Directive 21 playtesters thread

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653
Thanks Mr. Fulkerson, but ... no love for Rick 'TOO' ??
He and I are sharing the playtesting and modding efforts. [:)]

Opps......sorry, didn't know about a Rick. Thanks Rick for your efforts as well. If you guys are ever in Tucson I'll buy you a beer. LOL

[larryfulkerson]

Quick question for the Directive 21 scenario designers:  Are there any Axis or Soviet units that DON'T reconstitute?  Reason I ask is that in FITE most of the Axis units and some of the Soviet units don't reconstitute so loosing a uint can become a big thing after all the lost units add up.

[sPzAbt653]

Are there any Axis or Soviet units that DON'T reconstitute?

Similar to FiTE, some do, some don't. You can check the 'D21 Background' document for some general guidelines. You can look in the Editor to see which ones do and which don't. You can also run a Scenario Dump to check for a units Recostitution eligibility (hit 'Ctrl' and 'f', type in the unit name). I place my vote to add this info to the Unit Report dialogue box in some future version of TOAW, so it can be easily found. Maybe some don't want it to be known, though.

Overall, it's best not to lose any Axis units, and to destroy every Soviet unit you can, especially when they are unsupplied. [:D]

[Silvanski]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

Jan - Feb 15, 1942. Finally captured Odessa, closed off the northern passes into the Crimea, and have reached Rostov.

What did Elmer do during the Nov-Dec 41, did you have to deal with a counter offensive?

[sPzAbt653]

What did Elmer do during the Nov-Dec 41, did you have to deal with a counter offensive?

Yes, that was back during the turn 36-56 period, when I made the brief comment '... the bad Axis supply situation and harsh winter conditions. That slows things enough, but then the Soviets get some shock and supply bonuses for their Winter Offensive so they can make some effective counterattacks.'

[Silvanski]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

What did Elmer do during the Nov-Dec 41, did you have to deal with a counter offensive?

Yes, that was back during the turn 36-56 period, when I made the brief comment '... the bad Axis supply situation and harsh winter conditions. That slows things enough, but then the Soviets get some shock and supply bonuses for their Winter Offensive so they can make some effective counterattacks.'

OK so you don't need to use things like a penalizing Pestilence event for the first winter

[larryfulkerson]

Hey you guys.....I made a first stab at a movie of me and my moves during the playtesting of D21. The movie is about a minute long and is about 5.12M big and you can find it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?eiyyomfdlqg

Your suggestions are welcomed. Maybe the AARs of the future will be a sort of playback of the game as it happens while you watch.

I made this movie by getting screen captures before and after I moved something and stringing the separate images together using Windows Movie Maker. It's not all that complicated and it's easy but it's time consuming to say the least.

[larryfulkerson]

I found out that when I use WMM ( windows movie maker ) that the program shrinks the picture I captured to a size 640 by 480 when it makes the movie so if I capture screens as 1270 by 900, say, then the detail is washed out and you can't tell which unit is which etc.  So I used GIFanimator.exe to string the screen images together and the file is much much bigger but the detail is better.  I put together a 43-frame movie which is about 10M bytes big and uploaded it on a file server so you guys can download it and watch it if you want to. 

Would a movie showing the moves in a game be something that might appeal to people?  Beginners might like to watch the moves of the experts when they play.  Not that I'm an expert. Especially if there's a running commentary on why the moves are done that way.  Anyway you can find the new movie here:

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php? ... me&thumb=4

[sPzAbt653]

so you don't need to use things like a penalizing Pestilence event for the first winter

I don't think so, and as Rick said, the Axis get an additional -5% shock once the Soviets start their offensive.

[BigDuke66]

But wouldn't it be good to simulate the losses of the unprepared Wehrmacht for a winter war?

[sPzAbt653]

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

But wouldn't it be good to simulate the losses of the unprepared Wehrmacht for a winter war?

It might. We haven't done it that way yet because the pestilence doesn't effect everything, whereas the shock values do (including supply).

[Silvanski]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

But wouldn't it be good to simulate the losses of the unprepared Wehrmacht for a winter war?

It might. We haven't done it that way yet because the pestilence doesn't effect everything, whereas the shock values do (including supply).

Pestilence may be unfair to the Finnish units... they are used to harsh winters

[BigDuke66]

But shock hits them too or not?

[larryfulkerson]

My understanding is that shock effects all ground units. There is a separate shock value for the air units that can be changed by events or scenario designer. We're playtesting to see if the shock values are accurate, for one thing, I guess.

[TPOO]

ORIGINAL: Silvanski

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

But wouldn't it be good to simulate the losses of the unprepared Wehrmacht for a winter war?

It might. We haven't done it that way yet because the pestilence doesn't effect everything, whereas the shock values do (including supply).

Pestilence may be unfair to the Finnish units... they are used to harsh winters

Also, the Finns would get hit the worst on Pestilence since they are probably sitting in the worst terrain on the map.

[Karri]

ORIGINAL: Silvanski

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

But wouldn't it be good to simulate the losses of the unprepared Wehrmacht for a winter war?

It might. We haven't done it that way yet because the pestilence doesn't effect everything, whereas the shock values do (including supply).

Pestilence may be unfair to the Finnish units... they are used to harsh winters

Nor did they have the supply issues.

[cesteman]

Supply would be another matter. I think a long drawn out war or campaign would cause them to suffer down the road.

[larryfulkerson]

Hey you guys: I found two listings for 'Rifle Squads' in the list of Soviet equipment. So I'm wondering what's going on. Not that it's a problem just strange. See what I mean in the picture below.
The one underlined in green on the Soviet side is what I'm talking about

[TPOO]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Hey you guys: I found two listings for 'Rifle Squads' in the list of Soviet equipment. So I'm wondering what's going on. Not that it's a problem just strange. See what I mean in the picture below.
The one underlined in green on the Soviet side is what I'm talking about

Larry, there is a flaw in the game engine which affects the reconstruction order of units. Units at the top of the OOB keep getting priority for reconstruction over units at the bottom of the OOB. Hence it is not necessarily a first destroyed first in line for reconstruction. Since there are around 400 Soviet formations, rifle divisions at the bottom of the OOB were not reconstructing. We divided the OOB in half and assigned one equipment slot of rifle squads to the top half of the OOB and the other to the bottom half. It seems to fix the problem some what but still not perfect. Ralph has been made aware of the problem and has fixed it for the next patch.

[sPzAbt653]

Feb - Apr 1, 1942. Not even close to getting behind Moscow. Now I'm into the mud and I'll have to wait til it's over before I can get started again. The areas to the north and south seem fairly secure, so for the past 2 turns I've been trying to get the Panzer Divisions out of the line and moving them closer to Moscow.