Directive 21 ( FITE mod w/ Soviet PO )

[larryfulkerson]

So um.....sPzAbt653 was kind enough to send the Directive 21 scenario to me this am and I thought I'd return the favor by doing some playtesting and post an AAR of the results so you guys can see what it's like to play FITE against the Soviet PO. One of the changes I noticed right away was the max number of combat rounds is three in this scenario. I usually use the "minimum losses" setting on my units so that I can get up to six or seven rounds per turn but if the max rounds is set at three then I guess I'll use the "limit losses" setting instead.

Of all the changes that were made to FITE the one that caught me off guard was that all the Axis divisions were collapsed into one unit. I had already made several moves before it dawned on me that I could break out the regiments and THEN move them. It seemed easier to just start the scenario over moving them correctly from the start.

All the things that were changed from the stock FITE can be found in this thread:
tm.asp?m=1892525

Here's what sPzAbt653 had to say about the advanced game settings:
"I do use all the advanced settings that you have, except for 'computer +2'. I use 'none' for that one. With +2 the PO gets more supply, quicker rest recovery, strength modifiers, and the manual also says 'etc.', so I don't know what sort of effect this will have on your progress. I'm not saying to change it, because it might be a good idea for this type of play. I only mention it in case you start having great difficulty. In other game systems I've seen '1' give the opponent 25% more of everything, and '2' give 50%. I don't know what the effect is in TOAW, but imagine if you have a PO that is 50% stronger than normal? As I said I don't really know, it might be a good thing."

So I'm thinking that instead of using +2 I should use "none" as well.

For those of you interested in that sort of thing these are the advanced game settings I'm using [edited to use "none" instead of +2 for handicap/cheat]:

[larryfulkerson]

My overall strategic goal is to destroy the Soviet army as a first priority and grab the production cities as a secondary goal. The short term goals, turn 1 goals, is to (1) get a good start off the blocks and (2) destroy the Soviet Air Force while that still might be possible. I decided to get an image of the Soviet air Squadron locations before I start play so I'll know where to attack his air force. Here is the image I'm using:

[larryfulkerson]

I've never played this scenario before and ordinarily, in FITE, as the Axis player I would endevor to move the Panzers as quickly as possible to the Dniper river to catch the Soviet units before they could escape but I'm guessing that the PO will advance his units into my lines so that the quick start from the blocks might not be necessary. We'll see. The goals I have for the first seven or so turns are: Riga, Minsk, Kiev, and Odessa in that order. Here's the map of the first seven turns' goals:

[larryfulkerson]

For those of you that haven't received this scenario yet be aware that there is a new equipment.eqp file in use. Just make a directory in your "graphics" directory called "Directive 21" and move the bmp file and the eqp file that comes with the scenario there. That way whenever you start up the scenario it will use the new eqp file instead of the stock equipment file.

There are some new units in the equipment.eqp file to better reflect the axis minor countries:

[larryfulkerson]

I saw some discussion of the weather in D21 especially during turn 1 and thought I'd do a screenshot to show that it's not all that bad as far as I can see. Some scattered cloud cover but not something to write home about. Here's the screen shot:

[sPzAbt653]

Thanks Mr. Fulkerson,

And I'll add that with the environment set to 'no precipitation', we get the same results.

[larryfulkerson]

Okay....I moved all the axis units and assigned airfield attacks and hit the go button and started collecting data to show me how many Soviet aircraft were left at what location when it occured to me that no matter how many were at what location I was going to have to re-target it anyway so I quit collecting data after these were done:

[larryfulkerson]

You guys tell me if you think the combats are too bloody or not. Here's an Axis attack with one division attacking one division:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Axis losses for Turn 1 Round 1:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the aircraft losses from Turn 1 Round 1:

[larryfulkerson]

This image compares the number of Soviet units at the start with the number of Soviet units after Turn 1 Round 1 and shows that there were 23 Soviet units destroyed. Most of these are Soviet divisions I guess.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Soviet losses for Turn 1 Round 1:

[larryfulkerson]

I thought I'd upload some images of the movement(s) made by the Axis units during Turn 1 round 1, starting at the north end of the front lines and working my way south. First the North end of the front lines:

[larryfulkerson]

And the next sector going south:

[larryfulkerson]

And the next sector going south:

[larryfulkerson]

And the last sector that had movement in it during Turn 1 Round 1:

[larryfulkerson]

Going through the units moving everything, I came across this unit way the hell in the middle of nowhere and I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it. Anybody have a good idea?

[larryfulkerson]

I only just discovered, now in round two, that the RR units have to be embarked to have any movement points....to be able to move.



And speaking of movement points, I've noticed that I usually run out of movement points sooner than I used to when playing the stock FITE. Maybe that's because the units have less MP's than the stock version.

[larryfulkerson]

Okie dokie, I've moved all the Axis units for round 2 and hit the go button and now I'll display a series of images showing the movements and results of the combats for T1R2 starting at the northmost sector:

[larryfulkerson]

And the next sector to the south: