Fortress Europe

McMonkey said:

I thought the move units events were fixing this problem. Do you mean the U-Boats are grouping near the coats of Ireland and the Bay of Biscay? I will look into this again.

Could you elaborate on the city interface comment as I don't grasp your meaning.

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I observed the retreat of many Axis units in cheat mod twice. It happened all over the map, especially in Russia, Balcans and Atlantic, but not so in Northern Africa and the mediterranean region.

The reason why I looked on the game in cheat mod - so this was very time-consuming - was, that I wanted to see my created winter 41 unit sprites in action. I made about 30 very simply animated sprites by using Catfishs 2 frame sprite. I wasn´t too convinced by the performance of these sprites, so I don´t post them here. It seems for not-spacewar mods, sprites that are showing every direction of the unit are needed.

The problem with the city interface when opening a city is solved. I copied one of my city interface graphics in the FE-folder and now the containt of the city can be seen better (when the ugly black from the standard ToT2 cityinterface has dissapeared).

I attache here two graphics of the very simple unit animation I made. One of the problems is, that the explosions also occur when it´s time for the unit to start moving (giving some blinking effect, but not in the way I like it).

Edited: I like the map of this scenario a lot. Especially the looking of the narrow waterroads (p.e. Wolga and Suez Channel) is superb. I wish this would look as beautiful in my WW II mod for Civ 3 I´m working on -but it doesn´t. The convoy system for the Allies is a nice idea, too.

On the other side the winterterrain in this scenario in my eyes is no winterterrain. All is green and the single white pixels on the trees look as it is now in spring with more than 20 degree Celsius when all trees are blooming.

This is a very impressive scenario. You've put a lot of work into this, to be sure. It's well researched and accurate in detail, playable (and hard), and the design, events etc. are as sophisticated as anything currently out there.

I've only got through the first few turns, but I had to restart several times just to complete those satisfactoraly.

If there'e a weakness in the scenario, it's the treatment of the Battle of the Atlantic. In my first couple of attempts, it was lost almost before it began. Almost everything trying to cross the short stretch of water was sunk. Then I hit on a new strategy.

I don't like air units with extended duration. There's something amiss when aircraft are aloft for a month or more. Lots can change on the ground before they return to base.

Otherwise, the scenario is fun and challenging if the western desert campaign is any indication. I look forward to Torch, Husky, Avalanche, and Overlord.

@Civinator
I did think about making the winter terrain that was all snow/white but I decided against it for two reasons. Number one: I personally find all white terrain very very hard on the eye and it makes it much harder to pick out hills etc... Number two: It looks odd having show in North Africa and the Middle East. I prefer to have the greyer looking terrain for the winter with the leafless trees and then much richer green for the other seasons. I may look at making the winter terrain a bit colder looking or having an alternative winter terrain in the final version.

@Techumseh
You obviously didn't pay attention to the house rules

*No air protected stacks at sea. I decided not to give U-Boats the attack air flag as they were shooting down Bombers on missions against Germany!

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I was able to get nearly all my convoys across in my last playtest so it can be done without air protected stacks. That said though I made a few alterations to the U-Boat events so I will need to test it again to see if it has now become too hard.

Yes, I missed that. Still, I don't see the Battle of the Atlantic being adequately represented in the narrow space available. After a couple of games, the Allied player will learn the spawning locations of the U-boats, even if s/he doesn't check the Events file.

Learning the spawning grounds will be difficult as they are randomized and the Axis get to move before the Allies can search for the U-Boats. Getting the Battle of the Atlantic right has been / will be a struggle I agree. Unfortunately the map cannot be any bigger at this point (unless I started again and cut some of Siberia and Iraq off and shifted the map west). Perhaps a second map would work with the USA and Canada on the western edge. I have never worked on a second map before, can they be added to a saved game? Another option is to limit ship movement so they have to spend longer on the crossing. I could also limit the Allied air cover and insert a rule where only Maritime Bombers can operate over the Atlantic.

Hey how is this scenario coming along? I got a hankering to try it again (I never was able to counter the nasty side effects of losing Malta).

Have you made any significant changes since my last playthrough, or should I give the last scenario another try?

Edit - I'm pretty sure I'm completely lost as to which is which, any chance you can send the latest files?)

The files from post #163 are the latest ones. I have done no work on this since posting those files. As nobody seemed to be playing it I kind of gave up. My interest could easily be re-ignited though I think you played an earlier version last time and so some of the big issues should have been seen to. My playtest went well and I too need to get back on the case and play it through again. Would be nice to officially release a completed version.

I had to take a break from it. I got so far, and was doing so well, but then Malta fell suddenly (I think the Germans used their anti-Torch reinforcements to cream it with Stukas), and I had a whole new set of issues to deal with.

Next time I'll make it a point to rushbuild aircraft in Malta every turn until I reach the Po!

I'll re-download #163 and go from there.

EDIT - Also, from looking at some past saves in cheat mode, I think you might want to consider making desert terrain impassable to tanks... The Germans just loooove to send their units way off into the desert, perhaps eventually reaching Egypt in 1944

Good points. Will all to the TO DO list.

McMonkey said:

Good points. Will all to the TO DO list.

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Cool. We'll have to test it out and see what happens. I think there's enough passable terrain along the coast that the AI should be able to figure it out, but you never know... Sometimes I think ToT was designed with multiplayer exclusively in mind, given how terrible the AI is at using ToT's advanced options!

I like the Scenario

and her is a KV-2 winter unit

Thanks Barthi Did you get very far in the scenario?

i have play not many Turns (4), i play axis

Have you looked at the read me? The game is designed to be played as the (Western) Allies only. I guess if you play as the Axis the Russians might give you a bit of a challenge but the Allies will probably barely bother you at all. I hope you enjoy it, but as I said it was never designed to be played as the Axis.

I would be interested to hear feedback from anyone who has tried this sceanrio. In particular I would be interested to know:

- How challenging was your game?

- Did the Axis behave in a threatening way or did it just stay put and wait to be killed?

- Did the Battle of the Atlantic / U-Boat menace cause you any problems?

- How did your economy and tech research work out?

- Did you make much use of strategic bombing?

- Are the objectives / events too stifling, forcing you to play in a way that followed the history too closely for your liking?

I put a lot of work into this scenario and would like to make the final touches to get it right. If people don't enjoy it because it is too rigid I am willing to make changes. Most of the directing of the gameplay was aimed at making the AI Axis fight well. If things were too open to unhistorical strategies it would be to easy to run rings around the AI, well that was my rationale anyway.

@Nicheal
I have visions of you sat at your PC in your black Panzer uniform slamming your fist into your desk and shouting obscenities at the screen.

Its been a few months since I played Fortress Europe but here are a few pointers:

- Combined Arms tactics are essential. No unit can win a battle alone and every unit has its use. Find the right combination and you will find the tactics to allow you to move forwards.

I will use the German army of 1939-40 as an example. There is a commonly held impression of the Panzer units sweeping all opposition aside. As you know this was only part of the picture. To succeed they were supported by heavy artillery, Stuka dive bombers and Panzer-grenadiers. The Panzer came into its own when exploiting gaps in the enemy defences. They would race into the enemies rear areas, cut lines of communication, take out artillery and hold key points such as bridges and cross roads until the mobile infantry could secure them. On their own the Panzers usefulness would have been more limited.

- Patience and preparation are also essential. Historically after initially pushing back the Italians into Libya the British were in turn pushed back by the Africa Corps. When you begin the scenario you are facing one of Rommel's offensives aimed at the Suez Canal. Your initial goal is to survive this and build up your reserves further east in Egypt in preparation for a counter attack when the time is right. You can try and hold onto Tobruk by reinforcing from the sea, or you can pull back to a more easily defended position east of Bardia. There are (event) advantages to holding Tobruk, but historically it fell!

- Pick your moves carefully, especially in the first few turns. Ask yourself if it is worth leaving a defensive position to attack an enemy unit in the open or if you are better to let them attack you in your defences. Sometimes they will lack the strength so defeat your unit whilst sometimes it would be better to kill them before they kill you. This may take a few turns / restarts of the scenario to master as you get used to both sides unit stats and the effect of different terrain defence bonuses.

- Don't underestimate the importance of the Infantry. In many scenario's they are mere garrison units. In Fortress Europe they are an essential part of the Combined Arms team. They move across rough terrain - use this to your advantage. Then also ignore city walls which tanks do not. They are cheap so if you have a choice of sacrificing them or sacrificing artillery or tanks then you know who to leave as a rearguard!

- Don't despair about a lack of units. Once the lend lease shipments begin to flow across the Atlantic you will get more Lend Lease US Armour arriving in the Middle East. John Petroski and myself have both playtested the scenario and it is possible to push the Africa Corps out of North Africa. Its just not easy!

I hope you will persevere with this game

I will need to refresh my memory, but I think the German panzers do pretty well. I think I gave them better stats to help out the AI. I will take another look at the Allied Tanks. If they are too weak I will improve their stats. I may have gone too far in trying to play down their super unit status in most other WWII scenarios. It must be remembered though that generally speaking the western Allies tanks were inferior in quality and leadership to the German panzers.
The Matilda was heavily armoured but had a puny 2-pounder gun that could not fire high explosive shells and it was very slow. The M3 Grant had a good gun but it was mounted in the hull, plus it was a large target. Even the M4 Sherman, which was the best of the bunch, used to go up in flames far too easily, preventing the vehicle from being repaired and often incinerating the unfortunate crew. This disparity in quality was to continue until the end of the war. Luckily for the Allies they were able to make up for their qualitative deficiencies in quantity.

As far as the naming of units goes you are right in saying that I didn't want multiple rules files. Also including some specific units means leaving others out completely. The way I see it you can see which unit graphic is a Tiger or Panther, and if a player doesn't know the difference between them visually then they're probably not going to be bothered what they are called! This part of the scenario is not going to change