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PanzerMike

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Posts posted by PanzerMike

    The Peng Challenge Thread: Some one get me a drink, and tell me what's going on, eh?

    in Combat Mission Red Thunder

    Posted

    Ha! At last some activity in this poor excuse for a thread. Now, if only it were someone who knows how to properly quote a post, but that is a bit too much to ask I guess. Olde people...

    Who am I, you ask. There is a search function on this here forum. Use it and find out Olde Fellow.

    Now go on and do some more posting here Olde boy, amuse us. Good entertainment is so hard to come by these days.

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    A Muddy Affair vs the AI

    in Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg

    Posted · Edited by PanzerMike

    Thanks for the kudos there Heinrich (and others)! It always nice to hear the experiences from players. Especially good experiences of course :)

    The moment a scenario is published is really exciting. After having poured in many hours of work into it (together with the playtesters of course!), you have to let go and have the players have their way with it. And you really, really hope you got it right and people enjoy it.

    Playtesting of course gives an indication if the scenario is enjoyable, but still, if you get some confirmation from the players themselves that they think you did a good job, it gives a feeling of relief of some kind. 

    Again, thanks for that and I hope you enjoy the other scenarios as well.

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    The Nature of CM Battles is...

    in Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg

    Posted

    9 hours ago, Childress said:

    A challenging battle is a mistake, usually resulting from an error in intelligence, non-forecasted events or general screw ups.

    Well, Col. Abrams made a last minute decision to attack Singling. He did not have proper intel on the German presence there. It was a gamble. Some may call it folly. The troops paid for his folly by having to fight the Germans with inadequate forces.

    So, Singling could be regarded as a mistake :)

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    A Muddy Affair vs the AI

    in Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg

    Posted

    Wow, 5 tanks immobilized :huh:

    How did you manage that?? You are the first one to experience this so far. Were you doing drag races with them in the fields? Or just plain old bad luck?

     

    I can't remember the CMx1 scenario; have not had a running copy in 10 years. But it does not surprise me that it was included. It is a classic after all.

     

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    A Muddy Affair vs the AI

    in Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg

    Posted

    Well, the battle for Singling seems to be quite enjoyable for the posters in this thread from what I read. Great :)

    Singling is a real classic and very well documented. So I absolutely wanted to get it "right". 

    Of course the experience may differ from player to player, depending on what tactics are applied and of course Lady Luck. 

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    CMFB First Impressions

    in Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg

    Posted · Edited by PanzerMike

    4 hours ago, Macisle said:

    I'm about halfway through my first playtest of the CMRT SP-only Defensive scenario I mentioned earlier. I'm liking it and will definitely finish it. With H2H constraints removed, I am able to put in enough AI troops to allow for the AI Attacker to take big lumps and keep coming (which is also why the AI gets the Soviets :P). Somehow, with a very large amount troops, the computer player seems more "clever" as well. This, along with max-variable time limits on reinforcements, forces the player to keep making tough/juicy tactical decisions, even when he's done things right. Fall back now to shorten your supply line to the ammo depot or hold onto this good position for yet another turn to see if the trucks show up? The enemy seems done here. Perhaps I can pull back--no, wait. -Gotta' keep something here unless I wanna' shift my whole line and this platoon's ammo is almost dry...

    I do understand that stock scenarios may need to stay where they are, though. I'm thinking more in terms of community scenarios. In fact, we might see a lot more of them if folks didn't feel any pressure to satisfy more than one target play mode.

    I made CMRT Fester Platz Polozk as a community scenario that is really only playable as the defender (Germans) against the attacking AI Soviets. A human Soviet player will likely just wipe the Germans off the face of the map with ease, so no fun in that (unless you enjoy a milk run). A human German player will have a nailbiting time though, trying to stop the Russian AI steamroller. I did not make the effort to script an AI for the German defender. And H2H suitability for this scenario is probably low.

    In its current state Polozk is not up to par as a stock scenario. Although if I made a German AI script, it could still meet the standards for a stock scenario. A human player could battle it out against the poor German AI defenders. It will be a pushover, but it is playable. Though not playable very well. And like I said, H2H, probably meh.

    I understand what Lt. Bull is saying, but like Vanir said, there is a difference between "playable" and "plays well". Had I made Polozk a stock scenario, I would have made sure players are informed that is was intended for play as the Germans versus the Soviet AI.

    And I kinda like being a Jack of all trades :-) Of course there is nothing wrong to create scenarios in pipeline kind a way with more people doing different tasks. In fact, I made a few scenarios using the master maps in CMBN, because I was not a very good mapmaker compared to the pro's. But I wanted to master the art of mapmaking too and now I make my own. But I would still not hesitate to pick up someone else's map and make a scenario out of it. Highly recommended for all who aspire to be scenario makers.

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    Fester Platz Polozk by PanzerMike

    in Combat Mission Red Thunder

    Posted

    Thanks for the praise there, Slysniper (and friends).

    I made Polozk and a few otherscenarios post release, because I was not involved in Black Sea at the time. It was a lot of fun to make. There are not that many scenarios that are optimized for playing a human defender against the AI. And urban combat. So I figured why not try to fill the gap. A small Stalingrad if you will.

    I am looking forward to making Berlin stuff, once we get to that with Red Thunder! But right now I am working on stuff for the upcoming Italy module (after I participated in Final Blitzkrieg). I know diddly squat about the Italian campaign in 1944, so I am learning about that as we speak. Every day is a school day :-)

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    A Muddy Affair vs the AI

    in Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg

    Posted · Edited by PanzerMike

    8 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

    Did that change? If so, when ?

    Quite late in the development stage. All the scenarios I made take Place in muddy conditions in either Holland or Lorraine, France. The mud played a huge role historically in the campaigns of the fall on the Western Front, but in CM you hardly noticed. It was a nuisance at best I guess. It was decided to make mud more of a factor to reckon with. For instance, in A Muddy Affair (the battle for Singling), the reason the infantry were riding on the tanks, was that the halftracks got stuck in the mud.

    It is, however, tricky to get right. A human can try to avoid the worst for instance, but the AI is not that smart.

    Also, there is more of a (bad) luck factor involved when playing in Mud. Applying good tactics but still being thwarted by the mud, can be frustrating.

    This makes designing a mud scenario a little trickier imho. Same thing with snow conditions.

    The mud should be a factor, but not make too much of an impact. I mean if 10 minutes into play half your tanks are immobilized, where is the fun in that? But being careful where to move your precious armor should be in the back of your mind when driving around in the soggy fields of 1944 Europe.

    Not easy to get it exactly right in the game, is it? Share your muddy adventures, I really would like to know if mud is currently handled well by the engine in your opinion.

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