The Road to War - Historic Edition 1.2

kiwitt

Road to War Modder
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
5,599
Location
Auckland, NZ (GMT+12)
Introduction

Some of you may know I have developed a comprehensive Road to War - Historical, which was developed from my earlier Mini-Mod. After struggling with development of a Service Pack 1 for it, I have come to the conclusion that it is more of a Feature Pack and may explain the number of CTDs I have been experiencing and will not be releasing it. See the next post for development details.

For this reason I am going to embark on my biggest project to date. The Road to War - Historic Edition 2.0. This will start from the great foundation that is Road to War - Ultimate Edition 1.1. This will undoubtedly take a couple of years to refine and get right. One of the main reasons I decided to embark on this "Labour of Love" is 1) I love WWII History and 2) I love Civ 4 and 3) I do not like Civ 5. (which I was originally going to develop my next version for)

Credits for version 1.2 - for previous credits see 1.04 thread
Naval and Air Research: FNP
 
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Development Notes

After much consideration and evaluation of other mods like BUG, RevDCM, etc, I have decided to use the Ultimate Edition 1.1 - 1936 Global Scenario - and framework for development of Road to War - Historic Edition 2.0. My Motto will be "Keep it Simple Stupid" or "A designer knows when he has achieved perfection, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away", so any additions have to be meaningful and not just adding flavour, for the sake of it.

I am aiming for an Alpha release (2.00) in December 2012, which will include all the new units. The Beta release (2.01) in March 2013 will then bring in most of the RTW events and Preview release (2.03) will have my 1.04 tweaks in September 2013. The Final release (2.04) will have been debugged in End 2013.

While I will be adding many unique units to this game, the base specs set by BTS will remain. e.g. Standard infantry will be 20, Battleships 40, etc. This is because I believe these strengths were developed for balance. However, my additional classes, will vary these significantly, so that a WWII-era battleship will very likely be near 100 or more strength and also have AA capabilities like destroyers.

Keep checking the following section for progress

Current Development Based on Ultimate Edition 1.1
Spoiler :
SP1 is now discountinued, therefore I am going to embark on my biggest project to date. The Road to War - Historic Edition 2.0. This will start from the great foundation that is The Ultimate Edition 1.1 for 3.19. This will undoubtedly take a couple of years to refine and get right. One of the main reasons I decided to embark on this "Labour of Love" is 1) I love WWII History and 2) I love Civ 4 and 3) I do not like Civ 5.

The Original Development Strategy
I am going to take this in stages. The key part of this strategy that the foundation will be will utilised for ALL scenarios. The main sections are as follows; Global Settings, Nations, Units.

Global Settings
In this section there will be Python Code, Global, Terrain, Buildings, Technology, Promotions, Basic, Game and Global settings, Civics

Nations
In this section will be where I will refine the nations and include duplicates for nations that exist in multiple scenarios. e.g. there will be a USA_E, USA_P and USA_G nation, and a GER_E and GER_G nation. The parameters of these nations will essentially be identical, however, they will have slightly different unique units, to allow for the differing scales. I will also be working on the maps in this phase of the development, to ensure each map gives an accurate reflection and that the 1936 map looks similar to the 1939 map etc. My focus therefore will be on the 1936 maps and the later maps will be based from them.

Units
There will be unique units for each of the scenarios to reflect the range (which will affect Naval and Air units predominately), however, all other parameters will be the same. I will also be reducing the number of unique units that minor nations have. The major nations are as follows; Germany, Italy, Japan, China, France, USA, Britain, USSR.

Milestones Completed

Global Settings
1) Tidied up the text files so I can edit them better later
2) Added in the python changes from Historical
  • Bitter Winter Only occurs in specific years
  • Additional lives added
  • Unit Capture added
3) Promotions for Python

Future Milestones

No Food, i.e. city growth
  • Global Settings
  • Terrains
  • Buildings
  • Specialists
NOTE: Many of these features maybe used in the actual Mod later in its development
More frequent updates will be posted to The Road to War Facebook page
 
Notes 1

Previous Development based on GEM 6.x
Spoiler :
ChangeLog 2.00.0x
Spoiler :
2.00.04 - Initial National Technologies
Spoiler :
  • Germany
  • Russia
  • Britain
  • ...
2.00.03 - Unique units
Spoiler :
Currently compiling all the unique graphics for all the various natiosn so that the actual list below may vary slightly as some have their own graphics.
  • - Generic
    (Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Himalaya, Greece, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Baltic States, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Minor States)
  • 0 - Germany
    (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria)
  • 4 - Italy
  • 5 - Japan
    (Manchuria, Thailand)
  • 14 - Russia
    (Mongolia, Nat.China, Com.China)
  • 18 - France
    (Belgium, Netherlands)
  • 32 - Britain
    (South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada)
  • 37 - America
    (Philippines, Cent.America, Carribean, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile)
2.00.02 - Additional Classes to be added - in progress
Spoiler :
New Ship Classes
Spoiler :
  • Destroyer
  • Coastal Cruiser
  • Light Cruiser - new class created
  • Standard Cruiser
  • Heavy Cruiser / Pocket Battleship
  • Battleship
  • WWI Battleship
  • Battle Cruiser /
  • WWII Battleship (Bismark Class)
  • Escort Carrier (CVE) (1 sqn)
  • Light Carrier (CVL) (2 sqns)
  • Fleet Carrier (CV)(4 sqns)
  • Super Carrier (NCV) (5 sqns)
  • Transport (4 Units)
  • Heavy Transport
  • Submarine
  • Attack Submarine
  • Missile Cruiser
  • Nuclear Submarine
  • Missile Submarine
Infantry Classes
Spoiler :
  • Infantry 0 - 1st National Unit - Germany/Russia (divisions), Major Nations (brigades), Minor Nations (battalions)
  • Infantry 1 - 2nd National Unit - Germany/Russia (corps) Major Nations (divisions), Minor Nations (regiments)
  • Infantry 2 - 3rd National Unit - Germany/Russia (armies) Major Nations (corps), Minor Nations (brigades)
  • Infantry 3 - 4th National Unit - Germany (army groups) Russia (army fronts) Major Nations (armies), Minor Nations (divisions)
Mobile Classes
Spoiler :
  • Cavalry - e.g. Cossacks
  • Tank 0 - Germany/Russia (tank divisions), UK/US (tank regiments/battalions), Other Nations (tank companies)
  • Tank 1 - Germany/Russia (tank corps), UK/US (Allied tank divisons), Other Nations (tank regiments)
  • Tank 2 - Germany/Russia (tank armies), UK/US (Allied Corps), other Nations (tank brigades)
  • Tank 3 - Germany (Regional HQs), Russia (shock armies), UK/US (Allied Army Groups), Other Nations (tank divisions),
New Defence Line Classes
Spoiler :
  • Bunker
  • Artillery
  • Mobile Artillery
  • Mobile AA
New Fighter Classes
Spoiler :
  • Fighter 1 - Pre WW2 Fighter
  • Fighter 2 - 1st Gen WW2 Fighter
  • Fighter 3 - 2nd Gen WW2 Fighter (under 1,000 kg bomb load)
  • Fighter 4 - Early Jet Fighter (~ 2,000 kg bomb load)
  • Fighter 5 - Jet Fighter (~ 2,000 kg bomb load)
New Bomber Classes
Spoiler :
  • Bomber 1 - Light Bomber (under 1,000 kg)
  • Bomber 2 - Medium Bomber (~ 2,000 kg load)
  • Bomber 3 - Dive Bomber
  • Bomber 4 - Heavy Bomber (~ 10,000 kg load)
  • Bomber 5 - Strategic Bomber
Completed Milestones
Spoiler :
2.00.01 - Old GEM units being removed as obsolete - completed
Spoiler :
  • CIV4Unitinfos.xml - completed
  • CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml - completed
  • CIV4UnitArtStyleTypeInfos.xml - moved from BTS core and updated
  • CIV4ArtDefines_Unit.xml - completed
 
I'm thankful I have done most of the research already and it may actually finish faster than I expected. Plus I now do have more time on my hands ... 'retired now' ... also your maps will be very useful.
 
I'm thankful I have done most of the research already and it may actually finish faster than I expected. Plus I now do have more time on my hands ... 'retired now' ... also your maps will be very useful.

I have switched to the dark side [imac] so I'm out of any beta test but will be glad to help you out with Naval unit research.
 
Thanks FNP. A small task

Would you be able to list all Coastal Defence Ships, Cruisers, Battleships and Carriers that were actually in existence @ Jan 1936, Jan 1939 and Jan 1941 and their approximate location (i.e. area of operation)

In addition, would you be interested to determine the relative firepower for each. Base Cruisers are 40, Battleships are 80 and then use the Combat Promotion (10% for combat 1-4 and 25% for combat 5). Bonuses to increase these values. Speed I would use Drill 1-4 to determine speed and Flanking 1,2 and tactics its manoeuvrability. Interception 1 and 2 to determine its AA armament.

Cruisers and Battleships launched after 1936 will be classed as unique ships for the various nations and will have a different starting value, but will compare to the earlier ships and the promotion bonuses would be included in their starting values.

For Carriers their base value is 25 and the can carry 2 sqns. They can still have the speed and manoeuvrability promotions. Unique Carriers can carry more and will have their starting values based on the if they had the promotions.
 
Thanks FNP. A small task

Would you be able to list all Coastal Defence Ships, Cruisers, Battleships and Carriers that were actually in existence @ Jan 1936, Jan 1939 and Jan 1941 and their approximate location (i.e. area of operation)

In addition, would you be interested to determine the relative firepower for each. Base Cruisers are 40, Battleships are 80 and then use the Combat Promotion (10% for combat 1-4 and 25% for combat 5). Bonuses to increase these values. Speed I would use Drill 1-4 to determine speed and Flanking 1,2 and tactics its manoeuvrability. Interception 1 and 2 to determine its AA armament.

time to get .xml files working on a mac! Need an email address for you to avoid spamming the thread.
see what I can do.
 
Don't worry about the thread, Its very much for development.

No need for XML. Just go here for effects of Promotions. Range is how far they can travel at normal cruising speed. You can use Range promotions for additional range from their base. Essentially Cruisers are 2,000 km and each range promotion adds another 2,000. The actual distance in tiles travelled will vary per map, based on scale.

You may consider using barrage for those with more than the average number of guns. And sentry promotion is the ship carried a plane.
 
I'll like to see how this ends up. I don't have time to be of much help, but I loved Dale's mod and a perfecting of it would be great! Good luck, you're gonna need it.
 
Feel free to download my 1.04 version, which is the find of theme I will basing it on.
 
Some ideas to be incorporated
Need to look at Pk for SS vs transports and other ships ... SS was the primary tonnage sinker in WWII followed by air. Unless you assume DE in convoy integral to ship units?
Transports should require DDs as escort and will have minimal defence, i.e. you need to protect them with fleet assets.

DD/DE was the primary sub killer, followed by air.
Yes ... these should have a bonus versus SS

Re-examine air vs ship Pk. Aircraft have to be effective vs ships in the Pacific. Ships without air support didn't have much of a chance vs air attack. Realize that compromises air vs land but I can discuss that if you wish.
I am thinking of introducing a new class of units for each theater. EG. P51_EU, P51_PAC and simply P51 for the global map.

Bigger picture stuff:

Direct amphibious assault was extremely expensive until a combined arms approach was developed. How to balance ship and air support with marines to make it work well?
I have given this a late tech, although I have given this in advance to the US

Science rate should support development of atomic bomb by 1945. Otherwise a massive "SOD" on the mainland can become a show stopper.
SODs are rarer, due to the changes I made to the units. A-Bombs even more so, by making them more expensive.

Most Pacific islands could not produce ships or aircraft [have to limit construction capabilities to major industrial centers].
agreed

Significant land movement penalties vary with terrain and availability of roads / railroads. Need engineers that can build roads / railroads as terrain improvements. Should be able to pillage/ destroy / bomb roads and rail.
Pillage may be a bit hard to do, so I will simply make them rarer.

Make some strategic materials more important. Oil, aluminum. No ship construction without iron and oil. No air construction without aluminum and oil. New feature ... expensive synthetic oil plant.
Good idea.
 
Some ideas to be incorporatedTransports should require DDs as escort and will have minimal defence, i.e. you need to protect them with fleet assets.

Yes ... these should have a bonus versus SS

Agree with the DD bonus vs SS. However,

What I was getting at is that it should be relatively easy for an SS to sink a transport ... as it stands now, the transport has a good chance of defeating an SS when attacked.
SS requires a significant bonus versus Transports.
 
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