getting rid of the annoying frozen units

[gwgardner]

The AI needs the frozen units, because it has a tendency to move units out a city defense at just the wrong time. So ...

1) go to the events folder, copy the events file for whatever country it is YOU want to play, not the AI, and rename it

2) go into that new file and remove all such entries containing the Unit.FreezeIfOwnedByCountry, as in


<!--freezing unit-->
<effect method="Unit.FreezeIfOwnedByCountry" param0="171" param1="52" param2="15" param3="3"/>
/>

save that file.

3)go into whatever scenario you want to play and you'll see a file called events_files.txt. Edit that file to contain your new events file instead of the old one.

An alternative to step 3 is to copy the whole scenario folder and rename it. So for example you could have the 1941 Barbarossa scenario and a new 1941 Barbarossa Human Soviet scenario without frozen units.

[JLPOWELL]

Looks like there are two sources of frozen units. The initial values in the land_units file and the events. My understanding is both would need to be fixed.

[JLPOWELL]

Freeze

Based on the events_03_soviets.xml (the one we have been working with) only two units are frozen by event. Many others are frozen at the start in the land_units table.

To unfreeze or reduce to one in the example given change the parameter as shown. The example given is a strong USSR inf corps in the Clash of Titans scenario ( this scenario is a REALLY BAD example of overuse of frozen units)which sits with its feet nailed to the floor in Moscow while any non idiot human surrounds it. It is particularly awful is you can surround and kill it with weak units as it cannot even counter attack:

From land_units:

753;Garnizon Kreml;3;199;64;1;3;100;0;0;0;-1;-1;0;-1;-1;0;0;50;0;-1;-1;-1;-1;30;0;3;-1;0;25;-1;-1;0;0;0;0

change to
753;Garnizon Kreml;3;199;64;1;3;100;0;0;0;-1;-1;0;-1;-1;0;0;2;0;-1;-1;-1;-1;30;0;3;-1;0;25;-1;-1;0;0;0;0



This leaves the unit frozen for one turn (turn zero is where increment starts. The unit (like MANY MANY) units is normally frozen for a LONG time in this case 49 turns (50-1) when you first look at and sigh in frustration.

For reference the characteristics of the file are found in row 1:

#ID;Name;#Owner;X;Y;Type;Level;Current strength (1-100%);Current AP;Attacked;Was attacked;Supply source X;Supply source Y;Starting AP;TransporterID;CommanderID;InReserve?;ShoreBombEffect;Freeze time;AI - order;AI - targetX;AI - targetY;AI- ultimate target X;AI - ultimate targetY;Supply;Effectivity from event;Number of turns from last paradrop;mulberry remaining time (months);Turns without supply;Trench bonus multiplier;Last X;Last Y;Available in turns;Special move used;Exp;Air strike effect

Not to be overly critical but every excessive use of frozen units for human players is VERY lazy design, and detracts from play considerably. If you must freeze a unit to compensate for the deficiencies of the AI they should make an AI specific event or a special starting table for use by AI rather than saddle a human player (who won't get the MASSIVE cheats the AI needs and gets) with a crippling and frustrating lack of control of his own units.

I can see some positive uses for limited use of the frozen unit parameter. A good example is freezing for one turn some Finn units so they don't bounce into Leningrad in the Barbarossa (this would add historical accuracy as the Finn's did not declare war until several days into the first turn (25 June). Another use would be to tone down the massive first turn advantage (the Axis gets by freezing a few units on turn one. Barbarossa would not be an example as the Germans achieved total surprise, Clash of Titans IS a good candidate as the battle is 'underway' and the initial setup is REALLY awful for USSR (I think we are looking at some poor scenario design here as well, or at least lazy. Taking an historical deployment and shoehorning it into a turn based game without taking into account the first turn advantages (I am talking Human to Human play here) can really distort the first turn of any scenario (and usually does in ToF).