Official Scenario & Campaign Editing Tips Thread

[Mustang]

A link to the parallel thread at SZO:

http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/fo...ad.php?t=39542

This should be made a sticky if we get enough good advice. This thread can help everyone using the editor, and if you don't sticky it then all this advice will be lost. Some of these may sound obvious, but judging from a few threads I've seen some people might not now about these basic editor functions because they aren't mentioned in the manual.

Here's a few of my tricks that I use often:

Changing a unit to a different type

Click on a unit in the Scenario Editor and hit the R key. This will bring up the replacement menu. It will allow you to swap abosuletly any unit for another one in the currently selected OOB. For example, if you want to buy just a single tank, but the OOB only sells two-tank sections, then buy any single-unit formation (like an ammo dump or sniper) and use this R key function on it. Then, pick a tank on the list that pops up. This will give you a single-tank formation!

Same with infantry. Say you're making a US vs. Insurgent scenario and bought a whole bunch of American soldiers. But now you want to swap a few of these American infantry units for post-2003 Iraqi infantry, as if in a joint Iraqi government-US assault on insurgents. So switch the American player to the Iraqi player temporarily so you can use the Iraqi OOB. Then, pick a US soldier squad, hit R, and select an Iraqi infantry unit to swap it for. Note that all data (unit leader, number of men, etc.) will be reset to conform to the new unit type you picked every time you do this.

You can do very interesting things with this. Most OOBs contain things like mule convoys, civillian groups, grounded planes, and "fortified house" units. A note about grounded planes- although most of them are propeller aircraft, you can buy some MiG-17, Tu-16 or MiG-21 jets from the Red OOB. The Yugoslav OOB has a Sewer Gate, if you need one.

Changing unit data

Pick a unit and hit D. This will bring up the Unit Data screen that will allow you to edit many things about the unit, like speed, ammunition, weapon type, armor, fire control, etc. Note that a lot of unit data can't be changed here, though, like unit class. You will need to use the Mobhack OOB editor for that and create a whole new OOB.

Limiting acess to certain areas of the map

This is mostly a map terrain editor trick. Did you ever want to put certain areas of the map off-limits, like creating a unit boundary or setting a retreat hex by blocking off the entire edge of the map except one part? Here's a way to do it.

In the terrain editor, decide where you want the boundaries to be and lay down impassable terrain there. This will prevent all land vehicles from passing through. Infantry will still be able to move through it, although only slowly. Another way is to lay down water hexes along the boundary. Ampbhibious vehicles and infantry with rafts will still be able to make it across, though. All of this looks strange on the map, but it is the only way to go.

If you don't like uglying up the map, or want to find a way to set boundaries for infantry, lay very thick (40 mines per hex) minefields. These are almost impenetrable to vehicles, and if you make the minefield deep enough it won't be cost-effective to move infantry through them. Another way is to lay down a bunch of fire either by using ammo dumps (see "creating volcano explosions" below) or by buying several buildings and using the Heavy Damage terrain selection to set them onn fire. Fire, in the game, is never put out, and will stop infantry cold. The AI may have trouble with it, though.

The last way is to lay dragon's teeth AND barbed wire in a hex. You will need to lay down both if you want to stop vehicles, as apparently just laying down dragon's teeth with no barbed wire has no effect on vehicle movement.

If you choose to lay minefields as boundaries, remember to make them on the AI side so that the computer will see them and won't blunder into them. Remind the player where these mines are by placing text near them on the map.

Creating volcano explosions

Buy several ammo dumps, or swap other units out for them using the R key function. Place them where you want the explosion (one ammo dump per explosion hex will do fine). Set their men strength at 0 so that they will be destroyed the instant the scenario begins. Set cost at 1 (NOT zero; the game will not accept zero for a unit price and will ignore your entering it) so that the other player dosen't get points for the ammo dumps being destroyed. When you open the scenario, the game will jump to the secondary explosions, creating a cool eruption-like effect. This will create fire in all the primary and secondary explosion hexes. Note that secondary explosions can take place as far as two hexes away, and will damage anything that they hit.

Ships

I know the game is meant for ground warfare, but it's still possible to make some very interesting sea battles. Several OOBs have good ships, all under the "Artillery" purchase screen:

- Yugolsav Missile Boat. Armed with two 57mm rocket launchers, an SA-7 SAM, and a 30mm cannon. I have found the rockets and cannon to be effective against infantry, and also for immobilizing tanks with flank shots. I get the impression that the 57mm rockets are meant to represent SSN-2 Styx anti-ship missiles, but as the game dosen't model the SSN-2 they were replaced with rockets. If not that, then the rockets are probably actually antisubmarine depth charge launchers in real life. Cost: 154

- Brazillian Patrol Ship. Two .50 cal MGs, a 20mm Polsen AA gun and a 40mm Bofors AAG. This is a lot of anti-aircraft armament to fit onto a ship that costs only 95 points.

- Israeli Sa'ar IV patrol boat. One 20mm AA gun, one 20mm cannon and a 76mm naval gun. Cost is 111. The 76mm gun is helpful in ship-to-ship combat, as a lot of vessels carry 6 points or more of armor (which is impervious to 20mm cannon).

Other good ships in the game include the generic ship types found in many OOBs (like the Red OOB Patrol Craft, Ammo Ships in several OOBs, and the UN Landing Ship), plus the USMC PBR and Monitor vessels. Most people know about these last boats because they are featured in some Vietnam scenarios. What I have tried to do is show you some of the lesser-known ships that could help you design a naval battle. You can change a ship's armament to whatever you like. For example, if you want to represent antiship missiles, load a missile boat with ATGMs.

Naval Mines

Who says you can only lay mines on land? You can also lay mines on water hexes and create naval minefields.

Aircraft and submarines

You might be like me and be dissapointed at how the game models airpower. Real airplanes are hunter-killers, not some tank-plinking pests that come on the map once in a while and attack one or two hexes at a time. There are two ways to represent aircraft:

1. If you want to be realistic, just buy some helos and adjust their armament and speed to a very powerful level. To change unit data, use the D key function described near the beginning of this post.

2. If you want aircraft that look like REAL aircraft and that you can move around the map, take a Grounded Plane (either by buying one from one of the OOBs that sell them, or by using the R key function discusssed near the start of this post). Give it some armor so that it won't get clobbered by small arms, and also some armament. Increase speed to 255 (the maximum the game will accept), and you have an airplane! Note that if you arm an on-map unit with Mavericks, 500lb bombs, or other weapons that off-map units normally use, they won't fire. So you'll have to substitute- use TOWs instead of Mavericks, Flamethrowers instead of Napalm, Satchel Charges instead of bombs. Many OOBs contain propeller aircraft grounded planes, but few contain jets. The Red OOB has MiG-17, MiG-21, and Tu-16 jets, though.

If you use the second option, the aircraft will have the same movement costs over terrain as other ground units because the game thinks that you just took a grounded plane and gave it a lot of movement points. But it works perfectly over water or in very flat terrain, because there is nothing to slow its movement. The only problem seems to be that the aircraft will start off the game going at 0 mph and so will be vulnerable to ATGMs and tank gun fire until it picks up speed. So it's not a perfect fix, but it's a way to make the handling of airplanes more realistic in some situations.

Taxiing airplanes

Take any Grounded Plane unit and give it a speed of maybe 6 or so. This will make it about equivalent to a taxiing airplane. An example where this might help is in paratroop assault scenarios, where you can land your transport, taxi it, and unload its troops.

I noticed that in the Entebbe scenario that comes with the game, there are taxiiable Hercules aircraft. I can't seem to the able to replicate this- the only Hercules I can find are paratroop transports that can't be used on-map. Does anyone know how the designer of the Entebbe scenario did this?

More to come soon!