Baltika

Cheers, all. Gotcha dsawan, using that song title for that wrong-footer was precisely what I had in mind Lexx, I have done my usual thing by creating a whole stack of extra transition tiles from the core tileset so that autotexture will get it right where multiple tile types collide. For Orumiyeh Lake in Iran and Lake Van Golu in Eastern Turkey, I have created specific lake textures which autotile only at the precise altitudes of those lakes. Each of those lakes is big enough that you get a good large flat area which TE will autotexture in that way - provided you create enough transition tiles for the surrounding tile types. There are a few glitches off-screen which will be fixed the usual way - hand tiling in TE once the core cities and airfields are plotted and tiled. As you probably know, you can't use the sea level function on high altitude lakes as it sets their altitude to zero, which creates a massive hole in the landscape - not pretty. Cheers PureBlue, I take no credit for the textures, which are all from Polak's PR desert - other than my basic Russian fields - happily they run in parallel lines for tens, if not hundreds, of kilometers in reality. Gotta love life down on the old collective farm. And yeah, I know this basic terrain bumps right up against your unbeatably superlative Anatolia terrain, and probably will overlap a bit with PFunk's upcoming Black Sea v2.0, but my focus will be on the Russia-Georgia-South Ossetia War of 2008, with a sideline into the rumoured plans of the Israeli Air Force to "extend" their training missions in Turkey through the Georgian Air Corridor, across the Caspian Sea and into Iran to strike the Iranian nuclear facilities. OK, I will have to be a bit creative with the last bit given my map only goes so far south, but you get the general idea. Indeed, I read an interesting conspiracy theory recently to the effect that the Russian invasion of Georgia in 08 and the consequent destruction of the Georgian military capability and facilities was precisely to prevent such an operation being mounted by the Israelis, who had already secured permission to use certain airbases in Georgia. Whether that's true or not, it certainly makes for an interesting scenario, if IAF air units are already on station in Georgia when the Sickle and Hammer falls. . . With potential to drag NATO and the US into the conflict given Georgia's overtures to the West. . . Or, we could go historical what-if and have a Prague-Spring style uprising in Georgia in the 60's, for a purely red-on-red conflict. Anyway, in keeping with my new development model, I'll release this for fun when it reaches flyable beta stage. Slainthe, Baltika

Gunrunner, relax, the "modders and whiners" ( ) successfully persuaded TK to enable .ini settings which removes the limited draw distance. First. go to your options.ini in the main game mod folder, so User\Saved Games\Thirdwire\StrikeFighters2\, then set "ObjectsFade=FALSE" under [GraphicsOptions] heading. Next, extract your Flightengine.ini and drop in mod folder\Flight folder. Set these settings as follows:- [LowDetailOption] HorizonDistance=60000.0 DetailMeshSize=4 DetailLevel=0 WaterEffect=0 NoiseTexture=0 MaxTextureRes=128 [MedDetailOption] HorizonDistance=84000.0 DetailMeshSize=8 DetailLevel=1 WaterEffect=1 NoiseTexture=0 MaxTextureRes=256 [HighDetailOption] HorizonDistance=100000.0 DetailMeshSize=12 DetailLevel=2 WaterEffect=2 NoiseTexture=1 MaxTextureRes=512 [unlimitedDetailOption] HorizonDistance=124000.0 DetailMeshSize=16 DetailLevel=2 WaterEffect=2 NoiseTexture=1 MaxTextureRes=-1 What I have done is doubled the stock Horizondistance= figure, and increased the DetailMeshSize= by a factor of about 4 (the stock is something like, 2, 2, 3, 4). Those settings correspond to your in-game menu graphic settings options. Et viola:- Running on SF2 with Sept 11 patch installed, mostly High settings in-game, with Very Far horizon distance. Cheers to Stary who worked this out and posted about it somewhere round here. And, I do like the new fade effects, but I am not a fan of the short fade distance, so . . . I push the above settings as far as my system can go. Slainthe! Baltika

Great terrain, wonderful attention to detail Slainthe Baltika

Here is an example taken from my as-yet-unpublished 2009 North Cape campaign. It features a Norwegian front and a Finland/Russia front. It is alpha only as I need to set the basepoint= co-ordinates for some strategic nodes, as tanks are attacking over sea, or up impossible hills, etc. Default works fine for flat terrain, so you can leave those entries blank if you wish. This is also very basic as most of the map is, as yet, unused. But, it does work. These are relevant excerpts from the campaign_data.ini file:- [CampaignData] StartDate=07/10/2009 StartDateDeviation=0 EndDate=01/31/2010 ForceWithInitiative=0 MaxMissions=60 NormalMissionRate=3 NormalMissionRateDeviation=1 OffensiveMissionRate=1 OffensiveMissionRateDeviation=0 StartScreen=NORTHCAPE09START.BMP StartText= CampaignBaseScreen=NORTHCAPE09BASE.BMP CampaignEndWinScreen=NORTHCAPE09BLUEWIN.BMP CampaignEndLoseScreen=Loser1.bmp CampaignEndStallScreen=Winner1.bmp CampaignEndWinText=NCWin.txt CampaignEndLoseText=NCLose.txt CampaignEndStallText=NCWin.txt [Force001] Alignment=FRIENDLY Nation=USN BaseArea=NARVIK AirOffensive[001].Primary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[001].Secondary=WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[002].Primary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[002].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[003].Primary=FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[003].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[004].Primary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[004].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[005].Primary=FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[005].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY,COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[006].Primary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[006].Secondary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR,FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[007].Primary=BRIDGE AirOffensive[007].Secondary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR,FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[008].Primary=BRIDGE AirOffensive[008].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY,COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[009].Primary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[009].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY,FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[010].Primary=ANY AirOffensive[010].Secondary=ANY StartGroundOffensive=8 StartInterdiction=0 Morale=80 Supply=40 NormalSupplyRate=28 OffensiveSupplyRate=-10 DefensiveSupplyRate=-3 SupplyForOffensive=70 AircraftReplacementTime=15 AircraftReplacement=30 GroundUnitReplacementTime=15 GroundUnitReplacement=100 RandomTransportType=ANY WeaponResupplyTime=7 StartAirDefenseLevel=3 AllowRandomAceCreation=TRUE [Force002] Alignment=ENEMY Nation=SOVIET BaseArea=MURMANSK AirOffensive[001].Primary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[001].Secondary=WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[002].Primary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[002].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[003].Primary=FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[003].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[004].Primary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[004].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[005].Primary=FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[005].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY,COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[006].Primary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[006].Secondary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR,FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[007].Primary=BRIDGE AirOffensive[007].Secondary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR,FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[008].Primary=BRIDGE AirOffensive[008].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY,COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[009].Primary=COMM_BUILDING,EW_RADAR AirOffensive[009].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY,FUEL_STORAGE,AMMO_STORAGE,WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[010].Primary=ANY AirOffensive[010].Secondary=ANY StartGroundOffensive=0 StartInterdiction=0 Morale=100 Supply=100 NormalSupplyRate=24 OffensiveSupplyRate=-8 DefensiveSupplyRate=-3 SupplyForOffensive=50 AircraftReplacementTime=30 AircraftReplacement=30 GroundUnitReplacementTime=30 GroundUnitReplacement=100 RandomTransportType=ANY WeaponResupplyTime=15 StartAirDefenseLevel=3 AllowRandomAceCreation=TRUE * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [GroundUnit001] GroundObjectType=Leopard1A4 UnitName=Armoured Battalion, ESK 2 ForceID=1 Nation=Norway BaseArea=NARVIK RandomChance=100 StartObjects=100 MaxObjects=100 Experience=80 Morale=80 Supply=50 UpgradeType=NEVER [GroundUnit002] GroundObjectType=Leopard1A4 UnitName=Telemark Battalion ForceID=1 Nation=Norway BaseArea=KIRKENES RandomChance=100 StartObjects=100 MaxObjects=100 Experience=80 Morale=80 Supply=50 UpgradeType=NEVER [GroundUnit003] GroundObjectType=Leopard1A4 UnitName=Guard Jaeger Regiment ForceID=1 Nation=Finland BaseArea=HELSINKI RandomChance=100 StartObjects=100 MaxObjects=100 Experience=80 Morale=80 Supply=50 UpgradeType=NEVER [GroundUnit004] GroundObjectType=Leopard1A4 UnitName=Häme Armoured Battalion ForceID=1 Nation=Finland BaseArea=VAALIMAA RandomChance=100 StartObjects=100 MaxObjects=100 Experience=80 Morale=80 Supply=50 UpgradeType=NEVER * * * * * * * * * * * //---- WP Ground Units // Leningrad Military District [GroundUnit005] GroundObjectType=T-72A UnitName=2nd Spetznaz Brigade ForceID=2 Nation=Soviet BaseArea=MURMANSK RandomChance=100 StartObjects=100 MaxObjects=100 Experience=100 Morale=100 Supply=80 Intelligence=100 UpgradeType=NEVER [GroundUnit006] GroundObjectType=T-72A UnitName=25th Gv. Mt. Rifle Brig. ForceID=2 Nation=Soviet BaseArea=OLENEGORSK RandomChance=100 StartObjects=100 MaxObjects=100 Experience=80 Morale=80 Supply=50 Intelligence=100 UpgradeType=NEVER [GroundUnit007] GroundObjectType=T-72A UnitName=138th Gv. Mt. Rifle Brig. ForceID=2 Nation=Soviet BaseArea=VYBORG RandomChance=100 StartObjects=100 MaxObjects=100 Experience=80 Morale=80 Supply=80 Intelligence=100 UpgradeType=NEVER [GroundUnit008] GroundObjectType=T-72A UnitName=200th Gv. Mt. Rifle Brig. ForceID=2 Nation=Soviet BaseArea=SANKT-PETERBURG RandomChance=100 StartObjects=100 MaxObjects=100 Experience=80 Morale=80 Supply=50 Intelligence=100 UpgradeType=NEVER * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [strategicNode001] Area=Olenegorsk ConnectTo[001].Target=Murmansk [strategicNode002] Area=Murmansk ConnectTo[001].Target=Olenegorsk ConnectTo[002].Target=Kirkenes [strategicNode003] Area=Kirkenes ConnectTo[001].Target=Murmansk ConnectTo[002].Target=Hammerfest [strategicNode004] Area=Hammerfest ConnectTo[001].Target=Kirkenes ConnectTo[002].Target=Tromsø [strategicNode005] Area=Tromsø ConnectTo[001].Target=Hammerfest ConnectTo[002].Target=Narvik [strategicNode006] Area=Narvik ConnectTo[001].Target=Tromsø [strategicNode007] Area=Sankt-Peterburg LocalObjective=TRUE ConnectTo[001].Target=Sestroretsk [strategicNode008] Area=Sestroretsk ConnectTo[001].Target=Sankt-Peterburg ConnectTo[002].Target=Roshchino [strategicNode009] Area=Roshchino ConnectTo[001].Target=Sestroretsk ConnectTo[002].Target=Vyborg [strategicNode010] Area=Vyborg ConnectTo[001].Target=Roshchino ConnectTo[002].Target=Vaalimaa [strategicNode011] Area=Vaalimaa ConnectTo[001].Target=Vyborg ConnectTo[001].BasePoint=1174567,282765 ConnectTo[002].Target=Kotka [strategicNode012] Area=Kotka ConnectTo[001].Target=Vaalimaa ConnectTo[002].Target=Porvoo [strategicNode013] Area=Porvoo ConnectTo[001].Target=Kotka ConnectTo[002].Target=Helsinki [strategicNode014] Area=Helsinki LocalObjective=TRUE ConnectTo[001].Target=Porvoo * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hi Jonathan, I am more than happy to help out, I have scripted a few campaigns in my time, and setting up the groundwar can be frustrating. I don't have much spare time just now, but if you want to send me what you have I can take a look at it, or, if you need some pointers, just ask away. You need to define a network of strategic nodes in the campaign data.ini file. Each force must have a base node, as defined under each [FORCEXXX] entry at the head of the campaign data ini file. You must define the strategic nodes so that each basenode is connected to the other one through the network of strategic nodes - think of "join the dots." Ground units can only appear at strategic nodes as defined in the campaign data ini. Getting the force to attack depends on setting supply and morale levels for each force, and for each unit. Under each [FORCEXXX] header, there are variables which control when attacks are launched. I suggest keep it simple at first - define each force's base node (eg Helsinki for blue force and Sankt-Peterburg for red force), then connect them through a single chain of strategic nodes. For example, Sankt-Peterburg -> Roshchino -> Vyborg Red Army Base -> Vaalimaa -> Kotka -> Porvoo -> Helsinki. Set your ground units to show up on the links in that chain, and you should have a basic, working ground war. Then you can define different chains for each "front," i.e. one through Sweden and one through Norway. Each chain has to be connected to the base node. That should get you started. Any questions, fire away. Slainthe, Baltika

File Name: Kamchatka Peninsula for SF2 File Submitter: Baltika File Submitted: 21 September 2011 File Category: Full Terrains Kamchatka Peninsula v2.0 by Baltika For Strike Fighters 2 Series This is an upgrade of my original Kamchatka Peninsula Terrain to bring it up to the latest SF2 standard (September 2011 patch). I was motivated to bring it up to speed to provide a native combat environment for TK's excellent JASDF Phantom F-4EJ, available at the Thirdwire DLC Store. What's new over version 1.0: -Fully compatible with SF2 -Winter and Summer tilesets -Fully operational in Thirdwire Mission Editor (Cheers Crusader!) This terrain includes a base tileset by Deuces, together with Stary's forests and farms mod adapted for use on this terrain. I have also created a large number of additional transition tiles based on Deuce's tiles, which may be of interest to terrain builders. This version 2.0 release also includes a full winter tileset, which is based on Major Lee's DBS terrain tileset. Thanks also to Wrench for creating the water effect .TGA tiles used here which bring the water to life. The tile naming format is compatible with the stock GermanyCE tileset for ease of expansion, but be aware that the excellent hi-res and seasoned tilesets by Brain32 and Stary in particular will not have all the necessary transition tiles, so use them with caution. Should you wish to use the included transitioned tileset for your own terrain mods, copy all the terrain .bmp files and .tga files into the "Tileset" folder and convert the .tga tiles to .bmp format. See Gepard's excellent terrain tutorials in the KB at CA for more info. All mission types are activated, for both red and blue side flyable. The Americans have their existing bases on the Aleutian Islands. I have handed the northern Kuril Islands to the Japanese for the sake of this scenario. Take it as read that the Soviets were sufficiently distracted by the ground war in central Europe that they lost their hold on the Kurils to Japan. Now, the Soviets are engaged in a fierce battle for control of the strategically important Kamchatka Peninsula. This is a target-rich, fictionalised version of the RUssian Far East. There are many installations and industrial zones in the Kamchatkai Krai that you will not find in real life. Equally, as much real-life stuff as I could discover went into the mix. Also, this is a showcase of a fully-transitioned tileset, so there is much more agriculture than you would get at these latitudes. Just kick back and enjoy the scenery. Finally, there is a monstrous presence lurking at the heart of the Peninsula who has risen from aeons of deathless sleep to trouble the affairs of men once more. Bragging rights to the first person to take a recon photo of this horror and make it back to base alive, and with their sanity intact ;-) INSTALLATION:- Simply unzip and drop the "KAMCHATKA" folder into your User\Saved Games\Thirdwire\StrikeFighters2\Terrains folder. It is highly recommended that you install the files listed below or you will not get the full intended Kamchatka Krai experience. RECOMMENDED FILES:- Groundobjects:- CVN-75 by Digital Overload http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=9684 TAKR Orjol by Gepard http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=5497 TAKR Admiral Gorshkov by X-RAY http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=5830 UdaloyI by China Insky Team http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=10336 UdaloyII by China Insky Team http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=10330 BRDM_SA-9 by rebelryder http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=7740 SA-11 & SA-17 by 101tfs http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=7627 ScudLauncher & Missile by bigal1 http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=6435 Soviet SAMs by gabilon http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=3057 CREDITS:- Core tilesets by Deuces and Major Lee. Additional transition tiles by Baltika Winter Sea .TGA tiles by Wrench Forests and Farms mod by Stary, extended to cover additional tiles Kamchatka_water.bmp by Crusader Doppler Radar Dome by grumpapotamus I have modded this as a terrain object rather than a separate ground object. The original readme file is included. Thanks grumpapotamus ;-) WW2 Subpens from WW2 Europe Terrain by Edward et al, modded for Soviet use. Thanks to the original creator. As ever, feedback, comments, bug-reports and general griping are most welcome. Slainthe! Baltika September 2011 Click here to download this file

Some shots of TK's JASDF Phantoms over the upcoming Kamchatka v2.0, now featuring winter tileset:- Enjoy

Slainthe :drinks:

Hi guys, I have been following all this with keen interest, great work here Jonathan, I have an unreleased WoE 08 level campaign for this terrain on my HDD which is set in 2009. It is more or less set to go, unfortunately apart from the ground war, which is in alpha stage, so if you can wait a bit I can finish that up and send it over to you as a template for your earlier campaign. Slainthe! Baltika

Wrench, great work on updating this terrain for SF2, cheers bro If you point out the terrain issues (airfields needing flattening etc) with map co-ordinates I will sort em out. I think I have a slightly advanced beta on my HDD somehwere with some/all of those issues fixed - I certainly seem to remember moving an airfield out of the trees recently. And cheers again for fixing the water tiles - that was a big job I hadn't even considered starting, so once more.

See post #9 http://combatace.com/topic/66537-terrain-editor-is-seriously-irritating-me/ Then you can edit your HFD in gimp on a pixel by pixel basis, using all the brushes, smoothing tools etc you like. Cheers, Baltika

Great sim, often overlooked. I recently upgraded my computer from something which was old even in 2005, and finally got around to trying BoB2WoV. Having a blast I take it you have updated to the latest official version (2.11) and installed the multiskin pack? http://shockwaveproductions.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21865&sid=56b7777d4865e361ddbc0df358959d0d After that, Heinkill's mission mega pack is an absolute must:- http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2996619/Mission_Megapack_for_Battle_of.html#Post2996619 Slainthe! Baltika

Hi Centurion, no worries, nothing for you to apologise for, it's just I know from bitter experience how much time it takes to build up a terrain from scratch - there really is no point in duplicating effort here. . . Thanks very much for your offer of help. As you are someone with local knowledge, if you have the time, please try out my existing map and let me know any comments, good or bad, you have on it - one or two folks round here have already given me feedback which will find its way into the next release version, so, try it out, let me know what you think - be honest If you want my vote for a new terrain, I'd say Africa - sounds interesting, and it would be perfect for a full-on new Merc campaign. Sort of, "The Wild Geese" with aeroplanes Any questions you have with TE, fire away, I'll try to answer if I can Slainthe! Baltika

Hi Centurion, Go ahead with a new Scandinavia by all means, but the ground has been covered here already:- http://combatace.com/files/file/11891-north-cape-terrain/ Here's the planning map:- Yes, it is a beta so far, but it will run just fine in SF2 with a couple of .ini tweaks. All of the main civilian and military airbases in the region shown have been plotted, flattened and tiled, and a fair bit of work has been done on terrain targetisation. There is also a custom tileset based on various existing pre-released sets, tweaked and put together for this region. I have moved over completely to SF2 series for modding now, so sooner or later an updated, dedicated SF2 version of this terrain will appear. But, as I say, don't let me stop you if you fancy a crack at a new terrain based on the region. The more the merrier. If you have any questions re TE, fire away and I'll try to help out. @gepard, Kuril Islands terrain is also in the pipeline for SF2 release. . . Slainthe! Baltika

Or just look in the appropriate download section here at combatace:- http://combatace.com/files/category/181-p-40/page__sort_by__DESC__sort_key__file_submitted__num__10 Historical Tomahawk skins for the Flying Tigers by yours truly, based on Wrench's templates, with some P-40E skins by starfighters on page 2.

Recently took delivery of an Acer Aspire One D255 netbook from my work - not impressed at the spec, Intel atom 1.66GHz, 1GB DDR 3 memroy, a 10.1" screen and a low-grade Intel integrated chip. All on Win7 Starter Edition 32-bit. Was thinking the office had a cunning plan to make me actually do some work But, hey, a bit of fiddling and I find it runs the following rather well, more or less out of the box:- DI Apache Longbow (D3D renderer) F-22 Total Air War 2.0 EF2000 v2.0 (Win 95 install) Janes Fighters Anthology (use script to disable explorer, runs like a champ) Comanche 4 (good for playing with mouse and keyboard on the train) Those old low-res sims actually look and play pretty well on a 1024x600 10.1" screen. Thank goodness, I was worried I might have to do some work Plus, got Starcraft, Diablo II, Half Life, AvP (original 1999 release), Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, Battlezone 1.5 and GTA3 for light entertainment. Hail the netbook for retro gaming

Tons of stuff in the SFP1/WoX mission and campaign building archives. No doubt, use with caution for SF2, but the series is evolutionary, so it tends to be that more variables are added with each release/update. Extract the stock campaign_data.ini files with each new game and run through to see what new flags are defined. http://combatace.com/topic/31321-how-do-you-make-a-red-flyable-campaign/page__hl__baltika http://combatace.com/topic/33483-setting-aircraft-types/page__p__208580__hl__baltika__fromsearch__1#entry208580 http://combatace.com/topic/27549-question-about-strategic-nodes/page__p__152332__hl__baltika__fromsearch__1#entry152332 http://combatace.com/topic/20489-ground-units-in-campaigns/page__p__88545__hl__baltika__fromsearch__1#entry88545 And at TW:- http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB3w/viewtopic.php?t=5218 Enjoy!

Hi Beach, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the amount of detail you can cram into an SF2 campaign. The engine does all of the things you describe in your post above, keeping track of all ground units and air units for the life of the campaign, their supply levels (both material and equipment) and locations (air units on airbases, ground units on the various strategic nodes defined in your campaign_data.ini file). The frontline is truly dynamic, and airbases and nodes can change hands as combat ebbs and flows. Player success in missions is factored in. If you overfly an enemy airbase and find his Migs lined up on the ground, take them out, as those assets will be lost to that unit and will have to be replaced when the overall supply level allows. Enemy air activity noticeably drops if you wipe out a unit's air assets on the ground. Likewise, player success or failure in CAS missions will usually determine the outcome of a ground assault/defence - although not always, the relative strengths of the ground units and their respective equipment types also come into play. As a rule of thumb, don't lay off knocking out enemy tanks just because the tower calls a mission success - again, ground unit strength is recorded, so, the more tanks you take out in each sortie, the weaker that enemy unit will be in future campaign missions. This is true even if you get a mission fail. The campaign engine tracks supply at FORCE and unit level. Likewise morale. If you knock out enemy trucks in Armed Recon, supply levels for the enemy Force drop. Replacement equipment (planes, tanks) and pilots are determined by overall and unit supply levels. Unit sorties are determined by supply and morale for both ground and air units, although the player unit always flies, for obvious reasons. Your unit can be retired if losses are too great. The post I directed you to over at TW makes it clear that the campaign groundwar is divided into phases. An offensive phase only begins when the overall force supply level is greater than the SupplyForOffensive= value. Whether a frontline ground unit actually makes an attack is determined by its own unit supply and morale values. I have found that tweaking supply and morale levels, especially of ground units, can force historical outcomes regardless of player success or otherwise. I have an old SFP1 WW2 Burma campaign posted here where the Allies will be overrun, no matter how many Allied missions you succeed in. Likewise, you can set things up so player success or loss will determine the outcome - as most of the stock campaigns do. Also, you can rotate air units in and out of service (this was added in WoV). You can set equipment upgrades for long campaigns, so you start flying one type and upgrade, dependent on supply levels. You can also specify "Known Aces" for player and AI air units, then fight them in air combat, or fly as their wingman - that was added for the WW1 First Eagles, but the code has been implemented across SF1 & SF2. If it all seems rather vague, it's because all of these variables seem to be tweaked in the campaign.dll which is hard-coded and unlockable, but which also seems to be adjusted by TK with each patch/upgrade of the core engine. One of the most interesting things for me in each new release (full game, EP or whatever) is to look at the new stock campaign_data.ini files to see what new flags have been added, and to try to work out what those new variables do. As is always the way, we learn by doing. In short, my view is that TK's dynamic campaign engine is vastly under-rated, but then as I started out modding by tweaking campaign files and have done a stack of historical and fictional campaigns over the years, I am probably biased Like malibu says, fire away with any questions and we'll do our best to help out. Slainte! Baltika

Quite a bit of detailed info re supply variables here, from TK:- http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB3w/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5089

My 2 year old son loves him. Simple as that. Don't get me wrong, I'm as keen to see the fish-faced gimp erased from history as the next man, but when your little boy is running round the house shouting "Jar-Jar" and "Darth Maul" (OK, the Sith Apprentice was kinda cool anyway), and refusing to watch any other SW film apart from EP I, it kinda changes your perspective on the whole thing. And when you are two, or watching it with a two year old, the annoying brat Annakin suddenly turns into this strangely mature, best fighter pilot in the galaxy dude. . . I'm just not looking forward to my lad turning into a sulky teenager and going psycho when Natalie Portman refuses to return his calls. . .

Get your Kamchatka terrain right here:- http://combatace.com/files/file/10530-kamchatka-peninsula-v-10/ Your JASDF birds will feel right at home With a couple of .ini edits it will run just fine in SF2.

You can create a custom set of campaign waypoints on the sea for your ship to ship ground war. Do that by adding a set of new target areas in the terrain TARGETS.ini file. They don't need to have any groundobjects placed there, you just need them to use as strategic nodes in your campaign data.ini file. You can specify a unique frontline and campaign strategic nodes for each campaign in the campaign_data.ini. Use the existing base areas as your base nodes, and link them with a join-the-dots network of waypoint target areas for your sea war. Then, use the BasePoint= flag to make sure your ground units show up in the right place. It works like this:- [strategicNode023] Area=NIKOLSKOYE ConnectTo[001].Target=SEVERNOYE ConnectTo[002].Target=PREOBRAZHENSKOYE ConnectTo[002].BasePoint=1053745,638624 [strategicNode024] Area=PREOBRAZHENSKOYE ConnectTo[001].Target=NIKOLSKOYE ConnectTo[001].BasePoint=962103,683374 ConnectTo[002].Target=ATTU ISLAND ConnectTo[002].BasePoint=1364375,454487 [strategicNode025] Area=ATTU ISLAND LocalObjective=TRUE ConnectTo[001].Target=PREOBRAZHENSKOYE ConnectTo[001].BasePoint=1058743,634624 Where the basepoint is the location on your map that the ground battle for the corresponding node will take place. That way, you can keep your ground battles on land or water, for whatever type of ground unit you are using. Obviously, you need separate strings of basenodes for sea and land units, so you don't get tanks showing up at sea or vice versa. For a waterworld type scenario, equip your sea units with the stock patrol boat. That way, you won't need to create new formations for capital ships, as patrol boats are small enough to use the existing tank formations, and lots of small boats zipping around shooting at each other would provide quite an interesting backdrop.