Jump to content
Battlefront is now Slitherine ×

Sgt.Squarehead

Members
  • Posts

    8,910
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    85

Posts posted by Sgt.Squarehead

  1. Cheers fella, yup it's the same engine as CM:SF and it's for AI controlled FO directed fire mid-scenario.  I'll give the high quality FOs a try.....Their uber-stats won't affect much else as they are largely there just to spot.  I've already attached them and the artillery to groups in case the problem was related to the inactivity issue which can occur when units join a group.

     

    I'd always thought Hammertime was a Blue only scenario, but I've very recently discovered you wrote it to allow Red to play too.....I haven't done so yet, but I suspect I probably will in a later iteration of the standalone (might be a bit of a massacre though). 

    Here's a preliminary Blue only version:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/4lic3x9kze95y98/[Test] Hammer Of The Faithful v-100(nobrief).btt?dl=0

    As the name implies I haven't written a briefing yet, but in summary, you control a mixed Syrian rebel force nominally under FSA leadership.  This force consists largely of former soldiers along with a smattering of local armed groups and a significant number of rather well armed foreign jihadists.

    Your orders are to attempt to establish a foothold in a major Syrian city (pretty sure you know the drill).....At your disposal for this mission are:

     

    Elements of Mechanised Battalion:

    Mech Recon Co. HQ

    1x Platoon Mech Recon (BMP)

    1x Platoon Mech Recon (BRDM)

    3x T-62 Tank

     

    Elements from Motorised Infantry Battalion as follows:

    Batt. HQ

    1x Company Motorised Infantry

    Weapons Co. HQ

    1x AT Platoon

    1x HMG Section

    1x Medium Mortar Section

    1x Heavy Mortar Section

    1x Howitzer Section

     

    Local Syrian Irregulars:

    Approximately 40 individuals, lightly armed primarily with small arms & RPGs

     

    Jihadist Fighters:

    Approximately 75 individuals & around half a dozen pick-up trucks, very heavily armed including sophisticated ATGM & other heavy weapons.  Have access to VBIEDs, Heavy Mortars & Grad Rockets.

     

    As you will see the changes are minor, but with a rather different starting force (& background premise) the battle has a very different 'feel' IMHO.....You don't need to avoid casualties to the same extent a NATO or US force would, but the bad guys are better trained and much better armed than your forces, so they are quite capable of inflicting those extra casualties.  By and large your forces do have a morale advantage, but it's not wise to press it against such quality opposition.

    One final word of warning.....The Syrian Regime maintains air-dominance, so if you hear jets or rotors it is NOT good news. :mellow:

    Please let me know your thoughts.  B)

     

     

  2. Top work fella.  B)

    Would you be interested in taking a look at my Free Syrian Army variant, "Hammer Of The Faithful" once I've got it all wrapped up to my satisfaction (I've made a few changes, but most of it will be very familiar to you).....There are two versions, a standalone which can be an utter swine and another variant which draws from a campaign core-file and is just a little bit more generous.

    PS - Just downloaded your CM:SF Scenario Design Manual.....I thought I'd picked the repository dry, but I missed that one completely!  Just out of interest do you play CM:A at all?

  3. I've done some more experimenting and sadly it's not possible to crew-swap anything that requires the crew to 'Bail-Out' rather than 'Dismount' in the editor.....This seems to rule out using the Taxi Drivers (unless perhaps their own vehicles are set to immobilized).  Either way it looks like ISIS crewed tanks are out.  :unsure:

  4. On ‎30‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 3:38 AM, Michael Emrys said:

    Some pathfinding issues need more work though, as the AI under certain frequently encountered circumstances will behave in ways that are not only stupid, but far-out stupid. One that comes to mind right away is avoiding an obstacle by moving onto terrain where it will get immediately cut down. A human soldier in that situation would, I believe, either seek a more secure route, or simply not move at all. But I realize that this can involve subtle elements that are not easy to code for. Still, one hopes that some day soon a breakthrough will occur.

    A lot of that is down to the mode the units are moving in, the AI seems reasonably sane when applying a 'Cautuious, Advance' order, but give it an 'Active, Maximum Assault' and it goes a bit benny-mental.  :rolleyes:

  5. 12 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

    At least we can probably all agree retrospectively, that there were no 'good-guys' in CM:A.....The Soviets were simply beastly in their behaviour, but arming all those Afghan tribesmen to the teeth (and simultaneously importing Saudi style Islamic radicalism) was probably not a brilliant move in the long run either.  :rolleyes:

    Hadn't read this prior to posting, but it's very illuminating IMHO: 

    https://warisboring.com/america-has-misused-its-military-power-in-the-middle-east-29a2541022b4#.vrkem7ssd

    It's refreshing to see these connections been brought to light.....Without consideration of all of these factors the wider 'crescent of chaos' is almost incomprehensible.

    PS - Not much I can do about the title of the article, it's actually somewhat inappropriate IMHO.....Please read it though, as I said it provides a useful insight into the geopolitical thinking of the Afghan Invasion era.

  6. Tell you what Erwin, find me a breakdown of the forces you'd like to use and some inspirational images (keep in mind the limitations of what CM:SF can do), help me out with the briefings and I'll see if I can work up something on LLF's masterpiece of an urban map.....How's that?

  7. Good idea.....I had my wrist slapped TBH.  ;)

    At least we can probably all agree retrospectively, that there were no 'good-guys' in CM:A.....The Soviets were simply beastly in their behaviour, but arming all those Afghan tribesmen to the teeth (and simultaneously importing Saudi style Islamic radicalism) was probably not a brilliant move in the long run either.  :rolleyes:

    I've actually got two campaigns on the go for CM:A.....The second is much more complex than the one I've described above, nominally titled 'The Triangle' it's centred around Afghanistan's massive opium industry.....I've placed the player in the morally highly questionable position of the tribal group doing the growing and smuggling, meaning they will variously find themselves at odds with, or allied to, several different factions, often at the same time.

    It will mostly be a campaign of sneaking and hiding, with occasional outbreaks of bloody revenge, typical low-intensity tribal warfare.....Would this be of any interest to people do you think? 

  8. I find map making to be one of the hardest tasks, kudos to all the map makers out there, your patience and creativity is remarkable.

    Scripting for the AI is just a matter of experimentation, trial & error and lots of repetition in my experience.....So far I've mostly restricted myself to the CMx2 engine (CM:A & CM:SF) as I figure if I can suss those two out, I'm a fair way towards learning the rest.

    PS - I enjoy scripting for CM:A the most as it seems to be the closest in terms of balance.....The pre-scripted fire-fights don't always end how you expect they will, even before the player gets involved!

  9. If you sent a platoon through, it always seemed to be the officer that vanished too!  But it was useful in the 'Stalingrad Tractor Works' campaign IIRC.

    It's easy enough to model uncons emerging from tunnels, but escaping through them we can't do without exit zones.....I hope some form of underground movement is included as a feature of CM:SF too, it's very appropriate given the evidence we have seen in Aleppo & Mosul.

  10. Fair play Steve.....It is your manor after all and my comment was rather out of order.  

    Not sure there's a pattern to my general behaviour, just to the posts that have drawn your attention recently, the majority of my posts are to be found in other, more productive threads TBH.....Sadly those kinds of threads often don't seem to receive as much attention as they possibly should.

     

  11. I've had a cursory look at it, TBH I'm still learning to play the games so I'm not in any hurry to start designing, but I wondered if there was a general design thread similar to what you find in the CM forums (I did search). 

    Just finished my first full campaign (Tripartite 1914), I won it easily.....I turned east, crushed Russia. Italy steadfastly held ground in the Alps (barely TBH, they were definitely the 'weakest link') while Germany reoriented west and AH ground down all remaining resistance in the Balkans (Albania refused to roll over, but Romania, which had resolutely refused to join the CP despite considerable pressure, fell in two turns). 

    My initially defensive stance in the west meant I did not breach Belgian or Dutch neutrality, both eventually joined the CP, the former after a British invasion (that nearly caught me off guard and featured a twelve-month slogging match for possession of Brussels), the latter as the result of diplomatic pressure. 

    The Russian defeat in the east had also freed up the Ottomans up, allowing them to first take Greece and then overwhelm British forces in Egypt.  An Ottoman invasion force launched from Libya had crossed the Alamein line and was approaching Cairo when Britain & France surrendered (German troops were in Paris and the Italians held Marseilles). 

    I didn't use unrestricted submarine warfare at all until the US were on the edge of mobilising anyway, at which point I used it to the max.....Combined with the pasting they were taking in the field the effect on British morale was catastrophic.  American forces had no significant impact despite arriving rather earlier than was the case historically, this surprised me somewhat. 

    The war ended on 19 November 1918 FWIW.

×
×
  • Create New...