WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

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Hi
I am currently working on a campaign about the US 29th Infantry. This is my first campaign, so I'm still kind of learning the ropes. If anyone is interested, you may play the first 8 scenarios of the campaignm covering the initial fighting on omaha beach, the assault on St. Lo and the capture of Vire. Scenarios about the battle for Brest and the Siegfried line campaign will be added in the future.
If you play it, it would be nice to get some feedback on the scenarios, especially on time constraints (too much, too little?) and the effect of repair points. Generally speaking, I want the player to operate with an understrenght force for much of the first scenarios, but I don't want the repair points to be so limited as to lead the player into a dead end, where his force is completely pinned at the start of a scenario.
Final victory conditions are not yet set.
The force is 2nd Infantry bataillon, 116th regiment.
The first scenario is just for organisation, I will probably replace it with something nicer later, like embarkation in England or something. ATM it's a placeholder.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I'll give it a go.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Looks like your zip is missing the ucamp050 files. data and txt.:confused:. You may have missed putting them into your zip maker.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I have, sorry.
Here is the new zip with the missing files.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

So has anybody tried it?

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I am about half way through the first scenario and am currently bogged down by real life:doh:, hope to get back to it soon.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I came across a dvd on netflix about the 29th division, 116th regiment. Not sure what the battalion was. It was called "Bedford: The Town They Left Behind." If you're on netflix look it up, it was good.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Made it to the beach, no problems. Once on the beach started taking heavy casualties. Naval support has been woefully inadequate so far however, I have managed to push some depleted Rifle and Engineer Squads past the obstacles and up to the front line of enemy trenches.

Its gonna be a long morning for 2/116. :(

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Everything going according to plan then.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Tell me please does it part of multiplayer campaign?

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

No it's a single player campaign.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

My dad's experience on June 6th 1944

http://29infantrydivision.org/WWII-S...k_Robert_F.htm

29th Infantry Campaign v1.0
 

Hi!
This is the first finished version of my 29th Infantry campaign. Feedback appreciated.
It comes with 14 scenarios + 1 intro scenario, spanning from June to December 1944. All maps are based on actual locations.

Difficulty moderate.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

This sounds interesting and although I simply do not have the time to play it at this time I will be watching for feedback.

Thanks.

Don

Re: 29th Infantry Campaign v1.0
 

I am seriously interested.

Could you please make it in regular zipped files?:)

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Sure thing.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

So did anyone try it out? Any feedback on the first scenarios?

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Anybody else who can't get past the first scenario? Maybe I made it too hard.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

have not had time to play this yet,but looks looks like heavy naval bombard in store, and no allied air cover:confused::confused:

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I don't think the Allies had direct air support on Omaha beach.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Hmm,, all those landing craft and ships would've been sitting ducks;)

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I have only played the first scenario. I think it is too hard. My core was decimated and I did not make any foolish mistakes. Not the best way to start a campaign. Try adding some aux units. Rangers and naval EOD teams to use as canon fodder. More dd tanks availble sooner and some rocket launching barges with smoke. This should make a more playable beach assault.
Cheers,
Cam

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Well if the Germans still had an air force to speak of, that would have been a problem indeed. AFAIK they bombed the beaches in preparation, but especially in the Omaha sector most of the ordinance was dropped behind the lines by mistake.

@Cameronius: Unless you scored a decisive defeat you should be able to start the next scenario. You see, I designed the Omaha beach chapter as a "rocky start" and anticipated heavy damage to the core force, as is historical. However:
a) Since it's the beginning of the campaign, there are no experience points on the line
b) The next scenario is basically a small mopping up skirmish, after which you can reconstitute your force (mostly, anyway)
It would be nice if you tried the 2nd scenario. It is only 18 turns long, or something of that order, so it should be a fast play compared to the first one. If you still feel the beginning is too hard, I will change it.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I have not had a chance to play it yet but your answer is a good one, perhaps you should state something similar in the campaign text.
My gut feeling is if you adjusted it the best suggestions are a few more rocket launching barges & perhaps the DD tanks a bit early.
This would give you more tactical options where as cannon fidder promotes bad play.
Most campaigns seem to be pitched to easily your core taking few losses, less than in most regular battles so people expect the majority of their core to survive. The ANZAC campaign (I think) was the exeption very hard in places with the odd easier one that let you rebuild.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Yes maybe I should note it in the scenario description. After all, receiving such a schelacking in the first scenario probably dampens your motivation a bit.
Just for comparison, in my own test game, where I used the "historical" deployment, I scored a draw. I managed to clear the northern most strongpoint and draw as well as the southern one, and I would have cleared the other one int he south too if the scenario had been a turn longer. All this with heavy casualties of course, but that is the point.
I have not tested this, but I think if you used more "gamey" tactics like offloading all units on the northern beach you could actually clear the village and attack the bunkers form behind, thus scoring a victory.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

This is purely my personal design preference but I figured I would throw it out there anyway. In my campaigns, I tend to try and start with a smaller, easier battle for the player to get help get them into the story without them running into too many casualties with smaller "catch their breath" scenarios placed throughout the campaign. Its not an easy thing to do as it will always be harder for some than it is for others due to experience, gamey tactics, etc. Too hard and people get frustrated, too easy they get bored.

In this campaign storyline though I don't really see a way to start the player small and then ramp things up since they have to go straight into the landing. Something you may want to consider is 2 distinct campaign branches, one harder, one easier and let the player choose in a pre-game scenario the path they want to follow. Its more work but not as much as you might think since you are doubling up the use of maps (a big time consumer) and the friendly core force only needs to be included in the 1st scenario.

I use an Excel Spreadsheet and Access Database for managing campaign data when I build them if you have those programs and are interested. In the DB, you can generate all the campaign text files from a single click BUT they are not real intuitive and there are no "instructions" how to use them. You may have to manually go through each file afterwords and clean the editing of each file to make sure its looks good in the game interface though. :D

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I decided to change the map description to prepare the player psychologically for heavy casualties. I also let the DD tanks arrive earlier (even though I doubt they will survive long on the beach), gave the player additional naval artillery and changed the loadout of the German bunkers to have fewer MGs.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I had a little go only half a dozen turns & be a while till I get back to it due to other commitments but observations being critical.
1) Personal prefrence, I would prefer the FOO as first unit bought so easier to find especially in crowded beach landing.
2) The baz team would be nicer if split into 2 or 3 teams
3) Landing craft loadouts as you supplied are a bit strange
Whole baz team in one while others just contain a single baz.
Perhaps just lay them out by platoon with their landing craft buy them & let the player load, you could get rid of a few landing crafts to.
Negates the need for the filler scenerio as can see what forces you have.

I landed correctly one company each beach & easy red is the one having a hard time due to that damn sniper & they are taking most of the arty. In the South virtually unopossed so far though a fair few bunkers I think.
Perhaps add a few turns as I lost contact a lot with my naval arty & lets you move landing craft into range to drop observed shots.
All landing crafts are still alive just damaged.
For beach landings smoke is key need carefull thought land your mortars & MGs wrong & your in big trouble.
Z fire mgs & z fire your mortars to get smoke down early & let you spread out.
I got this wrong on easy red but the other landings the beach was completly hiden by smoke the turn after I landed the mortars. One 60mm mortar direct firing smoke blanketed 90% of the beach by its self.
A lot can go wrong but if you can land your mortars right it helps a lot, remember to leave them a path through the smoke to direct fire & place smoke further in.

You need to survey the beach carefully quite a few beach hexes are actually shallow water so slow movement, dont know if this was an error or on purpose.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

The whole landing barges thing is a bit wonky. In the first version of the scenario I bought the barges per hand, but then additional ones automatically showed up when the scenario was placed in the campaign.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Normal game behavior and only "wonky" until you understand it.

Don

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Well is there a way to stop the game form automatically buing transport for your troops?

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Played a bit more & I can see for those that like their core to come out unharmed they may not like it as your core is really the least important units apart from your mortars, I have lost one.
Smoke is absolutely your freind here & the enginners are the guys that need protecting as they do all the work, clearing the beach & bunker busting.
Dont give up the arty hurts to start with as there seems to be a rocket battalion but of course they run out of ammo fast. It starts very hard but gets easier if you get your smoke in place.

SPOILER



Either I was very lucky with my arty or there are not many infantry units supporting the bunkers, snipers have been by far the biggest headache. Smoke & using the core for recon is letting the engineers get round the bunkers & deal with them in relative safety.
As you said if I had ignored easy red apart from a few perhaps to reveal the defences & landed everyone on the bottom 2 beaches a break out & circle behind the beach defences in force would most likely have been feasible. Or indeed everyone on easy red as it seems less well defended though my troops there are locked down, the arty is only small stuff but its made clearing the beach fortifications very problamatic. Still its all falling on them leaving the forces at the bottom of the map free to move unhindered.
Taking all the victory objectives is most likely not possible unless your mad enough to run into unknown territory on trucks but thats fine I anticipate breaking out of the bottom road & capturing those 3 victory hexes there by about the halfway point of the battle & then moving up to help easy red get off the beach. By then the sniper there will be out of ammo but boy has he had fun hes killed a lot of men.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

To repeat my earlier question:
Is there a way to prevent the game from buying transport for your troops in a campaign?

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Have you tried opening the map in the editor and using the "$" key to remove the beach landing attribute from the map?

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Just played the first mission of this camopaign. I think the dificulty level is spot on. I deployed all my landing craft in the North and after securing the beachead (mortars X fireing smoke were important) I moved inland and captured the rear villages. I did not end up capturing all the victory hexes and the Souther beach defences I left alone.

At the start of the second mission my troops started on landing craft and on land! Now I understand whats the problem. This map is the same as the first map and is set to beach landing. As mentioned in my first post you need to use the "$" key to remove that beach landing parameter/attribute. After that the scenario should work as intended as a land battle.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

I ran through all the scenarios in this campaing in the editor and noticed that the first four missions were all set as a beach landing map even though only the second mission is supposed to be one. You probably used the "Add a Strip of Beach" button for one map and then build other maps ontop of that. Simply changing the C050s000.dat, C050s002.dat and C050s003.dat scenario files to ones with normal map parameter did not help. It appears the beachlanding parameter gets saved in the ucamp050.dat file when building the campaign. So one also needs to replace the scenarios using the campaign editor.

I attached the corrected files in this post to save you the effort. :) There should no longer be landing craft on the ground in land battles.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Thanks but when I tried it out the troops were still loaded into transport at the beginning of the landing scenario. Am I missing something?

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Never mind, I fixed it. Thanks for your help!

So for anyone interested, here is the new version, without buggy landing craft and with some other fixes and difficulty changes.

Yes, that's what I meant with "gamey approach" (no offense). I thought it might work that way but hadn't tried it myself. If you deploy historically, you will lose a good chunk of your core force, but in the long run it won't mess up your campaign.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

It appears that snipers were the biggest problem on Omaha Beach, at least for Imp. Come to think of it, snipers were my biggest problem in "Totenkopf Attacks." And snipers can be pretty devastating in just about any scenario where you're attacking against them.

This strikes me as a tad unrealistic, but then I've never experienced combat (thank goodness!) and I appreciate the sacrifices that many talented people have made to create and sustain this wonderful game too much to complain.

So my question is, What are the best ways to beat snipers--especially if they're dug in? Imp suggests smoke and recon. Any more suggestions?

Thanks and have a great day.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

The problem with snipers is the disruption they cause which can slow down the game if they are used correctly, particulary if you dont have any vehicles.
If you cant see him fire arty light mortars (AGLs in MBT) & Z fire usingthe furthest unit.
Anything to raise his suppresion making locating him easier.
Kill him with MGs or by getting close, hence the smoke, better yet if you have vehicles (especially accurate ones in MBT) hide & let them get an easy kill,
snipers die fast vs a high tech armies autocannons & tanks. They are much more of a headache in WW2 due to its more infantry based nature.
The good thing is the disruption they cause is expensive snipers rarely kill their point cost. Cheap ones (no fire control) dont kill a lot.
5 FC often cost more than a squad so have to kill 8 plus men. etc

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Just finished the first (Omaha Beach) scenario. Like Rosollia I deployed north and after getting off the beach things really opened up. Would've had a marginal but the game ended after Turn 31, with units directly adjacent to 2 of the last 3 VH's worth 250 points. Shucks. (So why wasn't the last turn played out? I've had this happen before, must be some reason.)

Smoke was absolutely essential (btw how do you z-fire it?). Got one DD up front early to help out, the other was still swimming when the battle ended. Lost quite a few trucks, a handful of squads, and the Navy's gonna sue me for loss of a barge :-). Otherwise the core force is practically unscathed.

Overall it was fun, at least for a beach landing scenario without much armor. I'm looking forward to the next battle. Nice job Ts4EVER, and thanks!

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, as I thought landing on the northern beach exclusively is the way to go if oyu want to keep most of your initial core force. My only conern is that it might make the next scenarios a tad to easy, but we'll see.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

"...a tad too easy"? Maybe so, but the second battle wasn't exactly a cakewalk. Got all the objectives but since core units weren't restored from the beach landing they counted as points against, so the result was only a marginal.

There were enough German units to make a fight of it; the last VH (bottom left of the map) wasn't secured until Turn 17. Don't know how I would've managed if at least half the core had been put out of action on Omaha. Thank smoke shells for that!

It's quite a challenging scenario so far. Should be interesting the rest of the way.

@IMP: You were right about snipers. They're not the killer app against infantry I thought they were. Just use the tools at your disposal along with sensible infantry tactics. Enemy snipers haven't killed anywhere near their point cost so far this campaign.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

The second scenario is mostly supposed to be about avoiding needless casualties :D The third one is more fluid and you can really hand the Germans their asses if you do it right, as a change of pace from the beach.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Hmmm. Guess I didn't do the third one right :o, despite taking all the objectives. Along with a few infantry squads ALL THREE tanky-wanks got whacked (ouch!). Don't know if it was my incompetence or your devilishly clever placement of those 75mm AT's. Probably a combination of both. So again, only a marginal.

Not that it would have made much difference: when I said "the core force is practically unscathed" from Omaha it was an exaggeration. There were quite a few flamethrowers and bazooka teams that perished unnoticed. It wasn't until fix time before scenario four that I finally realized it :doh:. At least now most everybody's up to snuff, so there's no excuses going into the fourth battle. Wish me luck.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Good luck then!
Next map is going into the hedgerows, better get used to those until the britanny part of the campaign starts ;)

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

OK, new and probably final version of the campaign, with adjusted difficulty levels and some other fixes.

Re: WIP campaign 29th Infantry division (testers appreciated)
 

Just started this campaign from the begining using this latest version.

Completed the first mission (the beach landing). This time I deployed my forces historicaly and suffered quite heavy casualties. Not sure if I can complete the campaign and replace my losses, but I will try. I did manage to take all the beach victory hexes and destroyed 10 bunkers. The battle ended in a draw.

Btw. I did like the version where the landing barges were automaticaly loaded more. In this new version of the beach landing mission the infantry is stuck on the water hexes and you have to manualy load everyone onboard. I found it somewhat tedious.