I'm playing two of volcano's N44 alt campaign games - one as the allies and one as the germans. From both perspectives I feel that the germans still need a little more help and would be interested in hearing other players views on this campaign.
A number of issues pertain to historical accuracy vs. play balance. Here, for example, I'm thinking of air interdiction. The germans need to get troops to the front lines and throw them right into battle. Alas, those troops tend to be clobbered on the way to the front by air interdiction. I recognize that allied air supremacy makes this a historical fact but would suggest that for game play balance it might be toned down a bit.
Second issue concerns the availability of allied "carpet" bombers. Around Caen, the germans need to stack 'em high and stack 'em deep. Carpet bombers (if they hit the hex) will crush the poor germans. Also, carpet bombers can hit germans out of LOS (with air recon). Say good bye to any troops caught in transport mode. So... again for play balance I might say good bye to carpet bombers.
A number of pillboxes and trenches were added to the alt game. They are left unoccupied which really reduces their value. How about a little garrison to keep their value intact?
Perhaps another suggestion would be to move the german reinforcement arrival locations a bit further forward?
Now I recognize that the games I'm playing are still in the very early stages (turn 40), but the VP is around 6000 already in both.
Any other ideas on tweaking the scenario?
Larry
As everyone should know by now the _Alt scenarios are a community project and I do encourage feedback to make them more historical and balanced. Normandy 44 is a difficult one because of the size and length it makes it very hard for me to catch everything and properly play balance it. It must rely on others to help me with what the VP levels should be as well as provide any feedback on how to better balance it. That said...
I do not want to simply say "good bye" to carpet bombers and cut them from the OOB or change them to regular bombers, because of the fact that B-26s were medium/high altitude level bombers that did conduct carpet bombing in Normandy. However, since you brought it up (and I am glad that you did), I did did some research on the B-26 Marauder units and looked up every Bomber Group in the OOB (I think these units are your primary complaint). Here is what I found that they did from June 6th and beyond (/ seperates mission changes):
#*323 Bmbr Grp - coastal batteries morning raids / strategic bombing / St Lo ground support
387 Bmbr Grp - strategic bombing
*394 Bmbr Grp - strategic bombing / St Lo ground support
#*397 Bmbr Grp - coastal batteries morning raids / strategic bombing / St Lo ground support
#*322 Bmbr Grp - coastal batteries morning raids / strategic bombing
^344 Bmbr Grp - ground support Contentin Penninsula and Caen areas
$*386 Bmbr Grp - strategic bombing / Caen and St Lo ground support
*391 Bmbr Grp - strategic bombing / St Lo ground support
Key:
* - St Lo, 15 JUL
$ - Op Charnwood (Caen), 7 JUL
# - morning raids 0600-1000 6 JUN
^ - available for ground support during the entire campaign
This is some good info because I think it will help address the problem. Basically, it means that any unit with a * should only become available at the time of the St Lo (beyond the standard campaign), $ should be available for Caen-Goodwood (beyond the standard campaign), # should be available for two D-Day morning turns then withdrawn and only one bomber group was really assigned to 100% ground support for the whole campaign (^). So other than a few exceptions, the B-26 units were doing the same thing the other strategic bombers were doing, albeit at shorter ranges.
Another thing that I am surprised no one has ever noticed is that the stock game had Helifax and Lancaster carpet bomber units become available on JUN 15(!) which, according to my sources, it was actually JUL 7 -at the start of Operation Charnwood - that marked the first time that the heaviest bombers were tactically used. So, if you think that eight B-26 Marauder units are bad, try the 33 Halifax and Lancaster units at over 100 planes each that will show up nine days later. ;) I will remove the latter units from the standard campaign since it ends on June 30th, and reduce the profile of the B-26 units to historical periods. That should greatly reduce the allied ability to wipe out the Germans early on.
-----------
I can indeed lower the allied air interdiction from 40% to 30%, which is still a high level, but should help the Germans out a tad. I don't want to go too far there, but I think it will help.
I am not sure what pillboxes and trenches you are talking about to have a garrison and keep them intact. The only ones that are vacant are already vacated so you can move through them freely as it is. It is intentional because these were secondary fortifications.
-----------
In regards to the VP levels, I am certainly interested in any suggestions on what the level should be. It probably could be raised 2000 points across the board to be conservative. However, with the changes above and the recent change to AT gun defense strengths (which should help the defenders in all games hold a bit better) I am not sure what the levels should be exactly, or if they need changing just yet. If anyone has a suggestion on what the VP levels should be then please, post it. One of the things that is true about N44 is that the allies get a lot of VPs initially with the landings and first gains but after that it can be a drought as the Germans begin to solidify. With less B-26 units the Germans should also be able to hold Caen and other areas better, thus denying a lot of VPs the allies would have otherwise gained.
Anyway, thanks for the info. I will make the changes mentioned above minus the VP level changes just yet -- until we have definitive proof or several suggestions.
BTW, I assume you are playing the 250 turn #30 campaign?
Off main topic, but I have one small request for the alt game. Could there be like a 10% supply source on the small island in Cherbourg harbor? This unit shows as isolated every game turn and I generally panic and walk through these units only to find it's that darn costal gun again. Thanks.
Fury