Battlefield: Europe MOD v2.4

[McGuba]

LandMarine47 wrote:
By any chance can you write an AAR? for those iPad users who are missing out

Maybe you could write it.
I already wrote some stuff, situation reports and the like. Being the creator of the mod I am in a position with the greatest knowledge on what would happen and how. It is an advantage that the other people do not have and thus it would discredit my AAR a bit, IMO.

Also, as there are many crossroads in the big scenario, with the player's decisions shaping the course of the war, there cannot be just one AAR, but many.

RumpNissen wrote:
It's the glowing ones. The victory hex graphic is included in the RAR I provided in my earlier post.

OK, thanks I will check it out.

Magic1111 wrote:
What should I choose, when I wants to play all scenarios of the MOD from the beginning to the end? Main Menu >> New Game >> and then? Which campaign should I choose?

If you want to play all scenarios from the beginning to end choose Poland, 1939-1945. There are not too many scenrios, though, only 4.

The first three scenarios are more "convetional" ones with 10-20 turns, and a limited number of objectives and limited freedom of choices. In these Blitzkrieg invasions the player takes the role of a talented German General, someone in the caliber of Rommel or Guderian, commanding an Army Corps, represented by the Core units. Then, when the fourth and final scenario comes in June 1941 the campaign takes an alternative history turn, with the nation's leader removed from power in an undiscussed manner (personally I would like to believe it happened as it is depicted in the Tarantino movie "Inglorious Basterds") and the player is given full control over the Axis armies in Europe and N Africa.

Anfield wrote:
Congrates on all your hard work, lets hope the early days are smooth without to many bugs.

Yeah, sure, but since it is a very complex scenario there might be some weird AI behaviour at times... It is just impossible to scirpt an AI which responds to all possible human actions correctly and believably. The creativity of human mind is pretty much endless.

Richard1 wrote:
I knew this was going to be good, but it's exceeded my expectations. Brilliant attention to detail - this is one of the best mods I have ever seen. How do you guys do it?

Hm. Wait until you get to turn 99. If you have the same opinion that time come back and say it again. You might find things you do not fancy.
As for how I made it, well, it has been a long process, I have been playing Panzer General games since the mid '90s, so I have a general knowledge on how these kind of games work and what their limitations are. I would like to think that by now I also know how to get the most out of them. I also have some practice in making mods, this one being the third one: the first was an Austro-Hungarian WWI mod for PG, and the second is the Turan Campaign for PzC.

iceFlame wrote:
I haven't been around the PzC scene that long, but I honestly believe this mod will prove to be one of the best ever made.

Same goes for you: wait until you get to turn 99.

BNC wrote:
Just make sure you don't let that break take too long - I want you playing WWI on the 15th!

Me too.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Can't download - both links are just giving me random ads and stuff - no downloads. Any chance you could put it on mediafire - that one works for me

- BNC

[Magic1111]

If you want to play all scenarios from the beginning to end choose Poland, 1939-1945. There are not too many scenrios, though, only 4.
The first three scenarios are more "convetional" ones with 10-20 turns, and a limited number of objectives and limited freedom of choices. In these Blitzkrieg invasions the player takes the role of a talented German General, someone in the caliber of Rommel or Guderian, commanding an Army Corps, represented by the Core units. Then, when the fourth and final scenario comes in June 1941 the campaign takes an alternative history turn, with the nation's leader removed from power in an undiscussed manner (personally I would like to believe it happened as it is depicted in the Tarantino movie "Inglorious Basterds") and the player is given full control over the Axis armies in Europe and N Africa.

Okay, understand! Many thx!

[iceFlame]

Same goes for you: wait until you get to turn 99. :wink

OK, I'm all patched up and ready to go. As long as there's no flights of fancy on turn 99, it should be a blast! Thanks again!

[McGuba]

OK, I have added a mediafire link as well.

It is in the first post of this topic.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Great - I was able to download it! Any chance of a version with the vanilla unit list?

- BNC

[McGuba]

I do not really understand what you mean by vanilla unit list.

The mod contains many new units added to the Minor Nations and some added to the Soviet, German, etc nations. Without these units the mod would be a very different one. For example there would be no horse transports as the vanilla e-file does not have them (as of today, but the next patch coming with Soviet Corps promised it). Also, there would be no Dutch, Croat or Finnish units as these nations cannot be found in the vanilla e-file at all.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

I was reffering to the base game's unit list. I didn't realise that there were new nations added, however. Don't worry 'bout it

- BNC

[McGuba]

So finally I had the time to test RumpNissens's custom large flags. While they indeed look nice and detailed on an empty map I think I found some possible issues.

Some larger than average units cover most of the flags making them hard to recognize:




They also cover some famous landmarks partially or fully, such as the Kremlin (the Brandenburg Gate of Berlin is fully covered by this large flag):





So what do you guys think of it, would you prefer to see larger and more detailed flags, or the smaller vanilla ones, which do not interfere with the units and the tiles?

[Arvidus]

I could try repositioning the flags somewhere else on the hex. Remember, this style was meant the DMP-mods.

[McGuba]

Ah, yeah sure, I know about it. But, the DMP mods have a very different style in general. Maybe you could just reduce their size, or place them in the bottom left next to the unit strenght number just like the original flags. I am just brainstorming.

Other than that I really like their detail and accuracy, don't get me wrong. It is just I would like to preserve the visual simplicity of the game without over emphasizing any element.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

I think it would be more important to show landmarks in this scenario (though the reverse is true for ww1) so you should keep the base flags.

Had a look at it in-game and was overwhelmed at the detail, which was far greater than War of the World (if you think about the scale of hexes it makes sense though)

Good Job

- BNC

[Uhu]

I just downloaded it (from sendspace) and made a quick view. It looks great!
My question is: what reason is to play the campaign from 1939? What benefit brings it with? Prestige? Experience? Or just fun?

- Maybe the different U-Boot types could be introduced: IIa (to the Black Sea), VIIB (with lower gradius) the XIB and as late-wunderwaffe, the XXI.
- I like the vanilla flags more than the customs - they are far too big and anyway I have no problem with the vanilla ones.

[Uhu]

By the way - if I play the earlier campaigns and sell my core units to buy more potent weapons (for example many fighters) does it not make the game balance weaker?

Another question: is it intended to make axis mines as core units?
UPDATE: hmm, I see, there are only 9 core slots. That make impossible to sell the odd units (like Italian inf, etc.) and by better ones.

and another: should the Bulgarian units used in the big map? I mean they were neutral against most nations /and they only took part in the occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece (?)/ therefore it is unhistorical if the player can use them anywhere.
OK, troops of other nations can be also used elsewhere what would be also unhistorical, but maybe the Bulgarians can be cut out and changed for other axis troops. Sure it is not a big issue so they can be left also.

[Arvidus]

Well in DMP Afrika Korps, the flags are located in the lower left corner of the hexes. The pole however is stuck in the neighbouring hexes which can be a little bit of confusing, in my opinion.

ScreenShot_3.png (206.14 KiB) Viewed 5460 times

One Idea is to position the base of the pole to the corner of the hex:

Hex positioning 1.png (6.96 KiB) Viewed 5460 times

Another is just to move the original position vertically:

Hex positioning 2.png (6.95 KiB) Viewed 5460 times

Whatever you choose to do with my flags, I'm happy you're at least considering to use them ^^

[McGuba]

BNC wrote:
Good Job

Thanks. Hope you will like the campaign as well when you will have the time to try it.

Uhu wrote:
My question is: what reason is to play the campaign from 1939? What benefit brings it with? Prestige? Experience? Or just fun?

Mainly experience, not for the units, but rather for the player. The big scenario can be quite hard to handle because of the large number of units and the huge map. So I think it is a good idea to start small and get bigger and bigger step by step. Also, the player can get used to the altered unit stats, mainly the naval changes.

It can also bring some extra prestige points as the Barbarossa scenario starts with 1000 prestige points (if I remember well), and the player can save some more, like 2000-3000 if he starts in 1939.

Maybe the different U-Boot types could be introduced: IIa (to the Black Sea), VIIB (with lower gradius) the XIB and as late-wunderwaffe, the XXI.

Good idea, but I would need some nice unit graphics as well. And I am not very good in making new naval units from scratch. Also, if I add specific German U-boat types, I would need to add specific Italian and British submarine types as well, which would mean even more new icons to make...

By the way - if I play the earlier campaigns and sell my core units to buy more potent weapons (for example many fighters) does it not make the game balance weaker?

I do not think you would have enough prestige to purchase many fighters after playing those scenarios. And having "many" fighters do not necessarily unbalance the game, as you need to use combined arms tactics to achieve any success. That is, especially with deducter's stats, all unit classes are (nearly) equally important IMO. If not, try to achieve a Total Victory with many fighters and write an AAR about it - I will be happy to read it.

UPDATE: hmm, I see, there are only 9 core slots. That make impossible to sell the odd units (like Italian inf, etc.) and by better ones.

Yeah, sure, it was intentional. (I wrote earlier that I am an evil person. )

and another: should the Bulgarian units used in the big map? I mean they were neutral against most nations /and they only took part in the occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece (?)/ therefore it is unhistorical if the player can use them anywhere.
OK, troops of other nations can be also used elsewhere what would be also unhistorical, but maybe the Bulgarians can be cut out and changed for other axis troops. Sure it is not a big issue so they can be left also.

I think it would be unfair to take the Bulgarians out and use others instead. Bulgaria DID take part in WWII from 1941, even if it did not declare war on the USSR. In fact, Bulgaria did declare war on Great Britain and the USA, just like the other Axis nations, which resulted in the Allied bombing of Sofia and other Bulgarian cities. Bulgarian forces also took part in the partisan war in the Balkans and partisan war is an integral part of this mod.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_h ... rld_War_II

RumpNissen wrote:
Well in DMP Afrika Korps, the flags are located in the lower left corner of the hexes. The pole however is stuck in the neighbouring hexes which can be a little bit of confusing, in my opinion.

IMO it is more than just a bit of confusing. In fact it would make it unclear which hex I have to capture to achieve a victory in any given scenario, having serious win-or-lose consequencies.

In the end I think it is not that much of its position but rather its size, as Uhu pointed out as well. It does not really matter where you move the flag if it covers a large part of the terrain tile or if the flag itself is covered by the unit standing on it. So I think the only option is to make them half the size to match that of the vanilla flags and position them in just about the same place. Somehow like this:



here is your resized flag:

flag1.png (2.43 KiB) Viewed 5448 times

Note that I positioned the base of the flag pole in the bottom left corner of the hex, so to make it clear that it belongs to that hex. I also noticed that even the vanilla flag is covered partially by the Karl-Gerat unit, but it appears to be one of largest units, and there are very few of these large units, so I think it is not a problem. Another thing I would like to have is the same shadowing: if you take a closer look you can see that the shadow of the flag is darker than the shadow of the units on the map. (Compare the shadow of the flag with the shadow of the Ju-88 next to it.) But, it is not that big issue, and I could fix it as well. What I could not do is to rearrange all the flags to make them appear in the same place and to resize them.

I think if you could rearrange the flags like this I could use them. Sorry to be so perfectionist, but this is way I work. Why to make something inferior, if we can make it better, isn't it?

I would like to hear more opinion on this from others as well (or I will ask BNC to send out more of those stormtrooper guys ).

[AugustinMalar]

What I am not really sure is the current status of the victory objective flags - will they be the glowing ones, or something else?

It's the glowing ones. The victory hex graphic is included in the RAR I provided in my earlier post.

My new target victory hex for wavy flags.



Personally, I like it better than the glowing one.
Sadly, it won't solve your issues with those flags.

[Arvidus]

Well, I made half sized versions of the flags as you suggested.

flags - Smaller.png (56.75 KiB) Viewed 5423 times

However, considering their smaller size it'd be really hard to spot the victory hexes with just glow. Since they're also in the lower left corner, AugustinMalar's suggestion won't work that well (unless maybe I put the markings on the opposite corner). So I added a golden star on top of the pole as a new suggestion:

victory 3.png (4.62 KiB) Viewed 5423 times

Download Link
https://www.mediafire.com/?p4svx0r2mmd4jv7

The new flags and victory hex is named "... - Smaller". just rename them "flags" and "victoryhex". I kept the original ones, in case someone else wishes to still use them.

[AugustinMalar]

Well, I made half sized versions of the flags as you suggested.

flags - Smaller.png

However, considering their smaller size it'd be really hard to spot the victory hexes with just glow. Since they're also in the lower left corner, AugustinMalar's suggestion won't work that well (unless maybe I put the markings on the opposite corner). So I added a golden star on top of the pole as a new suggestion:

victory 3.png

Download Link
https://www.mediafire.com/?p4svx0r2mmd4jv7

The new flags and victory hex is named "... - Smaller". just rename them "flags" and "victoryhex". I kept the original ones, in case someone else wishes to still use them.

Yes, please put the markings on the opposite corner. I will use them.

[Uhu]

Poland AAR:

Summary: little too easy.
For the first try, without heavy focus, without concentration of strength, without using the 'commies' ,just going forward I could make a DV.
Difficulty: Rommel, 1.20 rules.
***Warning - SPOILERS! ***
I made no attention to any of my units - only for the 2 core fighters, infantry, and the Pz I with hero. All others were just pressed forward not avoiding casualties. Polish air force made some nice counter-attack, especially the second wave hero-fighter. The ground counter-attack had no viewable effect. When the Soviets started the attack I was already at the gates of Warsaw. I didn't used the Reds, because:
- I don't wanted to have anything common with the "bolshevik scum".
- I found it really easy as I already won the scenario to make it even easier.

Result: DV, except 3 towns/airports all Polish flags were captured. Casualties were low - core: 1 fighter -1,the hero-Pz I -2, 2 inf -2.
Suggestions: the Reds should be taken out: at the possible attack the 3 flags in the east should be occupied by Soviet troops and west of them should be some heavy Polish resistance to prevent the earlier German occupation.