Lebatron
Posts: 2166
Joined: 5/30/2005
From: Upper Michigan
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This is the old readme. Now obsolete.
Uncommon Valor 2.1
UV2.1 updates the stock UV scenario to incorporate the advanced rules introduced in patch 1.020. It also introduces a better map, more strategic options, and enhanced game balance. You will really like the new map. I made it a hybrid between the original WAW land and my new ocean. It takes care of both complaints some had with AWD, which was that the oceans looked too white, and the land borders looked to busy. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and I'm sure you will be too.
Highlights of UV2.1
A beautiful new map
New unit icons and Nazi flags
New land and sea territories
France can now build units at start
A superior suppression system
The Battle of Britain is more realistic
U-boat campaign improved
New air costs encourage a balanced Fighter/Tactical/Heavy ratio
New transport mechanics that place increased importance on ports
Better mid/late game balance
Arsenal of Democracy and Axis Blitz have been updated with UV2.1 features. They will be more challenging than before. I advise that you turn off advanced supply for the AI controlled nations because the AI can't finesse that as well as we can.
Special note
To fully experience all the new unit icons you will need to check the box for "British Graphics" and uncheck the box for "One Western Ally Icon." With this setup the Brits will be tan and have their own unique icons, and the US will be green and have their own unit icons. If you've been playing since WAW, you may have tried the British graphics before and found the neutrals to close in color. I addressed that problem for AWD and recently tweaked the nation colors again for UV2.0. Give this setup sometime to grow on you and I'm sure in the end you will come to like it.
Map improvements
If you liked my changes to Russia, the relocation of Bonin Islands and redesign of the Pacific, and other places for the upgrade from WAW to AWD, you can trust that my latest enhancements will bring even better gameplay to AWD. I have focused on four areas I still felt could be improved. Seas near Britain, the Med, Central Africa, and Australia.
* Three new sea zones near Britain improve gameplay by making convoy routes a bit safer from air attack. Short range German fighters will no longer be able to hit transports in the usual convey routes. Sea zones around Crete have also been reworked to improve gameplay.
* From my old mod, Franco's Alliance, the idea of severing regions in Africa to prevent unrealistic Axis raids through the interior regions has been carried over and improved by the addition of new lands.
* In Australia, the Outback has been made impassible to prevent another unrealistic campaign through its interior. With this change the Japs can no longer land in the Northern Territory, march into the Outback, and threaten both Sydney and Melbourne from there forcing the Allies to divide their small force.
The second major map improvement is a total overhaul of its appearance. I painstakingly redid the oceans. Carefully chose new nation colors. Tightened up unit stacks to reduce spread. Tweaked the zoom levels. And carefully moved many icon locations to better positions on the map. Side by side my new map smokes the old one;)
Battle of Britain.
Its been a repeat complaint of many that German fighters, without a range upgrade, could not reach England right after the fall of France. In the beta for UV2.0, I tried to address this by starting Germany and the UN with free tech points in fighter range to shorten the interval of time to reach range 2. The intent was to encourage the German player to play out a historical Battle of Britain rather than send all his airpower into the Mediterranean theater. In playtests, this theory proved sound. In the forum, this sparked renewed interest to find a better solution. One provided itself. WanderingHead pointed out that the game engine could be tricked into using the straits as free flyover zones. By using this trick, aircraft can fly over any straits for 1 or 2 movement points. Cost depends on whether your flying over a single or double border, but sea zone is free. For example, this means that aircraft in Western France would only expend 1 movement point to reach England. Now the Battle of Britain can be played out the way many wished it could be. To help maintain the old balance, I have given the British one extra fighter, added a -3 max range penalty, and dropped Germany's transport amphibious rating to 3(was 4). Also, air costs have been tweaked. More on that next.
Tweaks to Airpower.
A major change I've introduced is the new cost of fighters. They are now 3 production points. While some of you may consider this a heresy and initially want to reject this idea, please trust me on this, it's for the better. To compliment this, the relative value of heavy bombers to tactical bombers has been tweaked. Here are the details.
* For Germany, I felt it was unnecessary to increase HB cost to 5 so what I did was drop its ship attack value from 4 to 3. Putting this stat more in line with other nations.
* For Japan, I increased HB cost to 4, kept old stats the same, and added a free tech point to land attack tech. Their tactical bomber gets better torpedoes and evasion.
* For Russia, I reduced HB cost to 4 and removed the armor value. Their tactical bomber receives 3 points toward EV 6.
* For the UN, I increased HB cost to 5, bumped air attack to 3, and kept the armor value. They are the only power deserving of armor value for their flying fortresses.
Additional tweaks to compliment the above changes.
* Tactical air land attack world standard increased by one to give further incentive to build them.
* Carrier AA and EV world standard was reduced by one to add more value to fighters since their costs are close.
* Fighter range world standard reduced to 1 to delay range 3 development until much later.
* To help Japan afford the new cost of fighters and heavy bombers some tweaks have been made to its build cue.
New transport rules
The base value of a transport is now 15(from 30). Adjacent ports give a 15 point bonus, pushing the value back up to 30. Ports one zone away give a 10 point bonus instead. At two or more sea zones the port bonus fades to zero. In addition to these values, hostile territories cause a 10 point penalty to transport capacity if they are adjacent to them. This gives areas like Norway new strategic importance. Additional ports have been added, and several old ones have been slightly moved to improve the function of the advanced transport rules.
The Mediterranean Theater
The Axis, if they so wish, can usually storm across North Africa and take Cairo rather easily. I only accepted this fantasy because the game was better balanced when Germany did so in the curse of a typical game. For Global Glory, Brian was concerned about this because he made the Middle East richer in resources, and didn't want to see the German's overrun Iraq every game. In discussions with Brian, I suggested that some Italian transports could be removed to slow Axis deployment to North Africa, and additionally, the German transport capacity could be reduced to 20 or 15 to further constrict movement. But such fudging with Axis transport values aren't needed at this point because the addition of the advanced transport rules make this reduction universal. It's a nice elegant solution. I think credit goes to Jan on that one. After the introduction of the new transport rules it became feasible to reduce Italian transport capacity, and preserve the game balance we had before, since the UN would suffer the same difficulty getting troops around as well. Here are some details of what I changed regarding the Mediterranean theater
* Italy now has 2 transports, but receives a few extra militia in Africa.
* The British have a carrier fleet in the Indian ocean that can be moved to the Eastern Mediterranean to help the British maintain naval supremacy there.
* The Italians gain 1 fighter and 1 tactical air to their build que, making their maximum airforce size 2 fighters and 2 tactical air(from 1 a piece). At least 4 manpower points can now be diverted from sub production, if they so wish.
* Crete has been changed to an op-fire island. Now the Axis have a good reason to take it. Ignoring it's strategic value would now be inadvisable.
* French fleet placement in Mediterranean meant to prevent UN player metagaming. There was an agreement between the French and British governments concerning containment of possible Italian hostilities. It was agreed that the French fleet would be responsible for the Western Mediterranean, and the British the Eastern Mediterranean. The Allies had no way of predicting that France was going to fall so easily and therefore could not have assumed that more warships needed to be sent into the Mediterranean before Italy declared war.
For the original UV, I toyed with the idea of placing the Italian fleet into the Central Mediterranean to prevent this sort of Metagaming, but in the end didn't. For UV2.0, I again couldn't resist the idea, but playtests with some people convinced me to allow the path to Malta to remain open. So in the end, I removed the warships and just left a single transport behind, similar to Global Glory. However, our two methods differ in the end. While the Italian warships went back to port to allow strategic moves to Malta, the French fleet came out of port instead to provide the intended prevention of Metagaming.
Norway's new strategic importance
Under the new transport rules Norway's capture by the Germans will severely effect supply shipments to Russia. Effectively reducing transport chain bandwidth from 30 to 15 supply. That's a strong incentive to invade. My new map design gives further incentive for Germany to invade, since the Norwegian Sea is now 3 movement points from Western Germany. The Germans will not be able to project much of an airpower threat on the convey route, unless they base out of Norway. From Germany, only HB's can reach the Norwegian Sea, and they would suffer an air at max range penalty of -3. Therefore, Norway is now an important air base.
To reduce risk of unit damage when invading Norway there is no longer a rail combat penalty in this battle because I start Norway's rail in a fully damaged state. Additionally, the US factory multiple 2 threshold has been bumped up so that taking Norway does not, under normal circumstances, give the Allies more production. More on that under the U-boat campaign below.
The U-boat campaign
I changed the U-boat effects on WR from 25/50% to 20/40% to reduce the number of WR bumps the US receives. In my experience, 25/50 really discouraged me from using a strong sub strategy because it would bring the US to factory multiple 2 much sooner. In some extreme cases, a heavy sub strategy actually helps the UN. Under current conditions, Germany is better off putting production into a sure thing like more armaments for Barbarossa than see it used in the Atlantic where the payoff is questionable. By reducing the chances of WR bumps from U-boat action, Axis players may find a strong U-boat strategy worthwhile again.
The US WR scale is now adjusted to account for U-boat action and the possible invasion of Norway. First, lets look at it with just Norway factored in. According to the list below, the US hits 28.5WR in Fall41 which would give the US FM2 in Winter 1942. Right where I'd like it under normal circumstances. However, that mark is hit without any assumed WR bumps from U-boat action.
US WR increases per turn.
Su39 d2+d2 for Foochow =3
Fa39 d2+d2 for Liuchow =6
Wi40 d2+d2 for TLC =9
Sp40 d2+d2 for Denmark +3 France =15
Su40 d2+d2 for Yugo =18
Fa40 d2+d2 for Greece =21
Wi41 d2+d2 for Norway =24
Sp41 d2 =25.5
Su41 d2 =27
Fa41 d2 =28.5 FM2 reached for Winter 1942
Note, there were no WR bumps for U-boat action in the scale above. If it occurred just once, the US would have reached 28 in the Summer. That's to early. Two things are needed to allow the Germans some breathing room to use their U-boats. One, reduce the 25/50 WR bump chance to 20/40. And two, assume an average U-boat campaign and build that into the scale. Using a 20/40 value I've been getting about 3 WR bumps during playtest.
US WR increases per turn with assumed U-boat effects.
Su39 d2+d2 Foochow =3
Fa39 d2+d2 Liuchow =6
Wi40 d2+d2 TLC +sub(1) =10
Sp40 d2+d2 Denmark +3 France =16
Su40 d2+d2 Yugo =19
Fa40 d2+d2 Greece +sub(1) =23
Wi41 d2+d2 Norway =26
Sp41 d2 +sub(1) =28.5
Su41 d2 =30
Fa41 d2 =31.5 FM2 reached for Winter 1942
This scale assumes that FM2 will be reached at 31 under moderate amounts of U-boat action. The Axis can take the basic list of neutrals including Norway, and conduct an average U-boat campaign without pushing the US to FM2 before 1942. But since Norway will not always be taken, I set the US FM2 at 30 instead of 31 so it sits at an average between the two choices.
The US and Russian WR thresholds in more detail
The new US scale is FM2 at 30, DOW at 40, and FM3 at 52. For comparison, the values from the Total War scenario are 28,37,52.
The new Russian scale is FM2 at 13, DOW at 42, and FM3 at 44. For comparison the values from the Total War scenario are 10,34,43.
The Russian gains in WR per turn has been slightly tweaked. In 1941 Russia rolls d3 each turn instead of d4 (numbers are for 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945)
WR per turn 2,2,3,4,4,0,0 (NEW)
WR per turn 2,2,4,4,4,0,0 (OLD)
The US DOW was pushed to 40 to delay entry by about 1-2 extra turns. In return, the US now gets 1 strategic move per turn starting in 1942. This strategic move will not have any effect if Japan attacks the UN no later than the Winter42 turn. However, other Axis strategies that involve keeping the US out of the war as long as possible would give the US several free strategic moves.
If Russia wants to hit FM2 right after France falls, it will need to send about 3 non-militia units to Eastern Poland. I have two primary reasons for making this change. The first is to reduce the number of 'free' strategic moves that Russia receives. Assuming a Summer 1941 Barbarossa in Total War, Russia has 8 strategic moves to reduce Germany's penetration. That's to many. With 3 units being somewhat forced to Eastern Poland, that leaves a more reasonable number of 5 strategic moves to bolster the rear defenses. The second reason for the bump to 13 is to allow Germany to do a little more damage during the surprise attack, which more than likely will be upon Eastern Poland. My objective is to make the Eastern Front better balanced considering the fact that some German units may be garrisoning Norway, and if their not, then Russia gets more aid anyway. I have also moved 5 supplies to Kiev to make the repair of Eastern Poland's rail less trouble.
The new France
France now has a factory multiple of 1 at the start and maxes out at 2. Infantry, Artillery and Tanks have been placed into the French build que to speed up deployment, along with a larger stockpile of manpower to deploy these troops. The Allied player has the option to do what he wishes with France's 5 production points. Spending in whatever ratio of tech to units he wants, but ignoring troop build up could have its consequence.
The fortress in Eastern France is now permanent to create a more historic feel. This bonus can be justified because the Germans fought hard to hold their ground in France. In this game however, Germany does a typical total retreat to Western Germany after D-day to hunker down were they have a fortress bonus. By moving this fortress bonus westward one territory there is now incentive to hold ground in France.
Southern France is now rough terrain.
Improvements to suppression
All suppression rolls now use a fixed divisor of 2. This has many advantages over the stock system. Tech increases for Flak, Artillery, ship AA, etc. are now worthwhile since each improvement will result in an increase of 3-4 to your suppression results. Since all suppression attacks are divided by 2, the damage threshold of units has been increased. It used to be 500% of durability, now it's 1000%. What used to take 15 or 20 suppression to damage, now takes 30 or 40 depending on durability of unit.
To make everything work better under this new system, changes in world standards and unit stats were made. For instance, Heavy and Light fleets now have +1 better AA than before, and their AA world standard was increased a point. In another case, China's Flak was increased to 6AA(from 5) to compensate. Let me elaborate. In China's case, part of the balance between Japan's efforts to bomb its factories has been the ratio of factory hits to bomber losses due to suppression rolls of 1. Now that the dreaded roll of 1 is no longer possible, Japan's risk of losing a bomber due to suppression is greatly reduced. To compensate, flak needs to be more effective in preventing hits to rebalance this equation. It works like this in other cases too. Kamikaze attack values have been increased by 1 since ship AA will cause more suppression now. The naval bombardment penalty for no friendly land units in defending area has been removed, and to compensate ship land attack has been reduced. Overall, the end result is a more pleasing system.
Political Event Changes
* The Italian event now gets a 25% boost if Yugoslavia is captured before event triggers. In addition, if Italy does not immediately join the Axis when France falls, I have given it a minor compensation. 2 Militia are added to Tobrok as compensation, because a late Italian entry causes manpower loses and deployment delays into North Africa. This helps to balance the Italian entry between the insta-join and the typical 1 turn delay.
* The Coup in Yugoslavia event now has a 75% chance to trigger each turn after 1940. Up from 50% starting in 1939.
* The Coup in Sweden and Finland events now has a 5% chance to trigger in the window of opportunity after Barbarossa and before the US enters the war. Up from 2%. Another small incentive for Germany to invade Norway.
* The Netherlands join the Western Alliance event has been modified to not trigger until 1941. This creates zero chance that they would invite conquest before France falls.
New additions:
* The Madagascar event can trigger after Japan attacks the UN. It will create 2 Militia and 5 supply there. This event was created to reflect Vichy controlled Madagascar's willingness to resupply the Japanese navy. UN negotiations with Madagascar failed to achieve a satisfactory agreement which forced the UN to respond by invading Madagascar to prevent the Japanese navy from using their ports. This was know as Operation Ironclad, or the Battle of Madagascar.
* The Azores event is a carry over idea from Franco's Alliance, but uses the event system to allow the UN access to the Islands. The Portugal joins WA event is rendered unnecessary and therefore has been removed. Code for event done by WanderingHead.
* The Spanish response to the Allies landing in Portugal is also a carry over idea from Franco's Alliance. But instead of Spain just unfreezing which is all I could do in WAW, the event system in AWD allows more flexibility. The event causes a spontaneous build up of 4 Militia, and a shift to the Axis to properly simulate Franco's likely response. Code for event done by WanderingHead.
Other changes of note
Germany's NMRC is 3. It lasts until war with Russia or FM3, whichever comes first. Gift from Russia lasts until end of 1942(was 41).
Using new A-bomb win conditions. When Japan's at 5VP's or less, and at war with Russia, surrender will trigger when A-bomb is dropped on Honshu or Kyushu that turn. The readme from patch 1.020 describes this in greater detail. The only difference is that I think 5VP's is a better number than 6.
Maximum research limits at WS+2 and above have been loosened up a little.
Example: tech level new limit (old limit)
WS+1: 6 (6)
WS+2: 4 (3)
WS+3: 5 (4)
Added a -3 die roll modifier for any air attack performed at maximum range, unless the air is 1-step away from its base, to support the new Battle of Britain campaign. Flying over strait does not qualify as 1-step away, so range 1 fighters will still suffer the -3 penalty when crossing the English Channel.
French fighter removed so its not used as a Kamakazi.
Important ports that have been moved to better distribute the port bonus. Southern Italy, Scotland, Malaya, Papua, Northern Territory Australia, and South Africa. Important ports that were added to help spread the port bonus around. Formosa, Ryukyu, Papua, and Panama.
Germany's build que has been rearranged because of my changes to France. More tanks will now be completed in Western Germany than before to threaten a stronger tank blitz into Western France. This helps to keep France honest.
Making a return from Franco's Alliance, I once again place a factory in Smolensk. I considered doing so for the original UV. Can't recall why I didn't the first time around.
The Allies gain several partially constructed warships to their que to encourage their construction. I would rather do it this way than reduce basic cost so that time out of action due to damage stays the same.
In my reading that lead me to include the new Madagascar political event, I also learned a bit more about the resistance the Italian forces put up in Italian East Africa . I concluded that 1 Militia did not do that resistance justice so I increased it to 3. Brian, for Global Glory, concluded the same thing.
Conclusion
UV2.0 eliminates many oddities that have been in place since early development. Such as these examples.
locked French production until 1940.
Risk style marches across Africa's and Australia's interior.
Japan's heavy bomber costing 3 when everyone else's was 4.
Germany's transport amphibious rating starting higher than the Allies. During development it was felt that Germany needed an amphibious rating of 4 to pull off Sealion under the standard air rules. But now that fighters can participate in the Battle of Britain much earlier, the Germans may find Sealion easier under these conditions so I have balance that by dropping their transport rating to 3. They don't need this artificially high valve anymore.
Oddities I didn't address for various reasons.
Germany's cheaper carrier air. I believe that's best left alone because Germany, under normal circumstances, will not build a carrier and therefore this unit should not be considered true CAG but rather modified tac-air that have been outfitted with torpedoes for superior anti-ship performance and pilots specifically trained for the task. Call them anti-ship tacair if you will. This doctrine seems reasonable since Germany knows the UN has to come to them and therefore does not need to project airpower deep into the ocean via carriers, So true carrier air is therefore unnecessary for them. Same logic has been applied to Russia and a few others.
Japan's early jump to range 3 fighters. I will leave it this way for now since it creates no serious issues. Lowering it to 2 with no tech points for instance would require a lot of give and take to find the right balance.
Installation
Are you using patch 1.020 or later? If not, get the update first before you continue. Go to the MEMBERS link, log-in, then look under registered downloads to find the beta patch.
Since UV2.0 uses a new map it will need to have its own separate folder. You have two choices in making your second copy of AWD. The easiest is to copy the folder and rename it to whatever you like. If for some reason that doesn't work, try a standard CD install, but make sure you rename the destination folder or you will just be overwriting the first copy. Now that you have a fresh copy to install to, the next step is to unzip the download and copy and paste the dat folder over the old one. If you did it right Windows should be asking you if you wish to overwrite. You can confirm a good install by taking a close look at my map changes once you have the game up and running.
Follow these steps and you can't go wrong.
1. Make a new copy of game as described above.
2. Patch that copy.
3. Unzip the UV mod.
4. Paste the UV mods dat folder over the old one.
There is a minor problem with the combat window when attacking Eastern France. It pops up right over the region. To access your units below, just use the zoom to displace the combat window.
Special thanks
Many of my improvements would not have been possible without Brian Banister's(WanderingHead) programming efforts. Thanks also goes out to Anthony(a511) and Tim Carter for playtesting UV2.0 beta, Charles Lamb for providing new unit icons, tedhealy for his old WAW nazi flag mod, and Scott Craven(Greenmachine) for rescuing this flag mod from oblivion.
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< Message edited by Lebatron -- 9/20/2009 1:26:09 AM >
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Jesse LeBreton, AKA Lebatron
Development team- GG's WAW A World Divided
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