McGuba wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:51 am
Battlefield: Europe v1.9
A strategic mod on tactical level (or a tactical mod on strategic level, lol)
In June 1941, right after the green light to Operation Barbarossa is given, a group of high ranking German officers realize that the leader of their nation has serious mental problems and his way of conduct will only lead to the complete destruction of Germany. So, they take the necessary steps to get rid of him and his closest followers and on the same day you are given full control of the Axis armies in Europe and North Africa. What would you do differently?
Panzer Corps v1.30 or later is needed!
JSGME is highly recommended for installation (JSGM and install guide included in the zip)
Recommended difficulty level: General (for experienced players)
Intro video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXpgYJZx-iE
Situation on 22 June, 1941:
Changes in v1.9
- The invasion of Denmark and Norway in 1940 is added as an extra (small scale) scenario, just before the invasion of France
- The big scenario now comes with three difficulty levels: "realistic" (the normal difficulty level of the previous versions), "medium" (one third of the Allied reinforcements are removed) and "easy" (two thirds of the Allied reinforcements are removed) - "realistic" is intended for highly skilled and experienced players, "medium" is for average/skilled new players and for those veteran players of the mod who failed to achieve anything better than a draw in the previous versions, and "easy" is for casual players and for those veteran players of the mod who failed to achieve even a draw
- A better balanced version of the big sceanario for mulitplayer use (based on the "easy" version of the scenario)
- Order of battle is further revised, with more accurate unit types and numbers for both sides
- Most units move slower on soft (snowy and muddy) terrain
- "Wide tracked" movement added: units with this movement type can move faster on soft terrain due to their wider tracks which results in lower ground pressure per square inch (e.g. T-34, KV-1, Tiger, Panther, Churchill and their derivatives)
- "Desert tracked" movement added: tracked units have to be "tropicalized" (with improved air filters and cooling installed) i.e. upgraded to a similar unit with different movement type for free for optimal movement on desert and dunes terrain, however, these are comparably slower on clear and countryside terrain (units with "wide tracked" movement are not affected as they already have better mobility on soft terrain)
- Increased road movement speed: units with tracked, wide tracked, desert tracked, leg and halftrack movement can now move 20-40% faster on dry roads (effective use of the road network is now more important)
- Camo trait added to towed AT guns (up to 75 mm), towed AT guns cannot capture cities and cannot get air transport
- The capture of Stalingrad now provides a prestige reward and can reduce the number of Soviet reinforcements (as long as the city is held by the Axis)
- Allied bombing raids against German cities cost two times more prestige penalty (neglecting the air defense of the Reich has more serious consequencies)
- The "living battlefield" concept is further improved: cities will get visibly damaged or destroyed as a result of the horrors of war - and even a volcano will erupt at some point!
- Map is slightly improved at certain key areas (more precise geographically)
- Several new or modified units are added to both sides
- Some more German wonder weapons are added, especially to players on the losing side and towards the end of the war
- Light AA guns are a bit more effective against ground targets
- Heavy artillery has a bit higher ground defense and rate of fire
- Units equipped only with light machine guns (like Panzer I or early Hurricane or Spitfire) can no longer attack hard (armoured) targets
- Some obsolete and out of production units got the "noreplace" trait (some of these can be upgraded though, to a newer type)
- Lots of other small (or bigger) fixes and changes
Players can also start the big scenario at later stages by installing some save game files. In these I tried to recreate the overall historical situation as much as possible. These are mainly for those who got bored of achieving the "easy" victory starting in June 1941. The stages are:
...Moscow/Crusader, 1941
...Stalingrad/El Alamein, 1942
...Kursk/Sicily, 1943
...Normandy/Bagration, 1944
The game difficulty is set at General. Obviously, the later you start the scenario the harder it is to achieve any kind of victory and in the final one(s) a draw is the only realistic aim.
In order to get them you have to copy the save game files in the zip to your ...\Documents\My Games\Panzer Corps\Save\ folder, where the game keeps the save games and just load them.
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
Since this mod pushes PzC to its limits it is highly recommended to run the game with the "/nocache" startup switch. Otherwise chances are high that the game would hit a memory limit after several turns and crash. The thing is that, without the /nocache switch, the attack animation files are all loaded into the memory and are stored there until the memory gets filled up causing the game to crash. And there are many units in the big scenario of this mod with many different animations. Luckily, with the /nocache switch applied to the PanzerCorps.exe shortcut I never had a game crash during testing.
So, how to do it? Create a shortcut for the PanzerCorps.exe file (which should be in the folder where you installed PzC): locate and right click on it and then choose send to -> desktop. (Warning! The Panzer Corps shortcut on the desktop created during the installation of the game is
NOT good as it points to the autorun.exe and not to the PanzerCorps.exe!) When it is on the desktop right click on the icon and choose properties. Then you have to add the /nocache command after the end of the filename like this:
The only other option is to make a new savegame after playing 4-5 turns, quit the game and then restart and reload. This would empty the memory for the time being so that you can play another 4-5 turns before you need to save and quit again. I think the former method is more user friendly and certainly much safer.
McGuba's notes on release
This release was made with Panzer Corps v1.30 and thus this version or a newer is required! However, there might be compatibility issues with newer versions so I will try to update it from time to time.
This mod was made by using material created by others as well. Without their input I could not have finished it at all. Bebro, VPaulus, flakfernrohr, AugustinMalar, Kerloc, dragos, guille1434, airbornemongo101, Uhu, rezaf and Asuser have all contributed to some of the new unit icons. At the end of the readme file you can find a full list of the new or modified icons and their respective authors. The mod uses several sound files from VPaulus' Sound Redux mod. The Panzer Corps – Scenario Design Forum proved to be very useful with loads of information and lots of helpful people. IceFlame, LandMarine47, BNC, and the other posters provided some invaluable feedback during tha final stage of the creative process helping me to make this mod even better. Hopefully I did not forget anyone, if so, please let me know.
You are free to use the new / modified unit icons of this mod for your own free mod if you like, but you are required to give credit to the authors of each icon. However, you are not allowed to modify, copy, sell or use any parts of this mod for commercial purpose.
The main inspirations
Following the footsteps of Sparatacus and Chris10 (and of course BNC,
) I decided to make my debut in the world of global scale mods... They were the main inspirations for this mod and I must give full credit to their excellent work. First in the line, Chris10's sadly unreleased (as of today) mod, promised a historically accurate depiction of the war in the east with stunnig detail. Sparatacus made a fun to play (half-) global map where the player can even invade the USA. And BNC made a full global map with some very original and interesting scripting.
The basic idea is that the whole campaign takes place in the same map and the player will "unlock" more and more parts of the map during the early Blitzkrieg scenarios, until June 1941, when all hell brakes loose. These early scenarios serve as a kind of tutorial "lessons" when the player can get used to the map scale and the altered unit stats. Yes, there are some as the mod mainly uses deducter's stats for a hopefully improved historical accuracy. No groundbraking changes, though, a Tiger is still stronger than a T-34 of course, but, for example AA is less effective, especially against stragtegic bombers and fighters and unit prices are revised.
BE WARNED!
If you believe that Germany could have won WWII easily by defeating the three major world powers, then this mod is
NOT for you! In that case, I humbly suggest you keep playing the stock campaign which comes with the game or other mods which allow such achievements. In this mod you are supposed to be lucky to defeat one of your main adverseries while holding the others at bay. I tried to make this mod as accurate historically as I could. And history tells us the Allies produced four times more tanks and aircraft during the war than Germany, and it is well represented here.
Unit stats changes
The mod mostly uses deducter's stats from his 'GC Unit revisions Mod' (many thanks for his work). His mod hopefully makes the vanilla stats of PzC more accurate historcally. Most notably, Axis artillery units are more expensive, so as most high end 'wonder weapons' such as the Tiger II or the the Me 262. The stats of most ground units are standardized i.e. units having the same type of main gun now have the same hard and soft attack values. Also most inconsistencies are fixed and the range of artillery units is standardized: e.g. the in game firing range of the Sturmpanzer I (max effective range less than 5,000 m) no longer exceeds that of the 7.5cm FK 16 nA (max effective range: 12,300 m). The stats of some air units are changed as well to make air-to-air and ground-to-air engagements more balanced.
Although this mod is basically finished, please report back any issues in this topic.
And, most importantly, have fun!
.......
A few screenshots:
The Finns are ready to retake Karelia which was occupied by the Soviets in the Winter War of 1939-1940:
The Romanians are ready to retake Bessarabia, which they had to hand over to the USSR in 1940 under pressure:
The Spanish may send some help as well, in return to the German support in their civil war against the Republicans:
Finally, a few late war screenshot showing events which may or may not happen in any subsequent game play:
German-Italian mechanized column moving towards Cairo and the Nile Delta:
Will they reach the oil fields of the Middle East as well?
Axis forces making a last stand in Tunisia:
Will they prevent the Americans from pushing them into the sea?
German-Hungarian forces determined to defend the passes of the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania:
Has anyone informed Count Dracula about their intentions?
......................
Download the latest version from here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t2vov5bqdzb9p ... 9.zip?dl=0
Panzer Corps v1.31 is also recommended, as "in this version the AI should return its planes to airfields correctly when they run out of ammo":
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 89#p649287
WARNING! This mod can be highly addictive! Only start to play it if you are sure that you will not neglect your family and work commitments as a result of the "just one more turn" feeling.
IMPORTANT! To get all the changes in v1.8 you MUST start a new campaign after installing it. Loading and continuing a campaign started in any previous version will result in having erroneous movements for some units.
RumpNissen's wavy flags for BE v1.9
An optional submod with small 'wavy' flags and radio towers for victory objectives:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrshi4b4dle92 ... 9.zip?dl=0
Install with JSGME over the base mod and click "Yes" when asked wheter to overwrite the file which was already altered by the base mod.
In BE v1.9 I have added a few more flags so if you were using this sub-mod you are recommended to refresh it!
PG Style Strength Plates
Another optional submod which will make core and auxiliary units easier to tell apart:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/0r78x ... Plates.zip
Maybe it is only me but I often had a problem differentiating core and aux units in the vanilla game. So with this submod core units have black strenght plate and auxiliary units have a light grey one, like in good old PG. The simplest is always the best. This submod can be used with most other mods or with the vanilla campaigns.
Blue Axis unit symbol replacement for the strategic map
Yet another optional submod to increase the visibility of active Axis units on the strategic map:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9i4u3i5ipijcj ... 9.zip?dl=0
This submod will replace the default black and white Axis unit symbols to blue and white ones for better visibility (even though the default black and white might be more accurate historically). When installing this submod with JSGME and the program notifies that enabling this over the BE mod might have adverse effects just click "Yes".
If you like this mod give a try to my previous Royal Hungarian Army - Turan Campaign as well:
viewtopic.php?f=147&t=36969
...
many times without problems.
BfEmodDocV1.0.zip