Question: How do I seperate crews from their vehicles during scenario creation?

[RolandRahn_MatrixForum]

Hi!

I'm working on a mini-campaign and one of the scenarios should put the player into a mission to steal some enemy tanks.
The idea is:
The tanks are parked and guarded by a few manned tanks and some infantry.
The player races towards the parked tanks killing all enemies guarding the tanks, tranports the crews of the tanks to the parked tanks and races away with his prey.

I purchased the tanks and wanted to bail out the crew just to discover.... that this doesn't work using the '9'-key.

Has anyone an idea how to seperate the tanks from their crews?

I see two alternate approaches....

- Like in "Desert Fox", the stolen tanks are simply appearing in a reinforcement hex in that parking lot
However, the player might simply wait until the tanks appear and then make a combined attack against the guards...

- Splitting the scenario into two scenarios; The crews that are transported have a very high value (500 pts) and must be exited via victory exit hexes in the parking lot. If all crews are exited, the player should have succeeded with a descisive victory wich leads to the next scenario (same map, but player starts with his core force in the parking lot and has the stolen tanks as auxilaries).
However, this is an all or nothing approach.

So, is there an way to seperate the vehicles from their cres during scenario creation?

Regards,
Roland

[Orzel Bialy]

you have to set up the scenario...then play it...on turn one make the crews bail from the vehicles you want to abandon...then move them at least a hex away (or so I was told) and then save the scenario.

Then take those saved scenario files (from the save folder) and rename them as the original scenario # files. (in the scenario folder)

Then you can go back into the editor and tweak whatever you want...and when you finish and play the scenario, the crews will be outside of their rides at the start of the battle.

[RolandRahn_MatrixForum]

Originally posted by Orzel Bialy
you have to set up the scenario...then play it...on turn one make the crews bail from the vehicles you want to abandon...then move them at least a hex away (or so I was told) and then save the scenario.

Then take those saved scenario files (from the save folder) and rename them as the original scenario # files. (in the scenario folder)

Then you can go back into the editor and tweak whatever you want...and when you finish and play the scenario, the crews will be outside of their rides at the start of the battle.

Yes!
It worked!
I could make changes to the bailed out crew, and they where still valid when it reentered the vehicle.

Thank you very much (you saved my storyline for that campaign),

Roland

[Orzel Bialy]

it's a neat little trick and it has a lot of uses..making abandoned or destroyed guns, tanks, trucks and what not.

Glad to be of assistance.

[Resisti]

Another tip, Roland.
As you know crews can only reman their original vehicle/gun.
When you're going to bail a lot of crews, you may want to rename them in a way the players(but you,too, during design phase!) can easily recognize who has to reman what.
It could be a pure nightmare, otherwise....

[RolandRahn_MatrixForum]

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QUESTION NO LONGER VALID, I ALREADY FOUND A SOLUTION
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Hi!

The first scenario in my campaign where the capture of enemy equipment is neccessary is finished (err, would be finished, if it would work).
There is just one problem:
It doesn't work.
I played it as a scenario, and everything works fine.
But when I play it as a campaign, it simply doesn't work - the crew and the vehicle simply don't mate.

Attached are three zip-files.
They contain a micro-campaign (slot 39, only one scenario), a scenario (slot 210, exact the same scenario as in the campaign) and a save-game-file (slot 43) with a save from the campaign at the critical moment - all nearby enemy unitds are killed and the crew is in the same hex as the vehicle.
The campaign should be played with one HQ and one platoon of 4 tanks (vz.35).
I modified the scenario and added the 4 vz-35s as non-auxilares.
Therefore, the scen and the campaign have the same situation, also the abandoned vehicle/crew have another numer in the scen then in the campaign.

The situation is:
It is October 2, 1938.
A Czechoslovakian column (the player) that is fleeing runs into a stopped German column. The German column consists of 1 Pz Ib, 2 defected vz.34's (there where ethnic germans serving in the Czechoslovakian army, Henlein had a lot of supporters, so this seems to be possible assumption), 4 cars, 3 recon patrols, one HQ, one eith-wheeled armored car (abandoed, to be captured) and one crew (representing the the dismounted crew that tries to get some cooling water from the nearby river).
The Czechs are cut of and operating under enemy air superiority.
Realising that this eight-wheeler might be the key to disguise the fleeing Czech column as a german column (with several defected Czech vehicles), the Czechoslovakians must get this eight-wheeler at all costs. It is worth 3000 pts, sending it to the victory exit hex in the southeast gives the Czechoslovakian player a victory, otherwise the campaign ends (cut of in daylight under swarms of Stukas....).

In the save game file, every German that might interfere is killed or on the run. In the scenario, it took one turn for the crew to mount the SdKfz. In the campaign, it simply don't mount on that damned vehicle.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Roland

[RolandRahn_MatrixForum]

Here comes the cenario (it works)

[RolandRahn_MatrixForum]

And here the save-game-file (from the campaign, the crew simply doesn't mate with the vehicle)

[RolandRahn_MatrixForum]

OK, after several hours of experimenting:
The problem is that the captured vehicle/crew must have the same place in the rooster in the saved game as in the campaign.

Example:
Scenario:
A0 HQ
B0 vz35
B1 vz35
B2 vz35
B3 vz35
C0 SdKfz 231 (abandoned) (aux)
C50 crew (aux)

Then everything depends on the choice of the core force.
The abandoned vehicle and its crew where on the 6th place in the rooster in the scenario, they must be in the 6th place in the campaign, too.
So, a core force of
A0 HQ
B0 vz35
B1 vz35
C0 vz34
C1 vz34
would lead to
D0 SdKfz 231 (abandoned)
D50 Crew

and the Crew will board the vehicle.

On the other hand, a core force of
A0 HQ
B0 vz35
B1 vz35
would lead to
C0 SdKfz 231 (abandoned)
C50 Crew

and the crew will not board the vehicle, because it is not at the same place in the rooster (despite having identical IDs).

I looks like it still works when a unit is destroyed in a previous battle and not trebuild (e.g. the player starting this scenario with one HQ and three tanks would still work, because the 4th tank is still represented in the rooster (despite the fact that it is destroyed).

So, if I make the precondition that the player MUST choose (in addition to the HQ) exactly 4 tanks at the start of the campaign (and nothing else), it will work.

Looks like a workaround, but I still fear that this is a very fragile solution.

In my above example, it didn't work because I purchased the 4 vz35s in the scenario after purchasing the SdKfz231, and this led to a situation where the vz35s where (in the scenario) in the rooster *behind* the SdKfz231, while in the campaign they came *before* the SdKfz231.

Roland
(who will ost likely dream about capturing 8-wheeled armored cars this night - I don't know how often I played this scenario in the last 24 hours )

[AbsntMndedProf]

There is another way to create wrecked/destroyed units for a scenario. Purchase the extra units you want as destroyed/wrecked units while purchasing the rest of the given side's units. When you are in the Editor deploy screen/map for that side, simply select the unit you want destroyed and hit the 'u' key on your kb. A pop-up will come up asking if you want to destroy that unit. Hit 'y', and you have a dead duck!:D:D

Eric Maietta

[RockinHarry]

I urgently suggest you to use this crew thingy for AUX units only! For core force units that kind of issues only cause you lots of (unnecessary) headache and possible CTD situations!;) Better keep it simple Roland!