1938 Calm Before The Storm

[Cantona66]

1938 Calm Before The Storm
v2.01
Removed Italian HQ Balbo from the map
Changed Italian industrial modifier frpom 30 to 20%
Removed Italian heavy cruiser Goriza from the map
Lowered strength on Italian troops
Small changes of German build limits and dates of purchase
Removed 1 German garrison and 1 division from prod queue
Removed Abyssinian town
Lowered Italian MPP value of resources
Removed 1 Italian sub
Changed combat target data for tanks
Increased unit cost
Fixed faulty France war entry script and added UK war entry script
Added 2 Mobilization:1 scripts for UK and US
Added Slovakian War entry script
Added German decision script for Vichy Frnace to become axis and matching War entry scripts
Added decision scripts and territory and resources for French gold in Fort-De-France
Added German decision and match unikt script for Admiral Graf Spee
Changed Free France units to no build restrictions
Changed UK Free france units to Free france
Changed Freie Indische Legion unit script and war entry
Added Iranian light tank and cavalry unit and lowered strenth on Iranian units
Lowered strength on Iraqi units, added fighter, mech and mtb
Small changes of Iraqi unit script
Added Free Armenia war entry, territory and unit scripts
Added unit scripts for Irish, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Finland, Sweden, French Somaliland, Free Spain, British Empire, Syrian, Free Portugal, Portugal, Portuguese West Africa, Finland, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, French Madagascar, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Palestine, Afgahnistan, Liberia, Free Armenia
Added Latvian sub, Yugoslavian cavalry division, destroyer and MTB, French sub and brigade, Polish brigade, Spanish sub and dreadnought, Norwegian sub, Libyan sub, Italian north african sub
Lowered MPP value for oil wells for Kuwait and Bahrain
Added port to Portugeese West Africa
Removed 2 Polish and 1 yugo Waffen SS divisions
Added Surrender_1 scripts and war entry scripts for Portugal and Free Portugal, Portuguese West Africa
Replaced Spanish Guinea with French Somaliland
Removed build restrictions for all "Free" countries
Lowered strength on Irish mtb
Lowered combat target data on Polish and USSR armies since they really where corps in strength
Added surrender_1 script for Netherlands and unit and war entry script for Dutch Guiana
Added many war entry and surrender_1 scripts
Remodeled Swedish army and Finnish totally
Removed Italian rail gun and light cruiser from the map
Lowered strength on some units in Dutch and Belgium armies
Changed Zara territory from Yugoslavia to Italy and added a brigade
Removed German 2 dreadnoughts and 2 destroyers from the map
Fixed faulty Finnish decision script for Hangö
Removed double German decision for submarine war
Fixed faulty German decision script for Molotov-Ribbentrop pact regarding Poland
Fixed several surrender_1 scripts
Added missing weather zones
Fixed faulty territory script
Fixed faulty belligerence script
Added positions in Greek and Yugoslavoian partisan scripts
Changed air plane and paratroopers ranges
Changes of NM scripts
and some more...

https://db.tt/UdvC0jWpMq

[Cataphract88]

Thanks for 2.01! [:)]

[Mantis]

Is this only playable as the Axis?

[Cantona66]

No plan to change the Axis AI

[andrewjb2004]

Just downloaded the Community pack and started playing this scenario. I have read the previous threads and see it is still a work in progress - looks like a good one but still a few problems. Playing as Allies I can reinforce, move units, research etc but no diplomacy, purchases not available until Poland invaded, and can't apparently declare war early. This is a pity as I wanted to test the theory many experts seem to have namely that if France and Britain acted firmly when Germany started taking Saar, Czechoslovakia and so on, could have
made Hitler back down. Perhaps that will come with a later fix?

Given the size of the scenarion and the massive amount of work no doubt involved, I guess a few inaccuracies are inevitable. For example I have noticed a few units available far too early - escort carriers and late fleet carriers (Implacable or is it Indomitable) for the Brits, and the old battleships Iron Duke and Centurion still in service - ok but by 1938 they were reduced to AA ships as far as I am aware. Don't recall the Italians ever completing heavy tanks or an escort carrier, and Hobart was an Australian Leander class light cruiser, not French.

OK, nit-picking aside it looks impressive and I thank all involved for their efforts.

[sPzAbt653]

Just because I researched all the naval unit histories in the past, I thought I would throw in my notes for two of those that you mentioned.

HMS Indomitable (92) 10-41 PTO, July 42 to ETO, returned to PTO in early 1944.

HMS Implacable (R86) completed in 8-44, attacked Tirpitz then transferred to the Pacific.

[andrewjb2004]

Hi,

So as I thought, whichever of them is in the game is rather early! Can't remember exactly when escort carriers started appearing but HMS Audacity was in service by sometime in 1941 with the first USN completed June 1941 (Long Island) and the bulk of them 1942 onwards. I believe the nearest the Italians got to having a carrier was the Aquila which was nearly ready for sea when Italy surrendered but had no suitable aircraft - she was 27000 tons full load so much bigger than an escort carrier - more like Graf Zeppelin in size. Sparviero would have followed but work on conversion had barely started. OK I am something of a naval historian so maybe I am being too critical - probably does not change the game too much but certainly should favour the allies.

[andrewjb2004]

Incidentally, on the subject of naval units there is one significant class that seems to have been overlooked - convoy escorts! I am thinking of the RN sloops and frigates such as the Black Swan and Hunt classes, together with the US equivalent Destroyer Escorts, the German "Elbings" and the RN/RCN corvettes such as the Flower class. They were built in increasingly large numbers as the war progressed and were vital to defending convoys against U-Boot so I would much rather have them in the game than various "light coastal forces" such as MTB/MGB or Kreigsmarine S and R Boot.

[Cantona66]

Thanks for the comments, i will fix some of the in coming versions.

[dspitfireb]

I enjoy the mod, even though turns are long and its really though at Times (never enough MPP). Of course popping out reinforcements on USSR front are the toughest. Are they random when u approach cities or they are fixed to certain USSR cities?? (Also molotov-Ribbemtrop pact doesnt seem to be working - Germany-USSR border doesnt move east)

[Cantona66]

They are random when approaching cities. Many scripts that i moved from previous versions of my mod has problems, takes lots of time to solve them...

[andrewjb2004]

Hi Cantona66. A suggestion for some changes to scripts - I have had a couple asking if I want to complete Gneisenau/Scharnhorst with 28cm guns(as actually built) or wait and fit with 38cm(as was considered at one point) but it is unclear which answer is "Yes" and which "No" unlike other scripts which make it clear. I have tried playing as Axix but find I have the same limitations in terms of diplomacy, purchase and declaring war - wait until September 1st 1939, which is a bit frustrating. Any hope of changing that so I can try a "what if" or is it part of the game that cannot easily be changed? Managed to beat the Italians and capture the capital of their East African territory whilst I am waiting for proper war to be declared.

Thanks for all your work.

[Cantona66]

Hi Andrewjb2004
i will clarify the decision for the battlecruisers. Germany and Italy you can Dow , purchase and diplo with right away.

[andrewjb2004]

Hi,

Thanks for that. Just tried Axis at Intermediate level and now have Diplomacy and DoW but Purchase still says "Not available until September 1939" - perhaps I am doing something wrong or have a bug?. What I would really like is for Allies to be able to purchase from start and declare war a few months early as well - as and when you have the time and inclination and of course if the program will allow that? Until then I can make them react to a German DoW but I would prefer to be able to control them. Sorry to be a pain but I would like to try out the full potential of your campaign..

[Cantona66]

Different units has different dates when purchase is possible. But you can very simple mod my m od using the editor...

[GMartin]

Hi

This seems like a great mod.
Sorry for my ignorance, total n00b here, can you explain how to install it?

Thanks

[Cantona66]

Hi GMartin
Download the file and put the CGN file in the campaign directory for the SC game and put the 1938 calm... directory at the same place.

Hope it helps

[GMartin]

Thanks!

[gdpsnake1979]

A few problems.
1. Three South Africa units appear for placement in Mombassa but can never be placed on the map as South Africa is so close to the edge that the capitol city is only 1/2 a hex and simply shows as "clear terrain" and is not recognized. Therefore the units remain in the Q forever.
2. The MPP income is just way too low. It takes all of France's income a turn just to build a corps unit 1/2 strength.
3. Poland is a joke. When Germany declares war, the Poles are hit with Morale losses due to Blitz TWICE! Then the Brandenburgs attack and then Russia invades and they are hit TWICE again. The net result is that before a German unit even attacks, all the polish units are at 1 step strength and a dang brigade size unit can just waltz into Warsaw for the win. Incredibly ahistorical as the German troops suffered a lot of losses in the campaign and the Poles fought well in many places. You can't build the strength up either because the UK simply doesn't have any MPP's to do so (Poland is a UK minor) and they are quickly removed by the 'morale' losses. Why are the morale losses not just National Morale losses in the first place? Why are troops completely wiped out?
4. The same thing happens in Abyssinia which is a US minor? The US can't even buy a single investment until mid 40 with it's ridiculous MPP income and the insanely high MPP values on Research...450 for a single attempt? Also Abbysinia is same problem as Poland with the Italian pre-attacks reducing all the units to one step and no way to replace any losses. Incredibly Italian East African units have no supply issues and are next to the capitol in just a few turns. As an Axis player I couldn't move more than 1 hex per turn due to supply issues.
5. Finland also can't recover from the Hard Winter War losses as their MPP income is non-existent.
6. The allies can't use diplomacy until at war so the Axis AI or player can easily bring Spain into the war before the Allies can even try to counter it. Plus diplomacy costs 200 MPP a try on minors.
7. Upgrades cost way too much, hell everything costs way too much.
8. Naval upgrade is frozen at 1 increment? What happened to the 2? I think the major powers should be able to upgrade to 3 while important minors like Sweden, Turkey, Spain should go to 2 and the rest to 1 to show difference in training and quality. Plus all the units pretty much start with no upgrades?
9. The Soviet Union can never approach the status it historically was by '41. Heck, it's MPP income goes to zero by early 39 and barely makes 3-5% in 1940. You can't do anything with them and that's wrong. They weren't overrun in '41 by lack of men and material but by tactics and leadership. Also, how come they don't take any hits for the winter war like the Finns? They pretty much got their butts kicked and had to settle for some small territorial gains. They should get hit but need the MPP income to recover by 1941.
Love the Mod, great work on the scope and content but some real thought needs to be given to MPP balance issues. Reduce morale NOT unit strength on events and watch for the doubling effect of the same event happening back to back in the same turn. Should only happen once.

EDIT: Don't even bother trying the Allies. Event Fall Geib surprises allies wiped out the entire French army in mainland France. Every single ground and air unit was reduced to 1 strength point or 4 if you spend ANY MPP getting ANY French unit up from it's starting strength of 1. Without a single attck even in Netherlands or Belgium and the French are done with no way to build back up with the pitiful MPP allotment. This is really bad and total BS.
Also, Italians prepare (another?) big offensive in Abbysinia wiped out the French and British units that WEREN'T EVEN LOCATED IN THE COUNTRY.

EDIT: In june of 41 the South African units could be placed in British Africa near that town called Mombassa.

Final Edit: I played through to about the end of 42. Here are the rest of my observations: BUGS: Hex 159,74 (Zuyder Zee) is clearly incorrectly drawn. No ships can move into the hex to get in or out of the port of Deventer. The hex even looks "funny." The road/rail does not work between hex 216,145 and 217,145. You can neither move nor operational move through these hexes from one to the other in either direction. (Near the Egyptian town of Abu Simbel). Fighter escorts are flying support from hexes where they should be grounded for weather. i.e. the bomber flies from clear weather hexes and is intercepted but is aided by fighters that are very deep into snow/rain/desert storm weather hexes.
The Ukrainian army event attacking Soviet troops is just as wrong as the Abbysinian, French and Polish events that fires off multiple times and slaughters the troops down to a single strength point. This would be equivalent in games terms to destroying more than a million Soviet men plus there aircraft, AFV's and equipment. Really, from a real life event that doesn't rate better than simple partisan activity? Also they attack troops that are well out of what would be the country of Ukraine based on the post WW1 borders. The forest brothers event kills capitol ships and subs at sea in the Baltic. REALLY?! From a partisan group of snipers?
OVERALL: Playing as the Allies is not even possible. Germany/Italy declare war on Albania, Greece, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and even Spain and the AI never even moves a single troop counter into any of these countries. The AI also declares war on Russia but only moved two Hungarian brigades one hex deep into the area. Also, the AI never takes Denmark, Norway, The Saar or the Reineland. The AI does try to enter France from Italy and Syria and Kuwait from Iraq. But that's about it. None of the minors do anything really and Yugoslavia is never touched. There is no action in the North Atlantic, only two U-boats ever sortied.
So in conclusion, play this mod only as the Axis. I hope the mod gets some work because the scope is really cool or as we said in the 60's "Groovy Man!"

[Khanti]

ORIGINAL: andrewjb2004

Just downloaded the Community pack and started playing this scenario. I have read the previous threads and see it is still a work in progress - looks like a good one but still a few problems. Playing as Allies I can reinforce, move units, research etc but no diplomacy, purchases not available until Poland invaded, and can't apparently declare war early.
(...)

The same for me. No fun playing Allies, as there is no diplomacy at all.