this is a sequel to the Gizmotron user-mod for Axis and Allies. featuring new types of weather & terrain. new, larger territory maps in skirmish mode. new experience ranks and bonuses (regiments improve up to 2000 exp points). 100+ special ops, new water-based units like cruisers and submarines (with torpedo attacks). nations included are Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Communist China, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India (Allied), Indian National Army (Axis), Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Mongolia, Nationalist China, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic (Axis), South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United States, Yugsolavia, and the Yugoslav Partisans more nations and territories available for WW2 mode, see images for details.
these were originally intended to be used for special generals, and I intend to use them that way as well. but this officer with peaked cap and assault rifle looked so nice that I decided to use it as an alternate Waffen SS officer as well. theharkonnen did really nice work on this one. he's also made generals for Japan, Russia, Great Britain, and the United States. we're still in the process of tweaking some of the portrait skins.
He look badass, this unit reminded me about the "Iron Cross Holders" (the best infantry of the Wehrmacht) in COH1!
Great work! But they really need camo, Gizmo, when I downloaded your User Mod, I gave the Waffen-SS riflemen, officers, machine gunners, and rocket launchers 44 dot camo (cloned from the German sniper), I can give you those files to use here if you want.
Also, the file changes the NIF of the Waffen-SS soldiers to not have paratrooper models with an mp40, but instead have actual rifles.
but your idea does not require changing the nifskope model. it's simply a reskin. much easier to simply duplicate the regular infantry model and change the uniform!
I didn't go with the 44 dot camo for German infantry because the mod now starts much earlier in the war. we're extending things as far back as 1937 for some countries. WW2 will be starting prior to the invasion of Poland and France. it didn't seem right to have 1939 Germany using 1944 camo patterns on general infantry.
after making the camo patterns for the Panzergrenadiers and USMC I decided that it would be too confusing to give the Waffen SS infantry a camo pattern as well. makes it easier to figure out which regiment is which in the game.
the decision to give the Waffen SS the MP40 as a standard infantry weapon was not historically accurate-- but if we game them rifles they wouldn't have felt different enough from regular infantry to justify the effort.
it's similar to the suggestion that we add National Guard Infantry Regiments-- but they would have to use the same gear as regular US infantry. some folks didn't like the idea that the NG would have lower health, morale, and defense values. we decided not to add them in since they would simply be a regular infantry regiment with a new name. nothing was added to gameplay except a new regimental name. in the same way we felt that the Waffen SS had to offer something that regular infantry could not. hence the MP40 and a second type of grenade attack.
since only the CO unit used MP40-- and because we were adding SMG infantry to other factions-- it seemed like a satisfactory compromise at the time.
not saying that your suggestions are wrong-- they're good ones. it's just that I'm probably not going to change those things right now.
we've got a lot of other things going on right now.
The best idea I have is to give them g43 semi-auto rifles. While stg44 was a groundbreaking weapon, in actually use it was no more than a over-glorified smg. elite troops were generally give g43 since they could best use them to the fullest. The stg on the other hand, were primarily used(but not completely) by Volkgrenadiers; second rate troops.
I'll do some tests. but here's where things get tricky:
all automatic weapons (MGs, SMGs, and automatic rifles) have a baseline attack and can damage multiple targets now. the Sturmgewehr used a short rifle cartridge so it kinda breaks the curve for the SMG model I'm using. right now SMGs have about half the attack value of a rifle, but damage more targets. the Sturmgewehr would have perhaps 80% of the attack value but could hit 6 targets at once.
so this means that second rate infantry, even without MGs, can possibly match or exceed the firepower of elite Allied infantry regiments.
I could give them low morale as a compensating measure. maybe 3 instead of 5 per unit. then maybe also make the recharge 6 seconds instead of the usual 3. adding those together might actually make them truly "second rate troops". if I don't take some extra measures to undermine the unit's effectiveness, the regiment might become too overpowered.
if I hadn't started changing how all the automatic weapons work I wouldn't have any reservations about the change.
it was easier to simply have the weapon assigned to "elite troops" where players could reasonably expect them to be more dangerous and effective on the battlefield.
I'll see if I can make your suggestion work on the over-glorified SMG thing.
Just my personal opinion, the current uniforms look too much like the Allgemine SS or the honorguard. Early war maps would not need extensive appearance of the Waffen SS, since the Wehrmacht belittled the WSS and thus many of the greater battles before 1943 did not include them in large numbers.