BrucErik CSD Studio

[Erik2]

Caumont Scenario: Off Map AF in the center and east of the map are not working properly. They´re ok to place planes at the beginning, but are useless to exit them when their movement range so require.
Pls, take note for the next update.

Thanks for reporting.
Added to my Normandy list.

[bru888]

There are three scenarios uploaded to "Back to Erik"; actually, two and a copy. The originals are "Hevossalmi - Annihilate the RKKA 139th" (06Tolvajarvi1) and "Hevossalmi - Battle for the Hirvasharju Hotel" (07Hevossalmi). The copy is of "Hevossalmi - Battle for the Hirvasharju Hotel" and is saved under the folder name "HevossalmiAlternate" according to the campaign tree. As you will recall, this is the "bonus scenario" that the player will have the option of playing at the end of the campaign. He will not have seen it unless he lost the first Hevossalmi scenario. Being a bonus, I took considerable liberties enhancing "Hevossalmi - Battle for the Hirvasharju Hotel."

[Erik2]

Thanks, Bruce

[Erik2]

Normandy UK & Canada 1944 1.9
Link updated in first post.

Minor/cosmetic changes:
03Gold
04Juno
06Villiers
07JunoD2
19Carpiquet

15Epsom1:
Added more turns (=36) and and 800 more at start resources

18Epsom4:
Added more turns (=30) and and 200 more at start resources

20GoodwoodOA:
Allied reinforcements arrive along the north map edge
Edit: Fixed air exits

26Bois:
Terrain changes

33Worthington:
Fixed Allied reinforcement supply and added another off-map AF
Germans should now start their major attacks earlier
Added more German supply

[Mascarenhas]

Normandy Uk & Canada

I hope you had also fixed Off Map AF in Goodwood/OA, they´re not functional as air exits in v. 1.7. Sorry, I´ve just noticed this.

Regards,

[Erik2]

Normandy Uk & Canada

I hope you had also fixed Off Map AF in Goodwood/OA, they´re not functional as air exits in v. 1.7. Sorry, I´ve just noticed this.

Regards,

You are absolutely correct. Thanks for reporting.
Fixed in 1.9 which is uploading now

[bru888]

Now in the "Back to Erik" folder: Kotisaari - Island in the Ice. I tried to instill a bit of suspense in this one. I expanded the primary objectives which obligated taking 3 Rifle out of spawns and placing them on the map, albeit as a trap.

[bru888]

Now in the "Back to Erik" folder:

Tolvajärvi - A Scramble for Position
Crossroads at Uomaa Road
Encounter at Kotajärvi

This completes that special tier of five (or six) alternative scenarios that all occur on one day:

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I had discontinued the +1 specialisation awards just before this tier, as we discussed. I also removed any new commanders from these scenarios. Reason: It did not seem appropriate that the player would have the opportunity to gain a commander, or not, merely on the choice of which scenario to play at Crossroads 1. Beginning with Lemetti Road, I will resume the schedule of awarding commanders for secondary objectives.

[bru888]

Whoever wrote these original scenario blurbs needs lessons in spelling and grammar. They are also disjointed, vague, imprecise, and, standing alone and without definite map references (most locations cannot be pinned down with assurance), are quite unsatisfactory. I am doing my best to cull them down and relate them to the matter at hand but it has been difficult. The average player will not care as long as there is some vague connection to gameplay but the aficionados out there may balk.

[bru888]

A couple of notes as I begin work on Lemetti Road:

1) Here and there, I will tweak resources and command points; not a regular practice, but where I feel there is some discrepancy indicative of a probable error. As in this case; I cannot believe that you intend the player to stop 9 enemy infantry units and 7 tanks with at most 4 Finnish infantry units (13 CPs and 4 income per turn vs. 23 income for the Soviets). I understand and agree with making these scenarios challenging but they also need to be fun. I wouldn't want to play this under these circumstances, hence a bit of an adjustment:

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It's based on the bottom number of 16 enemy units which according to my spreadsheet is a challenge factor of 1.25 to friendly units. Usually the spreadsheet works the other way, from the top down, but in this case I would go with, and did go with, 48 land CP's, 13 units, and 13 resources per turn (+1 per unit) to back into the 16 Soviet units. Also, the Soviets have numerical superiority, so I don't see the need for them to also have a huge advantage in resources. Hence, 16 per turn for them.

You are the editor-in-chief, blah, blah, blah. I'm fine with whatever you do for the public, including restoring these numbers if you wish:

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2) I see that you open the commander floodgates in Lemetti Road:

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Everybody who is anybody, c'mon down! (You have to be familiar with the old TV show "The Price is Right" to understand that reference; alas (or maybe, happily), Norway is not among the countries listed as ever having aired "The Price is Right." )

I need goodies to hand out for secondary objectives so I will keep to my schedule if you don't mind. I figure we have eight more scenarios to offer them as such before releasing them all in the final one as a grand sendoff.

[bru888]

Here, how's this for heart-wrenching?

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It made me want to look up the Finnish national anthem, memorize it, and sing it out loud.

[Erik2]

Whoever wrote these original scenario blurbs needs lessons in spelling and grammar. They are also disjointed, vague, imprecise, and, standing alone and without definite map references (most locations cannot be pinned down with assurance), are quite unsatisfactory. I am doing my best to cull them down and relate them to the matter at hand but it has been difficult. The average player will not care as long as there is some vague connection to gameplay but the aficionados out there may balk.

I hear you...my initial reaction was the same, but I decided to pass the info hoping you could use at least parts of it.
I think the original designer is Finnish or Hungarian based on his name (not we would hold that against him of course)

[Erik2]

Excellent, Bruce.
I almost shed a tear

[bru888]

I hear you...my initial reaction was the same, but I decided to pass the info hoping you could use at least parts of it.
I think the original designer is Finnish or Hungarian based on his name (not we would hold that against him of course)

Believe me, they are better than nothing. They have steered me in the right direction at times; without them I'd be lost altogether. It's just that in this campaign, they tend to veer from the stratosphere to ground level and the map templates are no help. Perhaps in the original games, the units and locations were tagged so that these lead-ins made immediate sense. No matter; I believe I am getting the gist and rounding things out accordingly. If you have feedback, please let me know.

[Erik2]

I did some minor stuff on your finished scenarios and took the time to read all the briefings.
Excellent stuff as usual. Now I actually want to play this thing

[Dwightd]

UK & Canada Normandy 1944

version 1.9, lvl 3

Just played Verriers and Bois. Wanted to pass on a few things

The RTR worked great in Verriers, no issues. Had plenty of CP and RP to finish about 3 turns early.

Still a few hiccups on Bois. First the air exits do not work properly, The exiting aircraft just sit there and run out of fuel. I completed all the primary objects by turn 9. The secondary objective for artillery did not keep count. I had Sexton artillery but the damage never registered on the counter

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Fun as always. I appreciate your hard work (both of you!)

[bru888]

Still a few hiccups on Bois. First the air exits do not work properly, The exiting aircraft just sit there and run out of fuel. I completed all the primary objects by turn 9. The secondary objective for artillery did not keep count. I had Sexton artillery but the damage never registered on the counter

Dwight, thanks. Erik has been conducting a mini-campaign of his own, cleaning up (and multiplying) aircraft exit hexes!

Erik, this may be a post-production error or it may stem from when historical allied units were removed. I remember the module worked when I tested it. Now, with artillery choices up to the player, it does not work to restrict the killer definition to one type of cannon. It should be "Class - Artillery":

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[bru888]

Lemetti Road - Challenging Task Force Autti

Here and there, I will tweak resources and command points; not a regular practice, but where I feel there is some discrepancy indicative of a probable error. As in this case; I cannot believe that you intend the player to stop 9 enemy infantry units and 7 tanks with at most 4 Finnish infantry units (13 CPs and 4 income per turn vs. 23 income for the Soviets). I understand and agree with making these scenarios challenging but they also need to be fun. I wouldn't want to play this under these circumstances, hence a bit of an adjustment:

Erik, I was thrilled to discover, at the last minute, evidence that you are not completely insane ( ):

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But that's only approximately three more units - waiting until Turn 5 to get them - and that's it. Finns 7 total units vs. 16 Soviet units, 7 of them tanks. Still not good enough IMHO.

Here's what I propose. Starting position and estimated Finnish units:

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Then, beginning on Turn 5 and repeating twice more in Turns 7 and 9:

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When it's done, the Finns have approximately 6 more units for a total of 12, facing 16 Soviet units, and the player must wait until the middle of the scenario to receive the final batch of reinforcements. I know you wanted to make this a desperate battle of survival for the Finns; I believe this accomplishes that and still gives the player a chance to win.

One more thing. With your trigger "1920," you foresaw the problem of in-game deployment without any friendly village hexes to allow it. Thus, I believe you made one hex, the Soviet Exit hex, a perpetual deployment hex (Available 0-18). The issue to me was having just one deployment hex for each turn. Depending on how the player handled his forces, he may have two or three units to deploy on turns 5, 7, and 9 and if this is such a challenging scenario, it's only fair to allow him full deployment opportunities. You may not like what I did; if so, then replace the village hex with open terrain again but perhaps allow more than one full-game deployment hex:

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This scenario has been uploaded to the "Back to Erik" folder.

[Erik2]

Dwight/Bruce

Started a new Normandy-list.

Sisyphus

[Mascarenhas]

Still Normandy

Hi Erik, mission Bois du Homme (Gold, crossroads 1, first option); two added air exits are not working properly. Exit function is not working. Pls take a look.
Congrats,