Normandy 44

[Indragnir]

I still think their capacity to infiltrate breaks the opening day in N44. It means the Germans have absolutely no chance to hold any beach at all, even Omaha. This game is really the only game in the whole series with this problem. It's great you have the intent to fix the problem. But for me, I absolutely refuse to play this title without a HR that bans the infiltration of the commando/rangers period. The game was already heavily pro Allies before the rule. This just ruins it IMO.

As for the interdiction, yeah it needs a fix. In my own version of the Campaign I reduced the Interdiction to 25% and effect down to 15%. works much better. I also increased the forts to 15%/30%. Added storms  and changed the Victory conditions. I think you can still download my version form this site. And definitely use Low Visibility Air.

Even with all that. I would still bet on the Allies winning the game.

Normandy 44 is a very difficult game to balance.  Mechanics that are needed for the day of invasion don't always scale well with the inland battles.

And the reality is that, once ashore, the eventual victory of the Western Allies, with complete air and naval supremacy, plus a Soviet ally that on June 22 was to launch its own massive attack that destroyed most of a Wehrmacht Army Group, means near-zero chance for the Germans to do anything other than fight a bitter delaying battle (which they did).  In Normandy 44', things tend to skew and get out of hand even earlier than the historical Allied breakthrough, since the Allied player has foreknowledge that the deception efforts succeeded (hence slow Panzer reinforcement and minimal intervention from powerful German forces at Pas de Calais), knows when, where and in what strength the German reinforcements deploy, and also knows that the Germans cannot replace their rate of losses.  

I have given some thought to how to address these, but the problem is that you end up with the sort of despised "idiot rules" that would make the game less fun for the Allies, e.g. periodic freezing of units to reflect real-life Allies caution at an expected German Panzer counterattack (the sort of onslaught experience for example at Anzio), unrealistically buffing the morale and reinforcements of the Germans, or laying in extensive minefields and bunkers inland for the Germans to retreat to.

You can make the game more of a nail-biter if you do a "what if" scenario, but again all hinges on the first day.  If the Allies are unable to make beachheads, the campaign is over.  If the Allies get safely ashore, for all intents and purposes the campaign is over.

Very interesting ideas.
To me the top of my list of fixing is Limited Victory Points, seconded by using a set of values that really matched what both armies did, thirded by modulating casualities either by using replacements or adjusting Fire Low-High Values (yes, that obscure feature in the PDT...)

I can truly understand why designers of v1.00 used all alternate resolution rules in this one. It's not perfect but much better than not checking them (right now.)

[Tempest5]

Interested in picking up Normandy 44. Is here a mod/edit or rule I can use on the ZOC for Commandos/Rangers?
I play single player.

[Green]

Interested in picking up Normandy 44. Is here a mod/edit or rule I can use on the ZOC for Commandos/Rangers?
I play single player.

To the best of my knowledge there is no mod in respect of this issue. I offered to create one but I took the lack of interest to mean that either this was not an issue for most players or that my intended fix would not meet their requirements.

But, if you are playing as the Allies, you can implement any house rule you desire to restrict the Commandos/Rangers in ways that you think are appropriate. If playing as the Axis against the AI, I would suggest it is unlikely that the AI will take full advantage of these units capabilities and that the game will not be impacted in any noticeable way.

John

[Tempest5]

Interested in picking up Normandy 44. Is here a mod/edit or rule I can use on the ZOC for Commandos/Rangers?
I play single player.

To the best of my knowledge there is no mod in respect of this issue. I offered to create one but I took the lack of interest to mean that either this was not an issue for most players or that my intended fix would not meet their requirements.

But, if you are playing as the Allies, you can implement any house rule you desire to restrict the Commandos/Rangers in ways that you think are appropriate. If playing as the Axis against the AI, I would suggest it is unlikely that the AI will take full advantage of these units capabilities and that the game will not be impacted in any noticeable way.

John

Ok. Thanks for feedback.