USMC Campaign v0.9, released 25 Mar 2012

Sleezly · Post by **Sleezly** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 6:44 pm

Looks great bebro! I loved PacGen and I know i`m gonna love this mod!

flakfernrohr · Post by **flakfernrohr** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 8:28 pm

Hey Bebro

I just sent an email and Pando file to you with the tiles.

Flak

bebro · Post by **bebro** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 5:10 pm

Yeah, thx

In the meantime I also did some baby steps to create some jungle terrain myself. I made the base terrain gfx a tad more greenish and edited the "light forest" into a mix of stock gfx plus some custom plants. It's not that great IMO, but may serve as "working graphics" for now.

I hope it's possible to edit initiative caps and move costs, since I plan to turn either swamps or bocage into another jungle version, but right I'm not sure if the stock values for those should be kept. Since there will be many jungle tiles, it could make tanks almost useless, which is something I want to avoid.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

drjeff21 · Post by **drjeff21** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:31 pm

The units look great. Nice job.

flakfernrohr · Post by **flakfernrohr** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:13 pm

Looks like "tight" spaces on the battlefield! WOW. Lots of "close" contact. Interesting to say the least, after sitting idle for a while directly across or adjacent to an enemy unit, looks like a fight could break out any second. Maybe pretty realistic.

How are you going to mod the flamethrowers to USMC guys? Just color the uniforms?

bebro · Post by **bebro** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:04 pm

Probably yes, I did already some work on US and Japanese inf, but since I do them as "normal" paint job it's quite slow.

Right now I use Marines 42 (cloned US HW inf) without camo. I thought they used this only later, so I did Marines 43 using camo, but they still need work.

Aside from those I have:

Marine Raiders
Paramarines
Seabees
Combat Engineers

The eng types will use flamethrowers and get camo gfx, though they'll be only available later, since I read the USMC didn't use portable flamethrowers before early 43 in the Pacific. Later they also used modifed M3 tanks equipped with them.

Seabees right now are just replacing the ordinary bridge engineers for the USMC. Since the game doesn't allow units to build stuff I see no better option. I thought for a moment of having them switching to a "bunker" unit, but since you can switch units back and forth without any limit I thought that would be a tad absurd.

Maybe I set Raiders and Paras to nonpurchase though. You start with one of each, but since they're better than the normal Marines I don't want to see them overused. Could also be given as bonus units. I don't plan a `43 version for them, I'll give them camo gfx right away.

As far as I read Raiders and Paras were not in use with the USMC late-war anymore but got incorporated into normal marine units, but in the game you still can use them of course as long as they survive in your core that long.

Die-hard history fans can always dissolve these and get other units if they find it to un-historical to have them still around 44/45 (if I ever get the campaign to that point)

.

flakfernrohr · Post by **flakfernrohr** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:50 pm

bebro wrote:Probably yes, I did already some work on US and Japanese inf, but since I do them as "normal" paint job it's quite slow.

Right now I use Marines 42 (cloned US HW inf) without camo. I thought they used this only later, so I did Marines 43 using camo, but they still need work.

Aside from those I have:

Marine Raiders
Paramarines
Seabees
Combat Engineers

The eng types will use flamethrowers and get camo gfx, though they'll be only available later, since I read the USMC didn't use portable flamethrowers before early 43 in the Pacific. Later they also used modifed M3 tanks equipped with them.

Seabees right now are just replacing the ordinary bridge engineers for the USMC. Since the game doesn't allow units to build stuff I see no better option. I thought for a moment of having them switching to a "bunker" unit, but since you can switch units back and forth without any limit I thought that would be a tad absurd.

Maybe I set Raiders and Paras to nonpurchase though. You start with one of each, but since they're better than the normal Marines I don't want to see them overused. Could also be given as bonus units. I don't plan a `43 version for them, I'll give them camo gfx right away.

As far as I read Raiders and Paras were not in use with the USMC late-war anymore but got incorporated into normal marine units, but in the game you still can use them of course as long as they survive in your core that long.

Die-hard history fans can always dissolve these and get other units if they find it to un-historical to have them still around 44/45 (if I ever get the campaign to that point) .

The portable flame thrower made its combat debut on Guadalcanal in January 1943. The Marine Raiders used camouflage uniforms and were gradually absorbed into larger units as the war progressed. Looks like you got the colors down on Marine dungarees in your icon. It will be difficult to do the camo covers on the helmets they wore, but if you do them in tan and brown rather than the dungaree green, at this scale they show in the game, you will be looking good I think. You will have an interesting scenario and I am going to follow it.

The flame throwers and engineers are going to be indispensible when you get to the later mid and late war island campaigns.

bebro · Post by **bebro** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:06 pm

flakfernrohr wrote: The portable flame thrower made its combat debut on Guadalcanal in January 1943. The Marine Raiders used camouflage uniforms and were gradually absorbed into larger units as the war progressed. Looks like you got the colors down on Marine dungarees in your icon. It will be difficult to do the camo covers on the helmets they wore, but if you do them in tan and brown rather than the dungaree green, at this scale they show in the game, you will be looking good I think. You will have an interesting scenario and I am going to follow it.

Yeah, that's what I read too, so I'll make them available from jan 43. As for the appearance of the inf etc, as said, it's still all in the works

To give another little progress update: I consider the first scn done, the second almost. After ironing out lots of stupid mistakes I amde with my basic campaign path I also have done some map work for the third.

Below is a newer preview of the second scenario, where you have to defend your perimeter against the attacking Ichiki detachment. Since there's no hope that they could have wiped out the 1st Marine Division in that totally ill-prepared attack underestimating the size of the US landing completely I set the victory condition so that you win by destroying a sufficient number of the attacking units, and lose when they have too much left.

[img=http://img148.imagevenue.com/loc158/th_ ... _158lo.jpg]

huertgenwald · Post by **huertgenwald** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:12 pm

Ouch, that's some GREEN

Cortilein · Post by **Cortilein** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:21 pm

Cool - there's a mortar team!

flakfernrohr · Post by **flakfernrohr** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:35 pm

Cortilein wrote:Cool - there's a mortar team!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though its Japanese, I look forward to the day we see these in German, Soviet, US, British, French and Italian icons! The 81mm mortars were portable heavy artillery. Japanese used lots of Knee Mortars.

That green is bright indeed!

Bebro, don't forget "swamps". Lots of swamps on Guadalcanal.

This is the type of scenario and campaign that can truly use a sniper unit and have some effect on the outcome.

bebro · Post by **bebro** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:37 am

I ran into some major hardware trouble yesterday, with my main desktop doing exactly nothing anymore. I was expecting the worst, but after building the hdd into a second computer I it looks like the drive itself is fine, no data or work seems lost, so this may just cause a little delay.

I'll post another progress update when I have sorted out these probs so that I can concentrate on the real work again. Merry X-Mas everyone in the meantime.

bebro · Post by **bebro** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 12:58 pm

Some more previews before the end of the year:

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I actually wanted to have the first scns released by now, but oh well - should be january then. Still work to do. Happy New Year everyone

nikivdd · Post by **nikivdd** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:03 pm

Those screens look awesome! Great work

VPaulus · Post by **VPaulus** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:16 pm

It's looking good.

Kerloc · Post by **Kerloc** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:06 pm

wow that looks amazing ... keep up the work

Sleezly · Post by **Sleezly** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:27 pm

Really cool! Cant wait!

jaggy · Post by **jaggy** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:00 am

Very nice, bebro.

bebro · Post by **bebro** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:31 pm

Thx for the comments everyone. I hope to have the free three scns ready for public test asap.

It's mostly the scns as described earlier in this thread, so Tulagi, Tenaru, Henderson Field.

First is offensive, the other two defensive. I thought of including the Battle of Edson's Ridge as No.3 before continuing with Henderson Field (the two could use the same map, though a bit modified/cropped for the Ridge), but this would mean another defensive scn, making it three in a row after the first one. Dunno if people would find that a tad too boring.

However, the mentioned first three are playable right now, but I want to test a bit myself and do some finetuning/polishing before I release them.

I'm still not to 100% satisfied with the look of the terrain, but at least I have my three levels of jungle terrain working. Cosmetic gfx changes can always be made later.

After those three scns I haven't decided yet how to continue. Probably I'll make one final scn playing on Guadalcanal, then as an offensive. Later plans have to wait a bit, but could include major Pacific amphib ops all the way to Okinawa, though then not always with the 1st Mar Div, but since it's a USMC campaign, not a 1st Marine Div campaign I think that is not problematic.

bebro · Post by **bebro** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:17 am

So I've finally reached a point when it seems right to set a real ETA for this: The first scenarios, now counting 4 will be realeased next weekend

Call it a mini-campaign about the Guadalcanal campaign if you will. At the end of the last scn the core will be saved so that people can continue when there's the next part available.

Please note: people who plan to try this need GME to activate this mod (will be described in detail when released)

Scenarios incl. in the first part:

1. Assault on Tulagi, August 7 1942

Amphib Assault of several islands north of Guadalcanal.
Offensive, 12 turns, max. 9 for DV.

2. Battle of the Tenaru, August 21 1942

First Japanese attempt to attack the 1st Marine Div on Guadalcanal
Defensive, 12 turns, DV when holding all objectives and wiping out most of the enemy ground forces (max. 2 survining) with at least 2 turns left

3. Battle for Henderson Field Octobert 21 1942

Major Japanese offfensive against the 1st Marine Div defenses, esp. to capture Henderson (Air-)Field.
Defensive, 16 turns, DV when holding all objectives.

4. Mount Austen, December 20 1942

Combined US Army and USMC offensive against fortified IJA positions inland, will decide this mini-campaign.
Offensive, turn count not decided yet.

Some recent preview screens: