Eastern Front 1941 campaign

[terminator]

Hi Marechal,
What are the changes ?
It seems that you did not add the scenario Odessa.

[AngrySwan]

Hi terminator,

Yes it is nod added in this version. There will be one more campaign with Odessa scenario.

Since the battles are played in their historical sequence, Odessa comes after Smolensk and before Kiev. There are some new Romanian divisions and historically the city was attacked by the 4th Romanian army so I guess I will create a new army with that name. I will leave the planes as they are because now there is a good balance in the air. The Romanians have some bomber units but only 2 fighters and an an early raid on Odessa will be countered by the Soviets. The Soviet fighters can protect the city and hold as long as they have a base to resupply - unless they make silly moves like trying to take out the Romanian airfied. Giving another fighter to the Romanians would change the balance in their favor and they can hunt down the Soviet fighters one by one and gain air superiority.

The High Command will forgive the player if he does not take Odessa on time - it is not the most important sector anyway and a German commander cannot be responsible for failures of an ally which technically is not a pat of the German army.

[terminator]

Hi Marechal,
The Siege of Odessa lasted from 8 August until 16 October 1941 (2 months, and 8 days). So, you can make vary the date in which the battle begins in the scenario to be able to insert this scenario into the campaign (do what you want). Before Kiev seem to be a good choice.

You did not answer the question about the changes for the campaign that you made ?

[AngrySwan]

Hi terminator,

The date in your Odessa scenario is perfect.

This version - compared to the end of last year - has the exact moves of the 2nd German panzer army (Minsk - Smolensk - Kiev - Typhoon) and German names for major Estonian cities. There were German crusader/bishop states in Latvia and Estonia from 1200 and 1550, more or less. In 1940s the old German names were used for these cities, like Tallinn was called Reval.

Have you tried this campaign? If there is anything more a player needs to know I will explain.

[terminator]

Sorry, I do not have time to test your campaign. As for me, try to make my own campaign. When I shall have more time.

[AngrySwan]

Hi terminator,

The new campaign file and the ''campaign'' version of the Odessa scenario. No changes in gameplay but German text was added.

I will leave the ''official'' AARs for v.108 when it comes out and now I will test if the campaign goes to Odessa after Smolensk.

[terminator]

Hi Marechal,
I did not test the campaign but by studying the scenario Odessa I think that there is a bug in the campaign.
There are two variables for the victory in the campaign, victory or defeat :

[terminator]

The problem is that I did not define the variable "Scenario End" for Brilliant, Normal and Tactical victory in the Odessa Scenario:

[AngrySwan]

Hi terminator,

I will have time to test the campaign starting from Friday.

In the scenario briefing there is a message saying that brilliant victory is 20 days, normal victory 22 days and tactical victory 24 days. I will first see how the scenario works before testing the campaign.

The campaign path will be the same whatever outcome the battle of Odessa has - even if Romanians fail, Army Group South will advance in other sectors.

[AngrySwan]

"Victory" end added for Brilliant, Normal and Tactical victory.

[AngrySwan]

Campaign path Smolensk-Odessa-Kiev now works.

There was a "nationality bug" - if you have a Romanian scenario in a German campaign that crashes the campaign so I had to redefine the "scenario nation" as Germany although you only get Romanians.

4th Romanian army is now a part of core force - No.10 on the Armies list in the campaign file. It is only used for the Odessa scenario. I also tested new tactics for Romanians - the people in High Command as well as the Bolsheviks will see that Romanians can fight well if they get really mad. In this battle the Soviets really are "between the devil and the blue sea"!

In the campaign this is an easier scenario in comparison to Smolensk and also helps to regain some resource points because Smolensk is one of the most consuming scenarios, maybe second after Moscow.

[terminator]

Hi Marechal,
If you think Odessa is an easier scenario an extra Il-2 coming from Crimea as reinforcement could make the mission more challenging.
Can you put in download the campaign with the corrected scenario Odessa ("nationality bug" & "victory" end), I could see how to add this bomber.

[AngrySwan]

Odessa is ''easier'' in comparison to Smolensk because you only need to worry about the enemy - the distances are shorter and the weather is not so bad.
You can try to add the Il2 and see what happens.

[AngrySwan]

Now if I could find someone who speaks better German than me, there are some mission briefings for the new scenarios. They must be readable but maybe there are some errors in them.

[AngrySwan]

German names for places in the Baltic States. You will see them if you play the German version. Also checked the Estonian and German names of the lake in Tallinn scenario.

[terminator]

Hi Marechal,
In Riga all the Ordnances have Trucks and in Tallinn all the Ordnances have Wagons.
Have you notice this ?

[AngrySwan]

Hi terminator,

Maybe because Riga is more important and you need fast moving transports? Since Germany is not such a huge country - in comparison to the battles they were fighting - the army can only have the best equipment where they really need it. In not so important sectors wagons are sufficient.

In the campaign mode, if I send artillery to Tallinn, they will all be on trucks. I will also upgrade them to 150 mm to fight the Soviet 150 mm guns.

[AngrySwan]

The latest version of the campaign, waiting for 1.08 to make the official AARs and looking forward to authentic Pz IVF.
This one includes the campaign file and all necessary scenario files, original and modified.

[Ronald Wendt]

Hi Marechal,

thanks for your great work. The campaign update will be included in GaW 1.08.

Regards,

[AngrySwan]

The campaign version of Odessa 1941 scenario renamed to EF-Odessa1941 because having files with the same name in Campaigns and Scenarios folder caused an error message.