Blitzkrieg Tips

[LouisXIV]

Please feel free to post things that other people may not know about blitzkrieg.

[LouisXIV]

Mortars and MGs Aboard Vehicles
Did you ever try to get a mortar or machine gun to get aboard a truck? If you click on the mortar or machine gun and then click on the truck, the weapon won’t go.

However, if you click on the mortar or machine gun and tell it to move, wait until it’s moving, then click on the moving crew and tell them to get aboard a truck, they will go. When you get them out of the truck later on, they will set up their mortar or mg, no problem. If you tell the loaded truck to move and unload, it will do it just the same as if it was infantry. The crew(s) will get out, move forward, and set up.

When creating a mission and setting up the units on the map, if you move a truck or halftrack over a mortar or machine gun, you will get the up arrow telling you the crew is aboard. However, when you start the mission, the vehicle will not be there, just the weapon, set up.

While the game is running, you can also get a mortar or machine gun crew to climb aboard a tank that will take infantry. However, you can’t set a mortar or mg crew aboard an infantry-carrying tank while setting up a mission in the map editor.

[jeffcanada]

This color is hard to read Louis.

[LouisXIV]

I hope that is an improvement.

I had no problems reading it since it is very high contrast, but I guess everybody's eyes are different. Personally I find yellow on white impossible to read; low contrast. I have to highlight it.

[Folgore]

It is.
You know Louis, a lot of us use the good old black background... ;D

[Ocelo]

I've Found that that doesn't work with Allied/US crews.

[LouisXIV]

This is a trick that Lee Campbell ([BKP]) taught me long ago:

If you try to load a map in map editor and it aborts, it probably was from a different mod or version of Blitzkrieg, and has units or objects on it that your present version doesn’t recognize. The way to counter this is to call the map up using an even different mod and see if it loads that way. If it does, you will get a message that:

Mod has been changed.
Old mod: HeimatfronT.
New mod: Panzerwaffen.
Some objects was (sic) removed.

Then you don’t save it, but open the original version with the proper mod.

If you want instead to clear the units off from the old mod and replace them with something from a different mod or stock vanilla items, there are ways of doing this. Start with the procedure above. Then the chief instrument for your use is the loadmap_log.txt in your Run\data\logs folder. It will give you a list of all the items removed, the side they were on, their ScriptID and their location. You can use this to replace the items with something from a different mod or version of BK. Unfortunately it will not give you any Start Commands for units.

If you want to preserve the units that exist on the map, either to use or to be replaced later with Start Commands intact, you can use the loadmap_log.txt file to make an attachment to the mission or chapter of the missing units. You can place the units folders along with a modobjects.xml file to keep those units on the map.

[LouisXIV]

Start Commands
You don't want to learn to program .lua functions? No problem. A lot can be done on a single player mission map using the Start Commands and the AI Settings. You can automatically:

- Provide replacement infantrymen and artillerists;
- Fix damaged or disabled tanks, SPGs, trucks and artillery pieces;
- Heal injured infantrymen and artillerists;
- Have counterattacks by tanks and SPGs;
- Have automatic attacks by bombers and attack aircraft;
- Have positioned artillery pieces and tanks dig in;
- Have artillery bombard a certain area;
- Have units and infantry set up in ambush;
- Have SPG or even towed artillery move forward, fire a few rounds, and then retire again, every time there is a valid target.

And lots more. Check it out.

If you think AI settings are just for Player1, think again. If you want, you can set up the player (0) forces so that they can have automatic resupply and repair, as well as counterattacks.

You can set up a very complex mission without bothering with .lua scripting.

[kaoz]

Then the chief instrument for your use is the loadmap_log.txt in your Run\data\logs folder. It will give you a list of all the items removed, the side they were on, their ScriptID and their location. You can use this to replace the items with something from a different mod or version of BK.

if only i had known this before...
very good tip!

[Ocelo]

Sept 2, 2010 12:31:31 GMT 1 LouisXIV said:

Start Commands
You don't want to learn to program .lua functions? No problem. A lot can be done on a single player mission map using the Start Commands and the AI Settings.

A detailed description I wrote about this in my Map Editor tutorial, just in case anyone is further interested.

[LouisXIV]

Sept 4, 2010 19:33:36 GMT 1 Ocelo said:

A detailed description I wrote about this in my Map Editor tutorial, just in case anyone is further interested.

I should take a closer look at it. You can always learn something new if you pay attention.

What is it called again?

[LouisXIV]

Sept 2, 2010 14:15:40 GMT 1 kaoz said:

Then the chief instrument for your use is the loadmap_log.txt in your Run\data\logs folder. It will give you a list of all the items removed, the side they were on, their ScriptID and their location. You can use this to replace the items with something from a different mod or version of BK.

if only i had known this before...
very good tip!

Thanks.

My latest thing is recovering old maps as-is. When there are units on it that are causing it to abort in the MapEd, I run it through in another mod, but don't save it. Then I use the loadmap_log.txt file to create a units folder with the right-named units in it, and a modobjects file, and then the mission will run. This is necessary because I've changed the names of some units 2 or 3 times while making different missions.

Then I can run and test them, and when BKR is ready, I can change the units over complete with start commands.

[Ocelo]

Ocelo's BKmapEditorTutorial.pdf
Link to Download:
www.mediafire.com/?ynywnoygwin

[Ocelo]

@sj: want to point this out, as I often employ the said tactic myself: if you destroy the best houses, that might complicate defending the town later on if it is necessary (obviously doesn't apply to regular BK random missions, unfortunately). Then, to get infantry support, you have to press Z, E, and E with your squads selected to have them hold ground in a prone position.

Which brings me to this: Which is in your opinion more profitable: having the infantry lie down in the street to provide cover, or take positions in the houses? In real life, the latter is obviously more favorable, but not sure about BK.

[LouisXIV]

One of the sore points for me about BK. Anyone who has read about Stalingrad or Monte Cassino knows that when a building is destroyed, it actually makes a better defensive position. In BK, once a building is destroyed, the remaining occupants are thrown out into the street.

Ocelo, my response would be, it depends. Against infantry, I'd rather have my infantry in the building. Against direct-fire tanks and artillery, I'd rather have them lying down in the street.