Alternative "PG" like Campaign

[Locarnus]

EDIT: 2011.08.02 new version 0.34
changes v0.34:
finally in zip format (as suggested by GSlapshot) with backup and campaign tree, thanks to Dragoon
& another bugfix thanks to el_cid17
changes v0.33: corrected a typo, which prevented you from going to bagration...
changes v0.32:
You will go to Norway regardless of your Poland performance, which makes more sense after all...
some better fitting Campaign debriefings have been linked
no Prestige or further changes[/size]



I read about the problems with the dynamic campaign (e.g. that it is too short when you are too good).
Then there were suggestions of a historical campaign.

Personally I like the old PG campaign, it is long and you have some impact on the war.
And if you are very good, you can do some bonus scenarios.

So I sat down and created an PG like campaign for PC.

As of now (v0.3) I just made the "new" campaign tree and connected the scenarios in this order.
I didnt tingle with the scenarios, or the descriptions/messages whatever.
Also I just made some very rough Prestige adjustments, mainly when I made a scenario connection that did not exist before.

So expect the scenarios/prestige points to be unbalanced and the messages to be misleading.

I do not think that I will put much effort in it, so if you want it more balanced, contribute by making suggestions in this thread, eg by uploading a new campaign file with better balanced prestige.

INSTRUCTIONS:
The attachment below contains a zip including the new campaign.pzdat, copy the campaign.pzdat to ..\Panzer Corps\Data and overwrite.
A backup of the old campaign.pzdat, campaign tree & instructions are included.
The zip-architecture came from Dragoon, thanks very much.

The old form of txt file only can be found in the second post.

PC-alt-campaign-path-PGC-v0.34.zip

[Locarnus]

Of course to make sense, the story has to be adjusted.
Like when you take Moscow and perform Sealion, then somewhere it should say eg "although your operation was succesfull, the navy was unable to hold off the Royal Navy and US Navy, supply lines are breaking down, so we had to retreat to avoid being trapped there."

edit: The same goes for the Moscow 41 capture, either after Sealion you get the notice that you wasted too many resources for Sealion and Moscow was recaptured, or right after Moscow 41 marginal, you just couldnt hold on to it...
Also there needs to be a second Sealion after Overlord and before US, but I dont have time to adjust the scenario accordingly, so "you" just were ill and a fellow general took over for this second Sealion ...

The code of the alternative PG like 0.31 campaign.pzdat is also listed here, if you dont want to download stuff, just backup the old file and replace the contents:
edit: Hm, if I add the code in code tags, then the code is displayed all over the place, instead with scrollbars like on the paradox forum...

for those who want to take a quick look at the changed file, I provide here the old form (txt) for download/opening (v0.34):

[flankspeed]

Very cool. Love this idea.

Just one question. Where is the Sealion 40 scenario?

[Locarnus]

Sealion 40 is the only scenario besides Moscow Rush, that I entirely left out.
The reason is basically the same for both. It would have created an early branching of the campaign tree, thus creating quite some work for me yesterday and possibly much more work in the future, when prestige levels and texts might be adjusted.

The branching at Kiev was avoided by basically reverting your gains story-wise. And it even makes sense (that you are overextended at this point and cant hold on to it, remember that the german economy was not in "war mode" until late in ww2). Also in 42 the USNavy would add their weight, so that holding on to oversea territory gets much more complicated compared to 40.

[Dragoon.]

Nice work, I love how you branched the campaign tree. Going right in for an other playthrough. Thank you.

[GSlapshot]

Locarnus
Enjoying the campaign mod but you need to need to re upload the files for the pzdat file and the scenario map. Since you uploaded a .txt file some members may have file contentions since their browsers will try and open it as a text file or their extensions will not save the name correctly. i suggest you but them in a zip file and upload again since they won't have to rename the file and you can elaborate on how the campaign flows.

[Locarnus]

ORIGINAL: GSlapshot

Locarnus
Enjoying the campaign mod but you need to need to re upload the files for the pzdat file and the scenario map. Since you uploaded a .txt file some members may have file contentions since their browsers will try and open it as a text file or their extensions will not save the name correctly. i suggest you but them in a zip file and upload again since they won't have to rename the file and you can elaborate on how the campaign flows.

I thought about a zip file, which is a must if more than 1 files are included anyways.
I dont find the renaming too problematic at the moment (just copy paste the name from the attachment window), and it adds the benefit of being able to see the internals before downloading.
In other forums (eg paradox) I like it when modders post their stuff as code, if possible. So that someone else can look at it without the hassle of downloading and extracting.
But since the code tags in this forum do not work, this is my workaround until it gets more complicated...

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: Locarnus





Of course to make sense, the story has to be adjusted.
Like when you take Moscow and perform Sealion, then somewhere it should say eg "although your operation was succesfull, the navy was unable to hold off the Royal Navy and US Navy, supply lines are breaking down, so we had to retreat to avoid being trapped there."

edit: The same goes for the Moscow 41 capture, either after Sealion you get the notice that you wasted too many resources for Sealion and Moscow was recaptured, or right after Moscow 41 marginal, you just couldnt hold on to it...
Also there needs to be a second Sealion after Overlord and before US, but I dont have time to adjust the scenario accordingly, so "you" just were ill and a fellow general took over for this second Sealion ...

The code of the alternative PG like 0.31 campaign.pzdat is also listed here, if you dont want to download stuff, just backup the old file and replace the contents:
edit: Hm, if I add the code in code tags, then the code is displayed all over the place, instead with scrollbars like on the paradox forum...

I love this campaign layout! This makes a lot of sense and looks like it has a lot of replayability. Of course I'll do some tweaking of my own... [8D]

[flankspeed]

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

I love this campaign layout! This makes a lot of sense and looks like it has a lot of replayability. Of course I'll do some tweaking of my own... [8D]

Gary tweaking? Inconceivable [:D]
Aren't you AWOL from the War in the Pacific forum. They are sure to send out search parties soon.
Kidding man. I admire your work, no matter what game it's in.

[Locarnus]

I have thought about a very dynamic campaign path, which includes sealion 40 and rush to moscow (and would need a scenario like sealion 44...), but it includes nearly 60 entries, instead of the ~30 that are needed for the campaign path above.

In this version it would eg really make a difference how stalingrad ends, and it would even make a difference whether you took Moscow or London or Norway before reaching Stalingrad.

There would be 7 different situations from which you can get to one of 4 situations for Stalingrad, and 7 situations you can get to from the 4 situations of Stalingrad...

For Italy its even 9-5-8
You can imagine how the campaign path looks like...

The downside is, you can not play (nearly) all the scenarios in 2 run-throughs like you can with the campaign path above, where you only miss variations of moscow, sealion and germany in the 2 runs...

edit:
So the version above is the "simplyfied" one, for which I have/had time.
However I could open a thread and post the dynamic campaign tree there, if someone is interested (or even has the time and is willing to implement it or something similar and think about the prestige values and all that stuff...)

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: flankspeed

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

I love this campaign layout! This makes a lot of sense and looks like it has a lot of replayability. Of course I'll do some tweaking of my own... [8D]

Gary tweaking? Inconceivable [:D]
Aren't you AWOL from the War in the Pacific forum. They are sure to send out search parties soon.
Kidding man. I admire your work, no matter what game it's in.

Many thanks!! I'm also AWOL from the Civilization III forums. [:D]

[Locarnus]

new version, you always go to Norway now and some debriefings are changed to more fitting ones
no other changes like Prestige

[Dragoon.]

Thanks

[GaryChildress]

Hey Locarnus, looks good! I like your latest campaign tree. I'm going to do some play testing to see if I can come up with a good balance of prestiege.

[strykerpsg]

I can't get your file to work. I cut and pasted the original campaign file onto desktop and inserted your file. I also removed the txt ending, but it still won't work. What am I doing wrong?

Matt

[Razz1]

You probably did not remove .PGCv0.32

Before you replace:
Make sure you copy the existing file and save as.
It will say Copy of xxxxxx
Then you can rename it as campaignOrginal or just remember it is the original campaign file.

Then paste the file here into the folder and rename it by removing .PGCv0.32.txt

[strykerpsg]

Razz,

It doesn't like the txt file. I remove the .PGCv0.32.txt, but it still associates the original file as a text document, even though I rename it as described. It might be nice if there were a complete walkthrough for the more challenged folks, like myself. I really dig the game and agree the campaigns are a bit short. So, looking forward to this add on.

Matt

[Dragoon.]

ORIGINAL: strykerpsg

Razz,

It doesn't like the txt file. I remove the .PGCv0.32.txt, but it still associates the original file as a text document, even though I rename it as described. It might be nice if there were a complete walkthrough for the more challenged folks, like myself. I really dig the game and agree the campaigns are a bit short. So, looking forward to this add on.

Matt

I suspect you have "Hide extensions for know file types" turned on in you folder options.
Anyway I uploaded the file as zip archive for you. I included the original file that came with the game in the backup folder for you convenience.

[Locarnus]

ORIGINAL: strykerpsg

I can't get your file to work. I cut and pasted the original campaign file onto desktop and inserted your file. I also removed the txt ending, but it still won't work. What am I doing wrong?

Matt

Sorry, I added the version number only in the latest release and didnt correct the instructions, until now.

Thanks Dragoon, adding the original file is a good idea, since it would not be the first time that a backup is forgotten/erased.

[GSlapshot]

Thanks for the zip file.  I use Firefox as my web browser and you really have to know how to save files since it wants to make it a FF document rather than a text file.  Great job also of including the original file.