Slitherine

Enhanced Random Skirmish Mod 1.9

The official BA2 Random Skirmish Generator is an excellent tool, but has some annoying problems. This includes;

1) The Soviet T-34, their most common tank of WW2, is almost never selected to appear!

2) The Soviet Rifle squad is also very rarely picked!

3) Other unit selections are very random and don't give a very authentic force selection.

4) The AI uses it's airstrikes very rarely. Once per battle at most.

5) less than half the Ground Attack aircraft in the game are ever used.


This mod attempts to solve these problems. The main features of the mod are;

[*] Unit force selections for both the Soviets and the Germans are now more historical, with more common units being more likely to be selected.

[*] All the the other Ground Attack planes that are in game can possibily show up, that includes Sturmovik PTAB, I-15, HS 129. Stuka G, Me 262, and Hs 123.

Ground Attack aircraft can appear as follows:

1941; I-15 or IL-2 for Soviets, HS-123 or Stuka for Germans

1942: I-15 or IL-2 for Soviets, HS-123 or Stuka for Germans

1943: IL-2 or IL-2 PTAB for Soviets, Fw-190 or Stuka G for Germans

1944: IL-2 or IL-2 PTAB for Soviets, Fw-190 or HS-129 for Germans

1945: IL-2 or IL-2 PTAB for Soviets, Fw-190 or Me-262 for Germans

[*] The AI can now use it's airstrikes much more often. This will probably depend upon the openness of the map, as there is a script in the game that prevents the AI from using airstrikes if there is no LOS to a target. I have seen up to 5 AI airstrikes in one battle with this mod.

[*] Added the Resupply bonus as a possible option.

[*] New model for German 120m mortar.

[*] As a bonus, many additional units previously created by the modding community have been added. I have also added some units I made myself, that have never been seen before; Soviet Komsolets Tractor and KV-85 Heavy tank.

[*] German Sniper given sniper sound effect, vanilla unit had the basic infantry firing sounds.

[*] All German vehicle units should now display the correct camo scheme depending on the date. There is some overlap in 1943, but there probably would have been anyway.

[*] I have removed the Italian Infantry from the Skirmishes, as I think it is a bit odd to have random Italian infantry turning up in a German battle group. It might have happened, but it might be better to have a seperate Italian East Front Skirmish mod. Who knows what Santa might bring!


How to install

Download the compressed file;

http://www.mediafire.com/file/or7ddhjmj ... 9.rar/file

and unzip it using Winrar something similar. Then just paste it into your My Documents/My Games/BA2/CAMPAIGNS folder.

I will ask Slitherine to host the mod officially so that it can be downloaded from within the game, hopefully that will also allow iPad users to access the mod.


How to use

Open BA2 and select "Skirmish" from the main menu. Click the "Advanced" button in the middle of the screen. Click "Use Default Data" in the bottom right of the screen. This will bring up a list of campaigns and mods that you have installed, so select "Enhanced Random Skirmish Mod 1.9". Then just select your Skirmish preferences in the normal way and click "Create".

If you want to use the German Maus heavy tank in hypothetical scenarios; select a date in the Winter of 1945, December will do the trick. You might have to try a few times, and try a few different scenario types, but the Maus will eventually appear.


How it was done

The key to changing the way units are selected was to make changes to the unit's SkirmishInfo value (column DH in the Squads.csv). The SkirmishInfo is supposed to determine how many of that unit are added to the map in a group. It may or may not do that, but it's unintended effect is to determine how likely the unit is to be selected in the first place.

Basically, a unit with a high SkirmishInfo value is less likely to be picked, a unit with a low value is more likely to be picked. The T-34 had a value of 5, so combined with the units moderately high points cost it was just not being picked at all!

I have reviewed the SkirmishInfo value of all the units in the game, making changes where necessary to make the units appearances reflect it's historical numbers. This is a very imprecise task, as the way that the Skirmish Generator selects units is far from clear. Factors which probably have some bearing on this in addition to the SkirmishInfo value are the unit points cost, unit availability dates, scenario type, unit type, HE and AP ratings, Armour rating etc. Nevertheless, I think I have had some success in making the game select units in a more historical way.

I wanted to remove the script that prevents the AI from using airstrikes if there is no LOS to a target, but had no success with doing so. However, by altering another script that was preventing the AI using an airstrike within 5(!) tiles of it's own units I have been able to unlock the AI's airpower!


Credits

Many thanks to PoorOldSpike for testing the previous versions and giving some invaluable feedback. He also alerted me to the problems in the vanilla Skirmish Generator, and that gave me the idea to try to fix it.

Many thanks also to the original creators of the additional units; Amaris and Petcat. Apologies if I have missed anyone out.


Enjoy!

Paul

All links to the previous versions of the mod have been deleted in other threads.

Thanks a lot

The mod has now been updated to version 1.7, link in first post.

1.7 changes:

1) Eradicated a bug in the Panzer I animations that would cause a CTD.

2) Added an introduction text that will appear if you mistakenly try to select the mod in Campaigns.

cheers

Paul

Any news for the IPad? It’s a really cool mod and I would love to play it.

TankerOne wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:20 am Any news for the IPad? It’s a really cool mod and I would love to play it.

Slitherine want to give it a few days to see if any bugs or issues need fixing, then they will host the mod so that it can be downloaded from within the game.

If that does not happen I will look into alternative arrangements.

The mod has now been updated to version 1.8, see the link in the first post.

Changes in version 1.8:

1) Another edit to German Snipers to ensure that the Sniper fire sound effect always plays. Previously you sometimes got normal rifle fire.

2) Changed Maus availability "from date" to June 1945, previously it was May 1945.

3) Changed turn delay of all airstrike aircraft to 4. It was felt that the vanilla value of 2 (or 3) for some aircraft was producing too many airstrikes for both the player and the AI in some cases.


cheers

Paul

Any news on IPad?

TankerOne wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:52 am Any news on IPad?

Pip has promised to make it available from within the game, but he has not been in the office much this week to do it. There is a very slightly improved 1.9 version that I will post in the next few days, and so hopefully next week it will be done.

Thanks, will you Post a Update when possible?

The mod has now been updated to version 1.9, see the link in the first post.

Changes in version 1.9:

1) Tracers effect added to the BA-64, M3 Halftrack, Soviet AT Rifle, Sdkfz 222, Sdkfz 234/1, and Sdkfz 231 8 Rad.

2) Churchill tank texture changed to Soviet one.

3) ZIS-30 SkirmishInfo changed to 3, was 4. It was very rarely appearing before, it is much more frequent now, but not ridiculously so, and it's availability is restricted to October 41 to June 1942 anyway.


cheers

Paul

Just let me know when you are happy with the testing to put it up on the ingame list.

Cheers

Pip

pipfromslitherine wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:09 pm Just let me know when you are happy with the testing to put it up on the ingame list.

Cheers

Pip

Hi Pip,

I think it is ready to go now! Please use the latest link in the first post, version 1.9.


cheers

Paul

Paul59, wonderful mod thanks! Just one tiny niggling thing, The Soviets seem to get an awful lot of Komsomolets tractors. Can this be toned down a bit? Seems to be using up valuable points. Other than that, it's great. Getting all sorts of units(both sides) I don't regularly see. It's changed the dynamic of skirmishing for the better. Just finished an Operation Bagration German defense of a small village. Was blessed with some elite Paratroop units, but was steamrolled by 6 Su-152's! ...gosh I hate those things. And only 1 Panzer IV H as my tank force! Tough loss down to the wire. Thanks again for a fun mod.
Cheers
Alex

Should be up!

Cheers

Pip

AlexDetrojan wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:45 pm Paul59, wonderful mod thanks! Just one tiny niggling thing, The Soviets seem to get an awful lot of Komsomolets tractors. Can this be toned down a bit? Seems to be using up valuable points. Other than that, it's great. Getting all sorts of units(both sides) I don't regularly see. It's changed the dynamic of skirmishing for the better. Just finished an Operation Bagration German defense of a small village. Was blessed with some elite Paratroop units, but was steamrolled by 6 Su-152's! ...gosh I hate those things. And only 1 Panzer IV H as my tank force! Tough loss down to the wire. Thanks again for a fun mod.
Cheers
Alex

Thanks Alex,

Unfortunately the variable that I found controlled availability is very imprecise. With a value of 3 the Komsomolets very rarely show up, with a value of 2 they are quite common, and it was 2 that I decided upon as the best compromise. I might change it in a future update though.


cheers

Paul

AlexDetrojan wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:45 pm Was blessed with some elite Paratroop units, but was steamrolled by 6 Su-152's! ...gosh I hate those things. And only 1 Panzer IV H as my tank force!..

I use my own "4 tank house rule" to get round that, which allows me to discard any Attack unit selection screen that I don't like the look of unless it's got at least 4 medium or heavy tanks/SPG's in it, and try for a new selection, and another and another til I get the 4.
When I'm defender the number is 2.
That way I'm guaranteed to at least have a fighting chance no matter what powerful selection the AI throws at me..

Thanks, might give that a try PoorOldSpike.

If your the Germans, you can also try the authentic experience. Turn German’s points down to 850 and Russians to 3000 and selection none. Play as the Germans on the defensive and play in wilderness or urban with a bit of fortification and 85 openness. Turn limit should be 20. It’s brutal, but have fun and good luck. If you find it too hard, turn on reinforcements.

Finally I can now use as many T-34s as I'd like and not have to pretend that the Soviets went with the KV-2 as their main tank instead!

In all seriousness though, it does get kind of annoying when you end up with 0 to (maybe) 1 (or 2) T-34s yet you get up to 8 KV-2s or 30 Soviet flamethrowers. Likewise it felt absurd when I was given six Tiger IIs or 4 Sturmpanzers. This was most notable on attack-type skirmishes, but many times I've had it happen on Meeting Engagements or Symmetrical battles. The only time I ever got vaguely authentic unit selection was on Defend scenarios...if I played the Germans.

So glad this mod exists, thanks Paul!