CSI Sweep: Germany West 1945

[bru888]

Wesel v. 0.9

I know that you occasionally use neutral hexes to control deployment but I am wondering what the purpose is of having this primary VP, Mehrhoog, start the scenario as neutral. It's not near deployment; it's in German territory; and it's next to a German airfield:

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That's all I could find with this scenario; everything else seems fine. Except that you have "Bomber Stream" as one of the British specialisations; for reasons that we are aware of, it's probably better to remove that one. Also, you are missing the usual "Change Income" effects on your air deploys.

[bru888]

End on the Elbe v. 0.9

Two orphans, highlighted and circled; I am guessing AI Team 3 "US Zone-4" and 7 "US SW" respectively:

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The Soviets begin with a slight deficit in supply; even this small amount will affect all of their land units until they conquer a supply point:

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Here's an issue with primary VP's. Note that there are 7 on the map, not 6:

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That is because the airfield near the southern edge of the map is marked as a primary VP. Judging by its not being included with the objective hex links, I venture to guess that it wasn't intended as a primary VP and should have its flag downgraded to ordinary capture point (or removed altogether):

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Actually, what I would do if this were my scenario would be to remove that airfield flag, place primary VP flags on Prettin and Riesa for a total of 8 primary VP's, and adjust objectives and triggers accordingly.

There are offsetting logic errors with this objective:

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First, it's the type of objective that needs to be evaluated at the end of the scenario. In this case, this is also the end of the campaign (in this branch of the tree), so what is the utility of these resource points?

Second, the objective trigger is set for "Combat Event" rather than "Turn Start / Check Turn / Scenario turn limit." That's where the "offsetting" aspect comes into play in that as soon as the first combat occurs, it will fire and award the resource points (unless it's a Waffen SS unit destroyed in the first combat):

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My suggestion is to replace this objective with some other immediate reward that can be used during the scenario. Any objective that rewards prizes only at the end of the scenario will be meaningless with the campaign ending at the same time.

[Zekedia222]

Hate to interrupt, but is this campaign actually downloadable yet, or is this a sweep before release? Quite curious, because I genuinely want to know.

[bru888]

Hate to interrupt, but is this campaign actually downloadable yet, or is this a sweep before release? Quite curious, because I genuinely want to know.

Sweep before release. Erik usually follows along and updates as I finish each scenario, so he releases soon after I am finished. I've been a bit tardy myself; family stuff, business, and then illness. You see that I just finished the one leg of the tree, ending in Elbe. That's 10 down, 8 to go. I should be able to pick up the pace now.

[bru888]

Let's talk a bit about enemy specialisations. It is your customary preference to award enemy specialisations "up front" for the added challenge that they theoretically create.

However, I have found that not all enemy specialisations need to be bestowed (especially since you need to pick each one and confirm it individually, a time-consuming task). Naturally, this depends on the scenario and campaign.

It is my opinion - see if you agree with this - that "academy" specialisations are not necessary unless you intend the AI to purchase new units (and will it, even if you check the "Purchase" box in the Alliances tab?). So this eliminates all the specialisations like Training School, Flight School, Naval Academy, and others like Advanced Aeronautics which imply the AI purchasing new units.

Next, any specialisations that deal with additional command points can be eliminated (again, that question of what the AI would do if it was given CP's - would it purchase units up to that constraint but only if it had CP's to begin with? - it's frustrating sometimes that we don't know exactly how this game works). This includes Female Factory Labor and War Economy.

Lastly, if there is no air or naval force involved, all of those specialisations can be left out. There is no naval action in any of these scenarios, so naval specialisations are not necessary.

So, here is what I would recommend as the standard "package" of specialisations for each Ally in the scenarios of this campaign:

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This includes only those specialisations that will benefit the performance of units that have been assigned to the AI in the scenario. Here is a listing of specialisations if you wish to double-check the choices. Let me know if you have a differing opinion on this matter.

Specialisations.zip

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[bru888]

Houffalize v. 0.9

So now you will see why I had those thoughts expressed above. This has to be an error, no? Else why would you be awarding German specialisations that the player is busy accumulating specialisation points in order to purchase?

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Instead, here is the "standard" (if you buy what I said above) U.S. package for this campaign:

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[bru888]

Houffalize v. 0.9 (continued)

There are German airfields with no supply but since there are no German air units in the scenario, no harm done if intended.

Turns Limit = 18 but Turns per Day = 24 which is an unusual arrangement. Usually, they will match if you mean all of the action to take place in one day. So the reason I am mentioning it is perhaps you meant to make it 24 turns and changed the wrong setting?

With this trigger, timing it for the possible "sudden ending" of "Capture all 7 objectives" would be appropriate only if it was the type of objective that must wait until the end of the scenario, either ending early or at scenario turn limit, to be evaluated. This one does not. As soon as the last U.S. tank is eliminated, the objective and prizes should be awarded; the player generally knows that such a secondary goal needs to be achieved before the scenario ends one way or another, and adjusts his approach accordingly. Hence, I feel that this condition should be removed:

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Incidentally, I am confused by the extensive use of U.S. Recruits in this scenario. Are they supposed to represent the cooks, supply, ordnance, and HQ personnel caught behind the lines by the German onslaught? If so, why make them experienced cooks, etc.? (All of them have 4 experience.) By my count, there are 26 recruit units in the scenario but they should pose no real problem; maybe that's what you intended. If so, I would label them as "Non-combatant Personnel" and mention them in the briefing. And leave them at 4 experience to give them a bit of a chance.

[bru888]

Celles v. 0.9

Again, unsupplied airfields but immaterial in that there are no air units in this one.

This is a good example of the opposite of what I said above. In this case, we need to check the "Check Unit Count" condition whenever the scenario ends, whether it's early or at "Scenario turn limit." So, you do want the "Check Objective State" condition here instead of "Check Turn / Scenario Turn Limit" because, if the player captures all 7 primary objectives earlier than that, the scenario will end immediately and this trigger will never fire:

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Everything else is okay with this scenario - it's pretty straightforward - except you may want to consider the enemy specialisations once again. Oh, and no Allied commanders were assigned.

Thread to be continued . . .

[Erik2]

Specialisations

Thanks for the spec list. Very usable.
I have already started using the same spec logic and have been pruning earlier scenarios whenever they're loaded in the editor.
In addition to your list the scenario date/year also comes into play...

[bru888]

Liege v. 0.9

The Waffen SS is short-changed for Dump-9; should be 100 resources:

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The usual story here, due to the possibility of an early scenario ending:

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You unlock only three British air commanders. Three land commanders can also be unlocked.

One other quibble: The single airfield in German hands is sufficient in terms of supply for the 18 air command points but when 3 Ar 234 bombers are spawned on Turn 2, air supply will be short and it's too early to expect the player to have captured an enemy airfield and have it operational. Suggest another German airfield to start or bump the supply in the first one to 30.

[bru888]

Liege v. 0.9 (continued)

There are actually 10 fuel depots on the map; the tenth, unnumbered, is this one:

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I would suggest merely deleting that fuel depot; Aachen is "off the beaten track," so to speak; it would be unlikely that the Germans would swerve so far north and east from their path to Antwerp for the sake of one fuel depot.

At the same time, perhaps something could be arranged for that Aachen garrison, freed from fuel depot guard duty, to indulge in an attack of opportunity behind enemy lines . . .

That leads to one more recommendation. The secondary flags are not needed for the triggers to work as they focus on fuel depots, not flags.* I would remove the flags - they are dead giveaways as to the positions of the fuel depots - and let the player have the fun of needing to find them (all the more reason to remove the 10th fuel depot at Aachen). Of course, if you agree, you should remove the "Capture all 9 fuel dumps" objective hex links as well.

*I realized something later; if you remove the secondary VP flags, then the "Dumps" triggers all need to be set for "Any Event" instead of "Capture VP Event." Alternatively, you could use "Combat Event" and "Unit Killed/Removed" linked to each fuel depot.

[bru888]

Antwerp v. 0.9

Orphan here. I am guessing AI Team 9 "Lier":

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Note that you have reserved the Yellow alliance for the Kriegsmarine faction, to be used for V1 Flying Bombs:

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So it appears you inadvertently chose the Yellow alliance for these functions when they should be the Light Blue alliance:

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[bru888]

Antwerp v. 0.9 (continued)

"Capture all 10 Supply Dumps" mission description: "Get 100 Wehrmacht resources for each Fuel Depot destroyed."

Unlike Liege, in this scenario, you do not use objective flags for the pumping stations or the fuel depots. Hence, timing these triggers for "Capture VP Event" will not work. So I would either use "Any Event" or, alternatively, you could use "Combat Event" and "Unit Killed/Removed" linked to each pumping station and fuel depot. (Finding this is what jogged my memory and led to the addendum in red font in the Liege post above.)

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Again, as in Liege, I recommend not pointing to their hexes with the objectives because the player may have more fun finding them all instead.

In neither of these triggers is this condition needed because it is not necessary to wait until the end of the scenario (either early ending or scenario turn limit) for them to be evaluated and complete the objectives:

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Since some members of AI Team 15 "Local" are positioned close to the front lines, and hence will be engaged long before the British are down to 4 primary VPs (whereupon AI Team 15 is switched to "Seek & Destroy), perhaps it would be better to set them to "Local Defense" or even "Static Defense" rather than leaving them on "Idle":

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One last note: The air supply at the German airfield matches exactly the needs dictated by the air command points (24). As early as Turn 1, you have more German "aircraft" spawning but apparently these MXY7 Ohka units do not need supply:

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So all is well:

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I note, however, that they don't do much damage at all, soft or hard target (Infantry Attack 2 / Vehicle Attack 4). They're really just window dressing.

[bru888]

Brussels v. 0.9

There is an anachronism here which I believe was caused when you used the Antwerp map for this scenario. The scenario name and description are the same, as is the date:

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Suggestions:
1) Revise the scenario name and description. As for the description, this is a battle of consolidation over the conquests of the previous scenario: Hold onto Antwerp and keep the Allies divided. Perhaps: The Germans attempt to hold onto their advantages gained in battle back in January: the port of Antwerp and the enemy dangerously divided.
2) Choose a date between Antwerp (15-1-1945) and Berlin (14-5-1945) for Brussels. [Actually, the scenario editor gives us the answer: 29-4-1945.]

I'd be remiss if I did not make this suggestion for a "stretch" secondary objective: Capture Brussels.

The "Prevent the US and British from connecting" objective points only to EIndhoven, not Brussels.

[bru888]

Brussels v. 0.9 (continued)

None of the U.S. aircraft are assigned to AI teams; I imagine you will use AI Teams 12 and 13:

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The target hex is missing for this deployment:

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This trigger is strange. It's saying, "If all 10 primary VPs are in German hands, and the turn is exactly 20, then Seek & Destroy." Not sure what you meant here; maybe reconsider and revise as necessary. [On second thought, perhaps you meant "If the Germans still hold all 10 primary VPs on or after Turn 20, then release these units to Seek & Destroy." If so, then "Turn > 19"]:

[bru888]

Brussels v. 0.9 (continued)

Here's a suggestion concerning the "Prevent the US and British from connecting" objective. In this case, it works in a negative sense; that is, the objective is achieved to begin with and is decided one way or the other at the scenario turn limit.

The trouble is, how does the player know in the meantime that the Americans and British are in contact? It could be quite a subtle and convoluted path of supply which could go overlooked.

So I would rename the existing triggers ("EOS" = End of Scenario) and build a new set of alarm triggers in this fashion:

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[bru888]

Brussels v. 0.9 (continued)

These triggers and AI teams seem to be misaligned:

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[bru888]

Gates of Berlin v. 0.9

Orphan here. I am guessing AI Team 4 "Zone-1":

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Mission Briefing: "I've previously arranged for several V1 weapons to be available..."

Trim the final "n" from // UNIT NAMES unit_28 = Generalfeldmarschall Habermannn

In the "Ger 11 objs" trigger, I suggest that the Unit Owner setting for "Check VP Count" be changed from the German Grey Alliance to Team 1. Reason: There is a chance that Lebus will stay in the hands of the KM Brown Alliance and thus would not count toward the primary VP's held by the Grey Alliance.

I say, something must be done about this damned fool Habermann. On the very first turn, he dashes north, along Soviet front lines I might add, and gets himself killed forthwith no matter what is done to try and protect him. The immediate order for him to "Exit the Map" is his death warrant.

I was going to recommend placing Habermann under human control so that his escape could be rationally planned except that moving the KM faction to the human Grey Alliance column will include the V1s and doing so will also disqualify Habermann from using the Brown Alliance exit hexes. Instead, you could delay and then route Habermann's escape with a series of triggers.

Such as having Habermann on "Static Defense" at first and then a step-by-step approach involving "Check Unit(s) Near Hex" (enemy cleared from 5 hexes of next destination) and "Check Supply Connection" (open from current location to the next destination); if both are true, "Setup AI Team" to move to next destination. I took a look at it and found that you could set this up with two folders of five activation triggers; the first two triggers in each being the same with the third trigger diverging paths to either the northern or southern exit hex. A scenario start random trigger would choose between the two folders.

I like this approach because Habermann's movements are out of the player's hands, necessitating careful monitoring and protection and being more challenging than if the player did the driving himself. If you choose to alter this module in this manner, then perhaps change the objective to "Save Generalfeldmarschall Habermann" and update the mission description to something like "Escort Generalfeldmarschall Habermann to safety. He will move only if he sees a way clear to the next waypoint and will exit at one of the Escape Zones in the west. Once he is back at headquarters, he will order the launch of any remaining V1 rockets."

I found out something new: Even though you point to Generalfeldmarschall Habermann with the "U" objective hex link, apparently if there are "H" links, those will override and the "U" link is disregarded. Anyway, that being the case, you only point to one of the exit hexes. You should also point to the other or, my preference would be to point to the unit instead and let the player find the exit hexes. They are mentioned in the mission description and are easy to find.

There's a design flaw concerning the victory points. See how the scenario starts with two secondary objectives already in hand:

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That's because there are secondary VP flags on the exit hexes and the true secondary objectives - the Oder River crossings - are marked with primary VP flags. Simple to fix: Mark the exit hexes with ordinary capture point flags and place secondary VP flags on the Oder River crossings.

Wrong alliance selected here:

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Suggestion for a nifty additional secondary objective: "Destroy all enemy pontoon bridges." By that, I mean this type of crossing:

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and here is how I would do it (linked to the objective, of course, which I forgot to do before I took the screenshot):

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Along with a revised briefing; perhaps this added: "The goal thereafter is to ultimately drive the Soviets back across the Oder River. Three major turnpike and railroad crossings must be captured intact - we may have use for them again soon - but the ten pontoon bridges that the enemy has thrown over the Oder must be destroyed. Engineer units will be required." Just a suggestion.

Incidentally, may I offer you this "maus" image instead of the one that you used? That one looks like somebody's models.

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Source: https://www.militaryimages.net/media/pa ... ank.85183/

[bru888]

Dunkirk v. 0.9

Scenario Name: Suggest revising the name to "Dunkirk 1945" to distinguish this hypothetical scenario from the real one.

Briefing: Suggest adding to this as follows, "The Generalfeldmarschall sends his greetings to you, Herr General, but he has not yet recovered from his wounds. In his stead, I, as a member of the 'Helferinnen der Wehrmacht', will be acting as your liaison. Please excuse the Soviet uniform; I am on special assignment after this. Shall we begin?"

Briefing: If you decide to make that edit, perhaps this should be worded as, "I wish you luck, Herr General. I look forward to seeing you again." (Use "again" instead of "on the coast" because she will be elsewhere, on that "special assignment.")

Briefing: It contains a reference to "our first aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin! Earn victory here, and perhaps we'll get the chance to use her!" I see no provision for spawning it here and in the Sea Lion scenario it is provided gratis. However, this reference can lend a bit to the excitement and anticipation of seeing it in the next scenario. Hence, I recommend this addendum: "Earn victory here, and perhaps we'll get the chance to use her in the near future!"

Ophan; I'm guessing AI Team 1 "Static":

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For both of these triggers, they fall into the category of needing to be evaluated at the end of the scenario, whenever that is. In this case, the scenario could end early ("Capture all 6 objectives") and therefore these triggers would not fire as they are waiting for "Scenario turn limit." Suggest "Capture VP Event / Check Objective State / Capture all 6 objectives = Completed":

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I doubt that this team is meant to defend the map origin. Judging by the team name, it should be defending Hex (12,17):

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De Panne is one of the primary VP's according to "Capture all 6 objectives" but it is marked with an ordinary capture point flag. In order for the objective trigger to work properly, place a primary VP flag on De Panne:

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[bru888]

Sea Lion-45 v. 0.9

My CPU groaned with the effort of loading this monster. My laptop itself seemed to grow heavier, pressing down on my vitals - it was not pleasurable.

Just kidding, but Holy Smokes. This appears to be a cast of thousands! (Of units, not men.) I wonder how it will play.

The scenario started alright and the first turn had only some minor delays. But, as we know, these issues get worse within a few turns and by the end of the second turn, the game was "Thinking..." excessively.

Enough time for me to realize that the word "thinking" is actually a compound word, a joining of the words "thin" and "king." That in turn had me wondering whether the world has ever had a thin king? Your King Harald, would you say he is thin? Our own king, Donald, fails to merit any consideration in this regard.

In your recent work, you appear to have been doing well at balancing the number of AI teams with the number of units on each team. In this one, however, it may be a combination of too many units and not enough teams:

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Sure, "Local Defense" is not a complicated procedure like "Move to Hex" but does the computer still need to consider all 108 units in this team before it makes some of them move if necessary?

My inclination is that there could be 25% less units and still do the job. As always, your choice but expect complaints with this one if it is not downsized.