Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Any repair points? Please specify in the briefing if I can use them or not.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

It is the next day, so no significant upgrades or replacement. You can fix immobilised or bailed vehicles though.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

OK, it is finished.
This time I was effective... to the point. As sugested, I assembled ad hoc motorized QRF unit. I absolutely did not expect to encounter another Legionaire company (or more), but it happened. Yet, with good usage of firepower, I managed to break though them rather quickly and secured both villages with low losses on my side. In the meantime, British help off the Vichy rather well, stuff got complicated when tanks came. I was still pushing and making a good use of my field guns, suppresing Vichies to the limits. In the end, I reached the Brits just in time to take out about company of R-35 and to decimate attackers from the back. I also placed my tanks close to enemy trucks with intention to capture them and use if needed.
Sadly, I lost 3 tanks in the very end of this scenario. I engaged field guns in order to disable them for the future, but crews managed to load AP rounds and knowcked out 3 Crusaders. It must be noted that. adjutant Frenault managed to organize from suppresion of 99 to "ready" status and assaulted a fiend gun with his pistol, killing all the crew after brief fight.
In the end, I stand firm and ready, but my casualties are mounting high. To make things worse, I am nearly out of armoured vehicles.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Ok. Any idea about what to do after Syria? Bir Hacheim?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

This division was disbanded in August 1941 for reorganization and several brigades were made out of it. Those brigades fought at Bir Hakeim and El Alamein, yes, but we could make a scenario or two of skirmish engagements not seen in normal books, on a smaller scale. Then we could proceed to Bir Hakeim, which should be one of the most important battles in this campaign.
And then probably another non-historical break and El Alamein. After that brigades went back to 1st FF Division status and fought together long and heavy fight in Tunisia.
So, pretty much thats the plan. Then we could touch Italy if dates will be historical. And then you will have to make a choice if we stay in Italy and then go Southern France with Op. Dragoon or if I join Leclerc forces in Normandy.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Dunno about making skirmishes, imo we should keep it rather historical with this campaign.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Allright then, I am waiting for next assignment.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

So it has come to this... the big battle of our time. :D

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

This is gonna be funny.
I held off first assault with ease, taking very few casualties amongst my men. I wonder what enemy will throw next.
However, this looks increasingly dramatic. I call for the British to deliver me any sort of additional ammo supply (trucks at best, but I will do with everything). Also, I have recently added a platoon of Genie into my ranks. Now, a job for them: there are about 6 Italian M14/41 tanks abandoned on a mine field. I want them to check these tanks and make them running if its possible. If it is not, I want them to disassemble as much MGs from these tanks as possible and make them usable for infantry in order to increase my defensive power.
Finally, I want to have all Italian trucks possible running, these may be useful in reserve roles.
And then I am resting my men for next assault.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

And so it goes on.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

It is done.
I succeeded in securing both gaps again, but I took heavy losses in the process of fighting. Yet, the Italians succeeded in making a single gap to the very top. I though have engineers nearby, maybe they will be able to reinstall the minefield, at least partially?
I am still calling in for additional ammunition supplies before Germans will come in.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

And on we go.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Still no time?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Turn 22 out of 33, do not worry :P
Christmas and all that stuff happened. You seem to be enjoying that a lot, dont you?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Of course. :D But don't worry about it, just thought I'd ask.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Gotta issue recently, may slow me down. My new graphic card doesnt like my monitor (and probable cable), SP games look unbearable. I will report back when I will solve this issue.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Game still looks awful, but I was capable to finish the battle. Finally made a decisive will. Italians took first trench line for a brief moment, but counterattack fought them off, not with heavy losses on my side though.
I actually wonder if those CCNN Engineers are not bugged or something, because their kill rate is several times higher than those of Bersaglieris. They wiped me a squad (full squad) in one single turn, entrenched, firing back...

I did not move my tanks throughout entire battle.
Again, requesting more ammo if possible. Also, assuming night will be rather OK, I want to do my best to collect weapons and ammo. I have killed about 3 MG sections close to my trenches, maybe this will give me some good.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Dunno about the Italian unit, I did not change anything about them IIRC. I did not use them this time to be safe.

About ammo: aren't your units automatically resupplied between turns?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Allright, finished this fight. It was tough. I expected Germans to move in historically from the south, thus 3 Cie was tasked holding this sector with 2 out of 4 47mm guns since beginning.
But somehow, they Nazis managed to push through. Position was overrun, 3 Cie took heavy but yet acceptable losses. Infantry covering German tanks was decimated and many tanks knocked out. At the end of scenario 3 German tanks are still pushing and are close to death zone (they will stand no chance) and 3 remain in southern defence sector. Around them I have about 100 men ready to finish them in close quarters, but I run out of time.
North was repulsed with relatively low casualties.
Many good veterans died this fight. This includes AT gun crew with 97EXP and tank crew with 98/95 EXP/MOR. I am not pleased with efficiency of my AT measures, PzIIIJ seems to be effectively protected even from 47mm!
Question is who - according to you - controls southern sector. I say 3 tanks would probably withdraw seeing infantry crawling around them. But its up to you with it.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

I'd say considering the amount of infantry still left in the southern trenches they haven't secured it and you can savely withdraw. Question is: What do we do next? El Alamein I guess? Thing is, desert battles imo get old pretty fast, especially if you got an infantry heavy force like you do.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Thing is... I am not particularly sure if I want to withdraw from this position. Plus as far as I remember, frenchies had to break out from nearly enclosed siege and they did it with help of some Indian unit attacking Germans from the other direction.

So - unless you enjoy to do otherwise - I would make a battle or two out of Bir Hakeim, and then proceed to El Alamein. I can do Africa for a while. Your deployment makes it always interesting.

My tempo may slow down a little bit, as it was now. Running SPMBT tournament steals quite a time. Join if you like, NATO position is open :P

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

No thanks, I'm not interested in modern warfare at all I'm afraid.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

OK, I would be generally back to it. I will do my best with the last save I have and will give you further action shortly.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Cool. Before we continue with El Alamein it would be good to get an idea of how many forces you have.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

You mean percentage strength of entire battalion?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Generally what kind of forces you have and what kind of tanks, I need a refresher on that.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

OK, I have finish that battle once again.
This time my HQ survived.

As I reminder, I currently have French infantry battalion with British gear, reinforced with tank company (Crusader) and sort of recon squadron with armoured cars and motorcycles.
I am currently trying to break out of Bir Hakeim. Losses in my battalion probably exceed 50%, I have lots of wounded squads transported by any trucks I can muster, including captured ones. Due to cheaty AI artillery (please don't use it in such scenarios!) I have lost lot of hardware this battle, including AA and AT guns.
Generally, my situation looks really really bad, but I keep pushing. I have to, there is no other choice.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

What do you mean by "cheaty artillery"? BTW, I think the patching might have desynchronised us, I see some vehicles called "Humber III" that have a placeholder icon instead of proper graphics and french weapons. Any idea?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Patch desynchronised indeed. I will upgrade those vehicles later, so it should be OK.

About artillery: AI has "magic eye" when comes to artillery. They will target your units even if they do not technically "see" them. When any sort of arty is available to the AI, it is damn hard - and just annoying/unjust - to use any motorized, non armoured unit. I have lost those guns at the very back of my formation even though these could not be seen by the Germans. AI simply magically sees trucks standing there and targets those. You loose ****load of good stuff, what is obviously not happening in eg. PBEM.
You can test it for yourself. If enemy artillery is not busy with the direct frontline, they will target positions where your units are magically deployed. That way you can loose follow-on fores that did not enter combat etc.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

The Developers have been at great pains to point out that this is just flatly NOT the case! There is no "magic artillery". The AI plots based on a slew of stuff which piques its interest: roads, movement, dust clouds, VPs, artillery smoke, etc and occasionally a bit of random guesswork -JUST LIKE A HUMAN WOULD!

If you have stuff being targeted that you are convinced hasnt been seen then perhaps it is reasonably close to a VP, artillery fire, etc or was seen by a scout you havent detected - or you were REALLY unlucky...

Worth reading the FAQ = "WHY HAS THE GAME BEEN PROGRAMMED WITH ALL KNOWING "BORG" AI ARTILLERY" and the release notes.

I certainly dont find that "...They will target your units even if they do not technically "see" them. When any sort of arty is available to the AI..." and whilst I haven't much PBEM experience I would say AI no better than a human opponent.

There is also a reason Napoleon called artilery the "empress of the battlefield" and believed "God is on the side with the best artillery".

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Nah, just mentioning my experiences. I got under fire at positions that should be out of any particular interest. Normally it is bearable... unless you are truck/wagon based...

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Note that the ai has a sniper close to the perimeter which can spot your units in the minefield gaps.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Anyway next one.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

German position was overrun completely at turn 22. So I had lightly 14 turns to evacuate the wounded, though I have lost or bogged down quite lot of transport (but this epic Bedford is fine, it can take lots of those remnants).
I failed to destroy entire artillery, just half of it. I did not want to risk unnecessary losses in my already battered battalion.

Way stands open. Entire passage is secured by at least weak formations providing some warning if necessary.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Ok cool. This concludes what I think is probably the first highlight of the campaign: The battle of Bir Hakeim. I think it went well.
Luckily I had already prepared the next scenario before the long hiatus, so I can post it immediately.
First of all: You can refresh and upgrade your force completely, cause we are making another time jump to October 1942, to the battle of El Alamein.
This scenario will be a bit more experimental and I hope it works well. You need to follow the instructions quite carefully for it to work! Also a little reminder that what you can see at the end of a scenario does not necessarily reflect what will be there next time (otherwise you could get spoiled). This is especially important in this one for reasons you will see.

As you can see, quite complicated, but I hope it will work... if you have any questions, post them before starting.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Damn, I also hope it works. I was never good in objective based combat in Steel Panthers. There is even a big mission like that in SPWW2, forgot the exact location, but you play as Greece vs. Italy in 1940.
This is surely one of the most disastrous battles I have ever led xD

Just one question out of technicallity, also a note for future scenarios: Remember I do not use Z-fire against the AI. At all. I hope you include that part in scenario creation. All would be way too easy with Z-fire ability. And secondly, what is your approach to snipers? If possible, I recommend to rather avoid them on best training. I always considered snipers definitely overpowered. I also have only one in my core force and I will not increase the amount.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Anyway, here is the scenario completed:
- Italian Command Post has been eliminated and prisoners actually taken
- Ammo dump has been eliminated, AT guns has been destroyed as objective of opportunity
- Liason officer has not been accomplished

I have decided to play it slightly differently. I used my Genie section to carve path through the minefield. I have lost one man in the process.
Taking out the HQ was rather easy, I did not take any casualties on this one, especially I attacked from behind.
Second group, in the meantime, went for the fuel dump. This was quite tricky here, Italians were stubborn and I could not eliminate the guards. I suffered quite few casualties there. Finally though Genie destroyed the dump and infantry penetrated about 200 metres deep, when I called off the attack. The reason was 100 metres distanse was aparently not safe from the fuel dump. Secondaries went directly at me (not the Italians), instantly killing about 10 men. Due to casualties and one more loss on the minefield towards the liason officer, I decided to retreat. I used remaining time to increase the gap width from 50 to 150 metres. Should Italians not discover that gap and area of penetration, they may have issues rebuilding it.
Turn 45 depics general retreat towards my lines. Those two infantry squads are left on Italian side accidentally (I forgot about them and then just stood, so please consider them evacuated). I have left 3 men from recon team to overwatch the gap. In case Italians have it, gap is in range of my mortars and MG fire. I do not want Gustadori to rebuild it. Scouts pass the contact to the Battalion HQ and Vickers MGs are unleashed if needed.

Raid ended up with 20 of my mean being casualties. 50 Italians were taken out in the process.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Ok, then on to the main show:

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

About z-fire: I don't do that myself tbh.
About snipers: I don't usually use them in bulk unless I wanna do some kind of harassing delay kind of scenario.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Allright, there we go.
At turn 33 enemy command post is about to be overrun. Same goes to artillery (no chance for it to extract itself on time). Most of Italian parachute battalion is anihilated, with just one strongpoint up there I decided to omit. German reinforcements have been pretty much taken out. IU have huge amount of tanks left working and I captured a lot of trucks. Enemy AT weapons are down.

Even though I still do not control whole area, I would declare it a win. Should the game be set to 40 turns... and I have the whole map.

My casualties are high. Just to let you know: about ~75% or more of my infantry losses were caused by 2-3 snipers. Yes, snipers killed me more than 100 men. Which is precisely why I call usage of snipers retarded. No need to mention I dispatched strong forces to look for them with very little effect. I stopped taking casualties only when they run out of ammo.
My combat abilities are now limited. If there were no snipers I would barely feel the losses.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Sorry about that, but note that these snipers are an integral part of the Italian Parachute Company and you actually won the scenario in one go. Anyway, I'd say we jump in time again, to Tunisia. As far as I can ascertain the Brigade was enlarged to division status in this time, so you can refresh and upgrade you forces. I think the re-equipment with American stuff happened later though (before the move to Italy).

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

I do not think this may be important, but did you set the month to May or January? This may have an impact on available equipment, but I am getting extremely badly trained replacements.

But yes, FFF switched to US gear pretty much after Tunisia, though in late November 1942 first units began pulling out to the rear for new equipment training.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Ah, one more thing: my battalion is now effectively motorized. I will try to make it mechanized later on, probably early 1944.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Oh I think I made a mistake with the date... I wanted to set it to January 1943 so I had access to German tanks without Schürzen and forgot to set it back...

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

OK this should fix it, sorry.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Allright. Here we go.

I have directed my entire force to attack objective Poiters. I wanted to make sure I have firepower advantage to avoid unnecessary casualties. It went really easy with low casualties on my side.
Bulk of less mobile AT weapons covered my flank. I sent some weaker recon to probe objective Touluse. Note I destroyed there a PaK40 cannon. It is important for continuation of that battle.

Enemy counterattack went too late. I managed to destroy one tank and immobilize the other (however its position is somewhat problematic). I decided to ignore Flak88 for now. I did not have enough time to reorganize and move on in 25 turns.

Let us head to the next objective. This day will be long.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

You sent me the wrong files, the zip file includes a save for Bir Hacheim in Slot 66 and only the .cmt file for slot 65.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

And this one?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Yeah that one is fine.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Any news on this? Or do you have no time at the moment?