Hi all, this is the 3.2 release of my first mod for Order of Battle. It aims to provide some kind of Operational feeling to the game. With fixed unit size and some kind of OOB behind the unit composition, I intend to lead the game in a more “organized” direction, a distant relative of more complex wargames like The Operational Art of War IV. The unit models have been replaced with NATO-style counters (thanks to Maitrebongo for that). Every unit represent a Regiment, Battalion or Brigade-sized combat unit with mixed equipments.
The campaigns take place in a fictional world, because I didn’t want to painstakingly re-create real locations with correct proportions in the map editor, and neither I wanted to exhaust myself recreating the complex historical OOBs of WW2. I’m a bit lazy like that. This also allowed me to mix up things a bit instead of Axis vs Allies #54.
The 3.2 version features FIVEsingle-player campaigns (6, 8, 10, 7 and 7 scenarios respectively), secondary objectives unlocking bonus for later scenarios, plenty of events and triggers, and three full unit rosters for the five nations involved in the campaigns. Scenarios are also available as skirmishes.
Special thanks to Maitrebongo's Unit Counter mod, without which this mod would have never been born.
A NC (No-NATO Counters) version with classic graphisc is now available and updated to the last version.
Download v3.2: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/83blbls1 ... jpdn5&dl=0
Download v3.2 No Counter Version: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/idxz5rmg ... ndjbx&dl=0
Game Manual: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ck1znthy ... zlg6b&dl=0
Detailed description:
AARs of all campaigns are already available or planned for release in the AAR section fo the forum, so if you want you'll have a full preview before even having to download the mod. Some changes have been made to the mod since the earlier AARs, mainly to make the scenarios more challenging. If you are interested in trying this mod, please give me as much feedback as you can be bothered to write down. Playtesters are incredibly valuable for a modder.This mod aims to provide some kind of Operational feeling to the game. With fixed unit size and some kind of OOB behind the unit composition, I intend to lead the game in a more “organized” direction, a distant relative of more complex wargames like The Operational Art of War IV. The units' graphics have been replaced with NATO-style counters. Every unit represent a Regiment, Battalion or Brigade-sized combat unit with mixed equipments.
The hex scale varies from 2,5 to 5 kmq of terrain. This isn’t always consistent with artillery ranges and movement points, but I think it’s a decent compromise between realism and gameplay. In a typical battle, a single Army fights against another Army-level opponent.
An Army is made by a variable number of Corps, usually between 3 and 5. Those Corps are usually made of 3 to 5 Divisions, some support Regiment and a Corps HQ. A typical Division is made by three line Regiments (Infantry, Motorized, Mechanized or Armored); line Regiments have a small yellow sign on their icon. All Regiments belonging to a Division will have the same name, and every Division or Brigade belonging to a Corps will carry its name too.
Brigades are bigger “base” units that can fight more or less on their own thanks to their size and equipment. They are usually “elite” units with very high attributes and often a “specialization”. They don’t belong to any Division, but they are usually assigned to Corps.
There are no in-game advantages to keep Divisions and Corps together: you can mix them as you wish, although I think it’s more satisfying trying to keep formations in order to have a better feeling of “realism”. To make HQ units significant, they have been given several abilities and an AA attack, making them useful to keep close to your line units. If an Operation or Army HQ is assigned to them they also project powerful bonus on a 2 or 3 hex radius. However, they are also fragile, and losing them decreases the amount of supplies, so you are strongly encouraged to keep them safe.
Air units represent entire Wings (30-50 planes), and multiple wings are organized into Groups. Groups are represented by Airfields. Air units have a large amount of movement points, being able to traverse most maps in a single turn, but only 3 fuel points. You can launch three air units per turn per airfield.
Naval units represent single ships, except for Transports and Support Ships, that represent small flotillas.
CHANGELOG
v2.0: base version with 1940 Yugoslavia vs British Commonwealth Campaign.
v2.01: fixed Strongpoints being able to move via train (thanks to ColonelY), fixed graphics of the splash page (it had old icons) and version number.
v2.02: tweaked some scenario's difficulty, fixed several small problems here and there, thanks again to ColonelY
v2.2: new 1942 campaign, this time you will play as the British Commonwealth against Yugoslavia. New "Operations" system (also working for 1940 campaign). New naval system. Plenty of minor changes.
v2.2 NC: Stand-alone release, it only reverts units' on map graphics with vanilla icons. No more counters! Motorized and Mechanized units now have "foot" chassis because of game engine limitations; to make up for their newfound ability to move through some terrain (dense forests and mountains), I've slightly reduced their movement points
v3.0: added new 1943/44 campaign with 10 scenarios, added a new faction (Eire), added map masks for new and old campaigns. Several tweaks to naval units, making Destroyers less resilient and submarines more capable but squishier. Updated the Manual.
v3.2: added two new campaigns with two new factions (Italian Kingdom and Byzantine Free States). Minor changes to several units, mainly naval ones. Updated the Manual. Released NC version with classic graphics.
Disclaimer: When I started modding I went on to look at other mods to learn about campaign making and file structure, and in the process I copied unit graphics into a big folder together with the unit sprites from the Unit Editor Tool, from which I later took images for the mod. I don't know if I took some other modder's work: if you recognize some ingame graphics from another mod, let me know and I'll replace it.
Issue, though: the scenario turn limit is defined now at 2 turns per scenario... 
that won't do it, obviously! 
This has to be fixed. 
