Spanish Civil War ToT Mod

Just a quick progress update. I have made quite a few minor alterations and my main focus is now on the events. Fortunately most of the events I created for the multiplayer version can easily be adapted for single player. To begin with the Republican reinforcements will still be via the tech tree whilst the Nationalist ones will be date bases. However, once I have got the basics in place I will make use of flags and other techniques to make them more adaptable to what's going on in the game.

To wet the appetite I have made a quick mock-up of the Italian CTV going into action at Guadalajara.

 
I'm making pretty good progress with the events. I have both the Nationalist (date based) and Republican (technology based) reinforcements finished, the Nationalist Rebellion events finished and tested, city capture events (which include rebel Stronghold/machinegun units in most cities) finished bar some text pop ups. Next I need to work on move unit events, flags and the economic aspect of the game.

I created a new events folder with sub folders for each element. In each of these sub folders I created a section of the events which I could then easily test and debug. When I'm finished I will compile these elements into the final events.txt. Makes for a much more manageable development.

The initial rebellion will be a visual spectacle, a bit long winded, but ultimately a better experience than the pre-placed Nationalist cities of the original IMHO.

It seems that for everything I move from the TO DO list to the DONE list something else crops up to take its place. After years of scenario creating I have learned a lot of methods to make the design process more efficient. I have often thought about writing an up to date scenario creation guide, but with so few new designers it would just seem like preaching to the converted. Perhaps one day I will get round to it as a lot has changed since the good old MGE days and I'm still learning new stuff all the time.
 
A question. Will naval units of any sort play a role? And if not, does that mean the Madieras and Canary Islands and Northern Morocco will effectively be beyond Republican reach? Or is some other scheme in mind for those outlying areas to play a part assuming the player does better than their historical counterpart?
 
It seems that for everything I move from the TO DO list to the DONE list something else crops up to take its place. After years of scenario creating I have learned a lot of methods to make the design process more efficient. I have often thought about writing an up to date scenario creation guide, but with so few new designers it would just seem like preaching to the converted. Perhaps one day I will get round to it as a lot has changed since the good old MGE days and I'm still learning new stuff all the time.

Working on Burma, I was thinking along the same lines. It definitely gets easier with each project. While there may only be a few of us left, but I suspect there is still much we can teach each other. And there may yet be a few undiscovered McMonkeys and Tootalls out there just looking for something to make the process less daunting.

I hope you do a new edition of a scenario creation guide. I'd be happy to contribute my thoughts, and perhaps a chapter or two.
 
A question. Will naval units of any sort play a role? And if not, does that mean the Madieras and Canary Islands and Northern Morocco will effectively be beyond Republican reach? Or is some other scheme in mind for those outlying areas to play a part assuming the player does better than their historical counterpart?

The Canary Islands don't feature in the original map and I don't intend to add them in the new version. Historically their only real significance in the war was the fact that Franco had been 'exiled' there prior to the uprising.

Naval units will play a part in the scenario, mainly in coastal bombardments, the Republican supply line from Russia and the Italian air and submarine campaign against this shipping route. There will be event created Supply Shipments that the Republican player has to get to one of the major ports where they 'dock' (attack an indestructible barbarian port unit) to trigger an event that can create either units, cash or both.
 
Working on Burma, I was thinking along the same lines. It definitely gets easier with each project. While there may only be a few of us left, but I suspect there is still much we can teach each other. And there may yet be a few undiscovered McMonkeys and Tootalls out there just looking for something to make the process less daunting.

I hope you do a new edition of a scenario creation guide. I'd be happy to contribute my thoughts, and perhaps a chapter or two.

I have started a text document with bullet points that I would like to cover. I have dabbled with this in the past and I'm sure I can track down and incorporate some of the old articles I have written as well as cherry pick from older guides. I'm more than willing to open this guide up for everyone to contribute too. Probably the best way to do this is to start a new thread with a list of subject headings. Members can then post tips, links or write articles that I will then compile into a comprehensive document. There's no need to re-write everything from scratch. Such a guide can make good use of links to other pages (Such as the Cradle of Civilization, Catfish's Cave and Mercator's page to name a few) as well as have links to utilities like CivCity and ToTPP. I will try and set up a new thread this evening to expand this idea.
 
In fact it looks like I started a sticky thread: Scenario Design Guide thread back in April 2013 along the same lines. I will adapt this page (editing the original five posts) to give the task some structure. Feel free to post any ideas/contributions on that thread. I will create a text document that I will attach to the first post. This can then act as the document that I will compile everything into. Members can download the document to check on its progress. When it is in a coherent state we can then post it here, on the SL Wiki or in its own new website.
 
Progress is still going well. Its getting to the final stages now, tweaking the events, adding some historical text and making last minute tweaks before I begin play testing. I just couldn't resist the temptation any more. I think the units are very nearly finalised. Comments welcome.

 
These look awesome!

Forgive my ignorance on the topic, but which side did those Basque and Catalonian (judging by their flags, at least) infantry units fight for?
 
The Basques and Catalans were both keen for either independence or at the least increased autonomy. The Nationalists were diametrically opposed to this whilst the Republic was more willing to negotiate, especially once the rebellion had begun so the Basques and Catalans generally fought on the side of the Republic.

In the North the Basques controlled the major port and industrial city of Bilbao as well as the border with France (at Irun). These areas were conquered by General Mola's Army of the North which included Falangists (approximately the Spanish Fascist party represented by the guy top left with the blue shirt and the other unit with the same flag) and the Requetes (an ultra Catholic and pro-Monarchist organisation from Navarre - White flag with red cross / red beret). This campaign included the bombing of Guernika that inspired Picaso's famous painting.

The Catalans are also fiercely independent, with their own dialect and traditions and many Catalonians probably saw the war as an opportunity to further their nationalistic agenda. I included a Catalan unit to add some diversity to the Infantry types. To begin with there are Loyal Army units, four types of Militia (now including Asturian Miners), the various Police and Paramilitary units, regional units like the Basque Gudaris and later on the Popular or Peoples Army (organised under Communist supervision). One of the aspects I find most fascinating about the Civil War is the vast spectrum of motivation on both sides which spawned such a diversity of units. I have removed quite a few units from the original that I felt were superfluous (such as Anti Tank, some naval units, motorised infantry etc...) This has allowed me to add more diverse units so the scenario will be as colourful as the history.
 
Tech,

1) For me the only truly outstanding officers of the Spanish Civil War were Juan Yagüe and perhaps Mohamed Meziane on the Nationalist side & Juan Modesto, Vicente Rojo Lluch and José Miaja for the Republic. The rest, Mola, Franco etc... were pretty pedestrian commanders of little tactical imagination. EDIT: I would add the Nationalist General José Enrique Varela to this list!

I thought that an increased number of Militia and Infantry types were a better use of the two slots. I like leader units in scenarios like the American Civil War where commanders like Lee, Grant, Sherman and Jackson had a huge influence on their troops, leading from the front.

2) Initially the Militias (POUM, Asturians, Popular Front and Anarchists) are the only buildable infantry for the Republic. They are soon joined by the Communist trained Popular Army and the Militias gradually become obsolete (based on the political history). I'm toying with the idea of using Leonardo's Workshop to have the militias incorporate into the Popular Army as the war progresses.

I'm planning to represent the disturbances in Bilbao and Barcelona with barbarian units. Not a big enough threat to take down the Republic, but a nuisance when they are fighting tooth and nail with the Nationalists.
 
I have added a few extra terrain types. Villages with good defensive stats to represent the Militia's fighting ability in urban areas, compared to their ineptitude in the open (they were very poor at conducting mobile defensive actions but were willing to make a stand in villages).

Another addition is the Riverbed added to all river squares. I have already removed the ability to use rivers as roads, now they have very low defence and cost a lot to move into, making river lines natural defensive positions.
 
My initial play-test has been very encouraging indeed. I played through with a very passive resistance to the Nationalists to see how they advanced. To be honest, in the early part of the scenario the Republican resistance will be more defensive anyway with only untrained Militia units trying to hold ground and no cohesive counter attacks until support arrives from Russia. With one important exception the Nationalists obliged in steamrollering through the Republicans in a most historical manner. In fact I couldn't have hoped for much better from the AI. They handle the events generated units pretty well on the whole.

The exception is the advance of the Army of Africa up through Estremadura and into Castille to attack Madrid from the South. They almost entirely ignore this route, choosing instead to head East through Andalucia, ignoring Badajoz, Cáceres and Toldeo. I have an empty events file called Nationalist Offensives. All I need to do now is create a few events to get them on their way and the first year or more of the war will be working nicely. I plan to use a daisy chain of events, with each city captured along the road spawning reinforcements to head for the next on the road to the Jarama.

Other than a bit of tweaking of the current events I'm more than happy with how the events are working out and look forwards to giving the game a proper go once the final events are added.

The importance of air power in this scenario is striking. Getting fighter cover to threatened cities in time and bombers to support offensives will be key to victory as will managing the science rate that will bring in these invaluable Soviet units. I have set things up so that constant micromanagement on the large map will not be too laborious (most offensive units come via events) and the player will be able to focus more on fighting the battles. I'm hoping that this will lead to quicker turns and a better flow to the game.
 
Would someone be kind enough to convert the attached title image so that it works. At the moment it crashed the game when I load the scenario. I tried pasting it over an working title.gif (I believe I have done this successfully before) but it still won't work. I would research the correct way to convert it but I'm in the zone with the events at the moment and don't want to get distracted when the creative juices are in full flow ;)

I spent this morning (and most of the afternoon so far) adding the events text to add some flavour to the scenario. Now all I need to add are a few historical text events and that section of the design will be complete.

I was up late into the night finishing my 'passive' play-test (EG just moving reinforcements to threatened areas & no major counter attacks) and the Nationalists graciously obliged me by wiping the floor with the Republic. Once the last few Nationalist offensive events are added I would say that the game will be ready for a proper play-test. I just hope I haven't made it too hard.

I'm happy to say that so far (touch wood) I haven't found any major bugs or anomalies which has to be a first for an initial play-test where something always seems to go seriously wrong! I hope I haven't spoken too soon :D
 

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I want to create a few events for uprisings where Barbarian units will spring up in the suburbs of Barcelona. In the events do I put Barbarians or does the event read the name from the labels file? In labels I have changed Barbarian to read Anarchists and Barbarians to read Supply destination (for the supply port events). Will this changing of the labels mess up the event or does ToT simply read Barbarians and create a barbarian unit regardless of the labels.txt?

EDIT: Managed to sort this with some trial and error testing. It looks like ToT does read the entry in labels so I set the event to give the unit to Anarchist and it worked. Took a little while to get it working but at least I know now.

Is there a way to prevent fighters from attacking ground units and cities? The Nationalists seem really keen to waste their Fiat CR-32s on suicide missions. They have multiple moves. Does making them range 0 help? Do they only attack if they feel they have sufficient attack strength to do some damage or will weak fighters also throw themselves away in this manner. I don't really mind them attacking units in the open, but going against cities where bombers are required is the thing that's annoying me!
 
I have just completed a large batch of events that reward the Republicans with Soviet supplied units for re-taking territory. Without these I think the player will struggle to gain any offensive momentum as the Spanish economy isn't strong and a lot of their best industrial bases are likely to fall into Rebel hands early on in the scenario. I just need to sort out the spawning locations for the Italian Guadalajara offensive and write the events for the Nationalist Aragon & Catalonia offensive, plus add a few historical text events and I think I'm ready for my first proper playtest.

If anyone else is interested in helping me play-test the scenario please let me know. I think I can say with confidence that this is pretty near the final version, lacking the major bugs that normally seem to plague my (over ambitious) projects. I think I can guarantee a very fun challenge :D
 
I have decided to remove the Condor Legion Infantry unit and replace it with another unit type as German ground forces were limited to tank crews (who mostly trained the Nationalists and are represented with the Panzer I), support units (represented by the 88mm and Condor Legion Artillery) and the Aircraft of the Condor Legion (amply represented). I'm wondering which unit to include in their place. Ideas welcome.
 
I must admit, I also hate AI suicide fighter missions.

As much as I'd like to offer to playtest just to try this as soon as I can, my Civ2-playing skills are quite rusty, and I probably wouldn't be a tremendous asset. However, given the small and infrequent size of the community, and the unfortunate tragedy of probably our greatest playtester having recently passed on, if you really need another point-of-view, I'll do my best.
 
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