Play along with me! - Global War Solitaire AAR

[joshuamnave]

The rain really puts a damper on my Spanish plans. Germany takes a combined, Italy takes a naval, Japan takes a land.

The subs go out. In Faeroe's Gap, 1 German and 1 Italian sub find some convoys, and spend surprise points hiding from the Nav bomber the Brits put in the 0 box. They spend some more to dodge depth chages.

The German sub is damaged, but 2 convoys sink and a 3rd goes home.

The allies pass for a 10% shot at ending the turn, but it fails. The weather clears, Germany and Italy declare on Spain and everyone takes land actions. This is a good spot to post a save for those who want to try running an invasion or attacking spain.

The US gained 4 chits for that - 2 chits for Germany, and 2 for Italy. Ouch. So much for the slumbering giant... I think the alarm clock just went off.

[joshuamnave]

The 3 divisions invade the hex to the west of Barcelona, which has a 0 str notional unit in a surprise impulse. The Spanish will either have to pull off the line to defend Barcelona, or watch the Italians walk in next turn. Alternatively, the could choose the blitz table on one or more of the medium odds attacks I'm making on their front line, and retreat.

The Spanish line can be tough to crack because it's all mountain terrain and a lot of alpine hex sides. But the line is only one thick, and once breached it becomes relatively easy to roll up. So I'm attacking several places along the line, just looking for one good hole. On the coast, I'm using the Italians with Naval gunfire in support, and the invasion outside of Barcelona to help force the issue.

After doing the invasion and winning the first attack (at a heavy price, a mech unit was destroyed a long with the Yugoslavian Mtn) the next attack becomes against out of supply units... and they're flipped from ground strike, so it's an easy kill. But on the coast, the Spanish hold their ground, killing 2 Italian units for 1 Spanish division. Still, they'll need to back up to protect Barcelona, and the line is badly breached, so things look good for the Germans. Until the Brits come in...

Oh and the Japanese advance on chungking from the north. That war is almost over.

Here's a shot of Spain after one turn

[joshuamnave]

And here's China

[joshuamnave]

China and Britain take a land action. British troops run up from Gibraltar. Indian infantry units head for the coast, ready to be brought into the war. China tries to get more troops to chungking.

British bombers, escorted by a pair of Hurricanes, strat bomb Lille. German fighters spring up to play. 2 German fighters at 6.5 v 2 british fighters at 5.5 and 2 British strat bombers. On round 1, 1 bomber clears and a german fighter aborts. Now it's 5 to 5.5, with a slight british advantage. Round 2, another bomber clears and the other German fighter is aborted. 11 Strat factors hit lille and roll a 1. No effect.

China knows the end is near and decides to go down swinging. Sure enough, in a +4 attack, china trades a cav division for a Japanese inf corps.

The turn does not end and the weather stays nice. Land actions all around!

The Spanish were paralyzed by ground strikes and couldn't take walk into Barcelona, so now the Italians do. This puts the eastern part of the line out of supply, and flipped. Germany attacks the flipped units on the east part of the Spanish line. Japan has a +5.8 attack against a single unit in Chungking. Even if it's bloody, it's worth it to end the war. Fingers crossed.

Japan rolls a 6 and loses a Cavalry, and Chungking holds.

In Spain, the Axis take 2 of the 3 mountain hexes in the east, losing 2 of the Italian invaders. Small price to pay for a decimated Spanish line and Barcelona.

The turn does not end. Now the allies need the turn to end before Japan takes another swing at Chungking (Umezu reorganized most of the attackers). China can't get a 2nd unit there this impulse, but they can get one close. The situation in Spain is static for the moment. China takes a land, everyone else passes and prays.

The turn does not end. The weather stays clear.

[joshuamnave]

Strong chance of Chungking falling this turn. Things don't look that much better in Spain, although there are a few miles to go to get to Madrid.

Here's the save:

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Second time this has happened. Both instances came when there was a counter interception from the attacker. Not sure if that's relevant or not. The roll flashes up (in this case it was a 4, last time it was a low number also), then the error message. If you hit "continue application" the game hangs with a "waiting for dice roll" message.

I reloaded the game, and manually entered a 10 for the die roll, same crash.

I reloaded again, this time had the Japanese fighter escort the bombers instead of counter intercept. I manually entered a 4 again and this time it worked fine. The last time I had this crash (see earlier in this AAR) I was able to fix it by escorting instead of intercepting as well. Looks like the code doesn't like attackers counter intercepting during ground strikes.

I tried this out with an air ground strike myself above Moscow: One Stuka, intercepted by 2 Russians. Counterintercepted by 3 German fighters. Went fine (one dead fighter each). I play without the optional pilots, but that looks like a minor difference. We'll need more analysis.

[joshuamnave]

Another +5 attack on chungking, but this one succeeds in clearing the hex (at the cost of a mot division). At this point, China will go down to 0 production, and the benefits of tying up the Japanese army become fairly small. Japan can park some garrisons and get out, or pick off Chinese units a few at a time, or leave their army mostly intact in china while building up the navy and marines... But if china surrenders (and they only have another factory or two anyway) then the US gets the entry hit now and the Japanese are reduced to combined actions until they go to war.

And it's not like the US cared that we took Chungking...

The impulse, and the turn, ends. Japan has taken most of China, the Axis occupy NE spain, including Barcelona. But the US finally gears up!

Production:
Germany, 28 BPs - 2 pilots, 1 CVP (1), sub repair, Scharnhorst, 2 FTR (2), Lnd (3), mech, arm div, eng div
Italy, 11 BPs - sub repair, amph, trans, Lnd (3)
Japan, 18 BPs - pilot, trans, 2 CVP (1), Yamashita (inf HQ), BB, CV, CP
China, 0 BPs
CW, 24 BPs - 2 pilots, 4 cp's, Formidable, CV repair, BB repair, Wavell, Terr, cvp (1)
USA, 20 BPs - South Dakota, BB repair, CV repair, armor HQ, eng div, cvp
USSR, 16 BPs - 2 FTR (2), Arm div, Mot, 2 garrison

France was incompletely conquered, giving 2 chits to the US. China surrendered, and 2 more chits went to the US. This almost doubles the US entry.

[joshuamnave]

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Second time this has happened. Both instances came when there was a counter interception from the attacker. Not sure if that's relevant or not. The roll flashes up (in this case it was a 4, last time it was a low number also), then the error message. If you hit "continue application" the game hangs with a "waiting for dice roll" message.

I reloaded the game, and manually entered a 10 for the die roll, same crash.

I reloaded again, this time had the Japanese fighter escort the bombers instead of counter intercept. I manually entered a 4 again and this time it worked fine. The last time I had this crash (see earlier in this AAR) I was able to fix it by escorting instead of intercepting as well. Looks like the code doesn't like attackers counter intercepting during ground strikes.

I tried this out with an air ground strike myself above Moscow: One Stuka, intercepted by 2 Russians. Counterintercepted by 3 German fighters. Went fine (one dead fighter each). I play without the optional pilots, but that looks like a minor difference. We'll need more analysis.

It's happened twice to me, both times while doing this AAR (and both times after the latest patch). Try doing it from the first save I posted with it - it's 100% reproducible on my end with that save.

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

After nothing but grey skies the first half of the year, summer extends itself into September. The first impulse is clear everywhere, and the Allies have the initiative.

Top Priority for the CW is rescue her overseas garrisons. Both in France and in Greece, those units are in real trouble. The units in France have left the coast line, so they'll need to move before they can be rescued. On the first impulse CW will take a naval and focus on getting the boys in blue out of Greece. France will take a Naval as well. There's precious little the French army can do about the arse kicking they're about to get. Lyons and Toulouse are garrisoned, and that's where they'll make their stand. But their navy can harass the axis a bit while it lasts.

The Brits send the Gibraltar fleet into the Italian Coast and suck the two units up out of Greece. For protection, they fly 2 sunderlands and a Fighter out of Malta into the sea zone as well. The Axis now has a lot of air power stationed in Greece, and it's there to contest the Med, so we could see some sparks fly soon.

Not much else happens on the allied half of the turn.

The Germans start off September by allying Yugoslavia. Months of planning and scheming and fighting went into this moment, not that it's worth all that much.

Germany and Japan take land actions. Italy wants to get her fleet into the game, send out subs, reestablish supply to north and east Africa, etc... so takes a naval.

Italy moves its fleet and subs, then finds a british sub sleeping in the eastern med. 2 German HE 115C's follow the periscope wake and drop torpedoes. That sub is now a pile of scrap metal at the bottom of the sea. It's a bad day for advocates of sub warfare everywhere... a French sub in the Italian coast was also picked off by eagle eyed Italian gunners.

In the north of France, a Stuka, escorted by Bf 109, attempts to groundstrike the 2 OOS CW units. The British send in a Spitfire, and eager for the chance to shoot down some British planes, a 6 factor He 100 joins the fray.

Here are the results -

I loaded your gamesave in 1.09.1 (debug version of 1.09, no functional changes) and replayed this air combat. It went fine.
This means that there is a problem recreating your problem = not an easy fix. Hopelfully Steve can find something in your error log which is sent via the Madexcept report.

[joshuamnave]

Saved game at the start of JA 1941. From here out I'm playing in new territory for me.

[joshuamnave]

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

I loaded your gamesave in 1.09.1 (debug version of 1.09, no functional changes) and replayed this air combat. It went fine.
This means that there is a problem recreating your problem = not an easy fix. Hopelfully Steve can find something in your error log which is sent via the Madexcept report.

I just tried loading from the same file and ran it this time without issue, so I don't know. But my computer doesn't email the bug reports because I don't have an email client set up for it.

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

I loaded your gamesave in 1.09.1 (debug version of 1.09, no functional changes) and replayed this air combat. It went fine.
This means that there is a problem recreating your problem = not an easy fix. Hopelfully Steve can find something in your error log which is sent via the Madexcept report.

I just tried loading from the same file and ran it this time without issue, so I don't know. But my computer doesn't email the bug reports because I don't have an email client set up for it.

That is a pity. Your AAR can be used for bug hunting, and MadExcept logfiles will help. Next time you could zip the logs and attach them here?

[joshuamnave]

I will try to remember.

Any idea on the surrender bug? Seems to only affect France (or at least, it doesn't affect China).

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

I will try to remember.

Any idea on the surrender bug? Seems to only affect France (or at least, it doesn't affect China).

nope, have not encountered it myself, but I have not been on the hunt for that particular one. As you have a work-around it will not be high on the list. Working on unit placement problems is. I myself hope the overseas supply and Chines supply Bermuda triangle is done before the surrender bug - sorry.

PS: without MadExcept reports coming in from that French surrender bug, it might not even be on any list.

[Cad908]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

I will try to remember.

Any idea on the surrender bug? Seems to only affect France (or at least, it doesn't affect China).

Zartacla,

The French surrender bug is a bit of a mystery. I can duplicate the problem with your saves, but I plan to advance another game tonight to this point and see if it repeats. By the way, one of your saves also crashed for me when Italy conquered Kenya, and I forwarded that to Steve. I also took your save and installed Vichy which worked fine.

As to the air-to-air problems, I tried 3 different games of mine with large air-to-air combats (5 to 7 rounds each) in Strat Bombing, Ground Support and Ground Strike and had no problems.

Try this, whenever there is a crash that you work around (a la French surrender) save the game when you clear the bug, close the game and then exit MWiF. Then restart MWiF, reload the save and continue. A crash could leave you with some corrupted game data (stacks, forms) which will cause an issue when the underlying code actually works fine.

-Rob

[joshuamnave]

ORIGINAL: Cad908

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

I will try to remember.

Any idea on the surrender bug? Seems to only affect France (or at least, it doesn't affect China).

Zartacla,

The French surrender bug is a bit of a mystery. I can duplicate the problem with your saves, but I plan to advance another game tonight to this point and see if it repeats. By the way, one of your saves also crashed for me when Italy conquered Kenya, and I forwarded that to Steve. I also took your save and installed Vichy which worked fine.

As to the air-to-air problems, I tried 3 different games of mine with large air-to-air combats (5 to 7 rounds each) in Strat Bombing, Ground Support and Ground Strike and had no problems.

Try this, whenever there is a crash that you work around (a la French surrender) save the game when you clear the bug, close the game and then exit MWiF. Then restart MWiF, reload the save and continue. A crash could leave you with some corrupted game data (stacks, forms) which will cause an issue when the underlying code actually works fine.

-Rob

That could be - I haven't tried that and would explain why the air to air bug was 100% reproducible at the time but not when I loaded that save fresh. As for the work around for the French surrender crash - I guess I wasn't specific enough. The game crashes when it's supposed to ask if France wants to surrender. The work around gets you past that point so you can keep playing, but you don't get the choice to surrender France. You do get the option to Vichy it, however, and that may be why it only seems to affect the surrender of France and not the surrender of China.

[Cad908]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

That could be - I haven't tried that and would explain why the air to air bug was 100% reproducible at the time but not when I loaded that save fresh. As for the work around for the French surrender crash - I guess I wasn't specific enough. The game crashes when it's supposed to ask if France wants to surrender. The work around gets you past that point so you can keep playing, but you don't get the choice to surrender France. You do get the option to Vichy it, however, and that may be why it only seems to affect the surrender of France and not the surrender of China.

No, your explanation was fine. I have repeated your French surrender crash several times, and Steve should have the bug reports. Perhaps Vichy is creating an option, but it should fire first (Assuming a supplied Axis unit in Paris) before the check for surrender. I took your save, placed an Axis unit in Paris, then ended the turn. First time through I installed Vichy without a problem and the second I declined Vichy and had the French surrender crash. My hunch is Vichy works fine, but the surrender / conquest code might have an issue as something happened when Italy conquered Kenya.

-Rob

[Cad908]

Zartacla,

I ran 3 French surrender tests using 2 of my saved games and each worked without issue.

To me this is the frustrating part of being a Beta tester as I cannot confirm this problem in another game. Rather than write it off as a mystery, tomorrow I will start with your first posted save, "AAR Setup", and run it through to French surrender. If I can get it to fail, then we can be pretty certain its not related to your system. If it does not fail, I will post the file that works on my end for you to try on your system.

-Rob

[joshuamnave]

Ok. Just FYI - it happens in every game on my system, not just this game. At least every game started after switching to 1.8.3 I don't remember it happening in older versions, but I only had the game a short time before Christmas and may or may not have advanced a game far enough to know for sure. I just don't remember.

It also only happens after a Vichy is refused, and the axis occupy enough factories to get a surrender, and then usually the first time it's possible, the surrender is offered and refused. Following that, it crashes every turn when it's supposed to offer a surrender. If it makes a difference, in every such game, the Italians have broken the French line in the south and occupy at least one French factory in Vichy.

[joshuamnave]

It's the summer of '41 and the Allies have the initiative. China has fallen, France has fallen, and the Axis have cracked the mountain line in Spain. Meanwhile, the Russians are putting increasing pressure on the border, and if Germany isn't careful it may be the Russian that do the invading. The US, slumbering for so long, have suddenly gotten very interested very fast.

The CW takes a naval. This isn't an easy choice this time, because for the first time in the game the CW is in control of a significant number of ground troops involved in combat - Spain. And her convoys start out the turn better escorted than in any turn prior to now. But her convoys are also stretched to the breaking point and one good turn from the axis could cripple the UK's production for a long time.

The allies sink the Italian cp in the eastern med, despite the presence of the super german nav bomber.

In the western med, the allies get the jump on the axis fighters and nav bombers. One Itallian fighter is aborted by british CVP's on their way to sinking the CP there. On round 2, the rolls are reversed and it's the British convoys that take torpedoes to the hull. On the 3rd round, carrier based air shoots down a Condor, and the german navs abort. There is no further combat.

Russia starts sending a few units back to Kamchatka, just in case. British air moves into Spain, and the turn passes to the Axis.

Germany takes a land. Italy takes a combined. Japan is once again a neutral major power and is limited to combined actions, which the Japanese will use to bring troops back from the center of China and prepare the fleet for invasions and other naval combat. Russia might or might not be on the agenda, but Japan will certainly bare its fangs that direction to distract the Soviets from the Polish front.

Japan also aligns Siam, to help with taking Singapore later. Attacking the French and going after Indo China is also under consideration.

German Stukas flip Gort and the unit stacked with him. Italians finally flip the out of supply south Africans.

In Spain, the Germans attack Franco. The CW flies ground support, escorted by carrier air off the Indomitable in the Bay of Biscay, and Italian fighters intercept.