Plattenseeoffensive

[nevux]

Howdy,

Contrary to the majority -if not all- maps I've previously made, this mission will have a firm historial foundation, based on the scarcily available information on this particular battle that I've managed to find.

Since the operations proceedings in the area south of Lake Balaton fell way short of the ambitious goals, the events on this part of the battlefield will be largely fictional by neccessity.

The scenario includes some of the events encoutered by the operations main thrust force -consisting of elements of the 6th army and 6th panzer army under the command of Josef Dietrich, in the area between lake Balaton and lake Valence.



I'm currently working on the basic layout of the map, i.e. the geography and topography of the battlefield. As i couldnt possible include all towns and settlements in the area I'll have to make a selection of the most important ones.
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[nevux]

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[Hentsch]

nice idea. keep up the good work.

[nevux]

Meh.. I kind of have the feeling that the scope of the operation is too large to be covered by a single map. Even on a huge 512x512 map, covering the entire operation, with all fronts included requires the battlefield to be scaled down beyond acceptable levels.
I’ve now reached a point where I am in doubt whether to continue with the concept as presented in the opening post, or to reshape the map with a focus on either one of the elements of the battle.
Which of the following do you guys prefer:
Continue with the total operation or focus on one part (most probably this will be the efforts of the 6th panzer armee/6th armee in the area between lake Balaton/Lake valence and the canals in the depression south of the lakes with the sio canal and bridgeheads across the canal towns (ozora, simontornya, seregyles) being the primary objective of the mission.

[Madmax223]

Make it a single player custom campaign:)

[nevux]

Ok.. I've decided to go with the second option; totally revising the map with a focus on the efforts of the 6th SS panzer armee and 6th army in the area between the Sarviz canal, Sio canal and Lakes.

The setting for the battle will be dominated by the horrible condition of the terrain due to spring induced snow melting, giving rise to extremely muddy conditions that impair offroad manoeuvering of armoured vehicles. To mimic these conditions in the game, movement of tanks will be restricted to certain roads.

The missions objectives will focus on the establishment of several bridgeheads across the canals and intermediary objectives required to achieve this (capture important roads for armoured support, cap towns etc...)

The fighting to the east of the Sarviz canal focuses on the destabilization of the rear of the 3rd Ukranian front between the canal and the Dunabe and ultimately the capture of Dunavoldfar




Ill probably exceed the object limit at least 10 fold.. I hope this doesnt cause any stability/integrity issues? im already at 40k of 50k with under 20% of the map completed

[nevux]

I have several questions concerning trains.

Is it possible to deliver armoured vehicles by train? I'm almost certain it’s not possible but perhaps I've overlooked something. Even the train cart of the 'ramp' type -which appears be a wagon designed to transport vehicles- doesn't accept vehicles.

Secondly, I'd like to know if it's possible to remove a train from the map after delivery of reinforcements. This is required to allow multiple waves of reinforcements to arrive by train without clogging the rail.

The editor is sometimes kind of confusion in terms of the description of command lines. Can the above be achieved by commanding ‘unit a to be destroy via flag b’?
The term ‘destroy’ seems kind of awkward in the context of the desired effect but I can’t think of any other purpose of such a command line.

[Madmax223]

It is not directy possible to deliver amoured cars by train, but you can set a zone at the sation and 1 or 2 gates and send armoured cars through this gate when the train is in the zone. So the cars arent delivered directly by train, but it looks like it.

[Matttheoz]

Is it possible to deliver armoured vehicles by train?

hey mate. as already said, nah, not directly. but you can set the train to stop in a zone then set a flag near the flatcars of the train to make it look like they're being unloaded

Secondly, I'd like to know if it's possible to remove a train from the map after delivery of reinforcements.

nah. doesn't work either. destroy thru flag is the right command, but it doesn't work with trains. best you can do is send them off somewhere toward the edge of the map away from the action and let them sit there a while to simulate them leaving. hth

[nevux]

Right, thanks for the help guyzz.

Is it possible to 'teleport' units across the map? I.e. moving a group or force from one ocation to another instantly, without them traveling across the map? There is this one command that reads 'put units from force to location' which I am not quite sure how to interpret. To me it seems to suggest that this will immediately transfer all units in the specified force to the desired location. As I already pointed out, the phrasing of the commands sometimes confuses me.

This would be a wonderfully effective trick to simulate vehicle unloading.. You let them enter the field as enemy forces in a remote part of the map so they cant be seen and then immediately zap them to the trainstation where their control is transferred to the player.

[Madmax223]

Yep, this function is available:)

[nevux]

Ah yes.. i got it to work. Tanks arrive as enemy units on remote location that is of no relevance to the game.. when the train arrives at the site of the trainstation a trigger will cause the tanks to be teleported to the trainstation and be transferred to the player.. I think this is more realistic then tanks driving alongside the train towards the station.

[nevux]

btw.. perhaps u could simulate the departure of trains by setting their HP to 1 after all units have disembarked (entered location adjacent to rail).. and have them destroyed to clear the way for another train.

edit

Unfortunately, transferring units from force to location appears to first duplicate the units in that force, before transference, resulting in the original batch of units to remain in the entry location. This way you end up with double the number of tanks you intended to be delivered by train and having them scatter across two locations. Comanding the remaining units in the transport cargo entry location to be destroyed after 'teleportation' finalizes the script to deliver the desired effect..

About the departure of trains after delivery of tanks.. Maybe this trick'll provide a more satisfying effect then moving in train after train until the rail is fully jammed or having them blown up amongst your troops..

you could 'conceal' a segment of rail road of a certain length at the edge of the map by blocking the players view of that part of the map on either side of the rail. This way, trains that do not belong to the player are not visible to player units, even when standing close to the rail. Just transfer the train to enemy once it reached the concealed area and order it to be destroyed so that the rail will be empty again as soon as the wrecks have cleared.

[nevux]

Mapping progress: 25-or-so%



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[GFM Sterna]

Looks very muddy right now. Nice work !
Funny thing is i was think about Hungary/Balaton Map before i`ve start with Narva...

How you plan to simulate the muddy terrain not passably for Tanks ?
Im looking for some hints for my Narva Map, there is/was a large Swamp area which was also not passably for heavy Tanks...