Europe Total War

[hinryu70]

Hi Hinryu70,

First of all, congrats for your mod! I finished Poland using version 1.02 (I understand I need to do it again with v 1.03 if I want to benefit from the latest modifications, no problem).

You should skip this since Panzer Corps see well the scenario in game just with the copy-paste over PaK mod:

Put the scenario folder into:
Documents\My Games\Panzer Corps\MyScenarios

Only one thing bothers me: the need to move my units to the right theatre of operations in time (otherwise I lose my unit).
What if I need more units to invade UK after my victory against USSR ? I could not do it because my units are assigned to specific fronts ?
Maybe this is impossible because your scenario is 100% historically accurate.
But what do you mean ? After my victory in Poland I can only move some selected units to the front in France ?

Could you deliver some saved games (start of France, start of Barbarossa, Stalingrad, Kursk, Overlord, Berlin) ?

Thx

Hi diRobertCL,

first of all, thank you, I’m really glad you enjoyed the Poland scenario!
And yes, if you want to benefit from all the latest tweaks it’s better to restart with version 1.03, but of course you can finish your current run first if you want.

Let me answer your questions point by point:

1. “Do I lose units if I don’t move them in time?”
No, you do not “lose” units automatically.
If you don’t move them to the new operational theatre in time, you will simply have fewer units available on the axis of the next offensive, and therefore you might struggle to keep up with the historical timetable (for example arriving late in France or in Russia).
The system is meant to add some historical pressure, not to delete your units.

2. No Sea Lion in Europe Total War
Operation Sea Lion never happened historically, so it is not included in the scenario.
If you want to play your own “what if” and somehow invade the UK, of course, with all your forces you might manage to do it…
But this does not change the fact that the Allied fleet and air units still operate: I set them with enough fuel and ammo for the whole campaign, so Overlord, Dragoon, Husky, Torch and the other historical operations will still take place at the proper dates, regardless of how your run goes.

3. Transfers between fronts (Poland → France → Balkans → Russia, etc.)
I tried to follow historical unit paths as closely as possible:

Many units go from Poland to France and stay there for the whole western campaign.

Some are later redeployed to the Balkans and Greece, others move to Russia for Barbarossa.

Several Armeekorps have in their name a clear indication of their historical destination (and those are meant to follow that path).

Other units are more “free” to use, especially some infantry divisions, so the player is not totally locked in.

The idea is: you have historical constraints, but also some operational freedom.

4. 100% historical scenario (no branching “what if” paths)
The scenario is designed as 100% historical: there are no alternative event chains like “if you win here, then Overlord/Barbarossa etc. are cancelled”.
The only real “what if” is how well or badly you play inside a fixed historical framework: you can be ahead of or behind the real timeline, but the overall structure of events remains the same.

5. Tags on unit names
Yes, you can call them tags.
They are there to show the “natural” operational theatre of that unit. For example:

(B) = Balkans

(Gr) = Greece

(Afr.) = North Africa

(It) = Italian Front

(W) = Western Europe

(N) = Norway

(R) = Redeployed unit (moved from another front)

(Fi) = Finland

This way, just by looking at the name you immediately know where that formation is supposed to be historically during the campaign.

6. Savegames (France, Barbarossa, Stalingrad, Kursk, Overlord, Berlin)
For now I don’t have an “official” pack of savegames ready for all those key moments yet: I’m still testing and polishing the campaign turn by turn.
Later, when the version is really stable up to 1945, I might prepare some “historical start” saves (beginning of France, start of Barbarossa, etc.), but at the moment I prefer that everyone builds their own path from Poland onward.

[hinryu70]

Hi Hinryu70,

First of all, congrats for your mod! I finished Poland using version 1.02 (I understand I need to do it again with v 1.03 if I want to benefit from the latest modifications, no problem).

You should skip this since Panzer Corps see well the scenario in game just with the copy-paste over PaK mod:

Put the scenario folder into:
Documents\My Games\Panzer Corps\MyScenarios

Only one thing bothers me: the need to move my units to the right theatre of operations in time (otherwise I lose my unit).
What if I need more units to invade UK after my victory against USSR ? I could not do it because my units are assigned to specific fronts ?
Maybe this is impossible because your scenario is 100% historically accurate.
But what do you mean ? After my victory in Poland I can only move some selected units to the front in France ?

Could you deliver some saved games (start of France, start of Barbarossa, Stalingrad, Kursk, Overlord, Berlin) ?

Thx

https://pikabu.ru/story/khronologiya_vt ... st_1232721
If, as I understand it, the mod is going to be 100% historical as far as the game engine will allow, then there should be no alternatives such as Sea Lion. At most massive raids on London depicting the air battle for Britain ) No matter how hard the player tries, he will 100% lose by the 9th of May 1945!
Also after Poland there should be a strange war then an offensive in Norway then a strike on Benelux countries France and USSR ) Also some countries of Europe resisted Germans for a month some only a couple of hours )))) Also it is not clear whether the Allies will have operations like the War in Finland and the occupation of Iran by British and Soviet troops )).

https://vk.com/wall-112714021_1095
https://en.topwar.ru/76878-sovmestnaya- ... -1945.html
https://diletant.media/articles/45274832/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WWII.gif

Hi bondjamesbond,

yes, that’s exactly the idea and, for me, that’s also the “fun” part of this project:

in the first years you have continuous Axis victories,

then the momentum stops,

and from there it’s defence to the bitter end until May 1945.

The goal is to keep it as historical as possible, so there are no alternative campaigns like Sea Lion – at most you will see heavy air raids on Britain to represent the Battle of Britain / strategic bombing, but not a full–scale invasion that never happened.
Now I “only” have to see how far I can push this while still working within the limits of the Panzer Corps AI.

About the other fronts you mentioned: unfortunately I had to cut or abstract some WW2 events because of engine limitations. Panzer Corps gives me only 256 map zones, and they are all already used.
So some theatres are handled by news events and automatic territory changes, instead of being fully playable fronts. For example:

the Soviet advance into eastern Poland in 1939,

the Winter War between Finland and the USSR,

the crises and campaigns in Iraq, Iran and Syria–Lebanon.

Historically they were definitely not “secondary”, but for the capacity of the game engine I had to focus the playable part on the main European / Mediterranean axes and let these episodes pass in the background through World News pop-ups, prestige effects and automatic control changes.

The overall timeline you described is correct: Poland → “Phoney War” → Norway → Benelux / France → USSR, with different countries collapsing faster or slower, just like they did in reality – and no matter how hard the player tries, the final outcome by 9 May 1945 is always the same.

[jeffoot77]

"As for the “quiet” turns between 5 and 32: to some extent they reflect the historical pace "

--> one suggestion to improve theses long turns: between poland and norway campaigns, there is winter war and attacks of u-boats. why not make the player playing some u-boats then playing after some finland units during winter war? the pursuit of fleeing poland troops in south west too is historical fact.

I know, it is adding work

(sorry for my bad english, i m french)

[tactical22]

Superb, mate!! Plenty of hard work and dedication!! I love these massive maps!! Just one question: so you mean that you cannot win as Axis no matter how well you do it? The fall of Berlin is going to happen even if I kill all allied units?

[PeteMitchell]

How do you do the demarcation of the different theaters on the map?

[hinryu70]

"As for the “quiet” turns between 5 and 32: to some extent they reflect the historical pace "

--> one suggestion to improve theses long turns: between poland and norway campaigns, there is winter war and attacks of u-boats. why not make the player playing some u-boats then playing after some finland units during winter war? the pursuit of fleeing poland troops in south west too is historical fact.

I know, it is adding work

(sorry for my bad english, i m french)

Hi dijeffoot77,

no worries at all – these are very good questions and suggestions

At the moment I prefer to focus on following, fixing and polishing the first full version of the campaign: I’m correcting strength values, OOB issues, triggers and historical pacing turn by turn as I progress through the timeline. Once the core is really solid, I’ll see what extra content I can reasonably add.

About your ideas:

U-Boats between Poland and Norway
I actually removed the big “oceanic” U-boat war from the playable layer because, on this map, they would behave more like coastal defence flotillas than true Atlantic convoy killers – there is no real North Atlantic space to work with.
For now their strategic impact is represented indirectly (prestige, events, etc.), rather than as a full playable campaign.

Winter War (Finland vs USSR)
The Winter War is present only through World News pop-ups and the later border/territory changes in favour of the USSR.
So historically it happens, but it’s abstracted for gameplay simplicity – otherwise I’d have to open yet another full front in a period where the player already has a lot to follow in Europe.

“Quiet” turns
Those “quiet” turns are meant to represent the Phoney War rhythm and the political/military transition from Poland to Norway/France.

Right now it’s done this way mainly for playability and engine limits; in the future I’ll certainly rethink if and how I can integrate more of these “side” theatres without overloading the player or breaking the structure of the campaign. Your suggestions go exactly in that direction, so they’re very welcome.

[hinryu70]

Superb, mate!! Plenty of hard work and dedication!! I love these massive maps!! Just one question: so you mean that you cannot win as Axis no matter how well you do it? The fall of Berlin is going to happen even if I kill all allied units?

Hi tactical22,

thanks a lot, really appreciated!
Yes, there’s a lot of work behind this monster map…

About your question:

Short answer: in strict historical terms you cannot “win WW2” as the Axis.
The whole concept of Europe Total War is to follow the real timeline as closely as Panzer Corps allows, so Berlin will fall by 1945, no matter how good you are.

But:

Your performance still matters a lot:

you can be ahead or behind the historical schedule,

you can preserve more of your core,

you can avoid historical disasters (encirclements, huge losses, etc.),

you can hold some areas longer than in real life.

So the “victory” here is not changing the final outcome of the war, but seeing how far you can push the Axis inside a fixed historical framework before the inevitable collapse.

Even if you wipe out all Allied units that are currently on the map, new forces and operations (Overlord, Dragoon, Husky, Torch, Berlin, etc.) are scripted to happen according to the historical timeline.
On top of that, Soviet forces will grow every year, getting stronger and stronger like a real steamroller, so the pressure on the Eastern Front keeps increasing the longer the war goes on.

Think of it more as a historical grand campaign / war diary than a sandbox “what if” where you can prevent 1945.

[hinryu70]

How do you do the demarcation of the different theaters on the map?

Hi Pete,

good question!

I do the demarcation mainly with zones and triggers, not with permanent drawn lines on the map.
In the editor I created several zones that represent the historical borders between theaters. These “borders” are then removed or ignored as soon as a major offensive starts.

For example:

the western border zones disappear when the invasion of France/Belgium/Netherlands begins (Fall Gelb),

the borders for Denmark/Norway are dropped when Weserübung starts,

the Soviet border is opened with Barbarossa,

and so on for the other campaigns.

So at the beginning the zones work like soft theater boundaries, and when a new offensive is launched the corresponding border is “switched off” by triggers, allowing the fronts to connect and the war to expand logically across the map.

[bondjamesbond]

Hi Hinryu70,

First of all, congrats for your mod! I finished Poland using version 1.02 (I understand I need to do it again with v 1.03 if I want to benefit from the latest modifications, no problem).

You should skip this since Panzer Corps see well the scenario in game just with the copy-paste over PaK mod:


Only one thing bothers me: the need to move my units to the right theatre of operations in time (otherwise I lose my unit).
What if I need more units to invade UK after my victory against USSR ? I could not do it because my units are assigned to specific fronts ?
Maybe this is impossible because your scenario is 100% historically accurate.
But what do you mean ? After my victory in Poland I can only move some selected units to the front in France ?

Could you deliver some saved games (start of France, start of Barbarossa, Stalingrad, Kursk, Overlord, Berlin) ?

Thx

https://pikabu.ru/story/khronologiya_vt ... st_1232721
If, as I understand it, the mod is going to be 100% historical as far as the game engine will allow, then there should be no alternatives such as Sea Lion. At most massive raids on London depicting the air battle for Britain ) No matter how hard the player tries, he will 100% lose by the 9th of May 1945!
Also after Poland there should be a strange war then an offensive in Norway then a strike on Benelux countries France and USSR ) Also some countries of Europe resisted Germans for a month some only a couple of hours )))) Also it is not clear whether the Allies will have operations like the War in Finland and the occupation of Iran by British and Soviet troops )).

https://vk.com/wall-112714021_1095
https://en.topwar.ru/76878-sovmestnaya- ... -1945.html
https://diletant.media/articles/45274832/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WWII.gif

Hi bondjamesbond,

yes, that’s exactly the idea and, for me, that’s also the “fun” part of this project:

in the first years you have continuous Axis victories,

then the momentum stops,

and from there it’s defence to the bitter end until May 1945.

The goal is to keep it as historical as possible, so there are no alternative campaigns like Sea Lion – at most you will see heavy air raids on Britain to represent the Battle of Britain / strategic bombing, but not a full–scale invasion that never happened.
Now I “only” have to see how far I can push this while still working within the limits of the Panzer Corps AI.

About the other fronts you mentioned: unfortunately I had to cut or abstract some WW2 events because of engine limitations. Panzer Corps gives me only 256 map zones, and they are all already used.
So some theatres are handled by news events and automatic territory changes, instead of being fully playable fronts. For example:

the Soviet advance into eastern Poland in 1939,

the Winter War between Finland and the USSR,

the crises and campaigns in Iraq, Iran and Syria–Lebanon.

Historically they were definitely not “secondary”, but for the capacity of the game engine I had to focus the playable part on the main European / Mediterranean axes and let these episodes pass in the background through World News pop-ups, prestige effects and automatic control changes.

The overall timeline you described is correct: Poland → “Phoney War” → Norway → Benelux / France → USSR, with different countries collapsing faster or slower, just like they did in reality – and no matter how hard the player tries, the final outcome by 9 May 1945 is always the same.

Thank you for your answers ) Now I have to try out your mod! Theory is one thing, practice is another!!! I have another question: I have two versions of the mod pack: 1) as a separate game and 2) connected via the JGME program. I think connecting via the JGME program is better because all updates will be installed automatically, while in the separate version of the mod pack, you will have to rewrite the unzipped files yourself, overwriting the original files, which can lead to errors and confusion, since the mod will continue to be updated and, based on what you said, new events will be added to it, etc.

https://worldwartwo.filminspector.com/2 ... ondor.html



Swastika could have been drawn real than this incomprehensible Maltese cross as we are realism and historical accuracy )
viewtopic.php?p=1062268#p1062268








I take it this isn't your map!? Now the question is how to connect yours?

[hinryu70]

Hi,Bond James Bond

thanks again for your interest – you’re absolutely right: theory is one thing, practice is another… now it’s time to test it on the battlefield!

About your questions:

1. JGME vs separate install
To be honest, I’ve never used JGME myself, so I can’t really give you detailed advice about the JGME way of doing things.

What I’ve always done (and what works fine for me) is much more “old school”:

I make a full copy of my Panzer Corps folder (for example: Panzer Corps – PaK + ETW).

Then I install the PaK mod into that copy.

After that I unpack Europe Total War over this PaK-based install.

This way my original Panzer Corps stays clean, and the modded version is completely separate.
When I release an update of Europe Total War, I just overwrite the files in that copy – no risk of damaging the base game and no confusion between versions.

So yes, if you are comfortable with JGME, you can probably integrate it there as you described, but I can’t give you a precise JGME setup because I simply don’t use it. My “official” way is: copy folder → install PaK → install Europe Total War on top of that copy.

2. About the cross / swastika
You’re absolutely right from a purely historical point of view: the swastika would be more accurate than this “strange” Maltese-like cross.
However, I didn’t want to run into censorship issues, legal restrictions or forum rules in different countries, so I deliberately chose a more “neutral” cross.
It’s just a visual compromise to keep the mod shareable everywhere – the historical part is in the OOB, events, dates and gameplay, not in that symbol. So sorry if it hurts immersion a bit, but it’s on purpose.

[bondjamesbond]

Hi,Bond James Bond

thanks again for your interest – you’re absolutely right: theory is one thing, practice is another… now it’s time to test it on the battlefield!

About your questions:

1. JGME vs separate install
To be honest, I’ve never used JGME myself, so I can’t really give you detailed advice about the JGME way of doing things.

What I’ve always done (and what works fine for me) is much more “old school”:

I make a full copy of my Panzer Corps folder (for example: Panzer Corps – PaK + ETW).

Then I install the PaK mod into that copy.

After that I unpack Europe Total War over this PaK-based install.

This way my original Panzer Corps stays clean, and the modded version is completely separate.
When I release an update of Europe Total War, I just overwrite the files in that copy – no risk of damaging the base game and no confusion between versions.

So yes, if you are comfortable with JGME, you can probably integrate it there as you described, but I can’t give you a precise JGME setup because I simply don’t use it. My “official” way is: copy folder → install PaK → install Europe Total War on top of that copy.

2. About the cross / swastika
You’re absolutely right from a purely historical point of view: the swastika would be more accurate than this “strange” Maltese-like cross.
However, I didn’t want to run into censorship issues, legal restrictions or forum rules in different countries, so I deliberately chose a more “neutral” cross.
It’s just a visual compromise to keep the mod shareable everywhere – the historical part is in the OOB, events, dates and gameplay, not in that symbol. So sorry if it hurts immersion a bit, but it’s on purpose.

Alas your mod if it is connected through the JGME programme my pack mods do not see it ( neither the steam gold version nor gog ) I even tried to send your mod to C:\Users\*******\Documents\My Games\Panzer Corps\MODS but the game does not see it there either .....

I understand about censorship but most of us here do not faint at the sight of it although I am definitely not a Nazi fan but I am in favour of realism and historical accuracy in any form of art

[jeffoot77]

Thxs Hinryu for yours answers.

I m on turn 45 , have beaten nevertherlands/ belgium and soon france.

It is very pleasant to play, very good work !

i have noticed there is no attached heros like Rudel or Whitmann . Was this intentional?

[PeteMitchell]

It would still be cool to have a chance to win it tbh

[hinryu70]

Hi,Bond James Bond

thanks again for your interest – you’re absolutely right: theory is one thing, practice is another… now it’s time to test it on the battlefield!

About your questions:

1. JGME vs separate install
To be honest, I’ve never used JGME myself, so I can’t really give you detailed advice about the JGME way of doing things.

What I’ve always done (and what works fine for me) is much more “old school”:

I make a full copy of my Panzer Corps folder (for example: Panzer Corps – PaK + ETW).

Then I install the PaK mod into that copy.

After that I unpack Europe Total War over this PaK-based install.

This way my original Panzer Corps stays clean, and the modded version is completely separate.
When I release an update of Europe Total War, I just overwrite the files in that copy – no risk of damaging the base game and no confusion between versions.

So yes, if you are comfortable with JGME, you can probably integrate it there as you described, but I can’t give you a precise JGME setup because I simply don’t use it. My “official” way is: copy folder → install PaK → install Europe Total War on top of that copy.

2. About the cross / swastika
You’re absolutely right from a purely historical point of view: the swastika would be more accurate than this “strange” Maltese-like cross.
However, I didn’t want to run into censorship issues, legal restrictions or forum rules in different countries, so I deliberately chose a more “neutral” cross.
It’s just a visual compromise to keep the mod shareable everywhere – the historical part is in the OOB, events, dates and gameplay, not in that symbol. So sorry if it hurts immersion a bit, but it’s on purpose.

Alas your mod if it is connected through the JGME programme my pack mods do not see it ( neither the steam gold version nor gog ) I even tried to send your mod to C:\Users\*******\Documents\My Games\Panzer Corps\MODS but the game does not see it there either .....

I understand about censorship but most of us here do not faint at the sight of it although I am definitely not a Nazi fan but I am in favour of realism and historical accuracy in any form of art

In the future I may look into improving/optimising the graphics.

[hinryu70]

Thxs Hinryu for yours answers.

I m on turn 45 , have beaten nevertherlands/ belgium and soon france.

It is very pleasant to play, very good work !

i have noticed there is no attached heros like Rudel or Whitmann . Was this intentional?

Thx a lot for the feedback, glad to hear you’re enjoying it!
Turn 45, Netherlands and Belgium beaten and France about to fall… sounds like things are going historically well so far.

Just a small “secret” hint between us (don’t tell anyone else ): if you want to keep up with the historical timetable, try to push straight for Paris as fast as you can, instead of cleaning every pocket on the way. Speed is everything in 1940…

About the heroes like Rudel or Wittmann:
yes, this is intentional for now.
I haven’t added any named war heroes yet, mainly to keep the balance and focus on the overall operational level rather than on single units with huge bonuses.

Maybe in the future I’ll consider an optional version with historical heroes, but at the moment Europe Total War is designed to be played without attached heroes.

[hinryu70]

It would still be cool to have a chance to win it tbh

Hi Pete,

I totally get what you mean – it would be cool to have a real chance to “win it” as the Axis, I agree

For the moment though, the core design of Europe Total War is strictly historical:
the war will always end like it did in reality, and your “victory” is measured by

how long you can delay the inevitable,

how well you can preserve your core,

and how close you can stay to (or beat) the historical timetable on each front.

So it’s more about “how well can I lose?” in a grand–strategic, historical way, rather than rewriting 1945.

That said, I’m not against the idea in principle:
later on, when the historical version is fully stable, I might think about an optional alt-history variant where surviving past certain dates or holding key objectives could count as an Axis “win condition”. But first I want to finish and polish the pure historical path.

[hinryu70]

Hi everyone,

I’ve just reached turn 123 in my own test run and I discovered that one trigger was not working as intended:
at the moment it only freezes the German armoured forces in front of Moscow for one winter turn, instead of for several winter turns as I had planned.

This issue is already fixed for the next version, where the German panzers will be properly immobilised for a longer winter period around Moscow.

[PeteMitchell]

What is the size of this map?

The map is 283 x 326 hexes (283 wide and 326 high).

This seems massive. BE is 176 / 113

[Imeror]

That seems to be a cool experience ; and I like massive maps.
"283 x 326"... woah
How many time did you spent just on the scripts ?

Directly added to my (too long) "to play" list.

[hinryu70]

That seems to be a cool experience ; and I like massive maps.
"283 x 326"... woah
How many time did you spent just on the scripts ?

Directly added to my (too long) "to play" list.

Thanks!
Honestly, I’ve lost count of how many hours I’ve spent on the scripts… and I’m still tweaking them whenever I find something to fix.
Really happy it made it onto your “to play” list! When you get around to trying it, any feedback is more than welcome.