Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

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Verdun1916
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Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by Verdun1916 »

So I was just playing one of the campaign games for SB First World War and the 1917: Stormtroop Tactics 101 (Caporetto, Italy) scenario.
This is part of the German campaign starting in 1914 and following Unteroffizier, later Leutnant, Wilhelm.
Anyways I was my third try on this scenario, about 4-5 turns in, and I had finally managed to break into the Italian trenches with some of my Stosstruppgruppen when the main character of the campaign, Leutnant Wilhelm, lying in cover in some shellholes behind a slope gets taken out by a pot shot from a pinned down and pushed back Italian squad. Ahhhh the frustration! And for the third time in a row trying the same campaign scenario makes it 3 x the frustration as the scenario is abruptly ended with no chance of loading a saved game and hope for better luck this time.

I really enjoy playing the campaign games, however it is frustrating beyond h*ll to having to either start the entire campaign, or atleast an entire scenario over, because your main charachter gets taken out by random pot shots or random artillery fire even when you try to keep him out of harms way. And this has happend in most of the previous scenarios in this campaign many times over for me.
It has come to a point now that I rather just pretend good old Wilhelm just got a light wound, goes to the hospital and is back in action again in time for the next scenario in the campaign list.
I know, I know...technically that might be considered cheating! But I'm just fed up with having to replay the same scenarios over and over and over again hoping that this time around poor Wilhelm might get a lucky break and not get hit while hiding away in a shell hole or a trench as far behind the fighting as I can put him.

Anyone else sharing this frustration when playing Squad Battles campaign games? Anyone else feeling that it royaly sucks having the scenario immediatly aborted forcing you to either replay the scenario in question or the entire campaign?

I love the realism and historical accuracy put into the Squad Battle games. However this perticular feature when your charachter becomes a casualty really kills alot of the playability of the campaign games!
I feel it should be possible to atleast load a save from an earlier turn so you can try and not get your charachter killed again. Or the charachter per default should only be considered lightly wounded so you could atleast continue the campaign. Or atleast let you finish fighting out the scenario while your charchter is bleeding out somewere on the battlefield.

Just my thoughts! And sorry for the over-use of the word frustration!

Cheers!
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Strela
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by Strela »

We are slowly working through our 'fix' list for Squad Battles. I will see if we can make 'campaign end on leader' an option. No promises but It maybe possible..
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Verdun1916
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by Verdun1916 »

Strela wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:12 pm We are slowly working through our 'fix' list for Squad Battles. I will see if we can make 'campaign end on leader' an option. No promises but It maybe possible..
That would be awesome if possible, Strela! Cheers!
Carlos
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by Carlos »

But- but- that feature is what adds that "roguelike" flavor! :-P

Seriously now, maybe you've noticed that while you cannot reload a previous game, you can restart the campaign from any scenario/situation. Since there are no troop carryovers, each scenario starts essentially at the same point. The only thing you'll be missing (I think) is the overall score at the end of the campaign.

Now for the best part. You can actually prevent the campaign from ending when the main character is killed with a simple modification.

Open Wilhelm.cpd with Notepad and look for the following line:
9999 00 Uffz Wilhelm

That line identifies the main campaign character, and the first number is his ID in the various .oobs that are part of the campaign.
We want to change that first value to one that doesn't appear in any .oob. We can simply add another digit:
99999 00 Uffz Wilhelm

Now save the .cpd. Voila,this removes the "Ironman" mode. Now if Wilhelm dies during the course of a campaign battle, he will respawn unharmed in the next scenario and the progression will be kept.
The reason this works is that the game tries to match the main character ID to an existing ID in the .oobs. If it can't find a match, it simply doesn't track the character's death.

Not sure if this also stops the program from tracking the special leader actions that add a small score bonus, but can't hurt to try.
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Verdun1916
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by Verdun1916 »

Xerxes77 wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 9:40 pm But- but- that feature is what adds that "roguelike" flavor! :-P

Seriously now, maybe you've noticed that while you cannot reload a previous game, you can restart the campaign from any scenario/situation. Since there are no troop carryovers, each scenario starts essentially at the same point. The only thing you'll be missing (I think) is the overall score at the end of the campaign.

Now for the best part. You can actually prevent the campaign from ending when the main character is killed with a simple modification.

Open Wilhelm.cpd with Notepad and look for the following line:
9999 00 Uffz Wilhelm

That line identifies the main campaign character, and the first number is his ID in the various .oobs that are part of the campaign.
We want to change that first value to one that doesn't appear in any .oob. We can simply add another digit:
99999 00 Uffz Wilhelm

Now save the .cpd. Voila,this removes the "Ironman" mode. Now if Wilhelm dies during the course of a campaign battle, he will respawn unharmed in the next scenario and the progression will be kept.
The reason this works is that the game tries to match the main character ID to an existing ID in the .oobs. If it can't find a match, it simply doesn't track the character's death.

Not sure if this also stops the program from tracking the special leader actions that add a small score bonus, but can't hurt to try.
I am well aware that I can restart the scenario from any of the scenarios. I thought that was obvious from my initial post. ;) Considering I mentioned refight the same scenario several times over, and skipping to the next campaign scenario etc.

But I did not know about the ability to mod the campaign like that. Afterall I want to play each campaign scenario to it's conclusion, otherwise what's the point of playing? So I think I will try your modding idea.

Cheers!
Carlos
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by Carlos »

Verdun1916 wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:05 am I am well aware that I can restart the scenario from any of the scenarios. I thought that was obvious from my initial post. ;) Considering I mentioned refight the same scenario several times over, and skipping to the next campaign scenario etc.
I'm used to playing rather punishing games in Ironman mode, but typically there has to be a point to make it worth the effort. I'd generally ignore the option to skip to a specific scenario and retry from the start, even if it means retrying the same scenario over and over.

For SqB campaigns however, where each scenario stands alone and has no impact on the rest, I can see how skipping can be a desirable option (and feels less of a "cheat") when keeping the main guy alive becomes an issue. The only part that bothers me is that it affects the whole campaign history & score at the end.

Hope the little tweak works for you, I found it out by chance while I was creating my campaign editor.
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Verdun1916
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by Verdun1916 »

Xerxes77 wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:20 am
Verdun1916 wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:05 am I am well aware that I can restart the scenario from any of the scenarios. I thought that was obvious from my initial post. ;) Considering I mentioned refight the same scenario several times over, and skipping to the next campaign scenario etc.
I'm used to playing rather punishing games in Ironman mode, but typically there has to be a point to make it worth the effort. I'd generally ignore the option to skip to a specific scenario and retry from the start, even if it means retrying the same scenario over and over.

For SqB campaigns however, where each scenario stands alone and has no impact on the rest, I can see how skipping can be a desirable option (and feels less of a "cheat") when keeping the main guy alive becomes an issue. The only part that bothers me is that it affects the whole campaign history & score at the end.

Hope the little tweak works for you, I found it out by chance while I was creating my campaign editor.
Thanks for the tip!

I wouldn't say anything about it if I deliberatly put the man charachter in harms way by leading charges over and over again for example. I mean then it would not be a matter of if but when, Wilhelm in this case, would end up in a massgrave or in the hospital. It's the fact that he seems to get taken out time and time again by bad luck. I don't mind replaying a scenario once or twice, but when it happens every other scenario it kind of bums me out. I want to play the scenarios through to finish, but I also want to move on in the campaign to experience the comming scenarios. And I simply don't have the time nor patience to replay each scenario 3-5 times before moving on to the next one.

So your mod tip feels alluring to try out! That way I can play through every scenario from beginning to end jet move on in the campaign without having to tear the hair and beard from my head and face in frustration. It's a shame about the points, but it's not a deal breaker for me.
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parmenio
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by parmenio »

Strela wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:12 pm We are slowly working through our 'fix' list for Squad Battles. I will see if we can make 'campaign end on leader' an option. No promises but It maybe possible..
Having taken a look, I can say that stopping the battle ending is easy enough. Might need a bit of thought around where you want that option set though.
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Carlos
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by Carlos »

Just a suggestion... :D

sqcampaign.jpg
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parmenio
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Re: Ahhhh...the frustration of yet again loosing your main charachter!

Post by parmenio »

Xerxes77 wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:45 am Just a suggestion... :D
There you go then...
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