CSI Sweep: US Corps 1943-44

[bru888]

San Fratello v. 1.0 (continued)

So, finally getting back to the objectives themselves, I did see two problems.

Since the Axis holds Sant'Agata at the beginning, this trigger would activate only if they were to lose and retake it, which is not likely. I believe you want the "Turn Start / Check Turn / Scenario turn limit" arrangement instead:

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Since the objective is to "Destroy 2 Panzer units," this probably should be "Destroyed" instead of "Exited":

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Incidentally, there are only two panzer units in the scenario and one of them is on the "Exit Germans" AI team, so this objective is going to be tough.

[bru888]

Troina v. 1.0

Just a couple of suggestions that come to mind:
"We must remain realistic. Who knows what to expect if the enemy has a clear view of our oncoming soldiers who have little or no cover."
"We must remain realistic as to what to expect if the enemy has a clear view of our oncoming soldiers who have little or no cover."

It seems these are the right zones to be trying to exit; I'm just wondering why you named the triggers this way:

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As I mentioned earlier, would you want to spawn these as German or Italian mines for better concealment?

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[bru888]

Troina v. 1.0 (continued)

I missed this orphan in my first scan:

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[bru888]

Messina v. 1.0

Suggestion: "The enemy has begun an orderly full-scale withdrawal of the island."

It might be cool to link this trigger to the objective so that the player has a "countdown" of mines unless you want to make it difficult by not revealing the total amount of mines:

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There are a couple of things wrong with the way that this objective is handled. First, note two things: 1) It is not marked as completed at the start (as I believe it should be) and 2) it talks about adding a panzer unit to the U.S. core:

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Here is the corresponding trigger. Note that it provides for failing the objective should any German land units (not just panzers) exit, so that means the objective should be marked as completed at the start. Note also that it does not provide for adding a panzer unit to the U.S. core:

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Instead, the panzer unit is generated by this trigger, which is associated with the "Destroy the German Tiger panzer unit" objective:

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So that has to be straightened out. Perhaps remove the "Spawn Unit" Effect from the "Tiger" trigger; create another trigger that evaluates the "Prevent the German panzers from evacuating" objective at scenario end and, if valid, spawn the panzer then? Will it carry over as core to the next scenario?

This spawned fighter is not assigned to an AI team:

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The problem with this trigger is that it's set for "Capture VP Event" but the four hexes that it is looking at are not VP's. This means it will not fire until all four hexes are in U.S. hands AND there is a VP captured after that. Perhaps make this a "Combat Event" instead:

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You will order a car for the Generale di Corpo d'Armata, yes? You cannot expect a man of his rank (and girth) to walk, now do you? Grazie.

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Thread to be continued . . .

[bru888]

Salerno Landing v. 1.0

Nice touch leaving Salerno and environs as neutral, reflecting the Italian surrender and the mirroring objectives of the U.S. and Germany to seize/secure the entire region.

It should be either "They have been disarming Italian units and have begun occupying important defensive positions" or better yet, leave out "began" altogether: "They have been disarming Italian units and occupying important defensive positions."

I know why you have been using this fellow for the briefings and having him seem to be relaying orders from High Command, "Sir." If they ever do release ranking U.S. Army commanders who would be dictating orders to the player instead, I would recommend returning to this campaign and redoing all of the briefings. This guy shouldn't be used otherwise; for one thing, he's USMC:

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[bru888]

Salerno Counter-Attack v. 1.0

Recommend: "For now, the Germans have contained our landing at Salerno and our troops have retreated back to establish a defensive perimeter."

There are in fact seven secondary objectives on the map:

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So this objective has to be re-worded; perhaps "Capture/hold all 7 objectives" or "Capture/hold at least 5 objectives":

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and this trigger needs to be set accordingly; right now, it's requiring 6 or more secondary VP's:

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Perhaps link this to the objective to have a countdown?:

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Interesting. I was wondering why you left a ring of neutrality around Serre in the beginning - maybe it was cut off at some point according to history but it is adequately supplied in this scenario. This trigger resolves the situation anyway:

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[bru888]

Salerno Counter-Attack v. 1.0 (continued)

The land reinforcements in Turn 3 are assigned to AI Team #1 Reinforcement:

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but I don't think they will be doing anything once they are on the map. It looks like you were thinking of having them "Move to Hex" but there is no Target Hex assigned:

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Thread to be continued . . .

[bru888]

Naples v. 1.0

There are a couple of orphans here:

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You have said this type of thing before and it was true when this kind of primary objective was by itself. It's not necessarily true in this scenario where you have two primary objectives; all six primary VPs may be taken but the scenario will continue as long as the engineers/pontoon bridges objective remains open. Maybe just change the wording:

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I'm going to end this post right here because I want to test this pontoon bridges thing.

[bru888]

Naples v. 1.0 (continued)

So, first things first. You made the three pontoon bridge locations into primary VP's. That means you have nine primary VP's on the map. Any Allied unit that merely visits any of these A1, A2, A3 hexes will conquer a primary VP which will count toward the "Capture/hold all 6 objectives" because, as you know, the "Check VP Count condition is just counting primary VP's up to Value > 5. I suggest making these just plain old Capture Points (and not secondary VP's because that will screw up the other objective):

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Note how, by just moving the engineers to A1, A2, and A3, I already have 4 out of 6 primary VP's (the fourth being Salerno which starts out in U.S. hands):

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But okay! Three pontoon bridges; three engineers in place; objective achieved; trigger works:

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My next test was whether it could fail. I was concerned about this Road Bridge "Destroyed" condition:

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in the sense that, what would happen if one or more engineers never made it? A lack of a bridge qualifies for "Destroyed"? Apparently so:

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and if two make it and the third one does not, same result:

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So all is good except for two recommendations. One I already made and is important: Change A1, A2, and A3 to ordinary capture points.

The other recommendation is to not assign each engineer unit to a specific bridge location. That is, I recommend not naming them "A1, A2, A3" and not requiring that each specific engineer unit go to only its assigned location. You are doing that here:

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Instead, maybe name each engineer the same "Pontoon Bridge Engineer" and arrange the trigger this way:

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[bru888]

Naples v. 1.0 (continued)

This trigger will not do anything because no Target Hex has been assigned to it:

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That's a nice touch with Vesuvius and the Willys Jeep. I like it so much that I would recommend using "Check Unit(s) Near Hex" with a Distance of 1 so as to make it more likely to trigger; after all, with "Check Hex Owner" the way that you have it, when is the player going to bother to drive or walk over a mountain? Instead:

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You may want to call it "Mount Vesuvius" by the way, and since "Vesuvius has erupted many times since [destroying Pompeii] and is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Today, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world . . ." I would add a bit of fire to it!

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If you so choose, this was the only decoration that I found suitable, at least on my screen:

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[bru888]

Volturno Line v. 1.0

The scenario starts with a bit of an air supply shortage for both sides:

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This is a bit hard to see but there are ten secondary VP's on the map:

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so you may want to adjust the "Capture all 9 objectives" mission to say "Capture at least 9 objectives" or "Capture all 10 objectives." When you decide, you should adjust the Value in this trigger which is looking for only 7!:

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Briefings and outcomes were omitted. Don't forget to adjust these values, too:

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You know this already but I will comment on the smart design here: If you had set "Capture all 7 [primary] objectives" as completed immediately with the seventh VP capture, you would have gotten complaints from players who felt cheated out of their chance at a Major Victory. The reason is, these seven primary objectives are "up front" while most of the nine secondary objectives are well in the German rear area. Advancing past the Volturno Line in order to get at those secondary objectives would likely have activated the primary objective trigger and, scenario over. Instead, you have it as "Capture/hold all 7 objectives at scenario end" which works out well.

[bru888]

Cassino Breakthrough / Diadem v. 1.0

Oddly enough, I find myself advising someone with a great deal of experience in designing campaigns while I myself have very little of such experience! But when I do these sweeps, I look for anomalies. Things out of the ordinary that don't fit an expected pattern.

So, I bring this to your attention. I know that the number in this column represents starting Resource Points:

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and I know that the campaign designer provides an adequate amount of resource points in the first scenario so that the player can purchase a core force of his own. There may also be times when the designer provides a resource points "boost" if an upcoming scenario is particularly tough.

What caught my eye, though, were the bumps of 900 RP's for Volturno Line and 1920 for Cassino Breakthrough. It seems like a lot unless these scenarios are the hardest in the campaign and extra RP's are needed for proper gameplay balance. If that is not so, then those extra RP's may throw out the balance the other way:

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Recommended:
"Whatever we came up with has been unsuccessful so far in dislodging the German defenders." [Also insert space between "so" and "far."]
"You must drive the Germans from their positions in what we call Operation Diadem." [Also remove commas.]

I faithfully, doggedly, counted all 16(!) secondary objectives.

Technically, these concrete bunkers count toward the 30/31 units survive threshold because there is no Unit Definition:

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This trigger needs to be evaluated at the end of the scenario:

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Else, the way it is now, at the first Combat Event it fires and, since there are way more than 30 enemy units on the map at the beginning, it fails the objective:

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This is linked to the wrong objective:

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Same issue here:

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In the "Aufklärung!" message: "We have taken possession of a number of brand new 234/8Rad Puma recon vehicles."

Thread to be continued . . .

[bru888]

Anzio Landing v. 1.0

Wrong alliance for this trigger (it's the reason why the Turn Overview window shows a count of 0 Panzer units instead of 7 to start):

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Here's a quibble for you. Tank destroyers are included in this objective:

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and presumably they are supposed to be included in this condition as Anti-Tank class:

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The trouble is, that class also includes these AT guns which are hardly armor but very likely to have been purchased at one point by the player:

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So instead, I would go with this arrangement. I checked; these are the only 2 U.S. tank destroyers that are available during the period of this campaign:

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Technically, the M15, M16, T85, and M19 are also listed as Anti-Tank (they appear to be AA guns that have an AT switch) but I don't think they would qualify as "armored." Well, maybe the T85 and M19 would but let's put it like this: The player will expect to lose this objective if he has a Wolverine or Hellcat destroyed. Correct me if I am wrong, but those are machines that we think of as "Tank Destroyers." He will not expect AT guns and AA/AT vehicles to be included in this.

[bru888]

Anzio Landing v. 1.0 (continued)

Anyway, going back to this trigger, it's got the wrong objective for "Set Objective State":

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as does this one (remember by the way, if you take my suggestion above, to also change this trigger to Class = Tank; Unit Type = M10 Wolverine / M18 Hellcat):

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This is a nice reward. Maybe mention it in the mission description for enhanced incentive?:

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When you say "Capture the supply trains," that business with Gandhi in Quit India Denied comes to mind. "Surround the blighter! Don't let him get away!" In fact, the trains must be destroyed, so why not say so in the mission and avoid confusing the player?:

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There are some issues with the trains module and I am also going to stray into the unwelcome territory of design advice. Let's get that over with first.

You have all four trains bunched together here in the beginning:

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So here they are, still bunched together and now looking like a train of trains, already very close to the exit after only two German turns:

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Not optimal, I would say. Maybe delay the "Exit the Map" order until U.S. units have landed? And I would separate the trains and move them further away from the exit. Say, a couple of trains placed a hex or two apart and close to Anzio, and a couple of trains on the other rail line to the west and east of Cisterna.

Also, this is wrong and I think I know why:

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You have the objective linked to both of these triggers:

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When I removed the link from the failure trigger (note, by the way, that it is incorrectly set to complete the objective instead), the number displayed properly:

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[bru888]

Anzio Landing v. 1.0 (continued)

I'm wondering about these two triggers:

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They are both set to activate when there is a "Capture VP Event" and the Germans own these hexes. The problem is, they already own these hexes from the start.

You have both teams heading for these points in the beginning:

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I am thinking what you meant was, if the U.S. (green alliance) owns these hexes after having just captured them, then change the tasks for AI teams Grp-1 and Grp-2 from "Move to Hex" to "Seek and Destroy."

Thread to be continued . . .

[bru888]

Anzio Defense v. 1.0

"After much ebb and flow, several series of attacks and counter attacks, the frontline has changed." [Remove the "l" from in front of "changed."]

Slightly more than half of German land units are not assigned to any AI teams.

Orphanage 1:

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Orphanage 2:

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There's no mention of an award for this objective:

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but a specialisation point is awarded nonetheless:

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NONE of the German commanders are assigned to any unit:

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[bru888]

Anzio Defense v. 1.0 (continued)

This trigger is exactly the same as the one in Anzio Landing. Same spawned units, same popup message, even the same target hexes:

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I don't think you meant it to occur twice. Then I thought, "Oh, maybe it's in a different Crossroads Option," but no; one follows the other on the same path:

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Then I thought you may have intended this to occur in Anzio Defense if it did not occur in Anzio Landing (you would need to use a campaign variable in that case) but that's a bit of a stretch in that these abandoned Panzer units were behind German lines in Anzio Landing but are within American lines in Anzio Defense.

Besides, with the trigger constructed the way that it is, in Anzio Defense it activates on the very first move:

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And that image is not in this folder. So 'fess up, you side-winding varmint! (As they say in the States.) You copied this scenario from the previous one and forgot to delete or alter this goody trigger, didn't you? ( )

[bru888]

Anzio Breakout v. 1.0

Since this is the last scenario in this branch of the campaign, it doesn't seem very useful to be awarding specialisation points. Perhaps you might consider resource points which would be helpful for the rest of the scenario:

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These two sets of triggers need to be reconsidered, perhaps. The first in each pair directs an AI team to "Move to Hex" if a green alliance unit nears that hex. However, the second in each pair tells the team to switch from Local Defense to Seek & Destroy if a gray alliance is near the hex. In both cases, the second trigger fires immediately because German units are on and near the hexes:

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[bru888]

Anzio Link-up v. 1.0

An orphan here:

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Briefings:
"Reconnaissance planes spotted several German vehicles which we have not seen so far on the field of battle." [Insert space between "so" and "far."]
"In ten(?) turns or less, all objectives must be captured." [The scenario is 18 turns.]

No rewards whatsoever for secondary objectives. As we discussed previously, since this is also the end of the campaign in this branch, specialisation points would not be useful. Maybe some resources or a bonus unit for one or two of them?

This concludes another enjoyable sweep of a fine campaign which looks like it will be quite enjoyable to play. I hope my efforts will have helped to make it even better.