Progress Report and Alpha Build 1.0

Happy New Year! While things have been somewhat quiet on the blog for the last several days due to the holidays, a great deal of work has been going on behind the scenes with estab files, force lists, scenarios, briefings and graphics. A change log will be detailed at the bottom of this post to identify some of the work done in the Estab Editor.

I will also be posting the first alpha build of the PACOPS mod which contains battle specific Force Lists for use in the Scenario Editor. A sample mission that mimics the landings by US Marines on Green and Red Beaches on D-Day, June 15 1944 and the tragic counterattack launched by tanks of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 9th Armored Regiment is also included.

The heavy work was adding a 47mm main gun variant Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank, and constructing a brand new Type 95 Ha-Go Light Tank with a 37mm main gun to round out the basic armor setup for a Japanese armor company. Also included in the estab tweaks was a wholesale change to the naming convention of created files using “JPN” at the front to easily identify the items in the Estab Editor.

Type 95 Ha-Go

This is the basic data entry in the General Tab of the unit in the Estab Editor.

Type 97 Chi-Ha

This is a comparison of the two Type 97 Chi-Ha variants in the mod: one is fitted with the original 57mm main gun, and the other is the improved model with the 47mm main gun (longer barrel and higher muzzle velocity).

Scenario Testing

The following scenario is a test run for the estab work against a historical setting, that being the initial D-Day landings on Red and Green Beach by the 6th and 8th Marine Infantry Regiments. From my initial research, the Japanese counterattack by the 9th Armored Regiment did not occur until much later that night and was soundly repulsed by the Marines; however I have them attacking here at the start of the scenario just to test out the vehicle work so far.

The initial briefing for the test scenario follows a general format I have been using for some time.

Standard Reinforcement Schedules exist because I like placing units in the Scenario Editor for intelligence purposes, then removing them to be added to a Standard force list for each side so that I can easily adjust the Min and Max Arrival Strength level settings to affect their initial deployments.

The initial deployment of the 9th Armored Regiment north of Garapan on the coastal road: I order the group to perform a simple probe south into the first objective (Red Beach) adjusting only the rest, setting it to minimum.

This is a comparison of several in game panels for the basic “IJA Armor Coy” estab file. As mentioned elsewhere in this blog, I could use some assistance in collecting specific data for these units that is easily referenced on the web which details factors that can be input into the Estab Editor fields (such as weapon accuracy at various ranges, fuel capacity, etc.) Of course if there is a glaring error, I would appreciate constructive feedback and references to the correct data.

D01 12:00 The Japanese probe is being met by elements of the 6^th Marine Infantry Regiment that landed on Red Beach. The regimental headquarters unit is taking a pounding having lost its 57mm variant Chi-Ha’s and are now down to just two medium and one light tank. They will not last against the Marines.

D02 00:00 Things are continuing to deteriorate for the Imperial Japanese Army’s 9th Armored Regiment as they are down to only two units and 15 tanks (nine medium and six light).

D02 06:00 Day breaks upon the beachhead with 1^st Coy down to five tanks and facing encirclement by several infantry companies, while 3^rd Coy is down to eight tanks but are not utilizing them properly as they are parked well off of the objective, just south of Garapan. I detach 3^rd Coy and issue a separate attack order straight into the heart of the Allies.

After-action Report

D02 12:00 The battle ends in the expected Decisive Defeat for the Japanese. My forces were down to one unit and a total of five tanks (three medium, two light). Overall 41 armored fighting vehicles were lost to 179 personnel on the Marines side.

The signature is a simple Google translation of Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito, and I have no idea if this is a true representation of how a Japanese officer would have signed some official document. If someone has a valid representation of what something like this should be, please send it to me so that I can incorporate it into the Scenario Editor text and graphics.

Change Log

Estabs

Renamed all weapons, ammunition and vehicles with JPN as a frontend modifier.
Renamed all Forces with IJA or IJN (army or navy) as a frontend modifier.
Removed organic infantry assigned to the IJA Type 97 Bn Tac HQ force.
For the vehicle JPN Type 97 Chi-Ha I changed several data entries to match that of the Carro Armato M11/39 tank vehicle estab from COTA1. ***
Created an improved version of the Chi-Ha: There is now the original configuration JPN Type 97 Chi-Ha (57mm) and the improved variant, JPN Type 97 Chi-Ha (47mm). In a tank company of 10, I will have 6 57mm and 4 47mm tanks.

Scenarios

Changed lower bar from white to light gray to make it easier to visually reference detached units.

*** This is a temporary change to make the unit more unlike the base unit that was cloned. I would still like to have some community members provide data on the vehicle statistics that is relevant to the data input fields in the Estab Editor.

Alpha Build

The first release of the PACOPS mod is being provided for a functional review of the work already performed. It is in no way complete and is being provided as a work-in-progress example to solicit feedback from other members of the team and the larger Command Operations community.

The folder structure of the download follows the folder structure of the typical game installation: if something is in an Estab folder in the download, put it in the Estab folder of your core game installation. If you encounter any error in using the mod, please leave a comment in this post, not on the Matrix Forums.

PACOPS Alpha Build 001 January 1, 2014