additional campaign missions

Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 3:14 pm

just did a test run where I added two new missions to the tutorial SP campaign, and four new missions to the allied SP campaign.

now I'm hoping to figure out how to add more SP campaign interfaces-- which will hopefully enable the game to have a seperate campaign for each of the standard nations. or, conversely, would enable the creation of new campaigns to cover nations not originally included in the game.

adding missions was relatively easy-- just open up the file, copy the map data formula, rename the new entry to insert the desired map-- and then drag-and-drop the new map into the campaign folder in maps (this assumes everything has been extracted properly)... still tinkering with it a bit. if anybody else comes up with interesting tidbits to post here-- that's cool.

I've been researching a Chinese campaign, some new Italian missions, and adding more mission-maps to the other nations.

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 2:41 pm

Faction seperation may be a good idea. I always skipped missions with factions I didn't like (Japan).

I think Africa should play a major role in Italy's campaign and a mission where you have to beat the Germans int o Greece.

Obviously, the war starts in Asia.

I was also thinking about doing some basic French units as they would be featured only in the early missions. Therefore, one would not need to do the whole faction.

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 8:35 pm

the more I read about China's struggle with Japan the more obvious it becomes to me that the Nationalists and Communists need to be represented by two different factions. in WW2 mode they will necessarily be allies, but in campaign play I think it only logical that they would fight against each other AND Japan-- making the Chinese campaign missions potentially difficult to design, play, and win.

I was also reading up on the Italians and their involvement in World War II-- and I'm hoping to come up with some challenging games.

the Japanese campaign is kinda boring-- to be honest. you've got Australia, India, Midway, and Hawaii. a full EIGHT of the campaign missions for the Axis are devoted to Germany! they obviously put a good deal of thought into crafting a sem-coherent German campaign. many of these maps can be played from the Allied perspective. this is fun-- because you can try it from both sides and see new aspects of the game.

the Japanese campaign feels like an after-thought by comparison. the missions don't connect to each other in any meaningful way. to make matters worse they can only be played from the Japanese perspective-- so a certain amount of depth you can get out of the Allied and German campaign maps is missing.

I've been meaning to make a better Japanese campaign (one that include China, the Pacific Islands, and perhaps even a more ambitious Aleutians campaign than was historically possible)

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:49 am

Well, China had the Second United Front were Nationalists and Communists allied with one another. Although, since Mao captured Kai-shek to force him to fight against Japan, you could make that a special mission. The two really didn't go to war until after WWII.

Yeah, I always felt the same way about Japan's missions. They had no consistency.

I think factions should be seperated the more I think about it. I always hated being forced to play as another faction during the campaign, so I usually skipped the factions I didn't want to play as (Japan for example).

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 12:09 pm

I think one of the biggest problems with the Japanese missions is they START with the invasion of Australia. since it's taken as a given that the Battle of the Coral Sea was an Allied success-- wouldn't they need to preface the invasion of Australia with renewed attacks against New Guinea, the Solomons, and Samoa? before you can successfully invade you have to cut them off from the rest of the world to prevent reinforcements. (this is exactly why Japan invaded Burma-- to seal off China's last connection to the rest of the world)

for difficult missions in Europe you could play both sides-- see D-Day, for example. they didn't do this with Japan-- which takes a lot of depth out of the game-play. it would stand to reason that if there's a huge amount of blood-letting on a mission like Iwo Jima and Okinawa, that you could play for Japan as well.

given that 2/3rds of Japan's army was stationed in China for most of the war-- it seems a terrible over-sight to not have some missions that focus there.

then again, based on the popular histories and post-war American and Communist propaganda-- it's easy to think that the Nationalists didn't try fighting Japan. Stilwell's complaints that the Nationalists weren't trying to win seems to be based on the fact that they rarely launched offensives-- but without the improved logistics, weapons, and training any offensive was doomed to fail. the USA

considered China a backwater and had no interest in modernizing their army. once it became clear that the US could capture the Marianas islands and launch bombers from there-- China ceased to be important to the US approach to defeating Japan. most of the US aid that went to China was aimed at the American Volunteer Group and bombing sorties... Stilwell couldn't understand that the Chinese were not in a position to defeat the more advanced mechanized Japanese armies... the disparity in firepower and technology between China and Japan was always comparable to Japan versus the United States at the end of the war. I've revised my opinions of Stilwell's role in China after doing more research-- I think it was the right decision to replace him.

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 12:49 pm

I think the campaign needs more creative license. I mean one could make a very historically accurate campaign, but at some point, especially for non-historical missions, we need more creativity. I mean the Axis D-Day and stuff was interesting, but they would probably not have happened given operation sea lion's success (I foget which mission was first). For example, I think the Germans should get one or two more battles in Britian. The first would be Sea Lion and the occupation of southern England, another would be an invasion from Scadinavia and a third the taking of Edinburgh.

Japan should have a mission were they inavde the Phillipines too.

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 8:23 pm

for the most part, I haven't tinkered with the original campaign missions-- but somewhere in the last few weeks the Allied campaign became unplayable. not sure what happened. maybe TOO MANY things have been changed.

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 5:07 pm

And that's why we make backups, folks:)

Anyway, I was thinking about two missions I want to do for the Axis:

1. Warsaw Uprising: Rather than create a Polish faction, I'll just have them use Russian and stolen Germany stuff.

2. Operation Valkyrie: Defend Hitler in Berlin from the traitors.

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 11:12 pm

added a couple of new missions

Axis:

the Japanese conquest of Bataan
Assault on Corregidor

Allied

the defense of India (get to play the British side)

made some modifications to all the existing campaign missions-- but didn't plan on making TOO many changes on this version. I felt like the Japanese and British were a bit under-represented. most of the regular campaign maps have been changed to incorporate some of the new generals. for example in the "Fall of Bataan" map you'll have General Homma squaring off against General MacArthur. (same as for Corregidor). In the Defense of India you'll have three or four new generals all fighting each other (Slim, Kurita, and Okamura)

the mission "Operation SeaLion" has a lot of new generals like Air Marshal Harris for England-- and Admiral Raeder and Field Marshal Keitel for the German invasion force.

Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 12:48 pm

last night I was working on the Invasion of the Crimean Peninsula (3 vs Cool

map that I started last spring-- this was before my mod had been fleshed out more-- and it's interesting to see that what made for challenging game-play in the original map now makes it virtually impossible with the Gizmotron mod. the other thing I realized is that when you've got 8 sides fielding 25 to 50 regiments each things can get really crazy.

I had the basic land-mass set up-- and I was reviewing historical maps and satelite photographs to help put some finishing touches on the terrain. hoping I can post it online in a week or two.

the player act as Manstein with support from Wolfram von Richthofen (air support), and Kesselring standing in for the Romanian Mountain Corps. they'll be going up against a ton of Russian infantry and a naval assault force. (I wanted to include Isakov because he's the Russian admiral who did the most with amphibious landings and attacks)

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 2:30 pm

finally figured out how to create new campaigns... it was actually surprisingly easy. I was trying to figure it out through the GUI and was having no luck. then I thought, "why not just copy the whole campaign inside the existing .tgi file and give it another name?"

and it worked.

I'm just finished seperating the German and Japanese missions into two different campaigns.

I'll look into creating a seperate national campaign for every country as the weekend progresses. what I'm hoping for is that I can make a seperate campaign for every faction theoretically available.

China
Great Britain
Germany
Italy
Japan
Russia
United States

and so on.

right now I'm just using generic buttons-- but what I'd like to do is create nation-specific campaign buttons--

pretty happy about finally cracking this one.

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 5:04 pm

Don't forget France.

Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:25 pm

does anybody out there have some map ideas or suggestions to use for a campaign?

I'd even be willing to accept ready made maps for use in future campaigns (although if they don't have objectives I will feel obligated to add them in).

of particular interest would be new Japanese-based maps (because the existing campaign was just so half-baked!)

since I'll be creating a new campaign for each nation it becomes more important to add new missions for each country. some nations (like the US and Germany) are fairly well represented. others like England and Japan are not so great.

I figure the idea is to shoot for 12 missions for each country-- and it would be even better if the map works well from both sides.

(although I've got no problem with a map only working one way if it's really interesting. I created a map for Bataan that's more fun as Japan than for the US. it's quite literally impossible for the US player to win-- even when you give yourself tons of experience points and free money-- so I left it as a Japanese option only for now)

Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 7:51 pm

How about the north africa campaign. the map would be a strategic style the top would have the major cities while the bottom would be open desert which is worthless but can be used to outflank

Burma campaign the game needs a british vs japanese level

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:58 am

I would like for each faction to have a level where the player uses the national leader.

Defense of Moscow for Russia.

Operation Valkyrie for Germany (Defend Hitler and defeat the traitors)

Battle of Britain for England.

Don't know for America and GB.

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:00 pm

I was actually thinking of using Winston Churchill as one of the generals in a revised "Operation Sea Lion". the same goes for each national leader with the proverbial "end game" in sight.

Churchill for "Operation Sea Lion"
Stalin for "the Burning of Moscow"
Hitler for the "Fall of Berlin"
Hirohito for "Okinawa"
FDR for "the Invasion of Hawaii".

at least until I can come up with something better-- that's what I had in mind. I was intending on making them available in special campaign maps only-- I prefer the idea of field commanders and the like being available in WW2 games.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:51 pm

Of course, we could dive deeper into an Axis campaign and have a seige of Washington D.C. map.

We could also have a fictional US invasion of Japan (If the bomb wasn't invented or if the US had only one).

Also, I am trying to give the national leaders a unique spec op set for each one. Generally, they will be the same, but they will all give different banuses. For example, Hitler gets "Triumph of the Will" (Basicly Blitzkrieg on mega steriods - much larger area and much more bonus) and Britain gets "Heart of Valor" (Bonus to defense), while Stalin gets "Reign of Terror". US gets "Freedom's Cry", Japan gets "The Emperor's Blessing". These all are done. These spec ops affects everything, but builings. I am split between the op affecting allies or not.

Again, the above spec ops are designed for the national leader only to give the ai a huge boost in the final missions.

I also plan on giving each leader a special guard unit spec. op. THis isn't done, but Hilter gets the lst SS Life Guard division.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:19 pm

"Reign of Terror", huh? could that be like Demoralization except that it can influence organizations (and more of them)? (if you make it so an op affects organizations you can have something like demoralization still be in effect even AFTER the regiment is fully healed)

I think with "Triumph of Will" it might be better to have a lower attack bonus but have it last longer. +25 attack value, +2 defense value, +25% health. it would last for 120 seconds but would be able to enchant 8 regiments instead of 4. there is the danger of these operations becoming TOO powerful.

I think with GBR that Churchill should have something does effect buildings-- I was trying to work on an op that combined SandBagging and Double-the-Guard. it would add 40% resistance to ALL types of damage and add 20 to the attack value of all buildings. it would cost 500 points and last about 3 minutes.

I plan on modifying the "Operation SeaLion" map to reflect the "Battle of Britain" for a new GBR mission-- which is part of why I included the Air Marshals that I did. the goal would be to fend off dozens of German bomber attacks only by using tactical airfields, AA bunkers and AA Infantry.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:54 pm

theharkonnen wrote:

Of course, we could dive deeper into an Axis campaign and have a seige of Washington D.C. map.

We could also have a fictional US invasion of Japan (If the bomb wasn't invented or if the US had only one).

Also, I am trying to give the national leaders a unique spec op set for each one. Generally, they will be the same, but they will all give different banuses. For example, Hitler gets "Triumph of the Will" (Basicly Blitzkrieg on mega steriods - much larger area and much more bonus) and Britain gets "Heart of Valor" (Bonus to defense), while Stalin gets "Reign of Terror". US gets "Freedom's Cry", Japan gets "The Emperor's Blessing". These all are done. These spec ops affects everything, but builings. I am split between the op affecting allies or not.

Again, the above spec ops are designed for the national leader only to give the ai a huge boost in the final missions.

I also plan on giving each leader a special guard unit spec. op. THis isn't done, but Hilter gets the lst SS Life Guard division.

I like this so far. thought i would call them reich will for german, red tide for russia,

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:52 pm

Actuallu, I like the idea. "Reign on Terror" will be the anti-enemy spec. op, while red tide will be the pro-ally op.

I want to keep "Triump of the Will" because it was the title of a 1934 German propaganda film that is hailed as one of the greatest propaganda works of all time.

But I need names for the anti-enemy ops. Maybe "Assassin's Mace" for Japan, "Gott's (God's) Wrath" for Germany? (Since they believed they were carrying out God's will)

I was thinking of a special op called "Final Victory" . Maybe I'll give it to Himmler. I also plan on giving Mao the "Great Leap Forward" industrial op.

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:58 pm

theharkonnen wrote:

Actuallu, I like the idea. "Reign on Terror" will be the anti-enemy spec. op, while red tide will be the pro-ally op.

I want to keep "Triump of the Will" because it was the title of a 1934 German propaganda film that is hailed as one of the greatest propaganda works of all time.

But I need names for the anti-enemy ops. Maybe "Assassin's Mace" for Japan, "Gott's (God's) Wrath" for Germany? (Since they believed they were carrying out God's will)

I was thinking of a special op called "Final Victory" . Maybe I'll give it to Himmler. I also plan on giving Mao the "Great Leap Forward" industrial op.

well for russia there is red orcestra and anti nazi spy group
I also like a spec op for british a artillery strike since they were really known to use them alot, just need a good name.
raining hell,hell fire, barrage, mike target?

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:29 pm

speaking of which-- I need to change the icon for "Red Orchestra"-- I believe Vasilievski has that operation in my mod. but Stalin would be another worthy candidate. I had originally planned on including Beria as a commander as well.

what I'd like to do is make a "Creeping Barrage" or "Rolling Barrage" is one that moves over a larger area than the regular artillery barrage-- it would move at a steady forward movement and envelop everything in it's path in explosions. I tried to get that visual effect with the existing Artillery Barrage-- but the spacing isn't quite there. I also haven't quite figured out how to have multiple time-delayed attacks applied with the same op. ideally there should be three areas of effect delayed by about one second each. this was used extensively by all WWI forces-- but it was definitely used by the British in North Africa.

(if and when I finally get around to making a WWI variant of Axis and Allies this op would be essential-- as it was something everybody did)

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 3:56 pm

Yeah, I was just going to ask if you could add some more explosions to the artillery barrage. This new one would be called a rocket barrage.

I'll send you the icon for the red orchestra I have. Let me know if you want any more.

I am also working on a ton more icons.

I've also done Red Fury for Stalin rather than Red Tide.

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:53 pm

actually, in my research on China and Africa I've found it's possible to make quite a few special missions that involve France.

the Fall of France
the fall of French Indochina
the British assault on Madagascar (they feared that Japan would set up submarine bases there to stop imports to Russia)
the British sinking of the Vichy French fleet in North Africa
the Morrocan campaign where Vichy French forces had to fight off Patton's landing forces
Operation Dragoon (invasion of southern France)
Bir Hakeim (where Free French forces managed to stall Rommel's forces for a week or two, it would also require Italian forces to make this one work)
Conquest of Corsica
the Liberation of Paris

(Harko, you might also consider agumenting the French inventory with American Sherman tanks, so that they can serve as 'Free French' forces for later campaigns)

although I have tried finding ways to add new factions to the WW2 map I've had no luck thus far-- but so far as SP campaigns are concerned-- I think I've got enough ideas to create a full-fledged French Campaign now.

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 8:23 pm

Battle of the Coral Sea.
Also don't forgot some battles in China such as the battles in Burma which were decisive in the war.

Also maybe U.S.'s last stand in the Philippines when Japan attacked at Bataan. And include the MacArthur's invasion of recapturing the Philippines. Or part of the island hopping campaign.