Bru to Sicily next? What do you think?

[bru888]

The Artistocrats are going to trash my feeble efforts when they get around to doing the Invasion of Sicily officially but in the meantime, I have a hankering, you know?

So what do you think of a custom scenario on Sicily? Ideas are percolating already, including the possibility of doing this one from both sides versus AI.

Heh, it always helps me decide when I look around and stumble across a terrific map that would fit well in the scenario editor. This is a greatly reduced copy of it:

Sicily Battle Map July 1943 25%.jpg (167.36 KiB) Viewed 2334 times

Ideas and suggestions are welcome.

[bru888]

One potential problem that occurred to me was the availability of American and German units for July 1943 in OOB. I figured Germany would be fine - Panzerkrieg ends just about that time - but the USA? Fortunately, a scan of units and availability dates assures me that it should be fine. Besides, I always take a few artistic liberties here and there in my scenarios.

[Ichthyic]

I like the idea of following Mussolini's dream of re-establishing the Roman Empire.

they totally and completely failed at that, and that is an understatement, but it still would be fun to do the campaign Mussolini dreamed of.

he had a decent sized army and navy... just no experience and horrible decisionmaking.

YOU could fix that for him....

[bru888]

Heh. A bit ambitious, I'd say! Maybe someday . . .

Besides, when this Invasion of Sicily began, Mussolini was only a couple weeks away from being deposed and arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III (he was sprung by the Germans in September). I know that Italian troops were also involved, at least at first, so I'd have to do some research and maybe some jury-rigging on that (German units under Italian flag sort of thing) - we'll see.

EDIT: This is what I was talking about. As of now, this is the entire OOB Italian Army! And the two infantry units are obsolete by 1943!

Screenshot 2.jpg (86.72 KiB) Viewed 2317 times

But, if I recall my history, the Italians were not a major factor in this battle at all so perhaps I could get away with using these units and maybe Germans under Italian flags for now. Then someday, I would come back to the scenario and insert the proper Italian units if and when they became available. It should not be an impediment.

[Horst]

Excerpt from english_11.txt file:
tutorial_content_afrika_title = [New content] Afrika
tutorial_content_afrika = North African campaign 1941-1943

There have already been Desert and Rough Desert terrain tiles and the Arid climate halfway implemented.
There are also some other unused specialisations prepared:
Home Guard
• Auxiliary Home Guard and Armadillo units are available at the start of each battle

Free_French
• A Somua S35 medium tank is added to the core force

Resistance_Fighters (requires Free_French)
• Auxiliary Resistance Fighters can be deployed anywhere outside of the fog of war

Either there is also something special, possibly fictional, in the works or it's a hoax to distract annoying data-miners like me.
Anyway, I think it’s going into the desert soon. As the there hasn’t been much fictional content in the typical 12-mission campaigns so far, the African campaign on the winning British/Allied side seems very likely.

Bru: there haven't been many Italian units officially created yet from the 1943 era, but feel free to create something nice with the lousy Italian '41 infantry units.

[bru888]

Thanks, Horst.

It should not be an impediment.

Hmmm. I did think of something that will be an impediment for now. In this scenario, there would be a great deal of this:

Screenshot 1.jpg (61.16 KiB) Viewed 2313 times

That is, many roads and railroads running along the coast. I am not going to make a map that is subject to Coastal Road Seaside Hex Distortion which would bug me every time I looked at it. I was able to finish Voyage of the Bismarck with this issue in the game (introduced with version 5.2.0/5.2.3) because I was at sea all the time!

I am not saying this to apply pressure to get it fixed. That would be greatly overestimating the value of my contributions here and I would have to be out of my mind to think it would work. But I will hold off on Invasion of Sicily until I do see that it is fixed.

Besides, being the equivalent of George R.R. Martin when it comes to OOB scenario design, I feel the need to take a break anyway.

[terminator]

One potential problem that occurred to me was the availability of American and German units for July 1943 in OOB. I figured Germany would be fine - Panzerkrieg ends just about that time - but the USA? Fortunately, a scan of units and availability dates assures me that it should be fine. Besides, I always take a few artistic liberties here and there in my scenarios.

Hi Bru888,
For me the problem is not the Germany or USA armies, for me the problem is the Italian Army : not enough Italian units
You also need United Kingdom, Canada and Free France(we don't have) :

Husky.JPG (31.75 KiB) Viewed 2287 times

[Horst]

I would also wait after the North African campaign release.
I mean, it would be no big deal to already create/prepare the map(s) with some Italian placeholder units. It wouldn't be much fun though to already play without proper Italian units for 1943. I guess no would really miss the Italian tanks, but I would still like to fight or play with their Bersaglieri, semovente guns, the 90/53 AA gun, and other stuff that is still useful.
At least the Allied units mainly used the same equipment like the Brits and US, so that shouldn't be a huge issue. First select a UK/US unit in the edior, then a new faction-flag to create French and Commonwealth troops iirc.

[terminator]

First select a UK/US unit in the edior, then a new faction-flag to create French...

Hi Horst,
I am talking about Free France, not the same Flag :

FreeFrance.JPG (20.74 KiB) Viewed 2265 times

Vichy :

Vichy.JPG (24.26 KiB) Viewed 2265 times

Vichy(2).JPG (17.73 KiB) Viewed 2265 times

In PanzerCorps, there is 3 flags for France.

[Horst]

I think a slightly wrong French flag is the least thing to worry about, especially if you don't fight any Vichy troops as Allies on Sicily anyway.

[Erik2]

This is an interesting scenario proposal, I've been thinking along the same lines. I have 'finished' Malta, Torch, Tunis scenarios just waiting for the proper units.
But I decided to wait until the Italian units are available, probably in an Afrika campaign.
It is a lot of work replace substitute AI units with proper ones. You must make sure the new ones are linked to the correct AI team etc.
Been there, done that.
You could of course create everything but the Italians and add those later.

[bru888]

Thanks, fellows. Interesting comments, all. Let's see what the next patch brings, and then I'll decide whether to wait for Afrika Korps to see whether it brings in Italian units.

I would probably not wait for them, though, because although it would mean additional work, I would not mind using "dummies" for now, then coming back and substituting the "real" units later.

Heh, we are talking here as though Afrika Korps is indeed next. Watch them come out with the "Battles of Khalkhin Gol" or something instead.