Omnius
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NCP Setup & Scenario Issues

Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:04 pm

I'm setting up this NCP Setup and Scenario Issues thread to allow for posting specific or even general scenario issues that should be fixed. Sometimes it's tough to know where to post some issues as to whether they are database or event driven.

To me it would be great if the scenario replacements could be fixed to match up better to what's really being used in any particular scenario. It would be really nice to have supply unit replacements especially for scenarios where play happens during the winter. It would be nice to use hard attrition.

I really enjoyed Bohemond's 1815 scenario fix where he made militia be used for garrisons in France instead of line infantry. I wish every scenario could be fixed like this for all sides since militia really was more of a local defense force though some armies did use them in the field.

Omnius
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1815 Scenario Fix

Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:08 pm

I wish that the supply unit that's part of the cavalry division of the French 1st Cavalry Corps could be separated from the division and made separate inside the corps like every other supply unit. When I divided the cavalry division to do just that I discovered that the supply unit had the infantry symbol on it's unit picture instead of a supply symbol. Plus it's misleading in that one may think that cavalry corps doesn't have supply.

Omnius
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Embarrasement of Riches

Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:47 pm

One thing AI've noticed in playing a few of the NCP scenarios and all of the BoA scenarios is that there's an embarrasement of riches as regards food and ammo. After finishing one 1805 scenario I ended up with over 100,000 units of food which seems way too generous. Granted it's spread throughout all the regions under that side's control but the amounts are quite staggering and belie the fact that armies of this time period had trouble feeding their troops. Napoleon inspired one man to discover how to preserve food in glass jars.

I recall that during the 1805-1815 time period Europe suffered from The Little Ice Age where crops were ravaged because of an unusual winter effect during the summer months. I think it was caused by a volcano eruption in Indonesia. I can't remember what years were most deeply affected but this should be properly modeled in NCP. I also remember in BoA that food was never really a problem except when in out of the way regions with no depot or city for it to collect in during winter months.

I think that starting food and ammo amounts need to be reduced as well as how it accumulates so that players have to sweat out feeding their armies more like was done in history. I've seen that Armies, Corps and Fleets are real supply magnets so that they can attract enough supply to get them back to 100% if they capture a depot, harbor or big city which is then depleted.

I also think that each country ought to have it's own supply system rather than having a coalition share one set. I doubt that can be fixed in NCP but it sure needs to be done for NCP2 with a grand campaign game. That way we can have the kind of money diplomacy that Britain engaged in where it had tons of money while it's allies had loads of men ready to be conscripted into active service.

Omnius
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A Naval Map Problem

Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:58 pm

While playing the 1805 Thames or Danube scenario I discovered a problem with the naval combat in those Approaches sea areas that border the Carribean area boxes. I found that way too often a naval battle in one of those approaches sea areas would involve a fleet moving in an adjacent area box and then after the battle that fleet would end up in the approaches sea area rather than going back to it's original area box.

The problem is that it gives a player who's trying to move a fleet from the Carribean through the US Eastern seaboard to European destinations a big "Scotty beam me up" jump to those European waters. That undeserved jump to European waters just shouldn't happen because it skews reality. Combat in the Approaches sea areas should never affect fleets moving through the Carribean boxes regardless of combat settings.

This probably can't be fixed for NCP but it sure should be for NCP2 and other games like PON if it uses a similar map setup. The distances between those Approaches sea areas and the Carribean boxes is way too great for there to be any realistic chance of naval units moving to help a combat given the weekly time scale or even two weeks.

Omnius
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1813 Scenario Snafu

Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:50 pm

Bohemond,
I've decided to get out of my 1805 trance and am looking at other scenarios since you're working so hard on fixing some of the problems.

I looked into the 1813 scenario last night and the first thing that struck me as being offbase was there is no French supply depot with accumulated food and ammo at Dresden.

In my tome by David G. Chandler "The Campaigns of Napoleon" on page 902 he states this about Dresden. "Dresden itself, with it's great depots and camps, formed the kingpin of the entire system. "What is important to me is to avoid being cut off from Dresden and the Elbe," claimed the Emporer. "I care little if I am cut off from France." "

Napoleon spent the Armistice building up Dresden as his central base of operations so he could resume offensive operations to the east from it. In this 1813 scenario the French player has no skin in the game at Dresden and can easily abandon it. Building a depot from scratch on turn 1 does nothing to recreate this. I tried a test run by turning off the AI and then building depots at Hanover and Dresden, just like I saw the French AI do. Then I clicked through 3 turns not moving anything just to see how poorly supplied the French units east of the Elbe would get.

I'd also put 1,000 food and 1,000 ammo in the newly created level 4 depot at Dresden and subtract that from the depots in eastern France. That would make Dresden have the same historical value for the French player and would force him to protect it and to be able to work from it just as Napoleon himself did. ;)

Omnius
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A Better & Easier Solution

Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:46 pm

Bohemond,
After reading more of the second 1813 campaign that is covered by the 1813 scenario it seems the French had serious food shortages at the front about a month into the campaign. Instead of moving supply and creating a big depot at Dresden I see a better easier solution that should keep with history.

There's a supply wagon at Erfurt that's in the same locked formation as the garrison there and it's locked up so can't be used to create a depot. Kind of like at Hanover but that supply wagon is alone in Hanover and unlocked. I have this strange feeling that the original intent was to have the supply wagon at Erfurt be separate and unlocked also so that it could be used to create a depot at Erfurt. After looking at the map and depots there's no good reason to build a depot at Hanover unless there's also a depot at Erfurt. Napoleon's supply line ran from Mainz through Erfurt to Dresden and unlocking the Erfurt supply wagon would make this model history nicely.

Omnius
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1812 Scenario Problems

Tue Jan 25, 2011 4:37 pm

I played the Russians in the 1812 scenario and see several problems that make the scenario less than historical and alter play balance unduly.

First is the replacement of Barclay by Kutusov on the second turn of the game. Kutusov didn't replace Barclay until August 29th, about turn 9 in the game. Forcing the replacement early on turn 2 really screws the Russian player trying to bug out the 1st Western Army early on. Knowing that I can't wait to trap that unit when I play the French.

Second is the too early trigger of Russia making peace with Turkey. I saw that happen on the 2nd turn when it didn't happen until early August, about turn 6. The problem is that the Army of the Danube releases too early on turn 3 instead of turn 6.

Third is the too early trigger for Russia making peace with Sweden and England which allows the Army of Finland to move too early. The Army of Finland should be locked until turn 6 to be more historically correct and not give the Russian an undu advantage.

Fourth is where is the Moscow Militia? I couldn't believe that all of the militia I saw was mounted. Where's the unmounted ground pounder militia that marched from Moscow to fight at Borodino?

Kind of wondering why there is no money being generated by either side when every other scenario has both sides generating money?

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PhilThib
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 5:11 pm

Those issues are relatively easy to fix, just changing the dates in the event files :)
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Omnius
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That would be Cool

Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:00 pm

PhilThib,
That would be totally cool if you could change the dates of those events getting triggered to something more historically accurate which would also make game balance better. After writing up that post I remembered that years ago I saw a post from someone who complained the Army of the Danube was released too late. I think you had it correct the first time and then changed it.

Resetting the date for the switch from Barclay to Kutusov would be a great boon for the AI as I'm playing the French now in 1812 and the AI let me trap the 1st Western army in Vilnius.

I also noticed that the Imperial Guard corps in the 1812 scenario starts with a supply unit labeled "Sapeurs Garde" and it should be a Sapeurs engineer unit instead of a supply wagon, though the supply wagon is probably more useful. Plus why isn't there a "Garde Pontonniers" unit with the Imperial Guard corps? The other corps have their own sapeurs and pontonniers units.

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PhilThib
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Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:38 pm

If you wish to test your changes, you may change directly the dates by hand in the event files (they are txt files globally) :D
I can't work on that game for the time being :(
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Omnius
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Making Changes

Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:33 pm

PhilThib,
I'm still trying to test out the scenarios in NCP to see how they play. Maybe someday soon I'll delve into modding by finding something that gives me a clue as to what the script commands are and what they do. I keep hearing about something at Wiki so someday I'll have to see if I can find it.

One thing I noticed was that once the switch to Kutusov happens and it causes a bunch of corps to become detached from that army the AI then somehow gets them all rehooked to the army of the Danube. Kind of funny yet sad to watch the AI make the massive migration to the south while leaving Moscow wide open because too many corps become attached to the wrong army.

I was able to eliminate the 1st Western Army at Vilnius because of the too early switch that discombobulates that forward army at such a critical time.

lovilfoy
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NCP Setup Scenario I

Sun Jul 10, 2016 3:33 pm

I am creating an Android application for one of my projects. It is a hotel booking system, but as of yet does not have a name such as "Something Inn".

In my report I refer to the application as "the hotel booking system offer a range of..." or "the hotel booking system interacts with...". Should I refer to it as "hotel booking system" or "Hotel Booking System"?

Thanks

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