[Axis Campaign] Legacy of Versailles-vanilla v0.3 (11/08/14)

[timek28]

Absolutely splendid campaign so far! I have great joy playing the Nova Scotia scenario On the other hand Newfoundland and Greenland have been also very good ever since corrections have been made (yes I played Greenland as well). Nova Scotia is especially challenging as it has several choke points where it is hard to advance further inland. I will have to deploy unorthodox tactics here

[nikivdd]

Absolutely splendid campaign so far! I have great joy playing the Nova Scotia scenario On the other hand Newfoundland and Greenland have been also very good ever since corrections have been made (yes I played Greenland as well). Nova Scotia is especially challenging as it has several choke points where it is hard to advance further inland. I will have to deploy unorthodox tactics here

Thanks for the compliment

I'm keeping an eye on this thread as usual. I'll try to implement any changes when proposed asap despite the fact i have my hands full with something else.
I invested so much time in GTPG and LoV for the vanilla version of PC, that i would hate to see the projects wither and die.
Cheers.

[guille1434]

Hello Nikivdd: I just uploaded a graphics mod for showing frozen lakes (small and big) in winter conditions maps... I think they would really add to the visual appeal of maps in this campaign... I specially remember when testing the excelent Winter War scenarios in this campaign, that the soviet units seemed to be able to roll over water. I just wanted to give you the heads up, because you may consider to include the files into this mod sometime in future when you release a new version of it.

The link to the mod files is: https://www.sendspace.com/file/htw5hq

Also you can pay a short visit to my thread or Akkula's to see a screen capture of it being tested in the Lenenigrad Scenario map of Akkula's modding project.

Best wishes!

[nikivdd]

Frozen lakes look great But I won't implement this as this campaign runs without GME and it should remain so.
There is only one scenario that deals with frozen lakes, although severly tweaked in the meantime, to avoid the Russians to use the lake massively to attack Suomussalmi. I can't remember if the change is already there in the current version. Oh well, if not, than in the next one. But many thanks thou for the offer

[timek28]

Hey Nikki,

Couple of observations on Nova Scotia scenario:

1) I find lack of air transports problematic. Scenario is plagued by bad weather (is this pre-programmed)? It is very hard to advance to northern cities due to bad weather and mud as well as due the 2-3 bottlenecks that are very hard to break through (Amherst, Port Hawskebury and Halifax). I did 3 tries of scenario and every time I'm able to break through Amherst bottleneck only on the turn 20/30, which is not fast enough. Even with 10 ships shelling coastal fortifications all the time these is hard to break through.

There are only 2 air transports available and I think more should be allowed. But maybe you had different strategy in mind when you decided to restrict air transports? Maybe you could elaborate on different strategy?

2) Near Saint John there is a huge spam of US recon units. This is especially annoying since this is another bottleneck and to be honest it is illogical as there should be only US air units involved in combat not any ground units. This spamming makes breakthrough from Saint John to southern B zones extremely cumbersome.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Frozen lakes look great But I won't implement this as this campaign runs without GME and it should remain so.
There is only one scenario that deals with frozen lakes, although severly tweaked in the meantime, to avoid the Russians to use the lake massively to attack Suomussalmi. I can't remember if the change is already there in the current version. Oh well, if not, than in the next one. But many thanks thou for the offer

Maybe make 2 versions: one that uses GME and one that doesn't?

- BNC

[timek28]

I will try imploring different strategy here again. Right now I'm using 3 FJ infantry and sending them north to Matane instead of 2 (with 2 JU52s switching back and forth). If this doesn't help out I'm thinking about using 8 of the most northern sea transports and loading them with TIger 2s. Then I'll move them as north as possible with air and naval escorts and unload them in the Bathurst region, and see what can I do from there...

[nikivdd]

@ BNC: i understand but one version suffices, no time for any other ventures

@Timek

You must have really been unlucky with the weather. It is scripted 10%clouds, 10%rain, 10%snow

I tweaked Nova Scotia
- added addional Ju 52, gliders and Me 323 (don't think so much will be lifted in the air)
- no more AI unit spawning

Nova Scotia.rar

(15.74 KiB) Downloaded 180 times

[guille1434]

Frozen lakes look great But I won't implement this as this campaign runs without GME and it should remain so.
There is only one scenario that deals with frozen lakes, although severly tweaked in the meantime, to avoid the Russians to use the lake massively to attack Suomussalmi. I can't remember if the change is already there in the current version. Oh well, if not, than in the next one. But many thanks thou for the offer

Your argument is understandable enough for me... But this does not invalidate the posibilty that any player can add the files by himself, just replacing the vanilla files in the Graphics/Tiles subfolder with the ones included in the mod, just to add eye-candy!

[nikivdd]

@Guille

That's right
Just as there are players who like to play vanilla mods with their personal e-file.

[guille1434]

Thanks Nikivdd for you positive comment! Maybe you can find some time to read and give me some feedback in a post I just made in the "Multipurpose Units Mod"...

[timek28]

Thanks Nikki for update as usual

I tried tactics I described before but my forces got spread out too thin. I got more progress but to the great expense. AI air power is relentless

Considering the fact I have more air transports now, I will try to push hard with everything I've got on the southeast, covering all my ground units tightly with planes, and once I decimate AI air power I will try to transport tanks and paratrooper units to farthest victory hexes.

[brdrumz]

Absolutely LOVE this mod....lots of hours spent so far. Moving along nicely.
Am I the only dork that plans "when I'm at work, or away from the game" things I want to add, move and strategize to get my next victory?

I am consumed by the sheer fun of it all.
It's almost a goofy obsession.
Either way - harmless fun. (and the crazy thing is....when I have questions about a scenario or a particular OPERATION, I look on Google to find out info on exactly how that panned out in WWII.)
I've learned more about WWII playing this game than I ever thought I would.

Thanks Nikki! - Awesome job!

[nikivdd]

@Timek: if i should trim down the Allied airforce or place a couple of extra flying German goodies, let me know.

@Brdrumz: thanks for the compliments. Although PC is an abstract game, i did make some homework regarding the operations; i've learned a lot myself when i started working on the North Africa scenarios. The desert comes with some exceptional challenges. I'm not into the details, for these things there are other games where details, unit designations, logistics,...are an essential part of the game.

[timek28]

I almost got a victory this time... almost...

The problem is that I forgot the scenario condition of placing 10 infantry units on B hexes, and didn't even have that many infantry in my deployed units...

On the other hand the multiple drop zone tactics payed off. My 3 FJ units did a good job in northern towns conquering all of them, while my landing party on east did a good job on the northeastern town that is heavily entrenched. In the meantime southern forces breached all hard points and continued westwards.

What I see now is the need for larger infantry forces, and less tanks. Also I think gebirgsjager infantry can be very handy here (with FJs)... I will deploy such tactics next.

Considering the allied air-force - yes it is quite large, but second wave is announced before it comes so it is not such a big problem. The bottom line is allied air-force is supposed to be tough at this stage of the game. The only problems I have are with the SE Meteor as well as with P-47Ns... Those can only be downed by flaks...

Once again great scenario

[timek28]

I have finally beaten the Nova Scotia scenario It took me 5-6 tries though to get the right combination (with your tweak). So the recepy is using several drop zones, including core that has lots of infantry... I got a victory (not a DV) but it didn't matter much I guess...

Now I'm at the Maple Leaf scenario. It requires getting US towns for victory or getting Canadian and US towns for a DV. DV conditions seem kind of impossible here (Canadians have several entrenchment lines - heavily fortified, and the map is big with only 26 moves). So my question is - is plain victory enough here? In that case I would like to focus my effort on US cities only.

Also, I see ever growing presence of AI air force, but still it is not impossibly problematic. I will have to buy a couple more flaks though, as I'm trying not to loose too many fighters... I have 6 of them.

[timek28]

The Maple Leaf scenario proves to be very hard. Straightforward blitzkrieg approach here is almost impossible. Too many fortifications along the way. 3 strategic bombers don't help that much due to overwhelming AI air presence. DV is absolutely impossible IMO. At least with the core I created in Greenland. Most of my units are 3.5-4 stars, and I'm not sure weather this is enough for the scenarios to come.

Victory is possible but only with para-drops in remote western US cities. I tried to push hard westwards from northern and southern flank with everything I've got, but until the 23rd turn I've only came to the 2/3 of the map with several more strong points to go. I avoid all northern Canadian cities, and concentrate only on those that are along the path towards southern American cities. However even that is painstaking. Constant air attacks along with lot of counter attacks does a big toll on my units. I will try the para-drop tactics and I'll see what that brings... Also it seems there are couple of infantry spawns around certain cities that make things even worse.

[nikivdd]

Map Quebec - Operation Maple Leaf tweaked

- AI airplane reinforcements reduced to 3
- AI spawn heavily reduced
- Added few new German goodies (Flammpz, railroad artillery) and raised V1+V2 strength to 12
- AI Forts replaced by pillboxes (except Quebec)
- "MacKenzie King line" : several units replaced by minefields

(this tweak will be part of v0.3; for now use this attachment and replace the files in the data folder)

Quebec.rar

(11.9 KiB) Downloaded 166 times

Thanks Timek

[timek28]

No, thanks to you Nikki

I will try out the changes you made and report back. Too bad nobody else is reporting weather some scenarios are too hard for them. I fear that these changes are making game too easy for some experienced players... However all the changes you made have made scenarios just difficult enough (not frustrating). So in my case you always did the right adjustment

[Horst]

As far as Soviet Corps is still stuck in the mud for a while, I'm going to restart this campaign.
ETA of v0.3? Will there be any additional changes besides the posted scenario changes here, so it's safe to slowly start the campaign v0.2+posted changes without any further (hopefully good) surprises that I don't want to miss?