Free France Campaign

[ColonelY]

Ah, okay, that's very interesting, I think. Thank you!

[wolfpinguin]

Heh:


Screenshot 1.jpg

Come this way, gentlemen. .....
Als a Belgian citizen i think a better translation in Dutch is : Kom naar hier.
No offence. You're doing a great job with your campaign.

W.

[ColonelY]

Thanks! Don't worry, any help is welcome.

I'm glad you like this campaign.

Please feel free to comment.

[bru888]

Heh:


Screenshot 1.jpg

Come this way, gentlemen. .....
Als a Belgian citizen i think a better translation in Dutch is : Kom naar hier.
No offence. You're doing a great job with your campaign.

W.

Thanks. My only quibble is that I wanted "Come this way," not "Come here." Usually I would not argue with a native-speaker, but each of the three words translates separately as shown here together:

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[Erik2]

DId you notice the 'French Goumiers 43' in 9.03?
Maybe sneak it in later after the devs have cleaned out any gremlins.

[bru888]

DId you notice the 'French Goumiers 43' in 9.03?
Maybe sneak it in later after the devs have cleaned out any gremlins.

Yes, I did, thanks. It sharpens a fundamental decision that I must make, which is: When Free France is finished, will it be truly finished?

Right now, I am leaning towards "Yes." That is, finis.

Given the amount of time that I have spent on this project and the other neglected things that I would like to get to, both involving OOB and other areas, I have little inclination to go back over this campaign to make "improvements." It may well stand on its own; who cares whether Goumiers are "Goumiers" or "Gurkhas" in the tiny unit type text at the bottom of its control panel image, especially when care has been taken to accurately label them in their more noticeable custom unit name?

[uzbek2012]

DId you notice the 'French Goumiers 43' in 9.03?
Maybe sneak it in later after the devs have cleaned out any gremlins.

Yes, I did, thanks. It sharpens a fundamental decision that I must make, which is: When Free France is finished, will it be truly finished?

Right now, I am leaning towards "Yes." That is, finis.

Given the amount of time that I have spent on this project and the other neglected things that I would like to get to, both involving OOB and other areas, I have little inclination to go back over this campaign to make "improvements." It may well stand on its own; who cares whether Goumiers are "Goumiers" or "Gurkhas" in the tiny unit type text at the bottom of its control panel image, especially when care has been taken to accurately label them in their more noticeable custom unit name?

That's right, it's time to finish we are waiting for the first Indochina war of 1945-1954;)
https://litobozrenie.com/2020/04/shirok ... -i-ljubvi/

[bru888]

That's right, it's time to finish we are waiting for the first Indochina war of 1945-1954;)
https://litobozrenie.com/2020/04/shirok ... -i-ljubvi/

Yes, that's the idea. The opposite notion is, I also want the campaign to be finished before it becomes obsolete.

By this, I don't mean that I could have used Free French units directly instead of borrowing them from the France, U.S., Great Britain, and British India factions. I don't mean that I could have had core Free French units because they now choose to make more of them available over the war years. I don't mean that I could have used French specialisations and commanders that they may introduce in the future.

I mean OOB itself becoming obsolete — abandoned — or somebody new makes changes to the game that destroy the functioning of all previous custom designs. This is always in the back of my mind.

I want the satisfaction of Free France 1940-1945 having been completed and out there for public enjoyment for as long as it lasts, even if only a day. I don't intend for it to be a perpetual work in progress.

[bru888]

Therefore, in that spirit and as I mentioned elsewhere, I will finish this campaign in version 9.0.0. This way, I will avoid the temptation of using new Free French units that are beginning to appear in 9.0.3 (or using them inadvertently) and thus the further temptation to go back over 21 scenarios in order to make such minor changes.

At one point, I remember, I used U.S. faction infantry units as the basis for Free French infantry. It was the mobilized infantry in the 2nd Armoured Division, if I recall correctly, and I did this because they were mobilized and the only Free French transportation available to Free French infantry was the Free French truck. This would not have looked proper for an armoured division; I needed halftracks. This is the furthest stretch that sticks out in my mind. I don't think this situation has been improved in 9.0.3 anyway.

So, I return to the drawing boards with renewed vigor. Let's get this thing done.

[ColonelY]

Yes, let's continue like this and finish the campaign!

[uzbek2012]

Yes, let's continue like this and finish the campaign!

Infinity also gets boring )
https://forum.ww2.ru/index.php?showtopi ... 0&page=132
https://mywebs.su/blog/foto/37110/

[bru888]

Amherst Drop: For now, I rescinded the decision to remove Allied planes once the aerial battle is won. French paratroopers and Belgian reconnaissance vehicles are going to need air support, given the array of enemy units on the map. This enemy force may not be absolutely historical, but I made it more challenging and therefore interesting to the player compared to what happened in real life. As a matter of fact, I am introducing a few Allied bombers (and an occasional German fighter for annoyance). See what you think when you play it.

[bru888]

My God, what an aerial armada!

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48 "sticks" of paratroopers. They are all needed, and more, given the amount of enemy units on the map. Four Halifax bombers and the Belgian Special Forces Group reconnaissance cars will also help.

This will need fine-tuning, of course. I like the 48 sticks and I like the enemy array, so I'm thinking adjustments of turns and objectives will be in order.

[terminator]

My God, what an aerial armada!

48 "sticks" of paratroopers. They are all needed, and more, given the amount of enemy units on the map. Four Halifax bombers and the Belgian Special Forces Group reconnaissance cars will also help.

This will need fine-tuning, of course. I like the 48 sticks and I like the enemy array, so I'm thinking adjustments of turns and objectives will be in order.

As many bombers at full strength It does not risk unbalancing the scenario by making it too easy

It’s gonna be a real carpet bombing:

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[bru888]

As many bombers at full strength It does not risk unbalancing the scenario by making it too easy

It’s gonna be a real carpet bombing

I'm sorry; perhaps I should have made clear: Those are 48 paratrooper units being carried by Stirling bombers (which is historical). I have tested, and as soon as the Stirlings have "made the drop," they disappear just like a C-47 would:

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One of the sources that I used mentioned:

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Since I like even numbers and neat rows (it's both a gift and an illness), I rounded the number of "sticks" (each consisting of one paratrooper unit) up to 48.

[Epperaliant]

48 units
I am curious, does this impact the loading time of the map or the scrolling framerate?

[bru888]

48 units
I am curious, does this impact the loading time of the map or the scrolling framerate?

No, on two counts.

First, the spawned SAS air drop happens only after the air duel has been won (the skies of cleared of enemy aircraft, including the jets), not at Scenario Start.

Second, since this is a turn-based game in which the player's units are moved one at a time, each movement, and resulting combat if any, are resolved individually. This does not slow down the game.

What could slow down the game is AI "thinking" time. That happens when the AI has an active task to perform for a number of units in the same AI team. The computer tries to figure out the absolutely optimal way of proceeding in order to maximize its results. If I were to place 48 units like this in one AI team, you could probably prepare and eat your lunch between turns while the AI was "thinking."

But no, these are human-controlled units and there is no slowdown in the game or degradation of video quality.

[bru888]

Usually, when I provide for "When this mission is completed, time will be allowed for the completion of secondary objectives," I need to do three things:

• Set up a counter trigger (captured VPs, killed units, etc.), with no effects, for the objective that is being held open.
• Create an "Early scenario ending" trigger that evaluates if every other primary and secondary objective is completed, and the conditions for the delayed objective are satisfied, then complete the player's objective and fail the AI's corresponding objective.
• Insert an EOS trigger that will reward the delayed objective at the end of the scenario's turns if the conditions for it are satisfied. This is only fair in that the player should get credit for it and not be penalized if, say, one of the secondary objectives was never completed.

To my horror, I realized that I had almost forgotten the third trigger in Amherst Drop. To my much greater horror, I wondered if I had been forgetting it in other scenarios. I had used this device seven times previously; fortunately, I forgot it only in the relatively recent Strasbourg. It will be included in the next update.

[bru888]

Colonel, you will be glad to know that, for once, I remembered the location ring, faction flags, and arrows for Amherst Drop:

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rather than omitting them in favor of the default Greece (middle of the map) in which, ironically, no scenario in this campaign takes place:

campaign map 1.jpg (949.72 KiB) Viewed 1365 times

Incidentally, don't look for campaign variable pins any more. We were finished with air and land experience variables back in Operation Nordwind.

[bru888]

Any suggestions for campaign events around early to mid-April 1945? We have space before Amherst Drop and Battle of Authion but we are booked for Black Forest and campaign victory. Something related to Free France, of course.

Colonel, this is from the April 1945 page on the Fondation de la France Libre chronological web site that you called my attention to way back when. This is the time period that I am talking about:

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I have talked or will talk about the Atlantic pockets. I am interested in the "De Gaulle in the East/Alps" entries. Anything about this at this particular point in time in his memoirs? Any pictures?

Heh, I was excited when I thought "East" meant "Far East" but I think it means "Eastern France." Still, his perambulations could be interesting.