Scenario: [WIP] Bridge by Bridge - German Campaign

[Ts4EVER]

Hi,
after fixing the bug with the "ghost passengers", this campaign is ready to test. It is about the German effort to stop Operation Market Garden and has a completely new, "experimental" structure.
Basically: There is NO core force, you just have an HQ that can't die. Instead the campaign puts you in command of various forces, fighting against Market Garden in different locations at the same time. In this release these battles are all in the southern area up to the Nijmegen Bridge.
Now you may ask: Then why not just make a series of scenarios? Well for one thing there already is a group of Market Garden scenarios, but also I am using the campaign function to link the scenarios so success in one of them affects the setup in the next. So the scenarios all are linked, but not by core force, but by outcome.
Lastly, I should warn that this campaign is on average harder than my latest ones. That is mostly because the forces you will command often have quite low soft factors, on account of being improvised units thrown into battle suddenly.

Bridge by Bridge

German Campaign

September 17th to September 19th

This is an unusual campaign: Instead of controlling and upgrading a core force, you will instead take command of different improvised German units in each battle. These battles are linked: Success or defeat in one scenario will lead to a different setup in the next.

All maps have been created with the Venhola satellite tool.

As a German commander, you face Operation Market Garden, the allied plan to end the war by Christmas 1944. You will fight paratroopers and the tanks from XXX Corps in various places, sometimes concurrently. Your overall performance in these battles determines the course the campaign takes.

Some scenarios limit your deployment area by advising you to deploy north or south of a certain line. Always listen to those instructions, otherwise the scenarios will not play out like intended!

I hope you enjoy this campaign. If you want to give me feedback or suggestions for improvement, there is a thread on the official WinSPWW2 forums.

[DRG]

Sounds interesting.

I am glad the "ghost" issue was resolved

Don

[DRG]

Another passenger issue with the third battle



The trucks they are in are loaded with them at the "west" side of the map

Unloading the trucks "solves" the issue

.......and when you fix that fix this too

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, will look into it. Problem with the bridge is that if I try to make it straight it always draws weird circles with it across everything.

[Ts4EVER]

I tried around and it seems to be impossible to make a straight down railroad bridge? It works with the road bridge.

[DRG]

Getting bridges to "co-operate" can be a PITA sometimes

Build it just like the road bridge at an angle. Trying to get them straight up and down is often an exercise in frustration

If it won't work for you I can post my copy of the map and you can cut and paste that section from my map to yours with the advanced map editor without having to disturb the unit setup

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, I will do it like that. Will wait for more bug reports before I post the fixed version.

[wulfir]

Played it through.

The first battle is a masterpiece mix of history and game-play.

The allied Jabos repeatedly strike infantry targets close to friendly tanks, with only one single incident of friendly fire.

Battle 3 has ghost double units (infantry and Flak-guns) that are actually loaded on trucks - they disappear when the the trucks are unloaded, - I have seen this problem before, but I think of it more as a beauty error than anything else - while you can move the ghost doubles it's tedious to do so because they don't function as "proper" game units. IIRC you can't fight or spot with them...(?)

If the units start the scenario not loaded on the trucks I think the problem goes away - that would mean the player would have to manually load units and be a little slower in jumping off...

Many of the Germany company HQ units have no subordinated platoons so I guess most platoons sort directly under the HQ. I've encountered this too previously - I've seen it appear in campaigns with fixed cores...

Played the Nijmeegen scenario with the Germans not entrenched/the strong XXX Corps tank support version. It's hard. The German force basically melts away... ...I didn't move around too much though, just sat there and got torn apart. Given that the battle is a defensive one for the player with mostly leg infantry it might be an idea to change the German units from FIX to AUX and force the player to think about the battle plan a little more. Much hinges on the initial deployment. (The version(s) where the Germans are entrenched they probably are harder to dislodge...) Maybe make the trucks mobile too...

[Ts4EVER]

Thanks for trying it. The "ghost passenger" issue can be resolved by making them reinforcements on turn 1, so that will be the case in the next version. The Nijmegen version you got is like the "worst case scenario", but I might rebalance it a bit.

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Ts4EVER

...but I might rebalance it a bit.

I wouldn't change it too much.

IMO balance is very tricky as the skill level of players can differ greatly.

I suspect that most players today are veterans that prefer a challenge