"Ostfront" - a GPW-based mod (semi-grog version)

[Captain Cruft]

OOB aside, I just noticed that I have in my madness defined 195 SFtypes so far. However, there are aircraft for both sides and various Lend-Lease bits and bobs to add to that. So it'll probably get up to around 250 in total.

Here are some late-war Soviet beasties (my faves) for your delectation.

[jjdenver]

This mod is looking ridiculously great.

[seille]

How the hell do you balance all these sftypes ?
Tons of work. The pics look great.
 
How much of the work in percent you´ve already finished ?

[Captain Cruft]

As I say all the units will derive from those in the generic masterfile and be multiplied (in some cases) and then incremented or decremented. I am not starting from scratch. However, it will NOT work just like the generic masterfile with chrome. There are a few things which I don't feel are quite right and I am going to try to "fix" them.

I am not proposing this mod as a replacement for anything. It is purely my own vision, and I would imagine that the subset of AT players who like it will be quite small. Those who enjoy monster games like WitP or FitE in TOAW would be the target market ...

[Widell]

Which is a substansial share of the people posting on the forums, or maybe it's just the forums and games I attend? [:)]

[Bombur]

-Could you post some aircraft here?

[Captain Cruft]

I could, but I haven't defined any yet

When I am doing the Air OOB I will definitely post some screenies then. What I can say right now is that there will be a lot more planes and many different types, including some dedicated recon. The Italians and Romanians get their own plane factories too.

Flak will be more effective alongside this, and there will be a difference between light and heavy guns. Light AA will address low-flying fighter-bombers and dive bombers while heavy AA will address high-flying level bombers.

[Joshuatree]

Oooh, special recon planes too. Cool. A problem with AT plane recon is that only the target hex is, uhm, reconnoitered (SP?). Are you gonna address that problem too?
I'm glad you're making the distinction between light and heavy AA. Heavy AA took a heavy toll on enemy bombers flying to their target. As it is now AA only shoots at planes attacking the same hex (or the hex next to it). Is that gonna change too, like AA shoots at every bomber flying overhead?
 
Great work so far, thx.

[Captain Cruft]

Both of those things are code-related, so no I can't change them. I'm quite happy with the way recon works now anyway, and with more planes and longer ranges you will be able to illuminate quite a lot more hexes.

[Captain Cruft]

Moving on down to the AGC area, here is what will probably become the Bialystock pocket, containing a number of the unwieldy Soviet Mech Corps.

Once the Germans take Bialystock (and Minsk, Kiev etc.) a new Railhead will be formed there so as to extend the logistics net. When these new Railheads appear they will contain a randomised basket of captured Soviet equipment (same idea as original Russia 41 scenario).

[Captain Cruft]

It's going to be a real party around Minsk too ...

[Captain Cruft]

Barring a few bits and bobs the initial Soviet OOB is now on the map.

Below is the strategic map from the Soviet viewpoint at Turn 1. You can see that the unit density is quite high compared to the original GPW, particularly in the southern region.

[Captain Cruft]

Here is what the Soviets have stacked in the Lvov area.

[Captain Cruft]

The 460 PP unit (32nd Tank Div) is the biggest on the map at game start, and with the way I am trying to structure it there should be no good reason to ever build anything of that size again. Historically, the tank-heavy Soviet Mech Corps did not work well. It should also be noted that unlike this particular unit most of the starting Tank Divs do not have any T-34s or KVs.

Most interesting perhaps is the desultory C&C rating, which is typical of most of the frontline Soviet armies. Initial brief testing shows that this works quite well to simulate the Soviet "uselessness" at start, and enables me to give the SFtypes an average 40 exp rating rather than dumbing the actual troops down. Most of the German armies have Staff ratings up there in the 80s and 90s at least.

[Captain Cruft]

Finally getting to the Air OOB ...

These Soviet bombers based at Novgorod can bomb Konigsberg!

[Captain Cruft]

The Soviet initial Air is now on the map, and comes in at just over 900 planes ...

[Joshuatree]

900...
 
It's gonna be massive.
I really like the pictures of the units, no more lvl bomber I-IV but actual planes of the time. Great work.

[Captain Cruft]

It's something like 6 planes per unit on average, so about 150 units. However, the a lot of these will certainly be destroyed by the Germans on Turn 1 ...

The current list of Soviet aircraft is:

Fighters - I-15, I-16, Yak-1, MiG-3, LaGG-3
Dive Bombers/Ground Attack - Su-2, Pe-2
Level Bombers - Yak-4, SB-2, Il-4

This list will be expanded though, that's just to cope with Turn 1

[serg3d1]

Why many soviet counters have halftrack icon ? You desided to give Soviets massive  amount of halftracks at the start of the war ? Or it's just temporary replacement for specific mech infantry icon ?

[Captain Cruft]

No they don't have halftracks, I am just trying to show that they are motorised divisions. It's difficult though, and I do wish there were a way to over-ride the symbol weights for each unit. That would be too "unit-centric" though