East & West Front 1942-1945 scenario

[USXpat]

Thank you very much, Telumar! Cool that the RNG has been fixed and really good to know about the naval unit proficiency settings. As it stands, I have at least the Axis naval units set to not "reconstitute". Really - have the same for almost any "special unit" - mobile supply points, Army level HQ's, RR Engineers, "chrome level" units, among others.

Gonna get back at it, should have the last of the Allied Forces deployed today. Will have plenty of unit tweaks to do, both on S&R and starting TO&E. Then try to wrap up the map over the weekend. If all goes well, should be into excel defining events early next week.

[USXpat]

Attaching screen shot of situation at the Rhzev Salient. (Still need to modify S&R for Axis).

Leaving it to both players to decide how they want to break units down - the left flank up to Velikye Luki is a bit stretched for the Axis player.

All Axis and All Allied units have been placed. Now 1584 Axis units; 1889 Allied units. Slightly behind - next task is to customize S&R. Did get a headstart on defining events in Excel though. Have organized allocation of VP by region - 999 total, but there are some other means to victory points. Namely these include the destruction of mobile supply points (representing Front/Army Group HQ's) and some "incentive packages" to promote historical efforts. V-1/2 Weapons have been aggregated to generate the potential for Axis VP's until destroyed. Not much but enough for the Allied Player to consider them high priority targets. Probably about as fancy as this first edition is going to get.

Eliminated consideration of an Axis TO to activate Turkey as a minor axis ally - considered that this would alienate and/or anger Italy (go neutral) and Bulgaria (activate early as Allied), plus prompt Russia to pull up forces from Iran and probably generate Armenian partisans. However, considering putting this into a second version and flesh out the Middle East a bit more - large section of the map that is pretty dormant. Adjust the timeline a bit for the Iraq uprising and give some potential for a Muslim Brotherhood uprising - could make for an interesting variant.

Also eliminated Axis TO to activate Sweden as a minor axis ally, giving that option to the Allies - re: DOW for the Narvik/iron mines and supplies.

So, first version is going to be pretty simple - straightforward - with historical parameters.

[USXpat]

Zoomed out overview of the West.

[USXpat]

Zoom out of the East

[USXpat]

Zoom out of the South/Med

[USXpat]

Tasks Remaining:

Complete last portions of map for Russia, Middle East and North Africa.
Review rivers & add airports as needed.
Define Supply Points & Reconstitute Hexes
Define Hex Ownership
Define VP Locations
Establish 1st Track/1st Location Objectives
Refine English TO&E
Define Allied Replacement Rates
More Customization of S&R
Define Events
Define Victory Conditions
Test Events

So, that's where things stand at this point to allow initial H2H playtesting. Just completed the Axis replacement rates. Mapwork is a good way to... get ready for sleep.

Work has picked up dramatically, so progress is slower. Still pressing as hard as I can to get this complete - aiming for mid-August with regards to having PBEM into a decent beta state. A couple of these items should go pretty fast; mainly expecting events, first objectives and testing to take the longest.

[macgregor]

I'm curious. Once this monster is finished, will you try to complete a 1939 version?

[USXpat]

After this one, not sure I'd be able to commit to another project. If my daywork, such as it is, keeps going good - then it could be a possibility. When I first posted here, my employer was hanging by a thread - but after 9 months, its FDA/USDA filings were finally approved - which is a complete game changer. I need that to be sustained before committing to another project. I commissioned help on this project, so a combination of time and resources.

Really have to see how this one works first. 1942-45 is pretty convenient with respect to a lot of the minor nations being out of the picture already, less complicated event-wise. It also offsets several hundred more allied units. The one thing I don't like about 1939-45 scenarios is that the Allied Player is heavily on the receiving end for a long time... and if not played well, ends with Early Axis victory, or if played well, an Early Axis Concession, rarely a chance to turn the heat on.

I really hope for the 1942-45 to be a dynamic "do or die" for both sides from the start. Getting closer... trying to finish the map today.

[USXpat]

Any easier way to redefine hex ownership at beginning of a scenario?

Didn't find an answer in searching archives, google -- only a little something in the manual- that it's best to set up a few units and then do the automatic hex ownership. 

Now... I just set all of them up - and then hit the auto hex ownership... and I'd say it got less than 50% right.  I guess that I should be happy that it got at least some right.  And I would guess that there's really nothing else to do but toggle every hex that needs toggled... individually, one at a time...?

Ha...

[sPzAbt653]

50% is too low, you can get it to have a higher correct percentage. Set up a few more units, then remove them after the auto-ownership is done. That way you should only have make minimal corrections.

[USXpat]

Thanks - heh, but dang... well, I screwed up - tried it several times and after a pot of coffee, decided to calibrate my clicker to about 240 clicks per minute... and 6 hours later, all done... with that.

Was starting to freak - last night with the flags on my system started going real slow. Solved it by turning on borders - but... had visions of impending disaster.

There are portions of eastern Russia which could use a bit more attention, but am considering the map portion essentially complete - excepting review of rivers...which I hate & suck at, and adding more airfields. Also set up 1st track/1st location objectives for both sides to get that out of the way - until work starts on PO versions. Will have to do a different version for each side.

Define Reconstitute hexes
Define VP Locations
Refine English TO&E
Define Allied Replacement Rates
More Customization of S&R
Define Victory Conditions

Define Events
Test Events

Several of these should go pretty fast in relative terms, just not the last two.

[USXpat]

Progress continues. Events and thorough tests are the only major items remaining. I'm very pleased by the ability to right click and select events vs. clicking through them. Seems that's a new feature and if so, very welcome! Thanks Ralph!

Going through the Allied replacements turned up quite a few equipment issues to refine. Too much of some things, not enough of other things. That's likely to be ongoing. If I were to start from scratch, I'd concentrate more on "personalizing" each nationality's equipment. Think there's at least one BioEd file that's done exactly that.

Overall, this is going much faster than I anticipated though time available for it is decreasing due to work. This coming week will have a lot of say on how much time I'll be able to throw at it and in defining the potential for bringing in additional resources. Will be a matter of having lots of one thing and not enough of another. Will post more when I know more.

[Curtis Lemay]

ORIGINAL: USXpat

I'm very pleased by the ability to right click and select events vs. clicking through them. Seems that's a new feature and if so, very welcome! Thanks Ralph!

?? Anybody know what he's talking about?

[USXpat]

Eh... I remember having to click through all of the different event options before. If the option desired was skipped over, having to cycle through them all over. Could just be that I didn't right click to get the menu before.

This is more like a job than my real job. Almost complete with the PBEM version, eats up about 600 events. It does not look like the PO versions will be able to fit into the same file.

[sPzAbt653]

As far as I know, this menu has always been available by right clicking field 2. It would be nice if this were also possible for field 7, the formation orders field (circled red).

[USXpat]

Ah, okay - was just me then. Heh. Agree it would be great to get a similar menu for the formation orders.

[Panama]

Not having to scroll through the entire oob would be nice. As well as key mapping.

[Curtis Lemay]

ORIGINAL: USXpat

Eh... I remember having to click through all of the different event options before. If the option desired was skipped over, having to cycle through them all over. Could just be that I didn't right click to get the menu before.

Ah. Just a little confusion over terminology. You meant you could right-click and choose the event effect. The way you worded it, I thought you had discovered some secret method to enter an event number and go straight to that event. You never know when Ralph will add something and forget to tell anyone.

I'm pretty sure the event effect list has always been there, but it wasn't until TOAW III that it was put on a page instead of a scroll list.

[USXpat]

Not sure if this is of any help re: OOB - but one convention is to set up "Bookmark units" at the very beginning of the Order of Battle and place them throughout the various major areas of operation. For this scenario, I set up 10 - Northern Finland, AGN, AGC, AGS, Balkans, Rome, Sicily, North Africa, Paris, & Berlin. Useful as a checklist during play, too.

Make them free to move so you can easily remember from turn to turn areas requiring extra attention.

This won't get you exactly to where you want to be in the OOB in many cases, but usually really close.

Marathon session now... and then active testing.

[Panama]

ORIGINAL: Panama

Not having to scroll through the entire oob would be nice. As well as key mapping.

I'm talking about the Force Editor here. [;)]

Of course in game would be nice too.

Key mapping for everything, editor and in game.