Decisive Campaigns: Case Blau

[Philippe]

I finally broke down and got this, and am looking forward to getting to know the system.

I'm a little horrified at just how large my game-playing backlog has gotten, and my game-modding backlog isn't far behind.  These days I seem to gravitate towards games that need little or no modding, so I can actually play them.

Having just modded finished making a bunch of Strategic Command flag mods the construction and research issues are fresh in my mind, so I couldn't help turning that part of my brain towards Decisive Campaigns.  The first thing I noticed was that the people who have modded the flags only seem to care about painting swastikas on things, and don't worry too much about whether the other flags are correct or appropriate.  Oh well, we can't all be into vexillology.  For the record, the Italian flag is wrong any way you slice it: the WW I and II tricolors should always have the house of Savoy's coat of arms in the middle of the white stripe, unless it's used for the Regia Marina (aka the navy), in which case the coat of arms should have a crown on top.  Anyone who's spent too much time staring at Italian vermouth bottles knows this.  I guess that means this game's modders don't make their martini's with Italian vermouth (I stopped drinking the French stuff before dinner when I grew up enough to admit to myself that even if it did clear my palate, I still didn't like the taste).

The Romanian and Hungarian flags are not strictly wrong, but could be improved.  If you're going to use the German war flag for the HQ units, why do Romanians and Hungarians get stuck with plain tricolors?  You can debate a bit about the royal coat of arms being appropriate for the Romanian war flags, but most Hungarians in that period probably thought that the crown of St. Stephen was part of  the national flag (even though technically it wasn't), and it was certainly part of the war flag.  It's a bit like the WW II flag for India: people thought that it was the red ensign with the star of India (like the shield on the Canadian flag), and that flag got used at international events (including, apparently, the founding of the U.N.), but it wasn't really the official flag (the Union flag, sometimes defaced by the star of India in the center). [Now that I think about it, I really should change my flag mod for Assault on Democracy because the unofficial Indian flag is much more amusing since there are already so many Union flags on the expanded world map].

These things are easy to fix, and only require fiddling around a bit with a few PNG files.  I like that, because I'm burning out on modding, and need to remake my WW I mods for France '14 and East Prussia, as well as decide whether the new Peninsula game is compatible with my Napoleonic mods.  But there's another problem, and it's much more insidious because it's the kind of thing that I wake up worrying about in the middle of the night.

I'm not sure I like the colors of the unit counters.

I've taken a closer look at one of the mods that apparently changes this, and I can't for the life of me figure out what graphics file was modified to change the colors.  It may be that I haven't spent enough time poking around in the game files, but the other possibility is that unit color is something that gets set by editing the scenario files.

If that's the case I'm reluctant to change the unit colors, not because I couldn't figure out how to use the editor, but because I'm against making changes to things other than graphics files in public mods:  it can mess up pbem, and the people who use these mods can never be sure what else you've changed (like boosting the combat values of your favorite unit).

I'm also sure that I don't have enough of a visual feel for what the game is supposed to look like at this point, so for now I'm a tad reluctant to start messing with something that fundamental.

But having said all that, does anyone here actually know how to change the unit colors?  I ask the question here because I think Victor occasionally wanders through and the Matrix forum seems a little dead.

[And having seen the quality of this game I can well understand why John Tiller is having trouble finishing his Strategic War in Europe series].

[sandman2575]

Matter of personal preference, of course, but I find the Decisive Campaign games visually appealing without need of modification -- very much in contrast to WitE, which I cannot play without heavy graphical mods and tweaks of all kinds.

My advice would be:  just play the game -- it's terrific.

[Philippe]

The base visuals are pretty good, and the two or three mods that adjust the map visuals may or may not be an improvement and may not be that necessary.  I'd need to play with them loaded to be able to say one way or the other, and I'm not there yet.  One of the ones I've seen may improve things a bit, but it might also be too busy.  And without knowing how cluttered the map background should be, it's impossible to say whether using more historically flavorful colors is a good idea or not.

So much for aesthetics.

The use of a black, white and red tricolor for a German flag, however, was not a great design decision.  I would rather see that than a red flag with a made-up symbol like you get in out-of-the box Strategic Command, but that particular tricolor is just as much of  fantasy event.  If you must use a tricolor instead of the correct flag, at least use the old imperial tricolor, which, unlike this one, doesn't look like a French flag. 

I'm not squeamish about using swastikas on my WW II Germans, but I can think of at least two historically authentic alternatives: a plain balkenkreuz on a greyish background, or the wehrmacht eagle with outstretched wings (and yes, it's clutching a swastika in its claws, but it so small no one would ever notice).

There's no excuse for ahistorical symbols.

[Cyrano]

I've never had a need to modify DC in any of its iterations and have played more than my share of hours.  I loaded some of the mods for Advanced Tactics and never really found them as, well, necessary, as those for JTS and HPS.

That said, Philippe, your first post is a delightful insight into how the mind of someone who does such a great job at these things thinks.  Many of those things would absolutely never have occurred to me.  Please never stop!

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Cyrano]

...but, I will prod a bit and observe that your title should either have been "Fall Blau" or "Case Blue".

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Sir Slash]

Just picked this one up myself. The visuals don't bother me but I would be interested in any mods that would be posted. I was actually hoping for some user-made scenarios but I don't see any. :'( Loved the first game and really like this one too. Still getting used to the supply changes and all the new Leader Abilities. This monster is more monster than the last game but there's some good small scenarios and I managed to pick-up a win in the first scenario of the 1st Panzer Army campaign. Glad to see naval units added to the game. And the AI is as tough as ever! This is the face it makes at me after I move...

[sandman2575]

The one thing that still gets under my skin about DC Case Blue is its handling of the air war. I am not a German fanboy who thinks the Heer and Luftwaffe should be invincible by any stretch, but the thrashing the LW takes at the hands of the VVS in this game -- summer of '42 -- is completely ahistorical. Swarms of Soviet fighters rise up to thwart any LW airstrike. Germany's bombers get depleted in short order. As the German player, you become afraid to use them, which is exactly the opposite of what it should be:  the LW was decisive in allowing Germany's decidedly overmatched armor to take on the Soviets at this stage in the war.

[Cyrano]

Sandman, is that in the main campaign or in any of the scenarios as well?

I confess I've been working my way up through the scenarios and the victory conditions seem balanced to reward Heer/LW aggression even against those losses?

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[sandman2575]

I haven't tried the smaller scenarios, just the full Case Blue campaign -- but I assume air combat is handled the same across all scenarios. Possibly there are fewer Soviet aircraft available in the smaller scenarios, so the problem may be less noticeable, but that's just a guess.

There's a "Case Blue Redux" modded campaign available on the Matrix forums that I've been meaning to try -- it addresses some of the airwar imbalance issues, plus uses the "hardcore" supply rules from DC Warsaw to Paris, which ups the challenge for the German player (in a good, more historical way).

[Sir Slash]

I'm not familiar with the Hardcore Supply rules from DC 1. My biggest frustration with the game is the limited supply of ammo for the arty and the air force. And the slow-as-hell replenishment rate. Limited oil I can deal with but without ammo there's no point trying to go anywhere.

[bobarossa]

The one thing that still gets under my skin about DC Case Blue is its handling of the air war. I am not a German fanboy who thinks the Heer and Luftwaffe should be invincible by any stretch, but the thrashing the LW takes at the hands of the VVS in this game -- summer of '42 -- is completely ahistorical. Swarms of Soviet fighters rise up to thwart any LW airstrike. Germany's bombers get depleted in short order. As the German player, you become afraid to use them, which is exactly the opposite of what it should be:  the LW was decisive in allowing Germany's decidedly overmatched armor to take on the Soviets at this stage in the war.

I have the same gripe.  I had just finished reading Black Cross, Red Star vol 3 on the air war over Stalingrad and couldn't believe how badly they got the air war.  I complained on the matrix forums and got no response.  Haven't played the game since. 

[sandman2575]

I loaded up that "Case Blue Redux" campaign last night but didn't have time to get into it. Get it here if interested:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3662619

Purports to do some good things, namely:

"Changes made to the stock scenario in an attempt to rebalance the air and repair the SS MTZ OOB's.

1. Axis BF E's are now BF F's.
2. All Axis air replacements arrive at 50% experience rather than 20%; including those purchased by the Cards.
3. Soviet Fighter replacement rate reduced by 33%.
4. New SS MTZ unit OOB to include 3 MTZ regiments where historically appropriate.
5. Das Reich arrives on Feb 12 1943 and TK on Feb 14 1943; this was to clear up a few inconsistancies.
6. Hardcore Supply "

I'm very curious to see if this pushes the airwar toward something approaching historical reality, but I'm skeptical.

Vic has mentioned that the way to defeat the VVS as German player is to do a lot of recon to spot enemy airbases, and then airstrikes against those bases. Problem is, there are no dedicated air recon units in Case Blue (unlike Warsaw to Paris, strangely), plus, you have *zero* intelligence on where those bases might be, rather unrealistically, so it's a total crapshoot / shot in the dark situation trying to locate them with air units you'd much rather be using for actual combat missions. 

Airwar is frustrating in DC Case Blue -- really my only complaint about the game...

[Sir Slash]

Has there been any talk about the naval aspect? Tactics or strategies? As the Axis, is it even worth using your little ships at all? Or better to keep them safe at home.

[TacticalWargames]

As I don't know much about the Air War in general in WW2 in my ignorance I really enjoyed DC Case Blue. I do know though I can't wait to see how DC3 plays as the developer diaries sound amazing.

[sandman2575]

@SirSlash -- For my part, I pretty much ignore the naval aspect entirely. Naval units seem more there for flavor than usefulness. My whole MO as German player is to take Sevastopol as quickly as possible and get von Manstein outta Crimea so he can assist in the (very difficult) siege of Rostov-na-Don. A little gamey of me, but I strip Manstein's 11th army of its JG fighter groups, completely un-needed in Crimea but badly needed near Voronezh and Millerovo.

@Tactical -- I know something about WW2 airwar but my knowledge is hardly exhaustive -- and even the irritation of how DC2 handles (or mishandles) airwar does not significantly detract from my enjoyment of this excellent game.

DC3 (along with Hearts of Iron IV) are front-and-center on my Upcoming Games Eagerly Awaited radar...