AlexUK Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Finally achieved a victory on this one (stayed up to 2 in the morning to finish it) - a fantastic scenario - congratulations to the designer - you can tell that many many hours have been put into the map and particularly the set up. I don't want to give too much away, so I can only recommend this if you haven't already had a go. I had several, and there was much despair before ultimate success. I try to comfort myself with the thought that this scenario is not expected to be won first time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Thanks, Alex! I'm really happy that you enjoyed it. The AI plan is made for replays- you shouldn't find the enemy in quite the same places next time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexUK Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 Thanks, Alex! I'm really happy that you enjoyed it. The AI plan is made for replays- you shouldn't find the enemy in quite the same places next time. You're welcome benpark. It must be amazing to think that people from all over the world will be enjoying something you spent so much time on. It actually would be good to know how much time went into it - I'm sure it must have been a fair while? Did you do everything yourself? How long do you think your playtesters spent? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 It took a bit of time, but not as much as some others I have done- As far as I recall, probably 6-10 hours total for the map(over a period of a few weeks). There was lots of tweaking, so it may be more. Compared to the master maps in MG, this one was a breeze! The scenario itself- probably 10 hours over a similar amount of time. Research takes the most time for historical scenarios, but this one used largely fictional parameters. Getting the forces right and doing the AI plans is where much of the time went. That and getting the lighting to gradually change over the course of the battle just right. Lots of testing and tweaking for that aspect, due to it's impact on the Testing takes a while as well, and that's where the other guys come in and do great things. They alerted me to certain aspects that I would have been less attuned to. That process takes the longest- fine tuning the placements, etc can be tricky. So total- maybe 20 or so hours were spent if I have to quantify. That's mostly quality control because it's for release, and I want to stick to the standard the other great scenario makers set. That, and it has Battlefront's name on it, so I want it to be the best thing I can hope to make (with the people that tested it!). That said, scenarios can be done in an afternoon that are really good. I have a few that didn't make it into MG that didn't get past the initial stages that were pretty much sketches, but they were still fun to play. It's fun to perfect things as much as possible, but it's also great to quickly set up a map and forces and see what happens. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFF Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 So, what's the key to this scenario? I'm a big 0 for 2 on it right now, and looking at the disposition of German forces after hitting Cease Fire, it really makes me wonder how the player is supposed to win with such a lightly-armed American force. ***SPOILER*** Aside from the fact that I think there are far too many German troops at the Crack skill level and/or that have +2 morale ratings. I know the Fallschirmjaeger were very good, but they were not SS-fanatically brave. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexUK Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 As I said, there was much despair before ultimate success... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 The key to the scenario is scout and suppress. I'm knee deep in RT stuff right now, but I'll look at my notes to myself on this one when I was plotting it out. I never make scenarios that are "puzzles" where there are only one or two ways to win. There should always be multiple paths and methods for achieving a goal that is historically plausible for the setting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFF Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Thanks, benpark. I'd appreciate that. I don't think the map is a puzzle, for sure, but it seems like certain routes are absolute no-gos if the player wants to keep their infantry in order. ***SPOILERS*** My last attempt was to try to ford the river on the left-hand side. I made it to the crossing OK, but as soon as I got there some of my men were chopped up by a 2cm flakvierling. Still, I was able to get my men into the vineyards, where they were met by an MG42 HMG that is sited on a reverse slope adjacent to the monastery. At the this same time, what I thought was the flakvierling responsible for killing my men was finally spotted, and so I took it out with my mortars. That's when I found out there was a second flak gun overlooking the ford, and that took out my Stuart. All the while, I got some men to the top of hill adjacent to the Samnite Tombs, only to find there was an MG42 and a bunch of other infantry waiting there. Oh, and all the while my men were being chipped apart by mortar and infantry gun fire. It was at that point I realized that plan was not gonna work. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 This may be somewhat spoiler-ific, but only mildly so--- If I recall, the light changes in this scenario from fairly dark to dawn. I worked on getting the timing for the light to be timed correctly in the scenario quite a bit. You should be able to get a few scout teams to the ridge line and just below without getting beat up too much. Use "Slow" if necessary. That way they will be in position to spot as the light comes up. Look for the AA, and hit it with HE from covered positions. More Spoiler-y info: The AA positions should change each time you play, as I made a nefarious AI plan to have them pop up in different spots each game. No counting on them being in one particular place. Sorry. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexUK Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 May be spoiler-ish As the terrain is hilly, I looked for avenues where you could approach out of sight. Spotters could then be brought forward to hit enemy strongpoints with mortars, while assault teams went in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFF Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 As the terrain is hilly, I looked for avenues where you could approach out of sight. Spotters could then be brought forward to hit enemy strongpoints with mortars, while assault teams went in. That's what I'm trying to do this time around. So far my plan has been working OK this third time around, but I've still a long ways to go. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFF Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Alright, so I finally made it through (almost) to the end, and I ended up with a Minor Victory. This time around I approached from the right-hand side of the map, which was a good idea, given the way one of the flak guns was positioned to cover the left-hand approach. ***SPOILERS*** I made sure I was able to locate enemy positions, especially on the right-hand side, which did pay off. The infantry gun was kept mostly in check, and this time around the stationary flak gun was inside the vineyard. A mortar barrage took care of that one and the mobile one as well. Even so, the Germans proved to be very tough to root out, and they inflicted many a casualty by the end of the game. I made sure to shield my vehicles using the terrain, and in so doing I was able to keep them alive the entire time. I made an attempt to take the monastery, but I knew that, with a lack of fire support it was going to be rough going. Those guys at that objective would not be pinned easily, even when I was spraying them with .50 cal fire from the halftrack. I had two mostly-full strength platoons to try to take the objective, but I knew they would all just get chopped up trying to take out those 2 teams. In the end, I secured all of the other objectives, and that was good enough for a Minor Victory with about 12 minutes left on the clock. In sum, it's a great scenario, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's not played it yet. You really have to maneuver your forces wisely in this one, because otherwise your mistakes will be punished harshly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KGBoy Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Played the hell out of this scenario. Loved it. Tried it every which way. Has a great number of smaller skirmishes that are ideal for learning to control your troops and not get mauled. Will try and do an AAR on all the ways I got to MONA. At first everything felt slightly underpowered and everything is slightly underpowered. Running the same situation multiple times does not yield an always positive outcome. Mostly, very negative but sometimes you get lucky. The light is the key variable. Who sees whom first. A really marvellous effect. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebs Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 The first time I played this one it went into overtime and on the last minute I managed to get a fireteam inside the monastery to capture it. Thankfully the germans had been routed by mortars and supression. I remember it being tremendously challenging (I think it was the first CMFI scenario I played, also damn that reverse slope MG42) but it was also very rewarding to get those beat up rangers from hilltop to hilltop 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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