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What mods do you do for unit values?


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I have about a dozen scenarios posted up at the depot. Mine are all fictional 'random reinforcement' scenarios where I try to pack a lot of fun and action into a small time frame.

I have been trying to learn new tricks with scenario development. I typically change values using the editor to make things more interesting (to me, at least). Here is what I usually do:

1) I give infantry more ammo, especially late war with SMG's. The German SMG's can go to low ammo in a single turn of heavy fighting. Thus I usually give them more ammo than the standard allottment

2) I increase the # of demo charges - a lot of times it is 1-2, I do 2-3

3) I tweak the experience - if I pick regulars I might make 1 guy veteran and 1 guy green, put some variety in there

4) I make the leadership values match the squad - if a leader is veteran or crack, I will make the values "2" or "1" for everything. If the leader is green (I try not to have conscript leaders, for some reason that doesn't sound right to me) I will make it mostly "0" and maybe a "1"

5) I increase the # of AT weapons - especially for tank hunters and for squads, they might have 1 I will move this to 2-3 and maybe 4 if it is 1945

6) for vehicles, I change the mix of ammo - since we like to use cannister (it is COOL in the game with the "blast" of shotgun) I usually raise the # of cannister shells and reduce something else

7) for the 2 inch mortar, I give them 30 shells, and I give the 50mm mortar maybe 35-40 shells

8) I add MG's to the British - a lot of the British formations don't have much in the way of MG's, so I add a few

9) If there are a lot of support weapons, I will add a platoon and delete all of the squads so that there is an extra leader in the mix to put them in command radius

10) If a vehicle is coming in alone, I will often throw in an LMG or a Bren or tank hunter so that there is SOME scouting ability for the vehicle as it moves towards the battle

11) I usually throw TRP's on the objective for the attacker and "lock" them there. I think that since the attack is for an objective the attacker would know where they are on the map so I give them a TRP. This makes arty more effective

12) if terrain is open, I might add an onboard mortar with just smoke shells

13) sometimes I go "out of period" to pick something like assault boats and then I will retroactively change the date (the axis don't have assault boats or planes in a lot of the months, for example)

14) I will often give anti-AA capacity to the defender, but "lock" the guns at the back of the board so that they can't be used as impromptu AT assets

15) I usually give the defender a trench for each of their AT assets - this gives guns a fighting chance against "borg spotting"

Any thoughts, tips or tricks?

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6) Carl, baby, your one sick puppy...I shudder every time a cannister round gets unleashed :eek:

8) CW formations should only get MGs if there has been time for the MG/ATG platoons to come up. Otherwise, nothing heavier than a Bren.

11) TRPs = huge fun

14) good idea

15) unfortunately, this can give away the guns position before it actually gets spotted, since trenches are so damned easy to spot.

You know I'm fan of your random reinforcement concept - roll on.

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I agree on the historical accuracy point of CW forces not having MG's, but it puts them at a big disadvantage in my not-too historical games because the German MG's really tear 'em up and they can't reply.

The fanatical item is a good one to consider, except fanatical kind of goes too far making them invulnerable. I guess that is why there is the % fanatical selector. Maybe 25% is a good idea.

I agree on trench spotting... I will probably suffer from that on my current scenario - but they are so helpful vs. arty fire...

Any other items out there that people change?

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Remember that the leader attributes are relative to the experience level of the leader. I think it a bit wrong to over load the high quality units with even better leaders and punish low quality with worse leaders. A vet HQ with +2 command has command like an elite HQ with no bonuses for example. Then your green HQ with no bonuses will be 4 "levels" below so to say.

I would rather like to play around with differentiating a bit among the HQs so that you have one guy suited for fire support and another for stealth missions etc. Not one HQ with all the attributes.

Just my two öre

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Give them more FOs, especially 25pdr...or more ammo for the ones you do give them.

Originally posted by Carl Puppchen:

I agree on the historical accuracy point of CW forces not having MG's, but it puts them at a big disadvantage in my not-too historical games because the German MG's really tear 'em up and they can't reply.

[ June 19, 2005, 10:47 AM: Message edited by: Brent Pollock ]

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I didn't think through that the leader bonuses were already taking into account the effectiveness of the leader in terms of class (vet vs. green). Hmmm.... given that, should they all just be random? What would the potential mods be?

I agree on the ammo loads for FO. I tend to give both sides, even the attacker, TRP's (sometimes I "lock" them on the objective for the attacker) and probably need to give them more ammo to simulate the usual late war Allied preponderance of material.

Sometimes I really reduce the German ammo load on FO to give them some arty capability so the Allies don't get too cocky but with a few well placed TRP's even a dozen 105mm shells can definitely cause a delay.

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1) I give infantry more ammo, especially late war with SMG's. The German SMG's can go to low ammo in a single turn of heavy fighting. Thus I usually give them more ammo than the standard allottment

I generally ALWAYS give the infantry max ammo (except for certain units like Russian Pioneers which can carry up to 80 or close to it). I've seen infantry go through 15 points in one round. In 30+ turn scenarios, I'd like to see the infantry be combat-able throughout the scenario. With their default ammo load, many infantry units can only engage in one firefight. I want them to be able to engage in two over a longer scenario (break through the first line of defense and fight on to another objective).

3) I tweak the experience - if I pick regulars I might make 1 guy veteran and 1 guy green, put some variety in there

Ehehehe... you must have seen the running debate on this at TPG. I will also "mix it up" depending in the situation. Early war periods, I would mostly keep platoons with similar experience levels. Or if the action depicted an experienced unit's action. With certain nations, this seems more acceptable... the American replacement system was horrible (not going into detail). A mix of green, regular and vets seems believable with the Americans.

4) I make the leadership values match the squad - if a leader is veteran or crack, I will make the values "2" or "1" for everything. If the leader is green (I try not to have conscript leaders, for some reason that doesn't sound right to me) I will make it mostly "0" and maybe a "1"

Lately, I have made an effort not to "over clock" the HQs. Sure, a "crack" platoon HQ can have at least one and 2 over every attribute. For vets leaders, I set a maximum of 5 points (to be divided among the leader attributes), regular get 3 points, etc.

5) I increase the # of AT weapons - especially for tank hunters and for squads, they might have 1 I will move this to 2-3 and maybe 4 if it is 1945

For me, it depends on the situation. If it is an "assualt," I will load the squads up. The thinking is that they would be prepared and stockpiles would be made available to them. From what I can tell, in CMAK, infantry seems more willing to use their AT rounds against other infantry. The Americans seem to go wild firing their rifle grenades. For infantry assaults against enemy infantry, I load them up with rifle grenades... good fun. For tank hunters, yes... I generally load them up. Their life expectance is so short. With more ammo, they are more likely to actually get a shot off.

6) for vehicles, I change the mix of ammo - since we like to use cannister (it is COOL in the game with the "blast" of shotgun) I usually raise the # of cannister shells and reduce something else

Here, here! Cannister is also good fun. Give the people what they want!

7) for the 2 inch mortar, I give them 30 shells, and I give the 50mm mortar maybe 35-40 shells

I also max them out. Historically, the default ammo loads are accurate. However, one of these light mortar squads can go through 30 rounds in two turns. That does not really serve their purpose in the game. Therefore, I always max them out. The American 60mm might be an exception since it is a superior weapon to its counterparts and max it out might be overkill.

12) if terrain is open, I might add an onboard mortar with just smoke shells

Sometimes, I will intentionally take away smoke assets in such a situation. tongue.gif eheheh. Smoke was not always available and the commander's order was still 'take the objective.'

13) sometimes I go "out of period" to pick something like assault boats and then I will retroactively change the date (the axis don't have assault boats or planes in a lot of the months, for example)

Ditto. In late war scenarios, I sometimes go back and bring in obsolete equipement like the 50mm mortar. This would represent going into the warehouses in a desperate attempt to equip and field units.

Any additional tip I have to offer would be concerning artillery spotters. In a scenario designed to be played against the AI, if the AI has artillery, I always make the spotter "elite." This cuts down the time delay for the AI to actually fire it's artillery. Some many times I have wondered why the AI does not use its artillery. I've noticed that it does actually plot targets, but it constantly changes the targets from turn to turn. With an elite spotter, the artillery actually gets used (sometimes).

Good stuff, Carl.

Bannon

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