[Axis Campaign] GTPG v1.18 FINAL (26/12/22)

[nikivdd]

GTPG v1.11
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mxbai0

Decreased number of AI units and prestige where applicable. Changes take effect, either by restarting the campaign, or by starting the next scenario after your latest savegame.

[timek28]

Thank you nikivdd very much!!! I can't believe there is someone so alert and ready for help

I will try out new campaign right now

[nikivdd]

Thank you nikivdd very much!!! I can't believe there is someone so alert and ready for help

I will try out new campaign right now

A pleasure. Let me know if there is still something out of the ordinary. Thanks

[timek28]

One more question and maybe an obvious one. Am I supposed to replace existing files from 1.10 to 1.11 in mods folder in order to see the effects in the existing campaign? I was thinking about starting everything over, and placing the new files in a new folder (basically having 2 mods this way). But then I realized I don't want to replay all the Poland scenarios again. Especially not Westerplate

[nikivdd]

One more question and maybe an obvious one. Am I supposed to replace existing files from 1.10 to 1.11 in mods folder in order to see the effects in the existing campaign? I was thinking about starting everything over, and placing the new files in a new folder (basically having 2 mods this way). But then I realized I don't want to replay all the Poland scenarios again. Especially not Westerplate

A simple copy/paste should do the trick. Don't have both folders of v1.10 and v1.11 together in your mod folder.

[timek28]

Everything works great now No unit spamming, thanks for help

BTW. how come nobody else noticed this problem before? :S

[nikivdd]

Everything works great now No unit spamming, thanks for help

BTW. how come nobody else noticed this problem before? :S

That's a very good question. I have a theory or two but i keep that to myself

[timek28]

And two more things (I'm starting to annoy myself ) - for some reason in first Belgian mission there is still option to buy Slovak units... Actually every mission until now (Norway, Sweden) etc... had option to buy Slovakian units. Must be a leftover from Polish campaign.

Also I noticed how some "unorthodox scenarios" like Sweden (which is sweet by the way, and completely unexpected by me), has all infantry labeled as Belgian infantry (despite having Swedish flag). Now is this just normal or did you do this on purpose (since you are from Belgium)?

As for your guess why people didn't notice the previous problem, well they probably play a lot better then I do, and are able to beat the game even with those odds

[nikivdd]

And two more things (I'm starting to annoy myself ) - for some reason in first Belgian mission there is still option to buy Slovak units... Actually every mission until now (Norway, Sweden) etc... had option to buy Slovakian units. Must be a leftover from Polish campaign.

Also I noticed how some "unorthodox scenarios" like Sweden (which is sweet by the way, and completely unexpected by me), has all infantry labeled as Belgian infantry (despite having Swedish flag). Now is this just normal or did you do this on purpose (since you are from Belgium)?

As for your guess why people didn't notice the previous problem, well they probably play a lot better then I do, and are able to beat the game even with those odds

I use the vanilla e-file, which contains no Swedish units. So i had to improvise and took the Belgian units instead.

I don't think that players don't notice anything, as the amount of downloads for this mod is well over 2500 since i started this thread. The majority download, play (?) and never post.

[timek28]

Hello nikivdd again Just a few remarks as I play through your campaign I don't want to be annoying though and maybe this was mentioned earlier.

Anyways first of all I like the campaign very much. It is a great joy to play, and it is "fat" that is very rich and scenarios take hours to complete. That what an entertaining game should look like.

I finished UK40 scenario and went to scenario of conquering Spain.

The scenarios are quite challenging, and thank God that you reduced AI prestige where applicable.

I believe you are a very experienced player and that you suited game parameters to your skill. Also I think the game is more difficult since I play on FM.

However there are 2 remarks that I would like to mention:

1) Mission goals. Every mission has a goal of taking ALL objectives for BOTH decisive and medium victory. This is wrong in my opinion. In fact the only thing that makes difference between DV and MV is some side objective. Sometimes that side objective is completely unnecessary and comes with the flow of the game. For example - put armored train in Paris (how hard is that?), or destroy British air force (in UK40 this is done by default unless someone on purpose let British planes to get away). There are more examples for sure.

In my opinion medium victory should not require taking all goals (as in original PC). I'm playing Spain now, and it is extremely difficult to race to the end of the peninsula and take the last city or two. Especially since Madrid is heavily defended, and Gibraltar swarms with UK ships and artillery. This takes time to be dealt with (probably more then 5 turns). I'm sure it is doable though, and I will try it again, but I think I'm experienced player. For less experienced players maybe MV goals should be set lower than "take all objectives".

2) Prestige. Like I said before - PP per turn are great idea. I think in original PG there was a prestige for every enemy unit destroyed (I wonder if this can be implemented)? However prestige gained between the missions is ridiculously low. I would probably quit playing by now but there is some prestige gain due to units captured (thanks for this), and also due to momentum gained by breaking through AI defenses and conquering cities until the scenario end. However after I got DV on UK40 I received 200 (TWO HUNDRED by letters)?! prestige boost for the next mission! I didn't conquer Romania or Moldavia, but UK! Something similar was in France. Good thing is I try to carefully manage my units, and I'm able to save more then 1000 prestige usually during the scenario (for the next scenario). This is however only for replacements and occasional unit upgrade. I understand this is done in order to prevent quick upgrades and provide more historical core, but it takes the meaning out of DVs. Also constant low prestige forces me to use green replacements far more often than I would like.

Game is playable this way too, but it runs on a awkward and thin margin of being frustrating because of hardly achievable goals far on the map (no chance for MV only repeating scenario is option), and DVs that are not met with appropriate prize. This also depends a lot on the mission. I wounder if anything can be done about this, or do you have any suggestions of game play style change that could suit current game mechanics of the mod?

Thanks in advance

[Ceek]

Hey Timek, I agree that nikvdd's scenarios may seem to be incredibly challenging the first time you play through (especially on FM). I have found I do much better when I replay the campaign from the beginning because I avoid silly losses in the early scenarios which set me back in prestige and core units (and really seem to compound one's difficulties as the campaign goes on). Managing prestige in his campaign, as you've correctly noted, is hugely important—and it requires a different form of management, where I have to make liberal use of common reinforcements and only reinforce with elites between scenarios when they are more affordable. It may be frustrating, but it also makes battles a lot more exciting when you're trying to make your advance work with a bunch of units at 6s and 7s and are being pressed to capture everything in just the nick of time.

For my part I love the difficulty because, like you, I tend to struggle the first time through the scenarios but do much better upon repeated playthroughs. The difficulty and the scope of nikivdd's scenarios are what make his campaign really enjoyable (and quite distinct from Slitherine's official offerings), if you ask me. I hope he doesn't change them too much!

[timek28]

Yes,

I also replayed campaign form beginning once already. Although I did that after 3 scenarios only. I wasn't satisfied with my prestige and core. I doubt I will do that again, since missions are really really long and I don't have that much free time (I have to work too you know). This is of course a big plus, but also narrows down margin for mistake a lot. Campaign in my opinion is really made for PC fans and enthusiasts. To be honest I lost quite a few core units already. Maybe some 5 of them (out of current core of 38). I'm able to maintain full capacity of the core due to captured units though.

Now why I lost some of the units. Well I came to conclusion that there are so many units to handle in first scenarios. It is quite shocking to be honest (many auxiliaries). In such constellation there is a high probability that some unit will be exposed, alone or in bad terrain. In other words out of perfect condition. I think I lost 2 core units in UK scenario due to coastal fort fire or the suppression, surrender mechanic. This was due hectic landing of enormous number of units. This however backfires now in Spain.

Be it as it is, I agree with you Ceek that it is a rush to play this mode. It goes on a fine line between being frustrating and too hard, and exhilarating and exciting. I finished UK scenario with multiple reloads of the last turn trying to "make chess moves" to get in the last city on the northwest with narrow entrance. I had to shuffle my units and get perfect combination in order to conquer this city. Also as you mentioned a lot of units trying to get into the city were battered, but I managed it somehow.

Well I'll head of to Spain now again

[nikivdd]

Consider that GTPG 1 was developed with a much older version of Panzer Corps...and i had to discover a lot for myself. I suppose if you compare this mod with the latest "More Panzer Corps '37-'39" you will surely notice the differences.
In GTPG 1, i had to balance whole hordes of Russian units without any tools available to let them attack in different directions or to areas of my chosing...they just berserk to the nearest victory hex. Sometimes it led to frustration and countless attempts to get that one scenario right. But as i said, i don't have the time to do a complete refurbishment of this mod as it is just too extensive. And my "offline" life has also become more demanding.

[timek28]

Nice to hear that you have other things going on as well nikki No need for changes. Mod is very playable as it is. It just needs adjustments in playing style compared to original PC which was very gracious in prestige compared to mod. It takes a few attempts to get game-play straight as above poster said. It is hard to predict what will happen and when it will happen. But as a rule of thumb I came to several conclusions tactics wise:

1) Don't allow to have only one strategic bomber. There are lots of missions that include sea or coastal bombardment from enemy ships. Two bombers at least are a must (I have only one now).

2) Try to position planes carefully. AI usually punishes the smallest gap and hunts player artillery like crazy. This is same as in PC. Connected with that is that player should expect large number of AI planes. Usually a few waves of enemy planes appear. Air dominance is a must, but it has to be taken care of gradually.

3) Spare prestige wherever possible. Don't ever upgrade to elite in missions unless it is absolutely a must. Try to avoid losses at all costs as prestige is scarce beyond belief. Try to avoid stupid losses, or reload in that case.

4) Always recon if possible.

5) Use Falschrimjagers wherever possible. Maps are huge and very well designed, but some objectives are extremely far. Don't try to crawl your tanks to them. Instead 2-3 FSjgs should do the trick. Jump from place to place with them. Of course unless it is some heavily fortified town.

I applied some of these rules in Spain mission, and I'm already doing much better

[nikivdd]

Very interesting rules I'm sure they are helpful to others.
I do remember i never used FJ, except in the beginning. Since i was doing everything myself at that time, i calculated number of turns in accordance to ground unit advance, not FJ.
Prestige might be a bit better because patch 1.20 allows a prestige reward for surrendering an enemy unit.

[timek28]

Well FJ helped me a lot in Spain scenario. I played much more cautiously now, and was able to get MV. It's crazy because I left one Spanish unit on the map and that's why I didn't get a DV Well I should read mission goals much more careful next time...

Basically everything is doable scenario wise, it just takes very careful and coordinated movements. It also helps tremendously to know where the enemy is or how strong he is. Recon could do the trick, but it is much easier to be "general after the battle"

Prestige wise I was able to save 1500 prestige from Spain mission. As I said before game punishes brutally unwise unit usage, but on the other hand preserving units can boost prestige. Also surrender can be helpful. Player just needs to be very calculated and careful in order to maximize gains and minimize losses. Also I like how I'm unable to purchase armored transports (which was a default in original PC). I have most of my transports as trucks. And this is much more historically accurate I guess.

Now I'm playing Gibraltar. It looks as a very nice mission, but for some reason when I save it it states Scene07, not Gibraltar. One more question though. DId all these missions really belong in original PG? As far as I remember PG was active around 1994, but I was a 11 year old kid back then and I didn't find this game to appealing as now Also I had a very bad camputer at the time - 286

[nikivdd]

Most maps came from an incredible mod for the original Panzer General, namely, Campaign v6.2 for PG by Gerold Treitler.

[timek28]

Hey niki it's me again... Well I started playing your campaign from the beginning again, and this time on colonel level. I was having too little prestige by playing on FM, and someone said that campaign was actually meant to be played on colonel and I agreed if that meant regular prestige.

I played first 2 scenarios (Spain and Danzig I think). Everything went well. I was getting 100 prestige for victory hexes, 50 for rest and exact prestige per day. However in Westerplaye scenario for some reason I started getting half of the prestige per day and only 50 prestige for victory hexes... I'm not sure what is happening, or is this desired behavior? I thought that half of the prestige was product of FM difficulty but I'm not sure now since this is happening on colonel.

I just want to play on regular PC settings, that is 100 prestige for VH, 50 for others and exact prestige per day as you said in mission settings, not half of it. Please help me how to solve this or otherwise I might give up due to too little prestige

[nikivdd]

I have no idea what might be the cause... it should be the same for every scenario. Maybe Westerplatte is being a nuissance to everybody

[timek28]

I have no idea what might be the cause... it should be the same for every scenario. Maybe Westerplatte is being a nuissance to everybody

Actually the Warsaw scenario after the Westerplatte has the same prestige problem. I checked difficulty between scenarios and it states Colonel as it should. I still gain only around 25 prestige for regular hexes and 50 for victory hexes, as well as half of the prestige per day guaranteed. This is way to low for me.

I don't know what happened between Westerplatte and previous mission to lead to this. But it seems that prestige behavior for colonel is the same as for FM difficulty. I switched difficulties trying to gain more prestige but apparently everything stayed the same except for the AI level. First 2-3 missions yield regular prestige, then the half thing starts.

Is there a way nikki for you to check the prestige perimeters from mission to mission? Just to be sure everything is as it should be. Also to be sure weather this problem exists only in my case.

Also if it is too much of a strain or time consuming for you just tell me. The other solution which I can think of is to raise my prestige to 200% in advanced menu. Maybe that will yield the same result? I can do that too if it is a problem for you.

Mod is awesome, but I want hexes to yield regular prestige, as well as prestige per day. Half of the prestige is too little for me, and honestly I loose interest in conquering cities with this little prestige. The prestige gain between scenarios is really low (200-500 range), so I need victory hexes in order to maintain my core.