Bru's Scenarios and Campaigns

[bru888]

Wow, Erik, based on that walkover performance, I feel fully justified in restoring the Axis AA guns back to full strength. I feel confident that this will ratchet up the difficulty and prioritize the use of American fighters to battle them instead of going for the refineries themselves. The only risk of losing this scenario is the loss of bombers and that will go up substantially now.

Noble, but stupid OSS Unit! I tried every darned AI setting I could think of to get it to just "defend the tent like a good chap, will you?" Either the unit would sit passively while the nosy Romanian Military Police proceed to destroy the airstrip, or it would "conquer" the nearby town of Gherghita which in turn would cow the Romanian police unit into its own passivity. Solutions: Change the OSS Unit to human control once its construction task is done and dial up the aggression of the police unit.

Sorry about the multiple Marshalling Yard explosions. I had the bright idea that it would look cool to have wreckage spewing smoke on every turn thereafter (as you know, as soon as any unit enters such a hex, the wreckage is cleared away) so I set it up to re-create the concrete bunkers and destroy them every turn. I did not realize that there would be audible explosions as well, which must have seemed weird and annoying. Removed.

As to "The mission extension should trigger a 'scenario end' condition to allow the player to finish any remaining secondary objectives," I included destroying the rest of the trains along with the fuel depots and oil pumps in the condition for finishing the scenario if that option is chosen.

To aid the airmen on their escape, I have placed small supply caches at a few key intersections along their journey to the woods. (I prefer the airmen as bandits rather than paratroopers for aesthetic reasons and because paratroopers could be used to unrealistically wipe out the Romanian police).

I found the problem with the evacuation trigger. Advanced forensic analysis was necessary!

Ploesti Revisited v1.1 is uploaded.

Changes:
- Returned all Axis AA guns to full strength.
- Provided for the human player to take over control of the OSS Unit.
- Removed multiple Marshalling Yard demolition effects.
- Included trains in the condition for finishing the mission option.
- Placed supply caches to aid airmen on their escape.
- Anchored the "Make a Break" and "Here They Come" messages to the proper spot on the map.
- Fixed an issue with the paratrooper evacuation trigger.

[GabeKnight]

Ploesti Revisited v1.1, v6.1.9, level3

Again a nice scen. Very story driven, as usual. And those little "side missions" add a nice diversion to the overall gameplay. Very professionally done, I guess you must be doing some creative work IRL, too.

Surprisingly quite the difficult mission, to be honest. Unbelievably many AA positions.

The pure primary objectives are achievable without problems and without great of a plan. But in my first playthrough I failed the paratroopers evac and the "demolish...yard" objective didn't check complete (but I may have used the OSS unit and bombers for support). Later I also failed the prim. objective ("lose bombers") near the end due to miscalculations on my part and too reckless play with the third wave units (because I never expected a fourth...).
In my defence: It's hard to calculate right with four or five AA's firing - and some of them, like the 88, taking up to 4 HP damage on my bombers in one attack.

To achieve all prim. and sec. (with "yes" answered to continue fighting), I had to restart. The second playthrough went much smoother. Consolidating forces is key.
(But I suspect a "Major Victory" on level 5 diff. to be veeeeeery hard; if possible at all)

Observations/suggestions:

- the "To aid the airmen on their escape" mission works perfectly, but besides adding a nice touch, it's too easy. I think one partisan unit would be moooore than enough for this task.
- the "OSS/paratrooper" mission plays well, if one listens to orders. It's just too tempting to attack one of the pesky AA units with them . I even used the OSS special forces unit to come to the para's aid. And of course my airstrip got destoyed... I think you should add a warning that it might get attacked, like with the crashed airmen. The triggers worked okay.
- I love the Brit Wellington bombers...they're practically invulnerable to ground AA...
- There's some kind of "reveal area" relic near the original OSS/farm house location (see screnshot). Acts like a radar, allowing me to see enemy plane movement. Intended?

Screenshot 680.jpg (462.32 KiB) Viewed 4547 times

- I have no idea what the "complete the mission" objective's counting. Confusing. And not working correctly it seems (I did destroy and damage all of the pumps/depots with bombers/P38-Lightnings only). Bruce, I didn't look in the editor, so I have no clue why this isn't working - if the error's not to be found easily, I'll gladly help in analyzing why this happened <-> my gameplay/approach.

Very minor, rather a suggestion for future projects: The fighter/bomber spawns were well timed, but I think the new waves should arrive about 1-2 turns earlier. As it is now there are several turns of me just moving all my bombers toward the exits, with nothing else to do. That time could be better spent with the new units arriving...

Screenshot 681.jpg (739.03 KiB) Viewed 4547 times

Nice balance, difficult mission. Very well scripted. I liked it. Thank you.

[bru888]

Gabe, thanks for the usual great feedback. I will look into this stuff soon. As far as the difficulty, that's intended because it was based on real life. Especially the first American mission to bomb Ploesti in August 1943, Operation Tidal Wave. I don't know if you noticed but in the Information folder there is a reprint of the Wikipedia article on Operation Tidal Wave. It was brutal, precisely because of the way the mission was conducted (low-level and without fighter support) and the ubiquity of enemy AA guns all around the oil refineries. Not so much the Axis fighters, but the AA guns.

This scenario sort of crams the campaign that began six months later into one day, with raids conducted properly at high altitude and with fighter support. Yet it was still a tough grind. According to another article in that folder (Ploesti—The Rest of the Story), "The four-month-long campaign had seen the launch of 5,675 bombing sorties . . . with nearly 14,000 tons of ordnance dropped. The sustained effort cost 282 U.S. and 38 British aircraft, but proved that persistent strikes could ruin a major industrial complex. In the end, Ploesti’s burned and battered refineries were producing just a dribble: a 90 percent reduction in petroleum intended for the Wehrmacht."

[GabeKnight]

Only glanced through some of the stuff you've attached. When reading English, esp. with many technical/military expressions, I'll have to look up too many words and it's exhausing...
But I read the briefings, events and your OP, of course. The sheer numbers of aircraft involved left me surprised and astonished.

As far as the difficulty, that's intended because it was based on real life. [...] It was brutal, precisely because of the way the mission was conducted (low-level and without fighter support) and the ubiquity of enemy AA guns all around the oil refineries. Not so much the Axis fighters, but the AA guns.

Yeah, well, the AA was brutal in the scen. The dogfighters not so much, their stats are quite weak when it comes to "large" attack.

Speaking of units... reading through some of the stuff made me admire the balancing of the units' stats in OoB, though. It seems many of the game's units are actually a good match with their "real-life" conterparts when it comes to the roles they're performing in combat.

[GabeKnight]

Hello. Just a reminder that there's this thread, too.

[bru888]

Hello. Just a reminder that there's this thread, too.

ZZZZZZZzzzz . . . [snork,cough] . . . "Huh? Wha? Who woke this thread up? Oh, it's just you, Gabe . . ."

[airbornemongo101]

Hello. Just a reminder that there's this thread, too.

ZZZZZZZzzzz . . . [snork,cough] . . . "Huh? Wha? Who woke this thread up? Oh, it's just you, Gabe . . ."

It's Alive.....It's Alive!!!!

[GabeKnight]

Yeah, sorry, I'm grumpy in the morning, too..

[bru888]

Castle Itter is released. It is a single-player scenario; extract the folder to C:\Users\[your name]\Documents\My Games\Order of Battle - WW2\Scenarios. As usual, subfolders contain information and maps.

preview.png (238.36 KiB) Viewed 3764 times

Four days before the end of the war in Europe, a force of U.S. soldiers, German renegades, Austrian resistance fighters, and French prisoners unite in battle to turn back a Waffen SS assault on a stronghold in Tyrol, Austria. It is thought to be the only time that Americans and Germans fought as allies during World War II.

[Erik2]

Interesting and very original subject. Great production as usual and nice surprising scripting during play.

This is not an easy scenario, the difficulty is mainly choosing the best approach. Which of course is great.
My first try ended in failure as I spent too much time making sure all SS units encountered were properly eliminated.
The second attempt were better as the odd Allies concentrated on movement while making sure supply was not cut (too often). The main SS attackers on the castle was intercepted just as they were moving towards the main entrance.
All of the original US units including the command tanks were eventually sacrified in front of the gate. The Wehrmacht units suffered the same fate.
I think the relief force arrives a bit too late (3-4-turns). Maybe it would help if the inf arrived in trucks.
Even with the relief units in place the SS will grind the Allies down. Maybe reduce number of turns by 2-4.
The end-game was a bit frustrating as the total Allied forces are no match against the hordes of SS units. I would remove some enemy units. By turn 34 the SS units got inside the castle.
Intense experience.
The sec obj ‘Eliminate all SS units’ must be a cruel joke...

MV.jpg (144.95 KiB) Viewed 3742 times

[Erik2]

Replay attached.

[bru888]

The main SS attackers on the castle was intercepted just as they were moving towards the main entrance.
All of the original US units including the command tanks were eventually sacrified in front of the gate. The Wehrmacht units suffered the same fate.

Erik, thanks for the feedback. These few sentences were gratifying because it took a lot of effort to choreograph the timing and balance so that Gangl and Lee's forces would arrive in dramatic fashion like that. If one played well, that is.

However, the end game could use some tweaking. When I played it through the last time, I had the same experience as you in that everybody was dead but the scenario ended just in time (all of my French prisoners survived, which I thought was neat). I chalked that up to my inferior game playing skill but if it happened to you as well, after two tries, then it seems to be still out of balance.

I will get to it soon but for now, I feel the need to spend some more time in the studio.

[bru888]

Actually, I did better the next time I played it, without any further changes. Note two things: I play on middle difficulty, and I knew to conserve resources by never using elite repairs:

Screenshot 8.jpg (472.64 KiB) Viewed 3704 times

Castle Itter Replay.zip

(10.68 KiB) Downloaded 106 times

I missed out on a Major Victory because I lunged at Bochmann (he needs to be boxed in). If you look at the replay, notice how I nearly got caught with my pants down at Itter, around Turn 26.

Accordingly, I made these changes to Version 1.1 of Castle Itter:

- Provided transportation to arriving relief infantry units (which makes sense; they wouldn't be walking in an emergency)
- Reduced U.S. resource points (note that there is no income; only two batches which must be conserved, yet it was a bit too easy for me)
- Adjusted the early scenario end triggers to take into account the situation that I was in: Turn 32, all Waffen SS troops gone, Bochmann escaped)

[conboy]

Excellent scenario! I like ones I can beat the first time through but just barely. I survived but got no secondary objectives -- Germans killed a prisoner with just one shot on the last turn. Like Erik, most of my good guys were killed in front of the gate, caught unawares by the scope of the counterattack. I guess I should have anticipated it due to the fact that the counter said there were at least 10 bad guys left.

I would have liked the orders to be a bit clearer (e.g., state explicitly "hold the prison for 40 turns" -- I thought it would be checked off, the prisoners would run out the gate for some chow, and I could move on to other objectives.) When you say, "Free all the prisoners", it makes me think that if I link to the gate, then they'll run free. It would be clearer to say "Ensure all the prisoners are alive at the end of the scenario."

Once I cleared the gate and set up a perimeter (that I did not maintain!), I went hunting bad guys with the relief forces and was scattered all over the place when the counterattack arrived. Barely held on -- exciting! But I didn't like the one-shot kill on the prisoner on the last turn ... grr!

The map is fantastic - super! I really like the double wall around the castle and the moat. Good stuff. I'm gonna keep that in mind...

My auxiliary tanks stayed put the whole time, guarding the river towns. I might have saved all the poor prisoners if they had activated.

I think it's strange having objectives checked off to start with. I can't remember if I've seen that before.

thanks, Bru, good job. Very creative and interesting story line, well-told.

Didn't make a victory screen shot but here is a replay if you're interested.

Castle.zip

(11.01 KiB) Downloaded 83 times

conboy

[bru888]

Erik, conboy, I looked at both of your replays with a bit of shock. Did either of you have a Wehrmacht Major Gangl and two other infantry units in your scenario? Did either of you see these popup messages? If not, I am starting to lose faith with this whole process. How in the heck can a scenario operate properly on my computer and fail on both of yours?

Screenshot 2.jpg (442.18 KiB) Viewed 3578 times

Screenshot 3.jpg (437 KiB) Viewed 3578 times

Screenshot 4.jpg (444.14 KiB) Viewed 3578 times

The Wehrmacht units get deployed on Turn 1 which is also when those messages appear. That is the whole point of Castle Itter; Gangl and his men are supposed to meet Lee and his American units at the bridge, forge an alliance, and move together toward the castle, fighting Waffen SS units on the way.

Unless I am misunderstanding the replay mechanism and I am seeing only the American units and moves for some reason . . . No I'm not misunderstanding, am I? I'm seeing exactly what happened. My gosh.

[bru888]

Geez. I don't know what to say except that I am at my rope's end with OOB. Each of your replays starts on Turn 2 because Turn 1 is only for Major Gangl and his Wehrmacht units, plus those introductory messages. It looks like you guys never got those messages and you were playing the scenario without a significant amount of your forces available.

Again, the whole idea of Castle Itter is that it was the only time during the war that the Wehrmacht and the U.S. fought on the same side, even in a minor skirmish such as this. I'm surprised that you did as well as you did, considering that you were playing with only the Americans involved. You must have been wondering what the heck I was talking about.

AND AGAIN, IT WORKS FINE HERE. JUST DAMNED FINE.

Here's the story. A while back, I started converting everything that I could get my hands on concerning OOB, official DLC and custom content, so that it played well for me, according to my standards. That accounts for my lack of published creativity for a long time. Until now, that is, with this latest mess that almost never saw the light of day due to two cases of corrupted files.

I am returning to those private projects now. Castle Itter is the last original publication that I will contribute. The game, the editors . . . they should operate properly. They should operate consistently. How in the heck does one plan and execute a project when the basic mechanisms cannot be relied upon?

This doesn't mean that I am giving up on OOB altogether. Rather, my focus is reverting back to my own little world of OOB in which I don't have to worry about whether something that I made works for others. Erik, this does not mean that I will not continue to help you, with sweeps and studio contributions. It does mean that those projects will continue to be yours in terms of authorship and responsibility.

[bru888]

Anyway, conboy, thanks. Rant over - that was some cri de coeur, eh?

It was the culmination of more than three years of frustration with this game but that's over now. Back to the netherworld for me and OOB, back to my comfort zone of private development, management, and play where OOB stuff either works, or it don't.

Thanks specifically for your feedback. Based on it, I made these changes:

- Ensured that the tanks guarding the river bridge would be freed up at one point (your two-pronged attack on both sides of the river was not anticipated)
- Clarified the "Save all of the French prisoners" objective:

Screenshot 5.jpg (213.27 KiB) Viewed 3563 times

In addition, I returned U.S. resources to 300 to start and 300 with relief force appearance because that is my preference. I'm no longer worried about whether you OOB sharks will think it's too easy - it's the way that I want to play it!

And I am not redesigning the initial German deployment on Turn 1. It works for me despite apparently losing something in the transition through the forums, or in different computer setups, or whatever. Good grief.

Screenshot 6.jpg (441.9 KiB) Viewed 3551 times

So, the final version 1.2 of Castle Itter has been uploaded.

Now, let's let this thread descend back into obscurity, shall we?

[conboy]

Bru,
I saw all those popups and I started on turn one. But the tanks guarding the river junction never moved. I looked at the trigger later (cursorily) and couldnt figure out why they didn't move. I hope you can get to the bottom and fix it because it is a first-class scenario. Top 99% of all I've ever played!
I just thought it was a little difficult, esp secondaries.

conboy

[bru888]

Thanks again, conboy. One way or the other, it's finished now (v. 1.2). Try downloading it again and see if it works properly. Above all, there should be three Wehrmacht units under your control in Turn 1 in the town of Wörgl. One of them is labeled as Major Gangl. (Heh, the idea of telling this story without him and his men makes me do this: )

If it works, fine. If it doesn't work, you are handy with the scenario editor now. Tinker and do what you want with it. Follow the triggers; Gangl and his men are supposed to march east on Turn 1. On Turn 2, they meet with Lee and his men who arrive in Werlberg across the river. (I left Mayrhofn free of Waffen SS to facilitate the meeting.) Odd alliance ensues, supply shortage fixed, mission explained in the six popups in Turns 1 and 2, and away you go.

See if you can get it to work for yourself. I would prefer that you don't republish it, though. I prefer that the official version remains as it is because, darn it, it's WAD on my end.

[conboy]

Copy all.

Thanks again for the fine scenario.