Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

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GiveWarAchance
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Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

Search function gives me error so maybe I'm not the first person with this problem.

In Bastogne mission in Germany western campaign, I was struggling against the numerous American defenses and counterattacks, but then General McAuliffe appeared in a 15 strength tank destroyer which automatically wipes out any armored unit it chooses. I replayed it 4 times with same disaster. He even wipes out the Jagdtiger with Otto Carius on board with one shot.

This game is quite historical and has good mission designs, so I'm wondering why the commander hunkered down in Bastogne handling the town's defense is now a super powerful TD leader in Patton's counterattack coming from the South?
Is there a way to edit the fictional McAuliffe TD out of the game? I've never edited Panzer Corp game before. I know he had a small battalion of TDs in Bastogne helping with defense, but putting him in Patton's southern army as a brutal 15 str TD is very strange.
PeteMitchell
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by PeteMitchell »

"Us, surrender? Nuts!" :mrgreen:

I think you may need to open the respective scenario.pzscn file in the scenario editor and remove the unit and maybe also remove/edit the script that is triggering the unit to show up...
Comprehensive Battlefield Europe AAR:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=86481
Kasperlzhang
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by Kasperlzhang »

PeteMitchell_2 wrote: Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:12 pm "Us, surrender? Nuts!" :mrgreen:

I think you may need to open the respective scenario.pzscn file in the scenario editor and remove the unit and maybe also remove/edit the script that is triggering the unit to show up...

Or simply cheat and finish him off, much easier this way.
GiveWarAchance
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

PeteMitchell_2 wrote: Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:12 pm "Us, surrender? Nuts!" :mrgreen:

I think you may need to open the respective scenario.pzscn file in the scenario editor and remove the unit and maybe also remove/edit the script that is triggering the unit to show up...
Thanks I will have to tinker with that to see if I can do it.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by huckc »

There is no scripting for him nor is he part of Patton's group coming from the south. He sits in the center of Bastogne the whole time and waits for a juicy target to get in range.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

In my game, that level 15 TD was in amongst the pack of armor & infantry attacking from the middle bottom of the map and evaporated the Jagdtiger I put there cause I was replaying it the 4rth time and I knew it was there and it never lost a point in return. If it was in the town it must have somehow gone around my units and joined the southern horde in 4 different replays. It's weird if that monster TD was in the town cause historically the small unit of TDs in Bastogne had their own commander who was cooperating with McAuliffe's airborne command.
codman
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by codman »

I've had good luck in that scenario by attacking from the NW of Bastogne and he always appeared just as I cracked the second line of units beyond the airfield in that area. Knowing that he would appear, I back my units with SP artillery and hope he pounced on a Tiger or an Elephant as they took less damage than Panther's or lessor AT units. If the weather allows, level bomb him to reduce his ammo and fuel, throw in a multi * tac bomber, hit him with every artillery piece in range and Viola, no McAuliffe and no nuts....

Good luck
PeteMitchell
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by PeteMitchell »

huckc wrote: Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:52 am There is no scripting for him nor is he part of Patton's group coming from the south. He sits in the center of Bastogne the whole time and waits for a juicy target to get in range.
Yep, just checked the file... no scripting and that's where he sits and waits... (NW of Bastogne) Nuts! :mrgreen:

From Bastogne Assault.pzscn:
General McAuliffe M10 Wolverine Hex 21-21.jpg
General McAuliffe M10 Wolverine Hex 21-21.jpg (246.33 KiB) Viewed 4748 times
Comprehensive Battlefield Europe AAR:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=86481
GiveWarAchance
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

Thank you PeteMichell. I wonder why it always moved down to the south before appearing. If I was the designer, I would have made Mr. Nuts as an infantry unit nestled into the larger urban mass next to the artillery.
codman wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 9:17 am I've had good luck in that scenario by attacking from the NW of Bastogne and he always appeared just as I cracked the second line of units beyond the airfield in that area. Knowing that he would appear, I back my units with SP artillery and hope he pounced on a Tiger or an Elephant as they took less damage than Panther's or lessor AT units. If the weather allows, level bomb him to reduce his ammo and fuel, throw in a multi * tac bomber, hit him with every artillery piece in range and Viola, no McAuliffe and no nuts....

Good luck
Sounds like good advice. Level bomber will help for sure. So you put all your units in the NW? I spread mine about all the approaches just to be historical but your approach is a lot more practical.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by PeteMitchell »

You are welcome... :D
GiveWarAchance wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:35 pm just to be historical
Just as a thought, while I like playing with historical setups and historical unit compositions, this also leads to historical outcomes most of the times... :wink:
Comprehensive Battlefield Europe AAR:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=86481
GiveWarAchance
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

PeteMitchell_2 wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:40 pm You are welcome... :D
GiveWarAchance wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:35 pm just to be historical
Just as a thought, while I like playing with historical setups and historical unit compositions, this also leads to historical outcomes most of the times... :wink:
Very true! I thought about this often when playing WW2 games like this. Bastogne was a dismal failure for the Germans because of being too spread out and attacking piecemeal from different directions so I should expect to lose.
I also have a habit of using all the deployment areas available in the mission designs so my forces got spread dangerously thin in this. I will retry and deploy in one or two areas only although I will feel very guilty and cheesy for doing it but it is the only way to win in this mission I think.

I had a hard time in the Sicily landings (1st mission in Sicily) cause I tried to be historical with both deployment and I bought a Tiger to be part of Herman Goering division to attack Gela area which used up all my money so my other units were not overstrength at all and couldn't refill so they had to retreat off map when injured badly which was almost all my units cause I tried to hold Gela against the massive hordes landing and the overwhelming allied air forces.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by Buffalohump »

Have you considered putting the bulk of your army in the south with the remainder scattered around Bastogne passively defending. I have used this several times to Interdict and prevent “Patton” from linking up with Bastogne. Once this army is defeated my main force turns into Bastogne and the surrounding siege units constrict to take out the 101st. Also I have successfully lured McAuliffe into city hexes several times to destroy rather easily with infantry. If you use soft units like infantry to lure him in it it still hurts but is cheaper to replace.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

Buffalo that sounds like good strategy. If Patton gets his horde into the town it would make it too hard I think. I will go with the south then.
As for luring Big Mac into rough terrain, my problem was that he appeared out of the fog of war along with Patton's horde and instantly wiped out a unit of his choice. Did you spot him using airplanes? I'm scared of the AA in the town and the problem of the distant airfield for refueling.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by Buffalohump »

I will admit the first time he found me was a shocker. He layed a slobber knocker on one of my pet Jagdpanthers that I was barely able to salvage. He then gifted me by moving into a city hex to defend. On later play throughs knowing he was there was more than half the battle and I did use aircraft to locate him. I then use infantry to goad him into bad positions where he is easier to manage.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

Okay you have given me hope for a better Bastogne experience. Spot the monster with aircraft then try to rope a dope him with infantry while my armor hide in a thick forest and whimper.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

Thanks for help in this thread. The Bastogne mission is reasonable now. I'm doing two attacks: one in the south and one in the west so I have more attack power instead of 6 weak attacks. The monster TD is being bombed down to a normal TD thanks to knowing where it is. Maybe this is a bit unfair to know more, but it is the only chance I have to progress in the campaign without failing the same as historically.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by Buffalohump »

If what I suggested helped you are of course most welcome. I do not believe it is cheating to actively hunt McAuliffe. You can only play each scenario truly blind once. After that knowing he exists is half of fight, figuring out a strategy to deal with him is the other. It has been a long while since I played that scenario, but to my memory relying on air power for that battle is a very chancy strategy. I know he can be baited into trap if a relatively weak unit comes into computer’s sight radius and he is close enough to attack.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

Buffalohump, I've been playing the Bastogne scenario and been losing everytime. I was able to bomb the evil McAuliffe brute out of the game before he eliminated my units, but I have a new problem now. When my troops approach the central urban mass of the town, my infantry units are savagely attacked by the heinously powerful 14 strength 101st Airborne units. They gang up so one will hit my 10 strength infantry and knock it down to 3, then any German unit can finish it off. My infantry are all at 10 cause I keep refilling them to keep them at 10 but that is no solution to the brutal 101st airborne. Even with an artillery backing up my infantry, they still get evaporated over & over. I can't bomb the 14 str paras cause they are near huge AA guns and they are so heavily entrenched that bombing has no effect on them. Reducing their entrenchment with length bombing is very expensive in AA damage, risk of 13 strength P-51s that come out in swarms every now & then, and the 101st airborne always move out of their entrenched positions to wipe out my infantry. I did finish the scenario once and got a marginal victory but my units were all so badly damaged that I couldn't reasonably continue to the next, most probably even more heinous, mission in the Ardennes which is going deeper towards Antwerp (Liege or something).
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by Buffalohump »

Give me a little bit and when I take my lunch break I will pull up my save and list my force composition and describe my deployment.
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Re: Monstrous McAuliffe at Bastogne

Post by GiveWarAchance »

Buffalo, did you get a full victory or marginal? I think the difference is huge on this mission.
Were you able to clear the central urban district?
The last objective in the east... did you clear that last? I think you didn't deploy in the area so you must have fought your way west to east through the town which is what I was trying to do with dismal results.
I had to keep a substantial force in the south to chop up Patton's counterattack but it was mostly armor which is useless inside Bastogne town cause all the enemy are deeply entrenched. When did you use your V-1 rockets?
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