[WIP] Encircling Stalingrad

[Ts4EVER]

Hi,
I made a new campaign, about the role of 19th Tank Brigade (part of 26th Tank Corps) in Operation Uranus. You will command the entire tank brigade and use it to bully hapless Romanians and Germans. The maps were all made from satellite data.

Encircling Stalingrad

19th Tank Brigade

November 19th to November 23rd

Design by Ts4EVER

In this campaign you will control a complete Soviet Tank Brigade (1942 version) and fight against Romanian and German forces on the frozen plains outside Stalingrad during Operation Uranus.

All maps have been created with the Venhola satellite tool.

The campaign is fairly easy, as you usually have overwhelming forces. However, due to the limited timeframe of the offensive, you will not receive enough repair points to upgrade your force or offset big casualties. The points you receive are there to simulate minor damage being repaired or losses in the infantry being replaced from rear units or freed PoWs.

Some scenarios limit your deployment area by advising you to deploy north or south of a certain line. Always listen to those instructions, otherwise the scenarios will not play out like intended!

[Ts4EVER]

As suggested, I loaded all the scenarios in scenHack and it reported no problematic units.

[DRG]

Just curious...... why the gap ?


https://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16981&stc=1&d=1712069739


Is it to allow movement from one side to the other?

[Ts4EVER]

Yes, from Google Earth it sometimes looks like these are going through pipes in some areas.

[DRG]

There is a problem
First turn, the first actual battle

Turn 2 AFO>SMG Sec Hex 153, 133

https://i.imgur.com/8lUGdGX.png

The unit shows as a passenger but is 12 hexes from the main objective


https://i.imgur.com/76mFMTH.png



If you unload the passenger it teleports back to it correct location.

NOTE I have not had a chance to check the actual scenario yet

[Ts4EVER]

Will look into it. My guess is that I maybe pressed "fix" before loading them onto the tank.

[DRG]

It may also be the way I deployed them. In this case I just wanted to run a quick test so all I did was press deploy and then press end deploy so they were all along the west map edge

We had this problem a few years back with some scenarios and at the time I was quite familiar with the phenomenon but ATM that has faded from my memory and I need to check some old notes ( if I can find them ),

It is mentioned in the game guide as ghost / doppelganger units and it is why we added code so Passengers now report "CARRIED BY: " so you can find where the ghost / doppelgangers like this belong

[DRG]

I just tried this set up again and the AG0 unit is where I show it in the screenshot above in my new deployment as well but I also found AG1 seventeen hexes lower down the map in the next trench.

I have not found any others but I have not checked every hex. They do not show up in the scenario that node was built from but both of them I did find show up consistently inside the Romanian lines as doppelgangers and on their tanks when the campaign is played and they are AUX troops

AF0 is in hex 133,153 AND as a passenger on tank AB0 which is in hex 7,128
AG1 is in Hex 138,170 AND as a passenger on tank AC2 which is in hex 7,125

Because they are AUX they cannot be unloaded in deployment but once the game starts if they are unloaded from the tank that is carrying them the doppelgangers automagically teleport back to where they belong

Reloading the SMG sections back onto their tanks does not teleport doppelgangers back to the Romanian trenches

[DRG]

ACK!

A new wrinkle

https://i.imgur.com/PgFheCx.png

If all the AUX units that are pre-deployed are unloaded once the game begins those trenches empty of Russian Units and reloading them on their tanks does not send them back

[DRG]

This is the fourth restart of that node of the campaign so this is 100% repeatable at my end

https://i.imgur.com/Eu5Byhu.png

[DRG]

This would be almost amusing under other circumstances

If any of the troops shown in the screenshot above are moved the game moves the location of where they are back to the vehicle that is carrying them but they do not teleport back unless you unload them from the vehicle that is highlighted

I ended the turn then found three more up in a trench around hex 122,113

Those disappeared when a Romanian arty strike forced them to dismount from their actual carrying vehicles and that broke the cycle. What is strange is that there are supposed to be Romanians in those trenches but they and the dopplegangers don't see each other

It is conceivable that in "normal" game play a player may not even notice this as they would be concentrating on their units on their side of the line not on the other side of the map and as soon as they dismount any of them they would be removed from the other side of the map and it does not appear either side sees the other side when it involves dopplegangers

[DRG]

You could try rebuilding that with the troops dismounted to start

[Ts4EVER]

Dismounting the troops at start fixes it, but the error occurs again when remounting. I might be able to fix it by completely rebuying the aux forces, but right now I don't have the free time needed for this. For now, I will post this fixed version with the troops starting dismounted.

[DRG]

Dismounting the troops at start fixes it, but the error occurs again when remounting. I might be able to fix it by completely rebuying the aux forces, but right now I don't have the free time needed for this. For now, I will post this fixed version with the troops starting dismounted.

My first attempt at this seems to show this change fixed the problem

I mounted the units on the tanks after the game started and moved them. There was Romania arty and some tanks were hit and dismounted the infantry.

I have dismounted and remounted the SMG sections as well as rallied units that had discounted suppressed and had been rallied back

I am on turn 4 now and I have not found any dopplegangers anywhere on the map so if you have tell me where you found them and on what turn you found them

[DRG]

And BTW, the campaign is in slot 35 now

[Ts4EVER]

Sorry I miswrote: I meant that if I remount them in the editor, the error re-occurs. Remounting them ingame works.

[DRG]

OK. This simple fix seems to have solved the problem. Are there any other scenarios in this campaign where the same thing might happen?

[DRG]

The interesting mystery here is why those doppelganger units gravitated to trenches.

I don't expect to ever know the answer but it is interesting they always showed up in a trench

[Ts4EVER]

My only idea: the Russians start from the east, normally. I may have bought the aux troops, placed them in the trenches to check some los, then switched the sides and "Properly" placed them and that messed something up somewhere.

[DRG]

I suppose it's possible but the fix you made works and right now that's my prime concern

[Lancer]

Thank you. Can't wait to give it a go.

[Ts4EVER]

Thanks! Note that the newest version is included in the latest version of the game.