Operation Unthinkable and Operation Dandelion

Major Arcana

Hi All,
Long time player here, been fiddling with edit mode to create two new save game scenarios for WWII Global. These are relatively playable but I don't have the skills to finish them off properly.

Operation Unthinkable.tsvg
Operation Dandelion.tsvg

Both scenarios are based on continuation of war after a victory in WWII, where the victorious nations turn on each other.

Operation Unthinkable is the allied victory scenario with Germany defeated and Japan occupied by the USA.
The western allies of UK, USA, France and Anzacs fear a soviet takeover of Western Europe and declare war on of the eastern allies of Russia and communist China. The Communists start with more land units on the ground and are poised to sweep across Europe, Asia and Africa. The Capitalists have control of the seas and strategic position, but have less materiel on the ground to resist the communist bloc. It's based on the actual plan briefly considered by Churchill in 1945. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unthinkable The main problem with this as a save game is I'd like China to be a full player with a capital, the ability to invade external territories, etc.

Operation Dandelion is the axis victory scenario, with the world divided into sphere of influence ruled by the Fascist bloc of Germany-Italy and their new rival Imperial Japan. The remaining Russians, Anzacs and the Free French in Africa retain some territory and wage guerrilla war against both blocs. Likewise the USA is reduced to a buffer state between the Germany east coast and the Japanese west coast of the Americas. The Fascists have come out of WWII in the strongest position, but grow uneasy as the Japanese Empire establishes strategic bases around the globe while continuing to expand its formidable navy. The Germans plot to undertake a decisive nuclear first strike on the Japanese home islands to destroy the Empire entirely. This is based on the book The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Dandelion For this scenario I'd like the guerrilla nations to operate under Chinese game mechanics. My idea is that the victory condition for the Fascists is to maneuver heavy bombers into range of Japan and achieve 20 hits on the production facility in one round, to simulate a decisive nuclear strike. To base bombers in range of Japan the Fascists will need to decide whether to go overland across asia, take the west coast of the americas, or attempt to control the pacific islands. The Japanese victory would be to prevent the Fascists gaining territory within range of Japan and to turn the war by occupy either one of the Fascist capitals, either by an overland assault across Europe or a naval invasion from Asia or America.

Anyone out there want to take this on?

RogerCooper

@Major-Arcana
Creating new scenarios is not so hard. Use an editor to change the XML directly and reference the Pact of Steel 2 mod which has extensive commentary.

For example, the code covering most of China's idiosyncrasies is

<attachment name="rulesAttachment" attachTo="Chinese" javaClass="games.strategy.triplea.attachments.RulesAttachment" type="player">
      <option name="movementRestrictionTerritories" value="Shantung:Kwangsi:Kiangsi:Kiangsu:Jehol:Manchuria:Shensi:Yunnan:Suiyuyan:Kweichow:Hunan:Kansu:Hopei:Tsinghai:Szechwan:Chahar:Sikang:Anhwe:Kwangtung:Burma"/>
      <option name="movementRestrictionType" value="allowed"/>
      <!--<option name="productionPerXTerritories" value="1"/>-->
      <option name="placementAnyTerritory" value="true"/>
      <option name="placementCapturedTerritory" value="true"/>
      <option name="placementPerTerritory" value="9999999"/>
      <option name="unlimitedProduction" value="true"/>
    </attachment>

Eliminate that (and assign a capital and factories) and China becomes just another nation.

The victory condition you want for Operation Dandelion is not supportable in TripleA. Just give the Germans actual nukes. Take a look at the Grand War scenario for an interesting interpretation of nukes in TripleA.

Cernel

@RogerCooper said in Operation Unthinkable and Operation Dandelion:

Eliminate that (and assign a capital and factories) and China becomes just another nation.

Actually, if you are referring to the basic games having at least some of the v3 special rules for "Chinese", this player has a capital in all of them, already. You can see "Himilaya" is the capital of Chinese in "Pact of Steel 2", "Mongolia" is in "World War II v3 1941" and "World War II v3 1942" and "Himalayas" is in "World War II Global 1940 2nd Edition" and "World War II Global 1942 2nd Edition".

Major Arcana

@RogerCooper Thanks Roger, but to be frank I don't know what an XML is or how to open one for editing.

Having played a few games with a nuclear type unit, they have to be very weak and fairly useless, or extremely expensive, end up being spammed out straight away. I guess a good option could be to start the game with only one nuclear bomber that cannot be built, or is very very expensive to replace, so part of the goal is to protect the hero unit from being destroyed as well as delivering it to the enemy capital.

Can you have victory condition that requires a specific unit to attack a specific territory?

ff03k64

If your plan is to use a current map, xml editing is not very hard at all. An xml is just a text file that is treated a little different by the computer, you can edit it the same way. I use notepad++ to edit mine. You could use regular notepad to do it if you wanted to, but notepad++ has better formatting for a document like this to make it easier to read. I assume there are also better programs that are more geared towards xml documents, but notepad++ is more than good enough.

By the sounds of it, the bulk of the changes you really need to do is change territory ownership and starting unit locations for your map?

For finding it, it would be in your "c:/users/{username}/triplea/downloadedmaps/" folder (not sure on Macs). You just unzip the one you want to base it off of, and then go to the games folder down a couple of levels.

wc_sumpton

@Major-Arcana

Is you ideas for a new mod to the existing map, or are you thinking of after WWII victory, the combatant go strait into the other victory conditions.

Just thinking out loud.

Cheers...

RogerCooper

@Major-Arcana

@Major-Arcana said in Operation Unthinkable and Operation Dandelion:

Can you have victory condition that requires a specific unit to attack a specific territory?
Yes. You could have a victory condition that specifies having a specific unit in a specific spot at the end of combat movement.

You could also have a nuclear bomber with a maxbuild of 1 to prevent spamming or simply give 1 nuclear bomb a turn without a purchase.

Major Arcana

@wc_sumpton Was thinking a new mod, but going to a second alliance/victory set up after winning the first is a cool idea. Would make for some very long games!

Major Arcana

@RogerCooper Another thought I had, could it be possible to have a nuke bomber that can only land and take off from airbases, the same way the americans had to build a special base for the enola gay? So goal one would be to build and protect an airbase within range of the enemy capital, then goal two is to make the attack without getting shot down.

ff03k64

While that idea is neat, it would just make me not win the first condition until i was ready to win the second condition as well. Unless there was some randomness to what the second condition was. I also tend to play all players on one side, so with a WW2 variant, i would end up playing as Japan and Germany, but they would end up against each other after that.

RogerCooper

@Major-Arcana Yes. You could have a unit with a move of 0 that gets a movement bonus from a base.

Major Arcana

@RogerCooper said in Operation Unthinkable and Operation Dandelion:

hat gets a movement bonus fro

So for a bomber you set the move to 0 but the move bonus to 6 (or whatever range you want)
?

RogerCooper

@Major-Arcana Yes. Take a look at The Grand War mod, where nukes are suicide air units with a speed of 1, but get a movement boost if they start with a bomber.

Major Arcana

@RogerCooper And you could restrict it to being built in a specific territory industrial complex? I.e. you always have to fly your nuke over from your capital

RogerCooper

@Major-Arcana Yes.

Don't be afraid to look at the xml. Look at existing mods and see how things are done.

RogerCooper

@Major-Arcana said in Operation Unthinkable and Operation Dandelion:

Hi All,
Long time player here, been fiddling with edit mode to create two new save game scenarios for WWII Global. These are relatively playable but I don't have the skills to finish them off properly.

Operation Unthinkable.tsvg
Operation Dandelion.tsvg

Both scenarios are based on continuation of war after a victory in WWII, where the victorious nations turn on each other.

Operation Unthinkable is the allied victory scenario with Germany defeated and Japan occupied by the USA.
The western allies of UK, USA, France and Anzacs fear a soviet takeover of Western Europe and declare war on of the eastern allies of Russia and communist China. The Communists start with more land units on the ground and are poised to sweep across Europe, Asia and Africa. The Capitalists have control of the seas and strategic position, but have less materiel on the ground to resist the communist bloc. It's based on the actual plan briefly considered by Churchill in 1945. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unthinkable The main problem with this as a save game is I'd like China to be a full player with a capital, the ability to invade external territories, etc.

Operation Dandelion is the axis victory scenario, with the world divided into sphere of influence ruled by the Fascist bloc of Germany-Italy and their new rival Imperial Japan. The remaining Russians, Anzacs and the Free French in Africa retain some territory and wage guerrilla war against both blocs. Likewise the USA is reduced to a buffer state between the Germany east coast and the Japanese west coast of the Americas. The Fascists have come out of WWII in the strongest position, but grow uneasy as the Japanese Empire establishes strategic bases around the globe while continuing to expand its formidable navy. The Germans plot to undertake a decisive nuclear first strike on the Japanese home islands to destroy the Empire entirely. This is based on the book The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Dandelion For this scenario I'd like the guerrilla nations to operate under Chinese game mechanics. My idea is that the victory condition for the Fascists is to maneuver heavy bombers into range of Japan and achieve 20 hits on the production facility in one round, to simulate a decisive nuclear strike. To base bombers in range of Japan the Fascists will need to decide whether to go overland across asia, take the west coast of the americas, or attempt to control the pacific islands. The Japanese victory would be to prevent the Fascists gaining territory within range of Japan and to turn the war by occupy either one of the Fascist capitals, either by an overland assault across Europe or a naval invasion from Asia or America.

Anyone out there want to take this on?

I am taking a look at your save files. I can turn them into full scenarios. Giving a capital or removing a capital is easy. I assume I can remove the National Objectives. For nukes, I can just make an effective heavy bomber with only 1 that can be built.

Major Arcana

Thats great Roger. Yeah no national objectives unless you can think of some new ones that might be fun. If the bomber has a limit of 1 at a time, costs heaps (say 100pus) and can only be built in the capital, that would suit the concept.
Cheers.

RogerCooper

@Major-Arcana If a bomber has a high cost, then it will be less effective than conventional weapons.

Major Arcana

Yes so you wouldn't use them in normal combat, but I was thinking the 'dandelion' victory condition is triggered by a successful attack on the Japanese capital with the special nuclear unit.

RogerCooper

@Major-Arcana Why would a single nuclear attack end the war? In WW2, it took 2 nuclear attacks, after a year of conventional attacks with similar effects, after the Japanese navy had been destroyed, for the Japanese to surrender.