Yet Another Secret Project

[Scott F]

As you can see, my tank sucks.

[VietMinh]

-great graphics
-gameplay is slow, perhaps hide the world map?
-naval bombardement is a bit too accurate, while it is true that coastal guns were better that the ships's gun i don't think a mexican infantry should be able to stand up to a dreadnought
-you should have neutral get an alliance with everyone, i was palying as france as they demand me to withdraw from their terriotory while i was on the strasbourg trenchs
-I think there are some untis spot open, mabye some special heroes like custer and the such should be present?

more points;

the germans are very strong and verdun almost fell too many times but yet their defense of strassbourg and munich were incredibly thin (one machine gunner) at the beginning so when i amassed multiple field artillery and conquered those two cities

-also the british are going everywhere in mainland french behid the lines, I had to put reserves to fortify the railroad to stop them from blocking the supply lines, i don't exactly how to correct this so...

-I repeat that bombardement strengh, at least from a dreadnought should be much stronger, the americans lost many from trying to bombard la paz

-execllent scenario in all even if the 4th and 5th events files are sparse because you didn't read the last book of the trilogy

[JamesJKirk]

Breakthroughs comes out in paperback on Tuesday! So, uh I guess that's a chance for reading

[Jimmywax]

I am going to have to say that I love it. If it weren't for the fact that the Mormans are kicking my ass. On my last turn (Feb 1915) they had taken four of my cities and were marching on Pierre. I am going to have to agree with Grothgar. Maybe make them defensive most of the time but give them a units by event when they are to go on the offensive. I was using howitzers against them and it didin't even blow their hair back.

I also notice that in your batch file the "X" option doesn't work. I loaded the batch file to look at the choices and get an idea when I would have to changed the files. When I chose X it loaded the events for 1918.

Otherwise I love it and I am probably going to play it all night. I will post updates as I play it more.

[JMarks]

Originally posted by Jimmywax
I am going to have to say that I love it. If it weren't for the fact that the Mormans are kicking my ass. On my last turn (Feb 1915) they had taken four of my cities and were marching on Pierre. I am going to have to agree with Grothgar. Maybe make them defensive most of the time but give them a units by event when they are to go on the offensive. I was using howitzers against them and it didin't even blow their hair back.

I'm sorry to interupt, but although mabey making them weaker is a tad good idea, why not still let them be capable (though not through events unless you want to be strictly by the books) of attack. Why not rewrite a rewrite of history? Or at least give the ability to do so.

Of course this advice may be worthless from a non test player, but I am waiting paitiently for the chance to play it, sounds good!

Ioanes

[Grothgar]

I am going to have to agree with Grothgar.

What do you mean Jimmywax do you mean that i never give good advice lol.

Managed to take Philly with the confeds but they dont start off with a fleet on either ocean which isnt right!!!!

Also while the Entente powers didnt use heavy artillery for a while they still made some so i dont think they should have to wait until 1917 until they can build it

[Jimmywax]

I had the day off from work so I sat here all day playing it. It has been a while since a game has made me into a mouse clicking, slack jawed Zombie.

I did notice some spelling errors though. The "Deseret Rebellion" for instance, I am not sure but I think that is spelled wrong .
Also, when the other nations discover or conquer something, the plural doesn't sound right. For instance, "Great Britain develop Future Technology". Do you get what I am saying? I don't know if you can edit this or not, but I would recomend inserting a has or something inbetween Britain and develop. Then make Develop passed tense. Then again I flunked English this year so maybe you should ask someone else.

Periodically throughout the game it would tell me that the war between the Germans and the other nations has ended. They would keep fighting but it was kind of distracting.

Units: I thought that the monitor where too powerful. I took out several british Dreadnought's with just two or three monitors. Actually I took out the entire pacific fleet with just two. This maybe used to represent a bigger ships lack maneuverability in shallow water. I found it disturbing though when a Confederate monitor hunted one of my dreadnoughts down in the middle of the atlantic and taking it out. The commie rebels were a bit strong to. When I couldn't get results with artillery, I brought them in and they usually cleared the way.

That is all I can think of for now.

[Grothgar]

Actually Deseret is right because Utah used to be called the nation of deseret so hes actually right

[Jimmywax]

Originally posted by Grothgar
Actually Deseret is right because Utah used to be called the nation of deseret so hes actually right

Oops! My bad

I found another glitch in the events though. At the end of 1917 it doesn't tell you you about the need to change the events. I was so into the came I wasn't even paying attention to the date. Other less attentive players like me will appreciate it if you fix this.

[Scott F]

execllent scenario in all even if the 4th and 5th events files are sparse because you didn't read the last book of the trilogy

I am in the process of reading Breakthroughs right now. I should be done with it fairly soon (probably by tomorrow). It has become apparent that I will be needing two event files per year in order to fit in all of the events towards the end and to allow more flexibility at the beginning.

I think there are some untis spot open, mabye some special heroes like custer and the such should be present?

I was also considering doing several versions of the scenario, one for each of the American sides. I was thinking about using the empty unit slots to put in special units for the player nation (Irving Morell, Gordon McSweeney, and Jonathan Moss for the Yankees, for example and Jake Featherston, Roger Kimball, and perhaps Reggie Bartlett for the Confederates). I am not too certain about that though. The units would probably end up being bribed, killed early on, or used to unbalance things. Opinions on this are welcome.

gameplay is slow, perhaps hide the world map?

I will probably do that and then have the Apollo wonder (suitably renamed) used to make the cities appear without making the units appear.

you should have neutral get an alliance with everyone, i was palying as france as they demand me to withdraw from their terriotory while i was on the strasbourg trenchs

I'll fix that.

naval bombardement is a bit too accurate, while it is true that coastal guns were better that the ships's gun i don't think a mexican infantry should be able to stand up to a dreadnought

I hate how the dumb AI tosses the US fleet at Tijuana instead of smashing Pearl Harbor. I have to fix that too. As for naval bombardment, aside from making all ships into submarines or weakening the naval units too much, I don't know what to do. Suggestions?

the germans are very strong and verdun almost fell too many times

Verdun is supposed to fall. The Germans captured it in the second book. Verdun will either fall or France will go broke (and be bled white) defending it.

also the british are going everywhere in mainland french behid the lines, I had to put reserves to fortify the railroad to stop them from blocking the supply lines, i don't exactly how to correct this so...

I have also noticed that. There is no easy solution to that one either, aside from fortifying units to stop them. I cannot fortify the units myself, as the AI would just unfortify them and then move them elsewhere.

I repeat that bombardement strengh, at least from a dreadnought should be much stronger, the americans lost many from trying to bombard la paz

I also notice that in your batch file the "X" option doesn't work. I loaded the batch file to look at the choices and get an idea when I would have to changed the files. When I chose X it loaded the events for 1918.

I will go find my book for DOS and BAT coding and try to fix that.

I am going to have to say that I love it. If it weren't for the fact that the Mormans are kicking my ass. On my last turn (Feb 1915) they had taken four of my cities and were marching on Pierre. I am going to have to agree with Grothgar. Maybe make them defensive most of the time but give them a units by event when they are to go on the offensive. I was using howitzers against them and it didin't even blow their hair back.

Numerically (by unit stats) the Mormons are exactly as strong as the Black Socialist Rebel units are. I figured that was only fair. I will probably switch them to the defensive through and either adjust how many are generated by events or how many are there at the start (I may make the Utah cities Yankee and surround them with a Mormon rebel in each sqaure in each city's radius).

Managed to take Philly with the confeds but they dont start off with a fleet on either ocean which isnt right!!!!

Yeah, I have already fixed that (though I haven't uploaded the new version with that in it).

Also while the Entente powers didnt use heavy artillery for a while they still made some so i dont think they should have to wait until 1917 until they can build it

I did that for a combination of reasons. The Entente didn't know of the advantages of heavy artillery at the start of the war. As such, even when they realized the advantage of such guns, it took years to get them into service. Most of the French heavy artillery pieces in service before 1917 were old guns from the late nineteenth century that lacked recoil mechanisms and weren't very accurate. Given that, it seemed fitting to deny them heavy artillery and howitzers until later.

On a side note, when reading the books did anyone else notice that Jake Featherston operates a French 75 . His unit, the First Richmond Howitzers, is composed of just 75s. 75s are not howitzers, so why isn't it calle the First Richmond Artillery or something like that?

Also, when the other nations discover or conquer something, the plural doesn't sound right. For instance, "Great Britain develop Future Technology". Do you get what I am saying? I don't know if you can edit this or not, but I would recomend inserting a has or something inbetween Britain and develop. Then make Develop passed tense. Then again I flunked English this year so maybe you should ask someone else.

You're right. I went wandering through the text files (games, labels, etc) looking for what to change and I couldn't find it though.

Periodically throughout the game it would tell me that the war between the Germans and the other nations has ended. They would keep fighting but it was kind of distracting.

I am going to change that in the text files to say something along the lines of "X nation rejects informal peace feelers from Y nation." That should eliminate messages that seem out of place.

I thought that the monitor where too powerful. I took out several british Dreadnought's with just two or three monitors.

and

I found it disturbing though when a Confederate monitor hunted one of my dreadnoughts down in the middle of the atlantic and taking it out.

I am thinking of changing the stats for the river monitors to make them effectively nothing more than floating heavy artillery, probably with a very small movement value to keep them from sailing into the ocean. They are coastal though, so I can't see how they are always sailing out into the ocean. I thought I didn't give the American civs Seafaring and Navigation... Hmmm. I'll have to check that.

The commie rebels were a bit strong to. When I couldn't get results with artillery, I brought them in and they usually cleared the way.

They are every bit as powerful as those evil Mormons you were complaining about.

Mormons and Black rebels are effectively just partisan copies with different unit images.

I found another glitch in the events though. At the end of 1917 it doesn't tell you you about the need to change the events. I was so into the came I wasn't even paying attention to the date. Other less attentive players like me will appreciate it if you fix this.

I'll fix it for the next versions. At the moment, nothing changed from 1917 to 1918, so you didn't miss much.

Thanks for the feedback. I have dreamed up a few more evil ideas while away on vacation. Once I have fixed these problems and added a few new things, I will have a new file up for you all to test through.

[Grothgar]

just one more thing.....

I think that chlorine gas should be reduced in strength as the time goes on because the various sides found how to reduce its effects

[Paul Hanson]

And reduce the effectiveness of my enormous offensive? I think not!

[Scott F]

I am considering doing a declining effectiveness thing with certain units (barrels/tanks, gas, flamethrowers, Mormons, etc).

However, gas is not something that decreases in effectiveness by a huge amount. The shock value at the start was considerable, but there were many different types of gas (chlorine, phosgene, dichloroethylsulfide, etc). Each gas was worse than the last and had its own shock value. I can't really do a new unit for each type of gas at the moment though.

[Grothgar]

by the way i in no way think you should decline the use of barrels in fact i think they should have this sort of unit strength

14/7/2 4HP/4FP

and ignore city walls because they are the reason the americans won the war. they had too many tanks/barrels for the confederacy and they never got ineffective

[Cavalcadeus]

Originally posted by Scott F


I am thinking of changing the stats for the river monitors to make them effectively nothing more than floating heavy artillery, probably with a very small movement value to keep them from sailing into the ocean. They are coastal though, so I can't see how they are always sailing out into the ocean. I thought I didn't give the American civs Seafaring and Navigation... Hmmm. I'll have to check that.

The AI seems to be unaffected by the coastal flag. In single player games I have often saw triemes in the middle of the ocean without sinking.

[Scott F]

I've uploaded a new file for the playtesters (same url as before, just a new file). Many of the things mentioned here have been fixed. I just now finished Breakthroughs, so I'll be working on improving the events files (particularly the later period ones) next.

I still need some helpful person to draw me some aircraft and some barrels (tanks).

*looks hopeful*

[JohnPC]

I'm interested in playtesting your scenario too, that is if you'd still like someone else to playtest. I'm a big Turtledove fan so I know about the subject.
darthconnors@yahoo.com

[BeBro]

Hi, I haven´t read all posts, but this sounds like a very good scn. Since you asked for tank units, here is a British Whippet I created for another scn maker. Feel free to use it if you like, ScottF.

Unfortunately I can´t make more at the moment, but Jimmywax makes excellent units too...

[H Tower]

Do you still need playtesters? School doesn't start till the end of August for me so I need something to do. send it to me at david_schowalter@hotmail.com

[JamesJKirk]

*BUMP* I just finished Breakthroughs yesterday and was wondering if there was any new progress on this??

PS- sending me a copy would be appreciated too, someone

[Scott F]

I'm almost done with version 1.1, which will have one event file per six months instead of one event file per year. There are also a couple other notable changes (which I won't give away so that I can surprise you all later). After a great many helpful suggestions and a lot of good feedback from playtesters, I intend to send out version 1.1 for playtesting. Once the bugs are worked out of it, I am going to create a series of modified sets of event and rules files so that each human-playable nation has its own rules and events.

I am also still hopeful that someone will do one of those German tanks for me. *looks hopeful*

[H Tower]

could you send me another email when the new versions done? i put the old email in the trash so i don't have the link anymore

[Jimmywax]

Yeah, I am in the same boat there HT. So Scott, another order please.

Just in case: Hellonwheel247@netzero.net

[Jimmywax]

I was thinking of making some Tanks for you but I have been kind of burned out on it lately. I have a few days off this week so maybe I can get them done and send them to you to see if you like 'em.

[H Tower]

oops, i forgot, my email's david_schowalter@hotmail.com

[Scott F]

*edges forward in seat in anticipation of getting a good-looking German tank/barrel*

I really only need the A7V tank, I think. Unless you have the time, I guess I will use Nemo's Mark IV tank for the rest.

I finished the new events last night. There are a couple more tweaks to put in, and then I'll upload it and email you all the url.

[H Tower]

should i be holding my breath for the new test version? i stopped playing the old one when you said a new version was about to be released

[Scott F]

Hold your breath no longer. I am sending the email now.

And you people who thought you could win with nothing but gas? Hah! You're in for a big surprise.

[Paul Hanson]

Oh bugger. That`s all I did when I played it. Gas, gas, gas...wow! I`ve conquered the entire Confederacy!

[MDR]

This is pretty cool. I loved the series (all in hardback).

It's only for Civ:MGE, though, isn't it?

Is there a way to convert it to Civ:TOT? It'd probably be the only thing I could think about that would get me to drag that back out again.

Anyway, I'll keep watching this thread to see where it goes. From what I've read, it's some great work.