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Ormand -> Updated Graphics (6/22/2014 8:27:48 PM)
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A year or so ago, I posted a set of graphics replacements for the map, and was myself a bit unhappy with some, I kept working on them, and have gotten to a point where they are more than reasonable. So, I thought I'd upload them again, and repost. I have done two things: 1) rework all the graphics and 2) tweak units. In addition to the standard ATG units, I reworked them to make them more like the sft-types in "Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue".
[edited 11/9/14]:
Installation:
Go to the AT Community website and navigate to graphics mods http://www.advancedtactics.org/scenariobank.php?taglink=11 and download all six parts: 4Seasons-1/5.atzip, 4Seasons-2/5.atzip, 4Seasons-3/5.atzip, 4Seasons-4/5.atzip, 4Seasons-5/5.atzip, and 4Seasons-at2-files.atzip. You will need to install all six parts separately. It is in six parts due to the 10MB file limit, and the fact that the at2 files will be updated from time to time to fix "bugs" in the scenario data rather than the graphics. (Note that an update to graphics has happened - see Post 72 on 10/21/14 - but the installation files are current, you only need to use the patch if you did an install with files downloaded prior to 10/21/14. Also, note that Webizen has collected all the graphics into a single 4Seasons atzip file that gives the standard graphics in one single file (40 MB). He also graciously has collected the BIG graphics into a single atzip file as well. I highly recommend installing the BIG graphics as well, as they are of a much higher quality.
Graphics Files:
I uploaded the files onto the scenario bank, and are in six parts. Sorry, but the graphics are about 43 MB. The first five zip files (4Seasons-1/5.zip) contain all the graphics files for standard size. ATG should then generate all the BIG and SMALL files (It would be nice to give you the BIG files since upscaling loses some resolution, but they are even larger).
Scenario files:
The file 4Seasons-at2-files.zip has scenario files based on "A New Dawn" (version 1, I haven't gotten around to version 2 yet).
4Seasons-NewDawn-Basic.at2 --- Basic "A New Dawn" with only map graphics replaced
4Seasons-NewDawn-AddUnits.at2 --- Basic "A New Dawn" with a few new units Airborne II,III,IV and Mountain Troops
4Seasons-NewDawn-Regiments.at2 --- "A New Dawn" with rework of units to construct regimental sized units
4Seasons-NewDawn-Divisions.at2 --- "A New Dawn" with rework of units to construct division sized unit
Path:
The zip files contain the full path, starting with Matrix Games/Advanced Tactics Gold/graphics/4Seasons/...
Several new terrain types were introduced:
Light Forests (deciduous and pine)*
Forested Mountains (both low and high, deciduous, pine, and jungle)
Rough Arid Terrain (models lava beds)*
Sand Dunes*
Mango Swamp*
Bocage
Beaches* (only in regiments and divisions at2 file)
*Indicates terrain used in random maps
Hex-side terrains:
Major River
Transportation:
Paved Road
Dirt Road
Seasons: There are four seasons (hence the name): winter, spring, summer, and autumn. In addition, rivers will freeze during winter turns.
Urban: Capitol, urban, and suburban hexes use the interior drawing style, much like the alt graphics do. One feature of this that causes a problem is that production centers have a base green, yellow, red hex to indicate damage. Unfortunately, this covers interior graphics, so in the standard game these cover the urban graphics. I addressed this by changing these graphics to basically, be an outline of the hex in that color. These are in the the directory Green-red-yellow-hexes/systemgraphics. Unfortunately, these hexes cannot be chosen for the scenario, so you have to replace them in your systemgraphics directories if you don't want a full green hex. I kept copies of the default graphics in these directories. It doesn't cause much trouble to replace them as they would just outline the hex instead of providing a green underlay. And they aren't overwritten in patches (so far).
Specific to Divisions and Regiments file:
For these, a beach terrain was introduced to help model marine units (see below). Beach hexes are placed by an event on random maps. Also, two road networks were used in the rulevars. The tech tree was modified so that paratroopers are not known at the start of the game.
Nato Counters:
These are integrated into the graphic pack, so it is self contained.
Units:
The 4Seasons-NewDawn-AddUnits.at2 scenario is basically "A New Dawn" with just the addition of airborne I, II, III, IV, and Mountain Infantry I, II, III, IV. Techs were added for the new units.
Regiments and Division at2 files are rather different. The sft-types have been reworked based on units in the DC series. In the regiments file, the sft-types may be thought of as platoon sized, while in the Divisions file, they are companies. Stack points, weights, and production costs were altered accordingly.
New units:
Mountain Infantry I, II, III, IV (attack and defense bonus of 1.5 in mountainous terrain)
Airborne II, III, IV
Marine I, II, III, IV
Light Flak I, II, III, IV
Heavy Flak I, II, III, IV
Mobile Flak I, II, III
Fighter V
Self-propelled Artillery I, II, III, IV
Light Cruiser I, II, III, IV (improved AA at sea)
Carrier Dive Bomber I, II, III, IV
Changes to existing units:
Cruiser (cheap capitol ship without enhanced AA of ATG)
Ranger: Increased production cost to 200
Machinegun: can perform air drops
Mortar: can perform air drops
Bazooka: can now perform air drops
Tanks provide some protection to infantry (Light: 20%, Medium: 25%, Heavy: 30%, Super Heavy: 35% chance to absorb one hit from an infantry unit).
Elite units:
Due to superior training and esprit de corps, Airborne, Mountain Infantry, Ranger, and Marine units receive a bonus of +20 xp and +30 morale.
Amphibious assaults:
In the regiments and division at2 files amphibious assaults can only be conducted against beach, capitol, urban, suburban hexes. Beach hexes are placed on a random map using an event. In order to model training of marine units, they have an attack bonus of 1.75 when attacking beach hexes. (Note that units defending against amphibious assaults receive a 2.0 defensive bonus which is set as a rule var, so there is no other way to do this.)
Air drops:
To improve the capabilities of paratroopers and still treat them as an infantry platoon, the support elements machinegun, mortar, and bazooka can now conduct air drops.
New unit categories:
Anti-tank:
Separated these from Artillery to allow infantry to make them their favorite target. The idea is to help the concept combined arms, so that stacking infantry with tanks makes sense. Not sure this works as well as intended.
Divebomber and level bomber:
The idea here is reflect how light and heavy flak work. Light flak being better for low-altitude targets (fighters and dive bombers), while heavy flak is for high-altitude targets, such as level bombers.
Transportation:
Trucks and halftracks were changed to be used for specific units. E.g., a halftrack has carry capacity of 1, and hence carries one infantry, or smaller gun. A truck has carry capacity 2, and can carry two infantry, two smaller guns, or one artillery piece. Horses have a carry capacity of 1 and zero stack points. Their production costs were modified to reflect this. Halftracks have 1 stack point; have a 50% chance to absorb a hit for infantry, and may protect up to 2 infantry units. Tanks (accept assault guns) no longer transport infantry, but now provide some protection
Changes in armor units basically mean that you'll need approximately 5 times as many as before. Stacking points and costs reflect this.
Stack points:
Stack point limit before penalty: 105 from single hex, 210 in total. The base stack point is:
2 for infantry,
3 light and medium tanks, tank destroyers, self-propelled artillery
4 for heavy tanks,
5 for super heavy tanks,
2 for inf. guns, AT guns, light flak
1 for trucks, halftracks, and horses
10 for artillery
5 for fighters and dive bombers
8 for level bombers
10 for strategic bombers
I chose this approach in order to avoid having 50 tank units in a single unit. At the same time, it made no sense for tanks to have double the stack points of infantry. So, I settled on a 2/3 approach.
Overall, an infantry regiment similar to what is in DCCB would look like:
24 Rifle/Sub-machinegun
7 Machinegun
5 Mortar
3 infantry guns
3 AT guns
6 horse
99 Stack points
A German panzer regiment:
27 Medium Tanks
5 Rifle
2 Light Flak
5 halftrack
2 Armored Car
1 Truck
105 Stack points
For 4Seaons-NewDawn-Divisions.at2, it became clear that it wasn't possible to have so many sft-types, since you can only have 8 in a unit. So, sub-machinegun, machinegun, mortar, and bazooka were removed, and heavy weapons was added instead. The stack limits are 100 for a hex and 200 total.
An Infantry division would look like:
27 Rifle
9 Heavy Weapons
3 infantry guns
3 AT guns
6 horses
A German panzer division might look like:
9 Medium Tanks
15 Rifle
5 Heavy weapons
10 Halftrack
2 Light Flak
2 inf guns
1 self-propelled artillery
7 Truck
Also, since I had to add some sft pictures, I modified some of the previous ones. These IO mostly got from WWII black & white photos that I colorized and cartoonized.
I suspect that I still have some bugs in the new units files, so bear with me and report if you wish to. Also, I haven't gone through all the Tech explanations, so the changes per tech are not all accurate. Or if you want other units let me know.
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