I took longer than anticipated , but as previously promised, I've completed my latest round of modifications. It isn't so much the modifications themselves, though they were numerous, but the testing of these changes that was time consuming. Nevertheless, here is the list of changes:
• Thanks to Cyrion's suggestion, successfully turned all 'Bunker' units into naval units with a movement factor of zero to prevent the AI from moving them (and significantly increased its defensive factor to offset the 'Naval Unit caught in port' penalty).
• Reinserted multiple bunker units not only to the Japanese home islands but to a number of Pacific islands and in German Occupied Europe (note: no bunkers have been added to single tile islands. Example: Palau is a single tiled island whereas Taipei is not).
• In the case of Japan proper, many of its home island bunker units where homed to the outer islands, making bypassing these islands more costly in terms of invading Japan proper.
TIP: Artillery units ('Field Artillery' and 'M12 GMC') are the weapon of choice against bunker units. They can be assaulted by naval 'Battleship' as well but you are likely to find that tactic more costly in units (it's easier to rebuild a lost artillery unit than a battleship), especially if the bunker is situated on a 'Hill' or 'Jungle' terrain tile.
• All new Japanese naval units are now generated through the event file. This was done to circumvent the 'Bermuda Triangle' bug, which the Japanese AI was particularly vulnerable to.
I can't guarantee 100% that the bug can't still occur. A Japanese naval stack that contains a carrier with an air unit homed to city could still be lost if that air unit's city was captured but it is a much less likely event now.
• All of Japan's naval unit types are created randomly among it's Pacific islands bases (cities). This was done in the hope of increasing the IJN aggressiveness in the Pacific.
There are six possible bases (cities) the units can be generated in. The event file will attempt to place a naval unit in the next available base if one or more of its specified bases was captured.
• Modified the combat value of the 'IJN Carrier' unit to give it a powerful naval attack capability. This is in addition to its ability to carry air units.
• Added two pre-built 'Mine' tiles in America to offset Japan's free event naval units.
• Added one pre-built 'Mine' tile in India to offset Japan's free event naval units.
• I've made significant modifications to the Victory conditions:
- Milan, Rabaul, Palau and Davao are now objective cities
- Prague, Warsaw, Bucharest and Kiev are no longer objective cities (these cities, especially after Yalta, were more considered in the Soviet zone)
- Wonders no longer count in the Victory Point calculation (i.e. no city is worth more than 1 VP)
- Readjusted the total number of objective points the American or British player need to win.
• Removed Germany's 'Fallschirmjäger' unit paradrops flag when playing as the American player. This was done to prevent the German AI from capturing British Home Island cities.
• Increased the initial German OOB in Russia making it more perilous not to send 'Lend-Lease' aid to support that country.
• Reduced by half the American and British first turn naval unit movement factor. This was done to prevent the massacre of the German U-boats that typically occurred on the first turn.
• Corrected on map city spelling for 'Pittsburgh' and 'Addis Abeba'
• Increased the Neutral powers initial OOB but removed its ability to build any new units.
• Made tiles [35,51] and [36,52] deserts to prevent 'Mexican' invasion of Texas
• Opened up the Suez Canal [107,57] when playing as the US player
• Opened up the Panama Canal [46,68] when playing as the British player.
• Added the Azores island and airfield at tile [68,42]
• Added an airfield on the sub-Saharan tile [91,73]
• Added 'Anti-Tank Defenses' improvement (city walls) to all German controlled cities save those cities that are part specifically of the Greater German Reich (including Vienna and Prague)
• NEW HOUSE RULE: It is forbidden to transfer ground units from one naval transport unit ('Freighter' or 'Liberty Ship') to another in mid-ocean. You can transfer your ground unit from one freighter to another in as many ports as you can in one turn (see updated ReadMe for more detailed explanation).
• Made numerous other small changes to the map, major powers starting OOB and the events file
• Made small corrections to the ReadMe file
I hope these changes will enhance the players overall experience of the scenario. You can find all the new game zip files at
http://sleague.civfanatics.com/index.php/Total_War_1941_-_1945