Preview, discussion and testing thread : the Boer War

Hi,

my new scenario is about the Boer War (the second actually).

It is nearly ready for beta. Texts are done, I am just not sure about a few stuff to add or not for which I welcome opinions. And I am waiting for a certain gatling gun...

For instance :

- telegraph : I plan on to using telegraph to replace radar stations. The advantage : it fits in that role of enhancing a lot combat value, especially for the mobile war that was raged in the second part of the war. Now of course it could look a bit strange on the map and telegraph is rather a network than a one-tile line. Would that be ok though or too weird ?

- I haven't incoprorated them yet but I thought Regicide could be chosen (or maybe an option in a separated biq) for this scenario as the war continued even after the last towns were conquered by the British. Opinions ?

- at the moment I am using red coat troops for the English (colonial infantry and BeBro's cuirassier). Even before the end of the Zulu War English wore khaki (the Bengalese lancer is wearing that color). But 1/ red coat troops are the only units I have avilable for (kind of ) that period. 2/ they look out pretty well and give a good feeling of identity. Opinions ?

- what unit (and name) to use for the heavy British ships of the time (dreadnaught ?, predreadnought ?) and for the transports.


Other infos :

Civs :

Boer (1 or 2 civs in locked alliance ?)
English

German
Portuguese

Zulus
Dependant African States (the Zulus were dependant as well but they were still pretty original a culture)

Boer and English in locked War

German and Portuguese are neutral but they could declare war. Their main interest though is for the Portuguese to be a possible trading partner (the Boers need to trade to get modern weapons from Europe) and for the Germans to trade AND to be a possible threat against the English which means they have the ability to sign in an alliance with the Boers. They have good but few troops though.
The Portuguese cannot sign any alliance. I am not sure about the trade embargoes yet.

Both natives have a small tech-tree on their own. The first allows them to provide rifle-black troops. The second (which takes a long-time to research which means they might discover it if and only if the war lasts too long) is the rebellion. In that case there is a general uprising providing huge number of troops). During the first period the natives are likely to side with the British (who have the resources and luxuries they need and are really powerful). On the other hand in the second part the Boers have the new resource they need which means either they have conquered it (unlikely) or they need to buy it from the Boers (possibly for war against the British).


Scenario length : 80 turns (1 turn a week which is historical) which could be fine for MPs.


Tech-tree :

apart from the civ-specific techs (German, European,....) the (very small) tech-tree is as follows :
for Europeans :

Industrialization ---> Modern Weapons (ex : Gatling) ----> Import
Industrialization ---> Modern Weapons (ex : Gatling) ----> Telegraph

Colonization ----> Overseas Support (+ Africanization)---> Territorial Control ---> Population Control

Colonization ----> Settlements -----> Africanization ---> guerilla


Industrialization allows Railroad. Railroads have been placed exactly where they existed (strange locations sometimes) but NOT in a continued line so that it speeds transport but does not allow immediate one. Railroads can be built but 1/they take while to build 2/ the Boers can pillage it.

Colonization allows native troops and scouts

Overseas support allow colonial troops (including Indian ones)

Africanization allows Boer and Boer cavalry. But the English need to research it if the want to research guerilla

Guerilla allows Kommandos and the British answer here globally called Bushveldt Carabineers.

Territorial Control allows the construction of bunker units that are immobile and need to be paradropped (guess humans will know, not sure about the AI) : these bunkers can spot invisible troops (such as Kommandos) so they are really useful to protect the railroads,....

Population control allows concentration camps as they appeared there and then. Useful to break the population and avoid rebellions (cultural flipping is on, at least for now).

Many of these techs are known but some are not. The Boers still need to discover guerilla and Import.
The English (the main civ with research power) must discover Africanization, Guerilla, Territorial and Population control.

Ideas, opinions welcome !

I think this could be a very interesting scenario and I would like to do some testing once it is ready.
Just an idea (I don't know if it's good): Maybe you should replace the Rader Stations with concentration camps (only availible to the English, of course). This would show how much the pain and death of their relatives weakened the Boer rebels. The concentration camp could of course still be an improvement also.

(edit: first post I've never tried that before)

This could be a great scenario Do you have a map ?

I saw your request for the telegraph. I think it could be weird to have those wires going nowhere. That's why I though about a semaphore. But I don't know if it fits your scen

Yes, I wondered what you meant by that ? A kind of lighthouse ?
Then no really it is about the telegraph to quickly inform of the situation of enemy troops, just like "le fil qui chante" in the Old West.
Not sure it will work or look alright but I think it could be an interesting idea for this scenario.

And yes I have a map ! (mine, cropped actually but thanks for the "offer" anyway !). But I am not sure everybody will be happy with it. Because of the very different scale of civilizations clashing, the map is quite full while people might expect large nomansland between cities....

And BTW I really need answers/opinions about the questions asked...... (hint !).

... and you're not going to say anything about my suggestion?

Sounds cool, I would like to test it

Actually, I didn't think about a "lighting" sempahore, but someting like this :
http://www.napoleonguide.com/semaphore.htm


About boers : it would be better to make only one civ. They are a very united community ! The problem is it will be a huge civ. You have to balance it with something : less bonus grassland ?

And if it's helpfull : ek praat en verstaan en bitje afrikaans, I speak and understand a little afrikaans

I think it should be two states, locked ofcause. It means that there are more civs to play.

Sounds interesting ... the first war where guerilla tactics were used by Europeans

fe3333au said:

Sounds interesting ... the first war where guerilla tactics were used by Europeans

Click to expand...

It is. Just hope I succeed in translating that into a scenario...

I guess it could an interesting scenario for PBEMs.

JuuL said:

I think this could be a very interesting scenario and I would like to do some testing once it is ready.
Just an idea (I don't know if it's good): Maybe you should replace the Rader Stations with concentration camps (only availible to the English, of course). This would show how much the pain and death of their relatives weakened the Boer rebels. The concentration camp could of course still be an improvement also.

(edit: first post I've never tried that before)

Click to expand...

No, no I saw it.
But most concentration camps were actually in (or at least around) cities and not in the countryside that was actually stripped of things the Boers needed.

I see the logic behind your proposition, not that it enhanced the strength of the British but that it lowered the one of the Boers.

But I don't think concentration camps could both a city AND land "improvement". That might put too much importance on them. Might try it out that way but who builds them ? Workers, just like for railroads ? And then it means I scrap the idea of the telegraph that I believe was important (someone knowledgeable about it around ? Please step forward and tell us wheher or not telegrpah was important).

Yoda Power said:

I think it should be two states, locked ofcause. It means that there are more civs to play.

Click to expand...

You mean you would like to try one or another of the Boer states ?

I still hesitate but if that happens, combined operations won't be possible whereas they actually used the same general-in-chief. And they (Boers in general) relocated to the same capital after their main cities had been captured...

Other opinions welcome. Albeit I could just do two biqs but balance will likely be very different.

MaisseArsouye said:

Actually, I didn't think about a "lighting" sempahore, but someting like this :
http://www.napoleonguide.com/semaphore.htm


About boers : it would be better to make only one civ. They are a very united community ! The problem is it will be a huge civ. You have to balance it with something : less bonus grassland ?

And if it's helpfull : ek praat en verstaan en bitje afrikaans, I speak and understand a little afrikaans

Click to expand...

Well, I don't think I will need Afrikaans for the moment but one never knows !
Might be fun if I later change the diplomacy texts (alebit the English won't see it since they are in a locked war...).

I did not know about that semaphore. It looks nice and specific but I really beleive the telegraph used in South Africa was much more modern (it is a century later after all).

On my map Boers state(s) are not that big. English holdings are MUCH larger. The problem is I need all of southern Africa with Germans and Portuguese but that then the Boer states are quite small and don't have much strategical "depth".

Regarding units ... IIRC didn't someone make an Australian Lighthorse unit ... could be used as the Boar war was the first war in which Australian units participated in ...