THIRD REICH AoD MOD

[Gringoesteban]

did any of you use paratroops?

Yes. I used them in my attacks on Leningrad and Moscow. I also used them to try to close a few encirclements. Several times, if a big group of Soviet divisions was retreating into an empty province, I would try to land an airborne division there to capture the retreating divisions. (In AoD if unit reaches the province it is retreating to, and that province and the province it was retreating from both have enemy divisions in them, then the retreating division is destroyed). However, I only had 2 airborne divisions and it takes a long time for them and the transport planes to regain org. You have to be very selective about where to use paras, and it can be dangerous. During the course of the Barbarossa campaign, both of my airborne divisions were shattered/destroyed, meaning that I did not have any left when I did SeaLowe. Airborne forces are a big investment of IC, manpower, and tech research. They can be quite useful but I am not sure if they are worthwhile.

i heard gringo you have 3 marines (for the pripet marshes?) and 3 were sunk on their way to suez.

I used the marines for doing amphibious assaults on Suez (big mistake on my part), Riga in Latvia (to close a big encirclement), Leningrad, and SeaLowe. I also used the marines in the swamps of southern finland and northern russia after Leningrad had fallen.

did you also put all your mountaineers into finland?

I kept all five of my mountain divisions in Norway and used them to repel Allied amphibious landings. The British and Commonwealth forces made several landing attempts. I did not protect the beaches; I let the enemy land and then pushed them back into the sea, thereby annihilating the entire landing force.

 

[Gringoesteban]

I know, whenever I get bitter peace I feel like 'what's the point in continuing?' I guess I could do a Sealion and possibly invade India, but after defeating the USSR it just feels like there's nothing more (challenging) to do.

True in vanilla. In TRM, doing SeaLowe is difficult and launching a successful invasion of the USA is damn near impossible. That being said, defeating the Soviets and achieving Bitter Peace is the most fun and most challenging part of the game and after that is over things are not quite as exciting any more....

And encircling 100 divisions just shows how unprepared the AI is, even in a mod that gives huge benefits to the AI.

Not necessarily. In real life the Germans surrounded about 45 Soviet divisions near Kiev during their initial Barbarossa drive. The Mod gives the AI enough extra divisions and free manpower that encircling say 100 divisions in TRM might have roughly the same military/economic impact as destroying 45 divisions IRL.

But as you alluded to, the AI can never be as dynamic as a human player, despite AoD hardcoding patches and updated ai/switch files and events. That's why the AI needs so many advantages/benefits/freebies in order to make the Mod a challenge.

 

[unmerged(52751)]

Gringoesteban,

I don't know why transport planes are so darn expensive... much more so than tacs, but they don't have the bombsights, weapons, armor, etc.... or even the same training, just fly straight and level until everyone is out...

I usually lower costs down to the same as tacs, but haven't ever really built them or paras before, just because it seems too gamey.

 

[Gringoesteban]

I don't know why transport planes are so darn expensive... much more so than tacs, but they don't have the bombsights, weapons, armor, etc.....

haven't ever really built them or paras before, just because it seems too gamey.

Your second point (regarding gamey) basically answers your question.

For purposes of the Third Reich Mod, I made transport planes very expensive so the Player must decide whether or not to make the huge investment in tech research slots, IC, manpower, etc. to build up an airborne force. When correctly used -- either in HOI2 or AoD or TRM -- an airborne division can be the most powerful unit in the game, which is why transport planes are so costly in TRM. I believe that I have struck a pretty good balance in TRM to balance out the "gamey" aspects with a huge cost of preparing an airborne force. Being a former paratrooper myself, I had to make sure that airborne assaults were represented in my Mod....

 

[Mr_B0narpte]

Your second point (regarding gamey) basically answers your question.

For purposes of the Third Reich Mod, I made transport planes very expensive so the Player must decide whether or not to make the huge investment in tech research slots, IC, manpower, etc. to build up an airborne force. When correctly used -- either in HOI2 or AoD or TRM -- an airborne division can be the most powerful unit in the game, which is why transport planes are so costly in TRM. I believe that I have struck a pretty good balance in TRM to balance out the "gamey" aspects with a huge cost of preparing an airborne force. Being a former paratrooper myself, I had to make sure that airborne assaults were represented in my Mod....

Is the "gamey" aspect also why armoured divisions cost the same amount of manpower as infantry divisions?

 

[unmerged(52751)]

I guess I'm more of a "sampler" type of player in that I want to try a little of everything in a game, as they each take so long anyway, so I prefer to mod down para units/transports so I can try them... however, haven't actually given it a try, but I think eventually it's up to the player if they want to game the system or not.

Anyways, para offensives are probably too small geographically to really have a place on the AoD map. Unless you use them in a coordinated attack also from adjacent provinces.

 

[Gringoesteban]

TRM v1.0 for AoD 1.06 Beta 3

edit: The Third Reich Mod is fully compatible with the official AoD 1.06 release.


I have updated the Third Reich Mod to run on the AoD 1.06 Beta 3 patch. The download locations are:


http://rapidshare.com/files/453849161/TRM_v1.0_for_AoD1.06B3.rar

- or -

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20150713/TRM_v1.0_for_AoD1.06B3.rar

Checksum path:
AoD 1.05 CNRO ==> AoD 1.06 Beta 3 MELZ ==> Third Reich Mod BRMU


Edit: The TRM checksum with AoD 1.06 Beta 3 Hotfix 1 is MMPU


Edit - I am not sure what the checksum is when you install the Mod over the official 1.06 patch.


I am glad to see that some people are still interested in the Third Reich Mod after so much time -- the previous version of the Mod (for the 106B1 patch) got downloaded 224 times. At this point, with today’s release for 106B3, I feel that TRM is more-or-less “finished”. I do not expect to make further updates, unless someone comes across a major bug or if I need to do a hotfix to make the Mod compatible with AoD 1.06 final.


I request that the AoD devs quickly release a hotfix to correct the Beta 3 bug that causes a CTD when deleting detached brigades. After that, I respectfully request that you publish the official, final 1.06 patch. Please -- no more changes to any files except AoD.exe. Version 1.06 contains many fantastic improvements compared to 1.05. However, the alpha and beta process has taken quite a long time and IMHO it is time to release 1.06 final, especially since DH is about to be released.


Change control TRM v0.90 ==> v1.0


Map

• Added slightly more provincial infrastructure to North African coastal provinces. Most provinces are now 30 (instead of 20) and the major ports are 60 (rather than 40). This change was made to reduce attrition, which was too high.
• Raised provincial infrastructure by 10 in all Chinese provinces to help improve ESE and reduce attrition. Also, the hardcoding changes in 106B3 instruct the AI not to enter provinces with only 10 infrastructure. Most Chinese provinces now have 20 or 30 infrastructure.
• Added impassible land connection from London to Malta so Allied naval forces trapped in the Med Sea can remain supplied even if Gibraltar and Suez fall.
• Added Kiel canal. Although this passage is included in the vanilla AoD adj-def file, for some reason it was not working.
• Reduced oil and rare output of Hannover province by 1 each.

AI

• USA air AI should do more strategic bombing runs. Also, the USA AI should build many more strategic bomber wings.
• If England falls to the Germans, then the USA air AI will do more naval bombing missions which should make it harder for the Kriegsmarine to operate in the Atlantic Ocean.
• England AI will not research interceptors past the 1943 model.
• Japan AI will devote more IC to reinforcements
• SPA AI should use more IC on reinforcements and upgrading
• Slightly reworked the AI for HUN, ROM, and BUL. These nations should now share land doctrine blueprints with one another, spend more IC on reinforcements and upgrades, and equip all divisions with either artillery or anti-aircraft brigades.

Events

• Per the suggestion of Kilolima, added another “free” German unit, specifically the 70th Infanterie-Division, which was commonly referred to as the ‘Stomach Battalion’ or ‘White Bread Division’. This unit will be mobilized to defend Antwerp if certain conditions are met.
• The “free” SS Das Reich panzer division that arrives in October 1939 is now model 3 (SKIF icon level IV 1941) rather than model 4 (SKIF icon level V 1943).
• The “free” infantry division RONA now arrives with an attached Police brigade rather than an anti-aircraft brigade, because historically this division was mostly assigned to anti-partisan activities.
• Added new German event to conscript factory workers and send them to the front if manpower gets too low.
• The event to create Vichy France now only yields half as many land and air units as it does in vanilla. The VIC military did not really participate much in WW2 IRL, but since Vichy France will probably join the Axis in early 1942 via event in the TRM mod, it seems reasonable to nerf the VIC military a bit.
• The free convoy ship events for ITA, USA, ENG, and JAP produce ½ as many convoys and cost ½ as much resources. Furthermore, these events now cost the proper amount of manpower whereas they did not cost any MP previously.
• The number of free convoy ships and escorts that the USA receives by event when it goes to war is cut in half, namely from 450 convoys and 150 escorts down to 225 convoys and 75 escorts.
• The event ‘9th US Army Air Force’ now provides two free strategic bombers rather than four. On the other hand, now the USA receives the blueprint for 1943 air recon technology as part of this event.
• USA receives 2,250 manpower rather than 2,500 manpower when the Arsenal of Democracy event fires.
• All the events to create USA amphibious assault forces (i.e. free marine divisions, destroyers, and transports) produce one fewer of each unit. For example, if an event had previously given the USA 3 marines, 3 DD, and 3 TP, now it only provides 2 marines, 2 DD, and 2 TP.
• Gran Colombia event produces a couple more infantry divisions and the capital should properly relocate to Bogota.
• Nationalist Spain gets three free infantry divisions to help them defeat Republican Spain (rather than two in 0.9, and zero in previous TRM versions). For some reason, SPA consistently lost the civil war to SPR in the 1.06B1 patch, which was ahistorical. When the Spanish civil war is over, three random SPA land units will be automatically deleted to remove any advantage that SPA might otherwise have going forward.
• If Nationalist Spain wins the Spanish Civil War, then Spain’s IC and manpower output will be reduced. Otherwise, in handsoff play tests, SPA had over 70 divisions by mid-1942 which was not realistic.
• Updated the list of new Turkish core provinces if TUR joins the Axis.
• Three events give Nationalist China up to ten free infantry divisions as the Japanese advance into China. This was done because with CHI was falling too quickly after the map provincial infrastructure in China was increased.
• Iraq will secede to Turkey some Turkish core provinces if both Iraq and Turkey are in the Axis at the same time.

Other

• Logistic strike efficiency reduced and spread out over more Air Doctrine techs
• Airfields and infrastructure cost zero manpower rather than one. Escort and convoy cost changed back to original settings. The MP cost is now consistent with HOI2, Doomsday, Armageddon, and AoD 1.02, 1.03, and 1.04.
• Misc. file upgrade cost raised from 0.5 to 0.6 because historically in WW2 the Germans fielded obsolete models like Pzr-IV, Me-109, Ju-87, etc. through the end of the war. With the original value set at 0.5 upgrading units was too fast.
• Misc. file supply distance modifier raised from 2 to 2.4. Note that vanilla AoD v1.06B3 uses the value 3.0 but because the TRM map has lower infrastructure in China, the Soviet Union, and North Africa, a value of 3.0 would be way too high.
• Difficulty: human combat penalty increased from -1 to -2. (Axis combat and org penalty both remain unchanged at -5). Also, human resource penalty increased from -14 to -15.
• Italy no longer receives a -5 org penalty when the ‘Italians are lovers not fighters’ event fires. Also, Italian manpower is now nerfed by -20% rather than -25%.
• Nationalist China now starts the Scenario with the first logistical organization technology. Otherwise the Japanese will overrun China too fast.

Bug Fixes

• Germany should now correctly receive the tech blueprints for the two rocket interceptor techs. These blueprints did not arrive in previous TRM versions because the secret weapon techs 7010 and 7020 had not yet been ‘activated’ at the time the events fired.
• The correct tech team is removed when Ernst Udet dies.
• The correct tech team moves from Nationalist China to Germany if von Falkenhausen is recalled.
• Fixed trigger for upgun the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst events.

Soviet Union / Eastern Front Changes

• Difficulty file now gives the Comintern +2 industry and +3 resource and +1 manpower bonus (rather than zero previously in each of those categories). The Red Army should field around 320 divisions at the outset of Barbarossa which corresponds to the historical count in June 1941 IRL.
• Soviet AI files instruct the AI to dedicate more IC to upgrading obsolete units.
• After the Soviet AI goes to war, it will build more brigades than it did previously and will devote more IC to upgrades and reinforcements.
• Soviet air AI should be more aggressive and willing to accept higher losses.
• SOV AI should garrison Finnish border area with more troops prior to the outbreak of Barbarossa.
• SOV AI will research interceptor techs through and including 1943, but not beyond that. This will allow Russia to upgrade its eight starting interceptor divisions as high as model 4 (which corresponds to the SKIF unit icon Level V 1943).
• SOV should not construct any new interceptor units. Instead, the Red Air Force is instructed to focus on fighter aircraft (multi_role) because they have longer range and are more appropriate for defending the vast territory of the Soviet Union.
• SOV receives a tech blueprint for 1938 fighter in January 1938 as part of their Gearing Up for War event.
• SOV ground_def_eff gets permanently raised to 0.86 when the General Winter event fires in mid-November 1941, rather than to 0.90 as it had been previously. The default value for all other countries is 0.80 so even after this change the Soviets still receive a defense bonus relative to all other nations; it is just not as large as before.
• Two events in prewar years now each give the Soviets 20 MP (40 total) rather than 50 MP (100 total) to help offset deaths from attrition in low infrastructure Soviet provinces.
• SOV now receives +1,100 MP when the Great Patriotic War event fires rather than +1,250
• The ten Guards Airborne divisions that the Soviet AI receives for free in December 1942 are now model 1 (SKIF icon level II 1940) rather than model 2 (SKIF icon level III 1942).
• The free Soviet “20th Mechanized Corps” unit is now a motorized infantry division rather than a mechanized infantry division to better correspond to the type of equipment the Red Army fielded historically on the date the event fires.
• Raised Stalingrad’s provincial IC from 1 to 7. Historically the city was an important industrial center but the map did not reflect this. The IC in a couple other provinces was reduced to offset the change.
• GER receives +2,500 each of supplies, oil, metal, rares, and energy when it captures Stalingrad, and SOV stockpiles are reduced by a corresponding amount. Also, SOV free offmap oil is reduced from +7 to 0 to represent the Volga River being cut and it becoming more difficult to move oil from the Caucasus to the Soviet interior.
• German capture of Baku yields 2,500 oil. The Soviets lose a corresponding amount from their stockpile. Baku infrastructure reduced by -10 when the province falls, to simulate bombardment damage as well as sabotage of the oil fields and refineries by the fleeing Soviet troops.
• When Moscow, Leningrad, Rostov, Stalingrad, and Sevastopol fall, the provincial infrastructure will be reduced by 10 to simulate damage to the cities from heavy fighting.
• Added new event path to establish an AZB puppet regime in Baku if the German player chooses to go ahistorical and ask former Soviet subject peoples to join the crusade against Bolshevism.
• The events to release BLR or UKR as puppets to join your crusade against Bolshevism will now cause 1 dissent rather than zero.
• The Soviet arctic combat bonuses for General Winter end on 23 March 1942 rather than 15 March 1942 to better correspond with the official start of the spring season according to the calendar.
• Each German event to recruit Hiwi volunteers now causes 1 dissent.
• Minor map changes to provincial infrastructure levels in the northwest Soviet Union.

 

[Endibear]

Free RONA: Infantry + Policebrigade ? is this allowed?

 

[Gringoesteban]

The Player cannot attach a police brigade to an infantry division, but an infantry division with a police brigade attachment can arrive via event.

Note that if you detach the police brigade from the RONA Division, you will not be able to reattach it to anything except a garrison division.

I am currently reading Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder. According to him, the Russian National Army of Liberation was not an effective combat unit. To quote the book, "[The RONA] was ordered to fight the Soviet partisans in Belarus, but [the RONA] could barely protect themselves in their home base."

 

[Endibear]

Note that if you detach the police brigade from the RONA Division, you will not be able to reattach it to anything except a garrison division.


http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?527092-106-Beta-3&p=12212896#post12212896

 

[Gringoesteban]

TRM v1.0 is fully compatible with the AoD 1.06B3 hotfix that was released earlier today.


If you already started a game, you can copy the new AoD.exe file (the hotfix) over the old one and continue your game.


The TRM checksum with AoD 1.06 Beta 3 Hotfix is MMPU

 

[unmerged(52751)]

Hey Gringoesteban!

Thanks for updating TRM! As always, your mod is essential for a AoD game and I welcome the chance to play it with the latest 1.06b3 patch.

I'm not ready to give up on AoD with the release of DH, I figure it will need a few months of patches and the transition back to a pre-AoD economy model may feel too simplistic. But, I hope the TRM mod will live on, either on AoD or DH. Let's see how we like DH, if I end up not caring for it I would be willing to help out TRM on AoD.

I'm just sick to death of the old map and it would be great to port the mod to E3.

Why did you decide to reduce US MP? I find that in every game the AI's stupidity in sacrificing transports to powerful Kriegsmarine surface forces results in the American AI out of MP by 1943. I would even consider a province connection between England and continental USA, just to get US units in the theater, or free transports by repeating event.

Or what about a major speed upgrade for transports, so they could escape quickly from battle? The German player barely uses transports, anyways, and the troop liners were quite fast. Actually, I looked up the stats, and less than 1 US division in men was lost to enemy action in the Atlantic.

How is that book, Bloodlands? It's on my wish list.

I have a collection of Signal scans online, if you want to read some very interesting WWII German propaganda :

http://www.bunkerarchaeology.org/2011/03/1943-44-signal-scans/

kilolima

 

[Gringoesteban]

it would be great to port the mod to E3.

That would be a LOT of work. DH has a new map so let's see how that works.

or free transports by repeating event..

The USA already has eight events, each of which gives them 4 DD and 4 TP, with half the ships arriving on the Pacific coast and the others arriving on the Atlantic coast (for a total of 32 total free DD and 32 total free TP).

I believe in 106B3 the AI always escorts TPs with screens.

Also, as you may remember, in TRM TP's have 1 sea defense rather than zero in vanilla so they are not quite as fragile and easy to kill if you are playing TRM.

(Edit: the US also has four other events that give it a total of ten more free TPs, DD (and marine divisions, too) in Tunis, Casablanca, and Britain. To summarize, the USA receives 42 free TP via event during the course of the game. Hopefully that should offset many losses which may be caused by AI stupidity).

Or what about a major speed upgrade for transports, so they could escape quickly from battle? The German player barely uses transports, anyways, and the troop liners were quite fast. Actually, I looked up the stats, and less than 1 US division in men was lost to enemy action in the Atlantic.

Speed upgrade might make sense. That could reduce losses somewhat.

How is that book, Bloodlands? It's on my wish list..

It's okay. If you are interested in the politics/racial policies of Stalin and Adolf then it has a lot of information. I prefer military history books myself.

 

[Disclaimer]

It's okay. If you are interested in the politics/racial policies of Stalin and Adolf then it has a lot of information. I prefer military history books myself.

I'm reading it too atm and I find it eye-opening in many aspects, maybe one of the best and most relevant WWII books in recent years. But given the subject it's not exactly much "fun" to read...

Back on topic, does TRM work with 1.06?

 

[Gringoesteban]

....I find it eye-opening in many aspects..... But given the subject it's not exactly much "fun" to read...

Agreed, it is definitely not a light or uplifting read. The book has some interesting observations that I had not considered or even known about before reading it, but given Paradox policy on this sort of subject I don't want to get into details and will go back on topic...

....Back on topic, does TRM work with 1.06?

Yeah, I just posted the new version a couple days ago and it runs fine on 1.06B3 hotfix. See post #347 above or the first post of this thread for download links.

 

[Disclaimer]

Yeah, I just posted the new version a couple days ago and it runs fine on 1.06B3 hotfix. See post #347 above or the first post of this thread for download links.

Does it work with yesterday's official 1.06 release as well? Or are the official release and the B3 hotfix very similar?

 

[Gringoesteban]

Does it work with yesterday's official 1.06 release as well?

TRM v1.0 should work with the official AoD 1.06 patch. I have not checked it myself, but I do not think anything changed between 1.06B3 Hotfix 1 and the final version. Perhaps the checksum will be different than what I posted above, but as far as I can tell, TRM should run fine.

 

[Endibear]

I am not sure what the checksum is when running TRM over the official 1.06 release?
AoD 106 + TRMv1.0 = ANKU ???

 

[clist123abc]

is there any possible way that TRM will be converted for DH? i think it would be an amazing challenge if only for the new map

 

[Gringoesteban]

is there any possible way that TRM will be converted for DH? i think it would be an amazing challenge if only for the new map

Yes, I will probably convert TRM over to DH at some point. I haven't bought DH yet, though, because I can't get Gamers Gate to accept my credit card for some reason. But I will definitely buy DH when the 1.01 patch is out.

Another option would be to port the DH map over to AoD. I really like AoD's logistics system, and the economic system is pretty good, too. I will need to try out all the new features of DH and then decide which game I like better. Or maybe I will play both AoD and DH since I am unemployed and have a lot of free time....