Should generals have lower limit for number of divisions under their command?

[Timmysoboy]

Sounds like a request for a different thread, but yes, having to choose between a great general or a great general staff is a choice that would make the game more funner.

 

[Timmysoboy]

World Ablaze Historical General Limits, its on steam. Seems to work with out the WA mod itself.

I just tried it out, and it still looks like the AI doesn't bother with the army limits.

(here's a pic of the soviets fighting against poland for an example)

*edit: germany appeared to respect the army limits, but I assumed that was because they had a much smaller army.

 

[GSP Jr]

I just tried it out, and it still looks like the AI doesn't bother with the army limits.

(here's a pic of the soviets fighting against poland for an example)
View attachment 631395

*edit: germany appeared to respect the army limits, but I assumed that was because they had a much smaller army.

I would guess that the German AI and Soviet AI have different formulas for when to spend the PP on generals.

 

[Timmysoboy]

The issue isn't deploying enough generals (I cheated in a dozen for SU), the issue is that the IA doesn't recognize that they will be getting penalties for more than 12 divisions per army, rather than 24. So, while you can mod in that players (or AI) get penalties for 13+ divisions, the AI will still assign 20-23, suffering huge combat penalties.

 

[Arieswolf]

The issue isn't deploying enough generals (I cheated in a dozen for SU), the issue is that the IA doesn't recognize that they will be getting penalties for more than 12 divisions per army, rather than 24. So, while you can mod in that players (or AI) get penalties for 13+ divisions, the AI will still assign 20-23, suffering huge combat penalties.

Well that's not good. Didn't know that.

I wonder if that is tied to the full WA mod somehow.

 

[Timmysoboy]

The 18 limit mod has the same problem.

I'm not saying it's not possible, just that these two mods aren't successful at making the AI have a lowered limit (more, I don't know how to adjust that limit).

*Edit: I ran it with and without the WA mod, and the results were the same. I also double-checked France, and they also ignored the 12 division limit.

 

[bitmode]

For whatever reason the AI uses the maximum of the division limits defined for generals and FMs (both 24 by default). So the mod needs to limit the division cap for FMs as well:

NDefines.NMilitary.CORPS_COMMANDER_DIVISIONS_CAP = 12
NDefines.NMilitary.FIELD_MARSHAL_DIVISIONS_CAP = 12

 

[Timmysoboy]

For whatever reason the AI uses the maximum of the division limits defined for generals and FMs (both 24 by default). So the mod needs to limit the division cap for FMs as well:

NDefines.NMilitary.CORPS_COMMANDER_DIVISIONS_CAP = 12
NDefines.NMilitary.FIELD_MARSHAL_DIVISIONS_CAP = 12

Now we're cooking with gas. I'm going to try this out.

*Edit: we did it bois!

For my next trick, I'll be conning someone into teaching me how to use GIMP

 

[GSP Jr]

Now we're cooking with gas. I'm going to try this out.

*Edit: we did it bois!View attachment 631449

For my next trick, I'll be conning someone into teaching me how to use GIMP

Very nice, but what effect does it have on Generals earning traits and skill level increases, aren't those all based on 24 ?

I'd hope the formulas would be built using the max cap, but you never know.

 

[Timmysoboy]

Very nice, but what effect does it have on Generals earning traits and skill level increases, aren't those all based on 24 ?

I'd hope the formulas would be built using the max cap, but you never know.

You have to go into a few other files to tinker around. That’s not too invasive, though.

 

[Louella]

Experience is gained based on division-hours of combat. There's a few defines that alter how much XP you get per division-hour, which is easy enough to alter.

 

[Louella]

Forgot one thing....could we stop allowing generals and admirals to be both field commanders of army/army group/fleets AND Military Staff members at the same time???

I think that might be possible, with hiding the military staff idea for that general/admiral, if they're assigned in the field.

 

[DaleDVM]

Great work. If I ever start playing again I may just edit the code to decrease the division limit to 12. It is a more manageable number. Although an actual mod with the 12 division limit would be more accessible to all players. Hint Hint... Anyone... Anyone... Bueller...

As a side note: I shudder at the idea of a 10 division limit as it is not divisible by 3.

 

[GSP Jr]

I think that might be possible, with hiding the military staff idea for that general/admiral, if they're assigned in the field.

It seems simple enough, and I'm trying to make it work, can't get it to fit together at the moment.

 

[Louella]

It seems simple enough, and I'm trying to make it work, can't get it to fit together at the moment.

Looking at the UK, we have Alan Brooke, who can be the head of the Army, and is also a Field Marshal.

There's this bit in common/ideas/britain.txt for him:

            available = {
                NOT = {
                    has_completed_focus = ENG_eliminate_the_upper_class
                }
            }

in history/countries.txt there's this bit for him:

create_field_marshal = {
    name = "Alan Brooke" # Aristocrat
    id = 997

There's this scope: "any_unit_leader" , and these conditions "is_assigned", and "has_id"

So, I think that by altering the common/ideas/britain.txt to:

available = {
NOT = {
has_completed_focus = ENG_eliminate_the_upper_class
}
any_unit_leader = {
has_id = 997
is_assigned = no
}
            }

Then, Alan Brooke should not be available as Head of the Army, if he's assigned as a unit leader. I think the game periodically checks for invalid ideas, so if you assign him as head of the army before assigning him in the field, it'll remove him from head of the army after a while.

So, as long as the relevant admirals/generals have an id number, then you should be able to prevent them being assigned simultaneously to high command and in the field.

Not sure how the AI would handle all this though. :S

Aha: here's what I found from inserting that into my own personal mod:

On the left, Alan Brooke is available. I created an army, assigned him to it, and the result was on the right. He wasn't available when I assigned him to an army.

 

[Timmysoboy]

That’s really cool. Can you reverse it easily by removing the general if the staff is taken?

 

[Louella]

That’s really cool. Can you reverse it easily by removing the general if the staff is taken?

I'm not sure about doing it easily and reversibly. It's definitely possible to do a permanent removal of the general, with an on_action effect on the staff idea. But I don't know right now about doing it non-permanently.

i.e. on the army head idea for Alan Brooke, you'd have

on_add = {
   if = {
     limit = { NOT = { has_country_flag = alan_brooke_command } }
     remove_unit_leader  = 997
     set_country_flag = alan_brooke_command
   }
 }

Which should remove Alan Brooke as a general permanently if selected as head of the Army.

Doing it reversibly is going to take a lot of fiddling. I think it might be possible to do things with a fake country, and transfer the general to that fake country, which should then be able to be reversed, if they're removed from high command. I'm not sure on what commands you'd need to use though.

 

[Anaraxes]

Seems like there would be an "add_unit_leader" action (if perhaps spelled some other way). There are some focuses that add new leaders to the pool, so I'd think there's a way in the code to do that.

Is there any actual documentation on the syntax for the game files? I don't mean bracket nesting or a BNF grammar; I mean a list of all the defined keywords for difference types of records and actions, and what those do.

 

[GSP Jr]

Looking at the UK, we have Alan Brooke, who can be the head of the Army, and is also a Field Marshal.

There's this bit in common/ideas/britain.txt for him:

            available = {
                NOT = {
                    has_completed_focus = ENG_eliminate_the_upper_class
                }
            }

in history/countries.txt there's this bit for him:

create_field_marshal = {
    name = "Alan Brooke" # Aristocrat
    id = 997

There's this scope: "any_unit_leader" , and these conditions "is_assigned", and "has_id"

So, I think that by altering the common/ideas/britain.txt to:

available = {
NOT = {
has_completed_focus = ENG_eliminate_the_upper_class
}
any_unit_leader = {
has_id = 997
is_assigned = no
}
            }

Many Thanks @Louella, I had been trying another method, and failing, unaware of 'is_assigned'. Works perfectly. I'm working on it for the USA, always kinda bugged me that MacArthur and Chennault seem to be able to be everywhere at once, lol.

 

[bitmode]

Is there any actual documentation on the syntax for the game files? I don't mean bracket nesting or a BNF grammar; I mean a list of all the defined keywords for difference types of records and actions, and what those do.

No. The wiki has pages for some individual objects but there is no comprehensive documentation of what is available, at least not publicly.