Erik's Multiplayer scenarios

[KarisFraMauro]

Both Avalanche (Salerno) and Shingle (Anzio) are battles where the Germans definately should use spare resources and CPs to buy the cheapest flak units. Then deploy them for max protection. IAlthough it is tempting to play an aggressive German I think it is better to hold back and preserve the forces for the end-play.

Good to know great minds think alike In the other Italy game of yours where I'm playing as the allies the absence of german AA totally changes the dynamic. Is it Anzio where Rome is in the centre rather than the northwest corner? I gave up on that one playing as the Germans, but it didn't occur to me to invest in anti aircraft because there was too little terrain for me to position it usefully out of range of destroyers. Perhaps it's worth reconsidering on my part...

I guess it stands to reason I'd be hesitant to make changes to the coral sea map when I'm doing well, but experimentation isn't a bad thing. If some of the changes Chema suggests do get implemented I'm happy to have another go.

[Erik2]

Anzio has Rome in the NW corner.

[KarisFraMauro]

Ah thanks, it's Salerno that I gave up on then. Obviously there were places I could have put AA to be safe from destroyers, but would they have allowed me to hold enough objectives... Well a single game isn't really enough to draw conclusions from.

[Chema_cagi]

Hi Erik, just started Operazione C3 with KarisFraMauro, and found that the special boat service italian units don't seem to be able to land, at least not in the area assigned for deployment.

The Operazione looks already like audace ma non troppo, but this makes it yet more difficile.

PS: Karis says he got the same issue in another game

PS2: To @KarisFramauro I can't hardly imagine a Salerno map with Rome in the middle, unless a major tectonic mess had occurred

[KarisFraMauro]

Heh geography is clearly not my forte Honestly even if the Italian special boat service could land in Operation C3 I don't think it would make much of a difference. Italy might be able to take the northern island if they concentrate all their bombers there, but there aren't even any objectives on the island. As for the main island, forget it. In the first turn the understrengthed paratroopers can ping the allied AA, damaging themselves in the process and becoming even more weak. Then the allied armour, infantry, bombers, artillery and warships wipe them out. Hmm.

[Chema_cagi]

Heh geography is clearly not my forte Honestly even if the Italian special boat service could land in Operation C3 I don't think it would make much of a difference. Italy might be able to take the northern island if they concentrate all their bombers there, but there aren't even any objectives on the island. As for the main island, forget it. In the first turn the understrengthed paratroopers can ping the allied AA, damaging themselves in the process and becoming even more weak. Then the allied armour, infantry, bombers, artillery and warships wipe them out. Hmm.

Huh...maybe the idea from the allied side was to not repeat a Crete scenario...Don't have played too far yet, so don't know if there are seaborne reinforcements, but I've just seen some 'shadows' of what could be carrier airplanes...(yes, british carriers are not USN or IJN, but will give a hard time to any landing force).

The scenario idea is fun, anyway. I remember an old Avalon Hill with a 'what if' Malta scenario with a combined Luftwaffe and Regia Marina forces

PS: Memory gets cranky at 60...the Malta map was a bonus in the Air Assault on Crete AH wargame

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Assau ... ormat=true

[Erik2]

I think I still have that AH game stucked in some corner in the one of the out-houses.

The Operazione C3 scenario is pretty old now and there are certainly issues with it.
If you guys provide some detailed feedback I will take another look at it and fix/change stuff.

[KarisFraMauro]

It's not really fair for me to complain too much until I've played things through fully. One specific issue is that the Italian paratroopers can't take airfields because as soon as the allied planes launch, the AA gets moved on top of the airfield. If Italian paratroopers land in the first turn they're too dispersed to be able to destroy AA. If they try moving into a mass before dropping, allied fighters wipe them out. I didn't know it was an older scenario, just noticed someone had set it up and I got curious. Chema is doing better than I did in the south, but worse in the north. So far at least

[Erik2]

The Italian Nuatori units (specail landing service-type) can get ashore.
You need to switch to amphibious mode, move at least 1 hex and then wade ashore.
It is a bit odd that you actually need to move the unit before landing.

nuatori.jpg (106.09 KiB) Viewed 2110 times

[Erik2]

1v1 Operazione C3 1.3
Link updated in first post.

Italian Nuatori and para sabotage units are now full strength.
Replaced German U-boote substitutes with proper Italian subs.
Increased resource income for all factions.
Added air transport to Italian para reinforcements.
Cleaned up commander assignments.
Added escarpment to all non-sea-invasion hex-sides. This means invasion may be made on beach, open and village/town hexes.
Air/naval reinforcements spawn closer to Malta
Added resources for turn-1 sneak attacks by Italian special units

I have created a couple of challenges if you want to test the scenario.

[Chema_cagi]

1v1 Operazione C3 1.3
Link updated in first post.

Italian Nuatori and para sabotage units are now full strength.
Replaced German U-boote substitutes with proper Italian subs.
Increased resource income for all factions.
Added air transport to Italian para reinforcements.
Cleaned up commander assignments.
Added escarpment to all non-sea-invasion hex-sides. This means invasion may be made on beach, open and village/town hexes.
Air/naval reinforcements spawn closer to Malta
Added resources for turn-1 sneak attacks by Italian special units

I have created a couple of challenges if you want to test the scenario.

Just wow!, mate.

[KarisFraMauro]

That was fast, thanks! I'll quit my current game with Chema. You have any side you prefer? Since you were axis last time maybe we should switch... Funny how the Italian special forces work, I switched to amphibious but didn't move which explains why they were stuck in the water.

[Chema_cagi]

I switched to amphibious but didn't move which explains why they were stuck in the water.

I tried exactly the same with same result.

I've liked very much in the new version to see the nuatori described as 'special biatch units'. A typo for sure but very enjoyable!

[Erik2]

Good thing I didn't name them special bitch forces. My wife would kill me

[KarisFraMauro]

Ha, let's save that for a mod Although I imagine the German forces had some "colourful" names for the soviet women fighters.

Not sure it's something specific to a particular scenario but I'm playing Operation Watchtower as Japan and noticed an allied sub avoided my sonar. Never had that happen before. Is that supposed to happen occasionally? It was within range, separated by only one hex. I know it was there because the previous turn I surrounded it on all sides with ships, and after sonar failed to find it I tried moving a destroyer onto the supposedly empty space, which made it appear.

Usually 99 percent of my games are Parreigo's immense maps but switching out of my comfort zone with these more normal ones has been quite fun.

[GabeKnight]

Not sure it's something specific to a particular scenario but I'm playing Operation Watchtower as Japan and noticed an allied sub avoided my sonar.

A submerged sub that did not move can not be detected by sonar. The only way is to enter the same hex with one of your units - and then it can be spotted and attacked by other subs too.

[KarisFraMauro]

Well that's useful to know! Man the subtleties of this game are nuts... Makes sense too. I had a feeling it wasn't so much a glitch as a hole in my knowledge.

[Chema_cagi]

About Operazione C3, some early impressions/suggestions. There's much to be seen yet (the most advanced game I'm playing is turn 6...), but there are some features that have struck me. The scenario has a great potential to be a favourite, as hypothetical as it is, and Erik has done a great design work, as ever

1. Naval reinforcements for both sides (at least to the british/CW) seem to appear teleported near the coast at some point, Final Countdown style (the Kirk Douglas one, not the rock one). Would it not be preferable to have them come earlier but around the map edges? That would ever give more tactical options

2. I've seen Karis making my coastal forts switch sides by simple naval bombardment. Call me ol' fashioned, but I think it would have been better to have some more nuatori commandos capturing them à la Navarone? German fallschirmjäger captured a fort and made it manned against his former owners, which seems more reasonable to me. The naval bombardment surrender/sideswitching thing is game hardcoded, or can be defined in the scenario rules?

I'm sure Karis will have more suggestions. All that said considering it's early in the game.

[Erik2]

Operazione

1) The naval forces originally arrived at the map edges. The issue with this is that it take a lot of turns (=boring) to reach any battlefield.

2) I thought I had set up the triggers to only spawn coastal forts after an Italian units had occupied the location (= original coast fort destroyed). I'll take another look at it.

[Chema_cagi]

Operazione


2) I thought I had set up the triggers to only spawn coastal forts after an Italian units had occupied the location (= original coast fort destroyed). I'll take another look at it.

On a second though, I have assumed there were no nuatori near the forts, but I can't see them changing the control of terrain as with the FJ...And Karis is a cunning old battlefox capable of any smart moves