Cataclysm is a Generated Campaign based on the feedback provided in the ‘Survey Regarding Campaign Forces’ thread. The comments I read most often were that single-player campaigns were generally not very challenging after 10-20 battles. Cataclysm is intended to keep the campaign challenging right up to the very end of the campaign.
Objective 1: Limit experience gains between battles.
This is accomplished in two ways.
Way #1. The number of the battles in the campaign is reduced to approximately 4 per year. This means that the total maximum possible experience gain is reduced. It also means that core units will become obsolete more often, which will then require upgrades which further reduce experience.
Way #2. The core is initially composed of many units in need of upgrading. It defeats the purpose of this campaign if many/most units in the core never need to be upgraded. Thus, having many initial core units in need of upgrading means that immediate pressure is put on the player to start the upgrade process immediately, thereby lowering unit experience.
Objective 2: Limit build points between battles.
This is accomplished in three ways.
Way #1. By selecting settings that give every possible advantage to the computer, which should increase losses against the human player, thereby requiring more build points to repair units between battles.
Way #2. Units going obsolete faster means that more upgrades will be needed, thereby requiring the player to spend build points that he might otherwise have accumulated.
Way #3. By reducing the total number of battles in the campaign, the total number of build points is also reduced.
Campaign Outline
Cataclysm is a 22-battle alternate-history campaign that starts in September 1939 and ends in April 1945 (roughly 4 battles per year). It is a generated campaign in which the core has already been purchased and turn 1 of the campaign is ready to start. I have the save game available (it is in save slot 7), and I can email it to anybody who is interested in giving it a try. If somebody can host it for download, that would be excellent. It is not a big file.
Cataclysm’s alternate history conjectures that the peace treaty between Germany and the USSR breaks down soon after the fall of Poland in 1939. Thus, Cataclysm is primarily intended to be a Germany vs. USSR campaign (however, see below).
Cataclysm uses either the Enhanced DV or the Enhanced DVRN Mod (both will work equally well).
Initial Core
The initial core is composed of 2,728 points and has 98 units in 27 formations (all deliberately chosen with Objectives 1 and 2 above in mind).
Kampfgruppe Kruger Core:
1x A0 (named KG Kruger HQ, with colonel Kruger commanding)
12x Pz-IIIE
12x Pz-IVC
4x Lt. Recon platoons
3x Cavalry platoons
4x SS Heavy Weapons platoons
4x Ammo Carriers
1x Spw 251/1 halftrack (A0 command vehicle)
“Country Training” is ON which means that units were purchased at a base of exp55 mor70 ldr70.
The first battle is a dawn (0600) Advance Mission with 954 support points.
The support units purchased for this battle are:
1x forward observer
3x off-map 105mm howitzer batteries
4x motorized infantry platoons
1x panzergrenadier platoon
9x recon gruppes
9x scout truppes
9x Stoewer 40 utility vehicles
Cataclysm Settings
Cataclysm is intended to be played using the settings shown in the screenshot at the bottom of this post. These settings have been inspired by the FlashFyre campaign format, and any settings that are different from the FF format have been discussed at length (explaining why they are different) in previous threads.
Campaign Limits and Restrictions
1. No air units, air drops, or air strikes allowed by the human player.
2. No infiltration special operations allowed by the human player.
3. No reinforcements may be requested by the human player during play.
4. Only mortars (core + support) may be used on map by the human player.
5. A maximum of 8 mortar units of any kind in the human player’s core.
6. Off map support artillery may be of any type for the human player.
7. No mines, dragon’s teeth, or barbed wire allowed by the human player.
8. The human player must retreat off map asap after turn 20 during a Delay Mission.
9. All battles must use the Hard(x2) setting (the first battle is already set for this).
10. AFVs can only upgrade/change into other AFVs (self-propelled AA and self-propelled AT are considered AFVs in this case, but self-propelled mortars are not considered AFVs).
11. Motorcycle and Cavalry can only upgrade/change into ‘infantry’ type units.
12. Units in heavy-weapons platoons can upgrade/change into ‘infantry’, ‘artillery’, or ‘miscellaneous’ type units.
13. The A0 and the halftrack can upgrade/change into anything (this allows for a tiny bit of “fudge factor”).
Campaign Suggestions and Recommendations
The following is a list of suggestions.
1. Re-load all obviously non-challenging battles. For instance, if the campaign generates a river-defense battle, then that should be re-loaded because river defense is too easy.
2. Any battle that looks like an easy victory should be re-loaded.
3. While Cataclysm is intended vs. USSR, it is possible to exercise some creativity. For instance, a summer 1940 battle vs. France is not unreasonable. Or, a spring 1941 battle in North Africa is not unreasonable (remember to pick Desert Terrain in this case). And any battle from the summer of 1944 to the end of the campaign against the USA or UK is not unreasonable. Indeed, since a generated campaign allows up to 3 different opponents for any given battle, some creative flexibility is possible. If the player can come up with a good historically reasonable story line, then almost anything is possible (for instance, choosing Mountain or Forest Terrain in the first battle of 1940 against France/UK/Norway to simulate Weserubung).
4. When upgrading/changing unit types, only perform the upgrade/change when all units in the formation can upgrade/change at the same time. For example, accumulate build points until all Pz-IVCs in a formation can upgrade to, say, Tiger Is. Common sense is needed here (for instance, when changing/upgrading units in the heavy-weapons platoons).
5. When upgrading formations, only allow a single unit type in that formation (i.e., no mixed formations). Exceptions: The heavy-weapons and light recon platoons are already mixed. In this case some historically reasonable mixture is okay.
6. Several “extra” formations have been provided (the support panzer sections, the individual ammo carriers and the halftrack). This allows the player some flexibility to reorganize his core by creative re-assignment of units between formations (I plan to use mine to re-organize my heavy-weapons and light recon platoons).
The player can probably add to this list. Use common sense.
Additional Comment
I’m starting to come to the conclusion that simply defeating the computer is not enough. Having defeated the computer thousands of times over the years, today I find myself becoming more interested in developing a good campaign story instead of merely beating the computer one more time. Don’t misunderstand me. I’d still rather beat the computer than lose to it, but I’m reaching a point where producing an interesting tale to read about (win, lose, or draw) is more fun than just beating the computer yet again. I’ll be creating a Cataclysm campaign AAR thread soon with that in mind. I hope others will join in.
