1989: Scenario Development Thread

General update. In order to get this done some time this century, I've created some self-imposed deadlines since I lost so much time last year and have much less time this year. I'm going to get out as many units as I can by 31 May, and then switch back over to pcx graphics (interface, tech icons, buildings, etc.). This will go on until 31 Aug, when playtesting will start. The plan is to have something by the end of the year.

The Soviets have been run through on the map and are almost complete in terms of placement; only the SSBNs remain to be placed. A lot of text work has also been completed or is in progress. This includes civilopedia entries for units, buildings, technologies, and civs. It also includes advisor text, labels, and some diplomatic text. This is still an ongoing project but we're on the downslope now.

In addition to making units, a big part of the current work relates to the tech tree and how units and buildings are placed in it. The relationship between production and science needs to be balanced so that there are multiple options on where to focus your efforts. This also needs to be balanced in terms of the civs themselves. The big countries can invest a lot into technology and cash while small countries will not be able to fly through the tech tree.

The tech tree is set up as follows: Era 1 is for the Soviets, East Germans, and Cubans. A few techs will be available here for all civs such as Civil Engineering and Military Engineering, which enable worker tasks. Most other era 1 techs will require the Marxism-Leninism tech specific to these civs. The techs in this era give the Soviets options for mobilizing different types of forces (land, air defense, air, naval, etc), as well as diplomatic options. There are a lot of improvements and wonders that become available if you seize NATO territory and gain access to national resources (like French culture, German culture, etc. which act as luxury resources). You can set up new interim governments in these countries, train native volunteer regiments, and even ship off capital and technicians back to the Soviet Union to improve production back home. The diplomatic techs also enable components of the Political Victory (Space Race) which require many national resources. Some you must take by force, while others like Arabic and Israeli culture can either be seized or traded for.

Era 2 covers mobilization. This covers most unit building options for the rest of the civs starting with reserves and ending with the manufacture of new units. Many non-Soviet Warsaw Pact and Middle Eastern powers have access to eras 1 and 2.

Era 3 is diplomacy, mostly for NATO and European nations. There are some really key techs here that are essential for victory. The international trade tech allows you to make a petroleum trade agreement with oil-producing nations. The OPEC countries start with a small wonder that allows air trade. The International Trade Agreement is also a SW that allows you to connect to this network. Another alternative is the Merchant Marine tech that opens transatlantic trade, giving European nations access to US/Canadian national resources and much-needed oil. Almost all the continental European nations are oil-starved and need to acquire it ASAP if they intend to build anything. Britain and Denmark now have a new set up: North Sea Oil. This is represented by a SW in the Shetlands and Faroes that enables sea trade and each city has a single oil resource. This gives these two civs an oil resource (after turn 1 when the computer calculates trade) but the islands are defenseless and vulnerable against a Soviet AI that just loves to drop Airborne troops and land Naval Infantry on helpless resource cities.

Era 3 will also have options for the NATO Political Victory if you're trying that route. You'll need to hang on to NATO territory, make peace in the Middle East and grab a chunk of Poland so you can make a new Western-friendly government there. My understanding is that two Space Races can co-exist as long as there are ten components each, so fingers crossed that all works during testing. Finally, Era 3 has some more options for things like Stay-Behind partisans, civilian defense, and the mack daddy of all abilities: military alliances.

Era 4 is naval and available to the US, UK, and Italy. Each tech has a little story about the War in the Pacific and slowly makes new naval forces available. These nations have a bunch of immobile units that can upgrade when the time is right. It's a different strategy but if you are big on sneaky naval attacks then there's much to be found here.

The improvements and wonders are a mix of preplaced buildings and stuff you can make in game. There is no Hurry Production option for any civ so you really need to weigh your production options.

Anyway, more to follow in the future on this game and some unit packs will be on the horizon as well.

NATO headquarters in Europe (SHAPE) is located in Belgium and is commanded by U.S. General John Galvin (SACEUR). There are three major commands. AFNORTH covers Norway, Denmark, and Schleswig-Holstein. AFSOUTH covers Italy and the Med. AFCENT covers the majority of West Germany and contains the bulk of NATO combat power. It is commanded by German General von Sandrart (who is also the era 3 military advisor) and has two subordinate formations: CENTAG and NORTHAG.

Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) commands the bulk of armored strength for the British, Dutch, and Belgian armies. It includes I British Corps, I Netherlands Corps, I Belgian Corps, and I German Corps. NORTHAG is commanded by the staff of the British Army of the Rhine, and the BAOR Commander, General Sir Brian Kenny, acts as the commnder of NORTHAG in wartime. His Chief of Staff is a German general officer.

I German Corps is structured in the same manner as the other Bundeswehr corps as described earlier in the thread. Under its command are 1. and 7. Panzerdivisions, and 11. Panzergrenadierdivision. It also has a Luftlande brigade, and corps assets such as air defense and engineers.

The Belgian and Dutch Corps are not fully deployed for operations. As mentioned earlier in the thread, this is done both for the story (political reasons) and for game reasons as a weaker inter-German border encourages the Soviet AI to attack more aggressively. The Dutch 4th Mech Division and the Belgian 16th Division start in their forward positions, but the remaining two Dutch divisions and 1 Belgian division are back in the Low countries. The Dutch Army has upgraded mainly to the new Leopard 2A4 tank (47-44 A/D) and the YPR-765 personnel carrier with a 25 mm cannon (35-42 A/D), giving it strong combat platforms. Some units, however, are still equipped with the older Leopard 1V (37-38 A/D). The Belgian Corps is the weakest in NORTHAG, as it only has two divisions. For both countries, these two Corps comprise their mechanized strength. They are good units, supported by artillery, air defense, and engineers, but if they are defeated there is little to stop the Warsaw Pact forces from crossing the North German Plain and devastating the Low Countries.

British I Corps is one of the toughest NATO formations. The Armored Brigades are a mixture of old and new vehicles. Some of the brigades are still equipped with the Chieftain main battle tank and the FV432 armored personnel carrier (38-46 A/D). The Chieftain was the world’s best tank when introduced and still holds up well, with a powerful 120 mm main gun. The other brigades have the new Challenger MBT and Warrior IFV and are among the best ground units in the game (55-51 A/D). Fortunately for Warsaw Pact powers, these units exist in very small numbers. There are about 400 Challengers in service; by comparison the Soviets have ten times that many of their best tank, the T-80. Like the Dutch and Belgians, the UK has little available in terms of armored forces apart from their frontline units. The 2nd division is an infantry force, equipped mainly with anti-tank missiles, artillery, and what are essentially armored cars (the Saxon APC).

These nations do have some helpful support. All have Para brigades that can rapidly deploy to provide critical help where needed. They also have invisible commando units (including the famous SAS) that can paradrop and conduct stay behind operations such as long range recon and stealth attacks. The British also have 3 Commando Brigade (28-20 A/D) to conduct amphibious operations. Historically the Royal Marines and Dutch Marines trained to reinforce Norway but you can send them where ever the hell you please.

Air support for NORTHAG is provided by 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force (2 ATAF). This contains some outstanding aircraft and despite being outnumbered will be a critical asset. The Belgians and Dutch both fly the versatile F-16 (21-21 A/D 30x3 bombard). It's an even match game-wise with the MiG-29, with the added benefit of being cruel to ground units. The main drawback to the squadrons are their limited numbers, as each contains 18 aircraft compared to the Warsaw Pact's 24. The British and the Germans have the Tornado (34-34 A/D 38x4 bombard), and these aircraft should be very jealously guarded. They are deadly in the air and monsters against ground targets, which combined with great range makes them a huge bonus. The RAF also flys the Jaguar and Harrier for ground attack, and the Harrier has the human-only bonus of being mobile and conducting direct strikes (stealth attacks). There are also Luftwaffe F-4s for air defense and the Alpha Jet as a light strike aircraft.

NORTHAG is a formation with tremendous latent combat power. It is fully capable of defensive and offensive mechanized operations with strong tactical air support. With its Lance missiles, it can launch short range ballistic missile strikes in a nuclear war. The Army Group, however, has little depth beyond its major formations. Most reinforcements consist of light troops. It is crucial, therefore, that NATO players preserve their combat units and rotate them out during the Warsaw Pact onslaught. If NORTHAG cannot hold until U.S. forces arrive, nothing will stop the Soviet Army from bridging the Rhine and driving to the Channel.

"The reason the American Army does well in wartime is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis."

Central Army Group (CENTAG) commands all forces in the southern FRG, including II and III German Corps, V and VII U.S. Corps, and the Canadian brigade. The six divisions of the two West German Corps are described back in post 120. The Americans only have two divisions per Corps, but overall CENTAG has a great advantage in firepower, heavy equipment, and defensive terrain.

The U.S. Army in 1989 has come a long way since Viet Nam. The draft has been replaced by an all-volunteer force, with a marked improvement in discipline, training, and small unit leadership. The new AirLand doctrine emphases a fluid, interdependent system utilizing ground, air, and electronic assets to frustrate and wear down a superior enemy while preserving combat power for counterattack. The Army has been rapidly integrating new weapons systems since missing a modernization cycle in the 1970s. The big five are Abrams, Bradley, Apache, Black Hawk, and Patriot. In all aspects, the Western advances in smaller, faster, and cheaper electronics have translated to a battlefield advantage.

American forces have upgraded their tank fleet, first from the M60A1 to M60A3, then to the new M1, and most recently to the new M1A1. The M1 was a big leap forward, and includes the reliable 105 mm rifled main gun, a gas turbine powerpack, thermal imaging, computerized fire control, and a laser rangefinder. In the mid 80s a heavy armor version was made, shortly followed by the M1A1. The M1A1 uses the same 120 mm smoothbore as the Leopard 2, and has NBC overpressurization. The venerable M113 personnel carrier has been replaced in frontline units by the formidable M2 Bradley. Armed with a 25 mm chain gun and a TOW missile launcher, it can engage tanks and light vehicles as well as transport infantry into battle. The U.s. divisions have ten line battalions each, which means that one brigade from each division has an extra tank battalion. Although American brigades have no organic artillery beyond mortars, for game purposes they are assigned a battery of M109A3 from division. The M1A1/Bradley brigades are designated either armored (59-54) or mech (49-50). The heavy mech brigades that have the extra battalion are 69-66. Thus a U.S. mechanized infantry division would look as follows:

1 Mechanized Infantry Brigade (49-50)
1 Heavy Mechanized Infantry Brigade (69-66)
1 Armored Brigade (59-54)
1 Field Artillery group (42-6 42x4)
1 M270 MLRS Battery (24-6 24x5)
1 Engineer Battalion
1 Cavalry Squadron (16-16)
1 M163 Air Defense Artillery Battalion
2 x AH-1F (30-15 30x3) or AH-64A (40-20 40x3) Attack Helicopter Squadrons
1 x UH-60A Helicopter Battalion

The artillery consists of 48 M109A3 howitzers (since 24 out of the total 72 howitzers have already been tasked out to brigades). The MLRS are separate just as the Grad rocket launchers are separate for the Soviets. Despite being a battery of only 9 vehicles, the MLRS are very strong and have lethal bombard. One clearly unique feature of the U.S. units is the amount of helicopters. Soviet divisions have about 12 helicopters, and the massive Soviet Armies have about 80 for attack and transport roles. U.S. forces, by contrast, have over 100 helicopters per division. In addition to the new UH-60A Black Hawk for transport and medevac, there are OH-58 scout helicopters and either Cobra or Apache attack helicopters. Like other NATO choppers, they are land units that ignore terrain and can attack or bombard. The Apache has the additional ability of stealth attack, allowing it to pick off critical but vulnerable units like artillery or air defense.

At the Corps level, the U.S. has several other assets. Air Defense brigades have both the Hawk missile and the new Patriot. Artillery brigades employ the powerful M110A2 8 inch howitzers, in addition to full MLRS battalions, and M109A3 artillery unit with binary chemical weapons (using charm attack). U.S. tactical air is one of the most critical aspects of the game and can be employed in depth throughout the battlefield. The E-3 AWACS (also employed by other NATO powers) and EF-111A Raven can use jamming (stealth) and electronic warfare (charm) to degrade enemy formations. F-111 fighter-bombers can strike deep targets like rocket artillery, rail lines, and reinforcements. The unrivaled F-15 can perform air superiority missions and the F-16 can both match enemy aircraft and interdict armored units. Wild Weasel Phantom squadrons are mobile units and able to stealth attack air defense targets. The A-10 Warthog is a monster at close air support. Although limited in range, its attacks can crush armored units with lethal bombardment. Finally, the Americans have secretly deployed their three F-117 stealth fighter squadrons to the combat zone. Difficult to intercept, they can strike like ghosts against critical targets. As the U.S. player, you have to carefully disperse and deploy your air assets to use them to their greatest effect while protecting them from counterattack.

Continued from previous post...

CENTAG is supported by I and II French Corps which deploy from the FRG and from France. Although French forces are not integrated into the NATO command structure, they do have plans to join the allied forces in the event of war. As covered in earlier posts, French divisions are smaller and have older equipment, especially the AMX-30 tanks. I haven't seen any evidence of France having brigade HQs, but surely some command echelon existed between the division and the individual regiments underneath. In game terms, there are two major combat units per division, one represented by an AMX-30 tank and one by an AMX-10P personnel carrier. The light divisions are single units. Corps assets include SP artillery, engineers, Roland air defense, and Gazelle attack helicopters. The French also have a great deal of effective tactical air including the newer Mirage 2000C and Mirage F1, as well as proven air units like the Mirage III and the Jaguar.

Although they are not part of the command structure of AFCENT, expect the AI Italians, Portuguese, and Spanish to move to the scene. They take about a dozen turns to arrive at the front, and usually meet the advancing Soviets in France (Spain and Portugal have retaken Paris numerous times in test games). In the real world, much of these forces probably would have stayed home to guard their own borders. In the game, though, Austria, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia all have immobile units and fortifications across all their borders. These control measures are made so that neither alliance can enter the territory of these countries without declaring war. In this way, if you want to cut through the short way, you are going to have to fight for it. The bonus for Italy is that their borders are pretty secure and they can afford to send lots of units around through France and into Germany to fight.

Beyond the forces stationed in Europe, NATO is supported by U.S. units that deploy across the Atlantic. As we know, the Civ III AI is not reknown for its prowess in waging intercontinental wars. Therefore, history will be combined with Civ rules to implement Operation REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany). Five U.S. divisions, along with an Armored Cavalry Regiment and III Corps assets, are slated for REFORGER. The troops would fly by chartered aircraft and meet up with equipment stored at POMCUS sites (Prepositioned material). They then draw the equipment and head to the front. In game, the REFORGER units are immobile combat units with the airlift command. The Americans have two 'cities' in Europe, POMCUS Netherlands (which include the sites in Belgium and NW Germany), and Ramstein AFB, which is an amalgam that includes many of the air force bases and headquarters in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. Both cities have POMCUS wonders that act as airbases (veteran air flag) and barracks (veteran ground flag). The immobile US forces airlift from their posts back home in one turn, and then upgrade the following turn, and thus each unit can be combat-ready in two days. Each post in the U.S. can airlift one unit per day. The AI does this very effectively. In addition, the computer will often airlift to the area that is threatened most that turn, and thus there is a good random element of where they end up. The immobile units still have their normal fighting stats, so they can defend themselves in the turn before they upgrade.

Of course, the AI has many superpowers not available to mere mortals. This includes the ability to airlift anywhere, even if there is no 'airport' at the receiving end (just like they can rebase air units without the rebase command and sacrifice foreign units that don't have the sacrifice command). So there is the risk of the AI rebasing to a city without a barracks, which would leave the immobile units stranded. This problem is being addressed carefully. A few places, such as Munich and Prague, which repeatedly are captured by the Americans in test games, have preplaced barracks. Sometimes immobile units get stuck in Iceland, but then rebase again on subsequent turns to the continent. Overall, however, the method works well. The U.S. maintains an "Empire of bases", with city-bases in Reykjavik, Gander in Newfoundland, the Azores, and Rota, Spain. These cities help the AI deploy more air units to Europe just as they would in the real world. They also provide start points for naval units and Marine Expeditionary Units, but more on that when we talk about naval warfare. The U.S. also has regular airbases all over the place, including Italy, Britain, Greece, Turkey, and Germany. The computer will use these to rebase air units.

Overall, NATO forces may be outnumbered but will put forward a respectable defense, even in the hands of the computer. Although the Civ III AI may not be as an effective opponent to the human player as WOPR or skynet, it has proven at least capable of reinforcing the battle to provide a challenge to Warsaw Pact players and some support to NATO players.

Just checking in to see the progress of this mod, hopefully it's still being developed?

Hi, Armoredking. The game is definitely still in the works. It's been a busy summer with lots of muy importante stuff going on at work and home that had to take priority. Plus, after 3 1/2 years of non-stop Civ III modding, a short break was probably a good thing. Mostly just some text work has been done lately, especially in the muddled depths of the Diplomacy text file. This should be changing real soon and I can get back to graphics work.

But hey, why write about it when it can be previewed? Like Delta Strife's new Iroquois destroyers steaming through the Gulf of St. Lawrence:

There will be some more blurbs about different aspects of the game coming up. I'm glad I've held off on these since things are still changing. Expect to see one about the Balkans and Turkey, and then we'll hit on the naval war, marine warfare, and how missiles and aircraft will work at sea.

During the main development phase before the crash (2011-2012) I did a bunch of test games after adding units to the map. These were basically checks to make sure there were no crashes, and that all the graphics worked and to check AI behavior. After doing more graphics work (which is ongoing) and fixing the crash issue, I've been back at testing again. This time, it was to determine the existance of deep bugs (the kind that crash the game 30 turns in), in-between turn times, and the pace of the game especially in regards to technology and most of all city production.

The turns times have really gotten slashed, although they will depend on how much time you spend watching battles and what nation you play. It's really interesting how the trade network affects these turn times. We know that trade buildings slow the game dramatically, but the number of trade buildings is just as crucial. By dropping from say, 18 to 12 trade buildings total on the map can take 15 minutes off each IBT time. Also, a bunch of immobile units (especially from Yugoslavia, Austria, and the Swiss) are now mobile, which removed about 15 minutes of waiting each turn. There's still two big groups of US immobile units: the REFORGER units which are gone in the first 5 or 6 turns, and the upgradeable Pacific units. In a game with combat animations turned off, turn one clocked in at 40 min (half of that the Americans), and by turn 5 was at 15 minutes. A big improvement but not good enough. I hate to remove the upgradeable Pacific reinforcements, but I'll try it in a test to see how it helps. Trying to make the game as playable as possible without crippling it.

Production was way too fast so there is a whole new model for unit costs that's being implemented. The end result is still unrealistic (3000 guys can't be trained for combat readiness in a week) but it will help the pace of the game. The main goal, in terms of game play, is to reflect the reality of modern war that production cannot keep up with losses. Once the initial big battles of the first 20-30 turns are over, you are going to have to marshal your forces. This is where the player can really stick it to the AI, who is helpess in consolidating its efforts. I'm very happy with the way this is playing out.

There are numerous tweaks going on to prevent sub-bugs and other hiccups, but the game still has a lot of randomness so far. One change involves air units with lethal bombard. The number of units with this ability will be limited even more, and the ability will be based on Precision-guided munitions. Basically, only the most modern aircraft with PGM can eliminate ground units, signifying their ability to not only destroy vehicles, but also destroy the enemy's ability to effectively communicate and coordinate their actions. This should help the Soviet especially, who will still get hammered by NATO aircraft but won't have stacks of units disappearing between turns.

I made a bunch of changes to marine units that really made them much better. More on this after some more testing. I watched the AI Americans declare war on Cuba and then bungle a very large amphibious invasion (Havana barely held on). Events like this can change the whole balance in central Europe. I've also been trying to cut down NATO arctic invasions of the Soviet Union which the computer loved to make. Watching multiple divisions overrun Novaya Zemlya and then sit there for the rest of the game isn't helping anyone.

Anyway, it's been a real education in guiding the AI. Wrangling, more like it. It's like roping cattle.

Glad to hear you didn't just give up! You know I am a fan. At some point I would love to get all the tweaks you did to help performance - I know we were tossing around hypotheticals, would be interesting to see which of those held water, and which didn't and what else you've learned.

The less trade buildings is interesting. I don't know how one would restrict that in a mod. In a scenario, you can simply preplace the ones you want in the game, and make them nonbuildable, and pray to the Gods they never get destroyed - but in a mod... I just don't know. You could restrict it to 1 per civ by making them Small Wonders, but then that would do no good to your island cities.

And I totally agree with not releasing info until after it is all worked out. I've revised all my mods countless times, at this point I will mostly stay silent about them unless there is a need to do otherwise.

Anyways, can't wait to test out this beast.

Anthony, I´m very happy about the progress you are making with that very interesting scenario.

Gojira54, CCM uses restrictions to the trade-net for mods with random maps and in the next version of CCM this methode will be somewhat refined. I will write something about it as a reply to Anthony´s post at the SOC site.

A new, updated version of the timeline is now in Post 1. This is the version that appears in the Civilopedia. There are a number of sections in the Concepts section of the civilopedia that will be linked right from the start for players to check. Some sections will explain working concepts of the game like naval warfare, transportation options, missile attacks, and so on to easily familiarize the player. Other sections will talk about organizations and weapons, and other peripheral topics that aren't as essential to game play.

Edit: Also a new map in post 2.

Anthony, it´s a pitty, that nobody replied to your post. It seems next to nobody realizes, that this scenario has the potential to become the most impressive and greatest scenario of modern warfare ever done not only for Civ 3, but for the complete Civ series.

I'm still lurking, and I'm also still very excited to see how this turns out. I really appreciate the amount of time and effort that goes into a scenario of epic proportions such as this.

Thank you, guys. Blue, I'm not too worried about responses. Mainly the posts are meant to let people know that work continues and hopefully there will be some interest even after the long development. Also, it's just some behind-the-scenes on how things are set up and the reasoning behind it.

On a positive note: I have a little side project that I work on from time to time. It doesn't have all the interface graphics and text commitments so it just helps to keep things fresh. Anyway, in that game I recently made a bunch of adjustments to reduce game speed which were very effective. Turns times dropped from 30-45 minutes down to 15, and then down to 5. I am hoping that some of these developments can be transferred over to the WWIII game.

For example, right now there is a stack of immobile US units from the Pacific that can be upgraded with the right technology. But in this game, I am not fighting for space in the number of buildings, so I realized that I could make a large number of buildings that autoproduce. You discover the right tech, unlocking a strategic resource, and bam, there are the reinforcements at the appropriate time. The only drawback is that they won't be individually named, but it will remove about 40 immobile scrubs from the battlefield.

Anthony, what is the unit that could be seen right of Belfast? British Modern Infantry?

.....

Very promising! If you need anything, pm me.

Beautiful Work Tony!... Other than the the tremendous amount of work required to make a Great Scenario/MOD, I absolutely understand the difficulties concerning the AI for Game Play.

I am very happy to see such Fine Work continue for this Scenario.

Game Play adjustments and Testing is indeed a chore but when successful, Happiness abounds

Looking fantastic, as I fully expect it to! When you are ready for some part time playtesting, let me know, you know I am very interested in this mod.

Anything in particular you need in the naval department?