NEW - Spanish Civil War ToTPP v2.0

[McMonkey]

Thanks for the feedback Voltar. I'm really happy to hear you got so much enjoyment out of it. I always intended it to be insanely difficult and I had to replay it several times myself to even get to a marginal victory. It does get a little easier each time, knowing when and where enemy offensives will be launched. Historically the Republicans were always doomed so I have no issues with it being so tough. It is very satisfying when you finally best the Nationalists!

With such a large and complex scenario it was always difficult to get everything balanced just right. It seemed that every change I made had unforeseen consequences further into the scenario. In the end I went with the best gameplay balance I could find.

I must say that I didn't have nearly as much trouble with the Italian subs as you seem to have had. Without giving away too much the key is to find the route that works the best and concentrating all air and naval resources available on protecting that one. Spread out and your transports are easy pickings!

Seville is an issue I would like to solve. The problem is that without the move unit events that create the Seville stronghold the Army of Africa never advanced on Madrid from the south. On balance I decided that it was better to have the vital march to Madrid offensive with fortress Seville as a consequence. Having a large Nationalist army surrounded and under siege in Seville at the end of the game is not historically unrealistic so until I can come up with a good solution I will keep things as they are.

I agree with you about JUSTONCE for counter attacks. Should have done that originally. Still, it is a good incentive to hang on to your gains

 

[Strelok22]

Still have not converted to ToTPP to play this ... but for whoever is in for it. Consider using this as musical background:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_v8bs7zhSE&nohtml5=False

 

[CurtSibling]

You know you can copy and paste the entire Civ ToT directory and have a seperate ToTPP installation, right?

 

[McMonkey]

Great music Strelok. Perfect soundtrack for a game of SCW. As Curt says, create a separate folder for ToTPP.

 

[Fairline]

Finally got round to playing this properly now that I'm and running again. Congratulations Drew, this is a fantastic scenario! It's initially quite a daunting prospect, given the size of map and number of units, but once I got my bearings these both proved to be great strengths. I love a large-scale detailed campaign-type scenario like this.

The use of text boxes throughout the scen are hugely informative and also serve to nicely set the historical scene. The reliance on events and convoys for materiel is excellent and nail-biting, the choice and variety of units is good. One thought regarding the units: the main fighter aircraft for the Nationalists was the CR32 - should you include one? Events are good and seem to b e firing fine and helping keep the Nationalist advance pressing me back north.

A couple of minor quibbles / observations: the casualty list isn't cleared at the scenario start. I love the use of the text labels for geographical features and regions, but I think they'd be a little less obtrusive if they were grey rather than white imho. I'm not keen on the use of roundels on the Republican aircraft, and I've reverted to historical paint schemes on my copy of the units. I've also tweaked some of the infantry where you had pasted a trubia helmet at a jaunty and rather odd perch atop their heads Personally I think the unit health bar is way too large and obtrusive, and I have switched to Curt's excellent health bar shield in my units file.

In fact I'm having so much fun with the scenario that I inevitably started unit tweaking; I've added an armoured Hispano-Suiza truck, changed several of the aircraft and a few other bits and bobs. I'll post my copy if any one is interested in using them.

Top work on a fantastic and fun scenario Drew

Now back to defending Madrid and the Ebro from the fascist hordes. '¡No pasarán!

 

[McMonkey]

Gareth,

I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying SCW. Your units were one of the major factors that drove me on to complete this project, alongside a desire to realise Pablostuka's vision.

I like the tweaks and will include them in the next update. I agree about the Nationalist CR-32 and will slot it in, perhaps instead of the Ca.133. I put the roundels on to help with identification but I agree that they're historically inaccurate and will leave them off for the next update. I will put the casualty list issue on the TO DO list (does anyone know how to clear this?).

Personally I prefer the larger health bar on the zoom I use but it is easy enough to swap over and players are free to customise their graphics files to suit their personal taste.

I was pleased with how this scenario turned out. There are a few issues I would like to revisit and address, but all in all it works well, is fun to play and challenging and each attempt can give you a week or so of good play. The transition from a rabble of militia to a professional army with elite infantry units, air support and armoured forces gives the scenario an element of the empire builder along with the strong wargame campaign.

I'm hoping to use a lot of the lessons learned from this scenario in Yugoslav Partisans which will have a similar theme, developing a scattered group of Partisan Detachments into the Yugoslav Army, surviving major Axis sweeps, capturing towns and cities to gain equipment and ultimately evolving from a hit and run guerilla campaign into full blown conventional warfare. Once again the excellent units available are a constant source of inspiration. Cheers!

 

[gapetit]

Completely agree with Fairline in McMonkey adapting. I missed new Fairline's units, but that Hispano-Suiza has left me speechless ... MM and F.
And I'm looking forward to the McMonkey's scenario of Yugoslavia with Fairline units.

 

[Tanelorn]

Great work Fairline!

 

[McMonkey]

I have just started listening to Anthony Beevor's Battle of Spain on audiobook (I read the book several years ago & loved it) and it has got me thinking about making some minor adjustments to this scenario (especially the events) and having another go as a PBEM if anyone is interested. Having played several times as the Republicans in single player I would love to give it a try as the Nationalists. I would need to cut down the number of reinforcements for that faction quite drastically as the current numbers are designed for the generally hopeless AI. If anyone is interested please let me know.

 

[techumseh]

Yes, I am.

 

[McMonkey]

Fantastic. I'm just finishing a night shift so will get back to you this afternoon to discuss ideas for alterations. I'm not thinking of anything major, just a balancing of events, mostly by deleting & reducing some of the Nationalist reinforcements. However, I will be happy to listen to any suggestions you have.

 

[McMonkey]

I'm going through the events and working out which ones to delete. I'll then tally up the units & adjust for their potency & see how balanced things look. In the beginning the Republicans should have the numbers while the Nationalists have the quality. As the war progresses this will balance out somewhat. Hopefully I can find a balance that is relatively historically accurate but still fun to play & will give both sides a fighting chance. Any ideas you may have would e most welcome.

 

[McMonkey]

I'd forgotten just how much help I had given the Nationalists. I'm really going to have to decimate them in the events. Thankfully it's just going to be a case of deleting certain events & reducing the unit numbers in others. I'll try and get as much as I can planned out tonight. It could well be a few days before we can get going. This should give you some time to plan your strategy for crushing the rebellion

 

[McMonkey]

I'm going through the events, section by section, making alterations. Fortunately, I made them well noted & organised in the first place which aids in this process.

So far I have removed all Move Unit events (Section 5), Reduced all Rebel Stronghold (6a) counts down to one and removed all such events from all but key cities. I think we can keep the Republican Majorca landings as they are (4a) but I'm wondering if we should reduce the number of Italian Submarines in Naval events (4). Currently, there will be 24 by turn 14 and also a 1/8 random chance event. They also regenerate with a delay of 3 if sunk. Historically Italy deployed 26 Legionarii Class with six on patrol at any one time.

The Republicans start with 14 Destroyers, get three more at turn 16 as well as a 1/8 chance event throughout. They will also be able to use air units from Minorca to hunt enemy subs. Perhaps if I reduce the number of Italian subs to 18 things will be better balanced?

 

[McMonkey]

I think the Republican Reinforcements are well balanced, most being created in 'Odessa' & having to run the gauntlet of Italian Subs & Nationalist aviation to reach Republican ports. I'm going to try and replicate this approach with the Nationalist reinforcements, instead of having them just spawn near the front. I will also reduce their numbers significantly.

 

[McMonkey]

Tech,
It might take me a week or two to get these events changed. It's a bigger job than I anticipated. I really did have to do a lot of AI propping up. I think it will be worth the wait. I had some excellent games of Pablostuka's original versus Jerec years ago.

 

[techumseh]

I imagine that certain Republican functions, such as Soviet supply ships, will have to be automated?

 

[McMonkey]

How do you mean automated? Currently they are event created but sailed by the player from Odessa (representing Russian ports on the Black Sea) to Barcelona, Valencia or Cartagena, if they manage to make it past the Italian subs & Nationalist aircraft.

 

[techumseh]

Single-player as the Nationalists, right? If you use 'MoveUnit' events to get the supply ships to the right port, I suspect a human Nationalist player would find them pretty predictable and easy pickings. How will the AI know to drop off its cargo and then attack the Anarchist port unit?

The Nationalist airlift from Morocco is also one the AI will be unable to manage.

By 'automated', I mean using randomized events to replace these mechanics.

 

[McMonkey]

I'm not making it a single player game though. I'm converting it for a two-player PBEM. Perhaps in the future I will make it playable for the Nationalists, but that will be a BIG job.

You do raise a good point about the predictability of the shipments. It was one thing to outfox the AI, but against a human player things will be much tougher. I'll have to give this some serious thought. A successful tactic versus the Soviet supply ships will doom the Republicans. Probably the best solution is a drastic reduction in the number of Italian submarines & a randomization of the ships starting locations. Perhaps several Odessa's on the eastern edge.