Barbarossa II - Smolensk Beta 1 Options

[Slyk]

First off let me thank you guys for enjoying and playing the crap out of 'Barbarossa'. I've stopped by the servers a few times and I know quite a few of our After-Hourz regulars slut their way over here now and then. One comment I have though is on the tanks. Running them at stock reload times really really diminishes the effectiveness of the BT7 and overpowers the KV1. We run slightly modded times at AHz that gives the BT a faster reload rate of about 35% or so over the Panzers. Slowing down the KV makes it more important to have some support infantry or BTs with it. And overall it adds a new angle on gameplay.

Anyway. I really like this article. Very well done. Lots of great observations and smart, well thought out points. Don't find that so much on forums! haha I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce the followup NOT SEQUEL map to 'Barb'. The new one will be similar in feel, but play differently for sure. I am just getting internal Alpha testing started and hope to have a public beta1 in less than 10 days. Only BAS, CNQ and CTF will be featured at in the first beta. You will have to deal with a lot more open space and far less effective pak guns for bombardment. I know that will annoy half the crowd, but... well, here is a copy/paste of the latest info...

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As we approach internal testing time, I thought it was time to get some in-game map images up so that you can have a perspective of the map.

**NOTE** There are a LOT of tree and bush models, but I chose to leave them turned 'off' for these pics. There is much more cover than appears here and more on the way as I mod the map...what you see now may be different in four hours!

The first one is looking NE from the southwest corner of the map. The main German spawn region for Base and CNQ is in the lower-left part of the map around the farm buildings. Going toward the right you find five small houses and a stone bridge over a modest size stream (CNQ objective). Just up in the picture is a trench works with a concrete AT bunker and 45mm gun. Beyond this section you see the larger village with several small fields around it and a dominating church with tower. Further right over the next stream is a steep ridge with the pillaged 'Barb' trench system. Behind this a thick forest sloping down toward the rail depot and another sizable village and fields.




The second image is a top-down look at the entire map. This image will be included in the testing files. Note the map key at the upper right.

[ScrapyardBob]

CNQ is great on this map. I've never played CNQ before, but this was a blast. Things get really really nasty in the main town when the capture position passes through there.

CTF - the mortar in the german spawn (back by the stack of wood) is rather useless? Not enough range to hit the area around the flag or to provide any sort of coverage of the flag area. At best, it can dissuade someone from sneaking in the back.

The stone wall at the stone bridge could use just a tiny bit of lowering. It's usually possible to jump over it, but sometimes you have to catch it *just* right. Maybe nudge it down in a few more spots to make more obvious crossing points.

Railyard, found a few slatted fences that you can drive jeeps through (SE part of the railyard before you head down the S tracks). Around (3592 -13827 -131).

Now for the "out there" thoughts. Take these with a large grain of salt.

I'm thinking G3 should be shoved a bit to the NW, about 50-100 meters. That would keep the pillbox from hitting it and turn the existing G3 hill into a focal point for fighting (either a defensive position for germans or an offense position for russians). Being down closer to the river would make it more exposed which might be a good tradeoff for it being closer to the german side. It would also provide a touch of relief for R3 (if R3 stays there) as the germans would not spawn quite so close to R3.

The current G3 hill could also then start sporting some defensive positions looking both east and west. The pak gun by the existing G3 could move to (-20002 -5987 775), coverage from SSE to NE. That would counter the strong position of the pillbox gun. (I really like the pillbox gun and think it should have an extremely wide firing arc, as wide as possible.)

The pak position by G1. Remove the pak, make the position a little deeper and it's an almost perfect defensive position for a german tank to use. (A nice "tank scrape".) That frees up a model, but allows the germans to decide whether or not to put a tank in that position.

The mortar near the pillbox is okay, but I think it would do better up at (-16837, -17759, 653). That would allow it to face NW over the village, providing a reason to hold down that hilltop trench.

The 45mm at (-9909 -19154 492) doesn't have enough coverage. It currently faces almost due W but would be more useful if it faced NW. Coverage from WSW to almost due N would be great.

The passages around R3 (-11544 -6030 188) need to be a lot wider, 3-4 tanks wide (maybe more). I think this would be an ideal area for another "marshy" spot. Pools of water would provide some interest to this part of the north flank. Framerate in there seems to be very high due to the limited sightlines. (The north flank feels a bit "blah" at the moment, with only the R3 base tucked into that one corner.)

A few trees across the ridgetop at (-15798 -4010 633) leading through a moderately thick forest all the way down the hill to the existing R3 bunker location. Treeline ending at around (-13561 -3890 443). If the area around R3 was made deeper in the east direction, R3 could be moved another 50m to the east away from that treeline.

I sort of see R3 as being in low lying area, surrounded by pockets of water. Even if it's just a few puddles here and there. Germans would attack down the hill to the W through the tree cover but have about 50-100m of semi-open ground before they'd get to R3. Russians could either hold them off at the hilltop at the W end of the forest (but with the difficulty of taking fire from the G3 pak gun) or hang back closer to R3 in a defensive fortification.

Starting at (-9213 -5724 190) can we put a passage in that leads around to the backside of R3? Something narrow to connect up with the widened area around R3. That would give the russians a second approach to their R3 to bring in reinforcements rather then being funneled through that narrow passage that currently exists. (But if that passage were a lot wider, it wouldn't be as much of a deathtrap.)

The last part of the fence at (-8613 -10436 316) should be removed. It makes it too difficult to get on/off the bridge with a vehicle. In addition, the W slope of the road should be more gradual to allow vehicles to escape into the field there. Or for them to come up off the field and across the bridge without having to thread a needle.

If I were to move R2 to the east and make the russians spawn closer to the trainyard, I would put R2 at (-2925 -10393 508). In some ways this is a strong defensive position, but germans can flank around to the south, or come through the tunnels, or attack directly across the bridge to the west.

A passage from (-957 -14310 274) to (-115 -16123 193) would be good. It would provide a focal point for those two houses on the south flank passage.

Maybe move R1 back to (-1332 -18676 175). Flatten the R1 hill and put in a mortar position facing north at around (-6160 -18200 431).

Infantry should be provided more cover in the area around -7272 -8334 261. I'm thinking in terms of german infantry attempting to slip into the defensive positions east of town by sneaking over the raised road, dropping down into the stream and then sneaking up into the north half of the defensive positions. Maybe a wooden plank "bridge" across the water at that point that the germans/russians can use to cross while being hidden by some foliage (trees in the riverbed area). Might have to remove a few more pieces of fence on both sides of that dead-end roadway to allow infantry to slip over that spot.

That spot could become especially effective for infantry movement if there's a swamp area around (-9340 -6832 188) instead of the plain flat ground that exists there now. Maybe even a tunnel under the roadway at that spot, allowing infantry to sneak under the road and into the bushes / cover on the N side of the road.

Stationary gun positions. The russians have basically 4 spots. I'd leave all of these for all gametypes.

- The south gun that overlooks the swamp
- the pillbox gun
- 45mm in the defensive fortifications on the east side of town.
- 45mm in the N end of the railyard

German positions Same, leave them in for all gametypes.

- the G3 hill
- near the G2 base (-22196, -15641, 333), would need a good bunker design to withstand fire from the pillbox gun
- a 3rd one would go well at (-15282, -16642, 408), coverage from SE to N overlooking the SW corner of the town
- move the spawn pak NE and give it a wide view over the field

Mortar positions (if I was going to reposition all of them, I'd only use 6 on the map and leave them available for all gametypes).

- (-16837, -17759, 653) overlooking the stone bridge area
- (-23633, -9066, 442) facing NE with coverage to N and SE, basically move the trenches a bit to the NE to provide defense along the N flank
- (-14113 -10204 208) facing ESE with coverage of NNE to S
- (-7625, -13277, 188) facing W towards town, either inside the structure or on the E side of the structure.
- On the R1 hill (N of where R1 is)
- (3592 -13827 -131) with a cleaner view (and a woodpile or two for cover) to the SW.

There might be a few more positions for mortars, especially once defensive positions get put in in more locations. I don't feel that they're terribly useful when placed in the bases (and I'd like them to be available across more gametypes).

Tank scrape spots or defensive positions (spots for the L-shaped positions similar to the one WNW of German 1, or shallow depressions, or a mound of dirt, or 3 logs stacked on top of each other)

- (-15172 -8231 513), a tank position facing SE, overlooking the town
- (-16064 -7368 539) looking NW
- (-17570 -9584 312) exists, great design, looks NW
- (-15719 -3376 730) looking SW
- one by R3, looking west (wherever R3 ends up)
- (-18831 -3683 622) looking S
- (-21752 -4295 609) looking S
- (-25348 -7573 426) looking E
- (-24686, -12359, 205) exists, but needs some brush removed to give the tank gunner some visibility
- (-23398 -18835 442) exists, but too shallow, needs about another half meter of depth
- (-20946 -17540 314) possibly spot for looking NE
- (-18636 -20341 616) looking NE (basically an ambush spot) or could be used as infantry defensive hardpoint
- (-15394 -19439 462) looking E over the swamp
- (-16217 -13028 354) looking W and E, a simple wall would allow both sides to use this as a tank scrape
- (5056 -14416 -131) looking SW (woodpile, a broken wall, or stacked bunker logs)
- (4279 -9688 -131) looking WNW
- (-1119 -17106 188) looking W

That should provide a reasonable amount of cover for both sides if anyone wants to play defense. I tended to pick spots that provided a decent field of view, that wouldn't be in the way of "flow-schmoe" and are spots where it would make sense to defend / attack from.

(Apologies for the length... I think I got carried away.)