Randallw said:
Brasidas, I'd like to see any work you've already done.
I am not attempting to get an exact rerun of the book. I'd just like to set up the world to see how it works out. I hadn't actually planned on recreating the paradrop and anyhow I know the AI doesn't use paradrops.
Alright, but what is the set-up that you plan to create? Is it a point of departure after the paradrop encirclement?
I'm not specifically trying to make it just so someone can play the Domination. I'd like to make other nations viable. In fact in my test game I want to play someone other than a major, Australasia perhaps, so I can see how things go with the ai.
Then it's going to be one hell of a lot more work.
Making an ai, of which I know the lest, was the last thing I was going to do. I could see how difficult it was going to be.
Alright, that's how most mods work during development towards their first playable state. But a design decision may be made taking into account AI development. If you don't have to worry about how an AI Draka is going to perform, you can basicly balance against the player by keeping the existing AIs of other factions and designing it as a tough go for the Draka. If not, you've got to keep the other factions relatively weak and ensure that the Draka can at least force a stalemate on their own turf.
I want to make Janissaries and citizens but thought I'd leave them for version 1 and work on it afterwards.
I was actually leaning towards german doctrines if I didn't make one up but it slipped my mind that the Janissaries do most of the fighting so I suppose human wave makes more sense.
I'd be interested to see how events making elite units work.
I've pretty much already described how they work. You take a divisions file (eg. light_armor.txt). You divide the ten models (0 through 9) into two groups and leave a blank model in the middle. Supposing one group to be of 5 and the other to be of 4, units 0 through 4 could be your "Citizen armor" units, 5 would be blank, and 6 through 9 would be conventional light armor.
Units of models 6 through 9 could be built, deployed, and upgraded. In this special case of light armor, they will upgrade from model 9 light armor to model 0 medium armor.
For the "special" models, the first model type would be activated and obsoleted by the same tech. This would make the receiver unable to build these models. Events will "build" units at the first "special" model (in this case, model 0). As research progresses, techs can activate a "regular" unit as well as activate/obsolete the corresponding "special" unit. So the special units are able to upgrade through the tree, but only if the appropriate technology is available.
Do you know how to keep multiple installations on a single computer? Go to
www.totalrealismproject.com and get ahold of a TRP mod. The pattern is there in the divisions, tech, and "German_Elite.txt"/"Russian_Elite.txt" files.
Until recently I would have avoided making events that spontaneously launched special attacks. I checked Pearl Harbour and it didn't look like it actually caused damage or moved units, just gave you a bonus if you were about to do it manually, but I came across the US torch event and unless I'm mistaken it moved US units and occupied provinces.
I'm trying to even things out. I have no interest in making it so the Draka have far better tech. They might have a slight advantage but not an overwhelming one.
They don't need any tech advantage at all in my opinion. The paratroopers weren't further advanced that the Fallschirmjägers from what I've read. It was just a really big drop with cream of the crop troops.
The points for attention (imo) are modelling the traits of the Draka - the Citizens vs Janissaries, appropriate strength for Germany, Russia, Britain, and Japan, and an appropriate opening. It may be possible to model the drop through an event that effectively "moves" divisions, such as Allenby's events for the BEF in the 1914 mod.