scenario beta testers wanted!

[H1nd]

Right to the point:

I have a huge scenario in the making that uses my Nemanitsa map (wich is east of Borisov irl) and I would need some volunteers to help me out to test it in H2H play. NOTE that it is intended as H2H only scenario (for the time being) so there is no AI plans for single player (yet). The scenario is still very much in alpha/beta stage and balancing it wil be relatively hard since the forces included equal to roughly one infantry and one tank brigade supported by a lots of artillery for the soviets (better part of their organic fire support and tank corps level assets) and the germans have a well dug in depleted and exhausted pzgr battalion supported by some armored assets and at guns. Especialy the german at and armor assets are a concern and the balancing will largely depend on determine their actual numbers.

This will also be a opportunity give constructive feedback and critique and therefore affect the eventual final version hopefully to be released in june.

Note: Scenario is very demanding on hardware and if you want to keep up a decent fps and fancy graphics you must have powerfull pc (mine isnt but I dont care for the fancy fancy that much)

I will hand out the beta version to the volunteers and it will be up to you to find an opponent to test it with. (One of the reasons for asking help is that by time is cut to premium during this month and I want to get this released at somepoint.)

The vision behind this scenario is to offer a larger scale engagement between dug in exhausted kampfgruppe against an overwhelming soviet armored assault well supported by artillery and infantry. Scale is bit of the top I think but it should be fun! I can tell that it should offer very different exprerience for each side. With soviets you can wield the pure all out aggressive power of massed t-34 and for the germans the battle will be as much against your own nerves as it is agains the enemy. Scenario is barely semi historical at best so keep that in mind but the location should be very realistic.

Contact me with PM or here on this thread and we shall sort it out.

Cheers!

-H1nd

Ps: I would really like to have some grogs (JasonC im pointing at you) also take a look at this scenario in general and give feedback on the scale and troop composition etc etc because while this scenario is intended as purely semihistorical fun-stuff I would really like to also get some idea where it goes wrong regarding historical event's and realities because I intend to make a more historical and realistic version at some point more focused on manuveur and less on pure contest of strenght.

[kipanderson]

H1nd, hi,

It is a fantastic map... truly.. .

No time to help with testing anything... wish I had.. but certainly do appreciate the map and do understand how much work it must have taken...!

All the best,

Kip.

[H1nd]

Thank you kipanderson for the good word and vouch

[H1nd]

Hmmh, I find it suprising that there is this little interest this so far while there has been talk of people wanting larger scale scenarios (and smaller as well). I do realise that the h2h-only might be a turn off for many. I can however point that if you are into h2h games then I'm relatively confident that it is very much fun already as it is so please do give it a try!

[ZPB II]

Looks really nice, but I myself don't have the necessary hardware to run mammoth scenarios and I'm tied up with another fun project.

Beta testing colossal H2H scenarios might be scary due to the fact that it is a long-term commitment with a chance of it all going to waste due to the beta aspect. Kinda like marrying a girl you've never banged.

That being said, I hope you find testers ASAP.

[H1nd]

Ahh yes I should probably bring up the fact that while it is indeed a large scale scenario the actual action should be quite straightforward and fast paced. There are several factors that contribute to this: The map is largely open farmland and while there are lots of micro terrain features it is still much more easier to micromanage your forces, especialy since there are no boggage-like major obstacles that force the player to micromanage waypoints too much. In other words the terrain favours straightforward agressive mobile attacks the soviet style. The trick is to coordinate it to maximum effect together with overwhelming firepower.

Second factor is the soviet military doctrine for wich I have tried to optimize this scenario (In good and bad). You dont want to do this with fancy tacticaly superior moves but rather use the sheer raw power to your advantage and this means that you should command large formations the way you would operate smaller formation with germans or usa/brits. The big thing here is coordinating all of this but once you have your plan set up it should pretty much roll forward to victory or death. That is in theory and it is something I would love to see proven by beta-testers

The germans however are very different experience. And much of the balancing issue lie in getting them strong enough to give them a fighting chance and enough staying power while still be winnable by soviets with proper soviet tactics (Or something fancier if you have the nerve to micromanage all that). German player has pretty much total freedom on troop deployment and as such it should appeal to anyone who likes to plan extensive defenses under difficult tactical circumstances. I have however predeployed the german forces to what I believe is pretty optimized defensive plan so if you dont want to micro your defenses you dont need to.

Such unsymmetric forces make balancing very hard though and this is why I need outside help.

Cheers!

-H1nd

[PanzerMike]

Testing mega scenarios is time consuming. I have made and published three scenarios so far for CMRT, but I keep the size of the scenario down to manageable proportions. This way testing (and designing for that matter) is less daunting.

I have also helped other designers in beta testing their creations, but I picked small/medium battles. I am just not a big fan of mammoth battles, but others may find them to their liking. And no AI means a big chunk of users will not be interested I am afraid.

I hope you find some people for whom mega battles are right up their alley and are willing to put in the effort. Size really matters

[H1nd]

Gotta agree on that I like it big

I will get around to doing the AI plans before actual release in june regardles of the H2H balance. It is still unknown territory for me so now is not the time to focus on it. Edit: but it should not be too difficult due to the straightforward nature of the scenario.

[Vanir Ausf B]

I like 'em big also. But this sounds like it would choke my 5 year old laptop.

[wolf66]

I volunteered and hope my long time H2H partner will agree ;-))

[H1nd]

I like 'em big also. But this sounds like it would choke my 5 year old laptop.

Very likely But I can send you the file for test and general feedback if you wish. I have found that the deployment phase is the most demanding part on hardware and fps gets dramaticaly better once the game gets underway and going.

[H1nd]

Bump. Could still use few more testers!

[mjkerner]

H1nd, I'll give it a try (by Hot Seat, probably). I've had up to 7 battalions (5 Russian, 2 German, plus about 40 AFVs) in some homemade scenarios, with no problems during play, just long loading and save times. Can't say how quickly I can finish it, though.

[Vanir Ausf B]

Very likely But I can send you the file for test and general feedback if you wish. I have found that the deployment phase is the most demanding part on hardware and fps gets dramaticaly better once the game gets underway and going.

Tempting, but I'm also playtesting a QB map for MarkEzra right now and have a lot of other stuff going on, so maybe next time

[H1nd]

H1nd, I'll give it a try (by Hot Seat, probably). I've had up to 7 battalions (5 Russian, 2 German, plus about 40 AFVs) in some homemade scenarios, with no problems during play, just long loading and save times. Can't say how quickly I can finish it, though.

Sure thing!

PM me a email and i'll send you the files tonite.

[H1nd]

My own h2h testing game has at least proven this so far that numbers alone dont guarantee easy victory for the soviets. Coordinating artillery, smoke, infantry and armor requires quite a bit of effort and planning in order to get the most out of their numerical advantage. Wich seems pretty realistic to me .