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Post by LouisXIV on Mar 8, 2011 13:06:16 GMT 1
Red Storm Rising I have just started this 3-mission chapter. I'm sick of trying to develop missions and having them abort for no reason, so I decided to play something instead and take a break.
This is a Soviet 3-mission chapter set in the Baltic states in the summer of 1944. So far I have not encountered too much in the way of equipment that shouldn't be there, although the Soviet 100mm AT guns seem a little early.
I was surprised to find that I had not played this one before. So far the first mission seems like drudgery. There are mines scattered in little groups all over the place, with nothing much to back them up. Mostly just annoyance, really. Advance carefully, find some mines, remove them. Realistic, perhaps, but boring.
March 11: So far I have achieved the first objective, which involved taking a town bit by bit with my infantry backed up by armour and artillery. Each time the infantry got a bit cut up I'd bringup the trucks and get them up to full strength.
I captured a couple of German 75mm AT guns and set them up as flank defence. As soon as the objective was complete I got hit by a flank attack of Panthers and infantry. The two AT guns were wiped out, but not before they'd blunted the attack and given me time to react.
I also got a whole pile of reinforcments. Presumably enough to replace all my tank losses, except I hadn't lost any tanks.
The reinforcements were right beside a large building filled with 3 squads of German infantry. The tanks of the reinforcments blew the @#$% out of the building, but not before the Germans had shot up several of my replacement trucks. Not the best planning.
I'm headed for the next objective after turning my force 90 degrees. My large selection of armoured cars and light tanks have been useful in finding mines and ambushes. They also managed to lure a collection of German armour onto my own ambush, featuring my emplaced heavy tanks, who didn't suffer a single scratch.
March 13: The secret is, as you approach the second objective, there are lots of enemy artillery and rocket launchers, and you get bombed out of your gourd. I love missions like this!
If I hadn't been writing this review, I probably would have quit this game a while ago; however I persisted. Now my Windows 7 computer has decided to abort the mission. I feel relieved; although I may restart it.
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bb
General
Blitzkrieg junkie (tried to quit several times).
Posts: 1,356
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Post by bb on Mar 10, 2011 0:24:37 GMT 1
Red Storm RisingI have just started this 3-mission chapter. I'm sick of trying to develop missions and having them abort for no reason, so I decided to play something instead and take a break.
You`re right. After all, we are here to have fun and to play must be the main goal of all blitzers here. I played that chapter a long time and I really appreciate it, pitty Manhunter is not around anymore.
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Ocelo
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Map Artist/Eastern Front enthusiast
Posts: 1,400
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Post by Ocelo on Mar 10, 2011 1:18:38 GMT 1
Actually this is not a bad chapter. Of course, I think my favorite Manhunter chapter is the 3rd Ukrainian, but this is good too. Agreed, chapter making can take its toll, even more so than map making. BTW, I'll have a batch of Soviet maps ready next week for GZM 7.51. They take place in Hungary (including Budapest) and, perhaps, Romania. I'll be looking for volunteers to test playability and comment on it (I doubt there'll be any technical bugs). If anyone is interested, post here to let me know. I think they'll ultimately end up as part of a chapter and/or the Soviet GZM campaign, but right now I just have English versions of the missions, so I guess you guys that are interested will be the first to try them out.
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Post by LouisXIV on Mar 10, 2011 11:36:42 GMT 1
Manhunter has some interesting chapters, but they're usually short. 3-5 missions. I also keep finding single missions by him here and there.
What would happen if we started linking them up into a bigger chapter or campaign? Would it be appreciated? It shouldn't be too difficult.
I like to spend my time developing stuff, but when the headaches start, it's nice to get back to playing and remind yourself what it's all about.
I also find it's amazing how much of the custom material I've never played, and how many of the good mods I've never really tried out. I was saving them for retirement.
I have not had the opportunity to play any more of RSR.
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Post by altheogre on Mar 10, 2011 14:14:19 GMT 1
Well I agree with you. I would like to re-release Manhunters (RT)BeachAnzio 3 map chapter with new landscapes and to preview the Italian buildings that have been released. I wouldn't change the units or scripts, simply "Italianise" the maps.
Does anybody know how to get in touch with Manhunter, to get his OK?
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Ocelo
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Map Artist/Eastern Front enthusiast
Posts: 1,400
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Post by Ocelo on Mar 11, 2011 3:06:36 GMT 1
@louis: Manhunter actually created a German campaign based on his maps (and some new ones too). I tried it (and got halfway through), but I found the missions too repetitive for my liking, and also because it was for regular BK. GZM or PZW might be more interesting; I think optimizing this campaign for either of those mods (rather than HF, which IMO doesn't stress gameplay alterations enough to revitalize the actual playing; and the hypothetical stuff would be of little use in this scenario). In any case, I would definitely love to try the campaign again, revamped and with some of the maps modified to make them more interesting, and with the cities updated with much more interesting, varied buildings (not hard at all). But IMO both are needed, though neither is different, nor will either require much testing. Nice medium-sized, enjoyable project. An awesome thing would be to add in a fair amount of the western front chapters/missions as well. As for Manhunter's Soviet maps, IMO there are too few, and the ones that exist are over played. I didn't even include many of them in MTB for that reason.
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Post by LouisXIV on Mar 11, 2011 12:31:24 GMT 1
To be honest, I personally am not fond of Manhunter's maps. I find them to be generally unrealistic. They are more of a puzzle than an historical recreation. I'm more interested in realistic setups.
However, they do seem to be popular, which is why I am thinking of trying to update and package them. Besides, if I am going to play them, I'd like longer chapters/campaigns.
To be honest, Ocelo, I don't think converting the missions to another mod or changing the buildings would make much difference. If a mission is good, it is good. If not, dressing it differently won't make it much better.
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bb
General
Blitzkrieg junkie (tried to quit several times).
Posts: 1,356
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Post by bb on Mar 13, 2011 22:25:29 GMT 1
Ocelo, meaby I can test your chapter. And BTW, Finlander made a conversion of the Manhunter's german campaign to MK.
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Post by finlander on Mar 14, 2011 9:08:02 GMT 1
"Untill the final victory" All 14 maps reworked and units changed to be as close to realistic as can be.. Took me half a year to rework this campaingn. Now it should be historically accurant..you can find it in MK-downloads. There is also the 3rd Ukranian front reworked.
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Post by LouisXIV on Mar 18, 2011 11:01:17 GMT 1
Review updated.
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Ocelo
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Map Artist/Eastern Front enthusiast
Posts: 1,400
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Post by Ocelo on Mar 20, 2011 6:34:03 GMT 1
@louis: I would be interested to read your comments on my latest maps. My first suggestion would be Ukraine Spring.
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Post by LouisXIV on Mar 20, 2011 12:48:19 GMT 1
Ocelo, I have not had much success in getting the GZM mod to install properly. To be honest, I'm not really interested. There are lots of good mods that I still haven't gotten around to checking out. I have not done much with the HeimatfronT and PanzerWaffen mods at all, and I think I'd like to check those out before I go on to something else.
One of my major projects right now is going through all the old missions for BK and RT and - eventually - some of the older mods and trying to categorize them, find the good ones, and maybe turn them into chapters.
As well I am busy developing stuff of my own and checking out other items people have sent me.
Then there's real life.
Unfortunately GZM is low on my priority list right now.
I am glad to see you putting out new stuff. I'm working on it too. I think the BK community could use all the stimulation it could get right now.
I'm very interested in the Manila map. I was thinking of converting it to RT.
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Ocelo
General
Map Artist/Eastern Front enthusiast
Posts: 1,400
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Post by Ocelo on Mar 20, 2011 17:09:12 GMT 1
@louis: I doubt you'll have much sucess with converting Manila. It uses the non-vanilla BK objects very heavily; practically none of the city buildings are from vanilla BK. Only a few palms, bushes, and bridges.
For installing GZM, all you need is a fresh install of BK, and a full download of the mod files. Then unpack the contents of one of the archives into the Data folder, and the rest come out automatically with it.
Of course, everyone has their preferences and their niche. Going through old content and picking out the best of it is not a bad idea at all. In fact, I had done this with the available Soviet maps on BKPortal when making MTB. I must say though, that IMO the product's lower popularity wasn't worth the time it took to organize, convert, and debug them. But that's a personal preference; I enjoy making new content as opposed to working with others' already released work. The interests and situation are probably different for you though (ie: not too many downloads of late in general).
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Post by LouisXIV on Mar 21, 2011 12:19:38 GMT 1
... the product's lower popularity ... I don't know about that. Everybody who plays any form of BK can play the basic version. Perhaps most of the long-term players who post here have graduated to a bigger and better mod, but there are still many out there trying it for the first time or perhaps can only afford or find the original BK. I still get hundreds of downloads for my basic stuff. I don't think you can say the same about GZM items.
Besides, I for one am a long way from playing or even examining all the vanilla maps.
Besides, the BK platform is stable. I know any problems in development are mine and not caused by a glitch in a mod somewhere. Since I seem to have a lot of problems in development, this is important.
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Post by LouisXIV on Jul 21, 2011 22:10:20 GMT 1
Red Storm Rising
I finally finished the first mission of this chapter, called The Attack on Ketrsyn. I had to clear a village for no apparent reason, clear my way to a city (or large town,) and then clear out the town. It was a lot of drudgery.
There was a lot of attacking against small prepared positions with nothing to back them up. Thus I could take a position, then withdraw everything to a safe location and bring my squads up to strength and repair my damaged armour. The enemy AT guns I de-crewed and left were still de-crewed when I came back later. There were a lot of little tufts of AT mines all over the place with nothing to back them up. Easy to clear, but you had to wait.
German armour was all over the place but responded or counterattacked in penny packets. It was all a matter of slow attrition on both sides, and I eventually won by keeping my forces as concentrated as BK would allow and grinding the enemy down piecemeal.
The only real excitement was the German counterattack at the end. It was strangely scattered and mostly ineffective. It was the minor parts of the counterattack that caught me napping and almost caused problems.
I got a scattering of air support with such a long delay that it was pretty much useless. My reconn, bombers and ground attack that could not have fighter cover were mostly destroyed by enemy fighters, and the same happened to the Germans. Why bother?
I had no artillery at all except short-range rockets and had to deal with heavy German artillery. Then finally, once the mission was basically finished, I got a large group of heavy long-range artillery. What was that, just a little tease?
The German armour ranged from Pz Kw IIs to Royal Tigers. The Soviet forces were a little closer together, but still had units that were not appropriate for the suggested time period.
The whole mission probably took 10-12 hours playing time, and there were several times when I felt like quitting. About the only reason I kept on was because I started this review and wanted to finish it.
Why Manhunter's stuff is popular is still not obvious to me.
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