IJA Campaign 1938-45, v1.0 plus install help available

[McGuba]

Thanks for the mirror now I could dl with no problem.
Also thanks to huxl, even if I did not need this work-around in the end.

I am very happy that I can play another Japanese campaign at last. My all time favourite five star game campaign still remains the East Wind, Rain campaign for PacGen, hopefully yours will be just as good, if not better.

I am playing at the hardest normal difficulty, I suppose it is the same as Field Marshall.

A few suggestions, though:

scen 1.
Victory conditions should be shown between the turns. Maybe it was intentional, but it was not clear for me what to do in the 1st scen. I managed to take all primary objectives in turn 8 only to see that the Russian counter-attack goes on. I realised that I have to hold all objectives until turns run out, but if I had known this before I would have chosen another tactic and I would have avoided a few uneccessary casualties. Anyway, I held all primary objectives while loosing a core light arty unit, and four aux units. Only out of curiosity I checked the victory conditions with the editor after the scen and realised I was well within the DV, not to mention MV. Again, if I had known it maybe I would have saved my core unit. Sorry, maybe I am a little bit crazy, but somehow I feel responsible for my virtual soldiers.

Other than that it is a very good first scen, it starts easy, and then it gets harder as the Russian bear awakens.

The new UI and icons are superb, my only small concern is the visibility of the artillery units. Maybe it is only because of my laptop monitor but I can hardly recognize their details because of their faint colour. Maybe some more saturation or a different colour would help. The basic colour of the light AT and arty units is also very similar to the colour of the Russian infantry uniform which is a bit confusing at times. However, I am not sure what coulour they used historically and if this is the right one than its ok.

[sosbrigade]

How do I get rid of the old panzer corps poster campaign stuff and I have 45 DLC and I don't see the jap stuff.

[bebro]

McGuba: Thanks for the feedback

You're right of course about victory conditions, I thought I had done them for all. I just checked quickly, they should be shown from the next scn on. I'll provide a fix for scn 1 asap.

Yep, difficulty levels are just renamed, otherwise identical to vanilla.

As for arty color, it could help if you activate "unitglow" from the menu (if you haven't already) to increase visibility over terrain. You play only the first and second scn vs. the USSR, and the terrain gets different later too, so I hope that makes it less of a problem then.




sosbrigade: When you installed the mod like described above there should be normally no original PzC art anymore, only custom art from the mod. So this sounds like a problem with the installation. It's hard to say what went wrong without more info. Maybe you could post a screenshot showing your folder structure of PzC, and the mods folder?

Or, in case your installation is fine, maybe you just forgot to activate the mod via GME?

[sosbrigade]

Got it to work but I can't find the campaign. Where do you put it?

[bebro]

I attached a little hotfix for missing victory conditions of scn1 (Lake Khasan) here. It's an updated pzloc file for this scn, please unzip and copy to:

..\My Files\My Games\Panzer Corps\Mods\IJA Redux Campaign\Data\

The conditions were actually in already, but specified for the allies, which is of course nonsense.


sosbrigade, if the installation is done as described, choose New Game in PzC, then click the Japanese sun on the right in the following screen to get to the selection. If it's not listed there as shown in the pic I posted earlier the installation needs to be checked again.

[McGuba]

scen 2

The new units are very nice, although the camo of the Type 95 tank is kinda strange. I searched google for colour pictures and all I found were the usual green-yellow-brown camo schemes and yours is overly dominated by magenta. The same applies to the Type 97 Te-Ke light tank which appears in the third scen. It may be only personal preference, but I recoloured these for myself to better match the excellent Type 94 and Type 89 tanks.

The scenario itself is good, I think it is not possible to win it (on higher difficulties), the Russians have loads of better tanks and heavy artillery, as historically. So I was defeated, but managed to avoid heavy core losses. I could only keep two victory objectives out of six. I do not mind if I get beaten if it reflects historical facts, but some players, with less knowledge of history might get frustrated by being beaten so badly as early as in the second scenario.

...

As for the installation issue: I suggest you to place a personalized step-by-step installation guide together with a copy of JSGME in the zip like Uhu did in the Italian campaign and like I did in the Hungarian one. It is nice that you write down here in this topic how to install it, but you should think about the future as well. What if somebody downloads it 3-4 years later from God only knows where? Will he find this topic? I released a campaign for Panzer General (DOS) in January 2007 and I still get e-mails time after time from people around the world with their feedback, questions, etc. You never know what will happen to your campaign in the future, how long will it live on once you release it to the public.

[bebro]

Good suggestion about the installation guide. I'll add one later; maybe as pdf.

Re the senarios, yeah, this was intented to be quite harsh, but I like it that way. MVs should be in reach, but I didn't really plan for it to be a DV. Afterwards the campaign gets "reset" somewhat, the next couple scns are smaller and easier to give the player some breathingtime and opportunities to get up his core again (in case of losses).

If you end up on the "losing path" defence scenarios vs. superior forces will occur frequently, so this is some kind of "foreshadowing".

Re camo, I saw the type 95 camo years ago on a color profile for a HaGo tank, though how "correct" it was I can't say. Maybe I change it indeed.

[McGuba]

scen 3-4

Good scens again, and these are easier. It was indeed a wise decision to shift the invasion plans to the south instead of the USSR. A little bit sad, though, that I could not use the core air force.

scen 3: DV, turn 11
scen 4: DV, turn 17

Gameplaywise I noticed that the firing animations are not in the right place with some of the new units. In some cases it is not so annoying, but in some others, as with the Type 94 or the scout car, when it is way out of place, it is. So here is a little gift for His Majesty the Emperor, maybe I will gain the attention of the Tenno one day:

Type94_TK.png (-21,-18) (21,-18)
Type95_HaGo.png (29,-18) (-29,-18)
Chiyoda_QSW.png (-45,-16) (45,-16)

Possible minor bug in scen 5 Kampar? Thopmson's Ridge (12,7) should be Thompson's Ridge correctly, I suppose.

[bebro]

Thanks for those anim values, I'll implement them asap. Same with that spelling error/typo, good catch.

I actually planned to enable the player's core aircraft at scn4 after the first airfield is seized, but unfortunately found no sufficient way to allow core air deployment there after turn 1. So I gave the aux aircraft as replacements for this scn only. Not ideal, but your air force will see plenty of action still to come...

[RobertCL]

Hi Bebro,

I do questions and answers...

IJA Redux well used via GME. OK

Where do I place IJA Redux Campaign folder ?
I tried in My games\Pz Corps\Mods: OK

Then where do I install JP_LakeKhasan.pzloc: in the campaign: OK


Now let's try your campaign, I already love the icons!

[RobertCL]

1st scenario

I am playing at leutnant level as always.
I won easily but Soviet equipment is superior.
Japanese were crazy to launch a war with such an equipment!!!


2nd scenario (Khalkin Gol)

I am just playtesting, Soviet forces overthrown my defences quite easily, a nightmare!
It is a bloodbath, this is not 100% funny to assist powerless to the total annihilation of your virtual soldiers without any chance to win!!!

Soviet Ziz trucks for arty have no movement sound.

3rd scenario

Very few prestige but I managed to get a MV at the very last turn. Jungle maps are far better for the eyes than the border fights with USSR (I mean the color of your icons is better coupled with the color of a jungle map).

I did not know I was accused of insubordination after I attacked the Frenchies

4th scenario

Lack of prestige: I purchased all possible units but one and I have to start the scenario with zero prestige point!

Other remarks

After Okinawa why not a scenario depicting the historical Soviet attack in Mandchuria as Stalin promised to the Allies in August 1945 ?
You created an hypothetical scenario like Australia, fine. Then why shouldn't you create an hypothetical scenario like San Francisco in 1945 ?
Just ideas...

The unit icons are outstanding and the intro texts are nicely done!

[bebro]

Thx for the feedback Robert

A couple of answers...

1st scenario

I am playing at leutnant level as always.
I won easily but Soviet equipment is superior.
Japanese were crazy to launch a war with such an equipment!!!


2nd scenario (Khalkin Gol)

I am just playtesting, Soviet forces overthrown my defences quite easily, a nightmare!
It is a bloodbath, this is not 100% funny to assist powerless to the total annihilation of your virtual soldiers without any chance to win!!!

Soviet Ziz trucks for arty have no movement sound.

Ahh, will fix the sound issue. As mentioned, Khalkin Gol is kinda hard, but MVs should be doable without too much trouble on this level. Of course, being the creator, I can claim that easily But there are actually a lot of aux units, you can get good defense positions, and your core units should do well if used right (esp. with arty support).

If you want I can post a mini guide for the scn.

3rd scenario

Very few prestige but I managed to get a MV at the very last turn. Jungle maps are far better for the eyes than the border fights with USSR (I mean the color of your icons is better coupled with the color of a jungle map).

I did not know I was accused of insubordination after I attacked the Frenchies

4th scenario

Lack of prestige: I purchased all possible units but one and I have to start the scenario with zero prestige point!

If prestige gets a prob you're probably taking to high losses and buy too expensive stuff. Early on it's better to focus on getting the core slots filled and see to have those surviving. It should be affordable to lose some units, but of course at some point it may get too difficult to manage prestige. On the level it was tested it should be sufficient though. If you don't consider it a spoiler I could also write some hints for early core composition. Some of the cheaper units can be quite effective actually (for example those HaGo tanks, light arty or 81mm mortars).

After Okinawa why not a scenario depicting the historical Soviet attack in Mandchuria as Stalin promised to the Allies in August 1945 ?
You created an hypothetical scenario like Australia, fine. Then why shouldn't you create an hypothetical scenario like San Francisco in 1945 ?
Just ideas...

The unit icons are outstanding and the intro texts are nicely done!

Thx a bunch. Sure I could add more hypotheticals, but for now I'll leave it there. You basically have to beat Australia (thereby defeat US exp. forces there too) and the Brits in India to win. Adding a full scale US invasion seemed too much of a stretch for me. But hey, maybe I add it indeed at some point, people seem to like these a lot.

Re Sov attack 45, that would be even more harsh since their armor is vastly superior then.

[McGuba]

scen 5 Kampar

I think having only 2 aircraft deployment slots in this scen is a bit too restrictive. First I purchased an additional Hayabusa / Oscar to my existing two planes only to see that I could not place them all, so I had to reload my previously saved game to purchase something else. There are quite a lot of players who like to have even more aircraft in their core, they may be disappointed by this. Possibly you made it like this to increase difficulty and the need to buy an AA gun as well.

Also a bit surprised by the appearence of the enemy Buffulo as there is no visible enemy airfield. Moreover, later a Hurricane appeared out of nowhere causing significant damage to my unprotected Ki-45 Toryu tac bomber. I wonder how it is possible if they do not have an airfield at all? What other surprises will there be later?

After the scen I checked the map again and found the hidden airfield at Temoh (13,25) was it masked under a town on purpose or by mistake?

DV in last turn

correction for the 75mmType 88 AA gun animation in AT mode:

JP_75mm_Type88AT.png (58,-20) (-58,-20)

[McGuba]

scen 6 Muar

So far I do not have a problem with the prestige. I started Muar with 1500 and an ideal core composition. However, I do not have many stars, partly because of the difficulty setting (FM) and also due to the fact that I rarely use elite replacements during a scenario, only during the placement phase. Also, in my opinion in PC, generally, it is more economic and effective to keep the units alive long enought to gain 1-2 heroes and upgrade to a better unit, than to gain experience and spend prestige to preserve it.

Initially the biggest issue in this scan is the lack of intelligence. It is clear that I have to split my core, some have to advance to take the farthest objective, Parit Sulong, and the others have to help the aux units to capture the Muar area. The only question is what should be the correct ratio, as I do not have information on the strenght of the enemy at Parit Sulong. I can only rely on my intuition. Fortunately, I do not get disappointed.

The enemy airfield is invisible again. To be honest I do not like this idea, and it is a major turn away from the original PG/PC idea. Still, I respect your decision as a mod maker.

I suggest increasing the movement of the bicycle infantry to 5. Wheeled movement 4 is pretty much useless, even normal infantry has faster average speed, and it should not. Wheeled movement 5 gives significantly faster road speed and still slower (2 hex) off-road speed making it a good and cheap on-the-road unit.

A bit sad that I have missed the Philippines scenario and there is no way to play it other than revert to Khota Baru and lose. It should be playable as single scenario at least.

[RobertCL]

Scen 2

Forgot to mention: why is there an arty AUX unit 149mm Type 96 not purchasable ?

Scen 4

Loss
With two turns more I would have been able to win.
Hopefully scen loss does not mean end of campaign!

Scen 5 Kampar

Ongoing: superb map!
At least I can deploy the aircrafts.
Why are Japanese units navy not purchasable ? Because this is a Japanse Army campaign only ?
If so why showing Japanese navy flag in purchase menu ? Because is is considered as "Axis Minor", need to be used for technical reasons ?

Other subjects

NB: OK for San Francisco but Mandchuria in 1945 was historical and a pure suicide scenario to end the campaign in a Japanese way (yes I know Stalin's armor had no counterpart on Japanese side).

No thx, no need a tutorial for 1st scenarios, let's learn the hard way!

I like the fact the player has few units, it seems it is as it is was a campaign at "platoon" level. Player has to be very cautious and cherish his units.

[bebro]

Thx for the feedback, guys Now to the answers...

scen 5 Kampar

I think having only 2 aircraft deployment slots in this scen is a bit too restrictive. (...)

Should be no prob to add more indeed. I think I collect the suggestions coming in now and see to get an update out including them, and those efx anim fixes. Will take a while though, maybe after x-mas.

Also a bit surprised by the appearence of the enemy Buffulo as there is no visible enemy airfield. Moreover, later a Hurricane appeared out of nowhere causing significant damage to my unprotected Ki-45 Toryu tac bomber. I wonder how it is possible if they do not have an airfield at all? What other surprises will there be later?

After the scen I checked the map again and found the hidden airfield at Temoh (13,25) was it masked under a town on purpose or by mistake?

This was done on purpose, but now that I read it it may be needed to do something about it. Thing is, most airfields - with only few exceptions due to gameplay - you see in this campaign (and in USMC) were there historically.

Otoh the AI refuses to do anything with air units when it has no airfield at all in its possession. And in scns like Kampar etc there was no nearby UK airfield there, but still Allied air units did appear over various places in Malaya coming from either Singapore or (Dutch) even Sumatra, which are off-map in those scns. Therefore I decided to have Allied air apearing there, but with no *obvious* airfield.

If players find that too annoying, I could just add a message at scn start that the player should watch for enemy air units patroling the area fromtime to time or so...IMO that would be a compromise. The alternative would be to place those airfields openly. Personally I'd prefer to go with the message only.

In general, the AI can get triggered reinforcements, esp. for air units. Until 1943 it's not so obvious though.

DV in last turn

correction for the 75mmType 88 AA gun animation in AT mode:

JP_75mm_Type88AT.png (58,-20) (-58,-20)

Thanks

So far I do not have a problem with the prestige. I started Muar with 1500 and an ideal core composition. However, I do not have many stars, partly because of the difficulty setting (FM) and also due to the fact that I rarely use elite replacements during a scenario, only during the placement phase. Also, in my opinion in PC, generally, it is more economic and effective to keep the units alive long enought to gain 1-2 heroes and upgrade to a better unit, than to gain experience and spend prestige to preserve it.

Sounds good. I do similar, usually keep some PP in reserve, but do overstrength on important/exposed units, like fighters, tanks or inf esp. from mid-war on, when it becomes clear that the enemy gets significantly more and often better stuff.

I suggest increasing the movement of the bicycle infantry to 5. Wheeled movement 4 is pretty much useless, even normal infantry has faster average speed, and it should not. Wheeled movement 5 gives significantly faster road speed and still slower (2 hex) off-road speed making it a good and cheap on-the-road unit.

A bit sad that I have missed the Philippines scenario and there is no way to play it other than revert to Khota Baru and lose. It should be playable as single scenario at least

Bicycle suggestion noted for the update. I didn't want to over do it initially, but move 5 sounds ok.

Re Philippines, it doesn't fit to the campaign logic to play both Malaya/Singapore and Philippines 41. I think for a later major update this would be worth to be turned into a little alternative path with several scns on the Phils, but that means more work, so will no come so soon.

So far I did not do anything to make these playable as stand-alone scns, since it means additional work.

[bebro]

Scen 2

Forgot to mention: why is there an arty AUX unit 149mm Type 96 not purchasable ?

It's made available later. The idea is that not everyone in the IJA gets access tocertain stuff, only distinguished commanders.

Scen 4

Loss
With two turns more I would have been able to win.
Hopefully scen loss does not mean end of campaign!

Sure it was a loss, no MV? Then you should be taken to the Philippines.

Scen 5 Kampar

Ongoing: superb map!
At least I can deploy the aircrafts.
Why are Japanese units navy not purchasable ? Because this is a Japanse Army campaign only ?
If so why showing Japanese navy flag in purchase menu ? Because is is considered as "Axis Minor", need to be used for technical reasons ?

No ships because of the things you said - it's an army campaign nominally, and you also do not need ships mostly. But yes, there is a technical reason: since the navy is quasi a "minor nation" it needs to be activated in the editor in a number of scenarios to use for example the same airfields. In this case you can always bring up the purchase screen for them, but cannot buy their units.

You will later get few bonus units belonging formally to the navy (show the navy flag) as core units. For these I recommend to check for upgrades regularly, as the game shows only regular (non-bonus) upgrades via info box.

[RobertCL]

Scen 5 Kampar (Luzon)

Marginal Victory on this one!
One turn more and I would have been able to capture the last 2 VHs!

Your captured B17D has no movement sound.

Excellent scenario, very funny.

I prefer the Japanese Imperial navy infantry and air units, I prefer those icons. Maybe a Japanese navy campaign some day ?

Now let's capture Singapore!

[McGuba]

In general, the AI can get triggered reinforcements, esp. for air units. Until 1943 it's not so obvious though.

Of course I am aware of this feature as I use it as well in my mod. And I know that the AI is not willing to purchase new aircraft during a scen so there is no other way to implement constant AI air support. It is just a bit unexpected to see new aircraft to appear on the map when there is no visible enemy airfield. One would think that, logically, if there are no visible airfields on the map then there is no enemy air threat.

The alternative would be to place those airfields openly. Personally I'd prefer to go with the message only.

Personally, I would vote on the contrary. I spent some of my gametime in scen 6 figuring out where the hidden enemy airbase can be. This knowledge is vital and has an impact on tactical planning. In ww2, the participants usually knew the whereabouts of each others airbases. In the end I managed to find the particular "town" and captured it too, but still it was more than strange to see aircraft hovering, refuelling, getting repaired above a town hex.

I must agree that I used to use the same technique, and I will use it again if necessary, to mask something from the player, but I definetely prefer to play with open cards when it is about airfields mainly due to their size and importance. I do not think that placing an airfield at an ahistorical place at times, due to game engine limitations, would make a scenario ahistorical. It is still better than confusing the player and shifting his attention. However, giving a warning message and / or a hint in the briefing is the absolute minimum. I did the same in the Hungarian mod in the Yugoslav scenario when the partisans are appearing out of nowhere and still players did not seem to like it.

[bebro]

I can put in those airfields, no prob. I just didn't think it's much of a prob...that is why it's good to have independent opinions on stuff like this