Spanish Civil War ToT Mod

The Popular Front units are converted (by Leonardo's Workshop) to Peoples Army once the relevant aid shipment (technology is discovered). If the Popular Front were used to represent the Partisan units the Republicans could end up with a huge army if they protected the Partisans for long enough for the technology to kick in. As it happens, a large proportion of the POUM Militias are stranded behind the Nationalists lines and will be mopped up before they can reach their comrades.

I decided to make the three main Militia types useful in different ways so that they would all appear in the game. The Anarchists are the cheapest to produce, the Popular Front are more expensive but convert into the Popular Army later in the game and the POUM appear through city capture.

Good explanation McMonkey

As the scenario progresses the Militia units become less and less relevant. Really their only real function is to hold the line in the initial stages, until the Peoples Army and Soviet equipment is available in sufficient numbers to begin the counter offensive.

I have a weekend of night shifts, and barring any unexpected natural disasters I plan to play through SCW again. I find this is the best time to get stuck in as I have little to do except try and stay awake and listen out for alarms.

I finally got around to building a page for SCW ToTPP on the Scenario League Wiki: http://sleague.civfanatics.com/index.php/The_Spanish_Civil_War_ToTPP

Has anyone else found that around March 1937 the Italian CTV ignores Malaga and heads east towards Andújar? This didn't happen in my last playtest, or at least the CTV took Malaga before heading East. I wouldn't say it is a problem as Malaga is pretty isolated and cannot launch offensive operations into Andalucia, but I would be interested to hear if the same thing happened in other saves.

I will make a definite priority of looking for it next I try this scenario.

It looks like the Nationalists will take Malaga now, but with Carlist Requetes instead of with the Italian CTV as they did in my last game. Either way is good. Well, not really good as I would prefer to keep hold of Malaga, but from a scenario design point of view it's realistic.

I have been just about managing to hold out on so far. I weathered the attacks on Madrid, Catalonia, Guadalajara, Andujar and Bilbao is still holding firm. I'm just preparing to go over to the attack at Teruel and then I will be looking to take Zaragoza and Calatayud to open up the road to Madrid. I seem to have worked out a system for protecting the Soviet aid convoys and I have been carefully rotating my units through the front lines to ensure they are able to rest and refit. That has got to be the key to success in 1936/37.

I have decided to alter the Stronghold stats as they are too tough as things stand. In my current save where I have gone over to the offensive I have altered them to Stronghold, nil, 0, 0.,0, 6a,7d, 5h,2f, 8,0, 1, nil, 010000000000000 ;

To anyone playing SCW, please feel free to alter the rules to reflect this change. The Nationalists offensives eat up a lot of Republican units and as it stands it is just too tough. I'm willing to listen to any other ideas you guys have about how the scenario could be improved.

Hi McMonkey,

As I've indicated in my previous review this is a very fine scenario, extremely well craft, researched and designed. It's a great addition to the community.

Nevertheless, as all designers, we can't help wanting to tweak things and in that spirit I have a few recommendations that come to mind:

As I outlined in my post #183 the fact that Italian CTV offensive was generated just outside of Guadalajara, behind my defensive lines was the primary cause, I believe, for the ultimate collapse of my Madrid front. I don't have a problem with the offensive itself but simply that it 'magically' appeared behind my carefully planned defensive lines. I believe the starting point of the offensive should be moved more to the east of the city, perhaps closer to Calatayud.

I'm glad you decided to reduce the strength of the 'Stronghold' units. I feel they were simply too strong. In addition, I believe you should also reduce the number of them you generate, perhaps to no more than one per captured city or tile. Correct me if I'm mistaken but there just doesn't appear to be a historical context for these units. In my humble opinion, the Nationalists already benefit from both a numerical and qualitative advantage. It's seems unfair to give them an unhistorical advantage as well and in that sense I think you should grant them 'Stronghold' units more sparingly.

I would reduce the defensive factor and HP points of the bomber units. In many cases they are as powerful, in that regard, as fighters, which shouldn't be. The Junka 87 Stuka, for example, was notoriously vulnerable to fighters so it proved a little more than frustrating to see many of my fighter aircraft go down in flames while attacking these units.

I would reduce the cost of the Republican 75mm and 155mm Artillery units, which are too high in my opinion. I would make them cost 80 and 120 production points respectively (instead of the current 100 and 180).They are the primary offensive unit of the Republicans and currently their exorbitant cost makes it very difficult to generate any sustained or viable counteroffensive.

As usual, feel free to use any or none of my recommendations as you see fit.

I must certainly agree with tootall on the ahistorical nature of "Strongholds" popping up like mushrooms in cities as soon as the Nationalists take and bombers (especially Stukas) with the defensive capabilities of fighters AGAINST actual fighter. All-in-all it's a very well done scenario, but a few tweaks here and there could likely make it even better.

I agree that the Stronghold units are not strictly historically accurate, but I added them for a very important gameplay reason. They are immobile and they allowed me to simulate the dogged resistance that the Nationalists put up against Republican counter-attacks. Without a stationary unit the Nationalists were leaving key cities very lightly garrisoned and once the Republican human player went over to the offensive it didn't take a lot to Blitzkreig behind the Nationalist lines in a most unhistorical manner. If they were not stronger defensively than the Infantry units there would be no point including them to bolster the defence.

My mistake was overestimating the Republic's offensive ability and making them too tough. I think I must have got lucky in my original playtest and got in some fortuitous hits. I realised I had made them too tough in my current test when even veteran Howitzers were barely scratching the paint on the MG's shields. After reducing the defensive values I found that my offensive against Teruel became more plausible. However, the follow up against Calatayud and Zaragoza was almost too easy. I will need to work on this some more to get the perfect balance.

I have found that the cost of artillery is about right as long as the flow of Supply Convoys from Russia keeps on coming. This allows some key industrial cities to concentrate on Howitzers and Field Guns, whilst smaller towns build Infantry and Militia units. If the Strongholds stats were not being reduces I would agree that a reduction in artillery costs would be necessary, but the reduction in Stronghold defensive strength has the same balancing effect.

Nationalist Bombers are very powerful. This is partly to make the the AI truly threatening and partly to simulate the fact that Bombers wouldn't have gone into combat unescorted. I have found that when they attack cities defended by I-15/16 the combat favours the Republicans, especially if they have multiple fighters in a city. In open combat the Republican fighters are not as effective, but can still take down enemy heavy bombers, depending on the kind of defensive terrain they are flying over (a Civ2 oddity I could do without).

I sympathise with you about the Guadalajara campaign. I did originally have them spawning in and around Calatayud, but the CTV just headed East into Catalonia, instead of West towards Madrid. If you have a rough idea of the major Nationalist offensives and the dates then planning an effective defence is easier. As I researched and designed the scenario it is much harder for me to be caught off guard, though I don't always remember the exact month things will happen. I did add a subtle hint in a text pop up to expect an offensive. Also, this is historically where the Nationalists did launch the offensive from. I do understand your point and I will look at ways in which I can tweak it to take into account variations in the scenarios progress.

I will certainly mull over your comments and see what I can do to make the experience more enjoyable. It was always my intention to make the scenario as tough as I could and I have found in my latest playtest (with the reduced defence strongholds) that I can hold my own for long enough to build up sufficient offensive strength to go over to the offensive. I have lost Bilbao but held Toledo and taken back Zaragoza in early 1938. Once I have fought back the huge counter-attack in Aragon I will be looking for my next campaign. I have not decided whether I go north to liberate Bilbao and then cut down SW into Castille, or if I should concentrate my attentions in Andalucia, with a view to a campaign to take Seville and Cadiz. It is doable, but it is not easy. For me the most important thing is that I'm having a lot of fun playing SCW and I hope that others will too. I wouldn't expect it to be the kind of scenario you ace at the first (or even second) attempt, and I would hope some of the enjoyment would come from being crushed on the first few attempts, forcing the player to devise new tactics and strategies to outfox the AI.

Hi McMonkey,

Obviously a designer has a great advantage over other players, in that he knows his creation, it's foibles and strengths, and the best strategies to use. I have no doubt this is the case with your scenario and that you speak with authority on the subject.

With regards the Italian offensive, I fully understand your need to adjust your scenario to compensate for the AI's lack of common sense, having had to do it all too often myself. As you suggested, I had already planned on setting up my defensive perimeter next to Guadalajara next time.

I'm not entirely convinced about your decision not to modify the defensive strength of the bombers or the cost of the artillery units but having played the game only once to date I will reserve judgment and respect your choice.

As I indicated in a previous thread, I had started working of my own project again. But after writing, and testing, over 4000 lines in my event file (with I figure probably still another 4000 to go) I decided it might be better to put the project on hold again in the hope that The NamelessOne might complete his next enhancement, e.g. the 127 unit limit, whose feature I had already planned on using. Therefore I was very glad to read in his development thread, yesterday, that he may be releasing his next update in a few days.

In the meantime, I couldn't resist and decided to play an old favorite of mine, the Redux TOT version of Red Front by Captain Nemo and Alex Mor. It's a monster of a game but truly amazing. I highly recommend that people play it a least once in their lifetime.

BTW, thank you for tip about best practices for testing events in your Scenario Design Guide thread. It's proof you CAN still teach an old dog new tricks.

I find the flow of artillery adequate, as long as you go with the modified Stronghold stats. The most important unit for me is the Fighter. They are scarce to begin with, then at one point in the scenario I though I had plenty. However the Nationalist counter attacks keep chipping away at the numbers and I'm now getting a little thinly stretched again. If you lose fighter cover over a city the Nationalist Bombers can really decimate the garrison. Keep two or three I-15/16 in a city and it will usually resist most raids.

After taking Teruel, Zaragoza, Brihuega adnd Calatayud I though I would go over to a more general offensive. However the Nationalist counter-attacks have stalled my plans and I'm trying to revise my plan so that I can regain the initiative. I had hoped to attack North towards Bilbao and Wast towards Seville / Cadiz simultaneously, with other minor attacks elsewhere, but in the face of a sustained Nationalist onslaught on all fronts I'm probably going to be limited to just one last large offensive.

I have just finished my latest game of SCW, finishing in December 1939 with a marginal victory. I think I would have done better had I not made one crucial error of judgement that left me with a tricky enemy city behind my lines which led to the collapse of my offensive into Navarre / Vizcaya. I fared better in Andalusia, ending up at the gates of Seville after recovering Cordoba and Granada.

It is a big scenario and took me a good few weeks, on and off, to play through, but the turns never felt unmanageable and it flowed along well. After all it represents the entire war and not just a campaign or battle. There are a few minor alterations and fixes that I will make, but overall I'm very pleased with how SCW has turned out. It is tough, but it is possible to win and next time I play I will be going for a decisive victory as well as trying out a few new strategies.

Thanks for the feedback you have given. I have been mulling it over and agree with most of your advice guys. The improved version should not take long to complete as there are no major alterations needed, just a few tweaks in the stats and events and a bit of polish for the graphics and text.

Now, long overdue, I'm going to have a crack at Tootall's Iwo Jima scenario. Really intrigued about those tunnels!

That's awesome news, McMonkey! If I may ask, what's the next planned project, if you've even decided? I'd love to see you're ToT versions of your Roman or Napoleonic scenarios pan out, especially with the new expanded units and events space. Although I also loved your idea of a Balkan War scenario, I'll take your word for it that there were fatal flaws that would require it to be completely reworked...

One problem with the Balkan Wars scenario is choosing a protagonist. I think scenarios work best when a specific nation is intended for play and all the events are tailored for that nation to make it as challenging as possible. With the Balkan Wars all of the nations involved are so fascinating it's difficult to pick one out of Greece, Serbia or Bulgaria. Each nation has its own aspirations, but the thing that makes it really fascinating is that, despite them all fighting their old Ottoman overlords, they all believe they are the rightful owners of the same territory. Salonika is the prime example. The race between the Greeks and the Bulgars to claim the prize of the finest port in the Balkans came right down to the wire and was a major contributing factor to the breakup of the alliance and the Second Balkan War.

I would like to go back to the project one of these days, build a larger, more accurate map and have a very clear plan in place, but for now I think it would be wiser to concentrate on finishing one or two of my more advanced projects. I would l like to give Fortress Europe the ToTPP treatment, finish off Aeterna Civitas III and work on about half a dozen other projects that are in fairly advanced stages of development. Which one to focus on first is not clear to me right now. I would like to pick one which I can bring the same drive to as I did with the SCW which was a pleasure to work on. ACIII seems most likely as it is much nearer completion, but I'm not really in an Ancient frame of mind right now so I'll have to see.

I do understand about the Balkan War issue. Although probably not the ideal or most satisfying protagonist, the Ottomans would be involved directly in every aspect of at least the first and part of the second. Then again, a competent player who actually had the raw resources the Ottomans had in 1912 would likely do far better at crushing the Balkan Alliance than the incompetent Pashas of the day, almost all of whom in the latter days of the Ottoman Empire were chosen solely either by heredity or for sucking up to the Sultan or Grand Vizier. It's like the phenomenon of how in many of those multitudes of WW2 scenarios, a competent player playing the Germans tends to avoid the self-destructive and inexplicable decisions Hitler made that contributed to his loss, and, given they have full German resources, military assets, and tech advantage, often mop-up quite handily. I'm not actually suggesting such a perspective, just making an observation.

That being said, I look forward to whatever you set out on. Civ2, being such a flexible, even a scenario as off the wall as clowns and dwarfs courting the other denizens and taming the animals of a circus whose ringmaster has died for dominance under the Big Top could be intriguing if well-done.

I was just thinking about making a couple of minor unit changes as there are a few unnecessary / ahistorical units (Mendez Nunez Class, Catalonian Infantry) when it occurred to me to check TheNamelessOne's progress on the ToTPP. To my joy I found he has implemented the 127 unit update. As SCW is working well I think I will only make a few minor adjustments (a limited amount of Transport Ships and Spy units) and use the rest of the space to add more colour to the scenario by fully utilising Fairline's excellent units. I may need to name units Republican Infantry A / B etc. but it would be great to have several different uniforms for each infantry type. I think I'm going to avoid making sweeping changes as I might break the balance of play I have achieved!

The 127 units and other ToTPP improvements has made my mind up about my next project. It's time to go back to Fortress Europe. Get it working properly and expand the tech tree to encompass all the extra units I had to leave out in the original. I can also do so much more with the scenario with the expanded events and other improvements

McMonkey said:

One problem with the Balkan Wars scenario is choosing a protagonist. I think scenarios work best when a specific nation is intended for play and all the events are tailored for that nation to make it as challenging as possible. With the Balkan Wars all of the nations involved are so fascinating it's difficult to pick one out of Greece, Serbia or Bulgaria.

Click to expand...

It's gotta be Serbia.

Serbia probably is the best choice. It could be involved in the race to Salonika as well as the siege of Edirne. They fought the Ottomans first and then the Bulgarians. I could even expand it to cover their war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The only slight problem is that I'm not the biggest fan of Serbian Nationalism, but then again a lot of historical scenarios cover states that I would not have been comfortable with IRL. It would make for an epic story!