For a long time now I have wanted to contribute to this game with my own mod. Teaching myself the games mechanics has been a long process, but I think I am nearing the point that I will finally be able to begin my first campaign, revolving around the western allied airborne operations of WWII. I want to outline how I am designing the campaign, and hope as many of you will be able to give me historical feedback and insight (I know next to nothing about military organization and British Airborne exploits) I will also ask a few technical questions about the game, as I do want to add in some potential new units, re-skin infantry to better represent the player core force (The same way Battle Academy re-skined all it's units for the Market Garden DLC) and some brand new specializations unique to the Paratroopers! While I want this to be a single player experience, if the demand is great enough I can very easily see this campaign being better for a 2vAI campaign.
As a side note, I do not know what a single unit should be modeled behind. Perhaps battalion sized units? For the sake of an enjoyable campaign, I would like the players core forces to only be slightly smaller than non-core support units. Any advice is great here. Alternatively, should players be allowed to have core Air Units? I want this campaign to emulate the Marine Campaign, and felt that allowing the player to have and Air Force would greatly benefit them, especially later down the line where players have to escort more troops into the fight.
Overview.
The Allied Airborne Campaign will follow the exploits of some of the most daring airborne operations of the war. I want to scale of the campaign to be an incredibly large scale operation overview of each famous operation, with incredibly complex AI constantly re-acting to the player's actions. Players will take command of both US and British Paratroopers, and scenario's will represent the chaos of these opening moments to an airborne operation. Each scenario will do it's very best to find a balance between historical accuracy and fun game play. As a casual player, I want to balance the game based off of the level 3 difficulty, but more hardcore players are welcome to play test and provide feedback. Here is what I have been thinking up for this campaign.
Scenario List.
1. Operation Husky - First major Allied Airborne operation to ensure the invasion of Sicily runs into few problems. This scenario will focus on the whole of southern Sicily (From Gela in the West to Augusta in the east). American troops will be tasked with destroying coastal artillery and Italian Strong points near Gela, support American landing operations then dig in and prepare for a powerful, German lead counter attack (you know Tigers will be rolling in.) The British will do the same on their side of the Island, but instead of facing German Tigers, the British will face a fierce Italian counter-attack near the captured bridges at Ponte Grande on the River Anape. This will be an operation that demands very close co-operation between the very lightly armed Airborne core force, and the larger seaborne forces. As much as I would love to give the AI control of the seaborne forces, considering how vital it is for the airborne forces to co-operate with them, players will also control them, but they will have very limited RP, so players will have to use them wisely.
2. Invasion of Italy (Operations Avalanche, Baytown and Slapstick)
Once again, a scenario to encompass the massive 2 or so week invasion of Italy. The map will try and form a triangle between Salerno, Taranto, and Calabria. The British operations (ahistorical but fun idea?) will focus on destroying as many Luftwaffe units on the ground as possible, in order to help the Italian fleet escape Taranto! With so many capital ships in one place, this opening attack will be vital to the survival of the italian fleet, and later Allied Fleet when supporting the heated landings at Salerno. Afterwards, British troops will attempt to "disarm" as many Italian troops as possible and race to help their American Allies (a historical but fun idea?)or simply focus on securing Calabria and Taranto proper from a smaller Axis garrison. The Americans will once again face the full might of the German War machine. American airborne troops should focus on destroying as many German support units as possible (AA and Artillery) before the Army makes it's landfall. Instead if pushing into Salerno proper, American troops need to occupy the hills and forests, and hold off increasingly powerful German formations until the Army can support them. (once heavy armor beings to appear, Salerno should be secured, otherwise the para's will be in trouble!)
3. Operation Neptune
Invasion of France. Map will be from Pegasus Bridge and outskirts of Caen in the east, to Carentan and St. Mere Eglise to the west, Bayuex being the center of the Map. Onjectives will mirror their real life counterparts, With a rapid capture by the British of Pegasus bridge and holding it against potential German attacks (should the bridge fall even once, it will be destroyed, do not know if this should be a primary obj like in real life, or a secondary one.) Then supporting the British and Candians on their push to Caen. The British should actually expect more armor than the Americans in this scenario. Americans will have to do two things at once, support the landings while also pushing as far inland as possible, the objective being Carentan. Once Carentan has been captured, the player will have a very limited amount of time to fortify themselves at "Bloody Gulch" before a powerful Armored Attack begins. (The para's cannot hold this attack back independently. By the time fighting breaks out here, US Armor should be off the beaches and on the move to the Para's!) A secondary objective for never losing Carentan should highlight how serious this attack is.
4. Market Garden
If you already played Erik's 2v1 scenario, this will follow the ill fated operation, with my own special twist of course. XXX Corps MUST reach certain objectives on time, with triggers affecting German AI behavior. For example, if the Allied Player can take Son bridge intact (historically it was destroyed by the Germans) the German AI will instead have units attack XXX corps instead of Arhnem, giving the troops there a solid chance. Arhnem and Nijmegen bridges must be captured by X amount of turns, otherwise the mission will fail. Secondary objectives would be capturing all smaller bridges intact, XXX Corps will have one single pontoon unit, and time is not your ally in this scenario. Even one turn could cost you Arhnem bridge. Should the player feel it necessary, there will be a special "evac" point somewhere near Arhnem to withdraw core troops should XXX corps fail in it's drive to the city (I do not want player's to loose their core here, I want this scenario to be the hardest of the campaign, but I want it to be fair.) American troops should focus on their big objectives, Eindhoven and Nijmegen, but he must ALSO defend the Groesbeek heights. This will be a primary obj as historically the 82nd squandered a lot of time and men here for a powerful attack that never came (should secondary objs be meet, German attacks will strengthen in this sector.) Of course, non-core Polish paratroopers can be deployed anywhere, be warned, the Luftwaffe will be prowling the skies when they arrive.... (for the sake of historical accuracy, should XXX reach arhnem and the player win a major victory, a german V-2 will strike the bridge, collapsing it into the river!
5. Battle of the Bulge
this is going to be a tricky one. I do not exactly know when this scenario should begin, but I was thinking later on, around the time the 101st in cut off in Bastogne and the 82nd is holding off a major German attack near the Baraque- Fraiture crossroads (maybe the first day should be December 23rd.) of course this will be the only scenario where you cannot air drop your forces, all of them must be deployed on the ground. Air Force will not be available until late into the battle. This is a true battle of survival. Airborne forces must begin the scenario defending key points and saving as many battered non core units as possible. Staging ground points will be established, and after X amount of turns, they will "regroup" at full health while the paratroopers withdraw. (maybe have multiple regrouping points that the Germans can overrun?) The very small British core in this battle will spawn far away from the main battle lines, and might be defending against weaker attacks (a historical idea) while it slowly makes its way towards the frontline with some Fireflies in tow. (have not decided the size for this map or where it shall take place, might look at Endsieg's map for ideas)
6. Operation Varsity, final scenario.
Probably the smallest map geographically, but the most clustered! From Wesel to Hammenkeln, As befitting for the largest single day drop of the War, the Allied Player will be able to unleash the full force of his core on the German troops defending the Rhine. This will be a grueling scenario, with the player having to link up with river-borne troops ASAP before supplies run out. For once it is actually expected that Airborne troops do most of the heavy lifting, as most of the infantry coming ashore won't have the same shock value as the para's, so taking out strong points is a must! Wesel and Hammenkeln will be the two primary objectives, with potential (a historical) objectives of taking industrial zones ASAP (the longer it takes, the more tanks roll out of the assembly lines, like Stalingrads T-34 factory.) As usual, players should expect armor to being appearing near the end of the scenario.
SPECIALIZATIONS AND MECHANICS
I want Air Supplies to be a mechanic for this campaign. We have a very limited version with Panzerkrieg's Winterstorm scenario as a base, so I would have to set "resupply points" during scenarios. I think 3 turns is not enough for the scope of this campaign, but I do not want to modify that stat (4+ turns without supplies would make para's OP)
I want from the start the players to be able to field more units than standard airborne infantry. I want to remove the repair bridge ability from engineers, and players will be able to deploy them as well as HW infantry, small caliber AT guns, and later on tanks and artillery! Maybe even a new infantry unit called "Light Airborne Infantry" which will have the Guerrilla stat but have less atk and def compared to regular infantry. I would want to re-skin them to share the US AB uniform and UK AB uniform as well.
In the way of specializations, some vanilla and new specializations will make up the campaign! With the basic boot camp and pilots school specs, and aircraft specs here's some new ones I thought up of.
US AND UK SPEC
Airborne Tanks specialization, unlocked in June 1944 (A historical) UK Tetrarch and US M22 Locusts will become available to purchase. More of a Scout than a light tank unit, these tanks will have high soft attack, but next to no hard attack or defense to reflect just how light they are. Can only be deployed at "resupply" points (think of gliders from Panzer Corps, how heavy equipment can only be deployed at certain places like airfields or specific tiles)
US AND UK SPEC
Airborne Expansion, unlocked in June 1944, additional training and expansion of the current airborne corps allows for the creation of the world's first Airborne Army! Free units (101st AB and 1st AB?) plus a CP expansion.
US AND UK SPEC
Airborne AT Guns, Unlocks in September of 1943, to better deal with heavy german armor, all AT guns dropped gain an X amount of extra damage and defense due to better training and weapon quality. I want actually buff AT guns for this campaign, as I do not want British Paras fielding 17PDR's at Arhnem to deal with big german tanks. This specialization will make AT even more viable.
US AND UK SPEC
Airborne Artillery, Unlocks in June of 1944.(A historical) This specialization will add very small caliber guns to be dropped in order to help airborne forces in softening up German forces. Kinda want players to have to make serious choices for Neptune, either take very fast tanks, or actually have supporting artillery!
US ONLY SPEC.
Bazooka Training. unlocks September of 1943. US Airborne forces receive top of the line anti tank equipment and training. all infantry receives X amount of hard atk/def.
UK SPEC
Commandos
SAS troops can be enlisted into core forces. Unlocks September of 1943. If you enjoy SAS in the base game, I will try and set up undefended German artillery for those devils to attack
US AND UK SPEC.
Danger Close! Unlocks September 1943 Improved Radio communications gives Aircraft a combat bonus to enemy units if the are adjacent to a core unit. Need to test values to make this worth picking up.
UK ONLY SPEC
Operational Experience, Unlocks September 1944. The British Command has learned from previous operations, and now all British troops suffer a -3 efficiency penalty instead of the normal -5 when landing and entrench faster than their American Counter parts.
US SPEC ONLY
Combat Experience, Unlocks September 1944 US Forces have learned from previous operations, and now get an X amount of damage to all units, plus a limited amount of shock damage! Superior equipment to Stens and Bolt Action Enfields is my basis for this specialization.
US AND UK SPEC
Captured Equipment unlocks December 1944,(A historical) After countless operations, the player can now field some captured German support equipment capable of being dropped into battle with them! (Flak 36, smaller caliber artillery and AT guns would be some examples?)
US AND UK SPEC
Elite Reputation unlocks December 1944. Airborne troops are the best of the best the Allies have to offer, their mere presence inspires non-core troops to fight on. Adjacent non core troops will get a atk/def bonus when next to a core infantry unit.
This is all just my brain storm, and I am currently studying as many maps of 1943 Sicily as I can! Once I have completed the map, I will update this post and probably ask questions about AI behavior. I do not want Tigers rolling into battle during turn two. Of course please provide feedback, at the moment I need help thinking up of interesting secondary objectives! A very ambitious mod for sure, but with COVID-19 showing no signs of slowing down, I think I have time to make this little project a reality
I guess that I would have to make units from scratch much like the Spanish Civil War mod. In the meantime, I will have to learn on how to tinker with unit abilities, as I stated before, I want to take all American Infantry rooster and make them all Airborne. Scouts will be replaced with Path Finders, Marines with Airborne Light Infantry, and so on and so forth. I am not a 3D modeler, so for right now I hope players forgive Marines and Engineers going the drops 
speaking of which, I am going to have to disable the ability of Airborne engineers to build bridges. 
