Two questions

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Sturmpionier -> Two questions (1/15/2003 6:43:09 AM)
I was hoping someone could give me a hand with a couple of questions. One is simple, the other a bit more complex. 1) I checked the manual, but I can't figure out how to add fog/smoke to a map/scenario I am making. I have seen it on a few maps but I can't duplicate this trick. 2) How do you change a unit's id #? (Ex. B0 to AV0) I want to simulate a re-org of my core force over the course of the war due to attrition and changing TO&E. (Taking my support Pzs out of their current platoons and moving them to new ones.) I tried the "reassign" button in the editor and it lets me add them to existing platoons but I can't make new ones. I want to make a new '0' leader and then add units to it. I also tried using the Chlanda editor by changing the "Unit" attribute and then going to the 'edit unit data' screen and hitting the 'retain' button. It appears on the editor as a new unit # (even if I reload it) but when I open in the scen editor in the game the unit still has its designation. Argh! The long and short of it is this: I want to change my B1 unit to AV0. Does anyone know how? Is this even possible? How do I assign these silly platoons to a new company commander? Have all those nights attacking, defending, and counter-attacking made me edit-happy? Ahem, anyway, thanks in advance for any kind of help people can offer.

Redleg -> (1/15/2003 11:58:13 AM)
To add smoke. Purchase some artillery units that have either heavy or light smoke. Play turn 1 after having pretargeted where the smoke is to impact. Don't move any units. Just let the smoke fly. Do not end the turn unless you have human vs human selected or the AI is liable to do something you do not want it to. Save. Rename the save file back to a scen file. Delete the unwanted smoke artillery. This can also be done in SPWAW Edit utility and Ectizen's utility.

Sturmpionier -> one down... (1/15/2003 10:07:04 PM)
Thanks Redleg, works perfect. The important one got answered. Only the crazy one remains. Any takers?

Voriax -> Re: one down... (1/15/2003 10:52:36 PM)
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sturmpionier [B]Thanks Redleg, works perfect. The important one got answered. Only the crazy one remains. Any takers? [/B][/QUOTE] Have you looked through Wild Bill's scenario making tutorials? I think they reside in the hall of fame forum. Voriax

Bing -> (1/15/2003 10:55:06 PM)
You could add another HQ unit, then assign units to it. Part of the problem is that the Editor is set up to fill in open gaps in the unit designation lineup. If a gap exists, via deleting the formation entirely, whatever you buy next is going to wind up there. You could do a temporary "plug" of the open slot via buying, say, a sniper then later going back and deleting the plug or plugs, after you had created a series of new units. That's about all I can think of. We're limited in what we can do in the Editor. When you open the "D" screen, the unit editor module, notice that you can change everything except the alpha-numeric designation. The game engire stores and uses the designators, changing them would create chaos. As it stands, we have a great deal of flexibility in creating and editing units, fiddling with the assigned unit designation isn't one of them. Bing

Sturmpionier -> too much to ask for... (1/16/2003 3:15:39 AM)
Bing, Thanks for the reply. That is about what I figured, that the unit # was buried in the engine a little too deeply. I have managed some wacky stuff (all air core force) but I guess this one is going to have to remain out of reach. I will check WB's threads, but I don't remember seeing this in there when I read them initially. Either way, changing the unit# is really only the means to an end. My goal is to re-org my core force. Your suggestion on the buying of units sounds like a winner just as I read through it. It has given me a new idea. It will be the long way, but I will try grafting old units onto new ones and then deleting the new ones. I will post my successes or failures, in case anyone else cares about this crazy setup.

Sturmpionier -> limited success (1/16/2003 5:23:20 AM)
Well I took in Bing's suggestion and a made a fair working process for changing platoon assignments in mid-campaign. First I added a scenario to the campaign where there would be an aux unit of the same form I wanted to create within my core force. In this case I added an inf co. since I wanted to create a co. level unit with scraped up units from other parts of my core. I then saved the battle and made a scen file and opened it in the editor. I used the 'reassign' button to add some panzers to the inf platoons. I also picked out the one I wanted to be my new comp. commander and added him to the Co. commander's section. I saved it, turned it back into my original save file and began replaying it. After the battle, it went to the next battle and sure enough, the aux units were gone, but the units I reassigned maintained their new numbers. They didn't automatically drop to 0, 1, 2, etc. but they did automatically pick a new platoon leader. The co. commander attempt was a failure. He did act like a co. commander but he wouldn't rally anyone near him in my test. And, since that is the whole point of having company structure in the game I would call that a failure. However, for creating new independent platoons it worked just fine. The only caveat is that the units will still deploy in the same order as their original id# but they appear in your HQ list with their new id#. I doubt anyone will care aside from me, but that is what I found and use it if you are into this kind of thing. I don't know if this will work in the long campaign generated by the computer, but I imagine a similar process would work.

Bing -> (1/17/2003 12:16:09 AM)
Editing can get dicey in WAW. But rally via company commander isn't the only reason for company structure. Another reason is the Move All feature. I know, it works strangely or not at all depending upon which direction you are going, what the terrain is like and what the game engine feels like on a given day. But in monster battles, it can be a help if for no other reason than to keep track of the platoons: who belongs to what. I am not sure if you created a new company structure via the Formation feature in the OOB Editor; if you haven't tried that it might be worth a trail run. Make the new, additional HQ unique and assign it in the first slot, then line up your platoons in the remaining slots and see what happens. I've never done this, but it does sound like it might work. Others might know better, if they have tried and it didn't work. Comments? Bing BTW: I believe it is normal for Aux units to not be carried over from one batgtle to the next in a campaign. You might get new Aux units, but AFAIK you won't get the same ones. Now ... if you edit an Aux unit, you might have it show up permanently in your Core force, without having to spend the purchase points, a way to cheat the numbers game.

Warhorse -> (1/17/2003 12:17:11 AM)
Sick pup, ...my kinda guy!!!:D :D You sound like me, I'm always tinkering with my core force during a campaign, great fun, isn't it?! Thanks for posting your results, good info.

Sturmpionier -> been playing SP for too long... (1/18/2003 1:36:38 AM)
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Warhorse [B]Sick pup, ...my kinda guy!!!:D :D You sound like me, I'm always tinkering with my core force during a campaign, great fun, isn't it?! Thanks for posting your results, good info. [/B][/QUOTE] therefore I always want to push the envelope. This is especially true for longer campaigns. The main problem I have after tinkering with some of my own campaigns and the long camp. is that it relatively poorly deals with changes over time. True, SP lets you upgrade equip; get replacements; promote leaders; but some integral changes are impossible w/o editing outside the game. Such as, I remember playing several long campaigns and even some longer user-made campaigns and my A0 (who I take to represent [U]me[/U] ) never gets promoted. Maybe it's because he is always a Colonel. Whatever. After kicking butt in battle after battle you would think I would be made a General and given my own division. This is beyond the game though. One of my big beefs is that SP doesn't reflect the change of TO&E over time. It does fairly well for new purchased formations, but your core force is locked into place by the alpha numeric unit code. The best example is that when you buy early war German tank platoons they come in groups of five. Fine, but by war's end, platoons were almost invariably four tanks (if not less.) IIRC, Wittmann had six tanks in his COMPANY at Villers Bocage. Anyway, I wanted to simulate some of the support tanks I had "added" to my inf. platoons and those fifth tanks being scraped together into new formations. The Germans were especially famous for making new formations instead of topping off the old ones. Like I said, if you are into this kind of thing, you have a semi-working model. In other testing news: the C&C experiment with the new comp. commander failed. Not only did that worthless Cpt. Middelbach not rally anyone around him, but no orders either. Sigh. It looks like a company, but it only sort of acts like one. If you just want new platoons, this works great.

Bing -> (1/18/2003 3:59:42 AM)
You could always send the klutz to the Eastern Front. Course, if he is already AT the EF you would have to find another option. How about Peoria? I spent a week in Peoria one night. Bing

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