Battle of Tallinn - 1.0.0 - Released

[Erik2]

1.0 medium difficulty challenge mode

I'd like to see active specialisations added to the Germans and Soviets.
Also, I'm missing the commanders. They add to the immersion.

The plan is to concentrate on Loksa on the right and Märjamaa in the center using flanking movements that avoid fighting from river locations if possible.
Loksa captured on turn-9, just in time.
Märjamaa was captured on turn 18 and by this time all objectives other than Tallinn itself were checked.
Tallinn captured on turn-23. I chose to continue the scenario.

The scenario spawns a whole bunch of sea transports after the 'Units escaped...' objective has been checked.

I couldn't locate the last two Soviet units before the scenario ended.

[Shards]

Well played!

Do you happen to have an save game from the last turn and/or a replay that I could take a look at to see how you did?

Ta!

[Erik2]

Sorry, I started playing Bru's Bismarck and over-wrote the last autosave...

Which brings me back to a request I made on the beta forum during Panzerkrieg.
I wish the scenario name was embedded in the scenario autosave similar to the campaign save.

[Shards]

So, e.g. [Blitzkrieg] [Mlawa] Auto Save (Turn End) ?

[GabeKnight]

So, e.g. [Blitzkrieg] [Mlawa] Auto Save (Turn End) ?

Good idea. But there'd be just one pair of [ ] brackets for the scenario name "[Battle of Tallinn] Auto Save", I suppose...

On the other hand, I've got quite a lot of old saves already, from every campaign and custom campaign played.

[Erik2]

Yes, [Mlawa] Auto Save (Turn End) should be sufficient.

[PoorOldSpike]

...

[Erik2]

Spike, you can of course choose to only play specific scenarios which adhere to your own specifications.
But I think you miss out on a number of interesting scenarios.

And I really don't understand the reluctance to play scenarios that uses the excellent specialisations system. This adds nation-specific traits that are simply fun and very useful. And you really don't need to know them in detail, just play

[PoorOldSpike]

Spike, you can of course choose to only play specific scenarios which adhere to your own specifications.
But I think you miss out on a number of interesting scenarios.
And I really don't understand the reluctance to play scenarios that uses the excellent specialisations system. This adds nation-specific traits that are simply fun and very useful. And you really don't need to know them in detail, just play

WAIT WAIT, I shall have another crack at Tallinn, I deleted my earlier half-cocked review and shall do a proper review later today..

Meanwhile I can comment on Specialisations, Tallinn doesn't have any so in that respect I like it because it's pure uncluttered vanilla OOB.
But I recently sat down to playtest a community scen and after a while I began wondering "what the hell's going on?" because things were happening that didn't happen in vanilla OOB, it was as if I was playing a completely different game!
Then the penny dropped and I realised it was the 22 Specs that were causing it, so I had to abandon because I didn't want the chore of having to learn and remember what effect each of them had on the game.
Suggestion to all scen designers- I'm quite happy if you don't put any Specs in a game, but if you insist on putting some in, please try to keep them down to just a few and don't overload your scens with them..

[PoorOldSpike]

Okay I just had a crack at Tallinn 1.0.0 and it's a good enjoyable scen, I waltzed a panzer into downtown Tallinn on turn 19, and I was also in possession of the other 5 Primaries and a few (but not all) Secondaries and this message came up, does it mean I won?
I was looking forward to seeing a big "VICTORY!" message come up (sniffle)




Below- this option displayed at the start of the game but it was a bit confusing because some text at the bottom was cut off and it wouldn't scroll.
I clicked 'No' to see what would happen and was delighted to be given a big dollop of purchase points and command points to buy my own units..



A question- when the Russkis started feeling the pressure a lot of them jumped on ships to get away, and all the transport ships slowed the game down, why didn't they stay and fight?

[terminator]

A question- when the Russkis started feeling the pressure a lot of them jumped on ships to get away, and all the transport ships slowed the game down, why didn't they stay and fight?

The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn, also called Tallinn disaster or Russian Dunkirk, was a Soviet operation to evacuate the 190 ships of the Baltic Fleet, units of the Red Army, and pro-Soviet civilians from the fleet's encircled main base of Tallinn in Soviet-occupied Estonia during August 1941.

[Shards]

Glad you enjoyed it

If you clicked "No" at the end, then you'd get your nice Victory screen. But some people like to go around and mop up all remaining resistance, so I put that dialogue there for them.

I'll have to get the team to fix the scrolling dialogue boxes (it does work if you use the mousewheel).

I'd recommend you go back and play it in Challenge Mode now (click Yes on first dialogue) and see how you do? The German forces closing the Tallinn pocket had very little armour as it was all being used on the push East, so in the Challenge Mode it's much more about strategic use of Infantry, Artillery and Air Power rather than smashing a tank up the middle

[Shards]

A question- when the Russkis started feeling the pressure a lot of them jumped on ships to get away, and all the transport ships slowed the game down, why didn't they stay and fight?

The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn, also called Tallinn disaster or Russian Dunkirk, was a Soviet operation to evacuate the 190 ships of the Baltic Fleet, units of the Red Army, and pro-Soviet civilians from the fleet's encircled main base of Tallinn in Soviet-occupied Estonia during August 1941.

Indeed!

And they actually did an okay job of getting aboard ships during the operation. The issue was that they were sailing through mine infested waters under constant attack from shore guns and the Luftwaffe! Quite a few ships didn't make it back to Kronshtadt

[PoorOldSpike]

Glad you enjoyed it
If you clicked "No" at the end, then you'd get your nice Victory screen. But some people like to go around and mop up all remaining resistance, so I put that dialogue there for them.
I'll have to get the team to fix the scrolling dialogue boxes (it does work if you use the mousewheel).
I'd recommend you go back and play it in Challenge Mode now (click Yes on first dialogue) and see how you do? The German forces closing the Tallinn pocket had very little armour as it was all being used on the push East, so in the Challenge Mode it's much more about strategic use of Infantry, Artillery and Air Power rather than smashing a tank up the middle

1- I did click 'No', but the Victory screen never came up for me.
2- the scrolling message box didn't work for me even with the mouse wheel.
3- I did also try Challenge mode but didn't like it and quit after a few turns because you get a fixed set of units and no purchase option to buy any of your own.
I prefer scens where we CAN buy our own stuff at the start because buying is FUN, as it means we can experiment by buying different unit types each time we play, so the scen remains fresh and replayable every time we crank it up. All of OOB's 96 stock scens allow purchasing..
So it was good thinking by you to give players the option to use Challenge or Purchase mode..
Sadly there are community scens out there that are all "fixed force" with no option to buy our own, so I tend not to play them.

[Shards]

Hmm, thanks for the notes! I'll take a look and see if I can see why the scenario didn't end correctly!

[Shards]

Also, did you know about "Custom Starting Force"?

https://imgur.com/a/X5FEP

If that function is enabled on a scenario, then the map will load up with all pre-deployed core forces removed and their equivalent in RP and CP in your bank account.

If you use that with Tallinn, then you can play Challenge Mode and still choose your own forces

Ta

[PoorOldSpike]

Also, did you know about "Custom Starting Force"?
https://imgur.com/a/X5FEP

Thanks, but I'm a "simplicity" nut and am getting confused (sniffle) because now you're saying that apart from the "Challenge" option in the message box, there's also a 'Custom Starting Force' option box that does te same thing, so why clutter things up with two duplicates that both serve the same purpose?

Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, all those Russians evacuating on lots of ships slow the game right down because we have to wait forever while the AI moves each ship individually, so I'd suggest the whole evacuation process could be abstracted in some way to speed up the game. For example instead of having the units embark on ships, maybe you could just make them vanish from the game?

[Shards]

The two things are different

Custom Starting Force undeploys the Core Units to let you play the map how you like it (similar to the start of Panzerkrieg) and will work on any map where the designer has ticked the box to allow it.

The "Challenge"/"Standard" in Tallinn is my custom stuff. And the Standard actually gives you 18 more CP some extra RP and two commanders to make the map a bit easier!

And the boats are staying, mostly as it means that you can sink them with the guns at Juminda point and also gives the interesting decision as to whether to go after those transports with your Stukas or stay supporting your land crew.

(In my "Challenge Mode" on this map, the "challenge" is to let as few troops escape as possible)

[Shards]

In Simple terms.

Tick the Custom Starting Force. Say "YES" to the Play in Challenge Mode dialog.

See how you do

[PoorOldSpike]

..And the boats are staying, mostly as it means that you can sink them with the guns at Juminda point and also gives the interesting decision as to whether to go after those transports with your Stukas or stay supporting your land crew..

I always play strictly to the victory conditions in any game and try to trigger the 'Victory' message as quickly and cleanly as possible, so because sinking ships has no effect on whether we win or lose, I see no point in getting bogged down attacking them because they serve no useful purpose in the game and just slow it down.
I mean, I'd much rather go watch The Waltons on TV than stick around taking potshots at transport ships..