Erik's campaigns, mods and multiplayer scenarios

[airboy]

Erik:

I've started the Desert Rats campaign and am enjoying it thoroughly.

A minor issue popped up on the third scenario: Sidi Bardi. I got a minor victory because I "did not complete" an objective. You needed to hold two of four objectives - I held all four but did not get credit. Screen shot is attached.

As always, these are amazingly fun,
Avery

[Erik2]

Avery

I've started a Desert Rats to-do-list.
Please keep on reporting issues.

[CHXII1697]

I've finished going through Sealion, here's all the problems I found.
Battle of Britain
-any naval forces deployed in the south will quickly get dog-piled, consider reducing Royal Navy aggressiveness
Gibraltar
-supply dump secondary objective doesn't trigger
Lyme Regis
-no deployment hexes for ground units after British fleet weakened
-secondary objectives to destroy RAF units, battleships and carriers not triggering
-a few more turns to allow for transport movement times would be helpful
Minehead
-none of the secondary objectives trigger, and the RAF secondary lists far more units as alive than are on the map
Plymouth
-bug where I can't select or cycle through units or end turns, a bit gamebreaking. didn't occur anywhere else so I figure it's a scenario problem
Shepton Mallet
-similar problem to Minehead, with far more RAF units listed than are on the map. objective can't be completed
Bristol
-same RAF unit problem
-repair bridges secondary objective only requires they be taken, not repaired
-objective to place recon on specific locations only tiggered after one was taken by other types of units
Brighton
-could use more turns to allow for landings
Portsmouth
-objective to take coastal guns is fulfilled after unmarked locations happen to be occupied, no coastal guns start on the map and the objective starts marked as failed
Reading
-bridges not marked as objectives explode despite already having been occupied
-rail bridge repair objective doesn't trigger, rail bridges can't be fixed
Farnborough
-panzer depots do not trigger, the crew does not occupy any panzers
Milton Keynes
-major airfield 2 secondary does not trigger
Cambridge
-some secondary objectives are behind the only primary objective, the mission ends before your forces reach them unless you cross the river and not the bridge
Coventry
-destroy all french unit secondary objective not triggering, lists them as still alive when none are
-there is only one usable deployment hex after the vichy french defection
Irish Sea
-despite being shown on the campaign map and mentioned in the briefings, there are no italians
Hadrian's wall
-the wall terrian type overlaps with several units. they do not seem capable of movement or attack, and can only be attacked by the air. minefields cannot be interacted with
Scapa Flow
-primary objective marked as complete, mission ends with only 2/7 taken
Iceland
-the soviet unit that starts on land at the top of the map is marked among the soviet transports that must be destroyed
Campaign Overall
-I mentioned that some specializations are not visible and are off screen. not only would I fix this, but I would ensure that the German carrier specialization can be selected for the last mission, since there were carriers in the original Panzer Corps mission. (I don't know if you can change specialization years.) for the same reason, italian carriers should be added to the core force even if one didn't choose the Gibraltar path. I also know you're limited with what units you can use, but the italians lack carrier aircraft, so the carriers end up redundant. if you could program carrier aircraft in some way, that would be helpful otherwise they're useless.

[Erik2]

CHXII1697

Thanks for the detailed feedback.
Added to my Sea Lion list.

[WonkyWay]

I have not been using this program for a while, and now I have returned I am amazed at "Erik" is still hard at it, giving truly wonderful missions etc, for us ALL to enjoy and fully appreciate ALL that he does with no fuss, or muss....but just keeps on like the "Ever Ready Bunny"...amazing "Erik"..truly amazing.....

On behalf of everyone..."Thank You"....a million times over...

Wonky Way......

[Erik2]

Thanks for the kind words.
Take a look around the forum, there are more designers at work with interesting projects.

[airboy]

Continuing to enjoy the Desert Rats Campaign.

I ran into a continuing problem in (what I think is the) Battleaxe Scenario. The AI repeatedly had decision lock and would not complete its turn. I would load the "turn end" save and 75% of the time the computer would run its turn normally.

I'm not sure this has anything to do with the scenario design. Perhaps this is a function of map size and the number of units on the map? This is a huge scenario with both sides having a lot of ground and air units.

I've attached the victory screenshot so you can precisely identify the scenario to which I'm referring.

Avery

[Erik2]

The AI reluctance is probably a combination of map size, number of units and maybe PC/graphics power.
Since you are able to reload and continue there appears to be no odd scenario triggers etc bugging the game.

[airboy]

Found a minor error in the Desert Rats - first Tunisia scenario.

I did not get credit for destroying all of the Vichy aircraft. I intentionally captured the last objective only after capturing every city on the map and confirming with zone of control. Unless there is a French Aircraft carrier lurking somewhere that never launched an air attack - I destroyed all aircraft and captured all airfields.

This is a pretty minor issue in an interesting scenario. As always, thanks for sharing!
Avery

[airboy]

Erik:

I completed the Desert Rats campaign. That was very interesting starting with very small raids and ending up in Tunisia. I enjoyed playing it quite a bit.

One small suggestion on the very last scenario in the campaign. The US starts with 0 replacement points and the replacement rate is far lower than what you will get in damage. The scenario ended up being a challenge because I had to use the Brits as shock troops while avoiding damage as I could with the US forces. With the Tigers and Panther Tanks - I ended up having to hit them repeatedly with air power while laagered up behind anti-tank guns. I eventually wore them down or they made a bad attack against a unit guarded by an AT gun.

I suggest starting the US forces with 200 to 400 replacement points instead of 0. If that is not possible, I would give them say 40 replacement points per turn. Historically, the US forces had a ton of logistics support in North Africa. Green troops, but lots of stuff.

Thanks again for sharing your wonderful work!
Avery

[Erik2]

Thanks for the suggestion, added to my list.

[airboy]

Started the Road to Kokoda Campaign.

Thanks for covering something almost overlooked in PC Wargames. Learning about the interior New Guinea war zone, a theater not covered very heavily by US centric games.

I found two problems. First, I had captured the exit to Kokoda early and held it. However, I was given a minor victory at the end because it did not recognize the capture.

Second, I cannot execute Female Factor Labor on the technology chart for no discernable reason.

Screenshots attached.

As always, this is a lot of fun and I'm enjoying playing your campaigns,
Avery

[Erik2]

Re Kokoda

Creating campaigns with factions that have not gotten the official campaign treatment means many specialisations and unit types are simply missing.
So I had to make do with the existing Aussie stuff.

[Chema_cagi]

I owe Erik more hours of entertainment than to any mod/scenario designer in any game. I would need two lives to invite him to enough paellas to thank him fairly. Anyone else would be invited for sure. Gallons of sangria will flow too; and now I'll stop saying spanish food topics or I'll get sick myself

[Erik2]

Thank you. It is a pleasure creating stuff for this community.

[airboy]

I've replayed this scenario with the attached screenshot in the Kokoda campaign three times and I cannot improve on a draw. This is a first in one of your campaigns.

I think the 20 turn limit is too low given the terrain. The Japs have a ton of infantry and artillery. The Aussies have to move through the jungle and over jungle terrain. The artillery, hills, and jungle terrain all disorganize your Aussie troops. With the 20 turn time limit I cannot capture all of the objectives because my troops cannot stay organized enough to follow through on attacks.

The easiest fix would be to make the scenario 30 or 35 turns instead of 20. Unless you intend this to be at best a draw scenario - which is fine because you continue to the next scenario in the campaign anyway.

On a macro level, I suggest enabling "female factory labor" to use some of the accumulated research points. Or, you might add some leaders in if you achieve secondary objectives. As the campaign stands, you burn through the research points pretty quickly and cannot use them for anything else.

As always, enjoying this a lot though it is quite the challenge slugging through the heavy New Guinea jungle fighting the Japs - though nothing near as bad as the Aussies & the New Zealander's had in reality. Fortunately for the USA, the worst jungle they fought through in WW2 was in the Philippines.

[airboy]

On try #4 I was able to get a minor victory. I doubt a major victory is possible with the current scenario parameters - but that is ok. Eliminating every Jap unit in the jungle was not possible in reality either.

[Erik2]

On try #4 I was able to get a minor victory. I doubt a major victory is possible with the current scenario parameters - but that is ok. Eliminating every Jap unit in the jungle was not possible in reality either.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll take a look at the difficulty.

[rafdobrowolski]

I owe Erik more hours of entertainment than to any mod/scenario designer in any game. I would need two lives to invite him to enough paellas to thank him fairly. Anyone else would be invited for sure. Gallons of sangria will flow too; and now I'll stop saying spanish food topics or I'll get sick myself

Ditto to that!

[Erik2]

Desert Rats 1940-43 6.1
Link updated in first post

Minor fixes in a couple of scenarios.