FitE Mods - which one?

[Telumar]

Dear fellow wargamers, as i understand it, there are some FitE Mods around that are not available through the usual public channels.

Which Mods do exist (Buzz' Mod, Ron's Mod etc) and what are the exact changes? Which ones can be recommended? Maybe someone can give an overview or some kind of guidance. Larry?

[SMK-at-work]

I helped Buzz test some of his changes back about 2007, and still have various stages of his mod - versions 3, 4b, 5, 6, 7 (which has its own eqp).

These all date from Feb - August 2007.

the only change document I have for any of them is for 3, dated 27 Feb, and which reads:

1. Changed Finland to enter war on the third turn which they did historically.
2. Changed the Soviet rifle squads to 35k available.
3. Changed the Soviet rifle squad base replacement rate to 3000 vice 3425.
4. Took this out for now: Added Axis Theater Option which allows the Finns to cross the 1939 borders but increases Soviet production by 7%. Ends on turn 20.
5. Changed Soviet rail recovery to 6000 on turn 7.
6. Changed Soviet rail recovery to 12000 on turn 13.
7. Changed Soviet shock recovery to 90, they will be at this the entire game except when it might go up for another event.
8. Changed the German heavy rifle squads for available to 1361 vice 361.
9. Corrected one coastal garrison to arrive at the correct location.
10. Corrected some spelling errors and changed Russian to Soviet in most cases in the events.
11. Placed most of the Soviet army to activate on turn 2. Some formations like the Leningrad and Moscow armies will be held in place longer.
12. Corrected FW190 (early) and (late) entries (reversed current entry production
turns)
13. Changed number of Mig-1’s to 50 on hand.
14. Changed Lagg-3 end date to turn 205.
15. Germans can attack in central and northern Finland on turn 2. Both Soviet and german units are held till then (except one northern mtn div can move on turn 1 so it can be in position to attack on turn 2).
TO BE DONE Later. Changed the German Inf Divs by removing the 105mm guns and placing them in the HQ. Added 150mm Hows, more mortars and AT guns to bring them up to est TOE.

Not sure how much of it is still in Ron's mod - which is at 1.1.10.

[Telumar]

Thanks SMK. I thought someone could bring light into the issue as i always had thought these mods exist parallel. Meanwhile I have been able to retrieve Ron's Mod v.1.10 from my old notebook's HD and it seems Ron's Mod is a synthesis of the Buzz Mod and the Karri Mods:

From the Sce Briefing of Ron's Mod v.1.10:

Modified by "Buzz" to v7.0
Modified by Ron Morley building off the "Buzz mods" to v7.1

The v7.1 mods include:
reducing Soviet supply line length to 3,
deploying the boder guards (NKVD) to mobile as suggested by Panama in an on-going discussion on the Matrix Games TOAW III forums

The following mods were made by Karri for his version of FiTE (still experimental) and I have shamelessly incorporated them here as I think they are good ideas:
- reduced Soviet first winter shock to 105;
- set German air shock to 105 in 1943;
- Russian shock of 95 after first winter;
- turn 178 sees Russian air shock at 100;
- Russian shock until mud set to 95(event 361)
- turn 4 air shock to 80(event 362)
- turn 11 russian air shock to 85(event 363)
- turn 32 russian air shock 90(event 501)
- turn 57 russian air shock 95(event 502)
- Axis minor units now reconstruct (not fort, fleets, etc.);
- victory points are now lost by the Soviet for giving up large cities (another Panama suggestion)

I'm also working on incorporating other changes to the Soviet TO&Es, especially for Rifle divisions as they relied on horse for much of their transport throughout the war (another item pointed out by Panama and Colin Wright). As I figure out how to use it better I expect that there will be some changes to events. One of the things that needs to be worked on is how to simulate the Soviet transfer of entire factories from cities such as Minsk, Leningrad, etc. to east of the Ural mountains. I'm leaning towards making this a Theater Option of the Soviet player in which taking the option reduces supply and equipment repalcements greatly for several months, followed by significant growth in same. Not taking the option would result in Soviet production taking a larger hit when major cities are captured. I'm definitely open to suggestions and discussion of this aspect of the campaign as I'm not certain how to scale the effects either way as well as how to implement any changes that might be made.

By way of disclaimer, any errors that exist in my mods are solely my responsibilty. Buzz, Karri, and others - including the original development team - have done great work on this scenario and anything that screws that up is my fault. I'd like to thank - in advance - the many people whom I'm hoping will give these mods a trial run or two. FiTE is such a huge scenario that I'm sure to have made mistakes and playtesting is the best (only?) way of catching those. Seems a shame that we have to play a game in order to find the mistakes . Anyway, have at it. If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to post them on the Matrix Games TOAW III forum or contact me at morleron at yahoo dot com.

This in addition to the changes by Buzz which i was meanwhile to track down for version 5 of his mod, though the sce file says FitE modded 7..

MOD 5
1. Change static status of all formations to fixed. (to prevent early activation)
2. Change Soviet shock to 95 for 41/42, 98 for 43, 100 for 44/45.
3. Change only Soviet armies frozen are the ones facing the Romanians and Finns.
4. Change Prof/Supply and # of squads for each of the three Soviet echelon areas:
Reduce proficiency of all regular army formations (not NKVD/Shock) of starting armies by 10%.
1st Echelon: Reduce supply to 50%, reduce on hand squads by 10-30%.
2nd Echelon: Reduce supply by 10%, reduce on hand squads by 25-50%.
3rd Echelon: Reduce supply by 10%, reduce on hand squads by 10%.
5. Broke rails lines behind Soviet lines in the occupied countries (so it will be harder to rail units out).

MOD 4b
1. Have a theater option for Finland to enter the war before turn 6.
2. Changed the Soviet rifle squads to 35k available.
3. Changed the Soviet rifle squad base replacement rate to 3000 vice 3425.
4. (left blank)
5. Changed Soviet rail recovery to 6000 on turn 6. Added Soviet rail recovery to 9000 on turn 9.
6. Changed Soviet rail recovery to 12000 on turn 13.
7. Changed Soviet shock recovery to go to 95 on turn 3 then 100 on turn 7.
8. Changed the German heavy rifle squads for available to 1361 vice 361.
9. Corrected one coastal garrison to arrive at the correct location.
10. Corrected some spelling errors and changed Russian to Soviet in most cases in the events.
11. Placed most of the Soviet frontier army to activate on turn 2. Some formations behind the front lines won't be activated till turn 2 or 3.
12. Changed FW190 (early) and (late) entries (reversed current entry production turns)
13. Changed number of Mig-1’s to 50 on hand.
14. Changed Lagg-3 end date to turn 205.
15. German units in northern Finland can move and attack on turn 1.
16. Replaced the 150mm gun with the 150mm light gun in all German and Finnish inf regts.
17. Added 150mm light gun to replacement pool, reduced 150mm gun and 105mm how replacement numbers.
18. Added separate rifle squads for the Axis allies (Finland, Hungary, Italy and Romania). Reduced German replacement pool numbers and added to the allies numbers.
19. Added separate heavy rifle squads for the Spanish Blau Div. Reduced German pool accordingly.
20. Added rail to hex 228,106, next to Gorky so if Sov rail art reconstitutes there it can move.
21. All Soviet Forts in the Fort Regions formation activate on turn 2.
22. Changed Soviet production: 200% on turn 48, 150% on turn 78.

A little bit more light in this issue, but there remain some questionmarks. Has anyone played Ron's Mod and/or are there any known bugs or even newer versions?

[fogger]

My understanding in V10 was that the German 1941 panzer regts did not withdraw in 1942 as per previous versions. When the final version panzer unit arrives in 1942 the German player disbanded the 1942 unit to create a pool of vehicles to feed into the 1941 units. However the 1941 units will not reconstruct. See the posts on my last game with Larry. I think the problem can be over come by making the first vehicle slot in the 1941 regts a single command vehicle of the type that is in production for the entire game. Sorry if this does not make sense jet lag is catching up with me.

[Telumar]

ORIGINAL: fogger

My understanding in V10 was that the German 1941 panzer regts did not withdraw in 1942 as per previous versions. When the final version panzer unit arrives in 1942 the German player disbanded the 1942 unit to create a pool of vehicles to feed into the 1941 units. However the 1941 units will not reconstruct. See the posts on my last game with Larry. I think the problem can be over come by making the first vehicle slot in the 1941 regts a single command vehicle of the type that is in production for the entire game. Sorry if this does not make sense jet lag is catching up with me.

It's mentioned nowhere, but the 41 PzRegts in v.10 do indeed have slots for Pz IV and Pz V.

But that makes no sense. Who can guarantee that the 41 PzRegts do not have still a few dozen PZ I, II and 38 in their TOE when the IV and V come in..?

On the other hand no one needs to disband the IV and V into the 41 Pz Regts. Disband the 41 Regiment, keep the IV and V.

Also the late PzRegts comes too early. A quick check revealed they come in Dec 42. With Pz V. WTF

[SMK-at-work]

Am playing Ron's v10 now & we are up to T29 at 1-3 turns/week.

There are a few small issues as always - some Soviet units reconstruct in Italy (you just disband them & they arrive "normally" later), some soviet units reconstruct well behind German lines....I like to think of them as slightly better organized partizans Not many - so far I've had 3 - a recce regt, an inf division and a militia division - the last didn't last long & the other 2 aer only a turn or 3 old so far.

And I think I mentioned here that the Soviet Western Front HQ starts without being able to dig in/provide arty support. I mentioned this in another thread a few months ago.

Not sure of any TOE details at all tho sorry.

[larryfulkerson]

I seem to have run into a Ron's Mod version 1.1.10 which means I've made some change to it. But honestly I don't remember
what I changed and that there's probably still a lot of the usual un-found bugs in it yet. Sorry no notes to contribute either.
I guess I'm not much help here because it's been so long ago for me. Sorry.

[Karri]

Man, now I wanna play again. But why is there no TOAW IV still?

[larryfulkerson]

Hey Carrie dude:
May I suggest you try the TGW variant? It's new improved and ready for playtest. You can find it here:

http://www.dizium.net/TOAW

[Karri]

What are the changes?

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the contents of the change log:

for v1.1:
changed weather from 'moderate' to 'light' precipitation to try and get no mud on the opening turns.
changed some German Artillery units to arrive later [the ones with no tubes until Soviet equipment is captured].
adjusted Soviet Air Shock because plane losses were too light.
Added events for Soviet early loss of key cities. If Leningrad, Moscow or Stalingrad are captured by turn 17, Soviet
replacements are reduced [for each location captured].
Axis suffers mild shock reduction during winter months [lowered Axis Shock each winter from 101 to 99].
Removed early PzJg Abt's, added PzJg 1's to Mot Div's, increased AT Gun replacements.
Removed Volkssturm until later in the scenario.

Along with other assorted minor bug fixes.

But you also need to know that we, Steve Sill and I, used Barbarosa '41 for the base of the project. It's a variant
of B'41. Extended to the length of the entire war. I'm playtesting it now using the latest exe. No major bugs found
so far. Those bugs found were fixed by Steve and are in the d/l posted above. It's all straight.

[lcesar]

How can I get the latest version of this scenario?
Cheers