Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

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Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Resolute wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 9:59 pm When I finished Rostov (new campaign), where I got all bonus objectives, the next map was again Rostov but it looked like the map before the latest update which was not playable back then. Any idea what the issue is? I do get the updates from Steam so no manually installation. The files also seem to have the correct date.
u need 4 vic points to go from Rosov to Elista.
During rostov u can get max 3 vic points.
U need at least 1 vic point from Maikopp to proceed.

I will award 99 vic points in Rostov with next update until the loosing path is finished to avoid this situation.
thx for the feedback.

sers,
Thomas
Sequester Grundleplith, MD
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Sequester Grundleplith, MD »

Couple of observations: Moscow felt appropriately epic, though dealing with snow in early August seemed weird, and the end briefing is just the one from Moscow '41 ("oh no we must pull back!")

Also the two paths Africa and Italy afterwards have their dates as July, which would be earlier than the Moscow battle
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Sequester Grundleplith, MD wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 4:30 am Couple of observations: Moscow felt appropriately epic, though dealing with snow in early August seemed weird, and the end briefing is just the one from Moscow '41 ("oh no we must pull back!")

Also the two paths Africa and Italy afterwards have their dates as July, which would be earlier than the Moscow battle
time is still pretty messed up.
thx for the input.

sers,
Thomas
Nexus
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Nexus »

Grondel wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 9:25 pm
Nexus wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 8:13 pm Feedback for NH 43:

Imho Maikop is too tight to even reach the right-most objective. I get that its supposed to be difficult to achieve but with the muddy weather all the time it was not really possible to reach it in time, let alone fight for it.
last time i playtested i had 5 spare turns before taking the last objective. It is possible. ;)

[...]

Not really my point. I know it's possible. I can either lower the difficulty or play again and use my prior knowledge about the AI attack pattern & locations and the weather. I assume that your own playtesting is always using also the prior knowledge about weather and such, correct? If you drive your troops from the northern path south to help out there assuming you have plenty of time still, its just not possible to drive them in time out of the mud again once the rains starts. You have to know that it will rain soon constantly and prepare accordingly.

My point is, that the campaign should have a kind of steady difficulty. I breezed through 42 on the same difficulty and now I suddenly cannot overcome without replaying, difficulty lowering or cheating my way through.
Thus: The difficulty of the first scenario (at least) is off compare to previous installments. If you tell me that this will hold for the following missions I can just as well lower difficulty but then I will again end up with heaps of prestige which is also not fun.

You asked for feedback and here it is. Would be nice to get the feeling of contemplation of the arguments instead of a generic 'get gud!' reply.
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Nexus wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 9:52 am You asked for feedback and here it is. Would be nice to get the feeling of contemplation of the arguments instead of a generic 'get gud!' reply.
When i get a generic "This is not possible!" u get a generic "Get gud". ;)

Now that ur feedback is more detailed we can talk about it.

As u alrdy mentioned the main enemy in Maikop is the weather. To battle it effectivly u need to use rail and road as best u can. I will describe how i takle a scenario when playing it the first time.

First thing is looking at the tasks that need to be done and assigne units to do it. In Maikop i use 3 squads of units.
1 squad will go by rail from Maikop to Kurgannaya with the task to push for Armavir and then take the road towards Nevinnomyssk. Squad 2 will take rail from Maikopp to Labinsk and assist the Aux units in defending. Squad 3 will take the road south from Maikopp to deal with the partisans and then take the road to Zasovskaya.
When the enemy wave ebbs squad 2 and 3 will go for Otradnaya.
Squad makeup depends on hero luck and playstyle i choose for the campaign and divers accordingly.

This way u can move fast across the map via rail and road to reach the target objectives.

Hope this helps.

sers,
Thomas
Nexus
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Nexus »

Helps in underlining the problem a bit.
The goal should not be that an armchair idiot general like me needs to be explained by the creator of the mod on how to achieve things... basically, you are inducing prior knowledge into my planning. Its basically irrelevant if you explain on how to achieve it or I fail myself and just need to restart with the knowledge from first try.
I planned with two teams (+ partisan cleaners) making a enveloping movement around the attacking forces and then move to the final objective together - which is perfectly reasonable given the information available. I planned wrongly because there was information/knowledge missing (which again you will always have more as creator of the mod - even on your first try).

So, I suggest to do the following:
Instead of just cautioning against too much aircraft forces in the scenario briefing, put the following:
"One more thing: Weather forecasts suggest that the spring thaw is imminent. I'd suggest limiting your airforce for this mission as it would probably be of little use in the forecasted bad weather. Also, we should plan any counter attacks accordingly to cope with possibly worsening ground conditions" (... or similar)

With something like this you would move my experience from:
"What? How the F... should I have guessed that! Oh well I guess I just restart ... do I want to though... its so annoying..."

to

"Ooooh ok. Speed is of the essence... maybe pack some paras...? No, if it rains all the time that does not help ... ."

And even if I would have failed, I would have had all the knowledge to prepare accordingly and a restart would not feel like tedious rouge-like retrying until you memorized all the conditions and win.
For sure this would improve the mission in general and specifically make it more accessible for noobs like me.
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Nexus wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 12:57 pm Helps in underlining the problem a bit.
The goal should not be that an armchair idiot general like me needs to be explained by the creator of the mod on how to achieve things... basically, you are inducing prior knowledge into my planning. Its basically irrelevant if you explain on how to achieve it or I fail myself and just need to restart with the knowledge from first try.
I planned with two teams (+ partisan cleaners) making a enveloping movement around the attacking forces and then move to the final objective together - which is perfectly reasonable given the information available. I planned wrongly because there was information/knowledge missing (which again you will always have more as creator of the mod - even on your first try).
You are very right on this one. that is way i have 3 dedicated playtesters of all skill-levels who help me with the mod and
test new scenarios to help with the balance. According to their feedback the turn-limit has been enhanced and the weather condition has been tuned to be milder from the first version of the map.

None gave feedback as to the briefing text of:
One last thing, Herr General. The weather prediction is very sad, do not rely on your airforce too much.

being to imprecise. Maybe because they now me a little better by now. I am pretty sure one of them tends to skipp briefings completely which often leads to funny feedbacks. ;)

One mentioned "Oh i did't realize I had trains?!?! I went their by weel/foot and it took me ages to get to the enemy."
Nexus wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 12:57 pm So, I suggest to do the following:
Instead of just cautioning against too much aircraft forces in the scenario briefing, put the following:
"One more thing: Weather forecasts suggest that the spring thaw is imminent. I'd suggest limiting your airforce for this mission as it would probably be of little use in the forecasted bad weather. Also, we should plan any counter attacks accordingly to cope with possibly worsening ground conditions" (... or similar)

With something like this you would move my experience from:
"What? How the F... should I have guessed that! Oh well I guess I just restart ... do I want to though... its so annoying..."

to

"Ooooh ok. Speed is of the essence... maybe pack some paras...? No, if it rains all the time that does not help ... ."

And even if I would have failed, I would have had all the knowledge to prepare accordingly and a restart would not feel like tedious rouge-like retrying until you memorized all the conditions and win.
For sure this would improve the mission in general and specifically make it more accessible for noobs like me.
I will use ur feedback and add a little more to the briefing trying to make more clear that u should bench ur planes and rely on ground forces.

thx for ur input.

sers,
Thomas

PS:
would this have been more clear?

"One last thing, Herr General. The weather prediction is very sad, our ground forces will be slow in this mud and snow while our planes will be nearly useless. We need to plan accordingly."
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Sequester Grundleplith, MD wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 4:30 am and the end briefing is just the one from Moscow '41 ("oh no we must pull back!")

Also the two paths Africa and Italy afterwards have their dates as July, which would be earlier than the Moscow battle
Moscow was created later due to tester feedback. will redo the timeline accordingly.

I know exactly that i did that debriefing^^ no idea how the old one slipt back in. guess i have to do it again.

sers,
Thomas
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Sequester Grundleplith, MD »

Continued reports from the front: wow was Rome a tough one! And I thought it was going to be a breeze after turn 2 lol.
How did you get the ranges to work? Invisible air bases in the ocean?

Also, what is the benefit of +2 Ground Defense on fighters-- is that what AA attacks if you have vigilant on the plane?

Side note: the "move to reserve" tile worked well here. I was able to sub out my strategics for more fighters after I dusted the fleet
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Sequester Grundleplith, MD wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 7:26 pm Continued reports from the front: wow was Rome a tough one! And I thought it was going to be a breeze after turn 2 lol.
How did you get the ranges to work? Invisible air bases in the ocean?
i used the darkest of lua magics to make Allied planes have enough movement to start in sizily.
U can use setany iseeyou 1 in the chat to remove the fog if u want to see them.
Sequester Grundleplith, MD wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 7:26 pm Also, what is the benefit of +2 Ground Defense on fighters-- is that what AA attacks if you have vigilant on the plane?
Yes, ground attack is what is attacked if the plane or the AA does not have low altitude trait or the bomber/fighter has vigilant.
Strategics never have low altitude trait, which is why they do not take damage from low kaliber fast firing AA guns.
Same for 8.8 like caliber AA guns. they don't do as much damage against fighter/bomber as a FlakVierling would.
Sequester Grundleplith, MD wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 7:26 pm Side note: the "move to reserve" tile worked well here. I was able to sub out my strategics for more fighters after I dusted the fleet
That is the main use for it i guess. benching planes no longer needed. Not really sure if it will make sense for ground units since its always far in the back. Maybe i will have to establish train routes for that if i want it to be usefull for ground units.

Btw, did u notice that u never ran out of enemy planes? no matter how many u killed? ;)

There is a known bug in southern france with the volz script. will be fixed next weekend.

Thx for ur input.

sers,
Thomas
Resolute
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Resolute »

I just played through NH43 and might as well give some feedback:

Some of the maps are really great, I especially liked Rostov and Voronezh.
It also feels different from previous campaigns since your core force is limited and the maps are a lot harder - which I do not mind.

Bugs I came across:
Some units at Voronezh have insane entrenchment levels.
At Voronezh you are able to get the ME heroes even if you don't have the prestige (it will turn negative).

The map I really disliked was Stalingrad. I could not even spare units to train since I had a hard time to finish it within the turn limit with the forces at my disposal.
The burning tiles cause a lot of frame issues and the units are very hard to see since the tiles share a similar colour background like the default camo.
It should also be noted that deploying any air force, unless you want to train them, is a waste of core slots.
Having 20 strength partisans with Butcher and Hit&Run trait is not fun. There is not that much you can do about that if they go kamikaze style and it caused a huge prestige drain.

My personal preference is maps with a huge amount of core slots, therefore I did not enjoy NH43 that much even it is overall really well done.
The prestige drain was also very significant due to the amount of AI planes. Around Voronezh I was pretty much out of prestige (played on Field Marshal).
There were some maps where I was not able to deploy all of my core forces. I went heavy on cheap AA units but due to the limited deployment tiles that was not an option on all maps.

I am still looking forward which crazy stuff you do with 44 and onwards :) Keep it up!
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Resolute wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:53 pm I just played through NH43 and might as well give some feedback:
That is always very welcome.
Resolute wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:53 pm Some of the maps are really great, I especially liked Rostov and Voronezh.
It also feels different from previous campaigns since your core force is limited and the maps are a lot harder - which I do not mind.
Bugs I came across:
Some units at Voronezh have insane entrenchment levels.
At Voronezh you are able to get the ME heroes even if you don't have the prestige (it will turn negative).
the 4k entrenchment has been fixed alrdy and will be gone with next update.
the prestige issue on the other hand did not occur so far^^ thx for the info will see to that.
Resolute wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:53 pm The map I really disliked was Stalingrad. I could not even spare units to train since I had a hard time to finish it within the turn limit with the forces at my disposal.
The burning tiles cause a lot of frame issues and the units are very hard to see since the tiles share a similar colour background like the default camo.
Feedback so far i got was "boring, more content"^^ which is completely opposite of yours
Resolute wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:53 pm It should also be noted that deploying any air force, unless you want to train them, is a waste of core slots.
Having 20 strength partisans with Butcher and Hit&Run trait is not fun. There is not that much you can do about that if they go kamikaze style and it caused a huge prestige drain.
i had some Brumbär behind my infantrie units and the Partisans stayed away. not sure what went wrong for u there.
Resolute wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:53 pm My personal preference is maps with a huge amount of core slots, therefore I did not enjoy NH43 that much even it is overall really well done.
The prestige drain was also very significant due to the amount of AI planes. Around Voronezh I was pretty much out of prestige (played on Field Marshal).
u should always have Albert Bürger with u who turns a flak vierling or SdKfz 7/1 into some fierce AA asset.
If u went the russian path u will also have Arthur Volz with u who turns any 8.8 into a plane eating monster.
Not sure how enemy planes managed to drain ur prestige that much.
Resolute wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:53 pm There were some maps where I was not able to deploy all of my core forces. I went heavy on cheap AA units but due to the limited deployment tiles that was not an option on all maps.
I am still looking forward which crazy stuff you do with 44 and onwards :) Keep it up!
due to developement speed i will focus on finishing NHeast1943 and then start doing west1943.
to do a 1944 i like i need more models and working V1/V2 models. 1944 without V1 doesnt feel right.
i will invest time into polishing and upgrading the existing content. Rick is trying to persuade me to give voice to the briefings. ;) maybe i´ll do that if i can stay at home next year, too.

feedback is always welcome, you keep that up! ;)

sers,
Thomas
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Mod has been upated, please use this link until first post is updated.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ae4qt6xa ... 1.zip/file

Changes:
General
all special heroes have their own new portrait

Preludes
first scenario can no longer be skipped
all scenarios have limited fuel/ammo/elite replacements

Combined Arms
reserve script added

Landing operations
reserve script added

1939
first scenario can no longer be skipped

Spoils of war
Textbox fixed

Lillehammer
entrenchment fixed

1940
first scenario can no longer be skipped

Maubeuge
crash fixed

AC
first scenario can no longer be skipped

1941
first scenario can no longer be skipped

1942
first scenario can no longer be skipped

1943NH
added scenario name "Lybia"
path selection background fixed
path select added to start
timetravelling has been put to an end

Voronezh43
Me262 event will take prestige into consideration

Kuybyshev
error message fixed
date fixed

Moscow
no more snow in the summer

SuezCanal
planes can no longer be used to advance

ElAlamein/ElAlameinflank
planes can no longer be used to advance

Advance to Tobruk
planes can no longer be used to advance
late infantrie is AUX now

southernfrance
volz script error found and removed

I have added limited ammo/fuel/elite replacements to the preludes campaign.
please let me know how u like that and if updating the whole mod with this is a welcome addition.
Hint: when u board a sea transport it takes 100 fuel from ur pool and returns whatever is left when u disembark it.
This can lead to temporary shortages when u have lots of sea transports out.

If u run into a shortage but want to keep goin u can use setany fuel/ammo/elites xxx to add whatever number to ur pool. fuel is x/10. be sure to have no unit selected or the fuel/ammo will go to the unit, not the pool.



sers,
Thomas

edit:
if u have trouble importing a core force to 1943NH please download the file again and retry.
Nexus
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Nexus »

Grondel wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:25 pm
PS:
would this have been more clear?

"One last thing, Herr General. The weather prediction is very sad, our ground forces will be slow in this mud and snow while our planes will be nearly useless. We need to plan accordingly."
Sounds clear enough.

Thanks.
Nexus
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Nexus »

I got a strange generic "Infantry" Hero on start of Rostov43 on my recon unit as a fourth hero ... is this intended?
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Nexus wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:42 pm I got a strange generic "Infantry" Hero on start of Rostov43 on my recon unit as a fourth hero ... is this intended?
is the recon unit an aux or core unit?

if aux where roughly is it?

sers,
Thomas
Resolute
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Resolute »

Grondel wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 12:09 am
Nexus wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:42 pm I got a strange generic "Infantry" Hero on start of Rostov43 on my recon unit as a fourth hero ... is this intended?
is the recon unit an aux or core unit?

if aux where roughly is it?

sers,
Thomas
That happened to me as well. It was a hero with three traits and added as a fourth hero. Those were the traits:

Infantrie
Ferocious Defense
Survivor
Fist Aid

I did reassign it to one my infantry units.
Grondel
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by Grondel »

Resolute wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 12:14 am That happened to me as well. It was a hero with three traits and added as a fourth hero. Those were the traits:
Infantrie
Ferocious Defense
Survivor
Fist Aid
I did reassign it to one my infantry units.
that is one of the infantrie heroes for the defending aux infantrie. seems there is a wrong ID flying about.
thx for the info.

sers,
Thomas

Edit:
think i found it. should be fixed next update. let me know if this happens again after.
88Flak
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by 88Flak »

I've been playing the Afrika Korps NH for the first time in a very long time. I gotta say the polishing has really made this a better game. The rebuilt maps are wonderful and I find it a lot more fun to play. Very, very well done.

I got to the East Afrika battle and my system crashes every time the AI does its turn. Here's the error code. Fixable? Thanks.

LoginId:af85230747e9b2f263b18cb3fd81accf
EpicAccountId:ed3fc50fbb6f427aa0c1f5166cd7572b

Unhandled Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x0000000000000008

PanzerCorps2_Win64_Shipping!GameWorld::Validate() [C:\Projects\PanzerCorps2\SVN\trunk\Source\GameCore\GameWorld.cpp:2732]
PanzerCorps2_Win64_Shipping!AI::ThinkThread::GetNodes() [C:\Projects\PanzerCorps2\SVN\trunk\Source\GameCore\AI.cpp:691]
PanzerCorps2_Win64_Shipping!AI::ThinkThread::Expand() [C:\Projects\PanzerCorps2\SVN\trunk\Source\GameCore\AI.cpp:485]
PanzerCorps2_Win64_Shipping!`AI::ThinkThread::ThinkThread'::`2'::<lambda_1>::operator()() [C:\Projects\PanzerCorps2\SVN\trunk\Source\GameCore\AI.cpp:160]
PanzerCorps2_Win64_Shipping!std::thread::_Invoke<std::tuple<`AI::ThinkThread::ThinkThread'::`2'::<lambda_1> >,0>() [C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\INCLUDE\thread:56]
ucrtbase
kernel32
ntdll
88Flak
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Re: Grand Campaign 1939-1945 (Custom Campaign)

Post by 88Flak »

Also going through the 43NH content. I finish the Gorky raid and hit continue and it drops me to the main menu. Looks like Moscow is supposed to be next. Have I reached the end of the current content?
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