October 2, 2000, 01:03
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#1
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Red Front
Posts: 556
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Second Front Feedback
Here is the place to post your War Stories from Normandy...and here are some of my highs and lows:
Highs:
-Getting past the Beach defenses on Omaha Beach.
-Blowing up that pesky 15cm battery in Ouistreham
-Having 4 B-24s from England arrive in the Caen area just as a column of Tigers are pulling up.
-Finally coming up with a winning strategy to push the SS-tanks out of Caen, after losing over 50 tanks on frontal assaults.
-Taking Cherbourg after an endless struggle
-Knocking out a TigerII with an M18 Hellcat (That's about impossible odds)
-Finally breaking out of the Hedgerow terrain
Lows:
-Having Wittmann knock out 10 defenders in Villers-Bocage over 3 turns and take the city despite every effort to hold it.
-Losing an LST full of tanks and artillery to a German coastal battery I thought was out of shells.
-Bombing a lowly German Infantry unit in the hedgerows only to find out (too late) that he was stacked with an 88mm AA gun.
-Flying a B-24 back to England and running out of fuel 2 squares from the airbase.
-Seeing a whole stack of tanks and APCs wither away in Normandy for lack of fuel while my convoys are held up by the Channel storms.
-Having Brighton bombed into oblivion by German V-1s destroying dozens of units.
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October 2, 2000, 01:21
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#2
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King
Local Time: 01:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: May 2000
Location: FNORD
Posts: 1,773
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Well, I'm still downloading the files right now but I have one piece of praise: You said it would be out in September, and though it was a close one, you did! How unproffessional of you!
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October 2, 2000, 01:23
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#3
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Posts: 523
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Well, I just tried playing the FW version, not really trying that hard, just to test it out.
I did horribly. First, I landed all my gliders next to some French city and wasted all my commandoes trying to capture it, all the gliders were wiped out in the German counter attack. After moving my first turn, a lot of my boats were destroyed by mines and shells, and the USS Texas battleship was sunk after the first turn, so Germany got a "Morale Boost", finally, the next turn where I got my planes close enough to actually attack something, I forgot I was controling two separate civilizations and I stacked my planes where I was going to land next turn.
At this point I turned the game off and decided I should whomp up a strategy before playing again. Great job, Captain Nemo!
One question though, all those non-AFB cities in Southern England, should I let them continue to produce the units they're already making? Should all the freights I build carry "Fuel"? And am I supposed to create transports in those cities to ferry them across the channel, or are they created by events, or is there something else?
Very good game, it may force me to read up about D-day so I know what actions to make, just like Red Front did.
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-Cal
[This message has been edited by Cal (edited October 02, 2000).]
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October 2, 2000, 02:41
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#4
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King
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 1,003
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I'm downloading the files now. I'll set everything up tomorrow and start playing it with the MGE, and let you know what I think.
Very well done Captain Nemo - I can't wait...
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Go tell the Spartans, passerby:
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
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October 2, 2000, 03:18
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#5
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Posts: 523
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I'm still doing very poorly...
Second attempt, All my gliders STILL got destroyed by shells on the first turn, but I managed to land my commandoes safely.
My air forces near cherbourg and carentan were almost wiped out in 3 or 4 turns...
I lost a lot of transports and even a large transport to the beach mines.
I lost a lot of cruisers, destroyers, two battleships on turn 3, and at least 3 of the big transports to those shells that seem to appear out of nowhere...
Finding good spots for my troops to land is a problem, until I realized only the transports were vulnerable to the beach mines and the shells, so I dropped them on any costal rift that wasn't surrounded by barbed wire.
I captured my first French city on turn 4, a smal one with a population of 3... I'm going to try again tomorrow.
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October 2, 2000, 03:24
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#6
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King
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 1,003
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OK - I'm playing the MGE - and I set everything up per instructions, but on the first turn I received the message: "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be closed." So the entire game shut down and crashed I tried three times to start the game, and I received this message each time.
Any solutions?
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October 2, 2000, 07:12
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#7
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Posts: 523
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Did you try moving the gliders as ordinary units? I think you're only supposed to paradrop to move them and then skip their turn with that space bar.
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The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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October 2, 2000, 11:28
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#8
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Chieftain
Local Time: 08:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: of Bruhka-Ghaash tribe
Posts: 63
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This scenario is even better than i thought!
Only annoying thing is that i dont have FW and cant see the AI movement. Its not funny to get a report that your battleship is sunk and you dont even know what hit it.
One thing i specially like is that there are so many different types of infantry. But i think engineers are too strong. You can move them sometimes even 2 and still destroy bunker with only 1/3 of strenth.
Is there a house rule that when you take a city you have to put all your motor units supporting from that city so the fuel thing works? Atleast i havent seen this said anywhere...but i cant see how it would work without it because all units in landing have support from None and you wouldnt need fuel at all for them.
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October 2, 2000, 17:34
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#9
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King
Local Time: 07:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Dilbert
Posts: 1,839
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It`s so tough! I`ve restarted about 5 times now, but I keep losing 100+ units each turn! I`m hopeless!
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October 2, 2000, 18:16
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#10
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Guest
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Great job with the scenario Nemo! I already like this one a hell of a lot more than Red Front (cuz I don't have to be the reds!)
I played a few turns last night and I'm about to continue the game, but I think I'm doing very poorly. I could a little strategic help on unit values. I know that BAR infantry is for attacking and the plain ol' infantry are for defending, while combat engineers and bazookas are great for attacking, but I do not know the strength of German units. For example, I see a lost of command posts and other building type German units. Am I supposed to attack these? I suffer massive casualties with no results. Also, how do I avoid the German coastal artillery shells? I've lost about all my battle ships and at least 5 of my big transports to those things. Third, what am I supposed to do with the Supply Trucks? I only skimmed the readme last night, so if any answers lay in there please let me know. I'd rather play the game than sit and read.
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October 2, 2000, 18:33
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#11
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King
Local Time: 07:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: All Connections That Have Been Made Are Now Dead
Posts: 2,981
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Played it for a few hours, and just have one thing to say.
Bloody briliant Nemo!
also is there an easy version for crap people like me?
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October 2, 2000, 20:08
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#12
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King
Local Time: 22:05
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Emeryville, CA, USA
Posts: 1,658
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Played a little bit and checked the rules.txt (not events.txt, Nemo said no ).
First, there is an Allied air force city which can use a fuel depot square. Using 'WLTKD' will get the city grow to a huge size. This should also apply to some of the Allied land force cities. Each population = 3 golds per turn if you hire the person as a taxmen.
Second, use the gliders wisely. Protect them carefully since they are the only hope for you to bypass the bad terrains on the beach. I haven't tested it but I think using gliders to carry engineers (partisan advantage) next to a city and attack immediately may be the best way to advance. The gliders can then enter the occupied city and can be reused two turns later. Meanwhile you can use planes to block the enemy's counter attack.
Gliders+Engineers can also eliminate the nasty batteries on the beach, along with the shells. This will give you a safe landing.
Gliders can also detect enemy units (hopefully include mines). The cursur will tell you where you can land, so the place you can't do paradrop must have an enemy unit.
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October 2, 2000, 21:21
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#13
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Posts: 523
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I can never get the gliders to paradrop again once I've done it once... what am I doing wrong?
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The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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October 2, 2000, 21:36
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#14
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Red Front
Posts: 556
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This is FUN!
I apologize for the somewhat limited readme in this first version and as I read these messages I see what points I need to add.
First for Leonidas: Has anyone had the same problem with MPG? I mostly played FW and just played 2 rounds of MPG to make sure it worked and did not encounter any problems... Give me any suggestions.
1. Do not change the production of British cities unless you plan to produce cash for the rest of the game... Production orders for all British cities should remain unless you determine you need cash more than units because you can't reverse it.
2. Beside units built in the cities you will get free reinforcements based on accomplishments (Techs) in the Campaign.
3. Early on most of you units have "None" as Home town because I didn't want the supply problems to start until the days after the invasion. All reinforcements will have British home cities and will soon wipe out all production unless they are reassigned to French cities... Then the Fuel trucks become critical... I have thought of raising the support to 3 fuel each. Let me know if that would be too tough. As Xin said, most of the British cities will grow to size 30-40 by the end of the game... But then there might be a lot of units to support too.
4. The starting LST transports are the ONLY transports you will get except for much later in the game. Don't let them get blown to pieces or your reinforcements will be stuck in England. The LCVPs are expendable. MPG players who cannot see the action need this hint: the German coastal batteries fire deadly shells at anything bigger than an LCVP...They will kill your Battleships AND DON'T bring the LSTs in to the coast until the Coastal Batteries (15cm and 210mm) are eliminated. You can make a transfer at sea between LSTs and LCVPs to "refill" the LCVPs once they have delivered the first waves. Note that all the BIG SHIPS are outside of the coastal battery range in the starting position but only by a few squares in some areas...
5. The Gliders were typically wasted anyway after they landed... Just get the Commandos out ("Unload" them like a ship) and into the hedgerows where they can defend themselves... The gliders will be reused for other units as will most of the D-Day specific units (DD-tanks, Crocodiles, LCVPs) in part 2 so don't grow too attached to them, Xin!
6. Engineers are "Partisans" so they have a special capability against Bunkers and the like... But pretty useless against other types of units. They have a good shot at the weaker bunkers if they can get up next to them. But the terrain on which the bunker is built makes a big difference.
7. The game is very tough (By design)and requires a very systematic strategy to get past the beaches. I have lost 100 units+ also in my first tries. A blind unorganized assault will definitely be repelled by the Germans... and you haven't seen their REAL tanks yet!!
8. German fixed defenses are 15cm and 210mm coastal guns which house "missile units" (Shells) to sink your ships. Kill them with Flamethrowers (Engineers). The other bunkers and command posts are tough stationary units to block your advance. Coordinated assaults with Heavy artillery, M7s and Engineers can clear them at a high cost but also they pose less of an offensive threat. Just preventing you from advancing.
Bazookas can take out German armored vehicles up to a certain size and can be used against infantry.
Rangers have IZOC and can get through the rough terrain.
The part 1 strategy is to capture as many of the D-Day objectives as possible. Look at your science screen at the end of each turn to see when you have been awarded a new tech... There are about 10-12 of them achievable on D-Day... maybe 40-50 for the entire game Some will start producing new units as soon as you capture them (Look for sudden unexplained units in British cities)
9. The beach mines are easy to eliminate but if you don't, they could sink half of your first wave... I sacrifice a few destroyers in the first rounds to get most of them cleared.
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October 2, 2000, 22:10
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#15
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Posts: 523
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I found out this little strategy while trying to get the "perfect" first turn.
If you land all your gliders right next to Langrune, you can take that city right away if you get lucky, then your normally stationary gliders can be moved inside that city, the only problem is that if you do this, all of your gliders and wounded commandoes get blown to hell by a vast array of 15 and 210 mm costal shells, and the city gets recaptured... maybe waiting for the air force to strike first would make this attack work better.
Oh wait, I see that Captain Nemo intended the gliders to be wasted just to get the commandoes behind enemy lines; I guess I won't have to worry anymore. Never mind.
One more thing...
"This little episode repeated itself 100s of times in my testplay, often to the Germans advantage until I figured out how to deal with it... But that's for me to know and for you to die!"
This passage terrified me...
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The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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October 3, 2000, 00:27
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#16
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King
Local Time: 02:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Posts: 2,048
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I'm glads to see I'm not the only one having trouble with this one...
I'm on my second go around. I realized you aren't supposed to fool with the units being produced in England unless you want to build POW's! (Wonder what they are for?) Also kinda figured out how to spot those pesky sea mines...
I thin I'm on turn 8, but have only captured 5 objectives. The armor is rolling onto the beaches, but the breakout will be tough. I really want to pillage some of that wire to make a nice little beach for tanning I've started to build the Mullberry at Avaranches...hope that helps to keep the supply up.
When can I let thos ebombers rip? They are just being polished up by the flyboys...they need to see some action.
I find the Supply and Demand window doesn't always display the proper info.
MGE really makes this one too hard. I'm glad I'm getting FW in a few days.
The only error I've seen so far is a very small typing one... on the opening Operation Overloard window (the one with the buttons named for the beaches) the work "tank" comes out to be t
ank.
Too many spaces perhaps. Very small. Everything else looks A-OK.
Damn, this one looks nice Nemo. Real hard too. Excellent work.
I'll keep y'all posted.
------------------
I am the Ukrainian Anti-Pope!
Großdeutschland!
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October 3, 2000, 02:00
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#17
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Red Front
Posts: 556
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Field Marshal:
Five objectives in your first try is quite good... especially if you can get about 2 more by the end of D-Day you will actually have a chance of getting past the first Day. (Because reinforcements come in proportion to the objectives achieved, ie less objectives, less chances of doing well in part 2 and so forth...)
There is a massive change at the first file switch (About turn 11). The bombers become active, some movements change significantly, and some units are swapped. And make sure your LCVPs are empty or near the coast by then because I disband them by lowering their movement and making them Triremes. Not a trick to fool players but just a way to get rid of them since I need the slot for other great stuff and Landing Crafts were not what was used after D-Day.
I didn't understand the "supply window" question?
Most of the units stats are not visible because the Germans can't build their units either. I will probably just create a document for the readme with the stats.
The barbwire will actually be cleared from a few beach areas via events in part II... and you get the Mulberry Harbors A & B if you captured the right objectives.
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October 3, 2000, 02:05
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#18
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Red Front
Posts: 556
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Oh, the German POWs... Well even if you don't allow the human player to build ANY units the game will default to one of the first unit slots when you capture an enemy city. At first I was getting the option to build German defensive units or Infantry when I captured French cities, so I had to make a useless unit that wouldn't be worth building... I ended up using it for a German event around the battle for Falaise...But that's about 70 turns away.
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October 3, 2000, 03:12
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#19
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Emperor
Local Time: 08:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: CLOWNS WIT DA DOWNS 4 LIFE YO!
Posts: 5,301
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Coo-ee! Good thing testweek was (almost) over, since I am now addicted!
Anyway, after few tries, I'm now in turn 3. I used my fighters and destroyers mainly clearing away those ¤#%&# Beach Mines (What I want to know is what kind of perverted beach mine attacks ship? Killer beach mine from Black Lagoon? Luckily you can spot the beach mines if you have good eyes.), but Germans still took horrible toll with those shells and few remaining %¤#&/%& Beach Mines. Anyway, I'm just starting to hit the beaches, mainly with Rangers and Commandos that I've used to get as many German units from beach as possible so my Infantries can safely enter.
My gliders got blown away, but Commandos are safely in Hedgerows and killing Germans that venture too close to them. (That's the intended use, right? Right?), same as those Airborne infantries. One of them managed to blow up German bunker and kill 7 units in there - that was sweet.
Anyway, to suggestions. I think that Airforce should, in start, have same map as Infantry does in start - it's useful to know where to go, exactly. Big map of Normandy as attached file would be useful, with all those beaches clearly pointed in it (I mean, mercy! How am I supposed to remember that there's some beach you're supposed to take between Frenchyville 1 and Frenchyville 2?) Readme should, of course, be larger, and including all, and I mean ALL, units in Civilopedia is a must. And putting some explanatory text in with wonders would be a nice touch as well.
Anyway, great scen, and I am eagerly awaiting to get to liberate Northern France when I get home. What would your next scen be about? I suggested Finland , but I'd also like you taking over Alex's project of Russian Civil War, and some kind of scenatio about last years of Nazi Germany, when war had already started turning bad for Germany. That'd be HARD scenario!
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October 3, 2000, 03:12
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#20
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Posts: 523
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Ok, third try this time, and I'm doing quite well.
I kept all my battleships and LVT tranports out of range, no "Morale Boosting" sea victory for the germans this time! But a lot of my cruisers and destroyers were torn apart by the costal cannons... I'd end up destroying the cannons when there were no more shells left inside, still need to think of a way to stop that...
I've planned my landing strategies nicely, but bombing the germans is another story... how can you bomb a certain target when it takes two turns to get there and the units keep moving? Next time I'll try setting it up so a few planes attack every turn rather than all at once.
Taking a city seems to go like this...
1. Save game.
2. Attack city with whatever offensive unit available.
3. If bunker or costal cannon is in city, attack with flamethrower unit.
4. If none available, call in airstrike.
5. If none available, throw what units you have at it and see if it holds.
6. if it does, reload and try a different city..
I captured 4 objectives this time, but only managed to hold 2, the luftwaffe showed up out of nowhere to force me out and my planes were too busy refueling to stop it.
Btw, Captain Nemo, when the freights are built, should we only build ones to hold fuel, or are other things like "supplies" good too?
------------------
The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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October 3, 2000, 11:01
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#21
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King
Local Time: 22:05
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Emeryville, CA, USA
Posts: 1,658
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Again tested the gliders a little bit. They are on an airbase square (in ocean terrain!) 6 squares away from shore (which is within range of a shell) at the beginning, so if you don't move them, you may get blown up. There is a small city to the southwest which is very easy to occupy (only one infantry inside). Although it is in the dark area, your paradrop icon will show the position of the city. Actually you can also occupy another city there but concentrate your force in one is better (you may scare away enemy planes and hold the city without any losses).
The following part may not work:
The second turn you can put your planes in front of the ocean airbase square to protect it, and paradrop your gliders back (the gliders can only set off from cities and airbases), then move battle engineers to there. The third turn you can first use planes to block counter attack (including shells), then paradrop engineers to occupy a city. Always remember to move the gliders into the occupied city so it can be used later. From then on, either you paradrop back and force to get more units to the city, or you paradrop directly from the city to other cities with engineers. Remember: don't move the gliders or hit space while they are on the ocean airbase square, since they may get lost in the sea (all units on the same square will be lost as well).
Of course, your planes can use the ocean airbase square while the gliders are out so they don't need to come back to England! (oops, not tested, hope it will not work, or Nemo will certainly remove the gliders and the airbase).
Edit: a simple change terrain event maybe able to get rid of the airbase. I haven't played deep into the game so I don't know if captain Nemo has already done that. Anyway, I need to think of another way.
[This message has been edited by Xin Yu (edited October 03, 2000).]
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October 3, 2000, 18:07
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#22
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Emperor
Local Time: 01:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: The Glorious Land of Canada
Posts: 3,234
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*rubs tired eyes*
I didn't get any sleep last night, and I almost missed the bus....
You are one of the greatest (if not the greatest)scenario designers, Nemo....
Right now, after I post, I'm going to get some sleep....
I had to restart five or six times, can't remember much now.
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October 3, 2000, 19:23
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#23
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King
Local Time: 22:05
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Emeryville, CA, USA
Posts: 1,658
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Battleships have the submarine flag for them to carry shells, however it seems that the flag makes them weak. In fact, battleships are as strong as cruisers, although the former's statistics are much higher.
Now, there is this German unit which also has the submarine flag...
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October 3, 2000, 21:14
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#24
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Prince
Local Time: 06:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Red Front
Posts: 556
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Xin Yu:
You are really smart at this, some of the things you figured out right away took me months...
BTW I remove the airbase on turn 2 via events... No luck there. I really tried to prevent YOU from misusing the gliders. One of my testplayers said "Be careful with those gliders, Xin Yu is sure to find a way to misuse them"...
The battleships lose their sub-flag in part 2 since by then most of the shells are gone (Better use them up before then) and you may want to use them to blow up German tanks on the coastal highways.
Cal:
Regarding the Supply convoys I used them exclusively to resupply the armor with gasoline. By part 5 or 6 there should be enough motorized units in France that you will need all the gasoline you can build.
[This message has been edited by Captain Nemo (edited October 03, 2000).]
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October 4, 2000, 10:25
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#25
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King
Local Time: 22:05
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Emeryville, CA, USA
Posts: 1,658
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Thanks Nemo. One question: shall I go for techs? I can get one tech per turn, just don't want to waste the effort.
I'm planning two things:
First, I'll move all supported units back to England so they don't cause unhappiness (my transports are lined up so I can still transport them to France in one turn), then use WLTKD to grow the population. The larger the population, the more fuel will be provided for each fuel supply truck, thus the more units you can support. If a city has not food specials you can send a food caravan to it thus the city will have one food surplus from the trade route. Before the units are back, I hire all but three of the citizens in each city as taxmen/scientists so that I can get a lot of money and one tech per turn. Another function of this 'move back to England' process is to free up some ships. I don't think the enemy shells will target my EMPTY transports. Which means I can safely transform some units to the shore by chain transportation. (I can also disband some units for this. Seems the US infantry and British infantry units are pretty useless. Better throw them to the strait than let them eat enemy shells).
Second, I'll form a 'trap' for the canon shells by putting a row of planes before a destroyer. The shells will not be able to reach the destroyer and will either be sitting in the air for me to pick up or crash. If it works, please add to your readme file that this is now allowed. BTW, there are two kinds of shells hosted by two types of cannons. Maybe some of my units can sustain the smaller shells, but I need to test. From previous experiences missile units in cities only attack navy targets unless you order them to move in the events.txt file. Now you have them out of the cities so I'm not sure under what condition they will not attack land units.
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October 4, 2000, 10:38
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#26
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King
Local Time: 22:05
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Emeryville, CA, USA
Posts: 1,658
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Some other things:
DD tanks sometimes lost in the sea. Can I just move them for one square per turn (I can use Ctrl-N to finish the turn), or is it your intention to let them have a chance of being lost before landing?
I WILL abuse gliders as much as I can. I think I can use planes to clear some cities behind enemy lines (which are lightly defended) then use gliders to occupy them. This way my gliders can move to the west pretty fast (12 square paradrop distance). Eventually I hope they can be used to teleport my troops around.
As for the shells carried by battleships, I'll move them to newly occupied cities and use them for enemy armors. Tigers especially.
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October 4, 2000, 18:10
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#27
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Emperor
Local Time: 22:05
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: SF, CA don't call it frisco... Striker!!
Posts: 3,617
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LoL at Xin - I thought he would find stuff to create havoc...
Cpt Nemo - very well done. I am playing the Hot seat MGE version. (& Thanks for releasing a beta version that we can help tweak.) On that note I will agree that not having the Map surveyed at all for the Airforce was a bit of a pain. Having a non-hot seat version might be fun for multiplayers to split up the air and ground allies. I would like to play it with two PC's on a my LAN to get around the frustration of not being able to see the AI or my land troops. Some limitation on map sharing would be necessary to avoid perfect recon of course.
General strats - I ran thru the first 2 turns twice like the French at Agincourt. Opened the cities and tried to change production, attacked command posts w/ P51s, moved the gliders instead of paradropping, ran LSTs into mines without clearing a channel first, shelled from outside of range, blocked landing sites with planes, and wasted movement running into allied units. Don't do any of that stuff!!
Don't attack anything in a hedgerow! Paratroopers defending cross roads from a hedgerow create tough kill zones. Don't stack your beaches too much, which is easy to do if you clear a narrow lane for the LCVPs.
DDs have a small island to get next to on Utah Beach - use it!
Thunderbolts and Tornados are good fort killers, but run them out of movement exposing the map before delivering the goods, Mustangs and Hurricanes work on beach clearing and blocking coastal bombardment. Once LCVPs are empty use them for chaining from the LSTs or at least to block coastal shells - they are cheaper than your planes.
If you haven't memorized the unit stats yet, open up a copy of the rules.txt scroll down to the unit stats and then just click back and forth
Tons of fun Captain Nemo - this is awesome!
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October 4, 2000, 18:48
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#28
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Emperor
Local Time: 16:05
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 3,057
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Nemo, Second front is brilliant, and wonderfully hard. However, I've got some sugestions for any updates:
1. Merge the Allied Air-force with the Army - one of the Allies big advantages in Normandy was the high level of co-operation between the airforce and ground troops. The way you have it, the air force and army fight thier own wars, wiht the airforce being abable to conduct recon for the army, and the army unable to spot targets for the airforce. I also don't like loosing aircraft by them getting "trapped" by being unable to fly over allied troops. At minumum let the air force and army have negotiations so they can swap maps.
2. Make the coastal mines visable after they are blundered into! It's a major pain in the arse to loose a LCVP to a mine field which you had forgotten exhisted! I'm sure that allied naval commanders noted the location of minefields to prevent futher losses
3. Reveal the map, or at least the basics of the road grid - I'm sure General Eisenhower had a map of Normandy to help him
4. Are you sure about Marauders not being used on D-day? I've seen several pictures of Marauders in D-day stripes flying over the invasion fleet
Finally, does anyone have a good book on D-day to recomend? The only one I've read is 'The Longest Day', and that was lacking in detail (though perhaps I would have gotten more out of it if I wasn't reading it jet lagged to death in a hotel kitchen )
------------------
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error
-John Kenneth Galbraith
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October 4, 2000, 19:18
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#29
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Guest
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I started over and this time found the difficulty level to be perfect. I'd rather have a challenging scenario than a walkover.
First turn, I used my gliders and commandos to take a fortress near Langune. My gliders were destroyed by shells after that. I was able to clear the beachmines with relatively few casualties. This time I haven't lost any LSTs (except 1 with 2 infantry in it last turn). I held most of my transports back, except in areas I knew were totally safe because I used destroyers and cruisers to clear the areas. This allowed my warships in the back to move closer, so the beachmines would attack them.
My airforce help clearing the beach mines since the first turn they can't reach land anyway. Then I used them to clear for safe landing zones, like a a fortress on the coast or fortresses near the cities. I would never attack stationary german units or cities with my airforce, and always tried to position them on roads to block enemy movement (this worked great).
Finally I was able to land my troops, most of which landed in Beach squares, sea cliffs or fortresses. I would never stack more than 2 units on a square (unless it was a fortress) and tried my best to avoid barbwire.
Right now it is at the end of turn six for my ground forces and I conquered about 9 cities. Hot spots were St. Laurent, Vierville s/Mer, Ouistreham, and especially Colleville. I was only able to conquer these cities this turn (except Vierville). Colleville was extremely bloody because I tried to land troops on the barbwire in front of the city, and every time I did this they were wasted. I was able to take the city by flanking it from Port-en-Bessin which I took earlier on. I used those mobile howitzer type units to do the job. I don't think it is possible for you to take Colleville in a frontal assault. I caputre St. Laurent in a frontal assault when I was able to land some artillery that survived a turn. After those 2 cities fell I rushed tanks and troop carriers over from Port-en-Bessin.
Around La Madeline I control the city and the 3 nearest fortresses. German units are swarming everywhere but I am able hold them at bay. However, I don't think I have enough units to push any farther, and German reinforcements in the area seem endless.
I found combat engineers and Crocodiles to be extremely usefull. Use only these units to clear stationary german units like the coastal batteries. Bazookas worked halfway decent against the machinegun nests.
Just about all my troops are ashore but I'm concerned about the message that declared there was a Panzer Division around Caen that hasn't seen combat yet.
So far I'd say the casualty ratio is around even.
I've lost:
18 British inf
23 Us Inf
7 Rangers
12 Commandos
7 Combat Engineers
20 airborne
3 Shermans
6 churchills
3 tank destroyers
18 LCVP
1 Cromwell
1 armored carrier
1 105 howitzer
1 typhoon
6 mustangs
3 spitfires
18 destroyers
7 cruisers
1 LST
3 Battleships
5 gliders
7 crocodiles
9 BAR
2 DD
9 Bazookas
I'm not really sure what else I can do for the next 4 turns, since I control most of the coastal cities, except Courseulles which I plan on attacking next turn. After that, I don't seem to have any reinforcements to push further inland.
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October 4, 2000, 20:36
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#30
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Emperor
Local Time: 22:05
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: SF, CA don't call it frisco... Striker!!
Posts: 3,617
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Maygar - which version are you playing, btw?
How did you only lose 2 DDs?!? I think I lost 80% of mine last try.
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