labor Brigades got wiped out by Stukas before they could complete the minefields.

Only a few T-34s and Katyusha-launchers are able to make the Nazis pay when they advance too fast. I have had time to fortify Kaluga and Tula with multiple AA batteries and NKVD veteran troops to prevent the offensive from cutting through south of Moscow... To the North the dense woods and marshes should slow them down.

The Finns have retaken all the cities they gave up in 1940 and are advancing towards Tikhvin in the South and Murmansk in the North. The Germans took Petsamo in July and are regularly sending infantry toward undefended Murmansk from the West. Only strifing by 3 old Polikarpov fighters hold them at bay.

October... the Germans are on the Don river attacking Rostov and Voronezh repeatedly. Kaluga did not hold, dozens of Wehrmacht infantry units just kept pounding at those defenders until they were all gone... Perekop fell and now there are heavy siege mortars in the Crimean peninsula too. The fortresses defending Sevastopol will hold them at bay for a while but when Kerch falls a breach opens in the defense line and the Germans pour in...

Novgorod and Tula fall next along with Kursk and Bryansk... Demyansk to the North comes under Luftwaffe attack in November. German tanks are storming Moscow's defenses from October on... The city gets hit by the German bombers but without too much damage... But all the forts in the defense perimeter get gradually wiped out of units.
Only one fort to the South west holds up and keeps killing the Germans as they enter the minefields. Leningrad is under serious attack too, with Finns coming down the East side of Lake Ladoga and Germans regularly storming out of Narva and killing defenders in great numbers... Every available unit Northeast of Moscow must be brought in to hold the city and all new T-34 tanks from Sverdlovsk and Gorky must be diverted to defend Leningrad.

Rostov holds out but not without losses. The last German turn of November is a "nail-biter" Leningrad is left with two Red Army units and a freighter as sole defenders. Moscow is down to it's last AA battery. Voronezh, Rostov and Sevastopol hold and then finally comes the winter...

The first winter in the game is not a really great time to get even, just a breather to regroup and prepare for the upcoming spring. With all Luftwaffe planes grounded by the cold weather, units can venture out of the cities and kill isolated Germans...On the other hand the Finns get really rowdy in the winter months! They start moving fast on skis and attack and capture Tikhvin, effectively cutting the resupply route to Leningrad. Partisans in the Pripyat region also come out and harass the German rear as the German planes are out of service. The biggest preparation is to the Southeast, fortifying Rostov and Stalingrad for the upcoming summer offensive (Operation Blau). Also the economic build-up starts, with all refugees starting improve and enlarge the Eastern cities. The Red Guards are formed from survivors of the summer campaigns and new La-5 planes are made ready for the spring when the air war resumes...

Limited counter attacks clear the immediate vicinity of Moscow and new AA batteries are replaced in the surrounded forts.

The Germans have new mobile artillery units, "Hummels" that can pound the cities really hard and unlike the few big siege mortars there are great number of these.

Convoys from the UK make their first runs to Murmansk so there are now armored infantry carriers to help the poor defenders hold out against the Finns.

Towards the middle of the winter troops from Far Eastern Siberia start arriving into the theater, due to the "Sorge report". These guys are tough and they don't mind the snow! Actually they ignore it. Their heavy Degtyarev machine guns carve-up the Germans.

MORE LATER...

[Mao]

Don't have much time, but it's summer of '43 now and the Ukraine is lost. But I'm holding on in the north. The Finns are being fought back.

....I'll post a more detailed report later (unless I lose)

[Mao]

The Germans seem to be bribing Barabarian (Yugoslav) partisans. Any reasons why? I thought you were going to let the players control the partisans?

[Paul Hanson]

I was doing great on RF, it was winter 1942 and I was just starting to push the Germans back, my T-34`s were hammering them out on the field, the Partisans and Red Guard appearing in the Pripet Marshes had managed to recapture Minsk and hold onto it.

Then disaster struck. The events failed to load for winter 1942, and I was wondering why it was still winter in May '43. Now I`ve got to start again, will things go as well for me this time round? I doubt it

I shall now return to my corner and sulk.

------------------
"I`m a rugged individualist, just like everyone else".

-Bart Simpson`s Guide to Life

[Mao]

You got back Minsk!? How?

[Captain Nemo]

I'm concerned about events failing to load... Did Civ2 completely shut down? (That usually means oversized events.txt file) Or did you get an events error (Syntax mistake) Was it the spring of 43 that didn't work. Is it the old or the new version?

Regarding the Partisans, the Yugoslavs are still barbarians but the Polish uprising in 1944 is Soviet controlled. Some liked the "Uncontrollable" partisans better so I left the Yugoslavs in there. I can't prevent the unit in the "diplomat" slot from bribing (Must be hard coded) I think it's the He-111s that do it? Or maybe it's just a cheat the AI gives himself to get rid of really tough units?
I have had them bribe Soviet tanks and AA batteries around Moscow!
I captured Byalostock (sp?) with Partisans in the winter of 1943 and was able to hold it until the Soviet main force reached it from the north in August 1944... Minsk was impregnable. But capturing it without the winter events would be easier (No German reinforcements)...

[Paul Hanson]

Mao: Complete luck. The Germans had about three units inside Minsk (1 Wehrmacht, 1 Me-109 & 1 He-111). And the umpteen million Partisan and Red Guard units appearing to the south meant it was easy to hold onto Minsk for several turns (until I realised what was wrong).

Nemo: Don`t worry about it, I don`t think it was really a fault with the game (it didn`t shut down or produce an error message, and it hasn`t happened before). It was the winter of 42 where the events didn`t work.

[Overdrive]

SCHWEINEHUNDE

Red Front 2 is harder and nicer...I especially liked the new sounds and graphics part. A must-have in any civ scenario collection!

Standing Ovations

Stavka Report Jan 31st 42
--------------------------

This war is a disaster for the Rodina, Comrade.
Although we were able to quickly reorganize the shattered remains of the western military sectors and dismantle our industries in the west, nothing is won yet.
The convoys out of Britain are rare and the Finns proved very battleworthy...the landline from Murmansk to Leningrad is not secure...
Talinn is under siege: the naval infantry is conducting a heroic defense, but the future looks grim. Vellikye Luki and Kholm fell this autumn.
On the Demyansk-Moscow Line, Moscow suffers the most, street-fighting around the Kreml in minus twenties (Celsius) temperatures eats up our reserves.
The south looks better organized:
The Dnepropetrovsk bridgehead holds, protecting the whole Kerch Peninsula and the Zaporozhye-Voroshilovgrad Line. Above Guards divisions hold Kursk and Orel, effectively shielding the Voronezh industrial bassin from the north-west.
These sentences may sound somewhat positive but the industrial capacity of the soviet people has not reached any heights. Much will depend on my gamble to research Air Defenses early to prevent the massed german airstrikes.
Will there be enough Air Defenses up beginning of Summer 42 to stem the tide?




------------------
-Under the skin, we're all human.-
<Lustin' Prussian

[Overdrive]

Everything went well till the germans bribed my fortress infront of Narva!
How do you break that friggin pontoon bridge? Is it possible at all?

[Mao]

Oh captain my captain! May I ask that send me the new title.gif since it was updated from version 1.1. Are there any other changes? I have a picture of Soviet troops in winter gear on my title.gif. Was there something new? Please send it to me if possible, thank you. And tell us of the differences between version 1.1 and 1.2.

[Overdrive]

What is the rubble unit for?

[Overdrive]

Although some of my above-mentioned questions stayed unanswered yet...here is my 2nd progress report(Jan 31st 43):

Dear Natacha,
Although I know that you are going through similar hardships in the factory, the situation on the frontline is, to say the least, demanding...
As you know, the Kreml Towers are still in the binoculars of Army Group Centre. The fascist forces have dug in in the outskirts of the capital and control all movement westwards. Twice this week, German panzers broke through and were stopped only meters from the Moscow Front HQ. I myself had a PPSh SMG put into my hands...
In the Arctic, the Murmansk-Leningrad Line is broken, and troops there depend on the convoys out of Britain.
The naval blockade of Leningrad hinders soviet plans in no way and the ennemy tanks are always transformed into brewed-out wrecks in the minefields and marshes around Narva and Luga.
Reinforcements gathered around the Voronezh Font are getting to jump-off positions to retake Kharkov and definetly encircle the German 6th Army in front of Stalingrad.
Last month's operations in the south offered us the easy capture of Kerch.
For now, Natacha, continue and do not fail your duties to the Rodina.
Love
Sergei


[This message has been edited by Overdrive (edited December 12, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Overdrive (edited December 12, 1999).]

[Captain Nemo]

Overdrive:
Those reports are excellent! I must say if I hadn't designed the game they would make me want to play it!!

I am amazed that you were still holding the Zaporozhye-Voroshilovgrad-Kursk-Orel sector in what appeared to be winter 1941-42. I have always lost them by November 1941, up to and including Kharkov. What level do you play? Did you lose Rostov in 1942? Was Stalingrad threatened?

You are holding Leningrad solidly? What towns fell to the Finns? Was leningrad cut-off from reinforcements in the winter of 1941-1942 by German forces to the East?
How did Tallinn survive the summer of 1941??

The pontoon bridge is of course a Nazi trick to fall into the back of the Stalingrad defenders if you set up a defense line along the Don. It is supposed to make Stalingrad a little more difficult to hold in the summer of 1942. If not, I may work on that aspect for version 1.3? The pontoon bridge cannot be destroyed (Or, if you should succeed all you will see is the "plain" terrain that it covers, so the Germans will continue to cross the river at that point...) The bridge "breaks up" by itself when the river freezes in December 1942 and the land square returns to it's original ocean "form". The other solutions (Stationary sea transport, dropping land unit on sea square) did not work so I had to resort to this lousy trick.

Patience, the "rubble" will be used soon (Allied Bombing raids over Germany!!) along with the "rumble" of Allied Aircraft!

Mao:
I answered your question about version 1.1 vs 1.2 in Allard's Red Front 1.2 announcement thread.

[Michael Daumen]

What a pleasant song to wake to in Smolensk:

Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha,
na visoky bereg na krutoy . . .
na visoky bereg na krutoy!