A few questions about reinforcements when making scenarios

[kohlenklau]

Question 1: If a reinforcement arrives on map edge at the last minute, say a veteran AFV with high morale, but it can't actually fire a shot, does it still contribute say to global morale and maybe keep the losing side from auto ending the battle by ceasefire, etc.?

Question 2: current reinforcements system in editor has drop down for EARLIEST arrival (say T=30m) and then your drop down for exact arrival or window of POSSIBLE arrival time delay (say 20m). Do I assume correctly that this is a heads-tails 50/50 die roll at each game turn starting at T=30 until T=50?

I am trying to design a scenario good enough to upload to repository...

[poesel]

I don't know anything about scenario making but there is no global morale.

[SlowMotion]

IMO scenario designers should avoid giving player reinforcements that

arrive to a place where they will be destroyed immediately or cannot be used for anything useful (like a tank in the middle of forest that prevents it from moving).

[Sgt Schultz]

Find an existing scenario that you like, and about the size and tactical problem that you wish to create.

Load that scenario into your editor.

Deconstruct it by observing how things were done.

Change and tweak and run through scenario author test mode a few times.

Once you are reasonably comfortable that what you do is what you want to happen, then start fresh on your scenario.

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As I understand the process, every minute from earliest to latest on reinforcemnts causes a coin flip. heads they come in, tails they wait until at least next turn.

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Leaving units until last turn accomplishes nothing.

Taking units such as certain HQs, that you cannot delete for purchase reasons, and making their reinforcment entry occur AFTER the battle has ended works well in some situations. Just make sure that no points are assigned to those particular units. They are still "there" but they just never show.

[kohlenklau]

@Poesel: Global morale, I have seen it mentioned in a few threads. I will keep studying the issue.

@SlowMo: Did you play these scenarios and they were from the repository? If so, maybe you could give specific feedback to the designer? But for my reinforcements I do not plan to have star trek Enterprise transporter beam-ins or tank in a forest. The only thing I remember vaguely from a CMBB scenario was a tank in a rocky area so it could not move to represent out of fuel. I haven't played CMX1 in a long time. I forget if you could make the tank immobilized in the editor or this forced abandonment by the crew and an empty tank was there on turn 1. Anyway, CMBN lets you make it immobilized so it can be anywhere at turn 1. No problemo.

@Sgt Schultz: Thanks for the tips. Yes, I have analyzed a few. I already have used the idea for HQ's as reinforcements that never arrive. It works well. The last turn question was aimed at if the earliest arrival plus time span resulted in a late or very late arrival. I think it could be of some impact to avoid AI auto-surrender. The last team holding on by their teeth and almost ready to wave the white flag but suddenly "..a whole column of Shermans is coming up the road!"

I am trying for some new concepts for versus AI scenarios.

We shall see if I am successful. Standby. Thanks again all of you for replying.

[MikeyD]

When using reinforcements the Exit After/Exit Before AI instructions are your friend. I've never been much of a fan of leaving those number at the 0:00 default. If you're going to have tank reinforcement arrive at the 20 minute mark you might as well coordinate the AI's big assault to begin at the 25 minute mark to take advantage of it.

As to 'HQ that never arrive', most all of my scenarios have included a reinforcement group I renamed to 'Exile' that was given an arrival date long after the scenario is done. That's to maintain a TO&E link without actually putting the battalion commander in harm's way.

[kohlenklau]

MikeD, Yes, I have a ways to go with that experimentation on exit after/exit before.

I recall my first CMBN scenario (just for myself) was "night of nights" and was an attempt to portray small teams of US airborne on 6 June all from different companies. I tried to onky have one HQ in the game, a kind of Dick Winters who gathers them and tries to do the job. So, I had a ton of HQ's that were in a separate R group, R7 I think I used, and in the map I deployed them all huddled off far away to remind me they were no shows. The sucky thing is you do have to use one of your R groups.

Now, though it may not be realistic, I just purchase various special teams not in the usual TOE and put them under whatever HQ I think would take command of them anyway. It seems CMBN has troops not within visual of their 2nd LT but if General Patton was right next to them in the same foxhole they would suffer "not under command" penalties? The dreaded red x versus green dot. I am not talking BN CDR for US, maybe CO CDR, but then maybe for some German troops the BN CDR might be firing and defending and would gather some stray dogs under his wing and it would make sense they would not have a red x and would not suffer any penalties...

[womble]

@Poesel: Global morale, I have seen it mentioned in a few threads. I will keep studying the issue.

Poesel is correct that there's no direct equivalent to CMx1's "Morale countdown", but there is some sort of tracking of global "remaining will and capacity to fight" when the AI is one of the players, because if you kill and demoralise enough of the enemy they will surrender. All forces are included in this, including reserves that arrive late or not at all. So a new element from a different command arriving whose morale has not been eroded by Battalion-mates getting eradicated will stave off auto-surrender. As they will if they're timed to arrive well after the scenario is due to end. That's what people mean when they refer to "global morale".