Slitherine

bru888 wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2019 8:01 pm In light of this, I withdraw my comments about gameplay balance. Obviously it can be done.

That still sounds too frustrating for me. I better wait for the newcomer version!

Erik2 wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 8:25 am

messismentor wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 12:22 am In Scenario 4, Invasion of Malaya, I have 12 CP for Australian air units, but I only have one Australian air unit, and not enough money to buy any more. I don't recall losing Australian air units earlier.

You need to restart using the latest campaign version, I changed the scenario branches exactly because of command point issues
The branch is now Gin Drinker -> Hong Kong -> Taks Force Z -> Kota Bharu etc
Yes, I know the time-line is not historically correct.
Use the cheat #igotnukes if you don't want to replay previous scenarios.

Task Force Z: 3 Aussie air units
Kota Bharu: 1 Aussie air unit

So I think I restarted with the latest version, used the #igotnukes to advance thru the scenarios with a major victory, and still encounter the same problem.
But perhaps I do not actually have the latest version. I think I downloaded the v0.992 from your main page.
Is that the 'latest' version?
Is there any way to tell once I have it installed what the version is?
Is there a file to look in or some way to tell from in-game?

Yes, but you have to look at the zip file that you downloaded to see if it is appended with "0.992":


When he says:

"Task Force Z: 3 Aussie air units
Kota Bharu: 1 Aussie air unit"

I think he is saying that he provides for 3 Australian air units in Task Force Z which, when carried forward to Khota Bharu and added to the one included therein, equals the four planes that you can deploy with 12 air command points (providing they survive Task Force Z, of course):


Now, it so happens that you must play (or nuke) your way through the first three scenarios to get those three air units from Task Force Z to carry over into Kota Bharu. If you play Kota Bharu by itself, i.e., in stand-alone mode, then you don't get them:


The designer could compensate for this by placing 240-250 resource points for Australia in this column, allowing the player to purchase three planes during deployment, if that was his intention:


Clearly, that was not his intention. He intends for us to play Forgotten Army as a campaign, not as a series of stand-alone scenarios.

OK, I've got it now. I see the 4 Aussie air units. I am good now! Thanks much!

My last attempt at Gin Drinkers failed only because Ma Tau Kok fell to the Japanese on turn 21 and it didn't give me credit for holding for 20 turns. I used delaying actions starting in the Tin Sam and Kau Pa Kang areas with my core units and all the artillery. All other non core units were sacrificed in the defense of Shing Mun, and also lost a core Colonial Infantry in the defense of Kowloon. I did mange to destroy a few Japanese units in the process.

I would be very interested to hear the tactics you used Gabe.

Great feedback, guys.
Added to my Forgotten to-do-list

Before moving on to Hong Kong, I did a brief CSI sweep of Gin Drinkers Line.

As Bobster mentioned, the Allied Kai Tak AF, Kowloon Port, and Mau Tau Kok triggers all need to be set to Turn > 20 because as they are now, they do require retention for 21 turns. The Japanese equivalent triggers are fine:


This one should be set to "Completed" rather than "Failed":


Lastly, and I know this is tedious, there should be an equivalent trigger that awards the "Evacuate" objective to the Japanese when the Allies fail to achieve their objective. The only way for the human player to be defeated, major or minor, is if "hostile alliance has achieved all primary objectives." This trigger only rewards the Allies and defeats the Japanese; I would add another that does the reverse when two Allied core units are destroyed:

Bobster66 wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2019 6:42 am I would be very interested to hear the tactics you used Gabe.

The goal was to delay the Japanese forces, so after holding the bunker for 7 turns, all my remaining forces retreated to block the two main roads leading down the peninsula. No special tactics, really - actually made some stupid mistakes during deployment and lost two of my arty units real fast.
Hold your lines in high cover terrain, preferably at rivers/bridges. Don't try to attack much or to destroy the Jap. units, this doesn't work well with Erik's stuff if you're on the defensive - rather keep repairing.
At one time I've got lucky to be able to cut the Jap. supply lines and delay them a bit further this way.


I'll also attach the replay, if interested.

GabeKnight wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2019 5:23 pm
I'll also attach the replay, if interested.

Thanks Gabe, I have never seen a replay before, that was very interesting. It was also very illuminating as I was wondering were you got the extra 4 CPs from, so investigating further I just learned that there are specialization points to spend from the beginning. Doh!

Well, I'll be darned if I didn't ace this one (Hong Kong 0.992). As a matter of fact, I rewrote history by defeating the invasion altogether on medium difficulty!


I concentrated my forces around the Navy Dockyards, and having repelled attempts to take that VP with the support of my destroyers, as soon as the smoke cleared, I pushed west and east toward Victoria and that other urban center with major supply; what would that be, Braemar? I would suggest labeling that location:


Meanwhile, I scrambled my other forces south in a series of well-placed delaying positions until I was eventually able to cut off Japanese supply lines. That did them in.

Just two things I noticed. First, there is no provision for activating this secondary objective:


which, frankly, I think is fine leaving it out. In my humble opinion, I don't think I could have achieved what I did and accomplish this as well. A couple of destroyers and a few gunboats without any air support against a cruiser, five destroyers, and various fighters and bombers? I don't think so, although Gabe would have aced that too, no doubt. As it was, I was lucky to have deployed my destroyers on the northern coast where they did a ton of good while deploying the gunboats in southern ports where they served as decoys - luring the Japanese ships away from the coast so that my units could pass unmolested (at least for a short while).

The second thing that I noticed is this "Art-b" spawn is marked here, east of the Naval Dockyards, where 230-a deploys, instead of over by Victoria where 230-b appears:


I should mention that this scenario was a great deal of fun to play and it was rewarding in that I had to play hard, think fast, and stay nimble in order to win. Great job.

Just got around to playing the updated Task Force Z. It's still one intense scenario, and I really like that Erik made all your forces as core units. Normally I hate losing core units and it is enough for me to do a reload or replay of an entire scenario. But in this case there just isn't any way around it, you will lose some units. It makes the situation very tense as you try to prevent the loss of a unit, love it.

Actually had to play it twice because a one point transport made it to Kota Bharu in the first attempt. That Secondary Objective was marked as failed, but I soldiered on and recaptured it with an air defense unit and, rightfully so, it was still marked failed. However, at the end of the scenario the mark changed to completed. Patani and Singora were also marked as completed, but no award was given for sinking a carrier and the battleship. Since the transport disappeared upon arrival at Kota Bharu, the Primary Objective failed and the final result was a Draw with 3 SP.

In the second attempt, the scenario ended immediately with the destruction of the last transport. No time was given to continue the battle to finish off the carrier and battleship. There was also no completion of the other Secondary Objectives. The result was a Minor Victory but no SP awarded.

So it looks like the Primary Objectives work perfectly, but the Secondaries will need to be reviewed.

In Kota Bharu, is that supposed to be a naval exit point in the lower right corner of the map? My navy was being overwhelmed so I made a dash for that marker but my ships didn't exit the map and were completely annihilated.

Bobster66 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 13, 2019 7:04 pm In Kota Bharu, is that supposed to be a naval exit point in the lower right corner of the map? My navy was being overwhelmed so I made a dash for that marker but my ships didn't exit the map and were completely annihilated.

Yes, the exit was supposed to work...
I lost my ships in a similar way