Anzio Beachhead by conboy

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bru888
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by bru888 »

Conboy, thanks for your responses. Just a couple of clarifications:

The decision to cause human failure to mean Defeat (as opposed to Draw) is up to you but according to that documentation that I posted above, Defeat will only result if there is a corresponding primary objective (something really simple will do, like "AI Victory") for the AI to achieve when the human fails one or more of his primary objectives. But as I said earlier, depending on how you construct your scenario and intend it to be played out, perhaps you don't need this.

Note on the images: When you say you can't get them to work, you do realize that when you test the scenario in the editor, they in fact do not work? This is an acknowledged drawback (not a bug, because it's been explained) in the editor. Something about the editor making a test folder and transferring some files to it for testing but not the image files. The only way to test images is to play the scenario, perhaps using the cheat code #johnconnor to freeze the AI while you advance turns. (I will also temporarily move up a popup message to Turn 1 or 2 to save time, then return it to normal schedule back in the editor.)

If it's not that then perhaps it's the images themselves. The best images will be sized 512 x 415 pixels and they must be in the PNG format to work. That's another issue that perhaps you are overlooking; check to see if yours are JPG instead. If so, use a photo editor program to convert them to PNG. The file name inserted for Image Filename must be exact and should not include the .png file extension.

One more thing while I am thinking about it: It's best to keep popup messages short. There is no scroll bar on the popup window so if the text is too long, it truncates.
- Bru
conboy
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by conboy »

Thanks - this thread would be highly beneficial to anyone just starting out as a scenario developer!

I was utterly baffled about the pictures not showing up after editing, resizing, etc. etc. ... Now I can find some good ones and use them.

Thanks, Bru.

conboy
GabeKnight
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by GabeKnight »

conboy wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:54 pm Thanks Bru. What do you mean by "bump it"?
This. Add a post to your thread so that it gets updated and is shown on top of the thread list, so forum visitors are notified about possible changes/updates within.

conboy wrote:

I have updated the Anzio Beach scenario and reposted it for pickup at the link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/r1f6d402p ... 1.zip/file

and I have updated the discussion page where the link is posted to describe the modifications effected.

thanks--
conboy
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by conboy »

I have updated the scenario based on comments from players and moderators:
Link (also updated on introductory post):
http://www.mediafire.com/file/r1f6d402p ... 1.zip/file

Changes incorporated:+
* scoped down air battle at beach
* fixed triggers and victory/defeat criteria
* reduced shock effect of German counterattacks
* converted UK 2 Regt to human control
* made objective goals turn count instead of dates
* fixed pop-ups and pictures
* edited map errors
* added air exit hexes for allies and Germans
It should play about the same but it's more polished. If you haven't played it and are an inexperienced player, you should play Level 3. Kondi, if you can beat this on Level 5 I'll kiss your butt in front of the courthouse of your choice and give you a half hour to draw a crowd.
All, please let me know what you think of the scenario, on the forum or by PM.
thanks,
conboy

ps thanks GabeKnight
bru888
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CSI Sweep: Anzio Beachhead

Post by bru888 »

By invitation from Conboy.

Anzio Beachhead v. 1.1

The "Hold Aprilia Factory thru turn 16" objective points to both Aprilia Factor and Isola Bella. Both are marked secondary objectives, not prime, but that does not matter given the way that you constructed the objective trigger. It definitely only looks at Aprilia Factory, though, so you may want to remove the mission link to Isola Bella.

Similarly, the "Hold Femminimorta Crossing thru turn 16" objective also points to two hexes, both unnamed; one is a crossroads in German territory and the other is an advanced point held by the British. The objective trigger looks at the crossroads, so you may want to remove the mission link to the British outpost.

On another topic, this trigger below will probably work. However, it's customary (from looking at Erik's stuff) to associate the event called Turn Start with any Check Turn condition. Reasons: 1) We know that works, including with scenario-end, and 2) Somewhere back in the mists of time, an authority advised limiting the use of Any Turn to situations where nothing else will do because the computer will evaluate this trigger every time ANYTHING in the game happens, thus slowing down your scenario. For these reasons, this non-authority (me) advises you to use Turn Start with all of your Check Turn conditioned objective triggers:

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Now, without a German primary objective to award, even if it's just preventing the Allies from winning their primary objectives until scenario-end, a Defeat is not possible in this scenario. The worst possible outcome is Draw. Here's why:

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Here's one way to do it. Make a corresponding German objective that mirrors, in reverse, the corresponding Allied objective:

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Then, in each of your objective triggers, create a second Effect that completes or fails the corresponding German objective accordingly. For example:

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Do that for every one of your primary objective triggers. Now Defeat is possible; if the player utterly fails to win any primary objective, the Germans win all theirs. If the player manages to fulfill all secondary objectives, it's only a Minor Defeat. If the player does not fulfill all secondary objectives, then it's a Major Defeat. But without any German objectives at all, worst-case result is Draw.

To be continued . . .
- Bru
bru888
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CSI Sweep: Anzio Beachhead

Post by bru888 »

Anzio Beachhead v. 1.1

Wrong objective attached:

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Wrong objective attached:

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And wrong folder being turned off (but I don't see why these folder turn-offs are necessary; each set of these "by Turn 12" triggers is mutually exclusive anyway):

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Here's something I just realized (and remember, you asked for this CSI :wink: ): You say, "Take Cisterna/Campoleone BY Turn 12." To me, that means that I ought to have UP TO AND INCLUDING Turn 12 to accomplish these objectives. The way that you have these trigger set up, at the beginning of the player's Turn 12, if Cisterna/Campoleone are not held, then the objectives are failed. Perhaps you want "13" in all of these triggers:

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Screenshot 12.jpg
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To be continued . . .
- Bru
bru888
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CSI Sweep: Anzio Beachhead

Post by bru888 »

Anzio Beachhead v. 1.1

Now for the secondary objectives. Same comment about possibly using Turn 13 in your triggers applies here as well. Note that there is no need for corresponding German secondary objectives as the difference between Defeat and Victory does not depend on them. Achieving all secondary objectives (or not) means the difference between Major and Minor Victory (or Major and Minor Defeat).

Here's an interesting point to consider. For nearly all of your objectives, you evaluate hex ownership on the basis of the human (Green) alliance. As you know, this alliance is teamed with an AI alliance (Light Blue) comprised of the same nations, U.S. and Great Britain. It's hard to tell which units are in what alliance and, of the AI alliance, where you have them programmed to go. So, is it possible that the Light Blue alliance may take over objectives instead of the Green alliance? That would mean defeat for the human player, of course.

The reason I am asking this is because the 7th Regiment is the only one in which you based the objectives on Team 1 hex ownership instead of Green alliance. If this is by design, fine (this is the only secondary objective which is to "Hold" rather than "Take" *). If not, then you may want to think about what may happen according to your choreography and adjust triggers as necessary:

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* Speaking of which, if the objective is "7th Regt: Padiglione, Hiway Hex, Hold till End," why is this being evaluated on Turn 12 (or 13, as suggested)? Shouldn't it be "Scenario turn limit"? (I assume the second, somewhat perverse spawned unit is by design):

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To be continued . . . (Wow, this scenario is as complex as some of Erik's campaigns in total! :) )
- Bru
bru888
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CSI Sweep: Anzio Beachhead

Post by bru888 »

Anzio Beachhead v. 1.1

None of your Anzio Beachhead v. 1.1 spawned units is assigned to an AI team which means they are going to stand around and do nothing:

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The evaluation hex for all of these counterattack threads is Campoleone except for this one that points to a spot off in the hills. Intended?

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This one here may not do what you are intending. Reason is, it's only looking to see if Isola Bella is in Allied hands before building three airstrips; and not at Isola Bella! The three locations are to the west and two of them are initially in German hands. What if they still are when Isola Bella is taken? I would add another Check Hex Owner condition for the vicinity of First Overpass to this trigger:

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This trigger says "509th to Padiglione" but you are directing it to Campomorto instead:

Screenshot 23.jpg
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To be continued . . .
- Bru
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CSI Sweep: Anzio Beachhead

Post by bru888 »

Anzio Beachhead v. 1.1

Event Popup message for the Cisterna Defense trigger: Add an "e" to "orderd" in "Continue on with your mission as orderd." Also, you name two of the units "6615th Rangers" and your message says "The 6615th Rangers infiltrated . . ." but the third unit is "6651st Rangers"? Seems a bit too coincidental to be accurate. Nice historical touch, though; you certainly did some homework on this scenario.

I am wondering whether this might be better set for Air Seek & Destroy which also allows for switching the target to Transport (Naval). It just seems to be more appropriate and perhaps will work better although things seem to go as intended anyway:

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Last but not least is this nitpicking observation. In the beginning, the skies are clear:

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And nothing changes the weather in the meantime, so why do you need this trigger to clear up the weather? Perhaps you were going to do something weather-wise with empty Trigger 184?

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Heh, talk about nitpicking! Well, that's it and all of this aside, I must say that I am very impressed with the craftsmanship of this scenario. I have my eye on it for future considerations and indulgences. :wink:
- Bru
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by GabeKnight »

Damn, I should've waited with playing until Bruce did his sweep. And I think he caught all of them little bugs I've observed, too.

- The 12th turn is crucial and should be rechecked with all triggers, objectives and enemy units spawns, those did not occur as planned
- Agree, "by turn 12" means at/during turn 12 to me, too. So either change it like Bruce said, or write "before turn 12"
- Until you're certain and know what you're doing with the triggers and the editor, I'd also suggest to set all objective checks and units spawns to "turn start" events.
- some objective errors, I guess they should be fixed following Bruce's advice
- the paved road bridge/crossing a few hexes west of Conca doesn't work like this
- after I've got the air reinforcements CPs, some of the deployed planes caused -6 air CP. Don't know if this is a bug or whatnot
- also mentioned by Bruce: If any of my allied, AI controlled "Blue team" members achieved any of the prim. or sec. objectives, those didn't count for me. I had to restart the turns a few times until I've figured out what was wrong. And sometimes I had even to plan around to PREVENT them from taking one of the prim. obj. hexes. Those paras can be quite aggressive. :wink: :lol:

Screenshot 951.jpg
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- and on a side note, I still don't like those unit spawns next to my units or even inside my territory. Some encircled my units and some were encircled by my units. Sure it makes for a splendid surprise attack, but why like this? You could've easily spawned them in steady batches, turn by turn, somewhere near the sides of the map. Extend the turn limit a few turns and let them come to me. I'd still have to retreat, but in an orderly fashion.

Oh, and by the way, you should be glad my name is not Kondi :wink: :mrgreen: 8)

Screenshot 954.jpg
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Those bastards took the lives of many of my units, and now, I'm gonna add me some more turns and kill 'em all...merely for my satisfaction... :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :lol:
conboy
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Post by conboy »

@Bru, thanks for the thorough review. I very much appreciate the time you spent on this -- it must be quite a strange specimen! I'll get back to you with notes and such when the dust clears around here a little bit. But for now I'll just say that the scenario editor is a freakish piece of work that often doesn't do what you think it is supposed to do - you have to hold your lips just right when setting the objectives, turn counts, and triggers. then test and re-test. Also the arrow marks move at random, apparently, and resurrect themselves from four placements ago. But again, I'll get back to you with some cogent remarks soon. Thanks again!

@GabeKnight, thank you for playing it through again. Sorry about the roaming paratroopers - I think if I change the trigger from faction to team it'll work. Also, you are a better player than I am because it almost kicked my butt on Level 4 every time I played it. I'm glad I restricted the dare to Kondi!

conboy
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by conboy »

All,
I pulled down the Anzio link -- there's a basic flaw in the victory/defeat conditions I set up for the scenario (the only possible outcome is a draw) AND the current version can't be played properly with the paratroopers running ahead of the regular regiments even if you can accept the beshat victory conditions I set up. So please let me figure this out and I'll get it reissued in couple of weeks.

But till I figure this out please delete the your most recent copy. It doesn't work for the reasons mentioned above.

So sorry to mess with your time on this.

conboy
bru888
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by bru888 »

Conboy, you ought to someday update the scenario and restore the link, else we should take down the entry in the Custom Single Player Scenarios thread.

Image0147.jpg
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- Bru
conboy
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by conboy »

You are right. I'll get it done in a few days and repost.

I need to figure out how to prevent an objective from being reversed after it is completed. I think I saw a post yesterday that you have to disable both the player objective and the AI objectives when it's completed and that does it. Maybe.

Thanks for the reminder - it's almost done except for that.

conboy
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Re: Anzio Beachhead by conboy

Post by conboy »

Update to v 2.0 posted 1 Aug 2019

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 74&t=93288

Toned back the counterattacks -- but the extra distance provides room for Germans to organize en route -- makes it harder.
Victory conditions are fixed -- if you run into a problem with them PLEASE tell me. I need to know.
Scoped back the air battle over the beach from 2 waves of German bombers to 1. Spoiler... but it plays better.
Invading forces now have the height of fashion in 1944 landing craft! I found them at the Sachs web site...
509th now does not get in the way (very much...)
My play time is about 3.0 to 3.5 hours.


I have a .rec file for this scenario that shows how I think it should go, at least in general. If you PM me your replay (.rec) file, I will send you back the one I think that shows how the scenario goes, as best I can play it.

thanks!
conboy
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