Slitherine

As a "goodbye gift" for V 1.6, I could finally make a DV from the Kursk save!!! (of course on Rommel)
It costed many replays and reloads, but finally, it could be earned!

Haha, yes, I also said goodbye to v1.6 as v1.7 is now looking on the horizon, and hopefully will be ready for release once I finished with its testing and with the usual finishing touches.

hugh2711 wrote:I dont know if this is difficult or trivial to implement but; is there any way? of having somewhere something that will tell you how may units you have on the map at any time. there are occasions in your big mod i would be happy to disband a couple of naff units somewhere useless to getting a new unit somewhere useful and staying under the 200 limit. thanks

As far as I know unfortunately there is no other way than to click on the "Toggle Unit List" button (small tank icon) or to press F6 and then manually count the core units (golden ones - silver auxiliary units do not count in the 200 limit).

JimmyC wrote:It seemed to be with a lot of the auxillary units (minor axis nation ones). I'm taking a break from PzC for a while, but next time i play i will try and note down which particular units this is effecting.

It appears that the "efx.pzdat" in the Graphics folder might be corrupted as it includes the referencies for the animations to be used. Or you might have a problem with your basic PzC install so you should check if you have the same problem using the base game or other mods as well. Strange, anyway.

While waiting for the next release I will show some of the changes and the new units in the coming v1.7.

Firstly there is probably the most hilarious anti-tank unit of known history:
Its official designation is equally hilarious as you need to take a deep breath before saying it:

Selbstfahrlafette für 3.7 cm Pak36 auf Renault UE(f)

Now try to read it again after having 3-4 beers!

Its history in a nutshell: the French produced more than 5,000 light tracked armoured carriers under the name of Renault UE Chenillette. These were to be used by the infantry divisions to carry ammunition and other supplies and to tow light AT guns so its max speed was low (will be only 3 hexes in game) as it only had to keep up with the marching infantry. It was also lightly armoured (GD 5-6). Some 3,000 were captured by the Gemans in 1940 who made good use of it after. Luckily, our friend phcas posted a nice icon for this French unit in his unit topic, so I just reduced its size a bit as it was indeed quite small, and repainted it to standard German field grey, and corrected the shadows:
The majority were used in this bare form to tow the lighter AA and AT guns of the Wehrmacht, but a significant number (most sources mention 700) were converted to a make-shift self propelled anti-tank gun by simply placing a Pak 36 on top of it, so I did exactly the same in GIMP, and voilà:

I think it is easy to understand why this vehicle is not very promiment in contemporary German newsreels as they are not the finest examples of the sheer power of Blitzkrieg... as there was not enough room for its crew on the vehicle, they had to simply walk behind! And yet still, thanks to the relatively large number deployed they deserve to have a place in this mod, unlike many of those prototype-only Soviet units added by PzC 1.25.

So beware you pesky T-34s and KVs, here comes the Selbstfahrlafette für 3.7 cm Pak36 auf Renault UE(f), and will kick your ****s!!!

Or maybe not. Will see.

McGuba wrote: So beware you pesky T-34s and KVs, here comes the Selbstfahrlafette für 3.7 cm Pak36 auf Renault UE(f), and will kick your ****s!!!
Or maybe not. Will see.

It will kick the a.... of the KV's, T-34's and even Matilda's!

After they were disrupted and encircled full and our "hero" needs just the final kick to capture them.

Thanks McGuba for thinking about this unit, and sharing the icon with all of us! I think this one can be made "switchable"... Used as a conventional towed unit (may be giving it more GD because of it lower profile when used dismounted from its carrier vehicle) and adding the possibility to switch to its "fearsome" SPAT mode.

Thanks again!

Yes, it could be, but for now I think I will leave as a simple AT unit. When it comes to the great majority of multipurpose units it is only a matter changing the elevation of the main gun which should not take more than a few seconds. But in this case installing or removing the Pak 36 should take considerably longer time and the sheer weight of the gun, which is over 300 kg, makes me think that they either needed some crane or at least a dozen soldiers to raise it and place it on the top of the vehicle. Or probably they used some sloped beams or something and then just pushed it up, but anyway it sounds quite time consuming and I doubt they could do it under fire in the heat of a battle.

By the way, there was another, more sophisticated version of the same vehicle on which the Pak 36 was fixed without the carriage:

and I made an icon for that one, too, but I think I will only add the former one to the mod as that one looks more common and I have no information on how many of each were made. But if someone wants to use it here it is:
I also made a German version of the French Renault R-35 tank as large numbers (arouond 800) were captured and first I thought they were all used just as the somewhat less numerous H-35/39 tanks. But only after I made the icon I came to realise that most of these were used for training or as static guns in defensive lines or converted to some other use and only a limited number were used as a tank (one source mentioned 58 available in 1943 in the West so it will not make it to the mod). Anyway here it is as well if someone wants it:

Hello Mac... It looks like you forgot to modify the small portraits in the bottom part of the "Renault UE Pak 36b" icon... Nevetheless, congratulations for a nice variation of the theme!

Haha, true, but only because I decided not to use it in the end, so it is kinda half finished. But one just need to resize the large portraits.

Unfortunately I have to postpone the release of v1.7 as I ran into an unexpected CTD at turn 60, as a result of one of a new unit that I added. Although I was able to fix it, now I have to start my test play over again. But, after all that's what testing is all about. And it also allows me to implement some more ideas which came up during testing. For example the Malaxa UE, which is in fact the same Renault UE light tractor that I added earlier and which was licence produced and used by the Romanians as well:
The Romanians need some extra mobility anyway, as most of their army is not motorized. And if we are here, I decided to reduce the mobility of the German artillery, too, to better reflect the historical facts. In 1941 around 80% of the field artillery of the Wehrmacht was horse drawn (only the motorized infantry and panzer division had artillery tractors), and while it can be simulated easily by adding only horse transport to most guns, nothing can stop players from upgrading those to some faster land transport as soon as possible. So I will add another 10.5 cm leFH 18 gun, but this one will be the one with spoked wheels and will only have horse transport:
And indeed, these guns could only be towed at lower speeds due to their obsolete spoked wheels. Even then, players can upgrade these guns for the "normal" leFH to have access to better tractors, but then they have to play a full upgrade price to do so. Which might not be cost-effective.

On the other hand, the RSO (Raupenschlepper Ost) will be available from late 1942 and it will be compatible with these guns at a low price. Although not faster than than horses, it is a fully tracked tractor with much better off-road performance, especially in bad weather. No wonder it was produced in large numbers (some 23,000) in a short time and this is the only way to make it competitive in the game. I will also modify off-road relative movement values a bit, i.e. wheeled movement will be a bit slower off-road in any weather. Otherwise the off-road movement speed of the Opel Blitz would be the same as that of the fully tracked RSO (4) in dry weather, which is non-sense. It should also further limit the use of wheeled units close to the roads and the railroad stations (cities). It will also make the Opel Maultier more competative to the Blitz, especially in the east with less roads: on road the Blitz is faster (8 hex compared to 5), but off-road the Maultier wins (5 hex compared to 3) in dry weather. In general, I would like to force players to use more tracked and half-tracked vehicles in the east where there are less roads. The current values of wheeled movement does not really neccessitate it.

Ok, I know, I'm not the usual BE player , but when I played the "DV with 50 turn" challenge, or from the prepared savegame starts, I do not upgraded any arty, or AT gun to motorized version - just the cheap horses were used. (Of course, because I had no prestige for more.) With the railway system, I had no problem with that. Maybe later, after the capture of Moscow and other high prestige bringing achievements upgraded I a few 105mm's to motorized version to arrive in the needed towns for timely victories.

On the other hand, making the horse drawn transport slower, as the normal inf movement feels for me unrealistic.

Sure, I realized it as well, but I did not like the extreme mobility of the Opel Blitz - it should not be more mobile during winter than the halftracks. Currently in PzC both wheeled and halftrack movement is halved during winter when they leave the roads. Which, on the one hand makes some sense, but since the maximum movement speed of the Blitz is 8 hexes and that of the Geman halftracks is 6 it means the two-wheel drive Blitz has superior mobility over the halftracks (4 to 3) which is hilarious. After all halftracks were introduced to increase off-road mobility of trucks, especially in bad weather. So I decided to reverse this, but since horse transport also uses wheel movement it meant that it would become way too slow as a result. Thus in the end I decided to create a new movement type called "horse-drawn" for the horse transports which would basically mean they can remain the same. I fiddled around a bit more with the movement modifiers and finally found a new balance which seems satisfactory. Now in every weather tanks are best, wheeled trucks are worst and halftracks are in between off-road (usually like 4-3-2), and these values will be less affected by their maximum road speed.

Hi McGuba,

thank you very much for the great mod/scenario, it feels very realistic and is a lot of fun.

Currently I am in March '42 and have taken Leningrad, Moscow, Malta, just took Cairo and am about to launch Sealion. The Soviet counterattacks have cost me quite a couple of units, partially because it looks like I started to go on the offensive again a bit too early, especially considering the Soviet forces I have just seen to the east of Kursk.

The only thing that is bothering me at the moment is that my navy seems to be able to clear the defenses in southern England without any interference from the Royal Navy. Is this a bug, part of the design or simply due to not having enough zones to enable the AI to do something about this?

charonjr wrote:The only thing that is bothering me at the moment is that my navy seems to be able to clear the defenses in southern England without any interference from the Royal Navy. Is this a bug, part of the design or simply due to not having enough zones to enable the AI to do something about this?

Both. There are not enough AI zones for many possible other events, I could only make the most important and historical ones. The Royal Navy does not stop you from clearing the naval mines, but it will react for an invasion.

Also, you can expect more Allied counter attacks starting from late 42.

Some more new units in v1.7

new SdKfz.10 for the light AA and AT guns made by modifying the icon posted by phcas:
and the Krupp Protze to have a cheaper but less mobile alternative to the SdKfz 10, by modifying the icon posted by Gary Childress:
and the RSO, original icon posted by phcas, I just corrected the shadows and stuff:

Hi, McGuba!
Whether you are planned to increase the number of light tanks for the USSR throughout war?

Yes, in the next version there will be more light tanks for the Red Army, especially in 1942-43. In 1942 nearly 10,000 light tanks were produced by the USSR (mainly T-60 and T-70) compared to the 12,000 medium T-34s and only 1,700 KV-1s. It will be better reflected in v1.7. Also, the T-60 will have its rate of fire increased to 11 as it had a ShVAK/TNSh autocannon, which will slightly increase its usefulness and as a cosmetic touch it will have a new firing animation, too.

However, I have to try to keep the existing balance in general, but the Red Army will have definitely more light tanks until mid/late 1943 at least.

I did some more research on the subject in which Christos' military and intelligence corner was a great source material:
http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.co.u ... front.html

Now I believe that after the failure of the Blitzkrieg WW2 had turned to a war of attrition and the Axis was simply defeated by overwhelming numbers. Even though general strategy and the moral superiority of the Allies had a role as well, the deciding factor was that the Allies could outproduce the Axis several times and had a lot more men to mobilize. Still, the Germans made a number of strategic mistakes and it is interesting to play around with some possible alternative paths in this mod.

As a general rule there will be more enemy units to face in the east, but they will have less experience on average. All in all, there is some 160 more enemy units in v1.7 than in v1.6, most of them in the east. What might sound a lot, but in practice it means about 1.5 more enemy unit for each turn. Additionally, not all of these would appear if the player can take some of the major objectives like Moscow or the oil fields.

To keep it in accordance with the historical figures, I (once again) revised the maximum number of Soviet tanks appearing in the mod in the light of the total numbers produced giving one unit for every 500 produced or recieved from the allies. The numbers in the v1.6 version of the mod were mostly good but in some cases I had to add a few more. I have already mentioned light tanks, but I also had to increase the number of Soviet tank units appearing around the time of the battle of Kursk as indeed the number of Soviet tanks at the front reached its peak in mid 1943, which was only reached again in early 1945. (There were some 10,000 operational Soviet AFVs at the front in mid 1943, which number fell to 5,000 by early 1944. Kursk and the following offensives were hard earn victories for the Red Army.)

I also had to add some more Land Lease tanks to the USSR: there were some 11,000 of those as opposed to the some 100,000 Soviet AFVs produced so every 1 in 10 should be of Western origin. A few new types are also added such as the Land Lease Matilda II or some of the new units added by the v1.25 patch of PzC. However, I only added those which were produced in significant numbers like the T-38 or the T-28.

new revised T-37A (original unit by Kerloc):
new revised T-40 (original unit by Kerloc):

Interesting links on aircraft and manpower.
http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.ru/2 ... h-and.html

It is surprising that the ratio of losses in aircraft not practically hasn't changed that in 41 that in 44.
Though in 44 in the USSR planes were better according to characteristics than in 41.
And the number of skilled German pilots has decreased.

Whether it is possible to make in MOD a similar ratio by the number of planes?
I think it it will be difficult. A ratio 1 to 3.
And whether it is planned to add historical quantity (P-39 Aerokobra) on East front? I found data that their P-39 has been delivered to the USSR in number of 4900.
Many Russian aces flight on P39.

About Manpower
http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.ru/2 ... front.html
Looking at these figures of ratios of losses. Whether you plan to include a large number of a Conscript unit and AT 45mm with zero experience for the USSR?
And whether the balance of MOD will remain?

PS. And yes, what do you think about add recon air unit ? New class. In example in section Recon . Cheap. Maybe its will be very useful.

Intenso82 wrote:Interesting links on aircraft and manpower.
http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.ru/2 ... h-and.html

Yes, Chris' site has tons of useful historical data and stuff, I used a great deal of those to fine tune this mod for v1.7.
However, not everything can be adopted perfectly due to the mechanics of the game.

Intenso82 wrote:It is surprising that the ratio of losses in aircraft not practically hasn't changed that in 41 that in 44.
Though in 44 in the USSR planes were better according to characteristics than in 41.
And the number of skilled German pilots has decreased.

Yes, it is indeed interesting. The only thing I could add that during the same period German planes also became better. For example the Bf 109 G-10/14 used in 1944 was considerably better than the Bf 109E/F used in 1941 or even the Bf 109 G-6 used in 1943. The evolution of the Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf fighters was comparable to the Soviet Yakovlev and Lavochkin line. Even though the margin between the quality of German and Soviet planes became smaller and smaller and by the end of the war the latest Soviet fighter types were considered at least as good as their German counterpart.

Another factor which could have an effect on favourable kill-to-loss ratios for the Germans was the change in German aircraft types: while until 1943 the Luftwaffe had in fact more two engine medium bombers than single engine fighters, by 1944/45 those medium bombers (which were easier to shot down) virtually disappeared due to a combination of attrition, the ending of their production and the shortage of fuel. And vulnerable Stuka and Hs 129 ground attack aircraft were replaced by the Fw 190F/G ground attack planes which had much better survivability and could be used as fighters as well at times. This change will be better simulated in the next version of this mod as the Fw-190F/G will be placed in the same upgrade family with the Stuka and Hs 129 so that players will be encouraged to upgrade to that type, as historically. It will be especially good for players on the losing path, where air superiority is completely lost everywhere by 1944.

Intenso82 wrote: Whether it is possible to make in MOD a similar ratio by the number of planes?
I think it it will be difficult. A ratio 1 to 3.

It could be possible to make it, but the AI is always worse in using its assets, so to do so one would need to increase the stats of the units used by the AI to unhistorically high values, which I would not like to do.

And whether it is planned to add historical quantity (P-39 Aerokobra) on East front? I found data that their P-39 has been delivered to the USSR in number of 4900.

There were indeed quite a lot of P-39 in Soviet use, but there were even more home produced types. E.g. 10,000 La-5, 8,700 Yak-1, 17,000 Yak-9, etc. If I increase the number of P-39 units in the mod I would need to increase the number of other types as well to preserve the historical ratios. That would break the existing balance of the mod. Currently only 1 air unit is added after each 1,000 Soviet aircraft produced or recieved in Land Lease in the mod. Which means 5 P-39. Historically the Red Air Force lost more aircraft in accidents (mainly during training) than to enemy fire and these planes are not simulated. Total losses were over 106,400 aircraft (46,100 in combat and 60,300 non-combat causes).

However, in v1.7 I will add the P-63 Kingcobra of which nearly 3,000 were delivered to the Red Air Force in the last year of the war. I made a new icon for it, which is basically just an enlarged version of bebro's original P-39:

Many Russian aces flight on P39.

Indeed, and there are several historical heroes added to P-39 units in the mod so they are quite good.

About Manpower
http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.ru/2 ... front.html
Looking at these figures of ratios of losses. Whether you plan to include a large number of a Conscript unit and AT 45mm with zero experience for the USSR?
And whether the balance of MOD will remain?

There will be more Soviet units in the next version with less overall experience, but not especially Conscripts and 45 mm AT guns. At this stage great changes would certainly break the existing balance so I can only go forward in small steps. If played historically, from 1943/44 the Allies would slowly overwhelm the Axis player anyway. And losses of the Soviet side are already huge compared to the Wehrmacht so I think there is not much need to add even more weak units which can only block the Axis units for a turn or two but unable to cause any considerable damage.

PS. And yes, what do you think about add recon air unit ? New class. In example in section Recon . Cheap. Maybe its will be very useful.

Yes, there will be recon planes, more on this a bit later.

About Manpower
http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.ru/2 ... front.html
Looking at these figures of ratios of losses. Whether you plan to include a large number of a Conscript unit and AT 45mm with zero experience for the USSR?
And whether the balance of MOD will remain?

There will be more Soviet units in the next version with less overall experience, but not especially Conscripts and 45 mm AT guns. At this stage great changes would certainly break the existing balance so I can only go forward in small steps. If played historically, from 1943/44 the Allies would slowly overwhelm the Axis player anyway. And losses of the Soviet side are already huge compared to the Wehrmacht so I think there is not much need to add even more weak units which can only block the Axis units for a turn or two but unable to cause any considerable damage.

Ok. Yes Conscript unit like national militia is only slow down advance for 1 turn in 41-42 year of war.
They were taken from ordinary people and passed the minimum training, and also without training 1-2 weeks and in fight.
It were volunteers. There are different estimates from 1 to 4 million people. From 100 to 200 divisions.

PS. And yes, what do you think about add recon air unit ? New class. In example in section Recon . Cheap. Maybe its will be very useful.

Yes, there will be recon planes, more on this a bit later.

Its good.
Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu and Ju.86R is good candidates.
Fw 189 - its was very dificult to shot down.
Ju.86R had practical ceiling 14400m and nobody could get him in the USSR, freely flew over Moscow.
Maybe It can be possible to achieve it increase in air defence point.
That it was impossible to shoot down even having carried out several air attacks.