General Mod

[Cronos09]

'Rear/Side support' is performed by any non-light infantry unit around an artillery unit (on any of 8 tiles/squares).

btw in Skirmish mode, the AI of infantry A won't know she has to stay still behind the friendly Arty if she wants to protect it, right ?

No, of cause. I think it's not critical. If AI defends she (?) protects artillery well. If she advances, then you still need to break through her ranks to artillery. AI scripting is a particular subject of discussion

[Athos1660]

she (?)

In French, "intelligence" is (a) feminine (word)...
my mistake

'Rear/Side support' is performed by any non-light infantry unit around an artillery unit (on any of 8 tiles/squares).

Interesting! Looking forward to test it.

[eddieballgame]

Thank you for this, Cronos09.

[Cronos09]

eddieballgame, you are welcome! I am going to add generals (with full historical names) to TYW skirmish and MP module. Now I need to deal with the capture of artillery - there are several obscure factors.

[Cronos09]

After a few 'brain storms' the artillery capture concept and its game implementing is finished:
If an artillery unit is out of fortifications/obstacles (it was already made earlier):
1) only non-light infantry can capture artillery guns as a result of its direct charge. Morale state of the captured artillery is equal to the infantry unit;
2) cavalry and light infantry charges make gunners run away (guns remain on the battlefield). An infantry unit arrives and captures the battery with a repeat charge;
3) shooting from the distance makes gunners run away too. If a friendly unit is within 1 square of the battery, it regains control of the artillery guns next turn. Morale state of the artillery is equal to the unit (it is true if the artillery is behind fortifications too);
4) If a friendly unit is within 1 tile/square of the artillery unit a direct charge of the artillery is impossible (it is true if the artillery is behind fortifications too).
I have added the following:
1) if an artillery unit is behind fortifications a direct charge or shooting from the distance make gunners run away. Then an infantry unit captures the guns with another charge:

2) AI is also 'trained' to capture a player artillery:

The only drawback of the mod is that the captured artillery is not taken into account in the losses of the enemy. Of course, further testing is necessary. I think that critical mistakes will not be found, so I will add this feature in the next update of the mod.

[Athos1660]

(...)

It certainly took a lot of work. Congrats and thanks on the behalf of the players!

Here are a few thoughts from someone who likes your mod. Just to help.
I didn't test your latest version of the mod. So maybe/certainly I am mistaken :

3) shooting from the distance makes gunners run away too.

Not sure I like this one, especially as limbered artillery can't be destroyed either.

IMHO shooting from the distance should destroy the arty, especially enemy cannon balls.

Especially because of the following point :

4) If a friendly unit is within 1 tile/square of the artillery unit a direct charge of the artillery is impossible.

...meaning when the support infantry is behind its friendly arty, this infantry is protected from direct charge : it can't be directly attacked head-on. The enemy has to skirt the arty to attack the infantry. Sometimes it is impossible/difficult as there can be obstacles (friendly units...) on either sides of the arty that block the way or woods that make the enemy disordered. IMHO it is an issue, especially as :

shooting from the distance makes gunners run away too. If a friendly unit is within 1 square of the battery, it regains control of the artillery guns next turn.

So the 'protected' infantry behind its arty regains control of its friendly arty next turn and can use it again.

if the feature 'a direct charge of the artillery is impossible' has to remain (as we have already discussed it), shouldn't the enemy at least be able to shoot/destroy the arty ? It can force the support infantry to leave its rear position.

However, it is hard to talk about a mod without testing it. I may misunderstand something.
Hoping we'll be able to play/test it soon.

Great work!

[Cronos09]

Athos1660, thanks! I promise that you will be the first tester of the TYW module with generals and capturing artillery.

Not sure I like this one, especially as limbered artillery can't be destroyed either.

You still can’t leave alone limbered artillery
I have just checked specially this moment. Everything's allright. Limbered artillery is destroyed completely by both a direct charge and shooting from the distance.

...meaning when the support infantry is behind its friendly arty, this infantry is protected from direct charge : it can't be directly attacked head-on. The enemy has to skirt the arty to attack the infantry. Sometimes it is impossible/difficult as there can be obstacles (friendly units...) on either sides of the arty that block the way or woods that make the enemy disordered. IMHO it is an issue, especially as :

shooting from the distance makes gunners run away too. If a friendly unit is within 1 square of the battery, it regains control of the artillery guns next turn.

So the 'protected' infantry behind its arty regains control of its friendly arty next turn and can use it again.

I like this feature. It makes artillery to be impregnable. You yourself advocated for so-called 'rear support'. I managed to implement this in such form. Players should carefully consider the approach to enemy artillery if it is covered by infantry. After all you will be able to remake the mod for yourself, if you do not like something about it.

[Athos1660]

After all you will be able to remake the mod for yourself, if you do not like something about it.

Indeed.

And I am sure your mod is actually great in its current state

Yet I keep on advocating for arty able to destroy enemy arty, whatever limbered or unlimbered. That's something artillerymen tried to achieve, especially in enfilade

[Cronos09]

I remade artillery 'Side Support' in the mod - now only infantry units in 5 tiles/squares in the front and on the sides of an artillery unit can support it (prevent an enemy charge). I also removed 'Priority Target' for the units attacking supporting artillery positions and ZoC from Light Artillery so that the struggle for artillery would be more active:

[Cronos09]

https://yadi.sk/d/uhB0m_jOiVY79A Thirty Years War skirmish module with generals (full historical names) without German Protestant 1639-1648, Weimarian 1635-1643, Transylvanian factions.
Installation:
The archive should be unzipped at ...\Documents\My Games\PSCAMP\CAMPAIGNS\. After this you will see "Thirty Years War with generals" in the Skirmish section.
Main features of the module:
1) capturing enemy artillery (about the rules of it see my posts above);
2) I replaced the bonus of providing +50 PoA to a General unit with + 50 Elan for all units within 2 hexes/tiles from any General unit;
3) I incresead the Fire Shooting rating (about 5%) for musket fire of all units within General command range;
4) I added generals to 4 historical battles (1st Breitenfeld, Lutzen, Wittstock and Rocroi) - "Thirty Years War with generals" in the Historical section.

[Athos1660]

Great job! Thx!

New rules of arty capture and tweaking for the Generals! Interesting!

I'll gladly play with it.

[Athos1660]

1) only non-light infantry can capture artillery guns as a result of its direct charge.

Why ?

[Cronos09]

1) only non-light infantry can capture artillery guns as a result of its direct charge.

Why ?

Due to the small number of light infantry units.

[Athos1660]

Ok, boss. This is a very good reason

Some thoughts based on this idea that 100 men belonging to the capturing unit become artillerymen (100 being the number of men serving in an in-game arty unit) :

• Let's imagine a commanded shot of 150 men capturing an arty. 100 men become artillerymen. There are 50 men left. 50 is a very common unit size for LF from an historical point of view.

• Let's imagine 250 Detached musketeers capturing. 100 ones become artillerymen. There are 150 left as LF. In game, the difference of expected casualties between 150 musketeers and 250 ones is quite limited, even though they are proportional. Example at short range against Cavalry : Commanded Shot : 3-11 , Detached Musketeer : 5-17.

• if I'm not mistaken, the new FoGR rules deleted the rule about P&S being the only unit able to 'make an enemy arty usable' after a capture.

• it's too bad to limit the gameplay of the LF.

However, as a wise man said :

After all you will be able to remake the mod for yourself, if you do not like something about it.

Great mod, Cronos09. Congrats

[Cronos09]

Thank you, Athos1660 and thanks for the idea of capturing artillery.
About commanded shots and detached musketeers - they cannot reach an enemy artillery in full strength. As a rule they will lose a dozen or more before reaching it. And in my opinion this is not their direct duty to become artillerymen. These units are created for other purposes.
For fun I can try to script a decrease in the number of a unit by the number of artillerymen allocated from its composition.

[Cronos09]

I added 'Undo' command (FoG2 scripts) to P&S:
after 'Command' move



after an individual move



During testing I did not find any serious conflicts of the"Undo" command with the presence of reactive shot in P&S.
The only inconvenience is that freezes appear - this is most likely an engine problem.

[Athos1660]

Speaking of Cronos' mods, I've already said : nice, well done, congrats, thx...
My poor English lacks adjectives. Cool !

[Cronos09]

Thanks, Athos. I want to resolve one question of Command move and I will be able to give you the link for the module to test if you do not mind.

[Athos1660]

Do me this favor.

[Athos1660]

Hey folks ! let me tell you a secret :
P&S + Undo = +99999...9