Admiral Keth

Gang, While I make it a policy to refrain from reviewing scenarios, I thought that this one was so interesting that I had to play it and submit an AAR.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Panther G: ...I checked the Depot and I think you must have accidently awarded Fishcove the Historic award, instead of the correct fictional... <hr></blockquote> All sorted out...sorry!

Gang, The votes are in and here are this month's winners: Category Name Best Infantry: L'Elle River Crossing Best Armor: The Wrong Hill Best Combined Arms: Hotton Belgium Best Attack/Defend: Smoke 'em If You've Got 'em Best Meeting Engagement: A Quick Visit - Bruneval Best Historical: A Shot in the Dark Best Fictional: Fishcove Best Bocage Battle: A Long & Bloody Mile Best Urban Battle: To the Last Man (Der Kessel) Best River Crossing: L'Elle River Crossing Best PBEM: Smoke 'em If You've Got 'em Best TCP/IP: Bocage to St. Lo Best vs. AI: Smoke 'em If You've Got 'em Start voting for January! [ 01-01-2002: Message edited by: Admiral Keth ]</p>

History Buff, Panther G said it all. If this fails for any reason, please email me directly (email in profile) and I'll be happy to help. Panther G...I raise a glass of homebrew Porter to you for your assistance. Thanks!

Sorry lads...kinda took the day off, saw 'Lord of the Rings', munched leberkase and Aktien Dunkel, then played wargames all night. At any rate: 1) I personally don't care if an author votes for their own scenario. After all, a president can vote for himself in an election. 2) Finally got around to uploading half a dozen battles and operations after some feverish Christmas-package-wrapping and homebrew bottling today. Apologies for the delay! Prosit!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Panther G: I think the Playtesters section could be handled similar to the way the battles are now, although you start running into problems. For example, what would keep someone from d/l a "playtest" scenario and not reviewing it? Regards, Ryan<hr></blockquote> The author would have access to an admin screen which would have a checkbox which would enable/disable the appearance of the playtest scenario on the menus.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Mr. Johnson-<THC>-: How about a playtesters section?<hr></blockquote> I'm presuming a section where authors can post requesting playtesters for their scenarios prior to the full submission for reviews? What would the authors like to have as the minimum fields for the database in order to convey the nature of the scenario? Name, historicality, size, forces, etc? It's entirely possible, but I'd like some guidance prior to building it. Keep the ideas coming guys...I'm making a list and checking it thrice. Prosit! Frohe Weihnachten!

PantherG, I love your ideas! 1) Code-wise, this is fairly easy. I'll need to place additional fields in the database for these values. Then I'll see if I can't get Craig Harvey (the Scenario Depot Combat Historian) to populate these fields with the correct values. 2) This one's a little more difficult. What you are looking for is kind of a "weighted value". It's a little problematic to code, especially when it would become necessary to go back through hundreds of already reviewed scenarios and recalculate their values by hand. I'll examine the possibility of some additional factor by which a reader can make a visual comparison. There is the possibility of increasing or decreasing the scale by which a particular rating, but that would again mean refactoring a large number of scenarios. 3) I'm not so sure players would be willing to "sign in" to download scenarios. I'd like to hear arguments from both sides prior to architecting this feature. 4) I'm already reworking the graphics to be considerably smaller. I realize that some of the graphics are a little big. I am architecting the site to have all smaller graphics or all PHP-generated menus and some small graphics. Depending on which route I take, this could be done in 2 to 5 weeks. 5) I am also already working on adding a Top 10 Downloads. I'd like to re-code The Lists page into something a little more modular; perhaps a seperate page for Battles, Operations, Maps, and Downloads. It would speed individual loading and keep my webhosts's server from having a nervous breakdown each time that page gets loaded. Gimme a couple of weeks to implement this one. Prosit!

Bigdog, Check your Inbox.

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by JasonC: [QB]...I also sent it to the scenario depot fellow...QB]<hr></blockquote> All six are posted at The Scenario Depot for your downloading and reviewing pleasure.

Gang, The votes are in and tallied. Toddle over to The Scenario Depot and view the final November results. Start voting for the December Scenario of the Month.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: Admiral - have you ever considered a percentage rating, the way the General Magazine used to rate SL scenarios? IE 60%-40% pro British if you believe the balance is a bit lopsided, or 50-50, etc.? You could have two fields, one where you pick a number between 1 and 100 (perhaps in multiples of 5, ie 5, 10, 15, 20 etc.) The second field would let you select "favours Allies" or "favours Axis" while a 50 percent would automatically bring up "evenly balanced." A third field might let you qualify with comments, ie "when played PBEM" or "when played against AI"<hr></blockquote> Michael, Excellent suggestions. I'm presuming that these values would be associated with the individual reviews? Or would they be more appropriately associated with the AAR's? I'll begin design and testing this weekend.

PantherG, Email me the correct details to your AAR's and I'll update them. Sorry!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Panther G: I just posted a review and AAR of Runes "Club Med" on the Scenario Depot. I played as Germans. However, on the AAR submission page it won't give me the option of German. I just put blank which comes up as N/A. Now, did I do something wrong, or did the Admiral forget to put in German or what? Thanks, Ryan<hr></blockquote> Yikes! Of all the nationalities to leave out, the land of my people! Alas and alackaday! Heer, Gbj, Fj, and SS were left out of the dropdown lists. After much flagellation and beer swilling (prolly the problem in the first place) I've added them back in. I'll edit any recent AAR's as well.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: Admiral, I just put my bio up - I don't like the "age" field, since this will not automatically update. You might want to indicate year of birth instead.<hr></blockquote> Michael, Good idea. I'll make the change as well as add some edit author pages this weekend.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SlowMotion: [QBI think very detailed information like that should be hidden under an AAR button or something, like AdmiralKeth hinted. The addition of these AARs will be a very interesting addition. Reading detailed AARs of battles you have also played can be really interesting, especially for scenario designers.[/QB]<hr></blockquote> No hint...flat out saying "It's in the works". Got a couple of mySQL vagaries to overcome, but it should be in place shortly. There will be a button displayed on the Scenario Synopsis page which will pop up a new window for AAR's. Thus 'spoilers' will not be displayed unless the viewer explicitly wants them to be displayed. I'll keep everyone posted.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Andreas: Finally - I know a lot of people here are too lazy to review scenarios, or don't think it worth their while. <hr></blockquote> Andreas, Very true. Since I implemented the download counters on 11.14.01, there have been 4420 total downloads. About 360 per day. Gang, someone out there is not submitting reviews. Reviews aid scenario authors and other CM players by indicating what you like or dislike about a particular scenario. This enables authors to design scenarios which are more balanced, more challenging, and just more fun. Reviews should not be AAR's or spoilers. I am currently designing an AAR section specifically for this purpose. There, you will be able to detail the action without giving away too much to the review reader. This will be in place in a couple of weeks.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Gpig: ...I believe you (as the reviewer) should be able to go back and EDIT YOUR REVIEW....<hr></blockquote> Gpig, I'll look into this, but it's not going to be quick or easy. I would have to implment some manner of security feature (possibly a site-wide login) which would allow only the original reviewer to edit their own reviews. This would be a major overhaul of how things are done.

JasonC, The Scenario Depot is open and would be delighted to host any battles or operations on which you would like to receive reviews or feedback. Email me if you would like further details.

Holdit, I would be singularly honoured and delighted to host the Combat Mission Map Case. I'll contact you via email.

newlife, The Scenario Depot is a modest site which focuses on hosting battles, operations, and maps. It also has peer reviews of 950+ scenarios, and downloads as well. Scenario submissions are easy. You can either: 1) Enter the battle or operation parameters yourself (found by clicking the Submit A Battle) option from the Battles or Operations Index pages), or 2) Email me the parameters and I'll happily enter them for you. Then, if you want the scenario file to be directly hosted by The Scenario Depot, email it to me and I'll post it. Conversely, if you would like to host it on a personal web site, provide me with the full URL and I will associate the link with the scenario entry. If you have any questions, email me (address is in the profile) or visit the site.

Gang, Looks like we're outta the woods! Everything is humming along quite nicely, plus I'm backing up data twice per day. The Scenario Download Counters are working great! 800+ downloads in 2 days. Woof. Which brings up another topic...Vote for your favorite Scenario of the Month! Navigate to your favorite scenario and click the VOTE button. After voting, view the standings by clicking the VIEW button. VOTE TODAY! Lastly, scenario authors...enter your biographies so that the adoring CM community can learn more about your scenario-creation motivations. This feature is found under Authors Only section.

Anyone looking for WWII maps (as well as other historical maps) might want to try here: Department of History Map Library

Ahhhhh, got 'em! Thanks a billion. I'll see what I can do about contacting the authors and getting these gems posted.