Battlefield: Europe MOD v2.4

[Locarnus]

Great update, thank you!

About Tobruk: How about making some of the allied units in Tobruk overstrength and then gradually decreasing their strength until they reach their normal levels?

About Cyprus: Suggestion to add a harbor city on that island, to allow reembarking of invasion units which are too heavy for air transport.

[Uhu]

Here are my icon variations for Cavalry Inf. units.

Also the German Security Inf. has changed to distinguish more from regular/Light/Jäger Inf. It uses the same animations as the Bridge Eng.

Also my minefield version:

You need to rename the pictures to their original names as the picture uploader site renames them partly...

Cav. Infs:













German Sec. Inf:


Minefield:

[Uhu]

I disagree that the capture of Tobruk is too easy/fast.
It is ONLY, when the player send more units there from other theatres - which has it's price. I think, in that way, it is a fair optional choice. When you try to storm it with the given forces and also do not send the full might of Italian navy, than you will not capture it, but you will be swept away by Operation Crusader.

Historically, as I understand, the problem was - as also in the Eastern front... - logistics. The Axis could simply not suply their troops with the given transport and port capacity. Therefore it was not possible to send more units there. (Same as at Stalingrad.) Also as Enigma was cracked, the Allies focused to sink the critical transports (fuel) first.

Just one idea about the next patch if it happens once ( I forgot to tell it before unfortunately) in my opinion, defense around Tobruk should be more powerful, it s too easy to capture it very early around turn 7-8. Either they should get an extra tank in my opinion or a bit more powerful allied fleet.

I was thinking about that earlier, and yes, from a historical point of view it would make sense. But perhaps I would rather try to make the Axis units in the area weaker instead, mainly in terms of supplies, ammo and fuel. As far as I know the main reason behind those units not stroming Tobruk in 1941 was the lack of supplies. The only problem is it would considerably change the balance and it would make it much harder or perhaps impossible to reach the Nile river before winter 1942-43.

[faos333]

Thank you Mc Guba, for yet another update of this great Mod: Battlefield Europe.

You give us reasons to replay this fantastic game, always with new interesting ideas. I read the discussion and feel like I need to play this new version too. Also, for those who have not tried the multiplayer, my advice is that they have to do it, find an opponent, who has some spare time for the next few months and jump on it.

To me, it was my greatest exp when played earlier multi this year. The human opponent is so unpredictable, that you are going to have great time.

Ps Now that you published it, Mc Cuba please check your email, I have sent you a video proposal.

[McGuba]

Thank you for this update! This mod of yours is outstanding. It deserves much more coverage - if only Panzer Corps has something like Steam Workshop or Community Mods.

Yes, Steam Workshop would be great for mods. I hope that one day it will happen together with some much needed bug fixes but realistically the chances are very low.

About Tobruk: How about making some of the allied units in Tobruk overstrength and then gradually decreasing their strength until they reach their normal levels?

In 1941 the Axis outnumbered the Tobruk defenders at least by 2 to 1. So I would not make them stronger. I would rather reduce the supply of the Axis units to make them less effective. That would be more accurate historically. Or make it harder for the Italian navy to support the siege.

I disagree that the capture of Tobruk is too easy/fast.
It is ONLY, when the player send more units there from other theatres - which has it's price. I think, in that way, it is a fair optional choice. When you try to storm it with the given forces and also do not send the full might of Italian navy, than you will not capture it, but you will be swept away by Operation Crusader.

Problem is, currently even if the player does not transfer extra units there, it is possible to capture Tobruk early by only sending the Italian navy to Tobruk. Once the Italian ships arrive and start to suppress and reduce the entrenchment of the defenders, the battle is basically won. When in reality there was no such thing, the Italian navy did not support the siege with naval gunfire. (I think mainly because of the lack of fuel oil, but probably also because they did not want to risk losing their heavy ships in such an operation.) So perhaps the naval minefield should be extended or made stronger to prevent the Italian navy from playing a decisive role in the siege. Or perhaps the Italian navy should start the scenario with reduced fuel ships (at least in the hardest version and perhaps in multiplayer too). Then indeed the deciding factor would be wheter the player sends there extra units or not. In this case perhaps the defenders could be made even weaker a bit, as a compensation. However, in reality the Axis could not provide the Afrika Korps with enough supplies and thus they would have been even more unable to supply a larger army.

Ps Now that you published it, Mc Cuba please check your email, I have sent you a video proposal.

When? I do not see any new mails from you in my email.

To me, it was my greatest exp when played earlier multi this year. The human opponent is so unpredictable, that you are going to have great time.

Yes, I agree that multiplayer is probably the best experience, but unfortunately it is plagued by a few vanilla game issues which should be fixed by the developer.

[Uhu]

I think, because we do not have exact information, why the Italian Navy was not sent there, it is a theory, or speculation to say anything about it. Maybe they really feared the integrity of their ships, after several major defeats by the Royal Navy. That would be a subjective cause, which the player can override. We do not know about the fuel situation at this stage of the war, so we cannot say fur sure that the Italian Navy stayed at home because of this.

Also, I think it is quite realistic, that with the help of the Italian Navy, the siege can be made much faster and successfully already in 1941: they could prevent the defenders to resupplied and also weaken the defense infrastructures.

I'm still on the oppinion that much reinforcements are needed if the player wants not just capture Tobruk but make a difference in the Africa theatre. Which has it's price, therefore it cannot be said, that it would be unfair, from gameplay perspective. Also if you do not bring reinforcements like bombers, there is a serious threat that the precisous ships of the Italian Navy gets damaged, or even destroyed (we know, that it is a possibility from the intense naval battles from multiplayer games).

And at least, if the capture cannot be done - IN ANY WAY - early, than it brings a domino effect for the whole campaign and makes the balance off. Plus it closes another "what if" possibility for the player.

Problem is, currently even if the player does not transfer extra units there, it is possible to capture Tobruk early by only sending the Italian navy to Tobruk. Once the Italian ships arrive and start to suppress and reduce the entrenchment of the defenders, the battle is basically won. When in reality there was no such thing, the Italian navy did not support the siege with naval gunfire. (I think mainly because of the lack of fuel oil, but probably also because they did not want to risk losing their heavy ships in such an operation.) So perhaps the naval minefield should be extended or made stronger to prevent the Italian navy from playing a decisive role in the siege. Or perhaps the Italian navy should start the scenario with reduced fuel ships (at least in the hardest version and perhaps in multiplayer too). Then indeed the deciding factor would be wheter the player sends there extra units or not. In this case perhaps the defenders could be made even weaker a bit, as a compensation. However, in reality the Axis could not provide the Afrika Korps with enough supplies and thus they would have been even more unable to supply a larger army.

[bondjamesbond]

https://warspot.ru/18862-poslednyaya-konnitsa-reyha
https://копанина.рф/publ/1/1/7-1-0-249


https://www.pngwing.com/ru/free-png-nczqc



https://pamyat-naroda.ru/ops/?static_ha ... 56ff30aev7
https://pamyat-naroda.ru/ops/

[Uhu]

Another symbols for the Cav. Inf.? This one looks nice, question is, is it recognisable in a small version?

[Rimski_One]

In the most recent video of BE by Goose l talked about the possibility of the minesweeper. He commented that you'd have thought that it would be "too easy" with one. Only being able to use destroyers (that have a 50% miss chance) is a bit punishing.

l would suggest the way sonja89 (l think that's their name on here) implemented a minesweeper. In their D2R mod, in the 1914-1916 campaign you have a multitude of different ships, submarines, torpedo boats different variations of dreadnoughts, but also, a minesweeper. It has the trait of engineers that immediately destroy a mine unit, and the naval mines in that mod are actual mines but just in water. Ships can do 1 damage to it, which is redundant a bit, and its a 1v1 damage with 0 hex range ships, but minesweepers can destroy the entire moored mine in one attack, the thing is, there is a lot of mines, but only 1 (well technically two mine-sweepers in the large map of West 1914, one core one aux)

Also, what is your opinion on turning the ships into core units as well? It would be interesting, l have seen very few mods use it and having a naval hero is kinda interesting. It could, theoretically, make some subs more powerful that have no heroes, as some people would have lost the subs with heroes. It doesn't diminish the effect of other pre placed heroes of the Subs as any one we would get wouldn't be as strong as the pre-placed ones.

Also l am currently playing BE 2.4 reaching 1942 in one save. l made 3 parallel saves, in 2 of them l use different cheats to test the limit and difficulty of the game. l can return the information l find out from them if you desire so. The primary one of interest for me is using the infinite prestige cheat (well just typing in prestige 999999) to see how the Axis can hold against Allied AI if they can keep the experience and upgrade to anything practically.

Hope you find any of this useful, best regards.
By the way, if you desire the info on the cheat experimental runs, l would prefer to hold a conversation over email or something else

[Duedman]

Can the scripts be seen somewhere actually? Like "Date xx.xx.xx Axis Navy loses fuel capacity" or "Date xx.xx.xx Allied Troops spawn in Egypt" ?

And, what I always wondered: If you manage to shoot down Allied planes - will they just immediatly get replaced endlessly?
Or is there a chance to at least temporarily weaken their numbers?

As for the minesweeper: I'd also love to have such units. Maybe have them do 5 dmg to a minefield per attack. But with just Destroyers it is nigh impossible (and frustrating) to stage a late Sea Lion even if you conquered the rest of the map. I only managed it because the AI is... the AI

[faos333]

Ps Now that you published it, Mc Cuba please check your email, I have sent you a video proposal.

When? I do not see any new mails from you in my email.

17 August, perhaps went in spam folder, I re send it

[faos333]

Mine sweeper yes, although non historical, lots of players, will celebrate it, in a future update

[McGuba]

In the most recent video of BE by Goose l talked about the possibility of the minesweeper. He commented that you'd have thought that it would be "too easy" with one.

Yes, that's correct, I believe it would make the mod much easier. When it looks like most veteran players are actually asking to make it even harder. So perhaps the best would be to add a few such units to the easier versions of the mod and leave the multiplayer and the hardest one as it is.

Ships can do 1 damage to it, which is redundant a bit, and its a 1v1 damage with 0 hex range ships

Actually tactical bombers can do 1 damage as well. (Against the moored mines.)
The idea was to make it relatively slow to remove a naval minefield unit. And to force the player to commit a significant number of units if he wants to do it faster. For example normally a naval minefield can be attacked by 2 tactical bombers and at least 5-6 destroyers in a single turn. Then with some luck even a 10 strength minefield can be destroyed in 2-3 turns max. I think it is not that long, given that the player is willing to commit the required forces. If there was a minesweeper unit the same could be achieved by one single unit in one turn. Then all the existing naval minefields would become near meaningless as they could be breached immediately.

Also, what is your opinion on turning the ships into core units as well? It would be interesting, l have seen very few mods use it and having a naval hero is kinda interesting. It could, theoretically, make some subs more powerful that have no heroes, as some people would have lost the subs with heroes.

It was intentional on my side that only the early war u-boat units have heroes. As it was like that historically. All the famous German u-boat aces achieved their successes between 1940-43. In fact by June 1941, the start of the main scenario, most of the highest scoring u-boat aces were either dead, captured or transfered to a desk job. After May 1943 it was only about survival and no more aces emerged. From mid 1943 it was considered a success even if a u-boat managed to return from its patrol. Of all the military branches of WW2, u-boat crews suffered the highest losses by far. 3 out of 4 Germans who served on a u-boat did not survive it. Also from 1942 the general quality of the new u-boat crews was much lower because of the reduced training time. From 1942 the Germans produced u-boats faster than they could sufficiently train their crews.

Also l am currently playing BE 2.4 reaching 1942 in one save. l made 3 parallel saves, in 2 of them l use different cheats to test the limit and difficulty of the game. l can return the information l find out from them if you desire so.

Yes, for sure I am very interested in any feedback. It helps me greatly to improve the mod. Every player can have a different perspective that I did not think about.

By the way, if you desire the info on the cheat experimental runs, l would prefer to hold a conversation over email or something else

You can send me a private message through this forum. If you click on my name you can choose "Send private message". Or click on "Private messages" on the top of the this page. Or you can send me an e-mail. My address can be found in the readme files of the mod.

17 August, perhaps went in spam folder, I re send it

Ah, ok, yes, that's possible. I will check it again. I was quite busy during the summer, I might have missed it.

Can the scripts be seen somewhere actually? Like "Date xx.xx.xx Axis Navy loses fuel capacity" or "Date xx.xx.xx Allied Troops spawn in Egypt" ?

They can be checked in the editor that comes with the game. But there are hundreds of them and probably it can be quite confusing to check them for someone who is not familiar with PzC modding. They are confusing even for me because I added them over the course of several years and I did not make notes about their content. Whenever I make some fundamental change and I have to find and edit a certain script it takes quite a bit of time to find what I am looking for.

But now in the current version, there is a text file enclosed in the zip named "BE24_Events.txt" that lists many of the more important game events. The file was originally compiled by Uhu, I just updated it for the latest version a bit. However, it is not 100% accurate.

And, what I always wondered: If you manage to shoot down Allied planes - will they just immediatly get replaced endlessly?
Or is there a chance to at least temporarily weaken their numbers?

They can certainly be weakened for a time, there are only a few Allied units which appear as a direct replacement of a destroyed unit. New Allied units tend to appear continuously though, but this fequency can be reduced by the capture of main objectives like Moscow or the oil fields.

As for the minesweeper: I'd also love to have such units. Maybe have them do 5 dmg to a minefield per attack.

Unfortunately this feature of the game cannot be modded, as far as I know. Minesweeper units will destroy minefield units in one attack. So it is all or nothing. (All or 1 strenght point, to be precise.)

But with just Destroyers it is nigh impossible (and frustrating) to stage a late Sea Lion even if you conquered the rest of the map. I only managed it because the AI is... the AI

Goose_2 managed to stage a late Sea Lion in his first (blind) youtube playthrough and achieve a total victory. I suggest watching that for hints. Other than that, I think it is good that generally it is quite hard to invade Britain. In reality it would have been very difficult as well. The existing naval minefields in the mod might be a bit stronger than they should be, but they nicely compensate for the weakness or the AI. Hence the naval minefields are weaker in the multiplayer version of the mod, since a human Allied player does not need such extra help.

[Rimski_One]

Yes l am aware bombers can do 1 damage as well.
Well yeah it would be useful in the easier mode as well, but it is still to be considered, 1 minesweeper (that can be destroyed easily by ships) against a hundred mines practically.

Anyway, yeah l will send an email sometime in the future on the experimental experience, l have university now so it might take time to get to playing. Good work either way and keep it up!

[Uhu]

Yes, it could be a good idea to put that minesweeper in the easier mode(s).
Because it would greatly move the balance which would be not good.
Also I do not find very realistic that a huge sea minefield can be cleated in two weeks.

[McGuba]

I think, because we do not have exact information, why the Italian Navy was not sent there, it is a theory, or speculation to say anything about it. Maybe they really feared the integrity of their ships, after several major defeats by the Royal Navy. That would be a subjective cause, which the player can override. We do not know about the fuel situation at this stage of the war, so we cannot say fur sure that the Italian Navy stayed at home because of this.

With a little research it is possible to find some clues. And it looks like in reality the situation was even worse than depicted in the mod. Here is a more detailed article:

http://www.regiamarina.net/detail_text. ... =125&lid=1

And another that has similar claims, partly based on the above:

https://comandosupremo.com/the-fuel-pro ... vy-in-ww2/

In a nutshell, Italy had no significant domestic production of fuel oil, but the Italian Navy was wise enough to stockpile a relatively large amount by 1940, when it entered the war. However, this stockpile was only enough for 12-18 months. And when Italy entered the war the Navy had to hand over a part of this stockpile to the Army and the Air Force who had no such reserves. Hence by mid 1941 this sotckpile was already low and the Navy had to limit its use.

And it looks like most of the fuel was used in convoy escort operations to Lybia. Which are not depicted in the mod. And also in minelaying. Other than that from mid 1941 the Italian Navy was only involved in a couple of operations to intercept British convoys heading to Malta. And in these operations it was mainly active in the area around Sardinia and Malta. It never really ventured as far as Crete or Tobruk.

There was only one longer range offensive operation planned for 1941, but that was to the west, to intercept British shipping in the area of the Balearic Islands, just south of Spain. This is about the same distance from the main bases in Italy as Tobruk. But even this operation was canceled, as

Any further study of this operation ceased for various reasons: first, it was not possible to ascertain when the British destroyers would be engaged in a patrol, and second, there was an increasing demand for light cruisers to escort convoys to Libya.

http://www.regiamarina.net/detail_text_ ... d=55&lid=1

And it looks like after this the fuel situation became even worse and in early 1943 all three modern battleships had to be removed from service. When in the mod on the losing path (with no oil fields captured and repaired) these can still move around from base to base, even if with very limited max fuel.

The only naval division still operating was the 3rd, based in La Maddalena (Sardinia). The crisis worsened with only 3,000 tons received in February 1943 and in March and April the modern destroyers had to be removed from escort missions.

So in fact from 1943 even more severe fuel restrictions would be necessary in mod (on the losing path). And perhaps even in 1941-42.

In essence, since the supply convoys to Lybia are not depicted in the mod, the Axis player is able use the whole Italian navy wherever he wants. When in reality it wasn't that simple.

[P210]

Hello,

Had a quick test (run through ) play with v2.4.
Start from Mediterranean Sea, Realistic+, difficulty General, Random dice.

Target was to beat SU, deny Allied foothold in European continent, keep NA and possibly take ME.

Result: Torch invasion force eliminated, SU capitulated on turn 92, Allies pushed back to sea at Normandy, but did not quite have time to capture last oilfields in ME.

Random dice: I like to play with unexpected results - more life like. Problem is that few times during 99 turn game it gives extreme outcomes. Example, zero or one star 10/10 strength T34/85 attacks two star 10/10 StuG III in clear weather & terrain, outcome 10/10 T34 killed and zero effect to StuG.
Another was very bad dice against one of my key units early in the game. Have to admit that I made AI to replay that turn (this time with better results for me).
Later I just made a decision to accept bad/extreme dice incidents. That decision did hurt my ambitions in ME, two star StuG lost badly against Sherman, a loss which then slowed down the advance towards oilfields.
It seems that these extreme dice things happen when kill odds are at or above 40% on both sides. So, late war tank vs. tank and fighter vs. fighter combat, with high attack values on both sides, have higher change of extreme results.

Naval stats change: I like this. Battleships are now more of an asset than liability. Just for experiment I did attack Atlantic shipping lanes with the whole Kriegsmarine in 45. Tirpitz had a good fight, it even fended of an air attack without damage. AI plays very agressively, out of ammo, strength two Gneissau was attacked by Liberty ships multiple times (that's the spirit ), no damage done but this prevented disengagement. Maybe Axis Capital vessels could have more ammo. It would make naval battles longer and more interesting, now the fight is over after couple of turns when ship runs out of ammo against multiple opponents.

Edit: Stukas are now much more important. For example if you want to sink Marat at Kronstadt the fastest way is to use Stukas (Rudel, like IRL). Previously I upgraded core Stuka to Bf 110, as I found it more useful general purpose tool, but not anymore. Though Bf 110's do look cool

Panzer Grenadier movement change is great. Now these are actually worth the money. Other infantry unit changes and additions are also good and welcome.

Overall, the game balance is great, all the way from 41 to 45. Game is a challenge at Realistic+ level. It was no picnic to beat SU. Achieving total victory will be a real challenge.

One minor gripe is that Finnish HQ did not appear when plying in campaign mode from Mediterranean Sea to Realistic+


Thank you McGuba!!


Hint to other players, try the Hungarian Mod v1.2, if you have not already. Played it, again, while waiting for BE v2.4. Great experience, again.

[McGuba]

Hello,

Had a quick test (run through ) play with v2.4.

Thanks for the feedback!

One minor gripe is that Finnish HQ did not appear when plying in campaign mode from Mediterranean Sea to Realistic+

Yes, that's indeed a bit of an issue, will be fixed.

[Duedman]

I finally started my youtube playthrough of Battlefield Europe + Locarnus' Addon.
Decided to do it in German tho

https://youtu.be/eStzz_4jlHg

[Cfant]

Hm, I've a question. Duedman startet his Lets Play, in Poland he has 3 core aircraft-units. I got infected and downloaded BF Europe + Locarnus-MOD and start with only two core-aircraft. What's this sorcery? Has Duedman sacrificed a goat or something?