BrucErik CSD Studio

[bru888]

04Tsuno-3:
Increased kamikaze air spawn.
Don't forget both reported issues with those triggers. Also, did you want to repeat these spawns a few times for more of a challenge? (Combination of Turn Start and numbered trigger frequency plus presence of associated airstrip.)

Removed top left supply objective. It simply took too long to capture after all other objectives were taken.
Very good. Remember to:
- change VP flag back to regular.
- redo the victory hex pointers in the "Interdict Jap supply routes" mission.
- edit fifth briefing, "There are three supply roads ..."
- "Interdict Jap supply" trigger, reduce Secondary VP = 3.
Maybe leave the garrison and bunker to guard the airstrip. (Come to think of it, a regular bunker near the other airstrip — northeast of Torikawa or between the two rivers — may be a good idea.)

I've put 05Northern-1 in your folder.
This is actually the last scenario. I think the original Kirishima was renamed 04Center at some point.
I am HOT. Physically* as well as energetically. Let me at that last scenario. Rowrrr!

* I don't mean in terms of appearance. Oy. Rather, I am trying to adjust to climate change by leaving the AC off until my life is endangered. So, sitting in front of a fan, working on OOB, is my way of keeping cool. (Except, my laptop's exterior cooling fan bit the dust ... it's a bit warm down there ... I figure that I am sterile now but, these days, that is not a concern!

[bru888]

Wow, it all comes together now, literally, in the northern end of Kyushu! This is going to be the granddaddy of final campaign scenarios. I'm going to throw in everything but the kitchen sink (Americanism for "lots of stuff").

I may even work in Godzilla somehow. Or should we wait until we get to Tokyo to feature him?

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[terminator]

Operation Monarch, Godzilla vs Kong...

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[bru888]

I may even work in Godzilla somehow. Or should we wait until we get to Tokyo to feature him?

Well, let's talk about this a bit. First of all, Godzilla made his first appearance in 1954, a good 8+ years into the future. However, that does not mean he was BORN in 1954. Look at the size of that lizard in the photograph above!

So, it probably took him several years to grow to that height. In that case, it would be quite reasonable to portray him as "Baby Godzilla" in late 1945 and early 1946:

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That would make him about house-sized, I would say. So, this is what I am going to do:

There will be a special mission to find and CAPTURE Baby Godzilla (certainly not destroy; look into those eyes and tell me you could harm this little fellow!) He will be represented from turn to turn by one of these three structures:

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• Factory — for when Baby Godzilla is laying down and/or sleeping
• Oil Pump — for when Baby Godzilla is feeding (on PLANTS! he is a vegetarian in this production)
• Radar Station — for when Baby Godzilla is standing erect, swiveling his head, perhaps looking for his mama

At scenario start, his location will be randomized. Each turn, his appearance will be randomized; sort of a disguise. The object is to locate Baby Godzilla, surround him with unarmed U.S. Seabee units (don't want to frighten the guy), and imagine them throwing a very large net over him. Captured!

Then, use six Studebaker trucks to transport him to a map exit hex. Should require, oh, about 85 turns, give or take.

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What say you? (Imagined answer: "Over my dead editor-in-chief body!" )

[bru888]

Operation Monarch, Godzilla vs Kong...

This presents a conundrum. King Kong is much older than Godzilla (first appearing fully-grown in 1933). To introduce him in 1945/46 as a big ape, in opposition to our little lizard, would upset gameplay balance. I don't even need Erik to tell me that.

So, if we do bring Kong in, it will be as "Baby Kong" regardless of the historical inaccuracy. Let me think about it.

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[Erik2]

I have the neccessary info to create a Operation Coronet 1946 campaign. It naturally ends with the capture of Tokyo...

[bru888]

Godzilla and Kong will not appear in the final battle for Kyushu, but there will be Yamata no Orochi — The Eight-Headed Dragon. It will be explained in the scenario.

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[bru888]

Oh, what the heck. I'll explain it now. Depending on how he takes this fort, the player may be in for a surprise or two.

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[bru888]

05Northern-2 is in your folder.

Prologue:
• Despite what the original scenario description said, I think the player should have the option to land at any of the six major invasion beaches marked on the map. I don't know if that was your intention, but I had it in mind when I designed the primary objective. Hopefully you agree and can make it work.
• The original scenario description said, "What if the Allies had landed the IX Corps in northern Kyushu in conjunction with the advance towards the north? The 77th Division lands at Goodman Beach while the 81st Division lands at Basie Beach. The 98th Division lands on X+2 at Shaw or Ellington Beach." Why, then, mark out and label Miller and Crosby beaches if they are not being used?
• For scenario replayability, it will be good if the player had a choice of all available beaches for the initial deployment of his invasion forces.
• Therefore, see the Epilogue.

Changes:
• So now, the scenario description reads as follows: "The Americans have decided to land the IX Corps in northern Kyushu in conjunction with the advance towards the north. The goal is to crush the remaining Japanese defenders on Kyushu between the two forces. The 77th and 81st Divisions will land first but decisions as to which beaches to invade and in what proportions of forces are being left up to local command. Regardless of where they land, there is a major coastal fort that needs to be eliminated."
• I prepared all six major invasion beaches, and the two little ones in the east and west, with land/sea deployment hexes and a few additional sea only deployment hexes (all available 0-60).
• Moved all Allied invasion forces to the northwest corner for your future consideration. See the Epilogue.
• The four primary objectives appeared to me to be too closely bunched and largely ignoring maybe 80% of the map.
• Therefore, I created the "Connect three major beaches with interior" primary objective. Description: "Supply connections between at least three of the six major invasion beaches (Miller, Shaw, Basie, Goodman, Crosby, Ellington) and Okuma must be set up and maintained. Each beach has a designated Staging Area. Connect any three of these points with Okuma in the southern portion of the map. (Once this objective is completed, time will be allowed for the completion of other objectives.)"
• Created six primary "Staging Area" VPs functioning as one end of the six possible supply connections. A seventh primary VP flag was placed on Okuma.
• Added escarpment to hexes adjacent to port hexes. It may look unsightly, but it will prevent the player from using the ports as "walk-ins" for troop landings. I figure that the player will not be using these ports for anything and that they are just for decoration.
• Marked two instructional "primary objectives" as completed from the beginning.
• However, I took out the "Para landing" message in the primary objectives. Reasons: 1) "Move down one hex" is not defined; 2) Instead of pointing to the island in the NW where the "Para Option" military police unit is located, the message pointed to a forest hex nowhere near Nigita (as in "The paras will land in the Nigita area"); 3) there were two Para folders, one of which was empty; 4) the "Shut off para option" trigger is not pointing to a folder or an objective; 5) the "Para start" trigger is set to spawn a neutral gunboat with no target hex; and 6) I figured the player would have used the paratrooper option already. Now, if this is wrong, there is still an open primary objective slot to recreate the message (remember to mark it completed from the start!) and the triggers are still there, ready for editing. If this is right, however, you will want to remove the military police unit and maybe the little island, too.
• Added 4 secondary VPs: Shimonoseki, Kokura, Yahata, Fukuoka. Resulting objective: "Capture important coastal cities"
• Beefed up the objective to "Destroy six supply depots" (two each of factory, oil pump, and fuel depot) and randomized their locations but in return, removed the "destroyed by a land unit" restriction. Also created a supply depot spotting module to make this task a bit easier.
• Made a "Destroy at least six trains" objective with trains traveling back and forth on the map. Created a rail bridge destruction module to make this task a bit easier.
• Kept the "Destroy all enemy airstrips" but renamed some of them for nearby towns (you had two Yawata Airstrips which caught my attention).
• These three last secondary objectives will give the U.S. air units something to do and not obligate the player to move land units all over the map.
• Threw in a couple of ancient castles, fortified by the enemy and thus requiring the player to "Destroy castle fortifications."
• You made the mistake of leaving coastal guns completely up to me ... and I went ape! (No pun intended, related to above posts.) Twelve of them! Quid pro quo: This time, instead of making it an objective, we leave it up to the player to neutralize only the coastal guns that need neutralizing.
• Evicted the remaining residents of Kyodomaru and Watari (most of them had fled inland anyway) in favor of Fort Orochi, the other primary objective.
• Added garrison troops to cities and various strongpoints.
• Added foxhole beach guards to small beaches in the west and east for token resistance.
• Placed several bunkers around the map to take up some of the empty spaces and make the player earn his interior advances just a bit.
• Beefed up the kamikaze attack module to provide the player with an incentive to get after the airstrips. Each airstrip has its own "specialty" kamikaze plane.
• Placed six Jap infantry regiments to guard the six major invasion beaches and the four cities. See note on choreography in the Epilogue.
• Godlike, I created Mount Sarakura and established various shrines and temples. On the seventh day, I rested.

Additional Notes:
• So that the player can be better oriented at the beginning of the scenario, I would keep all beach name flags clear - no unit placements or deployment hexes on the beach name flags.
• Considering how large the map is and how spread out the targets are, perhaps American planes can come from and be able to exit in two or three directions instead of just northeast.
• No bridge-blowing in this one, aside from railroad bridges done manually by the player. Can't tell from which direction U.S. forces are going to be coming, and the Japanese need the interior roads to retreat inland. No way to tell ahead of time when it would be advisable to blow bridges once all Jap forces have moved south.
• A thought occurs that this is the first scenario in which Allies have been mentioned. Up until now, it's been an all-American show. Now we have Great Britain ... with one measly carrier and one Avenger. The thought is this: Why call attention to Allies at this point, thereby bringing up the subject as to why it's been all U.S. until now? A related point: Perhaps we should explain why GB has not been involved. Exhausted? Occupation duty in SE Asia? France was in no condition, Russia would have been an unwelcome Johnny-come-lately, and other Allies would have been negligible in an invasion of Japan. So as you see, bringing in GB now raises such questions in one's mind.

[bru888]

Epilogue

This is where the nitty gets gritty, the going gets tough, and the tough get going. For, I deactivated your U.S. Activations folder. See the Prologue for why, then read below.

You had all of your U.S. invasion forces coming in on Goodman and Crosby Beaches, including the reinforcements. And, the Turn 19 "second landing" was forcing the player to choose either Shaw or Ellington Beaches.

Both of these offensive setups defeat the purpose behind how I designed the defensive setups: To allow the player to choose WHATEVER beaches he wants to invade, even the tiny ones to west and east, with the foreknowledge that he has to establish at least three viable beachheads.

Moreover, you had the reinforcements coming into Goodman and Crosby starting on Turn 2, right on the heels of the initial wave. What if the player wanted to knock out some of the coastal guns first? At least give the first wave a chance to get on the (mined) beaches.

So, I am hoping that you will redesign the U.S. invasion to suit how I opened up all beaches to all possible landings throughout the scenario. This is the choreography for Japanese forces (download image for larger view). With the flexibility that I have allowed the U.S. player, and in hopes that you can follow suit with the deployment of U.S. forces, I believe it will make for an exciting and challenging scenario:

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[Erik2]

Wow, lots of good-looking changes and a worthy end of the campaign.
I'm all for allowing the player to use all landing beaches. The reinforcements deployment will be restricted though, so we need to advice the players about this (unless a warning is already in place).
The para bits are simply an indication of a possible landing. I have not decided yet if it should be available. Maybe hold off that decision until after the first play-test.
The British are contributing carriers and air units to the eastern beaches (at least).
The absence of the coastal guns is simply due to no guns in the source.

[bru888]

Wow, lots of good-looking changes and a worthy end of the campaign.
I'm all for allowing the player to use all landing beaches. The reinforcements deployment will be restricted though, so we need to advice the players about this (unless a warning is already in place).
The para bits are simply an indication of a possible landing. I have not decided yet if it should be available. Maybe hold off that decision until after the first play-test.
The British are contributing carriers and air units to the eastern beaches (at least).
The absence of the coastal guns is simply due to no guns in the source.

Well, it's in good hands. Take it away, maestro!

[Erik2]

Northern Beaches was a really intense final scenario.
I got a major victory by turn 56/60.

05Northern:
Allowed ferry transports.
Added supply to coastal guns.
Added supply to staging areas.
Converted core units to land command points.
I have left the paras out for now.

I checked the campaign branch and it looks ok.
But it is lacking the usual Bru-finesse, victory/defeat briefings etc.
If you have any more info tidbits, there's room to add them.
I've copied my campaign folder over to the drop-box.
After the icing on the cake has been added I think asking for a beta-testing is in order.

[bru888]

I checked the campaign branch and it looks ok.
But it is lacking the usual Bru-finesse, victory/defeat briefings etc.
If you have any more info tidbits, there's room to add them.
I've copied my campaign folder over to the drop-box.
After the icing on the cake has been added I think asking for a beta-testing is in order.

Yes, I was wondering whether you wanted me to look into the campaign itself but I figured I would wait until you had finished the framework. I gather you are? And if so, it has to be the fourth folder in the BrucErik main folder (campaign.cmz is dated today, I see). Yes, I will take a turn at it with my usual wide-ranging, eclectic serendipity that sometimes borders upon the madcap, bizarre, and macabre. Not to mention wordiness.

[bru888]

I need to know if you "buy" this premise, particularly about Patton and MacArthur. If so, then I will use the remaining four levels of scenarios (same messages on each level where it branches) to develop their rivalry; backbiting, political jockeying, each one claiming credit for victory or blaming each other for defeat, etc. Not as many messages as this going forward, however; these are introductory which explains why there are five at the beginning of the campaign.

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[bru888]

I took your silence for benevolent assent; that you did indeed "buy the premise," tantamount to saying "Yes of course I buy it. What fascinating and imaginative concepts! By all means, please proceed."

And so I did, completing the story. Be it on your head if the public rebels over this nonsense and bans us both from further flights of fancy!

In other words, the updated Operation Olympic 1945 campaign is in the _Back to Erik folder. Note: Doing a walkthrough of the campaign, I noticed a few scenario descriptions that could use some tweaking. Therefore, please use the scenarios in this updated campaign folder as the official ones now.

[Erik2]

Yes, a what-if campaign should include a few surprises. This could even include an Eisenhower option since he already had a successul invasion on his resume (he will be part of the commander roster).

I propose we both do a simple walk-through of the campaign to check that core units and command opints are 'reasonably' correct. Simply play a couple of turns and nuke (how appropriate...) our way to the next scenario, making sure to test all scenarios whenever there's a branch.

[bru888]

I noticed this typo in 01Tanegashima. I sneaked a corrected copy into the campaign folder in the _Back to Erik folder but if you have already extracted that folder, here is the file itself.

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text_english.7z

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[Erik2]

Some players would like complain when they did not get their 11 air commanders.

[Erik2]

Operation Olympic 1945 is a what-if campaign simulating the first phase of the planned invasion of Japan.
As usual, Bru has added a lot of interesting stuff to the campaign. This may be our best effort yet.

Download link added in first post (and also in my usual campaign & mods thread).

Scenarios:
Tanegashima
Ariake
Eastern Beaches
Western Beaches
Sendai
Southern Beaches
Tsuno
Center Counter-Attack
Northern Beaches

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Bru, here are the last-minute changes:

03Packard:
Added naval command points.

Added 02Western Marine core units to 03Packard and 04Tsuno to make these Marines available in 04Center.

Replaced Reubens with Patton in the briefings.

Changed the free commanders at start (replaced the original what-not with Patton).
Added what-not as Marine commander in Western Beaches.