Solokovo Redux release version OUT Jan 03 2014

[Flashburn]

UPDATE

Release version......I hope final.   

So many changes all around from the beta 1.  It should be correct.  Got sick of attempting to get the points right and got cheap and simply added 200 victory points to Red Army at the start.  Its quite hard getting that right when you are fighting a pretty much 100 percent defense fight.    

Now should have awful Russian support thanks to Google translate.   

https://www.mediafire.com/?ile1lf824rjsrma







I SHOULD have 1st beta of what I am dubbing Solokovo redux released here tomorrow.  On last 2 turns of by little play thru and it seems to be doing what I was after.  At least for me.  This campaign requires Solokovo DLC.  Play as Czech and Red Army against the heavily mechanized German forces.  German and Red Army forces in the area where checked and balanced against the fun factor.  Your primary mission is to prevent crossing of the Mzha River.  The town of Solokovo makes an excellent road block in this sector.  German forces can not easily make a crossing with this town occupied by Czech forces. 

Ok so its the same as the released Solokovo DLC.  That one I found to be a nearly impossible ball buster.  Historically the Czechs pulled out of Solokovo when it became clear it could not hold.  However they did this after giving a bloody nose to the Germans.  This bought time for more Red Army troops to take up defensive positions to the west and east of the town.  That bloody nose meant that there where fewer forces around to fight their way to the other side.  Historically the Germans never crossed the river here.  This campaigns aim to allow that out come to occur.  With the released Solokovo campaign I was down to 3 or 4 squares in the upper right corner of the map when 15 turns where up.  This uses a slightly modified force structure with less medium German tanks in the 1st attacks on Solokovo.  I have NO idea what the Czech's got hit with historically.  I only know the initial attack was a recon in force.  I hope I guessed more or less right.  Also the flow of the campaign is totally new from the DLC.  Of course in GTOS you only suggest.  In fact my 2nd play through the ai did something totally I did not expect.     It was not historical either.  LOL.  But honestly a better idea than what actually happened. 

Pay attention to the text in game.  Its pretty much recycled from the DLC.  But when it says pop smoke from Solokovo like Colonel Svoboda ordered..  Best try and brake contact to the other side of the river.  Hopefully the ai will not make it to hard on ya.  But I have only played this guy making moves like the Czech's did.  And it largely has worked for my play thru.

[Flashburn]

Oh and i should point out that it will lack proper Russian support for the beta. 

And if this thing works out I will probably end up thinking up a way to make a German campaign version.  that one is hard as they had SO many forces in the area.  Well armored forces...

[Flashburn]

And here it is...

Read me in zip in how to install.  requires solokovo dlc.

Merry Christmas HOHOHO


https://www.mediafire.com/?d2atszw85a3hm6m

Slightly corrected version.  i left some stuff in the div pool I was goofing around with....not suppose to be in campaign.  And 1 last minute change that DID not work as intended.   If you find yourself being strafed by FW190's in the 1st turns.... re-download corrected above!     OOPS. 

[Fritz]

A... One moment: village calling SOKOLOVO not Solokovo 

Sokol = falcon

[Flashburn]

LOL...oops

[Flashburn]

I wonder when I started inverting the k and l in my head.   

Wait.... Hay  its a beta.   

[Tanker]

Bah, spelling, schmelling.

[Flashburn]

A few helpful tips...

While I found this campaign a bit easier than the default DLC from Gravi.  It is by NO means a cake walk.  Got to play it safe.  Remember..... your defending.  Pick areas to defend that force the enemy to channel into you awaiting forces.  The major flag areas I made pretty big in the town.  To give the player more options to pick a good defensive location.  Dont stick antitank or field guns in the front of your defenses...  Stick them behind your infantry if you can.  Open up with an ambush using infantry if you can help it.  Then let your anti tank/field guns/machine guns go at it.  Much more likely those critical units survive that way.

The Czech infantry only have KS bottles to deal with tanks and armor.  Great for halftracks.. Not so good for tanks.  Your Russian infantry on the flanks have both KS and rkg40 anti tank grenades.  Slightly better to fight a tank but not great. On the other hand the Czechs have a slight edge on rifle fire power.  That is a lot of svt40's. 

Never do what I keep doing and placing engineers with satchel charges in buildings.  They are not so great at clearing the area.  I keep blowing up half the squad with those things.  But your best bet with light or medium armor in a close in fight.

Although its REAL tempting to counter attack Sokolovo late in the game...resist.    The more German forces you knock off in the town is fewer to deal with when they try and tank your side of the river. 

When your tanks arrive don't do anything stupid.  It is likely that your anti tank and field guns will get knocked out over time.   The t70 aint that great at fighting tanks.  If you have do that you need to be close and hopefully on a flank.  They are pretty good at blowing up lite armor and mowing down infantry.  Just they are pretty blind and a real slow rate of fire.  The t34's keep em out of overly dangerous situations until you need them.  When you do need them...you really need them.   The F22 1936?  field gun is slightly better at knocking out tanks at range than the zis3.  The zis3 is however slightly smaller.  But they can kill a medium tank with good line out sight up to 800 meters.  In other words... they can be sitting back away and cover your infantry.  But as soon as they fire they will likely give themselves away. Something to consider.  The more they can see, the more that can see them.  Goes to picking places to hold that force the enemy to channel themselves.

Anyhow good luck. 

[andrey12345]

A... One moment: village calling SOKOLOVO not Solokovo 

Sokol = falcon

to be precise Sokoliv on river Mzha

Sokoliv = Falcons
Mzha = Border/Terminator between Mongol+Tatar and Russian principalities.

[Aces]

Thanks mate, super work and a great treat for X-MAS!,

Cheers

Aces

[Dane49]

While I found this campaign a bit easier than the default DLC from Gravi.  It is by NO means a cake walk.  Got to play it safe.  Remember..... your defending.

I should have heeded that warning
I tried a tank counterattack and had my ass handed to me by a battery of  on board 105mm that completely destroyed 2 platoons of my T-34s 

So far though I'm enjoying the Redux more than the original for play balance.
My defenders are at least able to put up a decent defense before being evicted from Sokolovo.
I just need to get over my overly aggressive defensive tactics.

[Flashburn]

let me know how it goes with your play thru....

I think I got rid of the larger issues.  That is getting hit with 12 mech platoons in first turns.    .  And setting up the movement nodes around river to not easily allow attacks across river by tank and panzer grenadier platoons.  It can still happen but the ai SHOULD focus more on the fords and bridges than attempting to attack across frozen rivers and such. 

I am concerned about the 1st turns where it is possible the ai will ignore the left flank and hit Sokolovo with everything in play at that time.  You can fight off that mess if it happens but means holding the town vary long is OUT. 

But victory points and having them make sense for victory/loose is my largest concern.  Set up the points as total guess work. 



And stupid media fire is not reporting download numbers.   

I have vary little time for another test of this 1st release version.  Changes are based off the last version that only i tested.  Which I would call largely a big success. I hope to run newest beta patch for DEC and this guy with it.  If I have time before Jan.  2 things on my plate before I may try and make a German version and make a final of this thing.  Still want to add in proper briefings....but that is small thing really.

[Dane49]

let me know how it goes with your play thru....

I'm up to the 5th turn but I'm going to start over. I made a lot of idiot mistakes in the OP phase(I don't play campaigns much).
When everything settles down after the Holidays and family goes back home I'll put more time into it and complete the campaign.
So far I'm doing OK in Sokolovo but my right flank near the bridge had to retreat across the river after I wasted 2 of my T-34 platoons in counterattack.

A German campaign would be nice for this map also,or a campaign that includes combat in the lower 1/2 of the map would be nice. Almost all the combat for Sokolovo never includes the lower 1/2 of the map at all.
So, maybe an earlier German start date could include some of the lower 1/2 of the map.

[Flashburn]

Really hope I get some more feed back on this campaign.... 

I am getting the feeling it is not hitting the mark.   Likly due to it coming about just as a redo of DLC in that I was pissed at the default one.  Took me damned long enough as well...


But I am considering doing a German version designed around the recon guys.  AI set up to do everything else.  Would probably be a tad lighter on the history.   OR drop out a good bit of the German forces.  Keep the Red Army and the Czech brigade pretty much the same but drop out quite a bit of the German forces.  Anyone have any thoughts on how to handle Sokolovo from the German side?  Keeping it along historical lines as much as possible. 

And yes... I totally agree that the southern part of map is quite good and vary under used.  I too have set up some vary memorable QB fights down south on this map.  Maybe later I do an unhistorical campaign down there.



Hmmmm.  Just thought that having to burn out the Czechs from sokolovo with pz3m and pioneers with flamethrowers might be quite interesting.....   


And need to get that Russian text all in there still. 

FYI I have done all my testing with setting of historical units to off (a few extra things on both sides) and battle size to unlimited. 

OH boy... forgot to say.  The static supply depot as 1 repair squad in it.  If anything important brakes and needs to get fixed somewhat fast... get it close to the supply depot.

[Santini]

I've got 7 more days left in my long week, then I have some time off and I'll give it a go

A kraut side scenario would be cool though.

And I've always wanted a tiger fire brigade mission, just a thought

[Missouri_Rebel]

Really hope I get some more feed back on this campaign.... 

I am getting the feeling it is not hitting the mark.   Likly due to it coming about just as a redo of DLC in that I was pissed at the default one.  Took me damned long enough as well...


But I am considering doing a German version designed around the recon guys.  AI set up to do everything else.  Would probably be a tad lighter on the history.   OR drop out a good bit of the German forces.  Keep the Red Army and the Czech brigade pretty much the same but drop out quite a bit of the German forces.  Anyone have any thoughts on how to handle Sokolovo from the German side?  Keeping it along historical lines as much as possible. 

And yes... I totally agree that the southern part of map is quite good and vary under used.  I too have set up some vary memorable QB fights down south on this map.  Maybe later I do an unhistorical campaign down there.



Hmmmm.  Just thought that having to burn out the Czechs from sokolovo with pz3m and pioneers with flamethrowers might be quite interesting.....   


And need to get that Russian text all in there still. 

FYI I have done all my testing with setting of historical units to off (a few extra things on both sides) and battle size to unlimited. 

OH boy... forgot to say.  The static supply depot as 1 repair squad in it.  If anything important brakes and needs to get fixed somewhat fast... get it close to the supply depot.

I will certainly check it out. Been busy getting up to speed on some of the new features since I was away and have been playing Shilovo. Your work though is appreciated. Thanks for your efforts and Ill be checking it out soon.

[Schuck]

+1 for a German Sokolovo.
It was always my favourite campaign in APK
I remember sombody redid all the DLC,s and removed all the heavy armour. But left in AT guns, the German halftracks and armoured cars, and also Russian T60 and T70's
That made them alot more fun!

[Flashburn]

I have identified a few small icky things I do not like in beta 1.  I did not leave a spot for an arty spotter in one battery of zis3/f22 76mm guns.  Sticking this in there since I can never get these guns to fire indirect fires.  Range is probably to short over the 3km max range of game. 

More tweaks for the infantry guys over on the left flank.  half the time the ai decides to attack sokolovo with them in 1st or 2nd turn.   I find this somewhat annoying as I would prefer if for the 1st few turns the ai sticks to the historical norm.  So making a few changes I hope that nudge the historical out come more likely. Going to correct a screw up with diska 12.7mm heavy machine guns.  Somehow i added 3 to the reserve pool where they do not belong.   


Hope to start a German version soon.  Maybe I get a beta for that by next weekend.  I intend to keep everything on the movement map the same.  Just change up the force structure a tad for Germans and a few small things for the Reds.   

[Flashburn]

WOOT... started the 1st bits on the German version.     I may have something in a week or 2.  Maybe longer.  Still need to get this beta to final.   

Also a slightly improved beta 2 here shortly.  I may just release that one to anyone who want to test it out.  If interested just pm me.  Its small changes really.  Actually I really should not call them beta.  more like release candidate. 

[Flashburn]

So UGH.  Looks like my beta2/release candidate 2 did largely resolved my annoying issues of German left flank attacking Sokolovo in 1st turns.  BUT if every one of my overly beefed up recon in force guys hit the town at once its just as stupid bad.  LOL.  This is a pain really.  If just 1 ai recon unit attacks the town in turn 1 or 2 is real easy to beat them off.  If all of them attack the same area its pretty hard.  So I guess I need to consider the worst case and trim down my recon in force attacking guys.   

Also added in a few missing telephone troops to the Germans.  OOPS!  I totally forgot to add telephone guys to the units with APC's and the those pesky 105mm field guns.  I hope this is the final....  I am getting tired of playing the 1st few turns of campaign OVER AND OVER.