CW2 - Prepare To Cry Edition
I came across AACW a few years ago when I was laid up with some injuries and I played the heck out of it. I was excited when I learned a new version was planned, especially after I saw the map. I purchased it when it was released and have since played it often ...
... and have decided that I'm pretty frustrated with some things. When I play the full campaign starting in April, why am I still forced to accept events that will happen at the same time, every time, three or four years hence? For that matter, why I am still forced to fight Bull Run? Why do Ben Grierson's (or Abel Streight's, etc) raiders show up when they no longer have any relevance? I don't mind having the same strategic objectives, but I want more flexibility and randomness. Otherwise the full campaign ought to be individual major battles strung together and forget the rest.
The developers have seen fit to make knowledge and tools available to modify the game. Several forum members have contributed ideas and help. My formal education (post high school) has largely been in computer science. I figured I have half a chance to build up what I want. I cannot change the way the engine resolves combat, nor do I see any need to improve on it given the level of representation: it's not a tactical simulation. As much as I'd like to, I can't separate seniority from experience or change the way leaders are promoted. Since I have not learned to use ExMap, I can't change some of the more grievous issues I have with the map.
I am only focusing on the full April '61 campaign. I considered creating additional models rather than editing existing ones, but it's more time than I have. This mod will still most definitely break every other campaign in the game. Not much I can do about that, since the same models are used for almost every campaign, whether or not they are relevant.
Goals:
1. Make certain things about the game more closely resemble history, and others less so. Ulysses Grant should be able to become a major general; it should not be a sure thing. Robert E. Lee should be one of the first full generals; I should not have to wait X number of turns to decide to make him the leader of one of my armies. The state of West Virginia does not exist in 1861, nor should it ever if, as the CSA, I establish and hold extensive military control all the way to Ohio and Pennsylvania from '62 onward. Et cetera.
2. Add more randomness to the events in hopes of creating a more re-playable experience.
3. Do not negatively impact Athena.
List of changes (so far).
Leaders:
1. Leader models added and removed to both factions that are playable from the main menu (USA/CSA). Removals were based on if the leader never actually reached general officer rank or it was awarded posthumously; if they commanded in the field during the conflict; or if their field command and/or commission was particularly brief/insignificant. Additions were made based on field command of forces in battles.
2. Many leader appearances have had an element of chance added. In historical circumstances where a leader had at least colonel rank and brigade (or other significant) command for at least six months, leaders have had an event added to give them a 5% chance to appear before their historical promotion date to initial general officer rank. I usually start this 1-2 months after their historical promotion to colonel, and I try to avoid using back-dated ranks.
3. Attempting to make leader spawning at rank closer to historical date and location. Sometimes this was difficult because of the common practice of back-dating rank. I'm still working through the Union general ranks, made more confusing by the volunteer versus regular army ranking system. More leaders than previously now spawn with the highest number of command points in a theater rather than in a specific region, so hopefully less CSA generals spawning outside Richmond when the front has already moved to North Carolina ...
4. Army-Of-The-Creek-Behind-My-House (in other words, armies in name only) no longer a qualifier for LeaderRank = 3, and some of these models have been removed. CanBeGHQStack = 0 and/or CanBeHQStack = 0 implemented in some cases.
5. CSA: Attempted to make leader ranks more closely resemble historical, on the surface if not in fact. Most 2-star and 3-star generals no longer command corps/army, respectively. Initially, the original five full generals (Cooper, A. Johnston, Lee, J. Johnston and Beauregard) are the only army commanders available. A conditional event promotes the next general on the seniority list if one of the original five (actually four, since I never spawn Samuel Cooper) are removed from the game. If that general is dead (or locked), there's an event to cover that and the next two generals in line. I have finished with almost all of the CSA commanders.
6. More Union army commanders can suffer the same fate as McClellan. Just because Pope or Hooker or whoever made 3-star doesn't mean they're going to stay there.
7. It's a cosmetic change, but it makes the game much more enjoyable for me. No Union general is *displayed* with anything more than a 2-star ranking with the exception of Grant (I never spawn Winfield Scott). I changed the NATO symbol called by the model file, and blanked a file in the graphics directory. The only place I couldn't change this was the tooltip pop-up, and that's because the developers reused the graphics for the XP levels. I couldn't blank one without damaging the other. To make it easier to pick out generals that have 3-stars worth of command points, I'll probably create a 2-star NATO symbol with a slightly different color.
8. Some abilities were changed or modified. A couple of examples:
8a. *Zero* leaders now use fast or slow move.
8b. I feel some leaders are unfairly hit with command point penalities at lower ranks. Take Early as an example. He was not a completely incompetent brigadier, but because the same ability is applied at each rank, instead of becoming less competent he becomes more so. At 1-star rank he can't even effectively command stacks that require zero command points. Really? Instead, I modify the ability used at different ranks, increasing the penalty w/rank.
9. State militia generals are added, and state-specific models for existing generals added where applicable. State-specific NATO symbols for general ranks have been added and applied where appropriate. State militia generals are all LeaderRank/MaxRank = 1, have appropriate HomeArea and have lower seniority than all other rank 1 leaders. State militia brigadiers start at seniority 200 and state militia major generals start at seniority 166 (I'm playing with these numbers). All state militia generals have a higher progression rate (five to ten times more XP required). All are either promoted by event or, in the case of some Missouri State Guard generals, have no other model.
10. Progression rate for a general at his highest achievable rank has been raised anywhere from five to ten times (meaning it takes five to ten times more experience points to achieve the next level than previously). See Peter Principle.
Forces, with a caveat - I don't have much of this done, and I don't know how the AI is going to handle it; I may have to scale it back:
1. Roughly the first year's worth of historical brigades will be formed, and brigade sizes and composition are altered (usually reduced). Some elements from these brigades will disappear to coincide with early enlistment periods.
2. Buildable brigade sizes are two, three and four elements. Fewer brigades have attached artillery or cavalry. More single regiment units available.
3. No brigade will require more command points than its number of elements, and no brigade costs more than 4 CP.
4. Few elements start as elite, although some can upgrade to such. This include elements that are part of brigades.
5. Brigade units contain slightly more conscripts than previously.
6. I am struggling on what to do with sharpshooter regiments. I do not like them at all. My inclination is to remove them altogether and add their function back as an ability of certain regiments or brigades.
7. I want to introduce one of the hurdles that the factions had to deal with that isn't present in the game now (but used to be to some extent in AACW): enlistment expiration. Under consideration: total militia available per state remains the same, but less of it available to build. Instead, it will be created by event and would have a removal date. It would not be fixed. The number of elements to expire would be recreated by event and there would be a small overlap so that entrenched positions have a chance to be maintained, but the militia created by event would *not* be upgrade-able to line infantry.
8. Oh yeah, single militia elements can no longer be combined into a freebie single CP brigade, which can then be run through the McClellan Line-Infantry Factory and spammed ad nauseum. The majority of militia will not upgrade to line.
9. Pontoon bridges removed. Engineers now have the same ability.
10. Combat ships, to include brigs, gunboats and mortar boats, are built as one element and one element only. I might reduce the transport ships in the same way, but I'm not sure yet. Blockade squadrons may remain unchanged or only slightly altered, depending on Athena.
11. I'm focusing on unit files and combined element compositions. I don't see a reason to change most model file values, but there are a few things.
12. I am building on much of tripax's work WRT to element names. Hopefully the fact that I'm separating much of the artillery from brigades will mean less generic artillery company names.
Map:
1. Most structure display sizes reduced. Some structures relocated in their region. Sometimes this was done to more closely match where a city might be. Sometimes it was just to reduce crowding (e.g. the New York City area). I can't say a applied a consistent rule here, and it's just cosmetic.
2. Some harbor exit/entry regions changed.
3. In the case of a very few fort regions, I added rail. Why? Because it doesn't take eight days to travel from the city of Charleston to Fort Johnson, that's why. No, not even on foot and through the mud. Since I couldn't find a way to gracefully move the fort to another region, and since I couldn't redraw the map, adding rail was the least evil way I could think of to make a faster connection. It's not ideal and it's not historically accurate, but it plays better, IMHO.
4. Some fort regions have their structures relocated (see Structures section) and now have a permanent BlockState = 2 (can't enter nor see detail on region).
Cities and structures:
1. Many stockade changes. Some didn't exist at the start of the conflict. Some weren't more than a post with some barracks. They usually weren't equipped to support armies of thousands. I have lowered the supply and ammo wants for settlements, stockades and forts. I don't have the full list in front of me, but a significant number of them were changed to settlements, depots, redoubts, combinations of the aforementioned, and some were removed altogether. Some CSA camps were added as depots.
2. Hatteras, Ocracoke and Fisher were not coastal system forts. There are other examples of this. I have modified them to redoubts or stockades or removed them altogether.
3. That's not where Fort Knox is/was located. Fixed.
3a. Couldn't find a Fort James, TX, in my research. Redoubt now at Galveston (because I couldn't use ExMap to draw a new island region south of Galveston).
3b. Did find a Fort Livingston, LA, but it's not on the map (and there's no good way to add it w/o ExMap knowledge).
3c. ... and so on, the coastline of the map drives me bonkers.
4. Additional New England forts changed to represent their historical type and location.
5. Canadian forts added, removed or relocated.
6. Most fort harbors removed, and some other regions have had them added or removed. This would be easier to stomach if loading/unloading forces onto/off of ships didn't take an unrealistic standard five days, no matter the number of ships, number of men, terrain type, weather, health/cohesion of forces involved, etc, etc. I have a long gripe about this. Anyway, harbor changes. Don't expect to sail (or steam, I guess) your ocean-going transport up to Island 10 where it will miraculously take on experienced crew and effect repairs.
Gameplay changes:
1. 7-day turns. Still working this out but it is progressing. The way the game is coded right now, I do not see a quick way to go back and forth from 7-day to 15-day turns.
2. Regional decisions ...
2a. I see no reason why I can't build more than one redoubt per year, although maybe more than one at a time might unbalance things. This RGD will renew. I plan for it to work in regions w/o cities. Ideally I'd have it require engineers in the same region as well as troops, but so far I haven't been able to make that happen. I can make it require engineers. I can make it require troops. I can make it require either/or, but I can't make it require one element with *ConstEngineer* attribute AND three elements of type line/militia/etc. If I could, that would limit somewhat the Union ability to build redoubts ad infinitum. I also don't know if the AI would make sense of it. I don't even know if the AI uses that RGD.
2b. Stockades are not built of dead conscripts. Input cost now one fifth of redoubt (single element presence requirement remains the same). Stockades can be built in level one city areas (already exists in the game, look at a few of the fortified cities in Texas and New Mexico).
2c. Sea Mines RGD lasts more than one turn (right now I'm thinking four 7-day turns max), but is still only effective for one kaboom. There is a decay percentage added.
2d. I would like to implement some of the unused, developer-created RGDs, especially the one for disassembling industry. I haven't looked into it very far yet.
3. Abilities ...
3a. Slightly reduced penalty for Unpopular Leader.
3b. Since I modified the abilities of some of the leaders, I had to modify the description of some of the Genius abilities.
3c. Goal of adding new recruiting ability, producing fewer conscripts per turn but without requirement of being in the city. However, I might scrap this in favor of an event (see below).
4. Events ...
4a. Trying to add events specific to Price and Forrest to spawn raw units provided that those leaders fulfill certain conditions (Price in Missouri from April to September, unbesieged, minimal NM requirement, region control, etc).
4b. Adding in some small (1-2%) chances that leaders are removed from play. I'm not trying to recreate the political court martial of Porter, more along the lines of historical resignations. Code for resignations will be separate from other files so it can be compiled into a scenario or not with the change of a single line.
4c. Foreign intervention will be modified to allow for invasion of Mexico by CSA and/or Union, because why not?
4d. Athena gets free garrison units upon fort capture, human players do not.
5. Several events removed or probability significantly reduced. Lee's Lost Order is now Lee's Lost Event: I don't know what happened to it, it's just gone. Maybe I rolled it and smoked it.
6. Fewer fixed units. As the CSA, no longer will you be required to unavoidably spend heavy arty replacements on coastal fort units, which you can't defend and are there mainly to provide Union generals with easy promotion. Relocate it inland. Spike it before the Navy rolls in. Whatever, but now you can do what happened most often in history: abandon the forts without a fight.
Other factions:
1. Additional Indian factions added and existing forces parceled out. Reason: Sioux uprising should not affect southwest US forces.
2. Slightly modified faction relationships in the event of foreign intervention.
3. Considering adding event for Union to supply material ($ and WS cost) to Mexico during French intervention, with result of better faction relationship.
4. Added corps to GBR faction.
5. Altered TechUpg values on some models so that graphics don't break when they upgrade. Normally you wouldn't see it since you can't control non-US factions without the console, but it's still busted.
... and that's not all, but it is all I have on my plate for the moment. Currently I am drilling down through the Union generals and implementing changes.