WIP Update: Expanded Med Campaign for GWX

[sabretwo]

I have been working on this one for a little over year now. About three months back, I lost a bunch of work and stopped (lost steam on it when I realized how much work got lost).

However, with SH5 now irrelevant to my future, I decided to get back to work in earnest. This week I put in about 20 hours rescripting some of the lost stuff and work-planning the rest.

Here's the status for anyone who is interested:

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ADDED PORTS
* Athens/Piraeus
* Thessaloniki
* Iraklion
* Beirut
* Haifa
* Bone
* Famagusta
* Benghazi
* Derna
* Barda

SHIPPING & FISHING
* Added much more fishing and coastal activity...especially in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean
* Added new and more random shipping between neutral and allied ports / Dates of shipping activity coincides with flow of activity as suggested by historical sources (The sea is much more alive with commercial activity now!)

SUBMARINE ACTIVITY
* Increased Axis sub activity off North Africa during 1942
* Increased Allied sub activity around Crete, Aegean, and Southern Italy 1942-1943

AIR ACTIVITY
* Added RAF Haifa Squadron
* Added Crete Luftwaffe
* Added Malta Spitfire Squadrons
* Incresaed scripted and random air activity over Malta in Spring of 1942 to simulate the major air offensive by Axis forces on Malta
* Added temporary squadrons in several locations during various date periods to simulate increased air activity during major operations

ADDED &/OR RESCRIPTED HISTORICAL BATTLES AND EVENTS

* 17-21 October 1941 - Arrival of Force K at Malta
* 2-8 November 1941 - Famagusta-Haifa Troop Lift Operations
* 8-9 November 1941 - Battle of the Duisburg Convoy
* 7-13 November 1941 - Force H Delivery of Hurricanes to Malta (Ark Royal & Argus)
* Mid-November 1941 - Major TF exercises in East Med
* 18 November 1941 - Diversionary convoy from Alexandria in support of Operation Crusader
* 20-24 November 1941 - Force K and Alexandria Fleet Operations in East and Central Med
* 30 Nov-2 December 1941 - Force K Patrol and East Med Convoy Intercepts
* 30 Nov-14 December 1941 - AT1, AT2, and AT3 Convoys from Alexandria to Tobruk
* 9 December 1941 - HMS Naiad TF bombardment of Derna harbor
* 13 December 1941 - Engagement off Cape Bon, Tunisia
* 17 December 1941 - First Battle of Sirte
* 18-20 December 1941 - Force K Attempted Interception of Italian Convoy
* 19 December 1941 - Italian Miale Raid on Alexandria
* 22-24 December 1941 - Transfer of HM Cruiser Dido and DDs from Gibralter to Malta
* 26-29 December 1941 - Escort of Merchant Ships by HM Cruiser Dido and DDs from Malta to Alexandria

1942

* 5-7 January 1942 - Malta-Alexandria Convoy Movements escorted by Force K and Force B


GAMEPLAY EDITS

* Increased renown for warships and strategically important merchant ships (Breconshire, etc.)
Although the war in the Atlantic was strategically about merchant tonnage, a lot of emphasis in the Med was on force-on-force operations and crippling eachother's naval forces. Many of the greatest uboat successes in the Med were against warships and those that did sink warships seem to have been held in highest esteem. I adjusted the renown for this accordingly to encourage players to take a chance on that random task force rather than dive and hold their breath.


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I was already deep into 1943 when I lost my files.

If anyone is interested in helping, there's a few things that would assist a lot:

1. Radio Log for Med Operations. Radio messages based around Med operations, referencing historical activity but also giving a heads up on various dates to major task force movements (giving the player a chance to intercept if nearby).

2. Leander Class Cruiser. I have had a lot of luck lately in finding new ships to fill the holes in GWX for the Med Fleet and the Italian Order of Battle, but there are still a few outstanding that just don't have good alternatives.

Big thanks to BBW for permission to work from his original GWX files. Man, the more I have worked on this, the more I appreciate what he did in the original GWX campaign. In the panethon of Modders, BBW should be declared the 'God of Campaign Scripting'.

[Hitman]

That is looking EXCELLENT mate

But please if possible, make the files in a manner that the traffic in the rest of the world dissapears, so we can benefit from faster load times

[sabretwo]

Originally Posted by Hitman

That is looking EXCELLENT mate

But please if possible, make the files in a manner that the traffic in the rest of the world dissapears, so we can benefit from faster load times

Thanks. I eliminated all scripted and random traffic, and land objects outside the Med and Black Sea. This reduced the files quite a bit and should make a major improvement on load times.

PS: The above list of completed scripted events is a little short. I just realized that some of my mid 1942 and 1943 stuff is still there (Second Battle of Sirte, etc.).

I think I'll recover time pretty quick. As I am rescripting lost material, it seems to be going faster. Plus, as I re-research some events, I am getting more info and making the events even more historically accurate. The crash may have pu me behind a bit, but I think the end product will be better for it.

[sergei]

This looks very interesting.
I'll have to take a little trip to the Med when this is finished.
Looking forward to it

[danurve]

There may be some information in Radio Log Expanded v.2 you can use about activity in the Med. Feel free to use any line out of the log that would be helpfull.

[Sag75]

Thanks! I've already started a campaign in Mediterranean Sea, I'm in May '42

Great! you added '41 Alexandria Raid! If you need help about Mediterranean operations, also related to Regia Marina, just contact me by PM!

[Sailor Steve]

Looking good!

[sabretwo]

Originally Posted by Sag75

Thanks! I've already started a campaign in Mediterranean Sea, I'm in May '42

Great! you added '41 Alexandria Raid! If you need help about Mediterranean operations, also related to Regia Marina, just contact me by PM!

Thanks! If you have any really good sources for info on Axis convoys to North Africa in 1942 and 43, I'd welcome the reference. I have very good research references now for British movements (Convoys, task forces, troop movements, etc.) but my research has been limited with regard to RM supply activity. With a few exceptions, I'm pretty much relying only on BBW's scripted Axis convoys.

I'm planning on adding a few more Miale raids before its over. (The Miale turned out very cool, but the only downside is its very hard to see the actual subs when they are moving in the water. I tested the December raid a couple of times and only once could find the Miale when they were deployed by free cam.)

[sabretwo]

Originally Posted by danurve

There may be some information in Radio Log Expanded v.2 you can use about activity in the Med. Feel free to use any line out of the log that would be helpfull.

Thanks. I'll take a look at it. What I'd like to do is add messages coinciding with Uboat operations as they happened in the med, but also give intel updates from RM and FdU Mediterranean (BdU in the Med) indicating when task forces have departed major ports and spot reports of task force activity that actually coincide with scripted movements so that the player has a chance to catch the action if he's nearby. (There's nothing cooler than rising to periscope depth and viewing two task forces dueling out from afar while trying to anticipate the movement of the enemy ships to plot a solution!)

After its all finished, I'd also like to prep a little Orders Applet in Macromedia Director that issues patrol orders to Grids based on upcoming scripted battles and historical mission priorities of the Axis in the Med. If players follow the orders issued in the module (based on the dates they depart port), they have a reasonable chance of being nearby when something big happens, like a battle or major event (Convoy, invasion landing, etc.).

Best thing would be to just finish the basic scripting first, release it all as a version 1.0. And then I can do some of the extra enhancements like the radio log and the Orders Application.

What I'm hoping for most right now is that someone can help with the missing ships. My wish list is a Leander Class CL, Abdiel-Class Minelayer, HMS Eagle, and a Dutch Gerard Callenburgh Class DD (Isaac Sweers).

I am also hoping that someone has an idea for how to make an invisible ship target that can be placed on land to aid in simulating naval artillery support during the invasion of Sicily and Italy.

[Hitman]

Thanks! If you have any really good sources for info on Axis convoys to North Africa in 1942 and 43, I'd welcome the reference. I have very good research references now for British movements (Convoys, task forces, troop movements, etc.) but my research has been limited with regard to RM supply activity. With a few exceptions, I'm pretty much relying only on BBW's scripted Axis convoys.

I have both Clive Blair's and Lawrence Paterson's books, but in general both deal in detail with uboat patrols and not with allied convoy system. There is good particular information about the Torch convoys, though, but not much about the default convoy system aside from special ops.