Hinge of Fate - World War 2, 1941-1945

Note: This thread is closed, see new thread in completed scenarios forum:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=127474


Hinge of Fate Scenario Notes

Introduction

1.0 Hinge of Fate (HOF) is the title for my global WW2 scenario. The name
comes from the title of one of the five volumes of Winston Churchill's
war memoirs. That volume dealt with the events of the years 1942-43,
including such decisive battles as Midway, El Alemain and Stalingrad.

I had originally though of doing a mod on Rocoteh's WW2 Global scenario
adapting the naval-air system for my TOS scenario to WW2 Global. After
taking a long look at it I decided that map was just not what I wanted,
Europe is just too small. So I decided to use El Menecy's 362 by 325
world map. Although the map is larger than WW2 Global, there are fewer
cities and hence the game runs faster. There are no neutral countries
and where possible I used one very large city to represent 2 on more smaller
ones. I did borrow several ideas from Rocoteh’s fine scenario and those
ideas are acknowledged later in the document.

Also the political situation in 1939 was just too complicated so I decided
to start HOF in December 1941. That way every country is at war at the start
of the scenario. Russia can and sometimes does declare war on Japan on the
first turn, but those conflicts tend to brief and indecisive, more of a border
clash than a war.

As in TOS, there is both a short and a long version of the game. The short
game ends in mid-1943 and the long game goes on to 1945. The scenario is
primarily intended for multiplayer games. There will be a single player version,
but the AI does not function well with large maps.

The Map:

1.1 Turns represent 2 weeks in real time. The short game is 40 turns long,
which covers the period from Dec., 7, 1941 until April, 1943. The long game
is 100 turns and covers the entire conflict period. The civilizations in order of play are:

1. Japan
2. Germany
3. Russia
4. China
5. Minor Axis
6. Minor Allies
7. Commonwealth
8. USA

The Minor Allies, led by De Gaulle of the Free French include Free French
territories, Brazil and the Dutch East Indies. I took a few liberties with
history here, Brazil did not actually declare war until August, 1942.
The Minor Axis, led by Mussolini of the Italians includes Vichy French
territories, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
In the single player game, Russia and the allied countries will not be
able to move on turn 1.

The political situation:

Locked alliance #1 (USA, Commonwealth and Minor Allies) at war with alliance 2 and 4.
Locked alliance #2 (Germany and Minor Axis) at war with alliance 1 and 3.
Locked alliance #3 (Russia) at war with alliance 2.
Locked alliance #4 (Japan) at war with alliance 1.

2.1 Most types of land units in HOF come in 2 sizes, the division and the corp.
In your city production list you can select to build an "Infantry Corp"
or an "Infantry Division". 3 divisions equal 1 corp so a division is 1/3 of a
corp.
Parachute units and fortress units are division-size only; there are no
parachute or fortress corps. Millita units are used to represent smaller
detachments such as brigades.
Artillery and flak units represent batteries of about 100 guns.

Screenshot; corp-sized uints in Army Group Center:

Land Unit Types (partial list more to come)

Note: there are 3 mobile warfare techs, each allows improved tanks and new
mechanized units.

Infantry

Commonwealth infantry (also used by the Minor Allies and China)
US Infantry
German Infantry (also used by Minor Axis)
Russian Infantry

Mechanized Infantry (with mobile warfare 2 tech)

Armor
Generic Light Tank

German + Minor Axis - Panzer - Panther - Tiger
Commonwealth - Crusader - Sherman-Firefly - ???
USA + Minor Allies - Sherman - Sherman-Firefly - Pershing
Russia - T-34 - T-34/85 - ???

Artillery
Field Artillery
Heavy Artillery
Mobile Artillery (with moble warefare 3 tech)

Flak
Basic Flak Gun
Advanced Flak Gun (with Radar Tech)



Screen shot; Division-sized units in Eigth army:

2.2 Warships
HOF uses the same naval system as the TOS scenario. In this system
battleships and aircraft carriers represent 1 ship, these are called
"capital ship" units. Capital ship units have a -1 hit point modifier
Other naval units represent flotillas of 2 or more ships. Cruiser units
are 2 ships, destroyers units are 4 ships (or sometimes 1 light cruiser +
2 destroyers) and subs units are 4 subs.

Transports
The basic transport unit represents 100,000 tons of shipping and can
carry 1 corp size land unit. It should also be able to transport 3
divisions, but the game engine won't allow this. There is also a unit
called the destroyer-transport which can transport ONLY foot-type divisions.
This includes infantry, marine, parachute and militia divisions.
There is a third type of transport called an "invasion fleet" which
can carry up to 4 units, an entire army.

Invisible Subs
Submarines cannot be seen by any units until the Antisubmarine Warfare
tech has been researched. Once this tech is complete, destroyers can
be upgraded to ASW destroyers and new units become available which can
"see" subs. Subs have stealth attack against all sea units except the
invasion fleet.

Sea Movement
Another feature of the TOS naval system used in this scenario is double
movement cost for coastal tiles. This slows ships down when entering or
leaving harbor or passing through narrow straits like the English channel
but allows them to move very fast on the open seas.

ScreenShot; Prince of Wales spots the Japanese Invasion Fleet
bound for Singapore:

Sea units types so far (graphics):
US Fast BB (South Dakota)
CW Fast BB (KGV)
German Bismarck class BB
IJN Yamato class BB
US BB (Nevada)
Generic BB (Hood)

US CV (Yorktown)
CW CV (Ark Royal)
IJN CV (Shokaku
German CV (Graf Zeppelin)
Allied CVL (Colossus)
IJN CVL (TBA)

US CA
German CA
IJN CA
Italian CA
Allied CA

US DD
IJN DD
Allied DD
Axis DD

US Sub
I-boat
U-boat
Generic Sub

Transport
Destroyer-transport
Invasion fleet

Air units represent squadrons of about 20 combat aircraft.
I am still undecided on wether to add recon-only aircraft
Possibly I will will include them but have a small wonder
auto-produce them rather than allow them to be built directly.

There are a number of techs related to aircraft:

1. Flight - allows construction of the biplane fighter
2. Tactical Aviation - allows construction of basic fighter (Spitfire, Me-109 etc.), medium bombers and the Stuka.
3. Heavy bombers - allows construction of heavy bombers (B-17, Lancaster, etc.)
4. High Performance Fighters - P51, FW-190, etc.
5. Jet Engines - Me-262, Meteor, etc. (and the V1 rocket)
6. Naval Aviation 1 - basic carrier fighter (Zero and Wildcats), dive bombers & torpedo Bombers.
7. Naval Aviation 2 - F4Us, Seafury, etc..

Reserved for list of air unit types.

Technology Additions/Changes


3.0 Technologies are NOT tradeable, one of the things I borrowed from
Rocoteh's scenario, thanks!

Industrial Age

3.1 Flight - Flight now allows the construction of the biplane fighter
only. This is the only aircraft that China can build at the start
because they do not have tactical aviation.

3.2 Tactical Aviation - This is advanced flight renamed. Allows contruction
of medium bombers and the basic land-based fighters such as the Spitfire, Me-109
and P-40. All civs have this tech at start except China.

3.3 Motorized Transport - Allows construction of light tank rather than medium
tanks same as in the WW2 pacific conquest, otherwise unchanged. All civs have this
tech at start except China.

Global War Age

3.4 Antisubmarine Warfare - Allows construction of the ASW destroyer and the ASW
aircraft. No civs have this tech at start.

3.5 Advanced Submarines - Allows construction of the advanced submarine.
No civs have this tech at start.

3.6 Radar - Allows construction of the AA cruiser and fast battleships, and
upgrading of old battleships. America, the Commonwealth and Germany have this
tech at the start.

3.7 Naval Aviation 1 - Allows construction of carriers and light carriers, dive and
torpedo bombers and the basic naval fighters such as the Zero and F4F Wildcat. America,
the Commonwealth and Japan have this tech at start.

3.8 Naval Aviation 2 - Allows construction of larger carriers and better aircraft such
as the F4U Corsair. No civs have this tech at start.

3.9 Mobile Warfare 1 - Allows construction of the basic medium tanks; the Panzer
Sherman, Crusader and T-34. America, Russia, Germany and the Commonwealth have this tech
at start.

3.10 Mobile Warfare 2 - Allows construction of the mechanized infantry and better tanks;
the Pather, Sherman-Firefly etc.. Germany has this tech at start.

3.11 Mobile Warfare 3 - Allows construction of the self-propelled artillery and
bigger tanks, the Tiger for example. No civs have this tech at start.

3.12 Tactical Aviation 2 - Allows construction of better fighters such as the P-51 and Fw-190. No civs have this tech at start.

3.13 Heavy Bombers - Allows construction of the heavy bombers such as the B-17 and
Lancaster. America and the Commonwealth have this tech at start.

3.14 Long Range Bombers - Allows the B-29 and other long range bombers. Prerequisite
- Heavy Bombers. No civs have this tech at start.

3.15 Fission - This tech is required before the Manhattan Project can be built.
Prerequiste - Heavy Bombers. No civs have this tech at start.


The tech tree is still under construction, so far it looks like this:

Sounds cool, I had a similar idea for the corps and divisions a while back. The best thing about this is you can have more spread development of units, so that when you get a tech that allows assault rifles for example, it only enables you to build AR divisions, you'd need a later tech to equip full corps with this advanced weapon.

Have you thought of using multi units to represent the corps? I'd recomend three or four divisons in a corps, so a multi unit of three or four figures would be appropriate. The good this about this is that even a novice artist can produce multi units.

Also I'd say the best way to show the difference between corps and divisions is by giving divisions an extra movement point (to represent their flexability and the abiliaty to supply small units with transport) while giving corps a much bigger HP bonus and perhaps a small attack boost to allow for human wave type attacks or armoured spearheads...

I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

Locked alliance #1 (USA, Commonwealth and Minor Allies) at war with alliance 2 and 4.
Locked alliance #2 (Germany and Minor Axis) at war with alliance 1 and 3.
Locked alliance #3 (Russia) at war with alliance 2.
Locked alliance #4 (Japan) at war with alliance 1.

Click to expand...

Japan was allied with the Germans and the Italians

FNroma said:

Japan was allied with the Germans and the Italians

Click to expand...

Can't do that, then Japan would automatically be at war with Russia!

Smoking mirror said:

Sounds cool, I had a similar idea for the corps and divisions a while back. The best thing about this is you can have more spread development of units, so that when you get a tech that allows assault rifles for example, it only enables you to build AR divisions, you'd need a later tech to equip full corps with this advanced weapon.

Have you thought of using multi units to represent the corps? I'd recomend three or four divisons in a corps, so a multi unit of three or four figures would be appropriate. The good this about this is that even a novice artist can produce multi units.

Also I'd say the best way to show the difference between corps and divisions is by giving divisions an extra movement point (to represent their flexability and the abiliaty to supply small units with transport) while giving corps a much bigger HP bonus and perhaps a small attack boost to allow for human wave type attacks or armoured spearheads...

I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

Click to expand...

On your first point, no, if you can build a division you can build
a corp of the same type. I want to keep the tech tree simple.

I only plan to use multi-figure units for the invasion fleet. I want to
keep the number of unit graphics down. The download is already up to
60 megs and I have more units to add.


Divisions already have a tremendous speed advantage over corps as they
can travel by destroyer-transports (speed 11) while corps have to take
slow transports (speed 7). Also parachute divisions are the only unit
which can be airlifted which makes them the most mobile unit in the
game.

Units which are unquie to a specific Civ:

America:
SeaBees (they work 3 times as fast as normal worker)
US Marines (cost more than other marines but have +1 hit points)

Germany
Stuka (has lethal sea bombard, but does not require Naval Aviation to build)
Panzer, Panther & Tiger Tank (units have +1 hit points)

Russia
Guerillas (hidden nationality)
T-34 tanks (cost less than other medium tanks)

Commonwealth
None so far

Japan
Japanese infantry (can move through jungles like clear terrain)
Kamikaze (stealth attack against all ship types)

China
None so far

Minor Allies
French Foreign Legion (can move across deserts like clear terrain)

Minor Axis
French Foreign Legion (as above only Vichy French)
Italian Frogmen - I'd like to incude them but not sure if they would work

Two so far:

1. Chennault's Flying Tigers - in Chunking, produces 1 P-40 every 4 turns.

2. U-Boat Works - in Kiel, produces a U-boat every 2 turns

An Italian Frogman Training Base in another possibilty

This looks pretty good... I'm not sure how you handled the tanks, but I hope those aren't upgrade paths. It would be much more accurate to have them be parrallel, with the heavies costing substantially more shields than the mediums. Also, the Russian Il-2 was equal or superior to the Stuka, and would make a good UU as well. Giving guerrilas hidden nationality is pretty useless, I'd make them invisible (it was VERY difficult for Germans to locate them...)

Looks good though, I just cracked out Panzer General III Scorched Earth again for some reason, and I feel like playing a WWII Civ scenario.

Eric, Why does the transport only carry one unit? It could carry 3 in TOS?
Sully

Landmonitor said:

This looks pretty good... I'm not sure how you handled the tanks, but I hope those aren't upgrade paths. It would be much more accurate to have them be parrallel, with the heavies costing substantially more shields than the mediums. Also, the Russian Il-2 was equal or superior to the Stuka, and would make a good UU as well. Giving guerrilas hidden nationality is pretty useless, I'd make them invisible (it was VERY difficult for Germans to locate them...)

Click to expand...

Landmonitor: Thanks for your comments.

There is very little upgrading in the game, it is limited to ships such as
destroyers being ugraded to ASW destroyers. Panzers cannot be upgraded
to Panthers and medium bombers cannot be upgraded to heavy bombers.
But the techs are not in parralel, you have to get Panthers before you
can get Tigers.

The reason I made guerillas hidden nationality is to cause problems in
China. The Japanese and Chinese will have to watch out for Mao's
boys.

The problem with invisible is that it does not work having 2 kinds of invisible
units (land & sea) in the same game. ASW destroyers and ASW aircraft
would be able to find Guerillas.

aksully said:

Eric, Why does the transport only carry one unit? It could carry 3 in TOS?
Sully

Click to expand...

Sully
The largest units in TOS are divisions. In HOF a transport can carry 1 corp
which is 3 divisions. Civ does not understand the difference between corps
and divisions, but now you have the destroyer-transport to move your
divisions around quickly.

eric_A said:

Japan
Japanese infantry (can move through jungles like clear terrain)

Minor Allies
French Foreign Legion (can move across deserts like clear terrain)

Minor Axis
French Foreign Legion (as above only Vichy French)

Click to expand...

These are going to cause combat problems. I experimented with infantry that could move two squares. It did not work well. All units were then flagged as "fast" and there for faster units) (ie: actual fast units, like tanks) could not withdraw.
I was after better tactical combat, but for me, this was not the answer.