THIRD REICH AoD MOD

[Gringoesteban]

I just went to download the 106a2 patch, and the file is named 106A3.rar...

What's up with that?

The devs released a new alpha 3 version shortly after I uploaded my 0.84 files, but the Third Reich AoD Mod v0.84 should run fine with 106A3. I am running handsoff playtest right now, and everything seems to be okay.

Looking at the patch change control, there are only minor differences between 106A2 and 106A3. I do not expect them to impact the Mod. The garrison commander bug has been fixed, when you launch the game the screen will display 1.06 alpha instead of 1.05, the German AI files are updated but the Mod will overwrite those anyway, and the checksum is different. Bottom line, the Third Reich Mod v0.84 should run just fine on 106A3.

 

[Endibear]

Many thanks for updating, this will be my weekend.

chcksum on 106a3, I got BANF

 

[Beagá]

I got the mod (because AI Germany is still ridiculous even in the new alpha) and I´m enjoying it a lot. What´s the best course of action in your mod? Bombing England while attacking the SU, or go for SeeLôwe ASAP? What about submarines, are they viable? I´ve noticed supplies, resources and IC are indeed precious... hard to repair, reinforce and build more units at the same time heh.

 

[Gringoesteban]

I got the mod (because AI Germany is still ridiculous even in the new alpha) and I´m enjoying it a lot. What´s the best course of action in your mod? Bombing England while attacking the SU, or go for SeeLôwe ASAP? What about submarines, are they viable? I´ve noticed supplies, resources and IC are indeed precious... hard to repair, reinforce and build more units at the same time heh.

I always leave SeaLowe until after I defeat the Soviet Union and trigger Bitter Peace. Why? 1) England is heavily defended, totally different than vanilla. 2) You have to attack Russia in May/June 1941. If you wait any longer than that, the Soviets will be too strong and they will crush you. You cannot afford devoting IC to building an invasion fleet or naval bombers until you have the Russians on their knees. 3) If you land troops on the British Isles, then the USA will declare war on you, and it is a monsterous military power.

Submarines are fine. They have lower morale and org than in vanilla but they work just fine.

I suggest that you keep a minimum 300 MP in your manpower pool because you will suffer horrendous casualties during Barbarossa.

I generally keep the Germans out of North Africa. There isn't much worth conquering there, the Italian military sucks, and Suez is quite heavily defended and it would take a concentrated effort to capture it.

No matter what you do, you will probably lose if you choose the "Bring 'Em On" option for the Eastern Front campaign event option. But the situation you face will be remarkably similar to real life....

 

[Beagá]

Oh one more thing... I got the Invade Denmark event in october 1939 (?) and I´ve noticed the ANZACs love to try to take Norway back. Cost them some 8 transports so far along with some divisions - the UK doesn´t try to help, however. That should be fixed, it´s just turkey shoot really. Other than that great mod.

I was actually with my pants down when they first invaded ^^ Oh, and did you change naval combat as well? I´ve noticed casualties are a bit higher.

 

[Gringoesteban]

I got the Invade Denmark event in october 1939 (?)

I moved it up earlier because I get bored during the Sitzkrieg. If I am playing a game, then I need constant action.

I´ve noticed the ANZACs love to try to take Norway back. Cost them some 8 transports so far along with some divisions - the UK doesn´t try to help, however. That should be fixed, it´s just turkey shoot really.

That is either the vanilla AI or the DAIM AI. I don't remember changing the ANZACs to target Norway, but maybe I did. The threat of invasion will probably force you to keep a half dozen divisions in Norway, which means that you will not have those divisions available to attack Russia.

Oh, and did you change naval combat as well? I´ve noticed casualties are a bit higher.

I increased the naval-to-naval combat damage by 0.10 (from 0.75 to 0.85 if I remember right) so naval combat is deadlier. Also, I raised the minimum combat time by an hour so ships are in combat a little longer before they can retreat.

 

[Beagá]

Some suggestions after playing a bit more (it´s 1 of january of 1941):

1- Event to choose between surface navy and U-boats. Choosing the second would give you some blueprints maybe, but no Bismarck and Tirpitz.
2- Putting three 1941 inf in each strategic spot is too much. It´s like you force the Barbarossa option, and that´s bad design - unless you changed the UK surrender event, so that while difficult, invading the UK would be rewarding (something that it simply isn´t, in vanilla)
3- Some dissent hits to UK if convoy raiding or strategic bombings make a huge toll (something that could be added to Germany as well); for example 20 convoys killed/ 20 IC destroyed in a month = +0,5 dissent.
4- Rocket interceptors should be a bit easier to get.

 

[Gringoesteban]

I am at April 1942 in my 0.84 campaign running on AoD 106A3. The changes the devs added in 1.05 and 1.06 make the game a lot better, and more difficult, too. For example, I am glad they fixed the bug whereby surface ships could not sink convoys, because now for flavor I can send out the Bismark, Tirpitz, Gneisenau, and Scharnhost on raiding missions. I started Barbarossa campaign in May 1941 with 400 MP in my manpower pool, but unfortunately now I am down to zero due to the casualties I have suffered.


Thanks for the feedback. Comments are always appreciated. My responses are below.....

1- Event to choose between surface navy and U-boats. Choosing the second would give you some blueprints maybe, but no Bismarck and Tirpitz.

Later in the Scenario you will have the option to replace your naval minister Raeder with Donitz. If you keep Raeder, you will get some surface blueprints. If you go with Doenitz, you will get some submarine blueprints. There is already an event that gives you the U48 (I think it fires in June 1940?).

2- Putting three 1941 inf in each strategic spot is too much. It´s like you force the Barbarossa option, and that´s bad design - unless you changed the UK surrender event, so that while difficult, invading the UK would be rewarding (something that it simply isn´t, in vanilla)

WAD -- you really need to plan ahead for SeaLowe. Historically, the US and Britain took several years to build up for Operation Overlord. They had hundreds of ships, thousands of aircraft, etc. Doing a major sea landing in vanilla is way too easy. Besides, England will not surrender unless England has lost control of London, Glasgow, Suez, Delhi, and (either Gibraltar or Singapore). Doing SeaLowe too early would give you more beaches to defend and lots of partisan activity that will hurt your TC. You cannot puppet England or Scotland or Wales in the Third Reich AoD Mod.

3- Some dissent hits to UK if convoy raiding .... make a huge toll ....; for example 20 convoys killed....destroyed in a month = +0,5 dissent. )

If there is an event trigger that could make this work, please let me know what it is and I can add an event to raise ENG dissent every time it loses X convoy ships.

4- Rocket interceptors should be a bit easier to get.

The Mod already cuts the research time in half from what it was in vanilla. Maybe when the Roof Over Fortress Europe event fires I could give GER a blueprint for one of those techs.

 

[Gringoesteban]

Um, I think I made the Mod too hard for people who choose the "bring 'em on" Barbarossa option.... I am in September 1942 in my game but I have not yet taken Moscow, Leningrad, Sevastopol, Stalingrad, or Baku. I am out of manpower and just basically screwed on the Eastern Front.

The hardcoding changes in 1.05 and 1.06A3 seem to have made the game a LOT harder than it was in 1.04. Bottom line, if you are playing Third Reich Mod 0.84 on AoD 1.06A2/3 and you want to win, choose the "standard third reich mod" option when the event fires. But if you want a challenging game that you will probably lose, choose "bring em on".

 

[Titan79]

But if you want a challenging game that you will probably lose, choose "bring em on".

Does this option give the Soviets many free divisions throughout the entire war or only until 1942/43? And by the way, does it do other things too...?

 

[Rocket88]

invading the UK would be rewarding (something that it simply isn´t, in vanilla)

I'm curious - are you saying turning the UK into a minor power and removing the Allies floating fortress off the coast of Europe isn't rewarding for the Germans??

 

[Beagá]

I'm curious - are you saying turning the UK into a minor power and removing the Allies floating fortress off the coast of Europe isn't rewarding for the Germans??

Lol if you look at the AoD forums I´ve made a thread exclusively to talk about that issue. I´m not happy with how easy it is to invade UK in vanilla but I´m not happy either with the surrender event - IMO, there should be a White Peace kind of event which less demanding conditions. And obviously a better defense of the isles.

And at least until 1942 the only advantage of actually occupying the UK is less bomber raids. You´ll have a huge island to garrison versus partisans, nasty TC loss, and above all, to properly invade UK (in Third Reich) you have to commit large amounts of IC to planes and ships, therefore making invading the SU much, much more difficult. And when the US DOWs, you´lll have to garrison everything well, or they will invade and kick your ass. I´ve had quite a few troubles in Norway with Anzacs, I wonder how nasty the yankees could be. Really, IMO the only reason to try to go for the surrender event (which involves taking not only the British Isles, but also Malta, Gibraltar, Suez or large parts of India BEFORE the US or SU joins the war) is to free the Italians to help you - but seeing how crappy they are, dunno if it´s worth it.

 

[Gringoesteban]

Does this option give the Soviets many free divisions throughout the entire war or only until 1942/43? And by the way, does it do other things too...?

The ''bring 'em on'' option gives the Soviets extra units in 1941, 1942, and 1943. Nothing in 1944 or beyond. Most of the unit events fire as you drive east and threaten specific provinces, but several are related to the calendar date (for example 20 free infantry divisions arrive in November 1941 to represent the Siberian troops used in the winter counteroffensive). The Soviets also get +5 org and +5 morale if you choose bring 'em on (and maybe +5 % IC, MP, and resource production, too, but I cannot remember that for sure).

The biggest issue I am facing during my Barbarossa campaign is supply. (I have plenty of TC so that is not an issue). I lowered all Soviet infrastructure to 20 (in Third Reich Mod up through 0.7 it had been 30) and at the same time we are now using the 106A patch which seems to make logistics much more difficult/important as you play the game. Maybe the AI is using scorched earth, too, whereas it did not do that before. I might need to rebalance a bit but it makes for a fun campaign. I have won the Mod a couple times in previous versions so it is interesting to have my ass handed to me for a change....

 

[Gringoesteban]

106A bug

The Supply Distance Modifier command is working backwards in 106A -- discovering techs like Rear Area Supply Dump that are supposed to raise your ESE will actually cause your ESE to decline. That explains why the Barbarossa Campaign is damn near impossible.

The Mod is still fully playable, but with this bug, your Russian campaign will probably bog down due to low ESE. Low ESE means your units regain org slowly. You may also suffer higher attrition, slower reinforcement, and slower upgrades, but I am not sure how the AoD engine works so that may or may not be the case.

As a solution, you could either ignore the problem or else go into each of the db/tech files and the minister file and search for 'supply_dist_modifier' and put a '-' in front of the number. It should take only a couple minutes to do. However, this must be done before you start the game and will not work for games that are in progress.

The bug has been reported on the bug thread and also on the 106A2 thread so the devs should be aware of it now.

 

[Julle64]

The Supply Distance Modifier command is working backwards in 106A -- discovering techs like Rear Area Supply Dump that are supposed to raise your ESE will actually cause your ESE to decline. That explains why the Barbarossa Campaign is damn near impossible.

The Mod is still fully playable, but with this bug, your Russian campaign will probably bog down due to low ESE. Low ESE means your units regain org slowly. You may also suffer higher attrition, slower reinforcement, and slower upgrades, but I am not sure how the AoD engine works so that may or may not be the case.

As a solution, you could either ignore the problem or else go into each of the db/tech files and the minister file and search for 'supply_distance_modifier' and put a '-' in front of the number. It should take only a couple minutes to do. However, this must be done before you start the game and will not work for games that are in progress.

The bug has been reported on the bug thread and also on the 106A2 thread so the devs should be aware of it now.

I think you only need to change the "infantry_tech.txt" file. BTW the value you should search is named "supply_dist_mod".

EDIT: This is for Vanilla 1.06A3.

 

[Gringoesteban]

I think you only need to change the "infantry_tech.txt" file. BTW the value you should search is named "supply_dist_mod".
This is for Vanilla 1.06A3.

Thanks. I updated my earlier post to read supply_dist_modifier

Balesir has confirmed the Supply Distance bug and says that he will correct it in the next alpha release, which I assume will be named 106A4.

 

[Beagá]

Hi Gringo some other considerations.

1- WHT... is Grand Colombia? I got that only once but was like... WTF? Heh
2- Japan consistently beats China.
3- Bismarck and Tirpitz come without brigades (secondary armament, fire control etc)

Other than that, no big issues.

 

[Gringoesteban]

1- WHT... is Grand Colombia? I got that only once but was like... WTF? Heh.

Gran Colombia is the union of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. It existed briefly a couple hundred years ago before the three nations broke apart. In the Third Reich Mod, Gran Colombia forms if the Germans seize key Atlantic islands or if Spain or Portugal join the Axis. Gran Colombia will become allied with Brazil to better defend South America. This should make it harder for you to use South America as a springboard to invade the USA.

2- Japan consistently beats China..

That is new with 106A because in 104 things usually stalemated, like they did historically. Sometimes in the Mod the Japanese won, but usually not. I did not change anything that would have made China weaker or Japan stronger. Maybe the change is related to some of the supply bugs in 106A? In any event, puppeted China gets nerfed so Japan will not be invincible even if they puppet China.

3- Bismarck and Tirpitz come without brigades (secondary armament, fire control etc).

This is a bug in the AoD engine; new naval units cannot be deployed with brigades.

 

[Titan79]

The ''bring 'em on'' option gives the Soviets extra units in 1941, 1942, and 1943. (...)

Thanks a lot for the reply. I'm eager to try an AoD game with your mod (it will still take some time, though).

 

[Gringoesteban]

Thanks a lot for the reply. I'm eager to try an AoD game with your mod (it will still take some time, though).

Wait for 106A4 to come out because 'bring 'em on' Barbarossa will be impossible to win until the AoD Dev's fix the supply distance modifier bug and HQ ESE bug.