Scenario Playtesting - A&A 1939

[DerLeiter]

Looking forward to trying the scenario as single player. I am currently running 8 multiplayer AA1939 - 3 ver. S1, 3 ver. S3, and 1 T2 and one old Q6 at turn 69.

Like the changes - adds a little excitement to the play test to alter things and see how it affects over all game play.

and I find it hard enough to do four of them

[DerLeiter]

Ended up sticking with the same number of Regia Marina ships, but reduced the %chance of deploying by half beyond the initial few when Italy joins forces with the Axis powers.

[DerLeiter]

AA1939 Ausf S1 w/ Skyfox122 - April 4, 1945 Causalty Report:

[skyfox122]

Further U1 Changes:

• Guards Rifle Divisions added & Guards Tank Division modified; both are now roughly equivalent to SS divisions.
• French colonies semi-randomly choose Vichy or Free French.
• Free French & British Indian forces changed.
• Vichy forces now control former French cities in North Africa and have a small garrison to defend them.
• Russian reinforcements now start much closer to the cities OR on the railway.
• Allied D-Day prestige increased.
• D-Day HW Inf upgraded to HW Inf 43.
• Spanish receive 'new' equipment in '44 (if still controlled by the Axis). Said equipment is roughly one year old.
• Violating a neutral country now also gives a prestige penalty.
• A few other small surprises added.

The changes sound great - I look forward to seeing how they affect game play.

[skyfox122]

Ended up sticking with the same number of Regia Marina ships, but reduced the %chance of deploying by half beyond the initial few when Italy joins forces with the Axis powers.

Can I get a little Marinara sauce to go with those ships!

[skyfox122]

AA1939 Ausf S1 w/ Skyfox122 - April 4, 1945 Causalty Report:

Allied Player - skyfox122 \ CmdrFoster

I bet you can't guess who the Axis player is: Axis DerLeiter

[skyfox122]

One more thing - do you have an approximate posting day for the new files \ version?

[DerLeiter]

The best I can say is probably either around next Thursday/Friday or the week after.. lots of changes and checking to be made, and lots of other stuff coming up next weekend.

[skyfox122]

Here are a few more thoughts for possible changes:
What has been considered for London to have a port. The British have a huge navy and later when the Americans come in - it only makes their port issue worse. I do not recommend any other ports to be added - other countries seem fine.

American invasion forces also need trucks added to their ground forces or at least most of their ground forces. They do not arrive until late in the game and only the tanks & recon are mobile.

Q. In Russia I tried to upgrade my two IS1 tanks to IS2's and couldn't. Well, I could but it would not have been an upgrade - it was going to charge me the full cost of an IS2. So, instead it made more since to build one (which I was never able to afford). Well, I could have but little else would have been able to be done that turn.

Recommend adding to prestige to Allies in latter turns. (Massive gold deposit found in California mountains - America prints money!! - he,he...)

Map correction - hex 120,77 Desert no road to connect to road next to it - N. Intentional?? This was in version S3.

[DerLeiter]

Here are a few more thoughts for possible changes:
What has been considered for London to have a port. The British have a huge navy and later when the Americans come in - it only makes their port issue worse. I do not recommend any other ports to be added - other countries seem fine.

Sure, the Port of London can be added.

American invasion forces also need trucks added to their ground forces or at least most of their ground forces. They do not arrive until late in the game and only the tanks & recon are mobile.

Part of this was because you landed in Spain which had no direct rail route to Europe and was a fair distance to travel. That's since been fixed in the version I'm working on. However, I still feel you're right and they could use some trucks and half-tracks.. if that's the first thing people are going to do anyway why not save them the step?

Q. In Russia I tried to upgrade my two IS1 tanks to IS2's and couldn't...

That's a game issue, not a scenario issue. From what I recall, which is admittedly sketchy, the IS-1 is actually a KV-85 variant whereas the IS-2 was a new line of tanks. I'm sure someone can correct or clarify that better than I though.

Recommend adding to prestige to Allies in latter turns.

I don't like to judge it from just 1-2 games especially with how random it is, but being able to put out 3-4 Go 229As / Maus tanks a turn against you was a bit much... but that was also because I only had a few core slots to spend it on a turn too.
My current thought is for a semi-random event to permanently reduce the Axis prestige per turn by a set amount and/or increase the Allied prestige per turn after a certain point too.

Map correction - hex 120,77 Desert no road to connect to road next to it - N. Intentional?? This was in version S3.

I don't recall either way; doesn't seem to be any harm having a road there so it's in.

[DerLeiter]

Quick update - still working on some balance issues and a few broken triggers. I did go head and reduce the Allied core units per turn from Russia being invaded, and instead gave them a steady supply of units.

[skyfox122]

Quick update - still working on some balance issues and a few broken triggers. I did go head and reduce the Allied core units per turn from Russia being invaded, and instead gave them a steady supply of units.

Reference my recommendation on Allied units getting vehicles - I am thinking 25% no mobility (these boots are made for walking - lol), 25% half tracks, 50% trucks.

I really like the addition of the port to Malta - definitely helps the Allies. Before the Allies really only had East or West Med. for ship fuel\repair (Greece falls to quick to be counted - unless they can hang onto the island port (even so it is still almost the same as going to Alexandria).

Still not sure what has happened in the desert forces deployment - in 3 games - starting with version S3 two games and one game of version T2 - the only forces for the Allies that deployed (next to Alexandria & Suez Canal area) were three artillery and one AA unit (2 arty. Alexandria and 1 arty., 1 AA next\near city in Suez area (Cairo?) . Game unit change or trigger issue. Either way I have been able to reinforce the area after several turns (not sure if this was just because my opponents expected the normal amount of previous units deploying for as the Allies or just their not putting much effort into a strong push and redeploying units to the European continent) - no doubt due to my successful eviction of their forces in our previous game (yes,yes - my modesty even amazes me sometimes).

[DerLeiter]

AA1939 Ausf U1b uploaded now. I'm reasonably sure the bugs are out of it.

I also added a single player version where you can play as the Axis, mostly just for the fun of it.

• Doubled the amount of aircraft as the AI is pretty terrible with them.
• Size of the various resistances were doubled.
• Allies ground forces increased by roughly 50% for the Early war countries, 75% for mid war, and 100% for late war.
• Allied navy has about 50% more destroyers and cruisers.
• Flags removed from England so the computer doesn't waste core unit slots there with 2-pounder ATGs.. seems to love those. They are placed again if you invade it though.
• Computer gains 1 core slot a turn. It still does weird things with them, but every now and then it will surprise you.

[DerLeiter]

I really like the addition of the port to Malta - definitely helps the Allies. Before the Allies really only had East or West Med. for ship fuel\repair (Greece falls to quick to be counted - unless they can hang onto the island port (even so it is still almost the same as going to Alexandria).

I ended up removing the port there, it just didn't feel right. The Allies can capture some of the Vichy ports, so that should make up for it.

Still not sure what has happened in the desert forces deployment..

As it stands now, all the strongpoints should just be there on turn 1. The artillery and such will deploy at the start of the Allied turn if Italy has joined the war. The ANZAC forces are based on each division appearing within a certain stretch of time.. and {technical stuff}.. basically though if it continues to be a problem I'll go back and shift the deployment times. The first division can now appear much earlier too, so hoping that fixes it all.

[skyfox122]

I really like the addition of the port to Malta - definitely helps the Allies. Before the Allies really only had East or West Med. for ship fuel\repair (Greece falls to quick to be counted - unless they can hang onto the island port (even so it is still almost the same as going to Alexandria).

I ended up removing the port there, it just didn't feel right. The Allies can capture some of the Vichy ports, so that should make up for it.

Really disappointed in the removal of Malta port - I felt it made it more realistic since it was in the war and so vital for the Brits. Plus, it seemed to fill what was lacking on the Allied side to me. ;( For starters the Axis have ports in most of their islands - Brits have like none. I mean they don't even have a port in Gibraltar - did I just feel a cool breeze - ouch.

Still not sure what has happened in the desert forces deployment..

As it stands now, all the strong points should just be there on turn 1. The artillery and such will deploy at the start of the Allied turn if Italy has joined the war. The ANZAC forces are based on each division appearing within a certain stretch of time.. and {technical stuff}.. basically though if it continues to be a problem I'll go back and shift the deployment times. The first division can now appear much earlier too, so hoping that fixes it all.

The strong points are there and the units I reported - but in all three games the Italians are banging on Alexandria's door with no other units to defend with unless you build them (except as noted the Arty. which we all no how well unsupported arty. defend) - which I had two or three slots - really hurts the European game if I have to use all my slots at that critical time for the Allied player in the desert.
Desert just feels out of balance now unlike before when it was a real slug fest. Well, lets see what happens over the next few runs before deciding on a change - maybe it will balance out.
In my Axis game though with the new change I was able to take Alexandria and have entered to Middle East to help the Iraq position and have units knocking on India's door step. I am thinking now though the units I went South with I should direction north east into Russia's tender underbelly (only sent two units and they had to deal with the strong point there).

[DerLeiter]

Still not sure what has happened in the desert forces deployment..

I'm still finding it surprisingly it's being broken through so quickly; in my experience the Allies can put out a few heavy tanks and artillery and really bog things down. But I'll admit to not having nearly as much time as I would've liked to test it all out, and not having played the Allies much recently. So I've made the following changes: The ANZAC VI Corps will now always deploy on the same turn that the Italian forces are deployed, and all of the ANZAC Corps now also include tanks.

Anyways, Ausf U2 is up.

[skyfox122]

Still not sure what has happened in the desert forces deployment..

I'm still finding it surprisingly it's being broken through so quickly; in my experience the Allies can put out a few heavy tanks and artillery and really bog things down. But I'll admit to not having nearly as much time as I would've liked to test it all out, and not having played the Allies much recently. So I've made the following changes: The ANZAC VI Corps will now always deploy on the same turn that the Italian forces are deployed, and all of the ANZAC Corps now also include tanks.

Anyways, Ausf U2 is up.

Sounds - good.

[DerLeiter]

Another minor update -- copy 'n paste errors. Shouldn't have rushed it.

[DerLeiter]

Ausf U3: Railway & roads now connect to all of London; more prestige for the Allies in the mid to late game.

[skyfox122]

Ok, after playing two version U2a games - Germany TOTALLY needs an airbase added back to Hamburg or within 3 hexes of French\Low Country area. Both games - I desperately needed an airbase and the early game does not have carriers for Germany. As is - it makes the fight for France\Low Countries completely unbalanced for the Germans (extends it out even more turns for a good Allied player). As the Ally in our paired games - I was able to hang onto the airbase in Belgium until turn 32 - forgot the other turn # in 1st game.
Germans currently have Denmark base and one West German base (it is located well into southern Germany). This arrangement leaves the Germans low on fuel and unable to help \ sustain the German offensive against France in a proper manner.
DerLeiter - without your direct intervention - Hitler has me scheduled to be shot at dawn! lol