Alternate WNT Scenarios (v11 Released)

[FatR]

ORIGINAL: JuanG

The rebuilds only become available after the first (01/42) upgrade for the standards. If theyre not showing up after that, then yes, it is a bug...

Thanks for the clarifying. I haven't upgraded any BBs yet, so I suppose everything works as intended.

[ny59giants]

If the damn Allied BBs hold still long enough, this option will not be available.  [:D]

[ny59giants]

In your Enhanced versions, you should increase the amount of Engineer Vehicles the Japanese get. LCUs like the Naval Construction, Independent Engineers, and Special BF should come with about 15 to 20 Engineer Vehicles. The other Construction units should get upgrades in late 42 to include about 10 Engineer Vehicles. The ability to quickly expand bases and later to dig more forts would help the Japanese, IMO. 

[JuanG]

I have considered such a change, and may make it before I get this version out (80% of subs done - annoyingly tedious to shift all the devices down 2 columns for 100+ ship classes...)

However, that said, I do not want to poke around with the LCUs too much because I fear doing so may break the game somehow! [:D] Especially the AI...


UPDATE;

Ok, I've done that - however, I only update the TOE, so the units will need to be filled out with the new units. Also, I did not make these an upgrade, but rather part of the default TOE. This way I wont break anything...[;)]

[ny59giants]

You should only have to change the Class of the LCUs and not each individual unit. Japanese players would have to allow replacements "on" to fill these out. 

[JuanG]

Well, that took longer than expected. Lets hope I didnt forget anything too important.

After a night of work during which I almost irreversably destroyed both Scenario 42/43 due to careless copy/pasting in the database files (thank god for backups!), I'm happy to announce;

Version 11 is out. [8D]

This release features several bug fixes from v10. In addition to this, it also includes the following changes;
-Correction of certain USN 5in/38s to Single Purpose mounts
-Modifications to submarine torpedo tubes. All tubes (with one or two exceptions) are now grouped into pairs.
-Changes to pilot experience and availability. (Scenario dependant)
-Changes to a few max airfield sizes, including Tinian.
-Corrections to Japanese industry. (Scenario dependant)
-Addition of 2 new patrol groups to Enhanced Variant.

In addition to this, this version introduces the Ultimate Battleships scenario, the result of a joint project between csatahajos and myself. It is radically different to the other scenarios, and should make for interesting gameplay. There is an included readme detailing the history of the scenario.

Here are the download links, enjoy;
Scenario 42 - BB Variant
RAR - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen42_v11a.rar
ZIP - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen42_v11a.zip

Scenario 43 - Enhanced BB Variant
RAR - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen43_v11a.rar
ZIP - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen43_v11a.zip

Scenario 44 - Ultimate Battleships
RAR - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen44_v11a.rar
ZIP - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen44_v11a.zip

Ship Artwork
RAR - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_ShipArt_v11.rar
ZIP - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_ShipArt_v11.zip

Aircraft Artwork (No change from v10)
RAR - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Air_v10.rar
ZIP - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Air_v10.zip

PS: I was shocked to find I've done close 200 peices of ship art for this mod. Thankfully the CV variant wont need too much more...I think.

PPS: On another note, I'm working on a Wiki for this set of scenarios, as a reference, and to link downloads from and to post update lists on. More on that later. I need some sleep! [>:]

[Akos Gergely]

Let me be the first to openly congratulate and say a hearty THANK YOU for this awesome mod! I think I can speak for many here that you made an old wish come true with this mod. [&o]

So thanks for all the hard work done and awaiting your first turn ....right now drooling over the artwork here while colleagues are staring at this shaking their heads in disbelief [:-][X(]


HMMM - the ship artwork pack seems to be the same as the scenario files......

[c_m_kwong]

Gorgeous ships! Thanks for all your time and effort![&o]

[c_m_kwong]

Hi JuanG, it seems that there is a file missing in the Scenario 44 - Ultimate Battleships pack, both zip and rar - so the game cannot open the scenario. Maybe you can take a look into it when you have time. Thanks![&o]

P.S. I have checked, there should be something like a "scn044.cmt", but missing.

[JuanG]

Ah, I can see why it might be missing. I filtered for ".dat" files when packing, so it got left out. I'll reupload all the scenarios as a v11a as soon as I get home.

Sorry for the screwup, but -something- has to go wrong.[:D]

csatahajos, I'll check the files - they worked on for my test d/l.

[JuanG]

Files reuploaded, links updated.

Please redownload the Scen 43 and 42 ones too if your using the original v11 release, as they had old .cmt files.

Also, thanks to c_m_kwong and csatahajos for spotting these errors so quickly!

PS: Also, page 12. Wow.

[Historiker]

Looks awesome! [&o]

[FatR]

The scenario looks great, but, IMO, replacing almost all Zeros everywhere with Claudes, while Allies even get some extra squadrons is a bit too cruel. This means USN has carrier superiority from the get-go, because Buffallo is much less of a downgrade to Wildcat than Claude to Zero. And while older planes probably cannot sink IJN monster dreadnoughts, they still can mission-kill them and force them into shipyards for months (I hope this is what happened to some of Japanese superdreadnoughts in my current game of Enhanced BB scenario).
I would have placed about 4 USN carriers into PH, instead of the battleship line, if I wanted to faciliate "Jutland in the Pacific" gameplay. Otherwise, I'm afraid that the Allied player can win the carrier battle at DEI in January, and make Japanese invasions extremely costly at best, particularly because his LBA actually is good again Claude-equipped carrier air groups.

[JuanG]

While the USN has the better planes (by a small margin - the A5M5 is decent), their problem lies with lack of airframes and also with weak pilot quality (an issue on both sides).

Most of my tests show carrier on carrier engagements to be very inconclusive, and that carriers cannot handle dedicated LBA strikes early war - so charging into the DEI will be suicide.

The USN carrier force is a glass knife here until late '42, when the Wildcats and better Dautlesses arrive. Until then, it can strike hard, but cannot afford to replace its looses or get hit back. The IJN carrier force is little better until May when the A6M arrives.


However, after some discussion with csatahajos, theres will be a new version out shortly. v11b is a Ultimate BB only upgrade, and does the following;
-Moved CV Intrepid from San Diego to Pearl Harbour.
-Added 18" CD guns to both Pearl Harbour and San Francisco.
-Reduced aircraft capacity of both the Yorktown (82 to 78) and Essex (86 to 82) class carriers.
-Increased aircraft capacity of Soryu (78 to 81) and Hiryu (78 to 81) class carriers.
-Moved up A5M5 availability to 1/42 from 2/42.
-Moved up Hiryu and Unryu arrival dates.
-Changed Hiryu and Unryu fighter squadrons to arrive with A5M5 (from A6M2).
-Changed aircraft replacement rates (increased PBY-5, decreased F2F-2/3).
-Corrected starting USN CV groups experience (reduction by 3-5 points -> this is a bugfix, not a change. I forgot to do this for the original scenario, while the Japanese had it done.)

I will endevour to document all changes in this manner from now on. They will be on the Wiki when it goes up.

Also, a big thank you to everyone who downloaded (~350mb in half a day? [8D]) and supported this!

Scenario 44 - Ultimate Battleships (New version 11b!)
RAR - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen44_v11b.rar
ZIP - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen44_v11b.zip

[FatR]

Ah, I didn't notice that you have introduced the new modification of A5M with 12.7 mm MGs. As we all know, fighters armed with only 7.7 mms have a very hard time shooting down anything in AE, that's why I was concerned. Still, only two carriers have A5M5 on board, and entering production in 42/2 meant that Japanese still will be stuck with A5M4 during the entire initial expansion, so I like your changes for the new version.

[JuanG]

There was a bug in the Ultimate BB scenario with Ise and Hyuga arriving in their 'Fast BB' congfiguration, and with 10/42 upgrades.

This has been corrected, new version available, v11c.

Scenario 44 - Ultimate Battleships (New version 11c!)
RAR - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen44_v11c.rar
ZIP - http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/1/2529503/AltWNT_Scen44_v11c.zip

[ny59giants]

ETA on Enhanced CV mod is now........mid-Feb?!?

[Texas D]

I would also like to know the ETA on the CV mods.

[JuanG]

Something like that. Really, I've got most of the art for it as a lot of the new ships (Asama CA, Kawachi CB) are shared with Ultimate BB. The only thing I'm really missing is the 'fast' Yamato class, and the 'fast' Sagami equivalent from the early 1930s. Oh, and a fully converted 'fast' Ise class.

Apart from that its database work. I was planning to do the standard version first, but I can just as well do the Enhanced first. Any preferences?

[ny59giants]

I want the Enhanced, but that is the way I've felt since the beginning of your mod proposals.

If anything, when it comes to the Enhanced mods, I think an increase in AO/TKs for both sides are needed. All those large ships drink fuel in big gulps. [;)]