WWII: Through the Fire (0.02 test release)

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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Inkerrio
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WWII: Through the Fire (0.02 test release)

Post by Inkerrio »

Hi! On the 1st September I present you another one WWII UMC :) I know there have been plenty before. What's different this time, you may ask? Well, for one, I want to try a different approach. Instead of trying to turn Wesnoth into a hardcore wargame, I will try to adhere to the KISS principle and keep the game mechanics as close to the base Wesnoth as possible. No right click menus, gameplay over realism, mix between RPG and TBS. Things like that.
Also, I do pixel art, so the addon won't get abandoned because of the lack of sprites.
Talking about sprites, most of the sprites for the first few scenarios are ready by now.
Germany
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Poland
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The plan is to start small at first and make a few fully playable "Invasion of Poland". The bigger goal is to make a 1939-1940 campaign in Europe, from the German and (potentially) Allied perspective.
Last edited by Inkerrio on December 10th, 2022, 6:02 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Atreides
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Re: WWII: First to Fight

Post by Atreides »

Looks good! Quite a few Befehlswagen there, presumably to sport the leadership ability. : - )

Looking forward to seeing more.

You didn't mention, is this going to be an era or a scenario or possibly even a campaign?
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Inkerrio
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Re: WWII: First to Fight

Post by Inkerrio »

Indeed, Befehlswagens are leadership units with PzI BHFS being lvl1 :) Talking about levels, I plan to represent different war periods as eras, each containing up to 3 unit levels. The addon itself will be a single player campaign, divided into smaller portions about 3 scenarios each. Something like: the 12-scenario "1939-1940" campaign consisting of 3 Poland scenarios, 3 Lowlands scenarios, 3 Norway and 3 France scenarios. Other war theaters like German invasion of USSR or North Africa will certainly follow at some point, though I'm thinking about expanding the campaign timeline backwards and adding the Spanish Civil War at first, because it's so underrepresented in games.
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Inkerrio
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Re: WWII: First to Fight

Post by Inkerrio »

PZL P.7 was a Polish interwar era fighter aircraft. Designed in the early 1930, it was the main Polish fighter between 1933-1935, until replaced by a more modern PZL P.11
About 30 PZL. P7 were still in service in 1939. Hopelessly outdated by the start of the war and suffering from wear and tear, they still managed to shoot down 7 German aircraft including 2 modern BF-109.

In the addon, PZL. P.7 will be a lvl0 unit to represent it's weakness compared to modern aircraft. To represent their small numbers, a Polish side player (or the AI) won't be able to recruit additional PZL P.7.
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Inkerrio
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Inkerrio »

Few products developed in Sweden have received so much publicity and have been of such historical significance as the Bofors 40 mm gun. It has been portrayed as one of the weapons that came to determine the outcome of the Second World War. Often firing over open sights at ground targets as well as it's intended role as an anti-craft gun, the Bofors was the most common anti-aircraft gun of the war and is used even today.
Poland was one of the countries that were producing their own licenced versions of the gun. By the start of WW2 the Polish army had more than 350 Bofors 40mm. It was one of the most numerous and effective anti-aicraft guns of the Polish Armed Forces.

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This is the roadmap for German and Polish units. The green dot means the unit sprite is finished, the blue square means that the unit can't be recruited from the recruitment list.
Germany
Spoiler:
Poland
Spoiler:
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Atreides
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Atreides »

Here when you charge the Panzers with Cavalry you'll actually be able to do HP damage. Should be fun. : - )
Mabuse
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Mabuse »

looks pretty nice. the arty should be be able to fire across several hexes (2-5) like the "panzer general" artilery.
(as well as flak, but flak only able to hit flying targets)

maybe also add passive fire, as long ammo is sufficient, would be most important to make flak work correctly
(if plane attacks target in reach of flak = taking damage - could be also achieved by adding an invisible "damage-aura" to flak that damage plane automatically when entering (and subtracting ammo))

by the way, the only reason why i ever stumbeld across wesnoth was the fact that i looked for something similar to "fantasy general" :)
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Atreides
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Atreides »

Ah Panzer General... good memories.
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Inkerrio
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Inkerrio »

Disclaimer
Spoiler:
Meet the character that we'll be playing during the German campaign.
Johan Schreiber was born in a small town near in Central Germany. His father ran the local pub. He wasn't rich, but had enough money to support the family. When Johan turned 18, he volunteered to join the army. He felt that something big was coming and wanted to fight for his country.
Johan joined a formed Panzer Regiment, the part of the newly formed XIX Army Corps. After six months of intense training, Johan has graduated and became a tank commander. He was given a Pz.Kpfw. I under his command. On 31 august 1939 Johan's unit was stationed along the eastern border, just 10km from Poland and now he knew that something important was about to happen.
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Mabuse wrote: September 20th, 2021, 6:40 pm looks pretty nice. the arty should be be able to fire across several hexes (2-5) like the "panzer general" artilery.
(as well as flak, but flak only able to hit flying targets)

maybe also add passive fire, as long ammo is sufficient, would be most important to make flak work correctly
(if plane attacks target in reach of flak = taking damage - could be also achieved by adding an invisible "damage-aura" to flak that damage plane automatically when entering (and subtracting ammo))

by the way, the only reason why i ever stumbeld across wesnoth was the fact that i looked for something similar to "fantasy general" :)
That would be cool, but I'm afraid it's not possible within the current limitations of the engine. I'm sure multihex firing has been discussed many times already :)
Besides, there's little point in making a Panzer General clone when you can just play Panzer General itself. Or one of it's spiritual successors.
Panzer General definitely was one of the main inspirations for the UMC though, so I'll borrow some ideas that might work in BTW without changing it's core. Scenario trees, for example, when your next scenario depends on the outcome of the last one.
Atreides wrote: September 13th, 2021, 7:26 pm Here when you charge the Panzers with Cavalry you'll actually be able to do HP damage. Should be fun. : - )
Lancers charging Panzers was a myth. Polish cavalry did perform some melee charges during WW2, but they were mostly surprise attacks against unsuspecting infantry. So when lancers do HP damage to tanks in the game, you can assume that on the tactical level, the one that we don't see, they have successfully charged some Panzer crews who were caught camping outside their tanks.
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Atreides »

Inkerrio wrote: September 23rd, 2021, 5:07 pm
Atreides wrote: September 13th, 2021, 7:26 pm Here when you charge the Panzers with Cavalry you'll actually be able to do HP damage. Should be fun. : - )
Lancers charging Panzers was a myth. Polish cavalry did perform some melee charges during WW2, but they were mostly surprise attacks against unsuspecting infantry. So when lancers do HP damage to tanks in the game, you can assume that on the tactical level, the one that we don't see, they have successfully charged some Panzer crews who were caught camping outside their tanks.
Oh darn I really need to work out what the emoticon for "tongue in cheek" is. Hmmm ; - @ maybe?!

But good that you pointed it out, not everyone playing BfW is an WW2 expert and they do need explanations.
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Inkerrio
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Inkerrio »

Pzl. 23 "Karas" was a Polish light bomber during the early stages of WWII. It was the main bomber of the Polish Air Forces and one of the most important aircraft they had possessed. Slow and vulnerable to enemy fighters and anti-air fire, it was still quite effective in it's role. Pzl. 23's frequently bombed German armored columns and even conducted the first ever bombing raid against a target in territory within the Third Reich.
Pzl.23's limited capabilities in the face of an opponent of gigantic proportions could only be partially offset by the tremendous valor which its crews displayed in the defense of their homeland. About 90% of the planes were lost in battle while the rest fled their country to continue the fight for the Allied cause.
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Atreides wrote: September 23rd, 2021, 9:40 pm
Inkerrio wrote: September 23rd, 2021, 5:07 pm
Atreides wrote: September 13th, 2021, 7:26 pm
Here when you charge the Panzers with Cavalry you'll actually be able to do HP damage. Should be fun. : - )
Lancers charging Panzers was a myth. Polish cavalry did perform some melee charges during WW2, but they were mostly surprise attacks against unsuspecting infantry. So when lancers do HP damage to tanks in the game, you can assume that on the tactical level, the one that we don't see, they have successfully charged some Panzer crews who were caught camping outside their tanks.
Oh darn I really need to work out what the emoticon for "tongue in cheek" is. Hmmm ; - @ maybe?!

But good that you pointed it out, not everyone playing BfW is an WW2 expert and they do need explanations.
Ah, sorry. It's just that most people don't know that much about the early period of WW2 and Polish cavalry charging tanks is one of the most persistent myths of the war. It's kind of underrepresented in media, especially when it comes to the Polish side. That's one of the reasons why I'm making those dev-diary sort of posts about Polish army. Maybe someone will find the the information interesting.
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Atreides
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Atreides »

I for one am finding the the info interesting. I for sure was not familiar with that light bomber. Reminds me of the Stuka, helpless unless covered by effective fighters. Most books do gloss over the Polish campaign quite briefly.
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Inkerrio
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Inkerrio »

Pzl. 37 "Los" (Elk) was a Polish twin engine medium bomber during the Second World War. In the late 1930's It was not only the most modern Polish weapon, but was widely considered one of the best bombers in the world. Unfortunately, like with many other Polish weapons, the lack of adequate air cover made it impossible to use Pzl. 37 to it's full potential.
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Aircraft sprites are nearly done, so I think it's time to discuss the implementation of flying units. If I was aiming for absolute realism, air units would get their own layer, would require fuel, ammo and air strips to land on. However, there are several problems with this.
1. Modding in such feature is way beyond my coding abilities.
2. It would make AI stupid and unable to use planes properly.
3. It would violate the KISS principle.
4. The code for this would most laggy be a buggy mess (and not in the least because of 1.)

I don't think that planes hovering 24/7 over the battlefield is such a big problem. After all, air units in Wesnoth already spend all the time on the battlefield without ever visiting their homes or going to privy. We can just assume that they actually do have personal time, just spend it behind the scenes. Same with planes: aircraft in FtF land for a rest, resupply and land on improvised air strips. We just don't see it, because it happens on the tactical level.
However, for balance sake, aircraft units should have a weakness to offset their superb tactical abilities. That's why I think to give air units a big debuff at night, something like 50 or 75%. This way aircraft will realistically retreat at night and the side without air superiority will be able to use the cover of night to move and regroup their forces without being bombed into dust.
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Inkerrio
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Inkerrio »

Pzl.23 was far from being perfect even in the early 1930's and by the mid-30s it became obvious that the plane was rapidly getting obsolete due to advances in aircraft design. The Polish armed forces were in a desperate need of a bomber with higher speed and more firepower. PZL.46 Sum, designed in 1936, was pretty much an improved version of Pzl.23. However, the first Sum (Сatfish) prototype was ready only in 1938 and by the start of the war only 2 prototypes had been built. The planes did not take part in combat but still played an important role role in Polish history.
On 26 September one of the Pzl.46's has delivered orders from the Polish Commander-in-Chief Edward Rydz-Śmigły for the commander of Warsaw defense Juliusz Rómmel. Then the plane flew to Lithuania, where it was abandoned by it's crew. The plane was later captured by the Soviets, extensively tested and scrapped.
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Re: WWII: First to Fight (SP Campaign in development)

Post by Inkerrio »

I had to stop working on the campaign for a while because of IRL problems, but now I'm back on the track.

A little bit about the progress so far: all sprites for the German-Polish part of the capmpaign are done. Here's an interesting piece, a sprite based on the real-life Polish train. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Amia ... red_train)
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For now I get familiar with Wesnoth WML and work on the various bits of the campaign, like implementing units or adding new terrain types.
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