OTR - JPetroski (Allies) vs. Prof Garfield (Axis)

[Prof. Garfield]

Downed a couple B-24s, chased some Stirlings across the map, killed at least one.

You have the events to make any changes you want.

 

[JPetroski]

Firing flak hasn't been too much yet, but I suppose it could be an issue if attacks are every turn. If you think it would save tedium, then I'll implement it at some point. It might just make more sense for the heavy flak to be reactive only.

Reactive only wouldn't be a bad idea but I didn't implement this yet.

The trouble is balancing attack and defence of all sea units, so that bombs aren't too good against ships, and task forces can't just annihilate anything on the shore. If you can find a good balance, make the change.

I'll have to play with the Battle Outcome Simulator and see what I can find.

As far as I understand, the Allies tended to limit the number of missions their pilots flew, so it would make sense for them to have fewer aces. However, it might make sense to make them more defensive, since the needs of the Allies are to protect bombers, rather than intercept intruders.

This is somewhat true but the Allies also considered an "Ace" to be anyone who shot down 5 fighters whereas Experten didn't raise eyebrows until they got to 40. Also, the Allies would share kills and had a much less hierarchical way of attacking (the flight leaders of Luftwaffe squadrons often wound up with the most kills as they would attack and their wingmen would cover them).

In any event, the Allied decision to rotate pilots back stateside for training roles had the effect of eventually making their air forces much more competent than the Germans who lacked solid trainers or fuel to fly training missions, anyway.

For now I've added in the potential for 10 Allied Aces, but I went ahead and made a caveat that the Allies have to have "Cadillac of the Skies" to get the American ones, in addition to also having many points. This should have the effect of allowing the Germans to have more Aces for much of the scenario, with the Allies seeing a surge late. So there's a potential for 5 RAF and 5 USAAF aces. Right now the USAAF has significantly more range, so early game the British ones shouldn't be too imbalancing, but at least give an option to tear some stuff up close to England.

As an FYI, the change gave me 2x Aces with my current point schedule.

If you think the Germans don't get enough I can always add in more for them / more frequently but between their 10 experten and the named pilots (as well as the cap of 5 prior to a very late tech for the Allies), I think they'll tend to have more in most games.

Perhaps reduce the reaction range to what it was, but increase the number of reactions possible. That way, if the fighter is not downed, it will continue to damage attacking units, and a couple together have the chance to get lucky for a kill. A large or unlimited number of reactions would mean that the fighters would have to be engaged first, contrary to my current strategy of mostly ignoring P-47s, or lots of stuff will get chewed up.

I reduced reaction range slightly - basically by one MP for most of the aircraft. I think I bumped it by 2-3 so hopefully this will be a balance. We'll see.

As for the game, I bombed a factory and RR near Tours, and a port at La Rochelle.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Attacked Boxted with a large quantity of modern fighter-bombers (and some other stuff), destroying the flak and about five planes on the ground. Lost 2 of the rocket equipped FW190s attacking bombers over France. Did some damage with other stuff, but didn't down much if anything.

 

[JPetroski]

Heavy fighting - we send several bombing raids and destroy railyards as well as a port. Many aircraft are shot down. 3x U-Boats sunk.

Also - not 100% clear if the bomber threshold is working as designed - I think it may only be counting B-17F.

 

[JPetroski]

Minor event change that does not delete V1 rockets per turn (they go so slow they're supposed to be intercepted, not deleted each turn).

 

[JPetroski]

Before I forget - I meant to ask you how you made it so that cities won't grown beyond size 1? It would be useful for other projects as I've noticed that aqueduct restrictions don't always seem to work for very small limits.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Lots of fighting in the air. Croydon airfield is attacked by Do335s and rocket equipped FW190s, and most units are destroyed (a B24 survives heavily damaged). Some fighting at night, also, but a number of planes are in cloud cover, so full forces are not brought into action.

Also - not 100% clear if the bomber threshold is working as designed - I think it may only be counting B-17F.

B26s were being counted instead of B24Js. Event fix is attached.

Before I forget - I meant to ask you how you made it so that cities won't grown beyond size 1? It would be useful for other projects as I've noticed that aqueduct restrictions don't always seem to work for very small limits.

Between turns (i.e. using the onTurn trigger) I set the food in each airfield at the lesser of the current quantity or 10. This way, a little food can be stored in event of a food shortage, but the city won't ever have a full box when it is processed.

 

[JPetroski]

Heavy fighting - bombers get through to Wilhelmshaven and destroy the industry. Railyards attacked but I can't recall if it is destroyed or not. U-Boats sunk. We note you have many fighter bombers and will have to do something about that!

RAF Bomber Command presses on!

Well I don't know how you feel about everything but at least the bombers are more survivable and it feels like you have half a chance of reaching target now, especially if you can get some forces distracted.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Downed the raid against Wilhelmshaven, chased RAF bombers across the night, downing a couple I believe.

Well I don't know how you feel about everything but at least the bombers are more survivable and it feels like you have half a chance of reaching target now, especially if you can get some forces distracted.

Yes, it seems better now. A few fighters can blunt the attack, but you need a lot of force to actually down most of the attackers. I suspect there is a useful strategy in weakening the bombers en route, then placing fighters over likely targets, in order to get actual kills via reaction, if you don't have overwhelming forces nearby.

 

[JPetroski]

Not much news - I make some jabo attacks but don't do much damage. I'm considering if we need a second damage schedule for fighters so they aren't quite as tough as bombers, or just remove the "hard to kill" from fighters. If we keep hard to kill I don't know that fighters will full HP should be reacting - it's a killing field.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

I thought you got rid of hard to kill for most fighters. I did lose several units attacking a P-47 group this turn (I think about half the P47s survived). It's a tough balance. If reaction is too weak, then it's kind of pointless. I'd be fine with changing it so that a fighter below 3 hp can't react (since it is kind of in 'survival mode' at that point), but I'm not so sure about preventing reactions if there is any damage to the plane.

I'm still of the opinion that we're better off shortening the reaction range to what it was before, but increasing the number of reactions. That way, fighters can't be ignored, but a handful of spread out units don't make 2-3 kills. I think there is something to say, however, for the position that it is the attacker's responsibility to bring enough forces to the attack, and not engage with only a couple units if the enemy has substantially more. After all, the attacker can scout the number of the enemy without drawing fire, and choose not to attack.

Bolt Head attacked by Do335s, and various other combat happened also. I got a convoy also.

 

[JPetroski]

10 or so jabo shot down, Wilhelmshaven port attacked but not destroyed.

I tweaked reactions in line with your thoughts, ramping up max attacks per unit but keeping the range pretty consisten among model types. I gave the Allies a slight advantage in range for their fighters (Spits 2, P-47 3, P-51 4) figuring that the Germans compensate by having a strong likelihood of having flak support the fighters, which is very unlikely for the Allies. Also, remember that jets don't draw reactions from most aircraft, and most German players are probably going to pursue jets, which are much less useful for the Allies.

canReact[unitAliases.Fw190A5.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allButJets}
canReact[unitAliases.Fw190A8.id] = {maxAttacks = 3, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allButJets}
canReact[unitAliases.Fw190D9.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allButJets}
canReact[unitAliases.Ta152.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.Ju88C.id] = {maxAttacks = 1, range = 1, sameMap = reactionGroups.allButJets}
canReact[unitAliases.Ju88G.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 1, sameMap = reactionGroups.allButJets}
canReact[unitAliases.He219.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 2, sameMap = reactionGroups.allButJets}

canReact[unitAliases.Me109G6.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allButJets}
canReact[unitAliases.Me109G14.id] = {maxAttacks = 3, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allButJets}
canReact[unitAliases.Me109K4.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allButJets}

canReact[unitAliases.He162.id] = {maxAttacks = 1, range = 4, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.Me262.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 4, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}

canReact[unitAliases.EgonMayer.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.HermannGraf.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.JosefPriller.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.hwSchnaufer.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.AdolfGalland.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 4, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.Experten.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}

--American tactical bombers (A20, B26, A26) are not intercepted. Their speed keeps them safe.
--The Ta152 and P-51D are important aircraft worth building. They can intercept jets.

--Allied fighters will attempt to intercept any German aircraft in range.
canReact[unitAliases.SpitfireIX.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.SpitfireXII.id] = {maxAttacks = 3, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.SpitfireXIV.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.HurricaneIV.id] = {maxAttacks = 1, range = 1, lowMap = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.Typhoon.id] = {maxAttacks = 1, range = 1, lowMap = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.Tempest.id] = {maxAttacks = 1, range = 2, lowMap = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.Beaufighter.id] = {maxAttacks = 1, range = 1, nightMap = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.MosquitoII.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 1, nightMap = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.MosquitoXIII.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 2, nightMap = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.P47D11.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.P47D25.id] = {maxAttacks = 3, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.P47D40.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 3, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.P38H.id] = {maxAttacks = 1, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.P38J.id] = {maxAttacks = 2, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.P38L.id] = {maxAttacks = 3, range = 2, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.P51B.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 4, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}
canReact[unitAliases.P51D.id] = {maxAttacks = 5, range = 4, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.RedTails.id] = {maxAttacks = 5, range = 5, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.Yak3.id] = {maxAttacks = 1, range = 1, lowMap = reactionGroups.canInterceptGerman}

canReact[unitAliases.RAFAce.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 4, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}
canReact[unitAliases.USAAFAce.id] = {maxAttacks = 4, range = 4, lowerAltitude = reactionGroups.allAir}

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Lost several units to the P47s that attacked my Do335s, before finally giving up. Downed I think 7 B24s elsewhere, and a couple Halfiaxes at night.

 

[JPetroski]

Railyards at Rouen are destroyed. An Experten is shot down.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Downed a B24.

 

[JPetroski]

Not much happened.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Attacked some B24s north of Denmark.

Would you object to increasing the Riot Factor (the thing that determines how much extra unhappiness comes from additional cities)? I find myself in the position of not wanting to build more airfields, since every time I do, I get a couple disorder notifications. If this is a deliberate mechanic, then I'll deal with it, but if it's an oversight, then I'd like to change it.

 

[JPetroski]

That's fine by me - I agree it is annoying. Out and about but ill play later.

 

[JPetroski]

We attacked some railyards but didn't destroy them. 1x U-Boat sunk. We tried a futile attack on Blohm & Voss but couldn't break through with the one bomber left. We are sending up a massive formation that should light up your radar and we'll see how many, if any, make it through the front door.

I also doubled the riot factor from 20 to 40. I'm not opposed to it being higher but I have no idea what the maximum is. I also made it so that the headquarters can't be built.

 

[JPetroski]

I found an unexpected bug:

The Me163 has a range of 20 spaces x 1 time in flight. This is the only unit that this should affect so I'm not against making it a direct attack unit if it can't easily be fixed in events.