Fix for Broken Defence Modifiers

[Rasputitsa]

When a ground combat is selected, the game will apply a number of modifiers to reach a final odds calculation to resolve the combat.

There is a modifier calculation for the attacker and a calculation for the defender. The odds calculation can be seen with a mouse-over of the combat info box, after you have selected a unit to attack, but the 'Terrain' and 'City' defender calculations have not been working since v1.01, they always show 100%. These values are expressed as a percentage multiplier, where 100% is neutral (no effect), lower than 100% reduces the odds, higher than 100% increases the odds (1 = 100%).

The values to be used are held in each scenario consts.ini file with the following text :

[LandCombatDefenderModifiers]
Plain = 1
Forest = 1.5
Rough = 1.7
Swamp = 1.25
Hills = 1.4
Mountain = 2
Desert = 1
City = 2
Fort = 0.1
NearbyDefendersValue = 0.05

The items in bold are the 'Terrain' and 'City' defence odds modifiers, which have not been applied since v1.01.

The game, through each scenario consts.ini file, is only applying 'Terrain' and 'City' defence modifiers to country #1 Poland and not to any other nation (these modifiers will always show 100% in the info box - no effect), units in Forests/Swamps/Mountains, etc. get no defence benefit (except Poland).

Therefore in 'Fall Weiss', Poland gets 'Terrain' and 'City' modified defender values, Germany does not. Same applies in the other scenarios, for all the other countries.

If the scenario consts.ini file is not applying these values I was looking for an alternative and put the above modifier text into the consts_Germany file in the 'Fall Weiss' scenario - bingo !! Germany gets the 'Terrain' and 'City' defence modifiers.

After a game save, a revised copy of each nations' consts file is written into the save file, but the game ignores 'Plain' and 'Desert' (they are presently set at 1 - no effect), also 'Fort' and 'NearbyDefenderValue' are ignored and it sets down the modifier values as below :

[LandCombatDefenderModifiers]
City = 2.0000
Forest = 1.5000
Fort = 0.1000
Hills = 1.4000
Mountain = 2.0000
Rough = 1.7000
Swamp = 1.2500

So if this is how the game wants to see the data, so be it. To make the defence modifiers work for any nation, just add the above text to the consts_nation files in each scenario folder. Strangely, some countries active in some scenarios have not been given a national consts file, in 'Fall Weiss', Croatia (not active this scenario) has one, Slovakia (active) does not, but a consts_Slovakia file can be added to the scenario folder, with the above text to activate the defence modifiers for that country.

You can adjust running games by putting the text into each consts_nation file in a chosen game save file, found in :

Documents/My Games/Time of Fury/saves/save name

An extra advantage is that now the defence modifiers are allocated to each nation independently, the counties can have different attributes. Switzerland can have improved defence in mountains, Finland can have better defence in forests, France and the USSR did not defend their cities in 1940/41, so the 'City' modifier can be set at 1 (no defence advantage), for those nations, in those years.

This fixes one of the main problems in the game, combat is the core of any wargame and, if the terrain and cities are not modifying combat, then you might as well play on a blank map. I am still getting CTDs on start-up, but can always get the game going eventually, there is still the Convoy Routing problem, but Peter123 has provided a mod for that :

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3266811

I have been using v1.05, available as a self install update here :

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3573756

Don't confuse the 'City' defence modifier with the 'Armor in a City' attacker and defence modifier, which applies whenever an armoured unit is attacking, or defending, in a city. The 'Armor in a City' modifier operates in v1.05, but last time I looked it is not working in STEAM v1.06, so I'm sticking with modified v1.05, which with this fix gives almost everything.

This has been a big issue for me, as in 'Gotterammerung', what is the point of a campaign in Italy, without the realistic effects of mountains on combat, so this fix opens up scenarios which I was not using.

There is a very good game here, but you have to work at it to get the best out of 'Time of Fury'.

[Christolos]

Thanks for this very interesting workaround!

I had given up on this game but I think I will give this fix a try.

So the same appropriate text can be added to a newly created consts_Bulgaria.ini file for the Barbarossa scenarios, right?

It would follow that similar files would also have to be added for Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, and Yugoslavia, for the Grand Campaign scenarios.

I suppose that only certain countries have a consts_nation.ini file because these files were meant for things other than terrain effect combat modifier values (which are supposed to be applied from each scenario consts.ini file) and so maybe every country does not need one...

Your suggestion that each country can now have specific values for terrain mediated attack and defence modifiers allocated independently is interesting as the game manual does allude to this in 6.5.1 and 6.5.2, where it states that the mentioned values are default values and may be different for each country. How this is supposed to be implemented in the game, especially with the default values not working, is anybody's guess...

I see that a partial fix has been developed for the convoy routing problem but can you tell me what, if anything, can be done about the production issue?

My understanding is that there is an apparent issue with incorrect accounting of the production values that can cause negative production values to accumulate over time, but I'm not sure if this is only in the Steam version 1.06 or whether it also occurs in earlier versions including 1.05.

C

[Rasputitsa]

If a playing country does not have a national consts file, then you can add a file and include the combat modifier text, if the country does not have a file, then it will default to the settings in the main scenario consts.ini file (where the terrain modifiers do not work). I was just surprised to see, in the scenarios, that some countries that were not included in the scenario had national consts files, whereas countries which were playing had no file, but that can be corrected for the purpose of getting the modifiers working.

The manual does suggest that some counties might have different combat attributes, but as far as I can see, it was never fully implemented, I have only found France with a setting to increase entrenching level.

The production issue may have been addressed in v1.05, however I normally keep a record of each turn's PP output and after a few turns you can see the trend. If there is a major change in PP levels and there has been no 'event' to explain it, then I can correct the PP level, for any playing nation using F12, to stay with the average figures. STEAM v1.06 uses SHIFT/F12 for this function, which is essential to keep the game on course, when playing against the AI.

You can change the upkeep mechanism (which affects PP levels) in the national consts file, this is the consts_Germany from the 'Grand Campaign' :

[UpkeepCost]
UpkeepPerOneStrengthPoint = 0.06
MaximumSupportedSizeOfArmy = 32000;45000;64000;90000;180000
UpkeepCostModifierForArmy = 6
UpkeepValueUnitType0 = 1
UpkeepValueUnitType1 = 3
UpkeepValueUnitType2 = 2
UpkeepValueUnitType3 = 6
UpkeepValueUnitType4 = 3
UpkeepValueUnitType5 = 9
UpkeepValueUnitType6 = 1

When there has been a sudden drop in PP level, I have seen the data showing unexpectedly lower figures for MaximumSupportedSizeOfArmy. These 5 figures are the points where the higher levels of upkeep cost are progressively applied, as the total army size increases, the lower the figures, the sooner the higher levels of upkeep cost are applied. You can compare this with the original figures in the basic scenario files and, if your running game has gone out of whack (check national consts files in gamesave - Documents/My Games/Time of Fury/saves/save name), you could reinstate the basic figures in the gamesave file national consts to restore the situation. You could also experiment with different figures to advance the higher levels of Upkeep cost, or lower, as you wish. [:)]

[Rasputitsa]

Thanks for this very interesting workaround!

I had given up on this game but I think I will give this fix a try.

So the same appropriate text can be added to a newly created consts_Bulgaria.ini file for the Barbarossa scenarios, right?

If you add extra national files to a scenario (e.g. 'consts_Bulgaria.ini') to get the combat odds fix working, make sure files are saved under the correct file extension, they have to be saved as 'configuration settings' files (.ini). I was working in 'Windows Notepad' and saving new national files, not noticing that they were being saved as default .txt files. They will only work if saved as .ini files. [8|]