BrucErik CSD Studio

[bru888]

The first scenario is balanced. I, an average player playing on middle difficulty, had to fight like heck to pull out a Major Victory on the final turn.

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However . . . I only got a Major Victory because a trigger that would have activated the unmanned artillery to fight for a while, and then exit when wounded, malfunctioned. I had my hands full and there was no way I could have been chasing artillery guns across the map. So, I removed the "Prevent artillery units from exiting" objective and adjusted the briefing correspondingly. In return, I increased the secondary objective to be "Destroy at least 4 . . . artillery units."

[CoolDTA]

It actually is liberating; as scenario god, I determine when the sun rises and when it sets!

Indeed! And compressed night turns when there's little action and day turns vice versa have been used in some games iirc. Good job with the subtle mentions in the popups.

[GabeKnight]

Finished the WW39 today. Great campaign, good mission design and Bruce's "touch" is clearly noticeable. Thanks BrucErik!
Can't wait for the continuation. What should I do in the meantime...?

One thing I've wondered about playing the WW39 beta: are there no railways in Finland? [...]

There are.
[...]
But if and when you do, then why not give Gabe his train?

You know I was just kidding, right?
And thanks for the support, Cool, but I know those two by now; they are too "historical" to add railways where there are none...( )

(...and I'm just too lazy to do it myself after I've played the scen... )


Winter War 1939 1.7, 16Raate1

- the Soviet AA captured unit reward has bugged transport. Don't know what the problem is exactly, though.
- no real gameplay issues in this one, rather a balance suggestion: The eastern main supply hex and reinforcements entry point was taken very quickly by my forces. Too quickly, there is almost no resistance in the beginning. After that the enemy reinforcements spawn directly next to my units and heavily undersupplied on the following turn. I'd suggest either a heavier resistance during the first turns or some static defender of the supply hex, maybe some bunker and foxholes.

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[GabeKnight]

Winter War 1939 1.7

17Kelja1

- The battle map popup appeared after the deployment phase. I'd suggest to change it similar to the following scen, where it pops up before deployment.
- For your consideration: Removing own mines with the engineers is not possible. Mind that when placing them on roads/hexes the player might want to use later. Even though I can technically walk through them - I can't if my unit moves 1 hex/turn...
(I'm still with Mr. T to use neutral mines and reveal triggers, BTW)

Winter War 1939 1.8

18Patoniemi

- With this map there's again the problem with engineers/heavy inf. and dense forest hexes.
- Great scen design!
- Again no real gameplay issues in this one, and again only a balance suggestion: The western enemy arty detachments arrived too late. I'd suggest they be in range at least 3-5 turns earlier!

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[GabeKnight]

Winter War 1939 1.8, lvl3

19Kelja2

- There's only two air deploy hexes for 10 ACP (=3+recon). The air exits are okay and there are 3-4 re-deploy hexes later on, too. It's just during deployment phase.
- No income for Hungary and Norway? I had to watch the "Nygaard" company die...
- Also only 1 RP/turn for Sweden? They have like six partisan units and one dogfighter!

Overall campaign balance: You have rewarded too many core arty units in the later scens IMO. I had like a dozen in my core and only deployed about 3-4 maximum. One core arty - from the pool of otherwise unavailable heavy arty types - is a welcomed surprise, but two every other scen? Make the reinforcements aux, please.

20Kiantajarvi

No issues.

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[GabeKnight]

Winter War 1939 1.8, 07Hevossalmi, lvl3

No real issues here also. Maybe one suggestion: Change the evaluation of the prim. obj. to "scen turn limit" to allow for the destruction of the cargo trucks. You have to take the main road and thus you have to capture all VPs if you want to chase the escaping trucks to the east.

[Erik2]

Thanks, Gabe
Added to a fresh to-do list.

[bru888]

I am happy with this one. I didn't need to "fight like heck" but I had to be smart. Sure, I knew what was coming but there is a hint in there for those who are unwary. A most satisfying win on middle difficulty with one turn to go:

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I even managed to bag this fellow, although it isn't an objective. I keep him "alive," as you can see, for I have another fate in mind for him.

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[Erik2]

Interesting... A foot soldier campaign variable in the works?

[CoolDTA]

There are.
[...]
But if and when you do, then why not give Gabe his train?

You know I was just kidding, right?

Well, when it is about Finland and the knowledge of it, I usually assume the premise is 'Here be dragons'.

I even managed to bag this fellow, although it isn't an objective. I keep him "alive," as you can see, for I have another fate in mind for him.

I think he would have preferred to remain your captive.

"The court-martial found Kombrig Vinogradov, Commissar Parkhomenko and Chief of Staff Volkov guilty and sentenced them to death. All three commanders were executed in front of the remaining men of the 44th Rifle Division in Vazhenvaara in January 1940. The NKVD reports indicated that rank-and-file men of the 44th Rifle Division mostly approved of this punishment."

I small tidbit if you don't mind:

The Winter War ended exactly 80 years ago on the 13th of March 1940 and that's why in many places 105 candles were lit in a ceremony to commemorate the day (the war lasted 105 days). The photo below is from the town of Lappeenranta. There are such military cemetaries called "Hero's cemetaries" in every town and municipality in Finland. That's because all men who fell in battle were brought to their hometown to be buried whenever possible.

[bru888]

I even managed to bag this fellow, although it isn't an objective. I keep him "alive," as you can see, for I have another fate in mind for him.

I think he would have preferred to remain your captive.

"The court-martial found Kombrig Vinogradov, Commissar Parkhomenko and Chief of Staff Volkov guilty and sentenced them to death. All three commanders were executed in front of the remaining men of the 44th Rifle Division in Vazhenvaara in January 1940. The NKVD reports indicated that rank-and-file men of the 44th Rifle Division mostly approved of this punishment."

Yes, that is the fate that I mentioned. He will make one more appearance in the third Raate Road scenario and, right after that (assuming the player wins the scenario and advances), comes this:

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I small tidbit if you don't mind:

The Winter War ended exactly 80 years ago on the 13th of March 1940 and that's why in many places 105 candles were lit in a ceremony to commemorate the day (the war lasted 105 days). The photo below is from the town of Lappeenranta. There are such military cemetaries called "Hero's cemetaries" in every town and municipality in Finland. That's because all men who fell in battle were brought to their hometown to be buried whenever possible.

This calls to mind a comment that I made earlier. All of these scenarios and campaigns are abstract to me whereas to fellows like you, these events are part of your heritage. Thanks for sharing that.

[timberwolf15]

Going to play this Winter War campaign now - looking forward to it the mod whats his face did I could not get into it. [it had glitches for me etc.] I enjoyed the DLC [Winter War] - I only learned about this war that Finland had from a work buddy I knew who has a huge interest in WWII then when computers came along and I played WWII pc games I actually learned more stuff then read a bunch of books over a period of time. He even told me how the Soviets invaded Poland in 1939 which I didn't know cause the schools I went to did not teach us anything of importance well, I learned typing which has been a blessing thinking it was a waste of time at the time as computers where not even a wet dream at the time. More importantly I used to own a SAKO for all you pacifists its a gun made in Finland. The caliber I bought was .375 H & H Magnum. The shell itself basically swallows up a 3006 shell. I read a book about Grizzly hunting and figured I had to have a gun for it having read that guides carry this gun because it is considered "stopper" it instantly stops a charging grizz I figured well thats what I want not a daisey bb gun. In addition I was at a party as a 20 ish year old with my dad and his older friends and they talked about some guy there that had a big gun it was a .375 H & H so this also stuck in my head. So I got one and SAKO was known for good guns - a few years after owing it was up in a deer stand in Arkansas a deer came by I had loaded a 235 grain bullet for it - the usual round weight for it is from 270 - 300 grains. for a 3006 one usually uses about a 150 grain bullet so I was using a 235 grain AND a 3006 is .30 caliber my caliber is also larger .375 when I shot the deer stumbled in a half circle hitting it in the chest it blew part of the cavity open my friends farm I was on showed up and we laughed he was uses a Browning Belgium 3006 semi which they are not even made there in Belgium anymore but his says "made in Belgium on it" Back to the Fins what is so great about them is they have a gun culture so they used this and their terrain and other things to stop the Commies - Better to be Dead than Red. All of the folks in the photo among other things are thankful they are not communists. Well, let's Play "Winter War 1939 ver 1.8" woo hoo.

[ctskelly]

Comments for Bru & Erik

Normandy UK & Canada 1944

Wow. Excellent campaign put together by two greats in the field, Bru & Erik! More delightful hours. I can’t thank you guys enough. And what I’ve seen so far is, to quote ColonelY, “magnificent.”

Version: Listed as version 2.2 29-2 -2020 but last modified date is Dec 27, 2019 (Is this the problem?)

I am currently in the Sword line of scenarios and have found two major problems:

*Marlet
The German 3 Panthers and other units in rear never activate unless UK troops come in contact. They end up out of supply and easy to destroy


*Epsom Day 4
No German units ever appeared in this scenario, even though my units captured every flag on the map.

Gameplay comments

*Epsom Day 1
Suddenly, when at the river line, next to the east bridge, three Tigers appear inside my line on the north side of the river. Seems odd. Others noted that effect in other scenarios.

*All scenarios
They are set up to end when all the major objectives are obtained, so that unless you keep one objective unoccupied on purpose, the game ends before you can accomplish the secondary objectives. Made me restart a lot. For example, it is normal to occupy all the objective hexes in Martlet, even before you can attack the Panthers. Would it be better to put one more objective beyond the secondary targets.

Anyway, it is fascinating playing with British units against quite superior German ones. Total air control, but with low power air units; huge forces but weak anti-tank units. Keep up the good work.

[bru888]

Glad you like what we are doing, ctskelly. You can look forward to more.

[bru888]

The choreography in Winter War 1940's Mäkinen's Roadblock makes me feel like George Balanchine!

Or, a bit more obscurely perhaps, Benjamin Millepied, a French choreographer whose last name must surely be an alias. In English, it means "thousand foot." 500 dancers, what an extravaganza!

But the choreography in this scenario! C'est magnifique! (Washes hands, kisses fingertips in French style, washes hands).

[Erik2]

ctskelly

I've added your comments to the Normandy list.
The date thing may be some funky date issue on my PC. I've add PBEM emails from Slitherine apparently arriving 14 days late

What really worried me was the missing German units in 18Epsom4.
I just checked the scenario in the editor and there are not a single German on-map at start
And the back-up (naturally) had the same issue.

Luckily I have the 2.0 version thanks to Dropbox restore, so all was not lost.
I am updating the current link to v2.3 replacing the bad 18Epsom4.

Thank you for finding this bug.

[bru888]

I even managed to bag this fellow, although it isn't an objective. I keep him "alive," as you can see, for I have another fate in mind for him.

I think he would have preferred to remain your captive.

"The court-martial found Kombrig Vinogradov, Commissar Parkhomenko and Chief of Staff Volkov guilty and sentenced them to death. All three commanders were executed in front of the remaining men of the 44th Rifle Division in Vazhenvaara in January 1940. The NKVD reports indicated that rank-and-file men of the 44th Rifle Division mostly approved of this punishment."

Yes, that is the fate that I mentioned. He will make one more appearance in the third Raate Road scenario and, right after that (assuming the player wins the scenario and advances), comes this:

Screenshot 1.jpg (289.09 KiB) Viewed 2414 times

So, I am painting myself in a corner in that I need to keep him alive for that fate but I also needed another secondary objective and, after having him flit through the first two scenarios without penalty for him or prize for the player, he was a prime candidate.

But, I couldn't just let his BA-10 be destroyed (for the third time? heh) without some comment that does in fact keep him alive. Well, if he is not killed, then he must be captured. Then again, if he is captured, how does he meet his ultimate fate right after this scenario ends?

Here's how (the prize is a land commander):

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Afterthought: The popup title will be "In The Bag, And Out"

By the way, there is an historical aspect to this solution, according to this source:

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It's always a good feeling when that is true.

[Erik2]

Bru, I love the way you work. Excellent research.

[bru888]

Bru, I love the way you work. Excellent research.

Thanks. It's one of the reasons why these projects take so long, unfortunately. Between these two campaigns, I am looking up the background and details of 34 scenarios. That's more than three times the number of scenarios that I have ever developed on my own! But, I am making progress and I think the quality is there.

[bru888]

And then there is cleaning up after recalcitrant AI teams.

Five engineers, each with a specific mine to clear. One did his job; the other four are stuck behind a wall of their own infantrymen. The AI is too dumb to allow the engineers to go on ahead (I may put them in vehicles and up their aggression to 99 - "Mines! Banzai!"):

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Here is a "flank attack." The intended path is marked by the yellow arrow. Instead, the team headed for the open area to the left, then were intimidated by the dense forest, I suppose, because only one intrepid soul is making the trek while the others have decided to change their occupation to farming:

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So much for my glorious choreography. Back to work, Monsieur Millepied.