Battlefield: Europe MOD v2.4

[slowgtp]

Thank you for the prompt answers, as I've said, I love this mod.

I do have an additional question:

Major operations, for example, Fall Blau, is an extremely difficult task to undertake. Would it be possible to have short term prestige infusions for something like this? And how is prestige calculated at the beginning of turns, by the number of critical objectives secured?

[McGuba]

Major operations, for example, Fall Blau, is an extremely difficult task to undertake. Would it be possible to have short term prestige infusions for something like this? And how is prestige calculated at the beginning of turns, by the number of critical objectives secured?

Instead of giving prestige before the beginning of Fall Blau I decided to add extra units instead. That's why the player gets Italian, Romanian and Hungarian forces. It is perfectly in accordance with history as at the beginning of 1942 the Germans demanded more and more forces from their allies. Germany already mobilized the majority of its male population for Barbarossa so there were simply no other resources left. Also, the Reich starts to heat up its war economy so the player gets 100 prestige points more in each turn from spring 1942.

Regarding the prestige:

Owning the capital of the following occupied / friendly countries mean 50 pp: Bukarest, Budapest, Rome, Paris, Tunis. That's 5 at the beginning of the scenario, which means 250 pp in each turn, as long as all are in Axis hands. If you lose one of them from that time you only get 200 in each turn, and so on.

You get 100 prestige points in each turn for owning each oil fields. At the beginning there is only one in Axis hands, the one in Romania, near Bukarest. If you want more you need to get the Soviet ones in the Caucasus (two) or the British ones in the Middle East (two as well). So, if you can take all you will get 500 prestige points in each turn, which effectively decide the outcome of the war.

That's all what you get in the beginning. Later, sometime at spring 1942 you get 100 prestige points more as the German war economy starts to run up. You do not have to do anything for it, just wait. In 1943, an additional 100 prestige points will be added in each turn as the war economy gets even more effective. Again, you do not have to do anything for it. Even later, in 1944, you might get another 100 prestige points in each turn, but only if you are unable to defeat at least one of your main enemies (Britain or USSR) by then. It is to compensate players ending up on the losing (=historical) path.

Also, you can get 50 prestige points (up to a maximum of 200) for each naval unit (submarine or ship) blocking a convoy route.

You can also get a one time prestige reward for capturing certain major objectives like Moscow, Leningrad or Malta.

On the other hand you can lose 50 prestige points (up to a maximum of 150) in each turn for any partisan unit occupying (blocking) the railroads in the Ukarine and Belarus, or any Allied strategic bomber over a major objective city in Germany (again, up to a maximum of 150), simulating the Allied bomber offensive. This is deducted from your calculated income.

As an answere to the Allied carpet bombings the V1/V2 rockets can be used to attack England in 1944. (Obviously only if England has not been invaded by then.) These attacks, if successful will, add 100 prestige points.

So for example, in mid 1943 if you own all Axis capitals and the Romanian oil field, and managed to capture an additional oil field in the Caucasus, and have one U-boat blocking a convoy route in the Atlantic, but have one partisan unit blocking a rail road in the east, and two Allied strategic bombers over an objective city in Germany you would get the following:

250 (for the five capital cities) + 100 (for the oil field in Romania) + 100 (for the captured oil field in the Caucasus) + 100 (for the 1st war economy "upgrade" in 1942) + 100 (for the 2nd in 1943) +50 (for the U-boat) - 50 (for the partisan unit blocking a railroad in the east) - 100 (for the two enemy strategic bombers over major city hexes in Germany) = 700 - 150 = 550 prestige points at the beginning of that turn. If you manage to destroy / dislocate the partisan unit and the bombers in the next turn you will get the full 700 prestige points.

[JimmyC]

I just have to say that I really love this mod. Just when you think you’ve got the AI figured out, it pulls out yet another surprise. So many twists and turns!

**WARNING – SPOILERS**
For those of you not following my AAR, its my 2nd playthrough and I went for some non-historical options. I led a successful seaborn invasion of Syria and Lebannon with the idea to strike the oilfields of Baghdad, leaving only a skeleton occupation force on the coast. In expectation of a major British counterattack in late ’42 (historically the 2nd Battle of El Alamein) I mostly evacuated North Africa. However the attacking forces from the Suez Canal surprised me by heading north east instead of west and recaptured all of Lebanon and Syria.

It was at this point that I had no idea where this large force would be heading (and it was a large force – 5 or 6 overstrength tanks, plus supporting infantry and artillery). Would it turn back to North Africa and take my territories there or would it follow my desert force which was assaulting Baghdad? I particularly feared the latter as they would have annihilated my desert forces. But surprisingly they never came and I assumed they must have fallen dormant around Syria where I had last seen them.

Fast forward about 6 months and Army Group South has captured Grozny and is pushing on the oilfields of Baku in the Caucuses. However they are suddenly thrown on the defensive by the emergence of the aforementioned British forces!

http://slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... ad#p585580

Even having played through the entire game once I would never, ever have expected that! Great stuff McGuba!

[cicciopastic]

I read somewhere about Italian forces that fought their way back to Axis territory after Operation Uranus. They had to march hundreds of kilometers and all the while being attacked by Russian troops. In the end they basically resorted to human wave tactics to break through the Russian held stronpoints (wounded soldiers also attacking). Really incredible story. Will try and dig it up and post the link.

.

u propably refer to the Nikolajewka battle ... yes there a lot of book about it in italy .... if u are interested in the italian campaign i suggest a book i really loved named CENTOMILA GAVETTE DI GHIACCIO .... i think it might be translated in several different languages ....

the most effective units in russia were the divisione alpina julia and divisione alpina tridentina. i red somewhere that one of those two got full honor by the german hq and the alpini were sometime called tankmen as they fought the russian tank with almost nothing .... but maybe is just a beatiful "story" told by the defeated to say they were not that bad!

I believe there were some quite successful Italian forces in North Africa as well.
.

i think the most famous division in north africa were divisione corazzara Ariete and divisione paracadutisti folgore. those were the most effective italian unit at rommel disposal

anyway this mod is just addictive.

ceers, Pietro

[JimmyC]

Ok, i found some links about famous/victorious Italian units, although some of its just forum chatter, so take it with a grain of salt:
Folgore Division - http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/2767-it ... y/?p=20623
Savoia Cavalry - the last successful cavalry charge of WW2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of ... buscenskij
Operation Agreement - Allied raid on Axis held Tobruk, in which the Italian defenders performed exceptionally http://www.comandosupremo.com/operation ... -1942.html
The retreat of the Italians following operation Saturn - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nikolayevka

I particularly recommend the last link. Incredible stuff. A select quote:
"The 40,000-strong mass of stragglers—Alpini and Italians from other commands, plus various Germans and Hungarians—formed two columns that followed the Tridentina division which, supported by a handful of German armoured vehicles, led the way westwards to the new Axis front. The Soviets had already occupied every village and bitter battles were fought by the soldiers of the Tridentina to clear the way. In fifteen days the soldiers covered 200 km on foot, fought twenty-two battles and spent fourteen nights camped in the middle of the Russian steppe. Temperatures during the night fell between −30 °C (−20 °F) and −40 °C (−40 °F)."

[TigergeriHUN]

Hello McGuba

Régen játszottam a módal csak az egész gép újra lett telepítve és a módot nem tudom megcsinálni mert nekem akkor is más csinálta meg (amúgy steames verzió) Universal Extraktorral ki lehet nyitni a fájlokat de nem tudom hogyan tovább kérlek segíts! Ha a youtubra fel tudnál rakni egy kommentáros videót hogyan kell aktiválni és hogyan működik a mód generátor (az összes lépéssel) azt nagyon megköszöném!!!

[McGuba]

Hello,

Ha nem megy a JSGME-vel való telepítés, javaslom készíts egy másolatot a teljes Panzer Corps mappáról, majd erre másold rá a mod-ot, a megfelelő mappákat és fájlokat felülírva. Ha kitömöríted a Battlefield: Europe zip-et láthatod, hogy tartalmaz Audio, Data, Graphics, stb. mappákat, ezeket kell a Panzer Corps másolat megfelelő mappáira rámásolni és felülírni. Youtube video készítésére most sajnos nincs időm és kapacitásom.

Ja, még annyit, hogy mivel ez itt egy angol nyelvű forum, ha további kérdésed vagy észrevételed van és azt magyar nyelven tennéd, akkor a félreértések elkerülése érdekében légy szíves inkább azt inkább magánüzenetben tedd. Magánüzenetet a nevemre kattintva tudsz küldeni (send PM) Köszi!

...

Sorry, but Tigergeri had a problem installing this mod, so I tried to help him and also asked him to send me a PM in the future if he wants to communicate in Hungarian as this is an English language forum.

[TigergeriHUN]

meg tudnád adni a Gmail neved? ott elmagyarázom részletesebben

[TigergeriHUN]

KÖSZÖNÖM SZÉPEN sikerült megcsinálni most vagy 200 órát játszani fogok rajta
THX soo much finally i made that now I play min 200 hour
THX McGuba

[JimmyC]

My favorite unit for this mod has to be the late model Stug IIIG. Its such an efficient piece of armour. For only 353 prestige, you get a really versatile piece, that holds its own against most late war units.

[McGuba]

KÖSZÖNÖM SZÉPEN sikerült megcsinálni most vagy 200 órát játszani fogok rajta
THX soo much finally i made that now I play min 200 hour
THX McGuba

You are welcome!

My favorite unit for this mod has to be the late model Stug IIIG. Its such an efficient piece of armour. For only 353 prestige, you get a really versatile piece, that holds its own against most late war units.

It has to be, as it really was. Several sources claim that the StuGIII was responsible for the destruction of more allied tanks than any other German piece of equipment. The StuGIII with the long 75 mm gun was the most produced German armoured fighting vehicle of the war with more than 8.000 produced. As a comparison there were some 6.000 Panthers and 7.500 PzIVG/H/J produced, but all these numbers were dwarfed by the 50.000 (!) Shermans and more than 50.000 (!!) T34 built by the Allies which ultimately decided the outcome of the ground war. And to top it up there were the nearly 50.000 British AFVs of all types.

And still, by mid 1944 it had started to become obsolete as it was not very effective against the latest Allied heavies which neccessitated the introduction of the Jagdpanzer IV/70 eqipped with the longer 75 mm gun of the Panther to face them and also a cheaper alternative, the Hetzer, to deal with the rest. But the StuGIIIG remained in production as well until the end.

[JimmyC]

If i capture North Africa by mid '44, will it stop the Allied landing in Southern France?

Also, can you confirm that capturing Moscow is a prerequisite to defeating Russia?

[GeneralWerner]

In my current AAR I upgraded two of my Stugs to Hornisse. More expensive than a StugIIIG, much higher attack value but also lower defense values. Bad decision.

The Hornisse made a lot of damage to attacking tanks but also got a lot of damage often ending with only a strength of 3 or 4. And then a second attack from the air or from ground will end the life of the Hornisse. I had two of them, "protecting" them with other units, repaired them often with a lot of money and finally lost them both in critical situations.

So StugIIIG is really a good selection if power and durability is needed.

[McGuba]

If i capture North Africa by mid '44, will it stop the Allied landing in Southern France?

Allied landings in Southern France is triggered if:
- turn 78 or later
- Tunis is held by the Allies
- Sicily (the two cities there) is held by the Allies

So basically yes, if you can capture all of North Africa (including Tunis) by turn 78 and hold it, it would not happen. Even if the Allies can capture Sicily by then.

Also, can you confirm that capturing Moscow is a prerequisite to defeating Russia?

Obviously, yes. Moscow is the capital of the Soviet Union so it has to be taken.

In my current AAR I upgraded two of my Stugs to Hornisse. More expensive than a StugIIIG, much higher attack value but also lower defense values. Bad decision.

The Hornisse made a lot of damage to attacking tanks but also got a lot of damage often ending with only a strength of 3 or 4. And then a second attack from the air or from ground will end the life of the Hornisse. I had two of them, "protecting" them with other units, repaired them often with a lot of money and finally lost them both in critical situations.

So StugIIIG is really a good selection if power and durability is needed.

Well yes, the Hornisse (or Nashorn) was not a very successful unit and probably as a result of it only 473 were produced. It only had light armour (20-30 mm max), but it had a very effective long 88 mm gun, the same gun which was used on the Tiger II, Jagdpanther and Elefant (Ferdinand). However those had heavy armour which made them much more effective so the Hornisse was quite unbalanced compared to those. But the Hornisse can be quite good against suppressed enemy tanks in attack. If you can suppress its enemy with a strategic bomber or artillery so that it goes to red it can give it a big punch while taking no losses. But I agree, its light armour does not make it a versatile unit and its use requires special attention. And in general use the StuGIIIG is more useful and that's why it was produced in large numbers.

[Uhu]

Just reporting in:
Playing again...STOP...I'm anonymus BF addict...STOP...I'm playing the Stalingrad save-start with Rommel (prestige manual calculated), aiming a DV - as I remember, with the Kursk save-start, a MV could be earlier achived. I'm after the brutal winter months, now regaining power and territories and crushing the attacking Soviets. Decimating with smart tactics the British Home fleet to, to prepare a later invasion. Afrika Korps were reinforced and defeated the attacking tommies, taking big number of captures. So everything goes as planned.
Except Tunis!
It is a real pain in the A..! I call it also the Tunis meatgrinder. The problem is, that at this place, my units get butchered!
It's not like, such in normal games, where I have a handful of units south of Corsica "taking in military training manouvers" and "accidently there".
With this save-start, McGuba could simulate also the historical situation. Even, that I sent there powerful FW 190 formations, the sea transport is a suffering!
I simply cannot smuggle undetected my tiny vessels over it to not destroyed by the Evil British Submarine, or the Even More Evil British Light Cruiser - plus their evil air companions, but from them I can defense my transports with my planes. I would even accept some sacrifices, but the Evil Twins always take out my most critical asset, without I'm doomed at Tunis: the few arty units. So, I reload now in some turns earlier to try another smuggle-over tactics, but as I see, luck is also an important factor here.
UPDATE: no chance to defend Tunis...and if maybe there would be a slight chance to still defend it, the cost for constant elite reinforcements and the high losses among aircraft makes it not useful. Let the Allies just try to make a successful invasion of Sicily! They can try it... (Hint: with an earlier reload, I could hold it, I just needed the price for 2 Semovente 105/28... )

And some positive endings to the end of this report: unit capturing are a really important prestige income factor, which does not allowed to avoided! Especially on Rommel, where prestige is scarce, every penny counts and with captured Soviet or British armor, 30-50 prestige/unit capture is quite a good trophy!

[Uhu]

Oh, and by the way, I started a normal game before it and could achive timerun and make a DV at turn 50. I don't think, that on Rommel and with realistic use of the Fallschirmjägers (simulating fuel use and avoiding to capture cities deep behind the frontlines for a long time resupply) it is possible to make timerun earlier.
The timerun is quite a stressful mode, absolute no time to rest and party, but it can be learned a lot of, for example to use attacking forces effectively. And it has one big advance: it has no use to make elite reinforcements for air and armored units over 200xp, because they couldn't anyway not earn it until turn 50.

[Uhu]

Maybe explain the rules of Realistic gameplay, what I already mentioned partly at the use of the Fallschirmjägers. It is just an optional, but it makes more immersion and more realism.

1., Fallshirmjägers:
- Use the air transport not further, than the usual Ju-types. That means 50-60 fuel cell. Use also the friendly airfields on the route to add fuel resupply.
- Do not drop them far from the frontline, where there is no supply connection to Axis occupied territory, or no port. At least not for a long time.
- Do not drop them at rainy, or snowy weather. Do not fly them at rainy, or snowy weather. If you were on the route, return to the nearest airfield.

2., Line of the front:
- Do not let gaps in the frontline, even if you know, that no imminent attack will coming. Let always have the view of the so called frontline. That means, no enemy units could get through unnoticed. Units and cities both can be used for "guarding". Note, that in winter, in snowy weather, the view is reduced, so you have to guard maybe more units.

3., I already sent McGuba a modified map, where the road from Tobruk to Alexandria is not accessible by ships and Mersha Matruh is not a port. That hinders any possible invasion from the sea and also makes escape through the sea impossible. That simulates more the situation, what Rommel faced at this region.

[JimmyC]

**SPOILERS**

I noticed a few unusual things in my current playthrough.

1. *SPOILER* When i captured the oilfields around Baghdad, the Brits sent a force to try to recapture them. The first time I was aware of these forces was during the AI turn when they recaptured Nadjav and the oilfield east of Nadjav (they recaptured both on the same turn). I then sent my units south from Baghdad and after 2 or 3 turns destroyed all the British troops between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.

I then got a message saying that British forces are massing south of Baghdad for a counterattack. So I prepared my forces for the counterattack, but it never came. I then realized that the counterattack mentioned had already happened, but the warning was several turns too late.

I applaud triggers like this (the counterattack) as it makes it much more realistic and keeps you on your toes. But you might want to look at the warning message as it didn’t work as intended that time.

2. I think it was mentioned before, but there is a Russian partisan unit in the UK. I can see him from my bases in France.

3. I am now into late April of ’44 but have not yet been given any V2’s. I would have thought that I would get some by now? My first playthrough I did Sealion and never got the option, so I’m not sure when the V2’s should be appearing. But with Normandy imminent, I would have thought I would get them by now?

*SPOILER* Not anything unusual here, but I just wanted to say bravo on Iceland. I had just embarked 2 of the 3 units that were defending Iceland to send them back to Europe (and had my last infantry unit on the airstrip) when another US invasion occurred. I was thinking – its been over a year since the last US attempt to retake it, so there probably isn’t going to be another attempt. Absolutely perfect timing!

[GeneralWerner]

If I remember it right the V1 is coming shortly after D-Day. if you fire them from their spawn points they can't reach London. You have to move them first via train near the coast and shoot from there. Difficult because the Allies already entered French soil and they have a strong bomber force. If they (strategic) bomb a V1 it will not be destroyed immediately but it is loosing fuel becoming useless. And worse you can't launch the V1 if an allied plane is in the same hex. Only very, very few of my V1 reached London. I used them most times to distract the allied fighters because they prefer to hunt the launched V1s and that is indeed a benefit.

V2 is coming after V1. Same problem as above but V2 has a better range. And with V2 you can damage allied ground targets.

[McGuba]

Just reporting in:
Playing again...STOP...I'm anonymus BF addict...STOP...

Nice. Maybe it is time to form the anonym BF addicts club. I can clearly see some nicely decorated Generalfeldmarschalls sitting in a circle, arguing on the best way to defeat the allies. Only to be interrupted by Bonaparte Napoleon and Julius Ceasar occasionally, who are just released from the nearby mental institute, and who are also making comments based on their historical experience, adding even more fuel to the already heated debate.

But seriously, I think it is a good idea to take a break sometimes and focus on something else. Just a friendly advice.

Afrika Korps were reinforced and defeated the attacking tommies, taking big number of captures. So everything goes as planned.

and then:

Except Tunis! ...no chance to defend Tunis...

Actually you could use those units at the Tobruk-El Alamein area to retreat to the east and defend Tunis instead of stopping the British at Alamein. That's what Rommel did and they could hold Tunis for months. Then you would need to send less reinforcements across the sea.

Maybe explain the rules of Realistic gameplay, what I already mentioned partly at the use of the Fallschirmjägers. It is just an optional, but it makes more immersion and more realism.

1., Fallshirmjägers:

Yeah, we already discussed it in PM, but for the others I would like to state that I could not change the air transports by limiting their fuel as it is seemingly hard coded. They should not have unlimited fuel, but they have. I also cannot limit their usefulness in bad weather as it is also hard coded. It would be nice if they would not drop paras in bad weather just as other air units cannot attack. So yes, I absolutly agree with this home rule for a more realistic gameplay.

2., Line of the front:

It does makes sense to create a continuous frontline because I added a number of units which would appear at relatively random places and attack towards relatively random areas. Their number is not to high really, but still there is a few. So some of these could pass the frontline at unexpected places and if there is no continous frontline they can pass unnoticed and make some trouble in the hinterland. So, yes it is indeed advisable to have a continuous frontline and not only to have a realistic gameplay, but also to stop these random intruders which may or may not appear in any replay.

3., I already sent McGuba a modified map, where the road from Tobruk to Alexandria is not accessible by ships and Mersha Matruh is not a port. That hinders any possible invasion from the sea and also makes escape through the sea impossible. That simulates more the situation, what Rommel faced at this region.

OK, thanks, I will check it. If it makes sense I will add it to the next release. Which will be a bit harder, like always.

1. *SPOILER* When i captured the oilfields around Baghdad, the Brits sent a force to try to recapture them. The first time I was aware of these forces was during the AI turn when they recaptured Nadjav and the oilfield east of Nadjav (they recaptured both on the same turn). I then sent my units south from Baghdad and after 2 or 3 turns destroyed all the British troops between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.

I then got a message saying that British forces are massing south of Baghdad for a counterattack. So I prepared my forces for the counterattack, but it never came. I then realized that the counterattack mentioned had already happened, but the warning was several turns too late.

Well, it looks like your intelligence service is a bit too slow. Too much be bureaucracy, I suppose. Or maybe your intel officer got a touch of the sun in the Arabian desert and spent the last couple of days in bed before delivering the latest report.

But, yeah, I will look into it, probably some continuity problem. Actually I was also thinking to add some false intel info as historically the Germans were misled by the Allied agencies several times quite effectively. The most notable is the D-day landing when they were led to think that the allies would attack in the Calais area instead of Normandy. But I am a nice guy and have not done anything like that so far, or maybe only because I never really had the time to come up with believable deception. Which might change in the future.

2. I think it was mentioned before, but there is a Russian partisan unit in the UK. I can see him from my bases in France.

Yes, will be fixed in the next release.

3. I am now into late April of ’44 but have not yet been given any V2’s. I would have thought that I would get some by now? My first playthrough I did Sealion and never got the option, so I’m not sure when the V2’s should be appearing. But with Normandy imminent, I would have thought I would get them by now?

Be patient. the first first V-1 was launched at London on 13 June 1944.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb

If I remember it right the V1 is coming shortly after D-Day. if you fire them from their spawn points they can't reach London. You have to move them first via train near the coast and shoot from there. Difficult because the Allies already entered French soil and they have a strong bomber force. If they (strategic) bomb a V1 it will not be destroyed immediately but it is loosing fuel becoming useless. And worse you can't launch the V1 if an allied plane is in the same hex. Only very, very few of my V1 reached London. I used them most times to distract the allied fighters because they prefer to hunt the launched V1s and that is indeed a benefit.

I was thinking a lot on how to simulate the V1/V2 in the mod or wheter to add it at all for being more than just controversial. But the allied area bombing campaign also often targeted whole cities or at least districts and resulted in a lot more civilian casualties so I can see no big difference between the two. However, history is written by the victors so we are being told area bombing was a necessity and V1 and V2 were all evil. Even though after the war the allies were busy adding exact copies to their armies as fast as they could. So much about the moral side.

As for the technical side, luckily the AI proved to be unexpectedly cooperative when it comes to dealing with the V weapons. Historically the allies did exactly the same, they used a substantial part of their bomber force to destroy the launch sites and the trains and railroads used to move the V weapons to there from their factories. And those bombers could have been used against other targets as well. Many of the Allied fighter planes were dispatched to hunt down the flying bombs, too. Amazingly the AI is also quite aware of the V weapon threat and does everything to end it. It can be another mine-game to outsmart the AI and deliver the rockets to their launch area by providing them air and AA defense on the way. Resupplying them to have maximum fuel before launch for maximum range. Leaving an air unit above them so that they can be launched the next turn. And to try to hold on to the French coastal areas from where they can reach London as long as possible. But doing so also requires resources which could be used elsewhere. So does it worth it? It depends. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

And yes, historically only a few reached London: while 30,000 V1s were produced only 10,000 could be launched and only 25% percent of these reached the city. The V2 had even worse statistics.