Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

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Erik2
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by Erik2 »

uran21 wrote:On a tactical side this is how I saw parachute operation at Aalborg. Since the town and airfields are major objectives I thought they should be defended so decided to drop near it, capture some village to establish permanent supply and head for objectives. Since I had no clue what is waiting for me I dropped them at spot where they were and then noticed… there are no supply in villages! This didn’t cost me much because Aalborg and surrounding airfields were undefended. Counterattack did came though but for replayability it would be better to have some options to chose from how to approach the target. This way it is just direct drop and paras are unnecessarily distant from it by one turn distance. Contact with enemy should also be encountered sooner because when everything was quiet I departed the area for another drop to find out some units were sent to relive Aalborg so I had to return. AA that spawned was sent to peninsulas peak by rail. It encountered no resistance.

Game BUG with “ghost unit” was encountered at Aalborg. If paratrooper enters Aalborg and then loads into naval transport it takes two click to send naval transport to desired destination and the town itself becomes inaccessible to other units because the “ghost unit” is in there. Maybe this is connected with the number of ports adjacent to town? Save game attached.
There were no Danish units in the Aalborg area. The Danes were not expecting para drops, this was quite a new form of warfare.
There are some Danaish units mobilized in the center of Jutland at Viborg, but they will take time to reach Aalborg.
Now, if we get garrison units in OOB, a few units sprinkled around the map covering important locations would be a nice option. I guess I could place some static 5-strength units defending airfields and ports...I'll take a look at it.
There is supply in Aalborg itself.

The ghost unit bug must be something wrong in the game itself, not the scenario. So not much I can do about it editing the scenario itself.
Maybe you could post something about in the Tech support forum and attach the save file?
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Denmark update to v2.1

Post by Erik2 »

Added garrison units in towns/cities/air fields with a bit of supply

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/168 ... 20v2.1.zip
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

Bug is definitely part of game system but you can still avoid it if you know what is causing it.
I assumed it could be because of two ports adjacent to town so I made test scenario to get confirmation. I was right, attached is test scenario with village with one and village with two ports and you can see bug can be reproduced in village with two adjacent ports. This is an edge case better be avoided for now. I mailed it to Lukas too.

More on general feeling of scenario. Still on the old version. What is good about scenario is combination of amphibious landing, parachute drops and classic land advances. Also there are several battlegroups of various sizes so potential for variety is great. Battles around Copenhagen were more interesting than those on main Danish peninsula.
On German-Danish border contact with the enemy was achieved early on which is good. Battles were not hard and I pushed their units in column how they retreated and this is also good because tension to battle should be introduced gradually. But then I got reinforcements without no notification, almost missed them. Suddenly I had lot of units and no resistance in front of me except some on the Eastern side. When eastern battlegroup finished its job they stayed idle and some units were loaded in rail transport and pushed forward. I didn’t care if ambush would happen because it was more exception than a rule. This allowed me to connect with Paras on the North without much combat.
Suggestion for this situation would be to place some mines and arrange bridges to be blown as you already mentioned was done in newer version but not to overdo it. Also units do not need to spawn in mobilization centers but in the region around mobilization center depending on hex ownership, timeframe and the fact is MC still in Danish hands. Strengthening preplaced defenses should also be in order because now in Western areas they are virtually nonexistent. If you place understrength units and enough RP they will take replacements with time and it will depend on players speed how strong they will be when player encounters it. This could simulate gradual mobilization.
In old version of scenario reinforcements were overkill and those AAs spawned at airfields could appear on strange places like behind enemy lines and out of supply.
Attachments
GhostInPort.zip
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Erik2
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by Erik2 »

uran21 wrote:Bug is definitely part of game system but you can still avoid it if you know what is causing it.
I assumed it could be because of two ports adjacent to town so I made test scenario to get confirmation. I was right, attached is test scenario with village with one and village with two ports and you can see bug can be reproduced in village with two adjacent ports. This is an edge case better be avoided for now. I mailed it to Lukas too.

More on general feeling of scenario. Still on the old version. What is good about scenario is combination of amphibious landing, parachute drops and classic land advances. Also there are several battlegroups of various sizes so potential for variety is great. Battles around Copenhagen were more interesting than those on main Danish peninsula.
On German-Danish border contact with the enemy was achieved early on which is good. Battles were not hard and I pushed their units in column how they retreated and this is also good because tension to battle should be introduced gradually. But then I got reinforcements without no notification, almost missed them. Suddenly I had lot of units and no resistance in front of me except some on the Eastern side. When eastern battlegroup finished its job they stayed idle and some units were loaded in rail transport and pushed forward. I didn’t care if ambush would happen because it was more exception than a rule. This allowed me to connect with Paras on the North without much combat.
Suggestion for this situation would be to place some mines and arrange bridges to be blown as you already mentioned was done in newer version but not to overdo it. Also units do not need to spawn in mobilization centers but in the region around mobilization center depending on hex ownership, timeframe and the fact is MC still in Danish hands. Strengthening preplaced defenses should also be in order because now in Western areas they are virtually nonexistent. If you place understrength units and enough RP they will take replacements with time and it will depend on players speed how strong they will be when player encounters it. This could simulate gradual mobilization.
In old version of scenario reinforcements were overkill and those AAs spawned at airfields could appear on strange places like behind enemy lines and out of supply.
Good bug hunting. No wonder you have that glorious avatar :D

The Danes were ill prepared because they did not want to provoke Germany as long as Denmark was neutral.
All reinforcements are those historically allocated to Weserübung Sud. I'll see if I can add some notifications and graphics when they occur.
Danish reinforcements will not arrive if the particular MC is on German hands. But they may arrive on adjacent hexes if the original is occupied, the game system handles that.

Rivers are blown when the Germans are within 2 hexes of the bridge AND there's a Danish defender on the bridge. That should provide some randomness. I've used this in all the campaign scenarios.
There are now 5-strength garrisons in every town/city with 3-supply available in the location. So there are a lot of bumps along the roads. The AI will probably repair these units so the resistance should increase as the Germans move further inland.
I could create a condition to force a AA unit to arrive on the airfield, but it is no big deal. Mishaps that delay functionality happens.

Thanks for the detailed feedback. The scenario is improving :D
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

Battles on the island where Copenhagen is located where very good. I even suffered setbacks near Copenhagen itself. On the western part of the island counterattack locked my beachhead for a while. At Copenhagen they decimated some of my landing units, reduced their efficiency and pushed me in the corner. Hint about reducing airfield with Luftwaffe was in place but I did not listen to it and regretted later. So in order to get myself out from deadlock I examined supply. Only primary objectives served as supply sources. Westernmost one was in my hands. I loaded one unit from Copenhagen outskirt to rail transport and moved it to Helsingur to the north-east which was undefended and used strategic bombers to reduce Copenhagen itself. Really decisive use of strategic bombers. This left defenders on the whole island without supply and I mopped up after it. Suggestion would be to make all mobilization centers to serve as significant supply sources able to support large forces individually.

On this big maps air movement is insufficient IMO but only mod could overcome this limitation.
Erik2
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by Erik2 »

I have added 20 supply to all mobilization centers. A few already had more than that.
I have also replaced the old villages with the more proper European type.

Glad you're experimenting some difficulties :D
Are you planning on giving the Norway scenario the same treatment, hint-hint :D

Link:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/168 ... 20v2.2.zip
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

I will take another pass on Denmark for now. It will take some time to finish but this are first remarks.

Connect Flensburg-Skagen objective is marked as failed from start. There are still some missing graphics for railroad turns. I still think coastal batteries should be visible from start.
Despite Sweden being out of play area some kind of forest and farmland tiles would increase overall feeling of the map. Some villages are converted to European ones but some stayed as tropical versions.

Landing at Aalborg was much more interesting now although blowing the bridge in the town itself in the same moment paratrooper hit ground was maybe an overkill.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

More resistance is encountered this time. One unit or two unit teams are now having problems with their tasks. One unit alone can’t do nothing against enemy of equal strength.
Some villages have 3 supply points while others do not but it looks to me those with supply are garrisoned by default. This predictability can serve as battlefield intelligence. Just by looking at supply one can know where enemy is located.
Destroyed bridge at Aalborg has far reaching consequences on further conflicts in the area. New enemy reinforcements are coming to counterattack but since town (on river) itself is the target it limits mobility for the defender. Units can be rotated though if ctrl key is used but defender can only put firepower of single unit in combat due to narrow pass. So terrain at Aalborg become challenge in its own right.
Battles at Copenhagen are going much better this time since I eliminated fighter treat early on so bombers could concentrate on enemy artillery.
Big maps take more effort to stay focused on them so I always take action with units in some particular order. From north to south and from west to east not to miss something. Also I play in small sequences of 5 turn each.
Erik2
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by Erik2 »

uran21 wrote:I will take another pass on Denmark for now. It will take some time to finish but this are first remarks.

Connect Flensburg-Skagen objective is marked as failed from start. There are still some missing graphics for railroad turns. I still think coastal batteries should be visible from start.
Despite Sweden being out of play area some kind of forest and farmland tiles would increase overall feeling of the map. Some villages are converted to European ones but some stayed as tropical versions.

Landing at Aalborg was much more interesting now although blowing the bridge in the town itself in the same moment paratrooper hit ground was maybe an overkill.
Flensburg-Saken is marked as failed when it is broke, which it is at start. When you connect, it willbe marked as open since it may be broken again.
Coastal batteries' location are marked with red arrows in the order windows.
I have moved the garrison at Aalborg next to the city at start. If the AI moves it into the city the bridge may blow.
Railroad graphics need to be fixed in a game update. It has been reported.
Added some more or less random Swedish terrain.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

Erik wrote:Flensburg-Saken is marked as failed when it is broke, which it is at start. When you connect, it willbe marked as open since it may be broken again.
This is counter intuitive. Unfinished (open) objectives are usually marked with question mark. Failed objective indicates one player hasn't succeed in achieving. This is how objective markers were envisioned and used in most of the content. Moving away from it just confuses the player who already get used to proper use of objective markers.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by Erik2 »

uran21 wrote:
Erik wrote:Flensburg-Saken is marked as failed when it is broke, which it is at start. When you connect, it willbe marked as open since it may be broken again.
This is counter intuitive. Unfinished (open) objectives are usually marked with question mark. Failed objective indicates one player hasn't succeed in achieving. This is how objective markers were envisioned and used in most of the content. Moving away from it just confuses the player who already get used to proper use of objective markers.
Aha, I see your point. Sort of.
But if the connection is not established, doesn't that mean you have not achieved the objective?
Usually I prefer the objective to either have a green check-mark or a red failed mark. The question-mark is kind of wishy-washy since it does not tell you whether you have succeeded or not. It is still undecided, that would be my understanding.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

Erik wrote:But if the connection is not established, doesn't that mean you have not achieved the objective?
Yes, it means you have not achieved it but it does not mean you have failed it. Failing means not having opportunity to achieve it anymore after you tried and failed.
I haven't captured all major cities and airfields as well but those are not marked as failed. If they were scenario would end. Those markers have their purpose and if you change how they are used you are forcing player to learn new rules and conventions and those conventions are not consistent in all cases as shown with objectives to capture towns and airfield which is also not achieved at start but not marked as "failed".
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

There is a Danish gunboat in Sonderborg port. Since major towns should be occupied and free of enemy troops in 3 hex radius question arises should this radius be clear of all enemy units or only ground units. The way objective is explained I would say of all enemy units including air ones. Pesky gunboat can replace loses even if Sonderborg is controlled by Germans but this is inconsistency in game mechanics. There are also couple of other inconsistencies in game mechanics like cruiser can pass shallow water hex if port is placed on that hex. Armored train can be loaded into naval transport and shipped on other location. I should check what happens if it is disembarked on hex with no rail on it. Also armored train can cross rivers with blown up rail bridges as any other unit would cross the river without bridge.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by Erik2 »

All 2-radius conditions are set up with land units.
The premise is that air or naval units can't claim ownership of a land location.

Interesting inconsistencies.
Ports are designed to hold all kind of naval units thus it acts as deep water re heavy cruisers and battleships.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

I played this one with two house rules. Not to purchase new units aside from initial deployment and to try to capture absolutely every village on the map. Result was draw. I haven’t achieved any of my primary objectives but AI did not achieve any of his own as well.
Reason for this result was in the fact that at Aalborg stalemate occurred preventing me from clearing radius around town and capture one of the airfields but also forces could not move anywhere not to leave town undefended. AI was not aggressive so we just looked at each other for most of the time. Gunboat was also not providing support for Danish troops. Of course situation could be different if I purchased new units there. Relieving force from the south was scattered in capturing all villages which delayed their arrival. Some lone amphibious units could not pass some defenses alone. Even two infantry against entrenched one can be a problem. Artillery makes all the difference here.

Part of the map near Copenhagen and whole that island is more dynamic and does not feature huge manoeuvres during battle. It is over in around 20 or so turns. Danish mainland is huge area with mostly pockets of lone infantry resistance so it comes down to a lot of movement without much interesting fighting there. Construction group for airfield was a nice detail and I think this part of map misses more attention to detail from gameplay perspective.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by Erik2 »

Thanks for reporting. Was this using the latest version with the Danish garrisons?
It should provide more fighting on Danish mainland.
Maybe some random spawned mines could make it more interesting also. I'll see what I can come up with.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by uran21 »

Yes the new one with Italian units used as Danish garrisons. Aside from that spot where artillery was placed (in vicinity of airstrip) and at Aalborg where bigger concentration of infantry units happend all other cases were lone infantry. Blowing bridges was an improvement. But take into account that increasing defences renders small groups of one or two infantry each controlled by the player useless because they cannot do much if anything. That AA spawn at Aalborg was completely useless because there are no planes over there but light artillery would be much more useful asset. Also with new defenders at Aalborg and both airfields, arrival of couple of new infantry simply switches numerical favour to AI side and without support or new purchases they cannot do much. If timing of AI intervention would be different it could provide for constant skirmishing always on the edge of balance. Making early contact with enemy was an improvement but with blown bridge and lots of reinforcements situation just overwhelmed them but there was no action taking place because AI was not aggressive at all. Providing air support from the other part of the map is also a problem because of the distance. It takes more than 15 turns to send another paratrooper. Big maps have their potential but air movement is simply made to fit on medium or smaller maps.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by usit64 »

Hi, Erik! I've got a question concerning your fine Norway scenario: how can I reach secondary objectives which are occupying or upgrade costal batteries and fortifications? which units have such an ability?
Or do I have to encircle those compartments? Thanks so far!
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by Erik2 »

usit64 wrote:Hi, Erik! I've got a question concerning your fine Norway scenario: how can I reach secondary objectives which are occupying or upgrade costal batteries and fortifications? which units have such an ability?
Or do I have to encircle those compartments? Thanks so far!
You need to destroy the coastal gun/fort, then move the unit off the location.
This will spawn a new coastal gun/fort in the same location.
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Re: Erik's Singleplayer scenarios

Post by usit64 »

Aye,Sir! Orders received! Thanks a lot.Your version of "Weserübung" is a good preparation for the announced Kriegsmarine-DLC!
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