Spinel - Your mod - Questions -

[lstp04]

Spinel - With your lastest mod that I downloaded - What all is in it - All the changes?

Is it simply adding the new units (ranger units for example) or did you likewise TWEAK some of the weapon stats to make them more realistic too?

[lstp04]

Also - With your mod Spinel....I noticed the actual number of RedTeams went down (in total number) from the original list -  When using your tweaked Workbook .....are all the original missions still possible to play? (the stock missions).

[spinel]

ORIGINAL: lstp04

Spinel - With your lastest mod that I downloaded - What all is in it - All the changes?

Is it simply adding the new units (ranger units for example) or did you likewise TWEAK some of the weapon stats to make them more realistic too?

The changes are too many to enumerate. [:)]

One of the things that was done was that the US Army squads that show up in the OPFOR side are removed. (Hence the reduced number of redteams.) There are a lot of VDV (Russian Airborne) and SVR (Russian Ground Force) infantry squads added in to the OPFOR side as well as some vehicles and graphics (e.g. ZSU-23-4, T-90). The Army side got new Rangers and Airborne infantry squads and some additional Chechen and Georgian infantry squads. I added in some vehicles of 6 Day War vintage to perhaps inspire someone to add more and take the mod in that direction. The morale and experience of all the squads were adjusted as well, and tank guns now have AP shells. I don't think the infantry weapons have been changed much, since I'm more familiar with tank shells than with them. If you have any suggestions along that direction, do share your better data!

The easiest way to check what exactly was done is to use the Linux "diff" or its Windows/DOS equivalent and compare the new .txt files versus the stock ones.

[spinel]

are all the original missions still possible to play? (the stock missions).

Only when you play against the AI, and sometimes they play okay and sometimes they require changes in the scenario editor. (That's why I included a new version of Operation Center Back in the mod.) The problem is that the missions (as far as I can tell) store the indices of the teams in the *teams.txt when they are created and refer to them when, say, giving squads to the AI. When the indices and the names of the squads in the *teams.txt are altered, this can lead to screwed up behavior. The problems are much more severe when you let the AI play OPFOR because the redteams.txt is a quite a bit more drastically changed.

This doesn't happen when you play multiplayer, of course, since an intelligent person will have no problems with reselecting the squads. (The game helpfully lists the names of the squads that were originally there so he can reselect the correct ones.)

The ideal solution would of course be the creation of a scenario pack for the mod but updating this pack whenever there is a change in redteams.txt or blueteams.txt is a very thankless task.

Anyway, please refer to the mod as the "Community" mod. It's not right to refer to it as "my" mod given the heavy contributions of others. [:)]

[lstp04]

ORIGINAL: spinel

are all the original missions still possible to play? (the stock missions).

Only when you play against the AI, and sometimes they play okay and sometimes they require changes in the scenario editor. (That's why I included a new version of Operation Center Back in the mod.) The problem is that the missions (as far as I can tell) store the indices of the teams in the *teams.txt when they are created and refer to them when, say, giving squads to the AI. When the indices and the names of the squads in the *teams.txt are altered, this can lead to screwed up behavior. The problems are much more severe when you let the AI play OPFOR because the redteams.txt is a quite a bit more drastically changed.

This doesn't happen when you play multiplayer, of course, since an intelligent person will have no problems with reselecting the squads. (The game helpfully lists the names of the squads that were originally there so he can reselect the correct ones.)

The ideal solution would of course be the creation of a scenario pack for the mod but updating this pack whenever there is a change in redteams.txt or blueteams.txt is a very thankless task.

Anyway, please refer to the mod as the "Community" mod. It's not right to refer to it as "my" mod given the heavy contributions of others. [:)]

So there could be (likely are) some issues with playing Vs the AI ....when using STOCK (original) missions -

What about when using...newly created missions (with this updated DB). Do they work proprerly? Does the AI handle them well....when creating new missions...

[spinel]

So there could be (likely are) some issues with playing Vs the AI ....when using STOCK (original) missions -

What about when using...newly created missions (with this updated DB). Do they work proprerly? Does the AI handle them well....when creating new missions...

> The issues that arise from playing the stock missions are actually relatively easy to resolve. Go to the scenario editor, load up the scenario, replace the units (it's really easy to tell what's the appropriate units to put in), save, and then it's good to go. I would personally do this if it weren't for the fact there are 20+ scenarios in the game ....

> Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your view), the AI handles the new units as well as it handles the other units. You get all the same enjoyment and frustrations with the AI.

[lstp04]

Got it. Great. Thanks.