AAR D21 Hellen v. Computer

[Hellen_slith]

Hello, this is my first try at an AAR so kindly forgive any missteps.

Trying to post a picture of AGS preparing to cross the Sula River, driving toward Kharkov. Here is the pic (I hope):

... oh well, I guess it doesn't work. Sorry! [&:]

[Lobster]

On your post are two phrases at the bottom. First click the check box by 'Embed picture in post'. Then click on 'Click here to upload'. From there it's just follow the prompts. Click 'Choose File'. Find the file on your computer and select it. Click on open. Then click the OK button in the little 'Choose File' window. And voila. It's in your post.

[Hellen_slith]

trying again: Engineers finally got on their horse, many bridges.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Hellen

Hello, this is my first try at an AAR so kindly forgive any missteps.

Trying to post a picture of AGS preparing to cross the Sula River, driving toward Kharkov. Here is the pic (I hope):

... oh well, I guess it doesn't work. Sorry! [&:]

If at first you don't succeed, try try again. A stitch in time saves nine. Don't piss in the wind.

[Hellen_slith]

Here is the Moscow front as of turn 29:

[Hellen_slith]

Leningrad. Not so good here, my learning curve resulted in a fractured AGN ... but I am knocking on the door.

[Hellen_slith]

So, in a nutshell: as of Axis turn 29 (Sept. 29th?) AGS has finally gotten up some steam. AGC is knocking on the door of Moscow (hoping to swing the armored up to assist all the infantry pushing along the highway there) but AGN is pretty fractured ... Elmer has kept me away from Leningrad pretty much, but he seems to use a pretty thin defense all around, so I am hoping to push toward a significant victory w/in the next few turns. Of course, it is going to be a long slog to hold on to it, once the Soviets get their production going, but I am confident that I can hold out for a good while. We shall see. This has been a fun learning exercise for me, and I thank you all for your kind patience and helps! Cheers!

[larryfulkerson]

So um...Damon dude....it's been about 48 hours now and no update. What's happening? How are the losses? Pictures please.

[Hellen_slith]

Directive 21 has finally cycled. Here is what I did to finally get the game back in gear (at least for Directive 21 ... while I was trying to fix it, I played some FiTE. Finally, today, I got it to cycle, albeit with a "cease fire" for two turns....)

At the end of Axix turn 30, Elmer moved twice (he got two turns in a row). Then the game would not cycle through Axis air ... it kept crashing in various ways (froze many times, crashed to game menu once ...)

So, prior to cycling Axis turn 30, I did the following in "Set Advanced Player Options":

BACKGROUND VOLUME : 1
EFFECTS VOLUME: 1
SitRep Log: OFF
TOAW Log: OFF

From the game drop down menu:

MUSIC EFFECTS: OFF
BATTLEGROUND SOUNDS: OFF
MAP VIEW: ULTRA TINY

Also, I killed the Line Info, Micro Map, Unit Buttons, Air Report (so that I had just the map in ultra tiny mode.)

END AXIS TURN 30

Begin SOVIET TURN 30 and turned Elmer OFF.
END SOVIET TURN 30 ... Begin Soviet turn 31.
Elmer is still off. End Soviet turn 31.

Game cycled. It is now Axis turn 31. So, whether all that actually helped or not, I'm not sure, but at least the game is now playable again, after a short cease fire...both in real time, and game time.

Cheers! Will post again once I move the Axis again. Keeping my fingers crossed that whatever "fix" occurred, that it "sticks". (Oh, of course I also killed all background processes that were not TOAW related, and also turned off the internet .......)

[larryfulkerson]

Good for you. That sounds like your procedure has probably fixed whatever the gamestopper was. Congratulations dude. I'm impressed. How much RAM do you have and is it possible to turn your background processes on again? Is it running slowly at any point, like it might be using your virtual disk? Enquiring minds want to know.

[Hellen_slith]

Well, I just got through running it through some paces. I forgot to mention, I also turned NoDelay = ON. Whatever I did ... Elmer finishes his turn now in only two or three minutes (before, it took 10 minutes or more.)

I suspect it was the TOAW Log and the animation being on slow. Anyway, it is buzzing right along again. I have 16 gigs of ram, and I don't use any processes anyway, so it's all good now.

Unfortunately ... when I started again, I decided to "skip" the turn I got when it finally cycled (so as not to take advantage of stopping Elmer from moving on his turn prior.) And ... most of the German Army decided to go AWOL! My forces were cut by about 30%, I'd say, and at the same time, the rains came, Smolensk ran out of supplies, and another 25% or so of all my formations decided they would rebel and have a little Sitzkrieg (protesting lack of supplies and raincoats, I guess. Ingrates.) At least the Rumanians stuck around!

Here is Moscow now ... some "orange" on units all up and down, from Leningrad to Chernaski. Luckily, Elmer also seemed to have some problems with the mud, so there's that.

I escaped disaster ... barely. Axis Turn 33 coming up; some reinforcements showed up, and maybe the rain will let up a bit I hope.

[larryfulkerson]

... most of the German Army decided to go AWOL! My forces were cut by about 30%.....

Jesus, Joseph, and Mary in a chicken basket. WTF happened to them? Were they withdrawn recently?
Did you have any warning about their withdrawl? Were they all a similar kind of unit? Like, all the
obsolete armor equipment being replaced with newer models or something?

[Hellen_slith]

Not sure, at first I thought I was confused by having played a few turns of FiTE in the mean time (most of those have HQ and three units for the most part).

Here, in D21 now, I have only ONE unit attached to most of the Division size HQs for most of the army ... only 900 chits are on the board now (before, I think it was something like 1200 or 1400.) So, it was either withdrawals that I just didn't see, or units abandoned (I think I read in the manual, that units can abandon if they get too low on supply for too long ... but that seem unlikely, b/c of the regularity across the board of units that seem "missing" now.)

Not sure, maybe I'm just not remembering right from being away from it for two weeks, or am just confused from playing FiTE, but it sure seems like a lot of folks are missing! I can look at some old saves to double check, that will show if they are really "missing" now, or if I am just confused. Probably just confused. Getting it working again was a real brain buster. I'll check the OOB in the morning.

[sPzAbt653]

Noticed it looks like you might be playing with Variable Initiative ON. I would suggest turning it OFF. This won't affect anything you have discussed, but the scenario will play much better because the first player will remain Axis for every turn [instead of switching].

[Hellen_slith]

Thanks, will do that. I was just confused about the OOB. The units are all there, I just had to switch my brain back to D21. Here is Leningrad now...slowing getting through. Also, a pic of the supply situation from there to Chernaski ... not a drop of gas or food to be found anywhere, only the mobile supply units are keeping small sections going. And, a look at the front via the "ultra tiny" view that I set it too for Elmer's move. Watching it is not unlike watching an email game playback. Thanks again for the tip about the variable initiative, I will turn that off!

[Hellen_slith]

Supply situation: GRIM.

[Hellen_slith]

The front, as of Axis 33:

[Hellen_slith]

Axis turn 35: Good news, Bad news.

Good news: 60th Motorized (AGS) has captured Zaporozhe, a Soviet production area, with help from the Hungarians.

Bad news: game has reverted back to same "interturn" freeze, following Elmer's turn 35 attempt in response.

Proposed stop-gap solution: I will take over Elmer's Soviet turn 35, see if that gets it over the hump. If so, I'll let Elmer give it another go following Axis turn 36. <sigh>

[larryfulkerson]

Sorry you're having problems with your game. Have you tried running TOAW IV in compatability mode?

[Hellen_slith]

Just did, I set compatibility mode to Win7 (only b/c that's what I used to run ACOW on.) I also set "Support PNG Graphics?" to OFF. Ran like a champ ... no black screens (even when moving trains and planes across multiple screen) and no messages of "Not Responding". I have not yet finished the move, but so far, all is well ... for the Soviets.

This is the first time I've looked at what Elmer's been up to, and I think he is a bit too cautious. So, I helped him out. Air superiority is becoming more balanced, so I moved some air units from the Far East back to the front. Here is Leningrad now, from the Soviet POV. Will show Moscow next.