Upcoming Mod - New Generals, 7 day turns & Other Hotness! (Shameless Plugging)

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

Just in case you haven't the mod we're working on, check it out here: viewtopic.php?f=340&t=54285.
Your feedback would be appreciated

[Nikel]

Perhaps you should post it in Matrix games forum.

This forum is empty...

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

Perhaps you should post it in Matrix games forum.

This forum is empty...

I'll do that, thanks. I'd actually quite forgotten about the Matrix forum. And yeah... this forum is but a shell of its former self. Makes me quite sad to see it.

[Nikel]

And yeah... this forum is but a shell of its former self. Makes me quite sad to see it.

Indeed

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

And yeah... this forum is but a shell of its former self. Makes me quite sad to see it.

Indeed

I oft feel like an empty can rolling through the dry and dusty streets of a long deserted town but on I roll regardless...

[Nikel]

Good to know

IMHO modding makes sense only for your own fun.

Because if you expect the support of masses of wargamers you will be disappointed.

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

IMHO modding makes sense only for your own fun.

Because if you expect the support of masses of wargamers you will be disappointed.

I've honestly never expected the support "of masses of wargamers", nor, I think, would I ever rely upon it. The mod has been created entirely with the view of pleasing myself and a couple of friends who have also made very significant contributions. If along the way others pick this mod up and enjoy it as much as I do and perhaps appreciate the amount of work that has been put into it then I'll be very pleased

[Nikel]

OK, well said and well done!

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

OK, well said and well done!

Thank you

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

Bump

[StatboyVT]

Looking forward to this. Any idea on an ETA?

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

Looking forward to this. Any idea on an ETA?

Let's be optimistic and say early June, but don't hold me to that
Thanks for your support, by the way. It's genuinely appreciated. Any further questions and I'll be happy to help

[Durk]

I too will be interested in your mod. I have two comments:
1. If you make the mod easy to use by providing a change mod feature so I can copy and paste between the base game and the mod, that is a nice feature.
2. Seven days has issues with the opportunity to make challenging moves. This is especially a problem for the CSA which needs some lead in order to distance itself. So in your seven day change, you might consider some kind of 'masking' to allow force to slip past an opposing army with luck, chance and high initiative leaders.

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

I too will be interested in your mod. I have two comments:
1. If you make the mod easy to use by providing a change mod feature so I can copy and paste between the base game and the mod, that is a nice feature.
2. Seven days has issues with the opportunity to make challenging moves. This is especially a problem for the CSA which needs some lead in order to distance itself. So in your seven day change, you might consider some kind of 'masking' to allow force to slip past an opposing army with luck, chance and high initiative leaders.

Regarding your first comment, that has already been implemented. Switching between the mod and the vanilla is a simple and quick affair

Regarding the second comment, that's an interesting proposition and certainly one we'll discuss.
What we have done is increase the speed of land movement, which was done not only with the view to make for a faster paced, more exciting and realistic game, but to also simulate to some degree just how problematic aggressive and fast moving generals like Lee, Jackson, etc, etc, could be to an opposing army. This increase in speed becomes particularly noticeable, not to mention very beneficial, after the player is able to form divisions and corps. We've noticed in testing that, for example, an army under Lee or a 20,000 man corps under Jackson, or a 5,000 man cavalry division under someone like Forrest can be a very considerable problem for an opposing player as they can get 'up and around and behind' you quite quickly. The beauty of it for me, though, is that it doesn't only benefit the CSA/player as an aggressive-minded Union player with the right generals in charge would be a genuine headache for an opponent. Having said that, our changes really should be of greater advantage to the CSA, particularly in the 1861-63 years, and might address to some degree the "masking" of which you speak.
It's not a perfect fix, but it'll do until that perfect fix gets here
Thank you for the suggestion. It's an interesting one.

[Durk]

Excellent news. I am always interested in Strategic level American Civil War games creating the potential for Lee/Jackson as well as Braggs Kentucky offensive. It is tough to do at this scale. Part of why I suggested a 'skirting' was so a decent Union corps cannot block the movement northward with the whole Army of the Potomac descending. This wall is the primary weakness of the current game as a simulation. I am very glad to hear this is a part of what you are addressing.

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

Excellent news. I am always interested in Strategic level American Civil War games creating the potential for Lee/Jackson as well as Braggs Kentucky offensive. It is tough to do at this scale. Part of why I suggested a 'skirting' was so a decent Union corps cannot block the movement northward with the whole Army of the Potomac descending. This wall is the primary weakness of the current game as a simulation. I am very glad to hear this is a part of what you are addressing.

Aside from the issues you mention there are two other problems that combine to make those large scale offensives very difficult to undertake.
1. There just aren't enough regions. This is particularly noticeable on the 'Virginia Front', if you want to call it that, and my mind immediately goes to the Shenandoah Valley and the York Peninsula as glaring examples of two areas that really should be potentially enthralling theatres but are instead reduced to little more than simplistic, regional, back and forth slugging matches.
Not that I think that it could be fixed here, but if I could I'd throw away the concept of defending a region, and instead introduce towns (far more of them), various geographical features and perhaps most importantly of all, the larger road networks that connect them all as a new 'region'. Think of it like this: instead of having 4 or 5 'squares' on one side and 4 or 5 on the other to defend or alternately use as a springboard for offensive manoeuvres, you have 20 or 30 on either side, with an individual square possibly having a number of alternate routes from which it can be arrived at, and suddenly that unavoidable and heavily congested artery has blood coarsing through it. The game suddenly opens itself up to numerous tactical and strategic possibilities instead of being limited by maps that are just far too broadly encompassing and haphazard.
If games like this are going to progress then they need to jettison that regional way of mapping/thinking and instead adopt something like what I've suggested. Yeah, it'd be an awful lot of work, but work worth doing. I mean, imagine the Army of the Potomac, instead of having 4 or 5 points of entry to 'home soil' to worry about, suddenly having 20 or 25 or 30 and you see where I'm going
2. The agonising slowness with which a unit moves. That includes everything from a large army down to a small, 450-man regiment of militia. I mean 7 or 8 or 9 or more days from Winchester to Harper's Ferry? In nearly every circumstance completely absurd.
If a developer combined my aforementioned suggestion with something closely (and I do mean closely) resembling circumstancially realistic marching times and you have changed the way games like these play, and much for the better.
It's why I was from the very outset so insistent upon increasing marching speed as it was at the time the only way I could see of taking the edge off some of the larger problems to some degree. Though, as you may have read, that increase in speed comes with increased cohesion loss to replicate straggling, etc.
As I said before, it's not a perfect fix but it's a start.

Also, the mod will come with news units graphics and lots of new generals. Entirely too many, to be sure, but I got a little obsessive with that
Now that was a truly massive amount of work...

[Durk]

Interesting analysis, you have clearly thought about this and potential solutions. I think it might be easier. I am pretty sure if you can associate a leader's initiative as a celerity factor with the Traffic factors, a high celerity unit could move through a low valued force. This can, in part, be done with the existing game if the CSA NM i high enough. But what might help in doing this is to limit Union control and loyalty or delay it more.

[Durk]

I, personally, am actually happy with the map configuration as an assist to historical play.

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

Interesting analysis, you have clearly thought about this and potential solutions. I think it might be easier. I am pretty sure if you can associate a leader's initiative as a celerity factor with the Traffic factors, a high celerity unit could move through a low valued force. This can, in part, be done with the existing game if the CSA NM i high enough. But what might help in doing this is to limit Union control and loyalty or delay it more.

You have me intrigued with the possibilities here. I can't promise anything as we're (currently) trying to tie up a few nagging mod-related loose ends but I think that anything that makes for more realistic game play ought to be looked at. We'll see

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

Bump

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

I'm beginning to contemplate releasing this mod, warts an' all, in the next day or two and then patching up any fixes that are required as time permits. I think it's time this mod saw the light of day.

[StatboyVT]

I'm beginning to contemplate releasing this mod, warts an' all, in the next day or two and then patching up any fixes that are required as time permits. I think it's time this mod saw the light of day.

The thing about mods is that even when it seems like they are completed, you can always find something to fix/improve. Even if you got it to a point where you thought it was perfect, you'd quickly find out that it wasn't. With that in mind, I say go ahead and release whenever you are comfortable doing so.

[Durk]

Agreed. I am more than willing to give it a tryout and find what was until now unknown about the mod.

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

The thing about mods is that even when it seems like they are completed, you can always find something to fix/improve. Even if you got it to a point where you thought it was perfect, you'd quickly find out that it wasn't. With that in mind, I say go ahead and release whenever you are comfortable doing so.

Agreed. I am more than willing to give it a tryout and find what was until now unknown about the mod.

To be fair there isn't a great deal wrong with it. It's eminently playable and has no known bugs. To be sure there are a few things we want to fix. For example, we aimed to make those vanilla game generals that aren't promotable beyond brigadier/major general promotable to 3-star lieutenant general but that has yet to be remedied, and somehow General Robert Byington Mitchell is now named General Ormsby M. Mitchel and vice versa It's no major thing to fix we just haven't got around to it yet. Aside from that and a few other very minor things, there's very little wrong with it.
It's a pretty straightforward and simple mod that isn't ridiculously ambitious nor radically different from the existing game. The biggest adjustments the player will have to make are acquainting themselves with the 7-day turns, the increased speed in land movement, the new units graphics and the influx of new generals - all of whom, including the existing vanilla version generals, have new portraits. You'll see for yourselves the vast amount of work that has been put into that.
Bear with me. I'll try to get everything in order in the next few hours

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

And I'd very much enjoy a PBEM against both of you if you were so inclined?

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

Okay, here's the moment all 3 of you have been waiting for. It's the almighty Altaro/Blood & Thunder mod!

To install, first download the CW2_AltaroMod zip file (link below), extract that zip file into your CW2 directory, then copy as path "CW2_AltaroMod" (just the words will suffice) and paste that into your Modpath file. To return to the vanilla CW2 version, if you so wish, simply delete the words "CW2_AltaroMod" from your Modpath file.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PmrLkj ... sp=sharing

Step 2: Download the CW2_AltaroMod_1_08_1_20230821 (link below), paste that folder into your CW2 directory. Before extracting the 1.08 folder, delete all files from the original version then extract v1.08.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RPrOXO ... sp=sharing

Step 3: Download CW2_AltaroMod_1_09_2_20231012 (link below, this is just a small patch) and extract that folder to your CW2 directory. When asked if you wish to overwrite files, click yes. After that you should be all good to go. Your CW2 loading screen should say "CW2Altaro 1.09.1" in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y6anBP ... sp=sharing

If you have any problems with installation please let me know and we'll figure it out.

Changes/new stuff in this mod include:
- 7-day turns. This needs no explanation.

- Lots of new generals, perhaps to the point of complete overkill, but once I'd added 1, I wanted 10, then 50, then... well, you get the picture Bear in mind that of all the new generals you'll see there's probably another 60 or 70 that have yet to be included, but will be as soon as time permits.

- All of the generals, old and new, have new pictures. As stated before, this was a truly massive amount of work, all done by yours truly. About 90% of the new portraits you'll see were done by me, which, to say the least, was an oft painstaking and methodical process, but I'm quite proud of the end result. I must not neglect to mention, however, that I was supremely aided by the numerous amount of colourised photos available to me at the click of a finger. https://www.facebook.com/ColorizedPast was a source that I am forever indebted to. The man is a genius. Of course, this wasn't my only source, but it's the only one I can remember
Bear in mind that in many cases the original material I was working with was of very poor quality to say the least, but by the time I put them through the wash and then got a little creative (often mixing two separate images to create one good one) the end results were often quite good. Not all the time though. Some portraits, well... meh Naturally any questions, criticisms, etc, are more than welcome.

- We increased the speed of land movement by some ways. This will become particularly noticeable to the player after forming divisions and corps. Even more noticeable is the effect it has upon cavalry brigades and divisions. A cavalry division under a good, hard-driving cavalry commander can be an almighty pain in the balls to an opponent.
Please note that this increase in speed comes with increased cohesion loss - another tweak of ours. The aim of this is to better represent straggling, etc. I mean, you might arrive at a destination more quickly, and you just might whip your opponent, but it comes with a cost. And that cost might be having to cool your heels for a week or so after a mighty victory. I feel it makes for a more accurate representation of just how things were in the American Civil War.

- Confederate entrenchment levels are capped at 2 until January 1864 - thereafter it increases to 4. The thinking behind this is that we felt that it better represents the earlier and later stages of Confederate fortunes. From 1861 to 1863 it was primarily about fast moving, offensive warfare. From 1864 onwards, well, 'We'd better dig a lot of trenches, boys!'

- We added an event that occurs every second turn (if I recall correctly) that gives 1 experience 1 point to random generals for 'time in the field', I guess you could say. This is intended as an answer to the oft exasperating and gimmicky lengths that a player has to go to get generals to a point they can be promoted. I think it works quite well, but am certainly interested in hearing the feedback on your impressions of it.
It must be noted that while it targets random generals, it is more likely to target brigadier generals of a higher seniority, though not exclusively.

- There are some pretty smoking hot new graphics for most of the units. Where there is no change it's only because I felt that no significant improvement could be made and the original graphics remain. For this wonderful work, all due credit must be given to my friend, @Stratman (memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=173697). His patience and attention to detail exceed mine by quite some ways. He's done some amazing work that I am very grateful for.
Note: None of the graphics are set in stone. While I'm perfectly happy with most of them, there are a couple that I might just swap out later. Bear with me.
Artists Include: Don Troiani; Jeff Trexler (https://www.facebook.com/jefftrexler.historicalart), Dan Nance, Mark Maritato and others whose names I do not recall.

Anyhow, I've said quite enough, methinks. But I will not depart without thanking the mighty Altaris, whose genius, wisdom and patience, not to mention friendship, are things I could have achieved nothing without. Truth be told, if not for him this just wouldn't be happening. Here's to ya, my friend

Enjoy!

P.S. While this mod is unfinished. and we are aware of most of the things that need to be corrected, if you spot anything or notice any issues please do not hesitate to bring it to our attention.