BA2 Western Front Army Lists for Skirmish

[rico21]

+1

[Fluffi]

+1 from me as well.

[Eagletanker]

+1 from me

[Paul59]

I find it funny that the Char bis tanks have "no turret" as a trait, despite the fact that the tank itself has a turret. Part of me thinks the reason it operates like it has no turret is because of that hull-mounted gun it has (or flamethrower in this case, though the Churchill Croc has a hull-mounted flamethrower AND it has a turret that can shoot), or simply because the 47mm gun in the turret is irrelevant. Either way, it's jarring to see a heavy tank act as a tank destroyer.

I suppose it is because the Char B's main gun is the hull mounted 75mm, it is a much more powerful weapon than the little 47mm in the turret. I would guess that the Churchill Crocodile is different because it's turret mounted gun has a far longer range than the hull mounted flamethrower.

I did not look very hard, but strangely, I cannot find what stat in the Squads.csv file gives the "No Turret" trait.

[Paul59]

Take your time Paul, I'm still slogging through your other mods and trust me, you've made a lot of content for the folks to play with while you're still working on the newer mods. Also I'm happy the Hotchkiss is back (Shame the S35 isn't though even though the R35 is (presumably) part of the Axis forces). As much as I'd like to ask you what you plan on doing next after these mods, I feel like I'd be asking too much from you given you work hard enough as is to make these things a reality. So if you need to take a break for a bit, go right on ahead. Like I said, you've practically made a few months-worth of mods that would give us something to play around with for quite a long while (especially the Enhanced skirmish mod, which is a Godsend in of itself given how I found it absurd I'd be able to have up to 8 KV-2s but only 1 T-34 in my arsenal, or having 11 Nashorns but only 2 Panzer IVs in an attack scenario).

I could quickly add the Somua S35 to the German unit list, but it will just have to make do with a German cross on the old French camo scheme. I have actually seen an illustration just like that, so I guess it is not too bad, although I would really like to do a more typical late war German camo scheme for it, but it would be rather difficult and I can't afford the time right now.

[Fluffi]

No problem; I don't know if you can change the camo schemes later, but so long as there's some captured French equipment around for when I want to have some training division hold off against some Airborne soldiers. Historically there were also FT17s that were used by the Germans, but afaik they weren't used in any sort of combat purpose. Frankly I don't think the FT17 would have much use in the Western Front mods given how useless it would end up being in a battle against Shermans or Churchills. Any idea if pip checks the forums regularly?

[PoorOldSpike]

..so long as there's some captured French equipment around for when I want to have some training division hold off against some Airborne soldiers.

Ah, but in random Skirmishes there's no guarantee that the game will give us the type of tanks we want, that's what makes Skirmishes so exciting because we have the challenge of having to fight with whatever units the program selects for us.
Personally I skip through a selection and try another until I get one that contains at least 4 medium or heavy tanks when I'm the attacker, and 2 when I'm defender..

[Fluffi]

I try and go for six, mostly because in case the enemy decides to throw out two or three King Tigers.

[Eagletanker]

Who needs tanks when you can just use infantry

[Fluffi]

Well, if you have up to 15 Sappers/Assault SMGs, sure.

[Eagletanker]

Give me some flame throwers and snipers, now we’re talking.

[Fluffi]

Eh, snipers are good as ad hoc scouts, but they can't do normal fire like regular scouts can. Flamethrowers are effective but also pretty fragile. They ARE pretty lethal when used defensively however, since any infantry that shows up in their range pretty much gets instantly suppressed or routed.

Also, I should make mention the fact that the Russians are the only faction in the game that have a dedicated SMG unit outside of their engineers and elite infantry. Sure, Germans have Volksgrenadiers but they have only about 75 morale as opposed to 100, and as far as I know, the other factions only have at least one SMG-type unit available to them. Germans have 3 (Waffen SS, Engineers, and Volksgrenadiers), US has at least two (Airborne and Engineers), Britain, France, and Italy have only 1 (Paras, Corps Francs, and Bersaglieri respectively; technically, the Brits also have Auxiliaries, but they're only used like two times in the entire series). The Soviets on the other hand, have up to FOUR SMG units (Regulars, Sappers, Assault, and Ski). From this observation, it seems that the Soviets have better CQC units available to them than the Germans do, especially when taking into consideration that the Ski SMGs seem to be absurdly powerful against BOTH infantry and vehicles.

All ranting aside, I prefer having elite infantry or infantry with lots of AP charges in case I get a mission without tanks and I have to fight tanks.

[Fluffi]

A slight question regarding the Western Front Army Lists from Ajax, will doing the steps that Ajax had instructed us to do to making the mod work cause any issue with any of the mods that Paul59 made? Or will the units from those mods operate differently from the army lists?

[Paul59]

A slight question regarding the Western Front Army Lists from Ajax, will doing the steps that Ajax had instructed us to do to making the mod work cause any issue with any of the mods that Paul59 made?

In a word, No.

However, Ajax's mod is installed directly into the BA2 main build, which has never been officially approved by Slitherine, because it might have unforeseen affects, especially if you play MP games.

My mods are installed into the correct destination folder, and therefore do not affect your main build at all, they are only activated when you select the mod in the Skirmish Generator.

Or will the units from those mods operate differently from the army lists?

I have found that many BA1 units need a little bit of modification to work properly in BA2, and that is what I have done for the units in my mods.

If you use Ajax's mod, the BA1 units will not be modified and may act a bit strangely. For instance;

1) HMGs, mortars and light AT guns will move as fast as infantry.

2) Light AT guns might have a firing animation and sound when moved.

3) Engineers won't be able to use smoke or remove mines etc.

4) No smoke rounds for artillery and mortars etc.

5) Trucks are extremely cheap (9 points), they should be 40 for BA2.

[Paul59]

Actually the best solution would be if someone created custom ArmyList.txt files for my mods, perhaps using Ajax's ArmyList.txt as a basis.

Modifying the ArmyList.txt is not rocket science, and I would do it myself, but for the next few weeks or even months I will be concentrating on other work.

[Fluffi]

Actually the best solution would be if someone created custom ArmyList.txt files for my mods, perhaps using Ajax's ArmyList.txt as a basis.

Modifying the ArmyList.txt is not rocket science, and I would do it myself, but for the next few weeks or even months I will be concentrating on other work.

Don't worry too much about it; the skirmish mods are good enough as-is, and while I do think adding army lists for these mods would make for an interesting experience, I also know they aren't easy to set up. Also, a lot of the army lists I've played limit you with what units you can use in battle, both in number and in variety.

[Paul59]

Actually the best solution would be if someone created custom ArmyList.txt files for my mods, perhaps using Ajax's ArmyList.txt as a basis.

Modifying the ArmyList.txt is not rocket science, and I would do it myself, but for the next few weeks or even months I will be concentrating on other work.

Don't worry too much about it; the skirmish mods are good enough as-is, and while I do think adding army lists for these mods would make for an interesting experience, I also know they aren't easy to set up. Also, a lot of the army lists I've played limit you with what units you can use in battle, both in number and in variety.

I have to disagree with you there, they are probably the easiest form of modding. I just don't have the time at the moment.

But you are right about them being restrictive, that is partly why I originally decided not to have ArmyLists in my mods, although the main problem for me is that airstrikes don't work with the ArmyLists.

The advantage of using ArmyLists is that you can more easily select the type of Combat Group to play with: for instance if you want to fight as Fallschirmjager, you just select a Fallschirmjager company.

It's worth remembering that by including ArmyLists in the mods, that does not force the player to use them, he/she can still select the Random Selections.

[Fluffi]

Well, in any case I think the mods are good enough as they are, and from what I've seen the random selections from your mods are more consistent and sensible than the base game's. : D

[Rommel633]

Actually the best solution would be if someone created custom ArmyList.txt files for my mods, perhaps using Ajax's ArmyList.txt as a basis.

Modifying the ArmyList.txt is not rocket science, and I would do it myself, but for the next few weeks or even months I will be concentrating on other work.

Don't worry too much about it; the skirmish mods are good enough as-is, and while I do think adding army lists for these mods would make for an interesting experience, I also know they aren't easy to set up. Also, a lot of the army lists I've played limit you with what units you can use in battle, both in number and in variety.

I have to disagree with you there, they are probably the easiest form of modding. I just don't have the time at the moment.

But you are right about them being restrictive, that is partly why I originally decided not to have ArmyLists in my mods, although the main problem for me is that airstrikes don't work with the ArmyLists.

The advantage of using ArmyLists is that you can more easily select the type of Combat Group to play with: for instance if you want to fight as Fallschirmjager, you just select a Fallschirmjager company.

It's worth remembering that by including ArmyLists in the mods, that does not force the player to use them, he/she can still select the Random Selections.

I'd like to try to make ArmyLists, what kind of steps I would do? Can you point me to a tutorial, or a manual?

[Paul59]

Don't worry too much about it; the skirmish mods are good enough as-is, and while I do think adding army lists for these mods would make for an interesting experience, I also know they aren't easy to set up. Also, a lot of the army lists I've played limit you with what units you can use in battle, both in number and in variety.

I have to disagree with you there, they are probably the easiest form of modding. I just don't have the time at the moment.

But you are right about them being restrictive, that is partly why I originally decided not to have ArmyLists in my mods, although the main problem for me is that airstrikes don't work with the ArmyLists.

The advantage of using ArmyLists is that you can more easily select the type of Combat Group to play with: for instance if you want to fight as Fallschirmjager, you just select a Fallschirmjager company.

It's worth remembering that by including ArmyLists in the mods, that does not force the player to use them, he/she can still select the Random Selections.

I'd like to try to make ArmyLists, what kind of steps I would do? Can you point me to a tutorial, or a manual?

It is explained here:

https://sites.google.com/site/battleaca ... tomization

If you have any questions, just ask me.

You will need a program that will open the Squads.csv files in a readable format, I use Microsoft Excel. Don't worry, you don't need to modify the Squads.csv file at all. But you do need to see what the units names are, so that you put exactly the right name in the ArmyList, and the unit points costs.