Beta 1.0: Moff's La Grande Guerre

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Welcome to my scenario Beta testing of Moff's La Grande Guerre. This scenario depicts my interpretation of WW1 using the Civ3 Conquests game engine. Feel free to play and provide feedback to me on your likes and dislikes with this scenario. There may be some bugs and if you find any be sure to report back here so I can fix them.

A word about warfare in this scenario. Land units can move much faster than you might be accustomed to. To compensate I've raised the terrain movement costs but you can still cover a lot of ground. That is until Trench Warfare Doctrine is discovered. Also present in this scenario is the debut of the aeroplane. At first these aircraft were use only for spotting and reconnaissance purposes but later they were quickly transformed into somewhat effective combat units. The naval combat system is quite different than what you are accustomed to. I've purposely limited bombardment to dreadnoughts and subs. Dreadnoughts because given the map scale these are the only ships that can project their firepower over distance. Subs because I wanted to show the lethality of torpedo attacks when a sub is safely hidden. A full frontal assault by a submarine will lead to a destroyed submarine so don't try to attack directly.

Beta 1.01 update! Fixes include unit ini files that had incorrect flc references, added more unit sounds, refined governments, isolated faction buildings to their respective owners, beefed up the defenses of Venice, Trieste, Lemberg, Tarnopol, Mainz, Strassbourg, and Metz to prevent premature Ai capture, balanced unit costs, and made PediaIcons.txt file C3C compatible. You will need to download the main files and the biqs to play the new version. Old version Beta 1.0 removed after 6 dl's, old biqs removed after 11 dl's. Beta 1.01 removed after 4 dl's and old 1.01 biq removed after 9 dl's.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Designers Notes:

Some observations during my play testing as Germany. The AI France builds armies and populates them with it's full complement of troops. Some of my cities have even been attacked by AI armies! I have seen Russia and France build field artillery units and escort them into battle with ground troops. They will even shell your troops whether they are out in the open or in a city. The AI only seems to do this however on tiles/cities it deems important to attack. This is the most I've seen the AI use artillery the way a human player would.


Land Power


You will notice that there are quite a few of what seem to be the same troop type that you can build. That is done on purpose and is geared towards my planned PBEM version of this scenario. Infantry come in 4 basic flavors: Mobilized, Recruit, Active, and Veteran. In addition there are Guard units that are auto-produced by some nations and built by others. There are also mountain troops, marines, and cavalry.

Mobilized = cheap units that can be raised quickly but do not have any training thus making them unsuitable for front-line duty other than in dire emergencies. Use these guys mostly for garrison duty.

Recruit = troops that have had basic training but no combat experience. These guys can hold the line better than mobilized troops but still won't last long against a determined effort.

Active = troops that have had basic training and some combat experience. Best use as a decent defense unit or to hold the line in critical areas. They can even switch over to the offensive against a weak enemy.

Veteran = The cream of the crop. Battle hardened and packing a decent punch these guys can take and hold ground. They are not cheap however both in terms of shields required to produce and population costs.

Guards = The elite. Germany, France, and Austria-Hungary cannot build them. Rather they are auto-produced depending on having the right building in a city. Some cities already have the required building in place at start.

Mountain Troops = the only unit, other than workers, Entente Mountain Guns, and combat engineers that can enter mountain tiles. Mountain troops enjoy reduced movement points required to enter hills and mountains.

Marines = The only unit in game that can assault a tile directly out of a sea transport ship. ‘Nuff said.

Cavalry = While not particularly powerful on the offense cavalry has high speed and the radar ability. Use them to pillage tiles behind the lines or for scouting purposes. Most cavalry can also act as emergency defenders although they are not as good as some other units for defense. Can also detect invisible.

Artillery = all bombardment capable artillery in game has the blitz ability and a movement of 2. Collateral damage is also caused against city tiles. The artillery are not inexpensive but a must have for the WW1 battlefield.

Counter Battery Guns = have stealth ability against enemy artillery that tries to hide in stacks.

Workers = basic workers that can construct anything other than trenches and barbed wire.

Combat Engineers = workers that can only build trenches and barbed wire. These guys are lightly armed and if the situation is desperate can be used to hold the line.

Spies = use these auto-produced units to pillage behind the lines and capture enemy workers. Has the invisibility ability.

Upon the discovery of Trench Warfare Doctrine Combat Engineers appear as well as improved versions of infantry. These engineers and improved infantry can dig trenches and the engineers can also create barbed wire. The improved infantry also has the defensive bombardment ability making attackers think twice before assaulting entrenched units. All improved infantry also have limited anti aircraft capabilities. There are no Flak units in this scenario.


Sea Power

Dreadnoughts = At the beginning of the 20th Century Dreadnoughts were the penultimate weapons system a nation could possess on par with modern day Intercontinental Nuclear Missiles. A nation that had a fleet of Dreadnoughts was a nation that was feared. The main armament on Dreadnoughts and Pr-dreadnoughts are so powerful that they can pierce the thickest armor over long distances. (i.e. bombard range = 1) No other surface ship can project this kind of power over distance. The only drawback of these ships is that they are not very fast.

Pre-dreadnoughts = Pre-dreadnoughts were the forerunners of the Dreadnought and appeared at the tail end of the 19th Century. These prehistoric monsters were still in service at the outbreak of the Great War. Although not as powerful as Dreadnoughts, Pr-dreadnought can still project firepower at range and do significant damage to enemy fleets. These ships are also less costly to produce than Dreadnoughts. The only drawback of these ships is that they are not very fast.

Armored Cruisers = These medium sized vessels are equipped with decent armor and firepower but in no way are as powerful as their Dreadnought cousins. Use Armored Cruisers to protect your stack of Dreadnoughts. Armored Cruisers provide defensive fire whenever a stack is attacked directly by enemy ships. The only drawback of these ships is that they are not very fast.

Light Cruisers = Fast medium sized ships that provide defensive bombardment benefits to stacks under direct attack. Light cruisers will not survive for very long against it’s bigger opponents. Firepower is sufficient for dispatching lightly armed ships but are virtually ineffective against the big ships. Use Light Cruisers as fast patrol vessels, backup sub killers (need to work with Destroyers in this role), or troopship killer.

Destroyers = These small warships are best used as sub hunters. Destroyers have the detect invisible capability and possess great speed and are inexpensive to build. With no defensive bombardment ability the only reason to have a Destroyer in a stack is to provide submarine detection.

Submarines = These underwater vessels were not new by the time the Great War broke out. Submarines up until World War 1 were not used in great numbers but they were in great use by the second year of the Great War. With the invisible ability and bombard range up to 1 square away no enemy stands a chance against submarines. Do not however use subs in direct attacks against enemy shipping unless you have a guaranteed chance of winning.

Troopships = Can transport up to 3 land units across the seas and oceans.


I will write more on air warfare once I see how these units fare during play-testing.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Screenshots!

Screenshots removed. Please visit officially released scenario thread. Link in signature...

 

[tom2050]

Sounds interesting, I'll definitely check it out and let you know how it goes!

 

[Ozymandias]

Sounds interesting, I'll definitely check it out and let you know how it goes!

Ditto It sounds as though you've internalized/incorporated all the right "tricks".

Best Regards,

Oz

 

[Tigranes]

Waw! I wish I had a better Internet connection right now... We moved to another state and lots of things still need to be sorted out..

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I've added a multiplayer/hotseat/PBEM version of the biq in the first post above.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Hey guys,

Has anyone had a chance to play my scenario yet? I'm anxiously awaiting feedback for any improvements or just a pat on the back. Please don't let my 4 months of work be for naught.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I've provided an updated PediaIcons.txt file in the first post. This should address the failure to load scenario issues that some of you may have been having. Thanks to Cyc and Bowsling for helping troubleshoot this problem.

 

[Kyriakos]

I hope you get the playtesters you need Unfortunately i cannot help in this sector...

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Added Sea Power guide to post two above. Still have not play tested the air warfare yet but will report soon. Also note that I've added some screenshots to post 3.

I plan on releasing Beta 1.01 soon. This new version will have many improvements and bugfixes that I have found so far. Beta 1.01 released!

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

New version Beta 1.01 added in first post. Replaces Beta 1.0.

 

[Ozymandias]

New version Beta 1.01 added in first post. Replaces Beta 1.0.

d/l-ing

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Hi all,

Just a quick update. I'm planning on releasing the full version of this scenario this week. Right now I've play-tested by myself and seem to have worked out most of the bugs. I can make it to 1916 on the tech tree with no issues in my current game as the Italians. The features I put in with the units is WAD as well. Could use some feedback on AI use of the units but this can wait until the full version is released.

All I need to do now is a few pedia entries and install a few more pcx's. I'm using a lot of city designs from Kyriakos and they look good in game. I know Civ5 is almost here and interest in anything Civ3 will probably disappear but I am determined to see this project to the end. IMHO C3C is the best in the series and always will be in my heart.

 

[Ozymandias]

Hi all,

Just a quick update. I'm planning on releasing the full version of this scenario this week. Right now I've play-tested by myself and seem to have worked out most of the bugs. I can make it to 1916 on the tech tree with no issues in my current game as the Italians. The features I put in with the units is WAD as well. Could use some feedback on AI use of the units but this can wait until the full version is released.

All I need to do now is a few pedia entries and install a few more pcx's. I'm using a lot of city designs from Kyriakos and they look good in game. I know Civ5 is almost here and interest in anything Civ3 will probably disappear but I am determined to see this project to the end. IMHO C3C is the best in the series and always will be in my heart.

Sorry, but that was the received wisdom on Civ4 as well.

,

Oz

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Yeah I remember that time well. Colleagues of mine here at C3C land would comment on how they were going to lose a lot of players because Civ4 was imminent. What a joke launch week was for Civ4 with all it's abysmal performance issues. I'm hoping Civ5 delivers but I won't be disappointed if it doesn't.

At any rate C3C will always be on my hard drive and I'll always play with her.


Back on topic. I put together a lot of those pcx's for the leader/advisors. Now I have to read Vuldacon's how to make a static leader flic and make a few of those.

 

[Kyriakos]

I will probably have uploaded the russian set in the beginning of next month

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I will probably have uploaded the russian set in the beginning of next month

Awesomes!!! Can't wait to see that set. You should see how nice your British and Greek cities look in my scenario. I also have an Ottoman city set you redid for I can't remember the name of the original author.

 

[Kyriakos]

Since i won't be making a new ottoman set, you might want to use the medieval arabian one for the muslim civs. The fort is medieval, but i suspect they didnt have up to date forts anyway.
The blue ottoman set imo doesnt really go well with the new series of sets

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

...you might want to use the medieval arabian one for the muslim civs.

Good idea. I'll put it into my game tonight when I get home and see how they look.