BrucErik CSD Studio

[Erik2]

Yep, Bruce is the King of Quality.

And I am the Prince of Quantity

I have these campaigns more or less ready:
Finnish Continuation War 1941
Marine Corps 1941-42
Marine Corps 1943-44
Marine Corps 1945 (in the works)
Japanese 1939-41 (more planned)

Bruce will most probably do a Free French campaign after he's finished with Winter War.
I do hope he returns to the Studio after a much-needed R&R with red wine and beautiful Parisian damsels.

[bru888]

Gabe, thanks for the kind words.

Cool, +1 to what he said about you. These Finnish campaigns are/will be so much better due to your input. Please hang around and assist further as we go along.

Erik, you denigrate yourself. Aside from 10 standalone scenarios, my meager contributions to the community, none of the rest of this stuff would have happened without you. Rather than the prince of anything, you are the Muse of OOB.

[CoolDTA]

"Nice detective work" indeed. Going through all that trouble just to verify one word/fact from the initial scen popup...
For one, I think you're crazy. But in a good way. I wish others were as diligent in their work as you are.

Great sources, BTW, and also thanks, Cool, for all the support you're providing in this matter.

Thanks, Gabe. As you know, when Bruce asks you to do something, you do it and you do it well. Or die trying.

[CoolDTA]

Cool, +1 to what he said about you. These Finnish campaigns are/will be so much better due to your input. Please hang around and assist further as we go along.

Erik, you denigrate yourself. Aside from 10 standalone scenarios, my meager contributions to the community, none of the rest of this stuff would have happened without you. Rather than the prince of anything, you are the Muse of OOB.

Thanks, Bru! Glad to help the main men of OoB: Erik and you.

And being a part of the Mutual Admiration Society of this board.

[bru888]

Cool, +1 to what he said about you. These Finnish campaigns are/will be so much better due to your input. Please hang around and assist further as we go along.

Erik, you denigrate yourself. Aside from 10 standalone scenarios, my meager contributions to the community, none of the rest of this stuff would have happened without you. Rather than the prince of anything, you are the Muse of OOB.

Thanks, Bru! Glad to help the main men of OoB: Erik and you.

And being a part of the Mutual Admiration Society of this board.

It is why, among other reasons, when Erik and I discussed this mutual endeavor, we decided to have this studio thread rather than conduct business by PM. We foresaw the possibility of valuable creative input from other forum members.

[bru888]

campaign stuff:
This scenario will be a nice change of pace from all the land scenarios.

replace Finnish aux fighter units with core/ACPs in campaign version?

01Haukila: 12 ACPs
08Muolaa: 3 ACPs
09Summankyla: 6 ACPs
10Kirvesmaki: 6 ACPs

Originally, I wasn't going to do this but I can see why it might be nice to have the usual campaign flow so as to not have this be too jarring as a sideshow. Let me think about the best way to do this. I definitely want the equivalent of 12 Finnish fighters in the scenario (what fool would deploy core bombers?) but will the player have that many core fighters by this time? If so, do I throw in some initial resources to allow purchases? I will work it out and report back.

This turned out to be a no-brainer, actually. I have a spreadsheet that will tell me approximately how much initial resources are needed to fund additional core air units at that point in the campaign to get to "the equivalent of 12 Finnish fighters in the scenario." The assumption is always that the player is provided enough RP's to fund the maximum amount of core units, land, sea, or air, allowable in each of the campaigns. Whether he chooses to use those points accordingly, or he desperately needs those points to repair the core units that he already has, depends on how he has played the campaign. I can say, however, if he goes with less than 12 fighters in The Raid on Turku, he will probably lose.

[bru888]

I like throwing in tidbits like this.

Screenshot 2.jpg (358.58 KiB) Viewed 2333 times

Tie in: There is a mention of "Mother Russia" in the briefing.

[CoolDTA]

I like throwing in tidbits like this.

Tie in: There is a mention of "Mother Russia" in the briefing.

And a nice tidbit it is. Personification of Finland is also a female: The Finnish Maiden. Below you can see a famous painting (Attack by Edvard Isto, 1899) in which she is holding fast the law book against an attack by the Russian eagle.

[bru888]

I like throwing in tidbits like this.

Tie in: There is a mention of "Mother Russia" in the briefing.

And a nice tidbit it is. Personification of Finland is also a female: The Finnish Maiden. Below you can see a famous painting (Attack by Edvard Isto, 1899) in which she is holding fast the law book against an attack by the Russian eagle.

Very timely. I'm thinking of using that in the same scenario.

[bru888]

Choreography can be frustrating but can also be quite rewarding when the AI cooperates, having given it a bit of assistance.

Discovery (well, suspected and confirmed upon testing): Tanks will balk at rolling over known mines and, if there is no alternative route around them (due to, say, dense forest abutting the road), will sit and vegetate.

Adjustment: Provide a path of difficulty but still possible with effort. Set up a detour around each mine by widening the road a bit in selected hexes so that destroying a foxhole in the way is necessary to open up the path. An effective slow-down tactic to give the Finns a chance.

Here's the before and after. The AI, thank goodness, was smart enough to figure it out (look closely at "before" to see if you can trace the path for yourself):

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Screenshot 1.jpg (557.59 KiB) Viewed 2311 times

[CoolDTA]

Very timely. I'm thinking of using that in the same scenario.

You know, I for one really like OoB has these Special Events and such which add flavour to the game and make it something more than just moving virtual units on a virtual map. PzC2 has nothing like that - only bad graphics and confusing mechanics.

Nice choreography btw.

[bru888]

Very timely. I'm thinking of using that in the same scenario.

You know, I for one really like OoB has these Special Events and such which add flavour to the game and make it something more than just moving virtual units on a virtual map. PzC2 has nothing like that - only bad graphics and confusing mechanics.

Nice choreography btw.

You're kidding me. They don't have an equivalent in-campaign/in-scenario message system? What a drag.

Thanks for the choreography compliment. Now to figure out a mechanism to keep the tanks in supply (surviving foxholes expand their ZOC and cut off supply, and for moveable Finnish units, it's an obvious cheat: lurk in the dense forest where tanks cannot touch you, let them go by, and calmly ski out to the road and cut off their supply).

[bru888]

Now to figure out a mechanism to keep the tanks in supply (surviving foxholes expand their ZOC and cut off supply, and for moveable Finnish units, it's an obvious cheat: lurk in the dense forest where tanks cannot touch you, let them go by, and calmly ski out to the road and cut off their supply).

The cover story:

Screenshot 4.jpg (456.22 KiB) Viewed 2252 times

The real story:

Screenshot 2.jpg (535.63 KiB) Viewed 2252 times

Let's see those wise guys cheat this scenario! ( )

[GabeKnight]

Discovery (well, suspected and confirmed upon testing): Tanks will balk at rolling over known mines and, if there is no alternative route around them (due to, say, dense forest abutting the road), will sit and vegetate.

Yeah, as far as I've observed AI behaviour, only the engineer and heavy infantry units can deliberately clear mines. The other units stumble into them, but not again once discovered.

Now to figure out a mechanism to keep the tanks in supply...
[...]
Let's see those wise guys cheat this scenario! ( )

Make sure to test this multiple times, as the AI tends to guard supply hexes. You may again end up with (some of) them to "sit and vegetate"...

[bru888]

Make sure to test this multiple times, as the AI tends to guard supply hexes. You may again end up with (some of) them to "sit and vegetate"...

You're right. They still get through, but they are 5-6 turns slower doing so. It's almost like the tanks are comfortable and don't push as hard even on 99 aggression. I need to revisit this.

[bru888]

Make sure to test this multiple times, as the AI tends to guard supply hexes. You may again end up with (some of) them to "sit and vegetate"...

You're right. They still get through, but they are 5-6 turns slower doing so. It's almost like the tanks are comfortable and don't push as hard even on 99 aggression. I need to revisit this.

Okay, this works better. Each supply point of 75 is enough to support the entire tank column but by placing them enticingly behind pairs of foxholes, it seems to push the tanks forward. Also helping is revealing the location of the foxholes to the AI; that helps them better plan their attacks. The whole point of this is to get the first tank across the map in under 20 turns when opposed by mines and foxholes only. That way, the undermanned human player only needs to delay the column for about 5 additional turns to win (total turns = 24). I think this will work.

Screenshot 2.jpg (744.8 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

[bru888]

Personification of Finland is also a female: The Finnish Maiden. Below you can see a famous painting (Attack by Edvard Isto, 1899) in which she is holding fast the law book against an attack by the Russian eagle.

I used it, thanks. Nice bookend with the "Mother Russia" reference in the beginning:

Screenshot 1.jpg (374.1 KiB) Viewed 2224 times

[Erik2]

If lend-lease was in place you could re-name these tanks Waltzing Matildas

[CoolDTA]

I used it, thanks. Nice bookend with the "Mother Russia" reference in the beginning:

Screenshot 1.jpg

Very nice. Just drop the fictional "Aura". Once again Wiki is leading you astray. It is only Finnish Maiden. Probably some dude from Turku wrote that. At least in the Finnish Wiki there's a marking 'Source?' because there is none.

If lend-lease was in place you could re-name these tanks Waltzing Matildas

[bru888]

Aura no mora.

The Finnish Maiden
The 'Maiden of Finland,' the personification of our own country, has triumphed over the Russian Eagle, a somewhat less complimentary symbol of our enemy than 'Mother Russia' in our eyes. Triumphed for today at least. Tomorrow is another day in this war.

I should have been more skeptical, seeing this hint:

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Also, I can imagine you chuckling over this:

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