  Based on an extensive grid of stellar models between 13 and 25 Mo and a wide
range of metallicities, we have studied the light curves of core collapse
supernovae, their application to cosmology and evolutionary effects with
redshift. The direct link between the hydro and radiation transport allows to
calculate monochromatic light curves.
  With decreasing metallicity Z and increasing mass, progenitors tend to
explode as compact Blue Supergiants and produce sub-luminous supernovae that
are about 1.5 mag dimmer compared to "normal" SNe II with Red
  Supergiant progenitors (RSGs). Progenitors with small masses tend to explode
as RSGs even at low Z. The consequences are obvious for probing the chemical
evolution, namely, a strong bias when using the statistics of core collapse
supernovae to probe the history of star formation.
  Our study is limited in scope with respect to the explosion energies and the
production of radioactive Ni. Within the class of "extreme SNe II-P"
supernovae, the light curves are rather insensitive with respect to the
progenitor mass and explosion energy compared to analytic models which are
based on parameterized stellar structures. We expect a wider range of
brightness due to variations in Ni56 because radioactive energy is a main
source of luminosity.
  However, the overall insensitivity of LCs may allow their use as
quasi-standard candles for distance determination.
