BrucErik CSD Studio

[Erik2]

Re supply.
I think that most/sufficient supply should be placed at the objectives to make sure the AI is able to make an isolated stand at one.
In general I tend to give maybe t 5-10 supply to sec objs, maybe double (or more) to pri objs and smaller amounts to edge roads/rails or nearby towns.
We should of course aim to help the poor AI in whenever way we can.

When you start sweeping my older campaigns I'll continue with Normandy.
But I have also started some basic work on another campaign; small-scale Pacific stuff.

[bru888]

OK, wilco. Will you adjust Epsom 4, Carpiquet, and Operations Goodwood/Atlantic accordingly? If so, bear in mind that the surpluses to start with on both sides are intentional to accommodate subsequent spawns (given the situation remaining static on the map which of course is unlikely, but a better estimate than none).

[bru888]

A Bloody Day at Verrieres Ridge

Edit: For continuity, I created the same "Difficult Terrain" hexes to represent Verrières Ridge. I also rearranged scorched hexes, villages, decorations, rivers, and roads to match what appears in the Operations Goodwood/Atlantic scenario.

Edit: I flipped a primary objective from "The Factory" to "Rocquancourt." According to Wikipedia, "Operation Spring was intended to capture Verrières Ridge and the towns on the south slope of the ridge . . . thus making a bulge in German lines and increasing the chance of a breakout from Normandy." I figured the factory would not have been a primary objective in light of this as it is located to the north of the ridge and has no stated strategic value.

Edit: Since Rocquancourt is a bit further, I added 3 turns, bringing it up to 18. Merely 15 turns did not seem sufficient.

Edit: I caught this one up front this time. Instead of "Scenario turn limit," I timed it for when "Capture all 4 objectives" is completed because that will end the scenario early:

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Edit: I added some flavor to the tank secondary objectives with these popup messages:

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According to Wikipedia, the Royal Tank Regiment was a favorite of Montgomery's. I worked this into the briefing.

Edit: Here are your outcome images:

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outcome_2_0.png (174.52 KiB) Viewed 2811 times

I'm finished with A Bloody Day at Verrieres Ridge and the updated version is in the "Back to Erik" folder. Remember, only "Edits" are changes that I have actually done to the scenario. They are for you to review and approve. "Comments," "Questions," and "Suggestions" are things for you to consider and act upon as necessary.

[bru888]

Bois du Homme - Quarry Hill

Edit: I placed "Difficult Terrain" on the Hill 226 and Hill 309 hexes. Otherwise they look too flat to be hills.

Edit: There were two orphan 8.8cm Flak 37 units. I used AI Team 7, labeled "305 Flak," for them and set their task to Seek & Destroy.

Suggestion: The original scenario description ended with "It was a long day with the massed British artillery finally saving the day" but there is no such artillery in the game. Also, the objective of "Do not lose any tank units" is a bit boring because there is only one tank unit in the scenario. Therefore, I have gone out on a limb as follows:

Edit: Given the composition lineup listed for the 15th Scottish Division, I added two more Churchill Mk.VII tank units: B/4 Grenadier Guards and B/3 Scots Guards. I also placed two BL 5.5-inch Medium Gun units: 131st Lowland City of Glasgow and 181st Shropshire Gunners.

Question: I usually don't change anything about units, their placements, and their assignments but once in a while, I do feel an urge like this. It's the first time I have given in to it. Are you okay with my occasionally doing so, as long as I have "done my homework"? I will always call your attention to the change, fully aware that it may alter gameplay balance or not be historical, and you of course can always either delete the additional units or add to the other side to rebalance.

Comment: Of course, if you decide to do away with the artillery, you will need to remove this bit of whimsy associated with the secondary objective to "Inflict 12 damage with artillery units" in order to "Receive a hearty 'Well done!' from Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery" :

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Edit: Similar to the previous scenario, I timed the "Tank survive" trigger for "Capture VP Event / Capture all 4 objectives" instead of "Scenario turn limit" for the reason stated.

Comment: In the "Tank survive" trigger, you reward only the British which is appropriate in that there are no Canadians in this scenario.

Edit: Here are your outcome images:

outcome_2_1.png (225.16 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

outcome_2_0.png (183.5 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

I'm finished with Bois du Homme - Quarry Hill and the updated version is in the "Back to Erik" folder. Remember, only "Edits" are changes that I have actually done to the scenario. They are for you to review and approve. "Comments," "Questions," and "Suggestions" are things for you to consider and act upon as necessary.

[Erik2]

Answer: You are welcome to change units, objectives etc in the scenarios.
Play-balance will be tested playing/editing the scenarios from the editor, but only after all of them is basically done.

[bru888]

Ahh. Back in the old studio. (Blows dust off the blueprints and workspaces.) Now let's see, where was I?

[GabeKnight]

Now let's see, where was I?

"Panzer Kaputt!"

[Erik2]

Ahh. Back in the old studio. (Blows dust off the blueprints and workspaces.) Now let's see, where was I?

I've finished the rest of the scenarios, they are in your folder.

I'll probably start on phase 2 soon, converting core units to resources/command points wherever suitable.
The three opening beach scenarios for both the British and Canadians will have ready-made units.
The British follow-up scenarios will have resources/command points for any new units.
Since there are only a very few Canadains available in the editor, all Canadian units will be pre-made.

[bru888]

Roger. That's one of your strengths; I would be engaged in a long cycle of trial and error to get that stuff right. I'll proceed now with Beny-Bocage once I figure out "Dickie's bridge" is about.

[bru888]

I'll proceed now with Beny-Bocage once I figure out "Dickie's bridge" is about.

Okay, now I'm informed. After a bit of research, I believe this blurb is an improvement as the Scenario Description:

The current objectives of Operation Bluecoat, undertaken by VIII Corps and XXX Corps of the British Second Army, are the important road junction at Vire in the south and the high ground of Mont Pinçon in the east. A glance at a map shows this area to be in the middle of a broad front stretching across the base of the Cotentin Peninsula. The line runs from Avranches in the southwest, where the Americans have advanced in Operation Cobra, to Caen in the northeast, now held by the 1st British Corps and 2nd Canadian Corps. Midway between Vire and Mont Pinçon is a town named Le Bèny-Bocage.

On 31 July, the 11th Armoured Division of VIII Corps exploited a weakness in the German lines when they discovered an undefended bridge over the River Souleuvre, about 3.75 km northwest of Le Bèny-Bocage. The bridge was captured in a daring coup-de-main by Lieutenant Derek 'Dickie' Powle's armoured car troop. Hence it is now known as 'Dickie's Bridge.'

The 11th Division's 29th Armoured Brigade and 159th Infantry Brigade now plan now to push forward and take Le Bèny-Bocage. Once clear they are expected to take the high ground around Point 266 and assist the Guards Armoured Division in capturing the village of Cathèolles. While their thrust is generally to the northeast, it is important to secure the southern flank from Les Monceaux to La Ferronnière.

The 11th Armoured Division is also known as 'The Black Bull,' a name bestowed upon it by the legendary Major General Percy Hobart who organized and trained the division back in 1941. What is about to take place will be known as the 'Charge of the Bull.'

As you may have noticed, I am trying to provide story continuity from one scenario to the next.

[Zekedia222]

I’ve probably missed it if you did, but you should do the battle of the Schledt. Interesting battle, but it may be too big. You could probably cut it down into several different battles. I have no idea if the Schledt would work for the campaign you are making. Just an idea.
Yeah, doing a tad bit of research, it seems that it would be too big for a single scenario, unless you go crazy and make the map huge. Huge is all relative, though.

[bru888]

I’ve probably missed it if you did, but you should do the battle of the Schledt. Interesting battle, but it may be too big. You could probably cut it down into several different battles. I have no idea if the Schledt would work for the campaign you are making. Just an idea.
Yeah, doing a tad bit of research, it seems that it would be too big for a single scenario, unless you go crazy and make the map huge. Huge is all relative, though.

That appears to be beyond the scope of this project - the working title is "Normandy UK 1944" - but I have taken note as an idea for a single scenario . . . maybe my next one . . .

[bru888]

Meanwhile . . . back to Le Bèny-Bocage. Yes, I know the scenario is not about "Dickie's Bridge" but I couldn't resist telling the story even though it's already happened when this scenario begins:

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That story needed telling.

This was my source:
https://erenow.net/ww/operation-bluecoa ... andy/7.php
https://books.google.com/books?id=veqwB ... le&f=false

[Erik2]

Nice camp-fire story, Bruce.

[bru888]

We talked a bit about my tinkering around just a little with the units in scenarios. You kindly gave me a green light to do so, but I have noticed this new folder:

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I believe this means you intend to have a parallel campaign, one with only "historical units." At first, I was taken aback but then I thought it over. I had to, because I was indulging yet again when I noticed this.

You will soon see that I added some units to Le Bèny-Bocage for gameplay balance and to have Point 266 as a secondary objective. While I do try to look up historical OOB's, I don't pretend to have knowledge of whether, say, the historical II Battalion of the 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was actually in the area of Point 266 east of Le Bèny-Bocage on or around 1 August 1944. This may bother you.

So here is the resolution. I will continue to be bold here and there along these lines, if I feel that it will make a more exciting and challenging scenario. I will always ground these changes in research, of course, and I will bring them to your attention.

However, if you don't want them, then it should be easy to remove the changes in order to reset the scenario to absolute historical accuracy. Hence there is no need for parallel campaigns; merely adjust and publish the sole version that you compile after you have gleaned my efforts that do measure up. This will save you some time and effort, I am sure.

As you know, I am retaining my own private version of this work. And as you will recall, we agreed that it would ultimately appear under your editorship and byline. Please don't bother maintaining two versions of our projects.

[bru888]

Here is a quick note about something I noticed with Le Bèny-Bocage: It contains only the British faction on the Allied side. There are Canadian core units in the campaign (so far), so I would assume that the Canada faction must be listed in each subsequent scenario, even if just marked as "Neutral." Same with any other faction's core units that you will leave included in these scenarios. That is my understanding, at any rate, if we want to avoid the dreaded "Strat Map."

[bru888]

Le Bèny-Bocage - 11th Armoured Moves Out

Edit: The "Ger 1 obj" trigger was set for "Turn = 1" instead of "Scenario turn limit." I fixed.

Edit: With the "Enemies" trigger, you had rewards of both resources and specialisation point - the mission description did not say either. Zero resources were awarded, however, so I chose to eliminate that effect and go with the 1 specialisation point both in the trigger and the description.

Comment: This is one of the rare times in which I believe the scenario is out of balance in favor of the human player (usually it's the reverse, and then some). Too few German units.

Comment: Given that, I thought that the "take 4 objectives and kill everybody" setup might in fact be rather humdrum. So I spiced things up a bit, which explains the following edits.

Edit: I introduced another secondary objective:

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I explained a bit further with this Event Popup message which activates when a British land unit gets within 5 hexes of Point 266:

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To make Point 266 "heavily defended," and to address the shortage of German units, I placed six more units on and around Point 266. This is the company(?) of the II Battalion of the 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment that I mentioned earlier; these five units plus one more in Hamel Bihet (the flag on the bottom left):

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I put them into this new AI team and set it for short local defense:

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To liven things up even further, if the player decides to ignore Point 266, he will be in for a rude awakening. After 3 VP's are captured, AI Team 6 will lunge for Le Bèny-Bocage:

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and if successful, will go for the jugular and cut off British supply lines:

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Edit: Mention of Point 266 is in the mission outcome statements.

Edit: Considering the added secondary objective and the extra 6 enemy units, I bumped up the turns from 12 to 15.

That's the way I would like to play this scenario. You be the final judge, as I said above. I'm done walking on eggshells.

Edit: I threw this in on Turn 1 for flavoring:

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Edit: Here are your outcome images:

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outcome_2_0.png (189.87 KiB) Viewed 2544 times

I'm finished with Le Bèny-Bocage - 11th Armoured Moves Out and the updated version is in the "Back to Erik" folder. Remember, only "Edits" are changes that I have actually done to the scenario. They are for you to review and approve. "Comments," "Questions," and "Suggestions" are things for you to consider and act upon as necessary.

[Erik2]

Since the Canadian faction only have a couple of proper infantry unit types you can't purchase tanks/artillery etc.
So the Canadians need to have ready-made units or spawns.

I have converting the British units to resources/command points.
The 'historical' folder is the old scenario versions with all British units on-map. I'll remove the campaign files etc from this folder.
This is just a backup if we need to prune some of the larger unit count scenarios in later play-tests. For instance, we may need to move from platoon to company or battalion-sized units. If so, I need to remove a number of British/Canadian/German units and adjust command points/resource income.

In addition something was corrupt with the old campaign file, I couldn't save any new changes.
So I built a new one from scratch in the new 'Normandy UK 1944' folder.

[Erik2]

I'm putting the finishing touches on the last scenarios.
So please wait a bit until you do the rest in your inbox.

[Erik2]

Done.
I've replaced the scenarios in your folder with the "final" ones.
Carry on, soldier