Battle for Seelow Heights... Road to Berlin

[cavehobbit]

Could it be the apostrophe in the TEXT1.TXT? I note that apostrophes don't show in text boxes anymore?

Could be... It's probably some small detail such as that as everything looks alright and works well on Mac and iPad...

The only other thing I can think of is the TEXT9.TXT for the Map Labels... For some reason, Seelowdorf has two labels in TEXT9, but obviously only has one on the map...

Also, when I look at Map Labels in the Editor, it lists 1001, then 1006, then 1002, 1003, 1004, etc... The game engine wouldn't throw a fit because of that, would it?

Don't know. I don't use the map label in the editor, but use the script in scenario.bsf just like in BA GJS scenarios.

[jcb989]

P-A if you put up a pair for me I'll take them, lol.

[morge4]

I hope I get my hot-shot 5 kill in one run German pilot back from Normandy!

Did you put him back in for me GL88?

[GottaLove88s]

I hope I get my hot-shot 5 kill in one run German pilot back from Normandy!

Did you put him back in for me GL88?

Yeah, yeah... He graduated from Fw190s to Me262s... You might have to wait for him tho... I think Justin's got him kicking the poop out of my T34s right now...

[morge4]

I hope I get my hot-shot 5 kill in one run German pilot back from Normandy!

Did you put him back in for me GL88?

Yeah, yeah... He graduated from Fw190s to Me262s... You might have to wait for him tho... I think Justin's got him kicking the poop out of my T34s right now...

[cavehobbit]

P-A if you put up a pair for me I'll take them, lol.

Two games up. But can play first later today.

[jcb989]

Yeah, yeah... He graduated from Fw190s to Me262s... You might have to wait for him tho... I think Justin's got him kicking the poop out of my T34s right now...

His cousin Fritz is a rocket launcher operator

[Richcat]

Could it be the apostrophe in the TEXT1.TXT? I note that apostrophes don't show in text boxes anymore?

To get the download working on PC just delete # in the TEXT1.TXT file on the IDS_SCENARIO line and save.
I would suggest suggest removing any # like in the LST file as it may be creating other problems as the battle does not appear in the Saves folder.

[jcb989]

I confirm that resolves the issue of posting a game from the PC world.

Have posted a pair each for cavehobbit (someone must have grabbed your other ones) and morge, passwords are 'uphill'

[GottaLove88s]

Could it be the apostrophe in the TEXT1.TXT? I note that apostrophes don't show in text boxes anymore?

To get the download working on PC just delete # in the TEXT1.TXT file on the IDS_SCENARIO line and save.
I would suggest suggest removing any # like in the LST file as it may be creating other problems as the battle does not appear in the Saves folder.

Thanks Richcat! Have removed the # symbols from the .LST and TEXT1.TXT and re-saved back to the uploaded .CPF
Gentlemen, thanks to Monsieur Richcat, everything should work now... yup, even for you PC owners out there
(Am only bitter, twisted & jealous because of BA2's better graphics on PCs )

[morge4]

Could it be the apostrophe in the TEXT1.TXT? I note that apostrophes don't show in text boxes anymore?

To get the download working on PC just delete # in the TEXT1.TXT file on the IDS_SCENARIO line and save.
I would suggest suggest removing any # like in the LST file as it may be creating other problems as the battle does not appear in the Saves folder.

Also confirm, this fix allows me to post Seelow now. Thanks Richcat!

[GottaLove88s]

Yeah, yeah... He graduated from Fw190s to Me262s... You might have to wait for him tho... I think Justin's got him kicking the poop out of my T34s right now...

His cousin Fritz is a rocket launcher operator

Hmmm... All of a sudden, I understand the full implications of this cryptic comment... but I wish that I didn't...

Fritz's nebelwerfer brigade just took out (yes, I mean routed or destroyed, not merely suppressed) 2x flamethrowers, 2x soviet rifleman, 1x militia and 1x gaz truck... They also managed to achieve something else that's really rather clever...

I need to adapt my play for future games:
(i) strategy to avoid (or at least minimise) the Fritz effect
(ii) deploy Fritz for myself!!!

[morge4]

Yeah, yeah... He graduated from Fw190s to Me262s... You might have to wait for him tho... I think Justin's got him kicking the poop out of my T34s right now...

His cousin Fritz is a rocket launcher operator

Hmmm... All of a sudden, I understand the full implications of this cryptic comment... but I wish that I didn't...

Fritz's nebelwerfer brigade just took out (yes, I mean routed or destroyed, not merely suppressed) 2x flamethrowers, 2x soviet rifleman, 1x militia and 1x gaz truck... They also managed to achieve something else that's really rather clever...

I need to adapt my play for future games:
(i) strategy to avoid (or at least minimise) the Fritz effect
(ii) deploy Fritz for myself!!!

[morge4]

I have a request...for the German forces that get purchased, can we be allowed to deploy them as we would like? or deploy all units?

As much as I am not a real fan of having to deploy 64 units...it would give some flexibility in setup. Yes, even maybe allow Russians to deploy also?

Knowing where the units are deployed allows for some knowledge of where to place artillery/air strikes.

[GottaLove88s]

I have a request...for the German forces that get purchased, can we be allowed to deploy them as we would like? or deploy all units?

As much as I am not a real fan of having to deploy 64 units...it would give some flexibility in setup. Yes, even maybe allow Russians to deploy also?

Knowing where the units are deployed allows for some knowledge of where to place artillery/air strikes.

Thanks Al, I thought about that but hated the idea of deploying the massive forces. So I delayed the Sturmovik/262/artillery/rockets so that both sides should have enough time to move out of the obvious target zones. In my first games, this seems to work ok for the Germans (and the trenches give them pretty good cover too), but the Soviets suffer real drawbacks at specific points (Am thinking Fritz here).

SPOILER ALERT!! Try it a few times and see how it plays out with different starts. But if you're ok with how this protects the Germans from unfair damage, I can fix how a smart (experienced!) German player could hurt the Soviets. I'd just need to restrict the available target zone.

Historically, the Germans trashed the first waves of Reds at Seelow, because they got engineers to flood the plains, extending the marshes, so that the Russians were significantly slowed down crossing the Oder... The current setup probably replicates that a little too accurately... Oops!

[morge4]

I have a request...for the German forces that get purchased, can we be allowed to deploy them as we would like? or deploy all units?

As much as I am not a real fan of having to deploy 64 units...it would give some flexibility in setup. Yes, even maybe allow Russians to deploy also?

Knowing where the units are deployed allows for some knowledge of where to place artillery/air strikes.

Thanks Al, I thought about that but hated the idea of deploying the massive forces. So I delayed the Sturmovik/262/artillery/rockets so that both sides should have enough time to move out of the obvious target zones. In my first games, this seems to work ok for the Germans (and the trenches give them pretty good cover too), but the Soviets suffer real drawbacks at specific points (Am thinking Fritz here).

SPOILER ALERT!! Try it a few times and see how it plays out with different starts. But if you're ok with how this protects the Germans from unfair damage, I can fix how a smart (experienced!) German player could hurt the Soviets. I'd just need to restrict the available target zone.

Historically, the Germans trashed the first waves of Reds at Seelow, because they got engineers to flood the plains, extending the marshes, so that the Russians were significantly slowed down crossing the Oder... The current setup probably replicates that a little too accurately... Oops!

True...even in PG it was very tough crossing the river...seemed like there was artillery behind every infantry unit! Ok, I'll play through the games I have and my h2h game...found some nice hidden 'features' with that one.

I'll come back to this after 5-6 turns and see. Like the idea of restricting artillery zone. Although being caught waiting on the bridges and on the bridges themselves was probably where most of the first wave was lost.

[Garrotta]

I Like this GL88, the map reminds me of one I played centuries ago on Sudden Strike...ouch, kinda side with morge4 regarding deploy, although I had no prob moving the 88s about in the first few moves. Having said that the trenches and esp the bunker do afford good cover if you leave them in situ. Its a matter of choice, but for some its nice to have that choice.

Playing as the Russkies I enjoyed the uphill slog under smoke until my mate(Axis) Nebelwerfed the Oder bridge destroying it along with some stuff on it grrr

Reinforcements?

[GottaLove88s]

I Like this GL88, the map reminds me of one I played centuries ago on Sudden Strike...ouch, kinda side with morge4 regarding deploy, although I had no prob moving the 88s about in the first few moves. Having said that the trenches and esp the bunker do afford good cover if you leave them in situ. Its a matter of choice, but for some its nice to have that choice.

Playing as the Russkies I enjoyed the uphill slog under smoke until my mate(Axis) Nebelwerfed the Oder bridge destroying it along with some stuff on it grrr

Reinforcements?

Thanks Garrotta. Yup know what you mean about being pooped on as the Russkies on that Bridge... which apparently can be destroyed, by direct arty fire (yes, that was the spoiler btw)... I'd totally forgotten about reinforcements... That's a REALLY good idea...

My own learnings from 2 games in progress as Germans, and 2 games in progress as Reds...
(Thanks P-A & Justin for kicking my butt, gallantly and with humour, as usual! )

1. Don't bother with the southern forest. A solid line of German infantry can make mincemeat of any Russian assault that route. Especially if they're supported by mortars
2. On mortars, 120mm German mortars are too strong. (Will reduce these to 82mm for v1.1)
3. German para scouts' submachine guns are too strong (I will switch these back to regular scouts for v1.1)
4. There are too many German supertanks (Kingtigers, Tigers, Jagdpanthers). It's easy to take out 1 or 2 of these, but a whole lagerfull isn't happening (I will reduce the free tanks, and reduce German force points)
5. German tanks and 88s have too many shots. Even with overwhelming numbers, it's impossible for the Russians to overwhelm them (I will demote these back to 2 stripes. They can earn that third stripe in battle)
6. Point made by Morge & Garrotta on German arty/airstrikes. (Thanks guys, I will add a restriction so that these cannot be targeted on the bridges or over Kustrin... Any clever people know how to code that in? )
7. Following an interesting idea by Justin, am toying with the idea of reducing movement points for trucks (to make it harder/slower for Germans to shift their 88s around). Any thoughts in favour or against?
8. And if all of that still doesn't rebalance enough, then I totally LOVE the idea of giving the Reds a significant reinforcement wave... Let the Germans trash the first wave. That's history. It happened... But a clever Soviet commander could sacrifice that first wave to knock out enough stuff and weaken key locations, so that his second wave should succeed

It's still only v1.0 beta, so I really appreciate your feedbacks everyone...

[GottaLove88s]

Further proposed changes to v1.1

9. Upgrade all of the soviet militiamen to riflemen and SMGs... Heck, if the little guys had survived as far as Seelow, they probably knew what they were doing by then
10. Add in the "Dead units don't get any LOS" code (thanks P-A, for pointing out that this isn't supported in plain vanilla BA2... I hadn't noticed that dead units still kept their vision, argh!!)
11. Speed up Soviet smoke artillery to fall faster (in -1 turn instead of -2)
12. Either (i) make German mortars reload in 2 turns (currently 1), or (ii) allow Russian ZiS-3 artillery to reload in 1 turn (currently 2)... to make smoke/bombardment more equal (for some reason, German 120mm mortars are significantly more accurate/lethal than ZiS-3 bombardments... Need to examine the code to figure out why? )
13. Add some mud and remove some tracks (roads) from the German lines... to slow down (too) rapid relocations by the Germans
14. Consider adding a delay to 88/ZiS3 move and fire (so if a gun is moved, it cannot fire the next turn; setup time)
15. Swap the Wirbelwind for something else. Apparently there is no damaged Wirbelwind 3D graphic anymore

[jcb989]

Hi there
What I was really trying to suggest in my cryptic abbreviated in-game messaging was to perhaps create a new prime mover vehicle for the Germans.
Something with a bit of armor like other halftracks have but without any weaponry on them. And then give them a slower movement speed to represent lugging heavy things around. The SDKFZ-7 is what I had in mind:

The benefit of this is that you get a third category of transport to diddle with in the scenarios to balance things, and you leave trucks and halftracks alone as they are - everyone expects what their current behavior already is, so changing them could be too far off the main game mechanics?

Now...the con of this move is obvious =) Someone has to model the darn thing and create the unit info!