Do you use Mods? Which ones? Why?

[Archangel85]

made my own little mod to make At gun research give +1 Hardattack, Artillery give +2 Soft attack and the list goes on...

 

[Lothos]

Hills where pretty pointless in HoI. There was very little difference between a hill and clear terrain. It had virtually no effect on combat. We replaced it with desert mountains because units should move faster through these mountains because of it being in the desert and still have a realtively hard defense. So mountains are now clearly defined as mountains with trees etc.... and desert mountains are almost like a mountain except the assumption is virtually no trees and faster movement.

What do you mean reveals my age hehe?

 

[Lothos]

Thank you all very much for your responses.

I have a question for Lothos directly if he should return to this thread or anyone else who may know - Is TRP going to be compatable with v1.2? Will it be compatable with higher versions? I will post this on the TRP site at some point, I usually am only on one forum at a time.

Thank you for your time.

Yes TRP will work with 1.2

 

[Dalwin]

Hills where pretty pointless in HoI. There was very little difference between a hill and clear terrain. It had virtually no effect on combat. We replaced it with desert mountains because units should move faster through these mountains because of it being in the desert and still have a realtively hard defense. So mountains are now clearly defined as mountains with trees etc.... and desert mountains are almost like a mountain except the assumption is virtually no trees and faster movement.

What do you mean reveals my age hehe?

I think he was referring to your calling the provinces hexes.

 

[mld0806]

I just tried DAIM this weekend and so far I like it. I'm playing as Germany again and this time Japan is a real powerhouse early in the game and the US actually has a bigger army than I do by '39. UK even did a decent job defending their home islands (I took them but they had it defended with almost 50 infantry units so it took some work).

Right here is where DAIM falls down. Now, the 200 division armies of Germany and USSR are accurate (even low when you consider the numbers from '43 onward), but 50 divisions in the home islands alone for the UK?

At the highest point, Great Britain had 39 divisions available (link here).

A better AI would have the beaches defended with reasonable force and fortified, just like the Home Guard was historically.

DAIM simply reorganizes production to introduce numbers where better force composition and deployment would do. The commands are there, it just takes a lot of time and effort to really tell the AI to specifically guard this province, that province, and rework the unit groupings.

 

[tonhur]

I use Stony Road Graphics Pack (only the graphics) and SMEP (Small echantment pack by Daim author)

Stony Road because it improves some (most?) unit graphics and so fort

SMEP because it improves and fixes many events and fixes few bugs in other files

Small Enhancement Package (SMEP) by G'Kar
-----------------------------------------
(18-02-2005)
- corrected event 2033 (germany.txt): Croatia is now made a puppet of Germany instead of itself (bug)
- changed USA Gear Up Events (hoi2.txt): they now give +3 ICs each in Washington D.C. instead of China (bug?)
- changed ownership of Kuweit City from Saudi Arabia to the UK in the 1939 scenario (bug?)
- changed the Bitter Peace triggers (ussr.txt): no random factor, but an offset of 87 days
- deleted the surrender events for Germany and Japan (hoi2.txt)
- removed the cores of Italy in Yugoslavia (1936 and 1939 scenarios)
- changed event 4003 (vichy_france.txt) to give Vichy some belligerence (enables the Allies to dow them)
- added an event (hoi2.txt) that gives back Marseille from FRA to VIC if necessary (occasional problem with the creation of Vichy)
- added an event that grants control over some desert provinces to the UK when Italy looses Lybia (removes a green blob in the desert)
- removed the start- and deathdates of the leaders of all countries
- removed the deathdates of the techteams of all countries

(28-02-2005)
- changed the "Bases for Destroyers" event to actually give the UK destroyer squadrons (hoi2.txt, bug)
- changed the triggers of the "Oil Embargo" event (usa.txt, bug?)
- tried to fix the "Liberation of France", added two events (vichy_france.txt, hoi2.txt, bug?)
- added an event to provoke war between the UK and Vichy France (Mers-el-Kebir, hoi2.txt)
- added an event that creates the "German Afrikakorps" when Germany is AI-controlled (hoi2.txt)

(10-03-2005)
- changed the "Moving of Industries to Siberia" event to substract ICs where they really exist (ussr.txt, bug)
- added the second Bitter Peace event (NOT happened) in the triggers of "Eastern Poland to SOV" (germany.txt, bug)
- gave armored cavalry divisions a fuel consumption of 5 (was 0, bug)
- tweaked the conditions of the surrender events of UK and USA (hoi2.txt)
- tried to improve the "Liberation of France" - should work better now, but is still not perfect (hoi2.txt)

(22-03-2005)
- corrected "Assassination of Yamamoto" (japan.txt): Techteam Yamamoto is now killed instead of Nagano (bug)
- changed events 4500/1 (siam.txt): Siam now cedes province 1303 instead of 1330 (bug?)
- changed "Independent Croatia" (croatia.txt, germany.txt): Croatia now properly joins the Axis (bug?)
- added a series of reminder events for the domestic policy sliders (hoi2.txt)

 

[Graymane]

Most will disagree with me, but I don't like the DAIM mod at all. It simply uses exploits just like the player to make the game "harder". This isn't a mod that improves the game, it's a mod that screws with the systems to overcome percieved challenges.

Please, can we have some more hyperbole? It denegrates a lot of work that the two people working on DAIM have accomplished while everyone else sits on their butts waiting for 1.2. DAIM does more than just build infantry units. That is something one quick glance or file compare will tell you.

It is not a historical mod nor was it ever claimed to be. Making the rather obvious point that it is not historical is neither profound nor helpful. Outside of modifying unit production, it also adjusts front behavior, garrison behavior, tech research, and various ratios. i.e., DAIM will actually defend coastal hexes instead of letting you conquer Japan with a transport fleet and Germany with 2-3.

To answer the original poster:

I use sexxicolor's map mod, Starfire + DAIM, and SMEP.

 

[unmerged(39735)]

A better AI would have the beaches defended with reasonable force and fortified, just like the Home Guard was historically.

DAIM simply reorganizes production to introduce numbers where better force composition and deployment would do. The commands are there, it just takes a lot of time and effort to really tell the AI to specifically guard this province, that province, and rework the unit groupings.

I agree but when the choice is between the normal AI with it's nearly unguarded homeland or essentially the same AI with narrowly focused priorities that result in better defended home provinces, I'll take the latter. People like to brag about annexing the US in '38 and other similarly ridiculous exploits. I'm sorry but in a game like this, that should be flat out impossible.

If naval combat was a bit more predictable it wouldn't be that big of an issue because both the US and the UK could essentially leave their homelands empty and nobody could squeeze a troop transport through their naval juggernauts. As it is though it's quite possible to take out the UK's entire navy with a relatively small number of subs and/or naval bombers.

Personally, I'd like to see them change naval bombers to be more vulnerable to ship AA and CAGs as well as air superiority fighters. I'd also like to see some change that flat out prevents the AI from making stupidly composed fleets of 1 or 2 cap ships without any escorts or 6 transports with no escorts, or 3 destroyers with no cap ship. Naval retreat needs to be changed as well such that some reasonable interval of combat is REQUIRED before a retreat can take place.

I'd also like to see the chance of combat between opposing fleets in the same zones increased. If the UK can't reliably intercept an amphibious assault with it's navy then it's navy isn't worth much. A successful invasion of the UK, US, or Japan should be nearly impossible without wiping out their entire fleet. And wiping out those fleets should not be possible by just retreating from every naval battle with less than ideal conditions. If you build an all CV/CL navy and meet a fleet of battleships in a storm then it should pretty much be a given that you're going to lose some ships whether you retreat or not.

 

[mld0806]

Please, can we have some more hyperbole? It denegrates a lot of work that the two people working on DAIM have accomplished while everyone else sits on their butts waiting for 1.2. DAIM does more than just build infantry units. That is something one quick glance or file compare will tell you.

It is not a historical mod nor was it ever claimed to be. Making the rather obvious point that it is not historical is neither profound nor helpful. Outside of modifying unit production, it also adjusts front behavior, garrison behavior, tech research, and various ratios. i.e., DAIM will actually defend coastal hexes instead of letting you conquer Japan with a transport fleet and Germany with 2-3.

To answer the original poster:

I use sexxicolor's map mod, Starfire + DAIM, and SMEP.

With a statement in the metathread saying it borders on "gamey" tactics.

I'm not belittling the work, and many like it. I, personally, however, feel it does little to IMPROVE the game. I can have my opinions. You can have yours. My point isn't that it's just not historical, it's that it does nothing to improve the game, only has the AI rape the system the same way players do and then complain that the game is not hard enough.

 

[Spocky]

I use SMEP and DAIM for myself ( what a surprise )an playing a very interresting US game at the moment

Spocky

 

[bovinespy]

I agree but when the choice is between the normal AI with it's nearly unguarded homeland or essentially the same AI with narrowly focused priorities that result in better defended home provinces, I'll take the latter. People like to brag about annexing the US in '38 and other similarly ridiculous exploits. I'm sorry but in a game like this, that should be flat out impossible.

If naval combat was a bit more predictable it wouldn't be that big of an issue because both the US and the UK could essentially leave their homelands empty and nobody could squeeze a troop transport through their naval juggernauts. As it is though it's quite possible to take out the UK's entire navy with a relatively small number of subs and/or naval bombers.

Personally, I'd like to see them change naval bombers to be more vulnerable to ship AA and CAGs as well as air superiority fighters. I'd also like to see some change that flat out prevents the AI from making stupidly composed fleets of 1 or 2 cap ships without any escorts or 6 transports with no escorts, or 3 destroyers with no cap ship. Naval retreat needs to be changed as well such that some reasonable interval of combat is REQUIRED before a retreat can take place.

I'd also like to see the chance of combat between opposing fleets in the same zones increased. If the UK can't reliably intercept an amphibious assault with it's navy then it's navy isn't worth much. A successful invasion of the UK, US, or Japan should be nearly impossible without wiping out their entire fleet. And wiping out those fleets should not be possible by just retreating from every naval battle with less than ideal conditions. If you build an all CV/CL navy and meet a fleet of battleships in a storm then it should pretty much be a given that you're going to lose some ships whether you retreat or not.

I might say that very eloquently approximates my feeling on the subject.

And I use 1.01, leaderdeathdate, and DAIM (man, the USSR is a MONSTER )

 

[unmerged(11117)]

I'm in a Ger 36 GC, its Oct 43 now. Europe and Asia are mostly mine. It has been a challenge and fun, and there's still more to do. But I think I need the DAIM mod to improve the AI. And I was wondering what mods people use to make the game better.

Stony HSR.

Nothing less will do for a UGrofaz like myself.

It is more challenging and has more depth to it than the vanilla version.

CORE does good stuff in its own right, but for me there is only one road to travel ...

 

[unmerged(28537)]

I modded the game myself to make the navy's more realitstic add in patrol boats, make nat china more likely to lose agaist Japan and the allies more likely to invade vichy. As for full mods I use snonyroad graphics pack

 

[Grosshaus]

I never use any mods in any game. Actually the only exception I can think of is the this one face-image clarity thingie for Civilization 3.

 

[unmerged(11610)]

I'm waiting 1.02 and see what it does to HOI2. In HOI I used CORE and plan to use it too with HOI2... Probably I'm testing few mods after 1.02 is out.

 

[Exterous]

Wow, your making my head spin. :wacko:

I know of Stoney Road and Starfire, but thats all. What is HSR? I'll have to do some hunting to see whats out there. I'm just afraid of scrambling all this stuff together and it being like somebody mixing drugs with acohol! :rofl:

HSR = Histroical Stoney Road
As for scrambeling, always make a backup of your HOI files. And I use so many because there are some people out there who have done amazing jobs with graphics!

 

[unmerged(11496)]

Hills where pretty pointless in HoI. There was very little difference between a hill and clear terrain. It had virtually no effect on combat. We replaced it with desert mountains because units should move faster through these mountains because of it being in the desert and still have a realtively hard defense. So mountains are now clearly defined as mountains with trees etc.... and desert mountains are almost like a mountain except the assumption is virtually no trees and faster movement.

What do you mean reveals my age hehe?

Got it, thanks. I will be most interested to see how that turns out.

As for hexes...I miss them so much!!!!!

 

[unmerged(11496)]

SMEP because it improves and fixes many events and fixes few bugs in other files

Small Enhancement Package (SMEP) by G'Kar
-----------------------------------------

SMEP looks cool for the most part, but there are some bits I don't care for...can you pick and choose which parts to install, or is it an all or nothing proposition?

 

[tonhur]

SMEP looks cool for the most part, but there are some bits I don't care for...can you pick and choose which parts to install, or is it an all or nothing proposition?

its a zip file so at least partially you can choose. if you like one modification in a file and dont another one in that same file you need to remove what you dont want by hand tought

 

[unmerged(11496)]

its a zip file so at least partially you can choose. if you like one modification in a file and dont another one in that same file you need to remove what you dont want by hand tought

Sweet, thanks! I'm off to do some DLing...