D-Day Scenario Preview (and a bit of help, please)

[BC Horizon]

I have tried my hand at scenario creation in the past, with mixed results. Finally, I decided to sit down and make a quality scenario that I could be proud of. This D-Day scenario is the culmination of quite a bit of work.

For those of you wondering what I need help with, skip to the bottom.

First, I shall give you a basic synopsis:

This scenario is made on a pre-made map I found of France and Southern England. There are two civilizations only, the Germans and the Allies. This scenario can be played as either, though, if you ask me, playing as the Germans is far too easy. Thus, I recommend the allied side only.

I'm sure everyone who would download such a scenario is familiar with D-Day and WWII in general, so I see no need to explain in great detail the plot. There are many fine websites that you could peruse if you are not familiar with the subject matter.

At the beginning of the scenario, the Germans control France and the Channel Islands, the Allies, nothing but Southern England. The Allied Cities have a substantial garrison force, in addition to the American, British, and Canadian forces waiting to be put ashore on the beaches of Normandy. The Germans have an extensive fleet of U-Boats and other warships, but I have, luckily for you, placed most of them in Lorient, out of reach of the invasion force for at least the first few turns. This is not to say you do not have to watch out for the Kriegsmarine, but as the Allies move first, you have a turn to land the 1st US and 2nd British Armies and let the USAAF and RAF pound the German Fortifications. There are some US Battleships and British Cruisers to lend fire support, but be careful. Shore bombardment, as we all know, eats into your HP, and the Kriegsmarine will soon arrive. German land forces consist mainly of fortifications and blockhouses scattered throughout the French countryside, and the Wehrmacht occupying cities. There is a substantial amount of infantry (SS, Heer, and some isolated Volksturm--I know it's their home guard, but they are few and far between, so don't whine), with the bulk of the armour arriving after a few turns--most lies in the far east of France. The Luftwaffe will play a substantial role in later turns, but there was a problem with it eating into the invasion army too early in, so I took it out. The events file and natural AI building habits should replace it.

The Wonders and City improvements have changed in name only, merely because I get home too late to worry about minute details that really don't matter too much in a War Scenario. Their pictures have mostly been changed, though. That's something, at least.

For those curious, these are the units:

For the allies, we have: UK Infantry, UK Marines, Canadian Infantry, UK Airborne, US Infantry, US Airborne, US Anti-Tank Infantry, Free French Infantry, Free Polish Infantry, French Resistance, Allied AA Gun, US Flame Throwers, Allied General, US Sherman, US Jeep, US M-26, UK Churchill, UK Cromwell, British Spy, RAF Spitfire, RAF Hurricane, RAF Blenheim, RAF Lancaster, Free French Squadron, Free Polish Squadron, USAAF P-51d, USAAF P-47, USAAF P-38, USAAF B-17. UK Battleship, US Battleship.

For the Germans: Wehrmacht, SS Truppen, SS Grenadiers, German Paras, German General, SS Garrison, German AA Gun, MG-34 Truppen, MG Emplacement, German AA Gun, 5cm Gun, Volksturm, Panzer V, Panzer IV, JagdPanzer 5, Stug III, Halftrack, German Spy, ME-109, FW-190, Ju-87b Stuka, He-111, Ju-88, Kriegsmarine Battleship, U-Boot.

For both: Workers, Blockhouse, Fortificiation, Destroyer, Cruiser, Landing Craft.


I may post some screenshots later, I'm not sure. There just aren't enough hours in the day.
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Now.... I've worked pretty well through the Rules file, and the Events went pretty well. What I really need help with is making the scenario advance turn by turn, but have the dates work out well. I was hoping to have it advance day by day, right from D-Day to two weeks after.

Any assistance on how to make this possible would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you.

 

[Alsbron QB]

in Labels.txt you should be able to find A.D and B.C.
(1) Change A.D. to "Day"
(2)Reload your scenario and go to the cheat menu
(3)Set the year interval to 1
(4)It should say "day 1" on the game bar were xx A.D. was.

I hope this helps and good luck with your scenario. Maybe I misunderstood you and if I did just tell me. Perhaps if I did then Yoshi can help you because he knows alot more about this than I do.

Hope that helps.

 

[BC Horizon]

Hm... That did help a little. It set it to day 1, right enough. But then it went to Day 20, and so on..... I'm not entirely sure how to solve that one.

Thanks, though.

 

[Arthedain]

Set the year interval to 1

In cheat menu/scenario parameters:
set "Turn year increasement" to 1
Good luck with this one, it sounds very interesting.

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

if the scenario will last no longer than 14 days, you could even set the precise date as starting year, year interval as 1, and alter the labels.txt to "June, 1944".

 

[yoshi]

For days within a month, do as MB said (note that if you want to change the month you can always use a batch file to overwrite the Labels.txt file with a new one that changes the date to the next month—have a text action tell the player to load the batch file on the appropriate turn—but keep in mind that the turn # is unaffected).


About the # of turns: if you go by days and have the scenario end two weeks after, it means that you will have a scenario of only 14 turns! (If you want a really short scenario, then don’t bother with the rest of this post.)

Have you considered using hours?

(Every two hours, specifically.)

In Labels.txt, replace the 12 ‘month’ values with the following (I’ll use MB’s ‘June 1944’ example):

12:00am, June
2:00am, June
4:00am, June
6:00am, June
8:00am, June
10:00am, June
12:00pm, June
2:00pm, June
4:00pm, June
6:00pm, June
8:00pm, June
10:00pm, June

Then, go into the Cheat menu/Scenario Parameters section and change the turn increment to -1 and the Starting Year to 12 (set the turn to 1 in Set Game Year—if it isn’t already).

Your game date should now read: ‘12:00am, June 1’

Note that if you want to add the year (1944) in addition to the month, you can open the Icons.gif file and replace the science progress indicator ‘beaker’ images with ’44. That way, your date will read: 12:00am, June 1 ’44.

If you do that, your game will last 168 turns—if you limit it to two weeks.

If you just wan the scenario to last longer but not THAT long, consider dividing days into two parts: AM and PM, for instance. Just set the turn increment to -6 and rename July and Jan to AM and PM respectively, thus your scenario will last 28 turns.

Basically, just mess with the turn increment using the technique outlined above until you get the desired total.


I don’t know what map size the scenario plays on (or the unit/city/terrain proportions) so this may not be an appropriate turn increment. Either way, you will probably have to adjust you units’ movement points (i.e. lower them) to fit the timeframe, particularly so in the case of ships which tend to have more MPs than land units. As for aircraft, it depends more on what kind of strategies used and which mode you’re playing in (judging by your first post, it is designed only for SP).

You should also consider an MP version. The D-Day invasions and the subsequent engagements offer a rich environment for tactics that the AI can only manage though the use of VERY creative events, if at all.

If you need help with other aspects of your scenario, just ask...since I’m kind of into WW2 scens anyway.

FYI:I posted something about the Normandy invasions in the Events Thread (my last two posts on page 2) if you’re interested.

 

[Mercator]

I see you realised there is no possible turn interval that would give you the 7 weekdays out of the 12 months...

You could work in 14 hour turns, though. 12 times 14h is 1 week (that would make two weeks last 24 turns).

 

[yoshi]

Heh, heh. I realised...but only after actually trying it (math is not my forte).

Twelve 14h chunks sounds okay.

Of course, BC could always just rename all Jan to "Turn," set the turn increment to -12 (date will always be the first month and turn # will change each turn), start the scenario at 1 and end it when he deems appropriate without being date-specific (i.e. the two weeks are implied but not specified). The date would then read: 'Turn 1.' Perhaps a few text pop-ups telling the player at what stage of the scenario he is at would be helpful in this case.

 

[yoshi]

Or, to keep with WW2 lingo: Replace Jan with 'D-Day + .' That way, the date will read 'D-Day + 1,' which is how the continuing operation is referred to in some documents.