Orb & Crown 0.91: Fantasy warfare mod for Strategic Command: WaW

[YueJin]

You might be right. I think if I do take Donsborough and Angford surrenders then Adversaries will win fairly handily. The question is whether I could do it before the West flank collapsed. Entrenchment 6 is no joke and I'd blown the fanatics earlier. If you stick the Guildford elites commanded by the 9 rating leader in there it may hold. I think Draca should usually be on lower strength at this point as well, I got super lucky with some evasions where he was predicted to lose 2-3 strength attacking Watersbend and Guartenheim can't afford to reinforce him at this point in the game.

I really can't tell how strong Andania and Potentia are going to be, they have tons of income but transports are so expensive in this mod (70 GP to move veterans) and amphibs even more so I think it's a solid year or more until they can land anywhere in force.

I agree Tribal seems pretty weak at the start but may be a force to be reckoned with once their minors are mobilized as well.

[redrum68]

Besides balance seeming off, I think that highlights the other issue with the mod from a MP standpoint. There is too much randomness. Diplomacy and dragon evasion are both very random and very impactful.

Andania and Potentia at least have eventual land connections to invade through while tribal doesn't. Given the cost of transports/amphib that is also huge. Even if Angnord holds and slowly pushes back Guartenheim, Andania will eventually invade Angnord/Angford with a horde of upgraded units and wipe them out.

If you swap the strength of Andania and Tribal then the game would probably be much more balanced. IMO, Tribal should be like the USA in WW2 where they eventually join and swing the MPP balance in the Allies favor but right now I don't see that being the case and instead Andania is more like the USA.

[El_Condoro]

Thank you both for playing the mod and giving valuable feedback. There are a few things in your replies that I would like to respond to. I have been focused on the AI version, so the MP version is likely to need more tweaking.

- Looking at the post-game screen above, Angnord and Angford are looking competitive. The game is certainly over if Angnord falls but it is not a sure thing going by what I can see. Of course, the Allies player won’t know this. In the Change Log but not in the main document, the forces of Draca will be assailed by elven assassins from Beegwulf, whether or not it is mobilized, if they come within 2 hexes of Donsborough. That might not destroy them, but it will make it much harder to take Angnord. If the Allies player can get Beegwulf to mobilize, they can attack Morbryte with Angford and finish off Draca before he can take Donsborough.

- On Draca (the dragon rather than the faction), my recommendation is to not attack him at all and focus on his other units. Dragons have a very high damage-avoidance and so those attack odds for Draca that are mentioned don’t take that evasion into account.

- Guildford looks strong enough to send help north and not fall. Having said that, there is always the chance that Mittelheim was waiting in the FoW.

- The Ancients will likely be defeated – it’s a matter of how long it takes while the other Allies are becoming stronger.

- Andania is very strong but once they get Morodon and Dwarf Kingdom on-side, Angford becomes very strong, too. The battles that rage between Dauphine and Castile are bloody affairs, but the winner is not assured.

- Tribal League starts very weak, but they are isolated – the USA analogy is a good one. When they get their allegiants mobilized (or conquer them), they too become more powerful, and their isolation means they can become more powerful without interference.

- With only 10 turns played, the Mutiner rebellion in Andania (1/2401+) and the Liberslavia uprising in Potentia (4/2401+) have not occurred – both can have a decent effect (they are DE events, so the Allies player might not want to support them).

- There is a lot of randomness in the campaign, agreed. I fully intended for that but the balance of it is likely to need ongoing tweaking, especially for MP.

If one (or both) of you would like to play an MP game, I am up for it.

[redrum68]

- Looking at the post-game screen above, Angnord and Angford are looking competitive. The game is certainly over if Angnord falls but it is not a sure thing going by what I can see. Of course, the Allies player won’t know this. In the Change Log but not in the main document, the forces of Draca will be assailed by elven assassins from Beegwulf, whether or not it is mobilized, if they come within 2 hexes of Donsborough. That might not destroy them, but it will make it much harder to take Angnord. If the Allies player can get Beegwulf to mobilize, they can attack Morbryte with Angford and finish off Draca before he can take Donsborough.

The fact that there is a reasonable chance of it falling and that more or less being game over less than 20 turns into the game shows a major design flaw IMO. And I wasn't aware of any Donsborough event damaging enemies as I don't see anything marked on the map like the other locations that damage nearby units?

- On Draca (the dragon rather than the faction), my recommendation is to not attack him at all and focus on his other units. Dragons have a very high damage-avoidance and so those attack odds for Draca that are mentioned don’t take that evasion into account.

The problem isn't trying to attack him, the issue is him essentially blowing up an Allied unit every turn and taking no damage. He has a large range (8) and even crushes fighter units so there isn't really any counter.

- Guildford looks strong enough to send help north and not fall. Having said that, there is always the chance that Mittelheim was waiting in the FoW.

Mittelheim just mobilized and I imagine were about to march on Guildford. The issue isn't that its going to fall immediately but that Angnord are losing more units than they can replace and running out of space when attacked by all 3 sides.

- The Ancients will likely be defeated – it’s a matter of how long it takes while the other Allies are becoming stronger.

Hard to see the Allies not having a significant income deficit once that happens.

- Tribal League starts very weak, but they are isolated – the USA analogy is a good one. When they get their allegiants mobilized (or conquer them), they too become more powerful, and their isolation means they can become more powerful without interference.

Problem is the game is going to be over before they have any impact as Andania and Potentia are stronger and will have an impact faster.

[El_Condoro]

You might be right but without a fuller test these are all hypotheticals. For what it is worth, I have played quite a few MP games and although Draca came close he has never taken Donsborough even before the addition of the elven assassins. That was exactly as designed - I want the Allies player to feel overwhelmed and then snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. That's a buzz for players like me but obviously not everyone will agree. That said, if it is a major issue after more tests have been done, it will be corrected.

[YueJin]

I have games up if you do want El_condoro, got a few going but happy to take on another.

[El_Condoro]

Thanks for the challenge, YueJin - joined. I noted that I got the country names issue with my start as the Adversaries but the Allies one started with the correct names. I suspect the wrong localization.txt is being read on that very first - as yet unsaved - turn. I will check that on my next Adversary turn.

[YueJin]

Can I ask what the details of the elven assassins event is? Does it trigger every turn on units within 2 hexes of Donsborough and is there an end date or condition for it?

Also it seems the Jummerock units surrender when the capital falls even if their units aren't on home territory. This isn't the case in the base game (eg. Australian units outside of Australia don't surrender with the country) and I wondered if this was the case for all minors here. I wanted to try flying Draca out of his starting spot and round to Guartenheim but that would look pretty silly if he just surrendered with his territory.

[El_Condoro]

Elven assassins: All Adversary units within 2 hexes of Donsborough suffer 10-30% morale penalty and lose 2-4 strength. This is ongoing. They cannot be destroyed by this event.

I'm not sure about the base game but all units should surrender with their country. If the Australian units are actually UK units, they won't surrender if Australia falls. The exception is if a free.txt event has been scripted to occur so that Australian units join the UK (or simply stay as Australian) on Australia's surrender.

[Edit]: There is a free.txt script in the base game that transfers Australian units to the UK on Australia's surrender.

In any case, in Orb and Crown all units surrender with their country except Mittelheim naval units, which continue to fight on. Draca will surrender (cowardly fly off to find a new lair) when the Ymirrenvale and Morbryte surrender.

[YueJin]

Thanks for the answers. The elven assassins event is a lot more powerful than I thought, will definitely change how I play a bit based on that.

Minor units in the base game definitely don't surrender if they are outside of their home nations territory when it surrenders as long as their major is still in the war. Australians/S.Africans ect. in N.Africa will keep fighting even if their nations surrender, Communist Chinese stay on the board after Yenan falls as long as they weren't in national borders. Will have to make sure minor units fight to the last to defend their capitals here.

[El_Condoro]

Yes, there are a lot the free.txt scripts that transfer minors to their associated major in the base game.

[PJL1973]

I've been playing the mod and IMO air units are overpowered. I suggest that they have their ability to damage units reduced but increase morale penalties instead. Such creatures in mythology were more used as agents of fear than mass killing of people. However I also think they should only have a range of one. As a WW1/2 game, air range makes sense but for fantasy periods having them right next to the enemy just feels better. To make up for it, they perhaps can be made to retreat more when attacked.

[El_Condoro]

Thanks for the suggestions. In this mod, they are more akin to D&D than mythology, so the TBs/Big Wings for example might be a squadron of mounted hippogriffs that take their riders into battle, attack and then fly out, hence the range. You have given me food for thought, though, and the attack value/morale idea is good but I am not so sure about the range.

[eddieballgame]

Install instructions: "The mod files should be installed in your user game folder under \Strategic Command – War in Europe\Mods."

Does v0.05 not work with WAW?
thank you

[El_Condoro]

An edit for the guide! Yes, Orb and Crown has been ported to WaW - the mod and campaign files should be installed to your user \Strategic Command WWII - World at War\ Campaigns and Mods folders. Thanks for pointing this out - noted for next edit.

[YueJin]

Just found a small bug. In the mobilize veterans or influence Beegwulf DE for Angnord, the text states that the unit raised will be strength 5, however the unit that spawns is strength 11. A pleasant surprise for the Allied player, but either DE text or the unit strength should be changed to match.

[El_Condoro]

Thanks for that. I will indicate this in the text.

[YueJin]

Angford gunslingers don't get the +1 range with volley. It seems to work properly on Andanian ones though.

[El_Condoro]

Yes, a unit stat change that needs to be applied across the board. Noted for next version. Thanks for picking it up.

[Eradanfaroth]

I think a good solution should be to restrain Draca somewhat.

Why not limit his capacity of free movement anywhere and limit it to a radius around his starting city ?

This would restrict his capacity of powerful strikes to limited offense on the map and good defense but against prepared assaulters.

This could have some sense (well, it's fanstasy but internal...), if a drake don't want to stray far from his hoard.