Mod plan: COH Chinese battlefield

[moknin]

Nearly every video games about WW2 are featured on the European theater, sometime maybe the Pacific theater, but nearly none of them mention about the Chinese battlefield. In the Eight Years War of Resistance (as WW2 called in China) the Chinese suffered the second most total causality next to only the Soviet Union. Most of the major engagements in Asia were fought in China, where the Chinese armies hold off the bulk of Japanese Army, which factored the Allies victory in the Pacific. Yet the sacrifice of China had not been remembered. I am thinking of a mod that include both the National Revolutionary Army of China and the Imperial Japanese Army in 1944, the year that the original COH setting based on.

While I and thankfully dedicated volunteers from the Eastern Front forum are enthusiastically helping for the mod, it is still in the very early development (the second week) and we welcome suggestions/ joining of designers of all kind.

Here are the faction concept we came up with

National Revolutionary Army:

Concept: NRA is a defensive-oriented force. Its army are numerous and easily to recruit (not unlike the Soviets in EF mod), but very technological inferior army. Infantry would be the mainstay of the NRA, and yes I am also talking about in anti-tank warfare. While common infantry would be very cheap and easy to replace, a reference to practice of forcibly conscription with minimal training, specialized squads such as gun crews would suffer an extremely small size and expansive to replace, in reference to heavy loss of trained troops in the beginning of the war

NRA armors are rare and light-oriented. They were either foreign made tanks with relatively hight quality but expansive, or local improvised armor vehicle which are relatively cheap. They should only be deployed against infantry as those prewar/ local crude made/ light vehicles would definitely be devastated against Axis armors. Tank could only be called in as doctrinal units and would not be on par with European. However the NRA is not without large mobile force. Old day units such as cavalry would made an appearance

In reference to the Sino-German cooperation before 1941 and late war American aid, early German and American weapons would be prominent in NRA arsenal

Chinese cannot receive vet in battlefield, but rather every units come with a random vet when produce. This reflect the mixed quality of NRA personnel

Building/ unit planning:
The concept of NRA building is that most buildings are only research building and can not train troops. Unit recruitment is the job of Recruit Officer squad. Specific buildings can unlock more unit for him to recruit. They can be multiply produce and allow you to wage war everywhere, reflecting the large scale guerrilla warfare employ by the Chinese. Like the German the Chinese need to individually upgrade weapon for their unit, a reference to the logistic problem suffered throughout the war

Resistance Headquarter

Peasants
- 10 men, builders, unarmed
- can be upgrade into Militia which armed with random weapons

Recruit Officers - The primary unit builder for the NRA. Specific buildings can unlock more unit for him to recruit. They can be multiply produce and allow you to wage war everywhere, reflecting the large scale guerrilla warfare employ by the Chinese
- 3 men, armed with 1 Mauser C96 and 2 Hanyang 88
- need to deploy into "Recruit Post" or garrison building for recruitment and reinforce troops

Recruit Post - armed with 1 Mauser C96 and 2 Hanyang 88, can reinforce nearby troops

Footman - Forced conscripted peasants who receive minimal training and very low morale, due to harsh treatment in recruitment and heavily corruption within the Army. They would be your mainstay
- 8 men, armed with Hanyang 88s
- can be upgunned into Chiang Kai-Shek rifle which allow better accuracy and range
- can upgrade Type Gong grenade (copy of the German M24 grenade) which deal less damage than its German counterpart

Support team (unlocked with arsenal) - The MG team of China. To reflect the lack of trained soldiers in NRA they are made up by merely 2 men
- 2 men, armed with ZB26 LMG and Hanyang 88
- can be upgraded into Type 24 HMG for significantly increased suppression and range, but would now require deploy time as they now become HMG team
- can dig in for additional protection

Dare-to-die troop (unlocked with arsenal) - The literal translation of 敢死隊. They were formed by the bravest and were the assault troop of NRA. Their non-cost concentrated charge grenade made them one of the few AT unit for NRA
- 6 men, armed with Hanyang 88 and concentrated charge grenade
- can be upgunned into Astro 903 machine pistol

Cavalry (unlocked with stable) - For a country that can hardly support armored warfare, cavalry is the only choose for the NRA to employ mobile warfare
- 6 men, armed with Hanyang 88 carbines
- have the ability to charge into enemy infantry
- unsuppressable but low health

Combat Medic (unlocked with Field hospital) -
- 1 man with Mauser C96, can heal nearby troop

Arsenal
- tech: AP bullets - Support team can now use AP bullet when acquired Type 24 HMG
- tech: Large magazine clip - Allow Dare-to-die troop and Whampoa cadet to deal more damage
- tech: Firearm workshop - Unit ability cost less
- tech: Wire cutter - Allow peasants/ militias to cut wire

Stable
- tech: Mongolian horse - cavalry have greater speed and health
- tech: Horse for Logistic - resource rate increase

Workshop - (have technicians for repairing) This is the only building that would directly produce units

Armored car - While China can't produce tanks, she did able to improvise existing vehicles into low-quality armor car. This practice was utilized even by the early warlords
- Armed with Type 24 HMG, effective in wiping out non-AT infantry
- Can be destroy by small arm fire like Bren carrier
- Can be upgrade into Heavy armor car which was with bullet-proof armor and a 37mm field gun to against infantry

Pak-36 -
- 37mm Anti-tank gun manned by 2 men
- able to cloak and have high rate of fire
- able to demobilize enemy vehicle

Type 31 60mm mortar
- Similar to mortar of other factors, but with 2 men and deal less damage

tech: animal power - all artillery pieces are now towed/ carry by an ox/ horse to increase mobility

Field hospital - (have medics for packing the wounds)
- tech: Traditional medicine - combine medic heal rate and range increase

Defensive structure: (Those spawn nearby your base at the beginning of a skirmish game)

Solothurn 20mm autocannon - can use for air/ land defense, but manned by mere 2 men



NRA factions (doctrines)

Communist faction - Represented by the 8th Route Army and the New 4th Army, the Chinese Communist Party was master in guerrilla warfare and underground operation.

Left: United Front

- Manchurian comrade - Send in a squad of Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army guerrilla cavalry, a 6 men dragoon squad that can dismount in cloak with their horse as cover (defence bonus). Can charge against enemy. Armed with captured Type 44 carbine, can be upgrade with Automatic Mauser C96s

- Dong River column - Send in a squad of Dong River guerrilla squad, a 2 men squad equipped with sniper rifle and Mauser C96 and can demolish enemy buildings. They can swim across river. They can also detect and disarm mine

- Hundred Regiments Offensive - Cloak a selected area of troop

Right: Underground network

- Intelligence gathering - Reveal enemy map for a while

- Supply sabotage - Once activated all enemy supply rate ground to zero

- Tunnel warfare - Unlock tunnel, a cloaked buildings that can allow troops to travel immediately across map. It have low health and only infantry can enter the tunnel

Warlord Faction - Represented by Guangxi clique, one of the most powerful regional warlords nominally loyal to the Central government. This faction emphasize on economy building and defence

Left - Zapai Army

- Traps awareness – All infantry can detect and disarm landmines when static

- Dadao on the Devil's head! - send in a 8 men Dadao Troop, armed with close attack dadao (Chinese broad sword) and Mauser C96s. Will not be suppress but low health, very cheap, unable to garrison. Can charge against enemy to force retreat them

- Trade time with space - All infantry units have the ability to build basic defense

Right - Regional administration

- Min Tuan System - Manpower production boost

- Recruit hunt / Force conscription - Once activated, troops can be reinforced from civilian building

- Local knowledge - Once activated, troops have additional defensive and speed bonus in friendly territory

Central faction - The most powerful political faction within China. This group was formed by professional officers from the Whampoa Military Academy (The first and most important official military academy of China) and was trusted by Chiang Kai-Shek himself. They were entrusted with the best military resource China had, include foreign tank and air support from American 14th Air Force

Left - Dixi (direct descent) Army

- Whampoa cadet - call in the Whampoa cadet squad, a 4 men squad equipped with German supplied K-98k & Model 24 grenades, a reference to the German equipped division of the NRA. They can be upgunned into Thompson SMG or MG-34. As they are led by a professional officer they can provide bonus to nearby troops

- Gong Bing - Send in a two men engineering specialist squad for costructing Solothurn 20mm autocannon and quicker building of other defence structures. They can also advance repair staffs. Armed with Mauser C96s. Can detect and disarm landmine

- Return my land! - When activated all infantry benefit from incresed capturing rate and spirit

Right: Foreign aid

- Lend Lease - once activate munition and fuel would significantly boost

- Steel Tigers – call in a light tank column which includes M3 Stuart, Panzer 1 and T26. As the NRA is few in tanks more resources are allowed for training a smaller armor unit. Therefore these tank are always in the hightest vet. Additionally all tanks could boost nearby infantry and cavalry as the Chinese soldiers rarely see tanks before:
1. Vicker Mark E Type A (Infantry support) – strong in dealing with infantry like the T-90. Upgrade: Type B turret: replace its dual-MG turret into a 47mm gun turret
2. M3 Stuart (Light AT) – Unlike its British counterpart, these Stuarts were run by specialized trained crews which allow better AT capacity. Ability: treadbreaker
3. T-26 (Command & Support) – Come with a tank commander which benefit the tank with better sight. It can boost nearby tank.. Ability: mark target. Upgrade:
a. Replace its 45mm turret with KhT-133 flamethrower,
b. Install a top Type 24 HMG to counter air threat but is better to use on infantry

- American air support - Request the USAAF 14th Air Force to provide close Air support in designated area. Additionally it can deny enemy from using air power

Imperial Japanese Army

Concept: The IJA is an offensive-oriented, small but relatively more fanatic fighting force. They would make use of melee combat, suppression breaking ability and suicidal measure (such as that IJA crews would destroy their crew before dying.), but their weapon quality is not remarkable. Its soldiers are expansive and hard to replace, reflecting their difficulty to transport troop though the hostile Chinese mainland. The Japanese have no healing facility, reflecting their ignorance to modern field medical system.

The IJA armors are very weak. Their tanks are even inferior to the Chinese/ British Struats, but its advantage over the Chinese is that they are able to manufacture. They also operate a range of armored vehicle to counter the Allies

The Japanese tend to use collaborationist soldiers for their fighting and labor. Those units would be easier to replace than their regular

Building Concept: The Japanese have no HQ and initiate defence to reflect their offensive role in China. Instead they are giving a relative strong beginning units include construction units (2 squads of Bohei bontais and one force labors) While the lack of HQ meant their initial manpower would suffer serious shortage, the IJA can gain more manpower output from construction of each of their building. (but the IJA must still produce lower manpower compare to other countries) Any of the IJA building allow player to call in doctrinal units or ability. The Japanese would not possess start game MG bunker like the other faction

Force labors – The IJA make extensive use of POW and local populace for their labor
-   5 men squad, with one Nambu Type 14-weiding officer and four unarmed POW laborer
-   When the officer is dead all laborers would join your rank, but is very easily to be killed. Those upraised laborers attack by their tools, which is also very low damage. However they can assist in building basic defense
-   Special ability: Exploitation – The officer would execute a laborer to speed up the current building project
-   Can not repair vehicle

Security bunker – Defense & production building which armed with a non-rotation limit Type 98 20mm AAA, the first building that’s allow to construct

-   tech: Counter-bandit reserve – allow construction of units in this building

Collaborationist - Chinese or Japanese colonial subject that were either conscripted or volunteered to served in the IJA, suffered very low morale due to themselves being labeled as national traitors. Historically they were employed in rear area security rather than front-line duty
-   6 men squad arm with Type 38s
-   Low morale
-   Ability: Bicycle Blitzkrieg – Use bicycle for quicker movement, but would be exposed to attack

Type 97 motorcycle
-   armed with a Type 97 LMG
Can be upgrade into Type 94 Te-Ke,
-   A tankette armed with a Type-91 MG
-   Can be damage by small-arm fire

-   tech: Labor conscription - Force labor squad could be increase to 8 men
-   tech: Disciplinary supervisor – Replace one Collaborationist member into a Japanese officer to increase morale

Regional HQ - Train "formal" Japanese regulars not unlike the Krieg barrack

Bohei bontai - The regular Japanese infantry
-   5 men squad armed with Type 38s
-   High morale
-   Have 2 upgrade: Type 89 Grenade Discharger - Bohei bontais gain new ability to bombard designated target with Type 89 Grenade Discharger for an amount of mumition/ Type 11 LMG

Koohei bontai
-   3 men squad armed with Type-100 Flamethrower and Type 38s
-   Can build basic defense and repair staff
-   Ability: Explosive – Throw an explosive pack against enemy building and tank
-   Can detect and disarm mines

Type 92 Infantry gun – A kind of light howitzer that replace the role of mortar
-   3 men armed with Nambu Type 14
-   Benefit from greater range and damage, but of course slower
-   Can utilize rapid fire like the soviet firebase and smoke shell
-   The crew would damage the gun to prevent being take over before died

Taisensha botai – The only Japanese AT weapon
-   2 men squad armed with the Type 97 20 mm AT rifle and Type 94 pistol (different from the Nambu)
-   No need to redeploy
-   Can be upgrade into a deployable Type 94 37 mm quick-fire AT gun, similar to other deployable AT gun unit, but weaker and have a quicker fire rate

-   tech: AT gun modification – Allow Type 97 AT rifle to perform automatic fire, make it able to pin enemy infantry and button enemy vehicle. The Type 97 AT gun would also be abled to use rapid-fire ability
-   tech: 7.7mm caliber – replace Type 38s ad Type 11s of the Koohei and Imperial troops into better damaging Type 99s rifles and LMGs

Vehicle Assembly

Type-89 I-Go “Koo”
- Medium tank that armed with a 57mm short barrel gun to against enemy infantry and structures

Shinhoto Type-97 Chi-Ho
- Armed with a long barrel 47mm gun to fight against enemy tank, although obviously perform badly in this role

Type 94 6-Wheeled truck
-   Able to transport and reinforce infantry
-   Infantry garrisoned can attack outside
-   Offer very little protection against incoming fire

-   tech: Type-89 I-Go “Otsu” – Outfit the Type-89 I-Go with better armors and a reliable Mitsubishi A6120VD 120 hp diesel engine

Kempeitai station – A place for torturing and interrogate in the hand of Japanese secret police. Come with several Kempeis which have the same function as medic in other faction but they take only the enemy wounds for XP

Kempei botai – Military Police of the IJA
-   Can uncloak their large sight area of enemy unit
-   Boost nearby troop
-   3 men armed with Type 94 pistol (different from the Nambu)

-   tech: Informants – Once Kempei botai enter a building, it could install informant into it that permanently reveal the surrounding area, even cloaked units. Enemy units would not suspect such building but the informant would be eliminated once the building is garrisoned
-   tech: Death labor – Each wounds we received would produce also manpower
-   tech: Interrogation – Allow an ability which once activate, would reveal all enemy cloaked units. Need long cool down time


IJA Units (doctrines)

Unit Three Alls – Emphasize on defense and counter- insurgency. The name is a reference to the Three Alls policy (Kill all, burn all, loot all) utilized by the Japanese to counter communist guerrilla threat

Left side: Solid Wall

-   Korean volunteer: replace the original collaborationist squad with this 6 men Korean volunteer squad, armed with Type 38s. They can detect cloaked units and have better morale and stronger than the Collaborationist squad, in reference to most of the IJA Korea volunteers were used as police in Manchuria. Like Collaborationist they can utilize bicycle blitzkrieg

-   Bandit watchmen – allow construction of Type 92 HMG armed guard tower. Their HMG have rotation limit and can be damaged by even bullets. Nevertheless they can pi down blob of infantry Ability – Spotlight – to uncloak a small designated area in a short period of time

-   Tank cracker – call in a 75mm Type 90 field gun. Its towed by six horses and is almost the only AT weapon that can defeat M4 Shaman frontally in IJA and have the range of Flak 88. Have all ability of Type 92 Infantry gun include its rapid firing ability where it would fire 5 shell like a howitzer to bombard an area

Right side: Clear Field

-   Collaborationist conscription: Hard laborers, collaborationist, and Korean volunteers are much cheaper and have one additional member

-   Loot: Infantry can now loot enemy fallen for munitions. To garrison civilian building would also reward munition/ fuel/XP for once

-   Three All Policy: If our resource points are captured by the enemy, it would not produce anything unless repaired. Quite similar to Panzer Elite’s Scorched earth but in larger effect

Unit Imperial Asia – Emphasize on offensive especially in term of spiritual enhancement. The name is a reference to the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Japanese imperialistic goal to seize the whole of Asia

Left side: Spiritual enlightenment

-   Tennooheika banzai!: Allow Bohei bontais to activate a suppression-breaking bayonet charge against the enemy for a while. In this period the squad would spirit faster but can not open fire. The charge also make the squad highly expose to enemy fire

-   Gyokusai - Bohei bontais, Taiwanese volunteer and Koohei are bestowed honorary explosives, enable them to detonate themselves with the enemy at will. Such explosives can damage tanks. Heavily wounded soldier would also blow themselves up when the enemy approach

-   Bushido embodiment: Sent in a horse-riding three men Type 14 & katana (Shin guntō) wielding officer squad. They can boost nearby infantry like Kempei botai but in greater effect and cannot be suppressed. Ability: Banzai charge - allow them to activate a katana charge for a while where their katana would be devastating against enemy infantry, but they would be easier to be damaged by enemy fire

Right side: Emperor Wrath

-   Taiwanese volunteer: send in a 4 men Taiwanese aboriginal special operative squad. Essentially a more powerful version of the Bohei bontai, they armed with Type 38s/Type 99s (They are affected by the Type 99 upgrade) but can be upgraded into Type 100 SMGs. Additionally they can utilize Type 89 grenade discharger. They can cloak without speed penalty and is the only unit with self-healing ability. The unit is a reference to the Takasago Volunteers, Taiwanese ethicality who was utilized as special force by the IJA and was famous for their jungle survival skill. While no Takasago forces saw combat in China (as far as I know), there were a lot of Taiwanese serviced there

-   Divine fire: order a Mitsubishi Ki-21 heavy bomber to clear a path with heavy bombardment. It would drop 5 bombs along a line which damage is equal to a Goliath (or higher) Not to mention it need a long cool down time for balance reason
- (Not finished yet, please make suggestion)

Unit Black Sun – A reference to the Unit 731, an IJA biological warfare crop that were notorious for their experiments on living subjects. As suggested this Unit would utilize biological/ chemical warfare

Left side: Biological warfare

-   Gas shells: Type 92 Infantry gun gained the ability to launch gas shell, which would unleash a poisonous cloud injury everyone who come close by. More effective than fire to deal with garrison

-   Infrastructure contamination: Once activated deny enemy from recruiting and reinforcement for a while

-   Germ bombardment: Order a Mitsubishi Ki-21 heavy bomber to drop infected insects to a huge designated area. Those who are in the area would slowly die off unless immediate medical attention (First aid kit/ Combat medic) is provided. Useless against garrisoned enemy

Right side: Medical research

-   Gas mask: Once activated all infantry would not be harmed by any biological attack for a while

-   Human experimentation: For each wounds that the Kempais caught, your biological attack would have their damage increase by 0.05%

- (Not finished yet, please make suggestion)

[Seeme]

I like it, nice thinking

To bad the mean ol' devs dont like it.

[moknin]

I like it, nice thinking

To bad the mean ol' devs dont like it.

Thats fine its not supposed to be part of the EF mod
Thats why I put it into off topic
Folks who want to add Japanese faction in General Suggestion are welcome to suggest here

[Seeme]

We should make our own mod then!

[moknin]

We should make our own mod then!

Ha. but the thing is I know nothing about modding BUT giving ideas

[Akalonor]

Corsix mod studio is actually pretty easy to use on a base level , I've had problems getting my mods to run but other than that its not too hard.

I would be willing to help out if someone wanted to start such a mod.

[moknin]

Corsix mod studio is actually pretty easy to use on a base level , I've had problems getting my mods to run but other than that its not too hard.

I would be willing to help out if someone wanted to start such a mod.

Thanks very much!
I would firstly like to kow what do you use for creating model/ skin?

[Akalonor]

I can create skins through Corsaix and I can set up the mod through that aswell , but I don't think I have anything that would work with Coh to model ( I have Milkshape and Gamestudio)

[Seeme]

I dont know a thing, but I am willing to learn it. I would love to help.

[Blackbishop]

Yeah, me too . I know C/C++/C#, but nothing about modding, especially CoH modding .

[Akalonor]

Corsix is your free friend

[Seeme]

Just send me a link

[Akalonor]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/company-of-heroes-modern-combat/downloads/company-of-heroes-modding-setup
here , this includes everything we need , Its from ModDB so I know its safe

I recommend pressing F1 once your in Corsix , that takes you to the main website page where you can go through the Tutorials , I for one need help with my small mod because it won't run no matter what I do -.-

[moknin]

Just send me a link

Here you are
http://www.corsix.org/cdms/

There is also a good site about COH modding as well
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=211262

For the folks who would like to work on skin/ model. Here are some photo for the Chinese Army

The MG man is quiet ideal for Support team






Automatic Mauser C96, perferably attach with the gun butt


Mauser C96

[Blackbishop]

It looks like China use to "play" with foreign toys ...

T-26

We have our "Stuart/Hotchkiss" tank . And is as customizable as a lego figure .

Vickers 6-Ton

It could have twin mg as the picture above or a short barreled 47mm cannon and single mg.

It's looks like they don't have tanks at all . They just used L&L M18 Hellcats, M4 Shermans and M3 Stuarts xD.

EDIT: Well i was reading on wikipedia, and I saw something interesting, they used the L3/33 "light tank", and has the superb "1 × 6.5 mm machine gun" as primary weapon, what a piece of junk; but what I like about it, is the fact that this tankette could be upgraded to "L3 Lf" Lancia fiamme/flamethrower... this variant doesn't saw action on china, but nobody should care .



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