My new campaign "A long war"

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:39 am

Hi Folks,

as my first try making a campaign did not work at all I worked out a new concept.

What I want to archieve is a very long campaign that spans from Spain to the end of WW2. You will have the choice to choose different paths. Also a decisive or marginal result may lead to different scenarios.

IMPORTANT1: After finishing Zagreb and Leningrad you are to choose where you want to fight. Take RUSSIA (Riga, Kerch) as the Africa1 choice is only a placeholder - here I wait for the addon with desert tiles.
IMPORTANT2: Installation as usual, unzip in the PanzerCorps folder overwriting all files. I strongly recommend the use of the Generic Mod Enabler, otherwise please backup your files before installing.

Feedback (constructive) would be appreciated - I'm still unsure regarding the difficulty level. I think its too easy and still too much prestige but I'd like some other opinions before making big changes. I changed things over quite often so there may be some issues with the briefings, especially the date. Please tell me everything you encounter.

I hope you give it a try and find it fun to play.

v.0.66 - So here is a new version with some changes and new units. I have added five new scenarios in Russia and some new planes for Germany (thx to zombiehunter for his outstanding units). Also Denmark now has the Danish flag (thx rezaf) and also has now Danish units. The campaign is now no longer on the Tutorial slot so you can choose difficulty.

v.0.68 - Another little update, fixed some minor issues and made rebalancing on several maps.

v.0.69 - Some more rebalancing and removed a major bug that crashed the game after Riga scenario.

v.0.70 - finished playtesting until Leningrad now (included), should work fine so far. Also some more map bugs removed and rebalancing.

v.0.76 - biggest update so far. The campaign actually includes 30 scenarios, starting with the Spanish Civil War in 1936 up to the assault of the Baku oil fields in 1942. I have removed the experience cap and reduced the prestige per round in some scenarios for the AI. Might be a bit too easy now but I keep testing. For the original unit pics I recommend the use of my blackwhite big unit mod. This does not work with the generic mod enabler so you have to copy the files in the pc\ui\bigunits folder, overwriting all files. (backup)

campaign file - http://www.file-upload.net/download-373 ... 76.7z.html

big unit mod - http://www.file-upload.net/download-373 ... 02.7z.html

rezaf · Post by **rezaf** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:57 am

Great to see you didn't let yourself get discouraged, I'll definately check your campaign out.
However, I'm currently struggling to even playtest one of my own scenarios each day, let alone play something else...

Since you added a bunch of new units, I take it you managed to associate units with Denmark yourself?

Anyway, cool stuff, I hope to get a chance to take your campaign for a ride on the weekend.
_____
rezaf

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:37 am

no, I could add Danish intantry now but still don't know how to implement a new country with the flag

nikivdd · Post by **nikivdd** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:03 pm

I am very glad you released another campaign. I have some vacation coming up, i am looking forward to give it a try then.
Never give up when people issue critics, you cannot please everybody. It is worth to continue for those who write constructive feedback and thus appreciate what you do.
Way to go

rezaf · Post by **rezaf** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:08 pm

Adding countries is a bit more complicated than it should be because the developers saw fit to hardcode several listings in the editor, but what needs to be done was discussed in depth in this thread.

Its relatively easy, still, if you can't or don't want to do it, drop me a PM in the evening to remind me and I'll quickly throw the files together for you.
I've already added Switzerland and Turkey, since the flags were already in the flags-file.

What have you done for your current campaign's spanish scenarios (if there already are any)?
I'll release equipment rosters for both Nationalist and Republican Spain as soon as I get them finished.
Maybe you have noticed me working on the planes in zombiehunters's requests fulfilled thead...
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rezaf

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:43 pm

yes I saw them, your He-51 really looks great. Spain isn't included yet due to the known problems but I would be glad when I could use your units for it once they are finished. I have made a map for the Ebro battle but without units...

rezaf · Post by **rezaf** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:55 pm

Actually, Nationalist and Republican Spain are already included in the game - they just don't have any units associated with them - you could do easily do that by just copying over stuff from other nations and changing the flag column to that of Spain (Nat or Rep).

I plan on using stock graphics for the elementary stuff anyway, just custom graphics for planes and tanks - the latter of neither Spain really has any worth mentioning of.
The Reps will use T-28 (or was it T-24? I keep confusing the two), the Nats get glorious PzIA and PzIBs (plus captured T-'s from the Reps).
So all that's left is planes. I finished the full assortment for the Nats and I hope I'll get to the Reps soon.
(I'm only including planes that actually were used by either side in considerable numbers)
Anyway, I'll post here when I'm done.

_____
rezaf

rezaf · Post by **rezaf** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:49 pm

rivvendarke, I just posted this link in the thread I mentioned above.
It contains an archive that will add Switzerland, Turkey and Denmark to the list of available nations.
Hope you find it useful.
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rezaf

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:52 pm

thank you very much rezaf, I will implement this immidiately

You are right with the spanish units, they already have flags so I can go to work again

AgentX · Post by **AgentX** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:57 am

@rivvendarke, just wanted to point out, if you aren't already aware, the difficulty level can't be set for your campaign. Some other modded campaigns have this same problem and I believe it's due to using the tutorial section of the campaign file. Since everyone should be using the Generic Mod Enabler, shifting your campaign to standard section of the campaign file would allow us to set the difficulty setting (along with the other modifiers: fog of war, supply, weather).

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:35 am

Yeah, that sounds logical to me. I will change it in an upcoming version. Thx for your tip.

gunhojr · Post by **gunhojr** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:07 am

so to play this thru you need to download the other maps that were made because i played it and tried to go to africa if im correct and it froze on me i think someone mentioned it wont go there but just double checking

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:58 am

correct, I wrote it in the first post in this thread. Afrika path will follow when there are desert tiles available

rezaf · Post by **rezaf** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 8:47 pm

rivvendarke, I finally got around to playing around with your campaign a bit.
Here's a little feedback (hope you don't mind me pointing out what I didn't like as much in this otherwise - at least as far as I can tell until now - fine piece of work):

Map 1)
The Czechoslovakia map feels a bit pointless. It's a rather big map and you trudge along with a handful of units with very little to do. I don't have any suggestions on how to improve it, though - maybe it's worth to consider just throwing it out. Then again, it's not terribly long ... not sure.

Map 2)
Your Fieseler 167 stats seem way, WAY too powerful.
The Polish planes sit tight and don't move or attack.
Polish prestige-per-turn seems excessively too much. Every objective was surrounded with at least 3 or 4 inf, arty, 1-2 AT and 1-2 flak when I got there, and the AI was still busy adding more stuff.
This showcases what is probably the biggest flaw in PzC for me now, and it makes playing the game very tedious, at least for me.

I'll play on and give more feedback later.
_____
rezaf

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 9:09 am

Hi rezaf,

thx for the feedback. I dont like the first map either, was only meant to be a placeholder for a Spanish scenario. (You do not happen to have your Spanish units finished)?

What is wrong with the Fi167? I gave her a high naval attack and reduced soft and hard attacks, compared to the Ju 87B. What shall I decrease further to make it more realistic?

I have no idea whats wrong with the planes. I changed the settings from defender to aggressive and all the way back- they dont move. Its only this scenario, all others work fine. Would be glad if anyone could help.

Prestige per turn is set to 25 for nearly all scenarios for the enemy. That does not seem to much imho but yes, the AI buys a lot of stuff with this amount (cheaters?).

I had no problems finishing the maps decisive on the highest diffculty with some turns left but I will keep it in mind and have another look at it.

rezaf · Post by **rezaf** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:01 pm

Rivvendarke, the Fi-167 gas 6 hard and 6 soft attack, which just seemed to be a lot for a biplane, but considering it's a plane that never really was used, I guess it doesn't matter all that much.
I'm not sure why you included it in the first place, but it's you mod, never mind my remarks and just leave it as it is.

As for the SCW units, I just posted a thread with the units for you any anybody else to use.
Since I put my SCW campaign on hold for the time being, I guess that's the best I can offer for now.
I hope they did come out at least acceptable.

I'll probably play a bit more of your campaign this evening...
_____
rezaf

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:38 pm

Ah, thats great, the models are really fine. I will try to make a new starting scenario this weekend.

The Fi-167 is really a bit too heavy, I will cut the values to 4 and 4 or so, I got confused a bit with the bomb load.

rezaf · Post by **rezaf** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:51 pm

I decided to heed your advice and retry the Poznan level.
This time it rained the first three turns, turning the map into mud. This seriously hampers the chances to win and is generally annoying. You might want to tone down the percentage for rain a tad.
Also, you excessively went overboard with rough terrain. Tanks are only really useful in open terrain, and you have basically none in this map.
Also, there's no open terrain around cities, so getting multiple troops into position is a time consuming process - with just a little more terrain to quickly advance on, prestige for the polish player would probably not be much of a problem.
Also, you forgot to name your rivers.

More when I played more.
_____
rezaf

rezaf · Post by **rezaf** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:43 pm

Ah well, I suck.
I tried the Poznan map no less than FIVE more times, and I couldn't score a decisive.
Two times I at least got close to Poznan when the turn limit approached, but the city is heavily fortrified and cracking the defenses alone, even with arty in place (which I had not), is bound to take a few turns.
I get bogged down in the forests, the weather slows my advance, the AI places scores of defensive units all over the place, SOMETHING always halts my movement.
I'll shelve the campaign for the time being. More time to do some work on my own, I guess.
_____
rezaf

rivvendarke · Post by **rivvendarke** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:46 am

Thanks for the experiences, I will make a complete rework when I added some Spain scenarios. On the other hand the campaign is intended to be not so easy. Sometimes I also get only a marginal victory, depending on the circumstances.

Weather is another strange thing. The rain probability ist 10-15% in most maps but it feels like raining every second day.