New Civil War Scenarios for Future Patches

[Gil R.]

No, you just use Excel. What you suggest, though, is very complex, and involves multiple files. Still, the files that would get modded are simple enough -- it's just a matter of studying them (and reading what has been written on the subject in the modders sub-forum).

[Khornish]

I'd like either a scenario where all the starting units, except legendary, have no special traits or add-ons.  Either that or a way to get rid of brigade artillery (or any other upgrade) without having to turn the brigade into an artillery unit. 

[bigus]

I think that FOF needs the following scenerios.

1861
1862
1863
1864

the start and end dates will be in the same year
plus an option too continue any scenerio too the end of the war.

bigus

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: bigus
plus an option too continue any scenerio too the end of the war.

That's already there, FYI.

[bigus]

That's already there, FYI.

Am I missing something? Can I start an 1863 scenerio
and play just till the end of the year Or if I choose , too play FROM 1863
until a winner is delared?

bigus

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: bigus

That's already there, FYI.

Am I missing something? Can I start an 1863 scenerio
and play just till the end of the year Or if I choose , too play FROM 1863
until a winner is delared?

bigus

No, Erik was referring to the total victory option that you can choose when you start the game, which lets you play much longer than under the normal game rules (which are meant to bring the game to a close in 1865).

We have no post-1861 scenarios. We were going to start adding some -- and, thanks to one of our testers, even have some pre-Fredericksburg OOB's ready to go -- but because of the nature of the game we would have to do a good bit of programming to include later scenarios. (I won't go into all of the reasons, but here's an example. If starting the game in 1862, you should get to start with a bunch of research upgrades to reflect that the war has been going on for a year and, e.g., the soldiers have learned how to hastily entrench, shoot more effectively, etc. The FOF code currently doesn't let one assign starting upgrades, so we'd have to add such code.) It is now our thinking that we should add scenarios as part of the expansion pack we hope to do, since they involve a not insignificant amount of work.

Of course, anyone who wants can create a new scenario that begins later in the war, but there will be problems like the one I described, until the code catches up.

[Mus]

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

A scenario for the "dyed-in-the-cotten" Rebel Players to really challange themselves with---one with no Southern "freebies" and the North not having to fight with "one hand tied behind it's back". In other words, the "real" ACW.

Yes please.

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: Mus

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

A scenario for the "dyed-in-the-cotten" Rebel Players to really challange themselves with---one with no Southern "freebies" and the North not having to fight with "one hand tied behind it's back". In other words, the "real" ACW.

Yes please.

Isn't that the economically imbalanced scenarios we currently have? Mike wrote that before we ever added them, so his comment was based on the initial release, not the post-1.9.23 version of the game.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.
Isn't that the economically imbalanced scenarios we currently have? Mike wrote that before we ever added them, so his comment was based on the initial release, not the post-1.9.23 version of the game.

Yep, exactly, so Coming Fury or Southern Steel are the ones to pick if you want that. Both are historically balanced now, rather than "game balanced".

[Mus]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Yep, exactly, so Coming Fury or Southern Steel are the ones to pick if you want that. Both are historically balanced now, rather than "game balanced".

Ah ok. I knew those were supposed to be closer to historically accurate but I didnt know they were supposed to reflect the true material and population imbalances.

[Gil R.]

They do! We have numbers from books!

[Mus]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

They do! We have numbers from books!

Nice. Did you guys use the census data from right before the war thats cited in Shelby Footes books or what? I never read anything on here about what sources you guys used.

One other thing I would like to see, other than scenarios for the grand campaign, is stand alone detailed combat scenarios of historic battles with the same OOBs and forces arriving at the times they did historically from accounts of the battles. The player could try to do as well or better than whatever side they were playing did historically.

[Gil R.]

I know that Eric and Mr. Z used 1860 census data, but beyond that I'm not sure of their sources.

Having historical battlefields is something we'd like to see in FOF down the road, and if we did that then historical OOB's for particular battles might not be hard to do. Having them showing up on the battlefield at a certain time might be a lot of extra coding work. Perhaps not. Either way, this is something we wouldn't be able to do until an expansion pack or FOF the Second, since it's too ambitious to be added through a mere patch.

[ericbabe]

The 1860 census data is available from the Library of Congress, and that is indeed what we used.

[Gil R.]

Just to let y'all know, I unpinned this thread from the top, since it was getting pretty cluttered up there, and since we got from it the information we were hoping for.

As I've mentioned before, because of the way FOF works it wouldn't make sense to add new scenarios without adding lots of code that lets one set up the scenarios properly. For example, one should be able to assign starting technologies, so that the soldiers in an 1864 scenario aren't having to learn such basic skills as Hasty Entrenchment, which they would have known for 2+ years. So, any new scenarios -- and we do have JimWinsor's Fredericksburg scenario waiting in the wings -- will probably wait until the expansion that we're hoping to do.

[dolphinsfan9910]

1. To give a challange to those of us "Virtuous Southerners" that like to play as the Confederacy, and what many have suggested, is a post Gettysburg/Vicksburg scenrio. To play the North at this point might not be challangeing but oh well.

2. For those "Damn Yankees" who want a challange, a scenerio based on a book I read would be great. I think we had this discussion before. Anyhow in the book 1861, they expand on an actually event in which a Yankee warship stopped at gunpoint and boarded a British mail ship outside Havana in order to take two Southern Diplomats captive.

In reality nothing heavy came of this, but in the book the English declare war on the Americans. I think this would bring enjoyment to playing the South and the North. With the British ships, Naval action would be more of a factor. With Canada as a war zone, this make the game more broad. I tweek the Constants data file sometimes and play this way.

3. You could also do a scenerio with the French in this manner as well. Possibly have the French on the side of the South and the British on the side of the North, or any combo like that.

4. I definately like the idea to have a '62, '63, and 64' scenerio.

[moose1999]

I like this idea of having a 'foreign intervention' scenario.
I haven't tried fighting the English or French yet, and it feels silly provoking their entry on purpose through the diplomatic system.
Such a scenario would be a truly different experience, both when playing as the North and the South.