conboy's campaigns

[conboy]

Gabe,
Thank you for the kind words and advice.
I should have said "seam", not "gap".
Looking forward to any other comments arising from this playthrough.

But, it is very gratifying that you are playing it again!

Thanks again, comrade.

conboy

[GabeKnight]

Looking forward to any other comments arising from this playthrough.

But, it is very gratifying that you are playing it again!

From my point of view, I would say that this campaign of yours is very gratifying and that's why I'm playing it again...

Initially I just wanted to help you out with the Sicily/Lica scen (in one of the previous posts)... but after playing... I've enjoyed it too much. Playing at level4 difficulty, this campaign is just perfectly balanced for me and my playstyle. Whenever I think it's too much enemy or a too tight turn limit... it's not.
It's not easy, but also not too hard or frustrating or even impossible.

Maybe if I would play on lower difficulites, I would (could? ) revert to my alter ego, who likes to "Tabula-Rasae" maps of enemy units. This kind of "shenanigans" are those who could most likely reveal any weak spots in scen designs and triggers.

Also, this time I've tried to stay as true to the "intended" paths of each of the divisions as possible. Even the aux. ones. That may also prevent the encounter of any errors - if one follows the designed plans for the scens.

I think I've mentioned already that I think that a well balanced OoB scen should also be playable on highest difficulty while scoring a major win. I'm still standing by that statement, but I forgot to mention that it also should be playable on the lowest difficulty without causing problems.

Like the one with the supply-link bug inside the RedSteel/Operation Winterstorm scen. Nobody playing on higher difficulties would even think about venturing that far into enemy territory to be able to cause that bug. It may be possible, but highly improbable. But on level 1 difficulty? I think the handful of aux. units around Stalingrad could probably even crush the whole German army inside the pocket on their own...

Some feedback on the Operation Dragoon scen:

One possible problem that popped up: "inflict casualties on retreating Germans" had already 14/64 counted before I could do any damage to the trucks. Maybe it's no error and some previously encountered unit was killed and counted into this objective (and I didn't notice it to be "retreating")?
(And this "inflict damage" objective might also be impossible to achieve with lower difficulties! There are triggers that can "detect" the difficluty level and you could alter the objectives accordingly, but .... speaking of ... objectives and complicated triggers... )

And maybe you should consider (at least) reducing the radius of the "vanishing French" mechanic, because one of the French units that stayed behind to guard Nice vanished in the middle of the German attack... while some of the French infantry helping out in the north remained... hey, you said in the briefing I could use the French wherever I wanted. And I did. I felt a bit punished...for nothing...

I guess you've removed them so the player doesn't have to deal with many un-usable units in the already conquered south. But knowing this I was tempted to reload a turn and delay the capture of Marseilles to keep my Frenchies in the battle a while longer.

[conboy]

Gabe,
I always take your comments and recommendations very seriously, so thanks for commenting. I'll keep them in mind as I update/fix -- I'll have to check that trigger to see why you were awarded kills -- obviously, the trigger starts counting before it actuates, which is weird. Something else to check out.

And you were correct, I didn't want the player to have to worry about all those extra units. I real life, the French advanced up the opposite bank of the Rhone (west bank) but that would have vastly complicated an already complicated scenario. But it wouldn't hurt to scope down the radii that the Frenchies are removed, in case a player is using them to guard a hex or something like that.

There are triggers that can "detect" the difficluty level and you could alter the objectives accordingly, but .... speaking of ... objectives and complicated triggers...

AAHH - so that's what that trigger's for! Now I can set the strength of fleeing Germans based on the level of difficulty selected!

thanks again Gabe.

conboy

[GabeKnight]

There are triggers that can "detect" the difficulty level and you could alter the objectives accordingly, but .... speaking of ... objectives and complicated triggers...

AAHH - so that's what that trigger's for! Now I can set the strength of fleeing Germans based on the level of difficulty selected!

I don't think it's as simple as you think. For example, you can not set enemy unit strength higher than the difficulty level presets.

What I meant was: You would need three "inflict damage" prim. objectives (instead of one). One for each of the lower difficulty levels. Like this:

Screenshot 309.jpg (183.02 KiB) Viewed 2702 times

And then you would need to enable them according to difficulty. No problems so far:

Screenshot 311.jpg (219.22 KiB) Viewed 2702 times

BUT you would also need three sets of win and defeat triggers, one for each new prim. objective! And enable them through the "Set trigger state" or "Set folder state" effects. Seems complicated to me. Maybe there's a simpler solution to this.

[GabeKnight]

At deployment stage of "Low Vosges to Strasbourg" I could buy new units for my core, even for the BlueTeam. Intended?

The M4A3 105mm was already available for purchase some scens ago, but I did not see that as a problem. But now the M36 Jackson or the Sherman Calliope.

[JTFox001]

Sorry it took you 3 tries, but it's a difficult scenario.

conboy

Don't apologies for my poor play. Enjoyed replaying and correcting my mistakes.

Adjusted how I handle these situations going forward. I now mass my Divisional Arty with a single RCT along with Tac Air support. Use the mobility they have to switch between RCTs. Before I used to divide then between all 3 RCTs.

I am now ready to land at Anzio. Enjoyed the Italian scenarios I've played so far.

Cheers

[conboy]

JTFox,

I think the really hard part of San Fratello and Brolo is patiently preparing (assembling) for the Division-level assault on the Phase II objectives.

Somebody else is having trouble with San Fratello and Brolo.

Here's a .rec replay file for San Fratello and Brolo I thought I'd post this playthrough for anybody else that's having trouble with it. Unzip it and paste in your OoB/replays directory.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/cfnncar94 ... o.zip/file

I hope this helps anybody else that is having trouble with it.

conboy

[stevefprice]

I was really "disappointed" that the Anzio siege scen had an automated "early" victory on turn 12. It was so much fun and I wanted to add some more turns with #overtime to continue playing...


Screenshot 307.jpg

Gabe, I'm in awe of your RP reserve and playing higher difficulty, remind me to avoid you in any tournament or multiplayer

Conboy, I do note Gabe is using the 90mm AA guns as AT, weren't these supposed to be ditched to get the Quad AA on halftracks instead? I'd assumed punitive action for not following instructions as when I tested upgrading the infantry halftracks I lost them.

[conboy]

Gabe held on to the heavy AA so he could also use them as anti-tank, I assume. His mod allows switching modes between AA and AT for some guns that don't do it in the vanilla version. I also think he prefers the M3 Lee tank to the Sherman.

The action regarding your switch to half-tracks wasn't punitive. I'm not that sophisticated! It probably has to do with them not being available for infantry until a certain date. But I don't know why you'd have them confiscated. I forced the issue by providing the Heavy Infantry with .50 cal-equipped M3A1 halftracks in the core set-up in the scenario editor.

Now, if you upgrade the heavy infantry too early, you won't be able to keep the half-tracks with .50 cals - the commander mentioned that in the briefing. You'll be able to upgrade the infantry but "supply" will not allow you to keep the .50s - when you upgrade the heavy infantry before M3A1 is available, you can't refit the upgraded Heavy Infantry with an M3A1.

Remember in MASH when Hawkeye told Radar that the enemy was coming tomorrow? Radar replied, horrified, "Supply?"

conboy

[GabeKnight]

Conboy, I do note Gabe is using the 90mm AA guns as AT, weren't these supposed to be ditched to get the Quad AA on halftracks instead? I'd assumed punitive action for not following instructions as when I tested upgrading the infantry halftracks I lost them.

Okay, true, I did not disband ANY of my units. That's just a waste IMO. The RPs you get for disbanding the units are a joke and if not needed I just keep them undeployed.

The light tanks have incredible speed through forests and difficult terrain in the vanilla game. And I came to love the flex-pathing on these things. Super useful bypassing ZOC and encircling enemy units.

And yeah, I prefer fielding the heavy AA to the the mororized unit. They have almost the same (small) anti-air stats, but one costs more CPs and the other one has incredible AT stats! Easy decision...

And BTW, I'm not playing out of my mod (as it still needs an update... ..yeah, I'm lazy...). The US heavy AA has an AT-switch in the stock game. The Brit one does not.

[stevefprice]

Remember in MASH when Hawkeye told Radar that the enemy was coming tomorrow? Radar replied, horrified, "Supply?"

conboy

conboy - Showing your age there !! I always like Alan Alda in stuff.

[conboy]

True, hombre!
Youth is squandered on the young.

conboy

[GabeKnight]

Nothing elso to report.

Well, maybe add a few turns to the "18 Rhin" scen.
2-3 should suffice, it was really tight. Captured them eastern VPs on the very last turn.

Thanks again, conboy, a great campaign!!!

[conboy]

Thanks very much Gabe!
If you had a hard time with the Second Rhine crossing, then it needs fixin'.
Glad you made it through and thanks for the report.

conboy

[JTFox001]

Hi conboy.

Completed the Anzio landing in 2 attempts.

Lost the first one when I failed to capture the last objective. Had a unit next to it but could not get the defending German to back out.

Following my err, Reconnaissance in Force, my second attempt was a lot better. More aggressive moving up the map an collected all initial objectives.

I liked the switching of objectives but felt the German counter attack was a bit weak despite the numbers. I think a human player would have push me back to the coast.

Run out of gold for the PIR, 504th I think, on the right flank but all other factions had plenty.

Cheers

PS Unable to play the replay. Shows up but when I try to load it it states it cannot find the campaign?

[robertahyuk]

After finishing your 3rd Division campaign? I was delighted with it as there were no problems nor bugs. Hard, long campaign with some massive maps and I had to restart a couple of times and redo my strategy to complete a couple on time. But overall? This is one of the best campaigns that I have played.
Excellent work!!!!!

[conboy]

JTFox,
Good for you on the first Anzio scenario. Let me know how the second goes, please. That one makes a lot of people run out screaming, as I have heard third-hand from other players (who said their mates quit playing because of it). If you make it through, the campaign still has many rewarding scenarios after that -- if I may present my opinion. No sin in nuking forward either, after all, it's your campaign.

robertahayuk,
Thank you so very much for getting back to me and letting me know how it went. Now I know some people are making it all the way through without errors -- and enjoying the campaign! So your comments are very much appreciated, as well as the time you took to play the campaign.

Thanks again for playing and getting back to me,

conboy

[Mascarenhas]

Hi, Conboy; are you planning new stuff? I long for trying your excellent work.

[conboy]

Yep, I got something going buddy. Can't find the handle on it, but working on it.
Sometimes, it don't come easy!

thanks for asking,

conboy

[Mascarenhas]

How about Hell on Wheels´ story, if I may?