[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

So I've finally made it to Week 2 of Jan. '42 (hooray for me) and this continuous process of getting about half my troops on the field with only 10% ammo is beginning to not be so much fun anymore.

I can understand that this was probably the way it was back then but - sheesh - having to crank out multiple games in one night because the AI calls ceasefire and hands me defeats because I don't have enough ammo & troops, I get the point already.

Any suggestions on how to tweak the #s a bit to make it more interesting? I hate to just go with 100% ammo, or with 100% troops, i know that's not entirely fair either.... (neither is repeatedly facing Allies +100%, but at least it's realistic, or so i've been told)

okay, can i whine any more. thank you. j0ker.

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

Pinned, panicked or routed squads have less morale than squads that are ok. If several of your squads have beaten off the assault in their sector and now don't see a threat anymore, morale goes up. Just what you would expect in RL.

thanks Scarhead - never saw this happen before. I must be starting to do something right.

which reminds me: I see a potential ad campaign for BCR which spins the concept of 'better tactical fitness', and having before (flabby old men) and after (some shot of the Rock or something) shots of satisfied clients who have used BCR and have improved their gameplay... just a thought

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

News from the front: after we moved out of Kiev, all of the troops seemed to relish being back in the country again. It seems to suit them: the 2 battles since leaving that hell-hole of a city have been against numerically superior numbers yet have been fortunate to be Total V's for das Reich.

Now, Hitler's seen fit to outfit my command with almost half a BN of Veteran Romanians, and has also sent me back into the next large town - or what's left of it, after much damage... there's rubble everywhere, and it seems the Russians are content to defend the area directly BEHIND the city's remains instead...

Too much open area to cover in 35 mins... I've just deployed my forces in what looks to be a 6-day affair.... damned towns...

Onto my Question: on my last battle, I encountered an entirely unexpected event: I was defending very well vs. an Immediate Allied Assault, and my morale number actually started to RISE a point or 2... I haven't really looked over the whole Manual yet: is this possible, when there were no squads re-forming? anyone else seen their Morale rise inexplicably during a battle?

[Curious - are people playing operations?]

for some of us who have no time to keep up a PBEM, there's Biltong's Campaign Rules (BCR) ... good stuff. One gigantic Operation, starting in June 41. A bit of work involved to keep it coherent, but ultimately rewarding (IMO).

[Official (Revised) Strategy Guide Errata Thread]

I totally enjoy this game and all the efforts required to put out a manual that covers such a large scope; that said, as a publication designer, if i were in charge of such a printed manual I would never let the thing go to press with as many spelling errors as this one has... as a matter of fact, i wouldn't let ANY spelling errors go to press. As a professional, I would make every effort to make the manual grammatically perfect. Failure to do so, in my industry, might cost me my job (depending on the type of piece being typeset).

With all the game data involved, it might very well be impossible to achieve perfection on a contextual front; but when it comes to spelling, there should be no problems achieving this. It's kind of like bowling 11 straight strikes then intentionally throwing a gutterball... it just slightly smacks of unprofessionalism.

Please don't misread my comments as being disparaging or ungrateful; i don't know what i'd do without this game. I just wish I knew Battlefront needed a spell-checker, i would have gladly offered my services.

{btw, don't bother counting my own grammatical errors; i'm on my lunch break.}

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

hey, i can help w/ this one:

DBaron asks:

Hello again. Since I had troubles getting BiltAid to run, I have gone the pencil and paper method. I am a little confused on task force buying and I want to double check on the provisional force size formula.

I'm a little shaky on math equations (dammit Jim, i'm a designer, not a math geek) but i think your 2nd guess is correct: do the math on the right-hand side then multiply that number by the force size. at least that's what I do...

As far as special rules for the CO, i have no probs with how it already is: it forces me to place the CO where he can be most effective yet in a position of relative safety.

In a previous battle (it seems forever since my troops entered Kiev...) i had my CO overwatching from rubble on a hill and conducting range exercises w/ 81mm mortars... every once in a while when Ivan got too close he'd pull out his silver-plated Luger and pop off a couple rounds. I believe he received a couple exp. points that day.....

{Kiev Update} on the last battle, these damned bridges.... i'm still in the planning stages; my CO just keeps looking out the window of his HQ and cursing at the river... no troops deployed as of yet.

I've heard there's an updated map for Bridges of Blood, nicht?

and I'm almost certain there's a way to import all of my troops i took so long in purchasing, over to this new map... can anyone help here?

{/Kiev}

thanks, j0ker

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

I've another question, not covered by the rules (i think) ...

Ceasefires: is this allowed? Should one even consider using this in BCR? Seeing as this is a mutual decision between you and the AI, if the AI accepts a ceasefire that you initiate, is this an acceptable way of ending a battle within the BCR parameters?

Obviously if one prepares for a ceasefire early enough and is willing to accept a draw, one could conceivably get out of a drawn-out battle with most of his Battle Group untouched. Is this considered "gamey"?

thanks for your opinions and/or "official" ruling.... j0ker out

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

... with so many good rules/Biltaid clarifications by the Commander, perhaps we should start a BCR FAQ thread....

j0ker

[Is there any way to see actual fog in the game?]

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be changing my laptop's graphics card!

I didn't think that was possible anyways... is it? I have a laptop (Compaq Armada) and was told that upgrading the graphics card was impossible.

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

It is quite simple to do. The names and experience do work already without patch. My CO is always named Hawk and I micro-manage the real experience level.

With the new patch also the ammo % level will be working.

I think I remember reading a thread on this once before, would you mind going over the procedure again please?

thanks, j0ker

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

Good news on the patch! Ammo now works in the editor! It will be a bit cumbersome, you have to manually edit every units ammo down to 0, but at least it works. It also works giving extra ammo, so now we can simulate (if we want) REALLY prepared defenses with extra ammo load.

...when the patch is officially released, can we expect to see directions in the next bersion of the BCR manual on how to load troops into the maps and adjust ammo loads, etc?

Will this upgrade also mean we can specify unique names for the unit COs and keep them? THAT would be totally sweet.

{news from kiev} onto Battle 3: sheesh, what a predicament. still in setup mode to figger this one out. Herr j0ker out.{/news}

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

from the good doctor:

So I had a 10-person squad with 1 casualty. His experience after battle was 21. I grabbed a replacement from a squad with an experience of 22. When I applied the formula, the After Replacement experience was 20.66. Why would After Replacement experience be lower than both the original unit and the replacements? Am I applying the formula wrong? Is this intentional?

Remember to divide the incoming unit's experience by 1.25. Then add to the group and divide by its number (in this case: 10).

thus you have: 22/1.25 = 17.6

21 * 9 = 189 + 17.6 = 206.6

206.6 / 10 troops = 20.66, round up to 21.

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

sorry to stick my head out of the shell again, but in the spirit of Biltong's 'Pain and Suffering' that is his Campaign, i quote below some operational rules devised by Franko (FTC) that might be interesting for all you newly-promoted Veteran COs out there. Personally, i might try it if i keep up my winning ways, but MAN, this looks tough...

Once again, all credit goes to Franko, who posted this about 18 mos. ago:

FTC RULES (10.1.01 Version

FRANKO'S TRUE COMBAT RULES version 1.1 (with supporting

rationale)

1. THE GOLDEN RULE. Generally speaking, as the human player,you are not allowed to use the tools of the game interface for the purpose of doing anything your troops could not do in real life.

Comment: The following rules are designed to maximize the

realism and immersion of single-player play. All rules set

forth below must be construed according to this principle,

which is the "Golden Rule" of FTC. Face it, we humans cheat

like bastards when we play the A.I. We get "Eagle-eye"

views, we can actually click on enemy units and find out

everything about them; we can look at the battle from their

point of view, etc. That sucks. Sure, its fun to look at,

but really, really wussy. Although these rules may seem

difficult or cumbersome at first, after a while they are a

breeze, and you can learn to move around quickly. Plus,

there's no need to be a NAZI about it..simply pick the rules

you want to use, and discard others. However, if you DO

discard any of the rules, you're a gamey bastard. That

having been said, lets proceed!

2. SELECTING UNITS. Only use the "+" or "-" keys to move from

friendly unit to friendly unit. Then, use the "tab" key. You

can then only rotate in place to scan the surrounding

terrain (imagine you are where the unit is, and that you can

only see what THAT unit can see..its pretty simple).

If there is friendly unit within the line of sight (LOS) of

the unit you have currently selected, you do not have to use

the + and - keys. Instead, you can simply point and click

on that target unit, THEN hit the tab key. Any other way of

accessing an enemy unit is forbidden.

Comment: Nothing is more tedious than having to cycle

through ALL the units with the "+" or "-" key. You don't

have to. Simply click on any unit in view, and then hit the

tab. Further, so long as you remain "within your lines",

you should be okay. However, see the Golden Rule.

3. VIEWING YOUR SURROUNDINGS.

A. PANNING. After accessing the unit and hitting the tab

key(which orients the view of the unit forward), you

can only "look around" by using the pivot keys

(1,3,7,9) on the keypad. In other words, you can pan

360 (your guys can turn around and look where they

are).

B. BUILDINGS: If your units are in a building or he unit

icon (such as vehicle), blocks your view, you can use

the "8" key to click ahead only such distance which is

necessary to clear the sprite.

C. ELEVATED VIEWS. Once turns begin (after setup), you may

use only the lowest-level view ("1" on the keyboard),

unless the following apply:

1. If your unit occupies are a two-level building, you

may use View 2 ("2" on the keyboard") from the units

location; and

2. If you are on the top floor of a church, you can

use View 2 or View 3, whichever you prefer

Note: The Setup procedure may offer you further viewing

options. See Rule 7, Below.

4. ENEMY UNITS. You may not, under any circumstances, "click

on" or "select" an enemy unit. Use the "N" key to select

targets.

Comment: If you "click" on an enemy unit, you may discover

what it is, and, due to a bizarre game bug or design

oversight, you can actually tell the quality of the enemy

unit. This is WRONG WRONG WRONG! You should be able to tell

a unit by what it looks like, and run the risk you will be

wrong (Hey, Americans routinely identified every German tank

as a "Tiger"...even Steven Spielberg did it).

5. ZOOM KEYS. You may not use the "zoom key" (the brackets) to

magnify your views unless the following exceptions apply:

A. You may use up to Zoom 2x if you're unit you are

"looking from" is a platoon leader or above.

B. Your unit may use up to Zoom 4x if it has optics (e.g,

an artillery observer, an AT gun, a tank). If you

really want to be anal, buttoned up tanks or tanks that

suffered casualties can only use up to zoom 4x in the

direction of their turret facing, because, that's where

the gunners optics are facing! American tanks may not

be able to zoom at all..we can debate that one later.

Addition: You may not use zoom keys at night unless

your unit is a Forward Observer.

C. During Setup, under specified conditions (see below)

6. WEATHER. You must always have weather and fog set to "full"

Comment: If you figure out how to toggle off the weather in

real life, well, by all means do it in the game! The rain

and snow should be troublesome.

7. SPECIAL SETUP RULES. The following setup rules apply

depending on whether you are the attacker, defender, or if

the battle is a meeting engagement.

A. Attacker: During setup you may use View Level 7 ("7" on

the keyboard)to aid in setup, in addition to the views

you are permitted in Rules 1, 2, or 3, above. This

"attacker's map" rule represents the "map" your troop

commander would use to help prepare your troops for the

assault. Ideally, whether such a map is available

should be specified in your briefing by the designer.

B. Defender: During setup you can use the map rule, above,

if your signal corps has its act together. In addition,

you can freely move about the map in level 1, or view

level 2 (or 3, if a church) if that part of the map

your viewing from is a multi-level building.

C. Meeting Engagements. Both sides may only view using the

Attacker's map rule, or from any spot in their setup

zone (only). Again, if a spot in their setup zone has a

church or building, adjust accordingly.

D. OPTIONAL RULE: During setup you may print out a map (by

taking a screen shot and printing the .jpg or .bmp

file) for use during the battle. This map should be at

the minimum View Level 7.

8. GAME SETTINGS. Use only "Realistic" Sized units. Always

have "full terrain" on. Turn unit bases and detailed

armored hits "off". You may use unit bases, which will help

you locate your infantry (after all, the infantry icons are abstracted

one figure equals three men, and sometimes more in the case of crewed weapons).

9. NEW INTRODUCTORY DIE HARD-CORE RULE: You are not allowed to

pick targets for your units. Yeah, you heard me right. You

can maneuver all you want. You can set ambushes.

A. You can tell units to CEASE firing if in command

radius. [at guns]

B. You can use your forward observers and mortars in an

indirect fire role.

Comment: Sure, you like to kill things. Thats part of the

fun. But in reality, your commanders set ambushes, give

orders and commands, generally direct fire (CM has modifiers

for that), etc. They don't actually pull the friggin

trigger of every weapon on the board, which YOU do when you

select targets. Try it this way -- You'll be surprised how

fun it is! And realistic, too!

Always interested in your input. Frankrad@pacbell.net

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

Biltong said:

Never seen that BTW - next time try and post a screenshot

Sure, like that's ever gonna happen again. I'll keep that in mind.... j0ker out

[Biltong's Campaign Rules]

Has anyone suggested allowing the player to use favor to get out of an immediate axis attack/assault (or possibly even an allied counterattack)? Is that in Biltaid, or am I hallucinating again? I don't see it in the v2.2 rules. Either way, I wonder if it's been talked about before.

{DELURK}I had a thread going about this about 4-5 weeks ago; my issue came up as a result of the vague wording on the initial battle type parameter (2) , when i then discovered that the item of which you speak of is addressed at the end of the previous battle; when you roll for the next battle type (counter/immediate attacks/assaults), i believe there's an allowance of spending 40 Favor points to alter the number by 1, and that only applies for Axis immediate attack/assault; if you roll for allied counterattack, evidently you're SOL.

hope this helps. j0ker.

BTW: still intrenched in the middle of Kiev battle #2. the main highlight so far: a green squad threw an explosive packet from a 2nd story window to knock out a KV-1. I'm giddy with pride. {/DELURK}

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

Capn' Pies sez:

In Excel you need to select all the cells you want to print then on the file menu go to print area and set print area. Now do a print preview and all the cells you selected will fill the page

Thanks Cap'n. if/when i ever try Biltaid I'll know what to do.

the Commander sez:

Nope you are taking it all wrong. Misunderstanding rules these days in this world.

boy, don't it ever.

If you read my post(s) you would see that I suggested the Dr. to try both the paper work and BiltAid and follow what suits him best. Same advice to you: if you fell better with paper go for it. Maybe I misunderstood your post and thought you were taking 1 hours to fill the paper and parameters for the next battle. My point is that it really takes a couple of minutes with BiltAid in case you were AT ALL looking to get to the next battle faster.

Sorry for trying to help: Won't happen again!

there's the thing: i wasn't asking for your help. Just trying to add some interesting thoughts.

it's all right, that won't happen again either. I'll just be over here quietly playing.... and happily filling out paperwork... sorry to bother

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

Quoted by the commander:

It takes me no more than a couple of minutes to do what it takes you an hour

gee, i wouldn't be boasting about that [ba-dum-bump] but seriously: please read my post again. I'm talking about the entire process between battles. I don't think an hour is so long of a time to get all of that work done, which I now am [mostly] convinced is correct and i can SEE it on paper.

Actually, i'm not quite sure what your point is. I'm winning battles at my own pace under the same adverse conditions that i would have received had I started using Biltaid. Am i supposed to go faster? Should I be using the time-saving doohickies that others are producing for my benefit? Or are you just boasting that you're the 60-Second Man?

tschuss

j0ker

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

Quoted by the Good Doctor:

So I thought that the best way to learn the rules is to do a battle or two by hand so that I understand the automated system better. I'm wondering what automated system is best, if any. Should I continue using Biltaid, switch to the Auto_rules spreadsheet, or just do it by hand? Any tips?

In the beginning of playing BCR I was very tempted to wait for Biltaid to come out but I couldn't wait and went with the paperwork of doing it all by hand. I'm glad I did; it lets you become familiar with all the parameters first.

Truth be told, I never went over to Biltaid; I'm certain that it's a great timesaving device but there's something quaint about sitting at the desk going over paperwork after every battle... it's so... i dunno....so 20th century. Keeps you in the mood of being in a time where there were only carbon paper and mimeos (did they have mimeographs back then?)

And Biltong is right; after a few times the whole process between battles -- AAR, computing Favor, reassigning squad personnel, rolling up the next battle, adding new task force and deploying troops -- takes less than an hour now. Never thought I'd get the hang of it... but there you go (from a Type .

NEWS FROM THE FRONT: the CO replacement from Game 4 is now a regular, and all 3 tanks are now Vets as Battle 14 (ME) has resulted in a T.V. for der Kampfgruppe. Kiev is about a week away; we seem to be assaulting this afternoon in some sort of foggy foothills with a very small task force. We keep gaining momentum, however, and are looking forward to Kiev.

tschuss - j0ker

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

quoted by Biltong:

Have any of you experienced an increase in skills level when playing PBEM or TCIP?

Haven't played anyone else (little time to; thus the attraction to BCR!) yet, but I can easily see an improvement playing vs. the AI...

when I first got CMBB I was having no luck with winning any battles (the main reason I began at Green exp.); now that I'm looking after my Battle Group I find I'm much more careful and have a good record (so far, hah). I'm in the first week of Sept, so I'm primed for Kiev!

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

Seahawk sez:

General Hawk

9 battles from Barbarossa 22 June: 8 Total Victories, one Major Victory.

Maybe I should put AI to Expert level and have it have always 150%

I got so bored with winning all the time (i think i may need my head examined) - i'm like 10-2 or something - that I upgraded my experience to Regular, which i hope is not ill-advised: the current Allied Assault I'm in is illustrating the concept of "human wave" brilliantly..... i'm still cowering in my trench waiting for it to recede, wondering what the winter will bring.

Herr j0ker

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

IIRC they had more ammo than me...! at any rate they had more troops than i, they could have rotated out the ones with little ammo left... plus, with their armor outnumbering me it's still a mystery why they didn't push on...

though the AI doesn't have an 'agenda' like we BCR players have...

I'll have to check that ammo issue again, though... good point

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

Battle 12: Allied Attack - the same battle as mentioned back last week, ended rather surprisingly. I was ordering a general retreat from the VL as my Task Force was overrun with advancing Soviet Guards...

when all of a sudden a cease-fire was called and I claimed a Major Victory, with about 10 SMG rounds left to share amongst my Battle Group.

Has anyone else seen this happen to them? I had at LEAST 10 - 15 turns left... the AI could have easily taken the flag, I would have let it....

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

While we're sharing, I learned the hard way about CO replacement, as my entire CO staff was wiped out during an ill-advised Assault waaaaaaay back in Battle 4. My new CO has gained acceptance from the troops and will (hopefully) be achieving Regular status very soon.

Currently i'm in a fog-covered frozen wasteland, defending my keister with only 10% ammo... :eek: which means the troops have MAYBE 5 rounds to use for the entire battle. blech.

i think it's time to pull back and take a loss on this outing, as the human wave is cresting..... otherwise i'm afraid i'll be looking for another new CO soon...!

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

It would seem to me that logically there can't be a month-long rest period before a counterattack; thus, in "j0ker's lil' world" i'm going to employ Favor and beg off the counterattack for a month's furlough... the CO owes me that much.

That makes sense to me; my troops are getting tired of all the Immediate At/As lately.

[Biltong's Campaign Rules - South 41 to 42]

Well, it DOES say that... what do you know....

oh wait, you missed a part... right there in the middle, right between the words 'assault ' and 'then'... you see it? there's more letters:

it says and no favor was employed. Do you not see that? I have version 2.1 of the BCR, the earlier versions seemed to have it in there too....

Do you not understand that i am (attempting to, at least ) employ Favor? Which would mean that the entire sentence's logic (if...and...then) is FALSE.

Thus, I HAVE employed 30 pts. Favor to alter the die by one; ergo, my initial question.

Which hasn't been answered yet, i see.....

it's okay, i'll wait.