Wacht Am Rhein campaign beta testing

[Erik2]

While most players are probably eating dust in the desert, here is the German version of the Battle of the Bulge.
10 scenarios that will probably not be too easy to tackle.
Please post any reports in this thread.

Download link in the first post in this thread:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 82#p690982

[Andy2012]

While most players are probably eating dust in the desert, here is the German version of the Battle of the Bulge.
10 scenarios that will probably not be too easy to tackle.
Please post any reports in this thread.

Download link in the first post in this thread:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 82#p690982

Oh my God, Erik, when are we all supposed to play this? Have some mercy and stop being so awesome!

[GUNDOBALDO08]

Hi Erik you are integrating GC with new sandstorm units and issues? When will it be ready to play?

[Erik2]

The Wacht... campaign will not be integrated into the German Grand, totally different beast.
The GGC will be a port/enchancement of the various German PzC campaigns.

I have finished a British desert campaign, but I think I will await publishment of this to avoid stealing Sandstorm's 17 minutes of fame

[Deja Bru]

Last time I looked, you had already beta tested the scenarios up to Dinant Do or Die, didn't you? That was the last one published in Custom Single Player Scenarios. Do you want us to start over with Race to Bastogne or continue testing starting with Manhay Crossroads? My pleasure either way; your stuff is always fun. As a matter of fact, I am going back to Race to Bastogne in the meantime because I probably will play it all out anyway.

I will post comments but I assume you are looking more for bugs than suggestions at this stage. Maybe a thought or two about gameplay and balance.

Since this is a campaign and I am also interested in the editor, I wonder if I might ask you a few questions in the bargain as we go along. First question. This screen here; for a long time I have been wondering how to control the top part as to adding alliances. There does not seem to be any way to add anything but another human alliance and there is no way to change human to AI.

Then I realized that all you need are these three selections because, in the campaign editor, the only three important distinctions are neutral (AI), human, and AI. For a new campaign, the editor always offers these three choices and they really are all that you need. Correct? If so, no wonder the top control doesn't work as expected:

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Now to fire up Race to Bastogne!

EDIT (and don't worry, I won't hijack your thread with this stuff): I am starting to think that this first tab of the Campaign Editor, and maybe the last one which I see you complained about elsewhere, don't really do anything at this point. Exhibit A, from the recently released Sandstorm campaign:

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Doesn't look too functional, does it? So, in your Wacht Am Rhein campaign, does your Alliances tab do anything in your estimation or did you just fill it out as a matter of course?

[Deja Bru]

So, throughout Wacht Am Rhein there is always the possibility of "defeat" (lower case letters). At the end of Hell on Wheels, the last scenario, the player is finally within reach of "victory" (also lower case letters). But why, for both "defeat" and "victory" do you have two outcomes, each with different messages and pictures? For example, "defeat" contains both "DEFEAT" and "Defeat!" Do you intend to display both messages and pictures at the end of the campaign?

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[Deja Bru]

Wow, that is indeed what happens. I waved the white flag in Race to Bastogne and received a double-whammy of "DEFEAT" and "Defeat!" at campaign-end. You cruel man!

One thing: For both outcomes of each of "defeat" and "victory", you are missing the event pictures. "DEFEAT" is calling for event_defeat.png and "Defeat!" is calling for event_picture.png. "VICTORY" is calling for event_victory.png and "Victory" is calling for event_picture.png as well. Those names look like placeholders, not something you typed in, but regardless you have no pictures to match any of them.

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[Erik2]

The campaign scenarios will probably play quite differently from the single-player versions. So I recommend starting the campaign.

The campaign scenarios have been edited quite a bit. I've reduced the original number of core units extensively using a large spread-sheet.
The earlier core units arrivals get used later even if the historical names are not the same (the horror, Kondi ). Otherwise the player would end up with far too many cores.

All cores have zero experience when they arrive. That will increase the difficulty. I have divided the German commanders in two, one for the Wehrmacht and one for the Waffen SS. That should help.
But the US/British units have also got the maximum commanders assigned.

US air is reduced to a trickle in the first 2-3 scenarios. Luftwaffe is absent.

This being the very end of 1944 I have assigned just about every specialisation to all factions involved.

[Erik2]

Bru, please use this thread for anything related to this campaign. Do your normal high quality forensic work

The Alliances tab is a mystery. I have found no way to edit human/AI, so you're left with the defaults (which work OK).
It looks like the faction colour on arrows is the only thing affected anyway.

It is nice to be able to label branches, easier to get an overview. There's also a date field assigned to each branch, no cluer what use that is.

Yes, every branch will end in a campaign defeat if you suffer a minor or major defeat in the scenario. You think this is too harsh? Maybe allow continuing for a minor defeat?

The campaign end graphics is obviously a left-over from whatever German campaign I used as a template. I'll fix the double endings and assign the proper graphics.

Campaign updated via link in first post.

[kgambit]

Erik,

Just restarted the Bulge campaign. Here's some feedback:

Race for Bastogne - all secondary objectives triggered; tough scenario but winnable.
Roadblocks - The M7 Priest secondary objective triggers but the Sherman and M18 Jackson secondary objectives don't. The M18 secondary may not trigger because the US has M36s instead. No clue why the Sherman secondary won't update.
Cracking the Goose Egg - The scenario description is missing and the scenario won't load.

That's as far as I could get.

[Erik2]

kgambit, thanks for reporting.

It was a different Sherman model. I've changed the two trigger to tank/anti-tank class instead.

Stupid scenario label error in the campaign editor. Fixed the goose.

I have updated the link again (same file name).
Hopefully you should be able to pick up from your last point and continue.

[Aaric]

Tried the link, but it seems not to be updated... v1.0 and the issue, that goose egg doesn´t have a description + won´t load lastet...

[Deja Bru]

The campaign scenarios will probably play quite differently from the single-player versions. So I recommend starting the campaign.

Will do. I am looking forward to it; I got sidetracked today in Norway as you may have seen.

Bru, please use this thread for anything related to this campaign. Do your normal high quality forensic work

Will do my best. As always, whatever I say is advisory only with no personal stake in whether you take the advice or not.

The Alliances tab is a mystery. I have found no way to edit human/AI, so you're left with the defaults (which work OK).
It looks like the faction colour on arrows is the only thing affected anyway.

Thank you, thank you for finally confirming this. That mess they have for Sandstorm sure is an indication that this tab is largely superfluous.

Yes, every branch will end in a campaign defeat if you suffer a minor or major defeat in the scenario. You think this is too harsh? Maybe allow continuing for a minor defeat?

Certainly not! You are being very generous in allowing advancement for Draw in every branch, I see.

Campaign updated via link in first post.

Good. I just downloaded it again and will now Race to Bastogne (despite it being 9:15PM on a Sunday night with work tomorrow).

I have updated the link again (same file name).

You may want to update the version number as we go along, though. Helps to keep things straight, I think.

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[Deja Bru]

Heh, Kondi is going to have a fit. Erwin Rommel was already dead two months before Wacht Am Rhein! I assume you have a reason for providing so many quality German commanders. I have a feeling that as we go down the road, we are going to be glad that we have them. Already, by the way, Race to Bastogne is playing more freely than the version that I remember when you first released this.

[Deja Bru]

My vehicles were stymied by this situation at the crossing, but you already know about it. I've seen you complain for naught:

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This was strange. I only encountered one P-61 Black Widow in combat and my flak guns eventually downed it. This other one I found hovering on the edge of the map here. Bashful? I think it crashed soon after. I want to take a look at the triggers for this:

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[Deja Bru]

Okay, I see what is wrong with the second P61 Black Widow. You spawn it here:

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But you neglected to add it to the AI Team 6 for Air Seek & Destroy. That's why it was just idle when I found it:

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Here's something else. If the Germans lose at Scenario End, you want the Americans to win this objective:

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[Deja Bru]

Anyway, I won this time! You have this timed very well, Erik. 30 turns is just enough to get the job done if the player moves along and plays aggressively, which I did this time.

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[Erik2]

I added Rommel for play balance purposes. But I'll remove him to keep Kondi sane.

For some reason my drop-box didn't sync until this morning.
The link (and Goose Egg) should be OK now.
Fixed US air in Race.

But there is a problem when loading the 4th scenario 'Battered Bastards' during the campaign.
I get the dreaded stratmap and the loading freezes. The scenario plays OK from the editor.
I've been unable to find any issues with the scenario. When I've encluntered this issue earlier it was usually spawning units outside the map after cropping. Or some similar data error.
I have attached the scenario (minus the graphics) here.

CSI-Bru?

[Deja Bru]

Unfortunately, I must work many, many days for the dozens of dollars that I need to pay for my OOB habit. For that reason, I must wait until tonight (US EDT) to download version 1.1 and resume my Wacht Am Rhein quest.

As you saw, I've only just finished RTB but I'll quickly nuke ahead to BB and see if I can replicate the issue. Then, good luck to both of us finding the cause of it.

[GabeKnight]

Good to see you're back.