Englander! Mod for CC3
Summary
The starting point of this mod was Cathartes' excellent Commonwealth Summer
mod so it is really a submod (though it is installed as a full mod). However
virtually all the data has been altered. There are also many new graphics and
sounds plus other changes. The mod covers British units (including Para and
Commando) in their advance from Normandy to Germany and the typical types of
German forces they encountered.
Although 2nd Army included Canadians and Polish etc, and Commandos of the Special
Service (SS) Brigades included non British nationals (including anti-nazi Germans
of 10 IA Commando) they are not identified seperatly in this mod (simply because
there are not enough slots).
Englander may seem a strange title coming from a Welshman but it seems to be
the term generally used by nazi Germany for all British nationals and sometimes
their allies (at least Hitlers directives and speaches refer to England rather
than Britain).
Main aims
I have tried to cover developments in both weapons and ammunition. For example,
there are 2 Fireflys, 1 is tagged 'late 44' as it has a 17pdr with sabot AP
ammo which was only made available for the 17pdr in late 44. The US Chaffee
is included as it was to replace the Stuart in the light tank role in early
45. There are also different versions of the Cromwell and Chuchill which went
through various upgrades during the period.
Many various types of British recce vehicles are included due to the amount
of action seen by the RAC (They were constantly in action on patrols between
the major engagements).
I have tried to give some historical detail in each of the teams descriptions
from my own research but I am no expert and will certainly not take offence
if anyone pulls me up on any of this info.
A lot of effort has been made to historically recreate weapon performance whilst
maintaining balanced playability. My research indicated that general cannon
fire accuracy on the CC scale was roughly 60% on the first round and 90% on
the second. Dual values are not possible in CC so I have leaned further towards
the lower accuracy to reflect nervous gunners and commanders in battle, although
many weapons have veteran versions to reflect a better performance from experienced
troops. Ofcourse many other factors affect accuracy such as weapon type, range,
ammo type etc. Infact I have not really needed to make any guesses as I have
been able to acquire performance data for all weapons in the mod (even results
of grenade throwing accuracy tests carried out by Britain in WWII).
I have also created dual performances for MGs and SMGs according to range. For
example, at 80 metres a sten will carefully aim and squeeze off a short fairly
accurate burst. At 10 metres it will quickly and wildly expend most of the magazine.
This was done by creating 2 weapons for the sten soldier where the game will
select the appropriate weapon according to range.
Cannon ammunition (type and amount) is also a big factor in this mod as armour
penetration (and accuracy) differs greatly according to the type. Suffice to
say without going into individual cases, HEAT rounds of low velocity weapons
will penetrate but accuracy is very poor. HE rounds will rarely penetrate but
have a great effect on soft targets. British AP rounds have no HE filler so
are no good against infantry whereas German AP rounds have a small amount. Special
rounds (high velocity AP of various types) will generally have much greater
penetration but availability will be the key. For example small calibre cannon
usually had first call to increase its performance and extend is use.
Some features
Amphibious vehicles (DDs and Buffalos) work a treat, had some great amphibious
assaults during testing . Many old maps have seemed like new due to the battle
no longer concentrating around a bridge.
Element and Terrain damage sprite changes have resulted in greater map damage
from HE bombardment. (A few days fighting on one map made it unrecognisable).
Old weapons with new method:
The mod includes a number of new weapons and vehicles but familiar weapons and
vehicles have had their operation changed. For example Churchill AVRE fires
indirectly. Howitzer and FOOs also have indirect fire but with minimum ranges.
Read a teams info column as a lot of work has been put into these and min ranges
are quoted here for indirect weapons. Amphibious vehicles also need some practise,
water gives no cover so if you order them from one bank to another they may
go off looking for a bridge. Banks can also be dangerous so they may need some
coxing into the water but 9 times out of 10 they will dive right in. New weapons
include German mines, represented by a single (dark red) immobile soldier sprite.
If these cheap weapons are placed under good cover (behind a hedge or wall or
tall grass etc) they will halt an infantry assault in its tracks or disable
a tank.
There are quite a few new ops with the mod together with 1 brand new historical campaign and 2 modified campaigns
Known issues:
There is a slight upgrade glitch for a couple of command team types. (This is
probably because I changed the random order in the team files to completely
ordered. This was also done for the other .txt files so this mod is far easier
to re-mod if you want to).
Some shadows are a bit rough.(Maybe one day I'll sort.)
Churchill bridgelayer does not lay bridges. I think it can be done but I've
not yet got that one wrapped up.
There was a few minor things but I can't quite remember what. By all means drop
me a line if you have issue with anything, including historical data.
I never really intended to make this mod, even after 6 months work I never
thought I would actually have an end result but it just sort of took off. I
would like to make a number of sub-mods, one for each of the British divisions
in 2nd Army. They would include new team files with the different units titles
together with a campaign and ops reflecting the divisions history in WF. But
there is no start date for this as I need to catch up on real life and maybe
get some games on the zone for a change.
I would like to thank Cathartes, for probably my favorite cc3 mod, 'Commonwealth
summer' which is the base and inspiration for this one. I would also like to
thank MZ and Shrecken for some of the graphics, plus all the tool makers and
Southern Land who produced some excellent maps just in time for the making of
the campaign.
Jan 2003
click here for team lists.
and below for a few screenshots
