UW2 Mod + Campaign
UW2 Mod + Campaign |
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The role of the United States in the Second World War was crucial to the Allied victory, even though the country did not become directly involved in the fighting until late in the war. At the start of the war in 1939, the US pursued a policy of isolationism and neutrality, enshrined in the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s. However, this stance gradually changed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who recognised the growing threat posed by the Axis powers.
A decisive turning point was the Lend-Lease Act of March 1941. This act enabled the United States to supply war-essential goods such as weapons, ammunition and food to the Allies, primarily Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China, without formally entering the war. The United States thus became the ‘arsenal of democracy’ and made a massive material contribution that significantly supported the Allies' war efforts.
The United States entered the war directly after the surprise Japanese attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The United States then declared war on Japan, and a few days later Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, finally turning the conflict into a global war.
American troops then fought on two main fronts. In the Pacific, following the decisive Battle of Midway, the United States waged a protracted ‘island hopping’ campaign against Japan. In Europe and North Africa, US troops played a key role in operations such as the landing in North Africa, the invasion of Italy and, above all, the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, which opened up the Western Front. The massive industrial production and military strength of the United States contributed decisively to defeating the Axis powers, which ended with the surrender of Germany in May 1945 and, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the simultaneous attack by the Soviet Union on the Japanese Empire, with the surrender of Japan in September 1945. Through its involvement, the United States rose to become the leading superpower of the post-war era.
UW2 - United States Armed Forces at Word War 2 - Campaigns
 UW2 1941 |
 UW2 1942 |
The main changes to the original game are based on the integration of my DAW mod, which can also be found on this Slitherine forum. In contrast, I have deactivated the camouflage function of the German AT units and removed all German elite units. This creates a better balance between the individual nations. In addition, a large number of additional units have been added, especially for Japan and the USA, making it possible to accurately depict the Pacific War. A selection of various new units is shown below.
As the player takes on the role of the USA, the focus shifts from purely ground and air combat to naval battles. The game also features an amphibious component to reflect the nature of the Pacific War. One notable change here is the general option to purchase ships. Players can add their own small fleet to their core forces. Furthermore, the USA and Japan have amphibious units that can switch more flexibly between sea and land areas. This is described in more detail below.
With this UW2 mod, you should also be able to play all official campaigns (Grand Campaign to Soviet Campaign and the US campaigns) with the respective unlock.
It is not possible to discuss all of the units added to the original game here, as the scope of the Amulet component alone is far too extensive. I will limit myself here to a few additional units, which will be briefly outlined, and a few units specifically built into this mod and their functions.
Amphibious warfare
As already mentioned, there are several amphibious units with special characteristics for the USA and Japan. It should be noted in advance that shallow sea terrain plays an important role here. Normally, this terrain type is rarely or never used in most scenarios. In this modification, however, it occurs more frequently in coastal areas. Visually, it looks like ‘sandy’ sea fields and represents sandbanks near the shore. Normal ships, such as destroyers (see picture), cannot enter these fields.
Only river boats (minesweepers) and amphibious units are capable of entering shallow sea fields and river fields (see image).
On a shallow sea field, the marine infantry is able to leave the landing craft and fight their way onto the beach, as can the amphibious tank (see image). It should be noted that these amphibious units cannot land across the boundary between sea and normal land. This is reserved for ground units in transport ships, which in turn cannot move across shallow sea fields. Conversely, amphibious units can leave land from any shore towards the sea. They do not need ports to do so, but can enter ports either from the sea or from land.
River boat and naval mines
River boats (1) are already included as a separate weapon type in the original game. However, they lead a very shadowy existence there. In this mod, their capabilities have been expanded to include “RECON movement”, active air target fire (albeit with little effect) and, in addition, very effective mine countermeasures. Like almost all ship types, they are vulnerable to strategic bombers.
Naval mines (2) function similarly to land mines, but in maritime areas or on rivers. They restrict the otherwise considerable freedom of movement at sea.
Headquarters and medical field
HQ – In this mod, HQ is a special unit that is used in some scenarios, both on your own side and on the opposing side. It is basically a stationary figure, but can be moved by rail transport (if it is located on a station field). Its effect is indirect, with a range of 5 fields and an additional “radar effect”, which is an advantage in air combat in this area. With regard to ground units, the HQ can fire a “shot” (artillery effect) at an enemy formation within a radius of 5 squares. This unit achieves the best effects at medium range from the front. It should not be used too riskily, but also not hidden in the rear.
As with my D2R mod, UW2 also offers a way to restore damaged units to their standard strength without having to use prestige or lose the unit's experience points. In D2R, this happened in the context of a medical unit. In UW2, this is simplified via specific medical fields (see image). It should be noted that air units are only taken into account if the medical field is located next to an airfield, as shown in this image. In this example, an air unit and a ground unit could also be ‘healed’ at the same time. If the medical field is located in a seaport, ships can also be completely repaired. The ‘10’ above the Red Cross makes it clear once again that your own units placed on this field at the end of the round will be brought to a strength of 10. So be careful – do not place any units with excess strength on such a field, otherwise the excess strength will be lost.
A selection of additional units
Here you can see a selection of different units that are included in this modification in 4 picture panels.
Advanced purchase screen
As mentioned above, in addition to ground and air units, players can also purchase ships for their core forces. See image for example.
Another small addition is the representation of the prevailing direction of attack in each scenario, which is indicated by the flags involved with the corresponding shapes. In the example, the Japanese side attacks the Philippine-American side, which means that the opposing side has the first move. This is not always clear from the briefings, and you may set up your units on the terrain in the belief that you will move first, only to be unpleasantly surprised. As a general rule, you can assume that the enemy has the first move if the straight arrow points towards your flag.
The enemy units I have set up in the scenarios are all included as auxiliary units. So if you encounter enemy formations with gold-rimmed strength indicators during the course of the game, these are generally additional troops purchased by the AI.
To enhance the enemy's troops somewhat, I have provided the opposing side with approximately 3 hero units, and more from the second campaign onwards. In some cases, the bonus values are quite “mean”. So pay attention to the symbols in the strength border and take a quick look at the “evil” hero so that you are not suddenly surprised by artillery that shoots 4 or 5 squares away.
In addition, I have made some changes to the gamrules file, but these only apply to the campaigns (i.e. they are stored there) and do not apply to the entire mod. Specifically, these are: a small cost contribution for normal replacements in the deployment phase, slower experience gain, and heroes granted later. On the other hand, upgrades do not simply remove overpowered abilities, capturing flags earns more prestige (150/80 points instead of 100/50 points), and the so-called SoftCap is disabled.
As far as this SoftCap is concerned, it is better to try to make your opponent stronger than to impose a handicap on yourself by reducing your prestige. I have tried to implement the principle of a stronger opponent in the campaigns. In this respect, the scenarios should still be sufficiently challenging even without a strict limit on the amount of prestige.
Regarding the difficulty level, it should be noted that this game offers a wide range of settings. Everyone should be able to find the right one for them and not shy away from choosing a supposedly easy or difficult level. Success or failure depends much more on the scenario design. It is not particularly difficult to design a scenario in which you are bound to fail, or to create one that leads to success no matter how stupid your moves are. The problem is to create one that can only just be mastered. Since different players approach such a task with different knowledge, different procedures, different moods, different units, etc., it will never be possible to achieve complete balance. Thus, a scenario will always turn out to be too easy or too difficult. Please keep this in mind.
The main component of the November 2026 update is the second campaign (UW2-42), which serves as a sequel to the 1941 campaign (see also the campaign tree above). It also includes the location files created by Nikivdd, which enable the 1941 and 1942 campaigns to be played in French and Russian. As for additional units, however, only the British Royal Marines, together with their amphibious variant, have been added.
So, anyone who has made it this far has demonstrated perseverance. You should be capable of completing the task – so... let's get the fun started!