WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

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What features do you vote into the next version?

Transport ships
6
21%
Paratroopers
6
21%
Desert/Snow/Mountain infantry
2
7%
Add artillery unit that does high radius AOE slowing attack with 1 damage to everything but planes.
2
7%
Tanks get slowed by entering forest, and first strike by being on a hill.
2
7%
Add Japan as a nation.
3
10%
Add Italy as a nation.
1
3%
Separate western allies into UK, USA and France
4
14%
Add all the navy ships from battleship to sloop with realistic naval strategy, but at 1/100th scale per ship so they are plausibly affordable.
3
10%
 
Total votes: 29

Kharn
Posts: 83
Joined: December 12th, 2005, 7:50 pm
Location: Dallas, Tx

WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by Kharn »

First major update for World War 2 Era for Wesnoth!
(Inspired by WWIIOL: Battleground Europe, a FPS MMO with the world's largest online game world and an obsession with realism)


NEW FEATURES:
[*] Mortarman
[*] Commando
[*] P51 Mustang
[*] Me262
[*] Yak-3
[*] Browning Machine Gun mounted on Jeep
[*] Late war allied heavy machine gun unit.
[*] LMG covering fire attack (slows multiple units)
[*] Maps updated with starting villages and/or more balanced
[*] Europe Small map now is a recreation of the board game Axis and Allies Europe 1940 with all starting units and village locations replicated. Having a map like this this and playing out WWII on a grand scale was the ultimate goal of this mod.


UNITS:
-----------------
[*] Includes 100+ unique units most with custom "AI friendly" wml and animations from Germany, Western Allies and Russia. The most historically produced tanks, aircraft, and naval units were selected to be a part of the mod. Every unit can level to veteran, and most can level to elite or more.
[*] The historic production cost of every unit was researched and converted to 1942 dollars. Every 1 gold in game is 160 dollars from 1940. This was the hardest part of researching the game was finding records of how many reichsmarks or dollars or man hours something costs to build. (For example a Flying Fortress has the same cost as 2 King Tigers)
[*] ~35 units are available for recruit by each nation, with several more unlocked via the Tier 2 Factory.
[*] Each nation has a unique recruit-able infantry unit. Western Allies=Commando(stealth assassin), Germany=NCO(combat capable leadership), Soviet Union=Cost zero conscripts(armed civilians that spawn from villages to defend them)
[*] Germany infantry have +25% cost, and -50% exp to level compared to Western Allies
[*] Most Soviet infantry have less training and therefore reduced cost, hp, and damage compared to Western Allies.
[*] An infantryman on screen is a squad. All other units represent single units.
[*] Custom code including: Exp from capturing villages, Carpet bombing up to 6 hexes, Conscripts spawning out of villages, lowered attack while swimming, aircraft unable to capture villages, Tier 2 factories unlock units after 1942, aircraft can continue to move after attacking, vehicles can skirmish but only past infantry, mortarman can simulate attacking from a distance by gaining moves after an attack, supply trucks can tow ATG guns and infantry by starting a turn next to them, and finally an invisible spy unit called the Operator that can actually steal opponent's units and cause havoc behind the front line.
[*] Every variable (hp,mm of penetration , upkeep, etc) is mathematically derived based on researched WWII performance statistics and schematics.
1 turn = 1 Week
xx Cost = Dollars(1942) / 160
xx Upkeep = Dollars(1942) / 160
xx Level = (Cost+Upkeep*10)/40
xx EXP to level = Level*24
xx HP = (mm_of_armour^2)/5
xx AP Damage = mm_of_penetration@750m^2 / 6
xx ground movement = kmph / 5
xx aircraft movement = kmph / 19




MAPS: (from quickest playtime to longest)
-----------------
[*] Europe Micro is the smallest a 2v1 map can be made while still getting to afford most units and experience combined arms combat. This is the recommended first map to try for multiplayer. (30-90 minutes)
[*] Intense River is a custom map where two forward bases attack a town on a river bend. The map is designed to have as short of playtime as possible while still getting intense concentrated battles where most units in the game can be afforded. (1-2 hours)
[*] Sedan is a recreation of the battle of Sedan in the Battleground Europe MMO. Two German forward bases attack a river town where it is difficult to advance in the city. It has starting villages but not starting units. (1-3 hours)
[*] Europe Small is a recreation of the board game Axis and Allies: Europe 1940. Starting units, villages, and coastlines are a scale model of the board game. This is the best way to experience WWII theater strategy against another player. (2-4 hours)
[*] Kursk is a 1/5th scale recreation of the largest tank battle in history. Highly accurate and working from original documentation, it has been created so that every one of the units are in the correct location for the night of the 10th, including Michael Wittmann's elite Tiger on top of hill 241.6 (3-8 hours)
[*] Western Europe huge is a maximum size map designed true to life. Shorelines are accurate to the hex, cities have real population ratios, village density is based on a population density map from 1940. Forests and Hills are based on forestation and topography maps also measured by the hex and placed. Games take 50-120 turns. Includes starting villages but not starting units. This map will give you the most grand European campaign experience, resulting in dozens of tanks and planes clashing together as groups, though it can take many hours to complete. (6-20 hours)




TIPS:
---------

[*] Village gold is 5.
[*] Build supply trucks on the first turn.
[*] Try to end turns with trucks next to infantry and guns to increase their movement.
[*] Get a fighter plane up somewhat early to kill enemy trucks and gain intel on enemy production so it can be cheaply countered.
[*] Build an airfield (find a village good for your aircraft to retreat/rearm/heal at and put a couple AA guns in the area to shoot down enemy fighters that chase)
[*] Riflemen are the most cost efficient infantry and should be about half of your infantry. They are best at advancing the front line between towns
[*] Other units have specialized primary purposes. SMG: village defense, LMG: defense against concentrated riflemen, HMG: chokepoint defense, Mortar: attrition and smoke screens, Sniper: killing leaders, operators, commandos, and HMGs, ATR: killing light tanks, Conscript: emergency village defense
[*] The recommended way to use the clandestine operator is to sneak it just outside enemy keep to watch everything that is produced. If something worth hundreds of gold is produced, steal it using the commandeer attack
[*] A production facility costs 50 and pays itself off in 10 turns, so they are usually best to build during the first 10 turns. They are not worth building unless you plan to win the game by delay, attrition and heavy defense.
[*] Aircraft and tanks usually take and deal double damage from backstab, this is the key to winning combat involving vehicles.
[*] It is important to end your turn with your aircraft somewhat on your side of the front line. Aircraft can move and attack, and move back to an area with friendly aircraft or AA guns.
[*] Aircraft die to ambush often, so manually control aircraft when flying through enemy territory to avoid forests and cities. Generally it is best not to send aircraft very far into enemy lines.
[*] Most bombers have to be full health to have bombs, so keep your bombers at full health, and prevent enemy bombers from reaching full health.
[*] Fighters work best in pairs of two in order to get flanking benefit.
[*] Use Supply Trucks and Medics to heal infantry
[*] Halftracks, although expensive can heal tanks and give the largest possible movement boost to towed guns and infantry. They are the safest and most useful near the keep.
[*] Build a few ATGs early and hide them behind your lines. They will come in useful late game if an enemy tank breaks through your front line.
[*] Choosing a 5 star general for a leader comes with the benefit of Tier 2 factory being fully refunded when you build it, however, opponents will send clandestine operators to kill your leader, so some cost must be spent protecting the leader. The factory leader on the other hand has enough health that it can only be killed by large guns and expensive bombers.


Credit due to Ruglud for the graphics in Westfront, many of which were used outright or graphically modified to become needed units. Also the the developer of Modern Combat from which a few unit sprites were also used or modified.


If you want to do multiplayer, ill be available for it whenever I can. I also have some friends that occasionally play the mod.
Skype: imkharn
Creator of 120+ units Lord of the Rings era and campaign now outdated & lost.
Creator of WWII Battleground Europe mod with 120+ units most with custom wml and animations. Every variable is mathematically derived based on WWII stats such as historical cost & mm armour.
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The_Gnat
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Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcemen

Post by The_Gnat »

This sounds very impressive, great job! The many new game features radically change the game, in a unique and interesting way.

Also if you are planning on creating transport boats I wrote code which allows loading and unloading of boats with a right click option. It can be found in my add on the balance mod under the utils folder.
Sinistra
Posts: 9
Joined: March 5th, 2018, 5:20 pm

Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by Sinistra »

Hello, are you still developping your mod ? I got my copy on the addons server for wesnoth 1.12 (playing on linux). First of all congratulations for the awesome work I love the mod even with the small issue I am having and the not (yet ?) complete unit list for factions ( I would love some rockets, transport ships and separated factions for at least UK, France and Japan.)
An issue I experience is I don't get a difference on my units list after building a T2 factory with Germany (playing vs ai). I am still stuck with the panzer III at best for tank, which is only a medium tank from the 30s. I didn't see anything recruitable above. However there are late units already placed on the Kursk map so I figured they are in the era. This makes it a bit tricky to play without 1942+ units because the panzer III gets seriously outclassed by some tanks of other factions especially the one billion (or so, very approximate xD) hp communist tank (which still costs almost nothing to build compared to its power, it turns out communist slave labour that is not called slave labour is very cheap after all), german infantry is way too expensive to spam anyway (so bazookas are out of question to deal with that), so a levelled bomber plane -> flying fortress seems the best solution to me against so much armored hp (low level anti tank guns get destroyed too quickly without doing enough dmg to that unit in particular) but it's a bit tricky to get there. I have had this one soviet tank survive for like 15+ turns while getting bombed and slowed every turn by stuka divebombers and while having built a useless T2 factory myself, it felt very "unstoppable juggernaut boss" in a negative way :s Well I guess surrounding the soviet tank with several panzer III could work as well but the money investement combined with the risk would be too great to consider in my opinion.
Vodkaman
Posts: 1
Joined: June 6th, 2018, 5:41 pm

Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by Vodkaman »

Is this still in development? I love the concept.
Kharn
Posts: 83
Joined: December 12th, 2005, 7:50 pm
Location: Dallas, Tx

Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by Kharn »

It is disappointing to hear that Tier 2 factory stopped working. I also heard I need to port the mod to the new version of wesnoth. Hopefully it does not break too much. Last time I had to do a port some change to the AI made the AI go from 'usually beats me and other players on small and medium maps', to very easy to beat for most people. Hopefully I wont have such issues this time. If I decide to include an update to this mod in addition to making it compatible with the new wesnoth version it will be the naval update. I already made and coded paratroopers but the code I had heard would work for them did not so they are just left in the game files. So small chance the naval update will include working paras.

If you are curious or want to help, the plan for paras is to take a 1/4th scale version of a transport plane (because a full size would hold 4 units), and have it turn into a single squad when it takes damage or deals damage. Thus the paras drop early if the plane is shot at and survives, and the paras can be manually dropped by getting telling the para plane to attack an enemy unit. If you know how to code this let me know. Even better if you can make full scale para plane turn into 4 units by looking for open spots adjacent to the para plane when its drop is activated.
Creator of 120+ units Lord of the Rings era and campaign now outdated & lost.
Creator of WWII Battleground Europe mod with 120+ units most with custom wml and animations. Every variable is mathematically derived based on WWII stats such as historical cost & mm armour.
Kharn
Posts: 83
Joined: December 12th, 2005, 7:50 pm
Location: Dallas, Tx

Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by Kharn »

The next version has been released!

https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=49029
Creator of 120+ units Lord of the Rings era and campaign now outdated & lost.
Creator of WWII Battleground Europe mod with 120+ units most with custom wml and animations. Every variable is mathematically derived based on WWII stats such as historical cost & mm armour.
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Atreides
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Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by Atreides »

Nice to see this has come out for 1.16. There are a few minor bugs I've found in the 1.14 version. Patched up in my personal version. I also made a gameplay/realism change because I did not like how rifle bullets were able to kill Halftracks. That's not historic. I think I tweaked some resistance.
grizzygramz
Posts: 2
Joined: December 9th, 2014, 12:59 am

Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by grizzygramz »

HI i love your add on to the point i tried to recreate it on 1.16 before you released it - i was unsuccessful btw bc ima noob at WML and everything coding related - but i am playing the new version now and it is awesome but I keep running into a issue where I get error codes when one unit upgrades and it makes all units adjacent upgrade. It is fine sometimes but after waiting like an hour for the computer to go - bc i like playing big games usually based on modern warfare self made maps like ukraine or syria - the error message pops up and it says you have been defeated. Idk if this is related to the adjacent unit upgrades but i believe it is so where in the source WML is this adjacent unit upgrade so i can disable it or if you can release a patch disabling it that would be great just bc I feel like this is the one bug i keep experiencing with your add on and it does not really add much to the game over all as it also makes all all paratroopers drop automatically if one is attacked.

this also could be related to the fact that i changed the main Cfg to add the units to map editor so i can place units on a scenario before playing if that is the case please let me know.

Also I liked the 1.12 version where bombers destroyed buildings and 5 star generals could recruit but if that made things too glitchy then so be it ill live wihout

Thanks so much for the upgrade it is the best on wesnoth and nearly the only version i play keep on crushing
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Atreides
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Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by Atreides »

Hehe, I was also considering porting it, hadn't gotten as far as trying it under 16 though. It does make me wonder just how long a 14 addon has to be unported to 16 before it is abandoned. Well there are ways to get a hint actually.
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Atreides
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Re: WWII Battleground Europe version 1.5 release announcement.

Post by Atreides »

Finally tried the 1.16 version. Great to see the addition of Pacific Theatre!

A few little problems persist though:
- disallow_shuffle=yes needs to be added to every [side].
- The blank.png attack icon does not exist in core (blank-attack.png does).
- profile icons are missing for the custom damage.range types (I copied some core ones to all the missing ones attached below)
- sounds.cfg is being loaded twice
- random side macro is being redefined (but seems to be same as core)
- naval units all have attack icons missing (being named after the unit type i.e. destroyer attacks look for non-existent destroyer.png)
- pacific scenario seems to have japan side being soviet! there is no japan side at all...

Also a question about the global scenario: Will the AI respect the ceasefires at start of game (til turn 6/8 for USSR/USA) or is that just a note for human players?
And what are all those objectives listed at the bottom of the map? How do they work?
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