[WIP] Sicherung and Squad Battles (play testers needed in the near future)

[Pelican Pal]

hello all,

I've been working on two scenarios that I am getting ready to release sometime during August.

Sicherungs:

You are Sicherungs-Divisionen Company Commander during the opening days of Operation Bagration. Your company has been tasked with holding a small river crossing East of the village of Plehany against the might of the Soviet Army.

Squad battles:

A test scenario in which you command a single infantry platoon. However, instead of commanding squads of men each individual soldier is his own controllable unit. So a squad of grenadiers consists of 8-9 separate elements.

Right now Sicherungs is closest to completion. I just need to refine the AI plans (there are currently 4), add in the briefings, and finally send it out for testing.

Squad Battles currently has a map and I am in the process of building up the two opposing platoons. It is rather difficult to do since the game wasn't meant to be played on this scale.

I'll be posting some more information here of the following days as I gear up to let Sicherungs out for testing.

[Erwin]

If it's vs the AI I would be happy to help out. Doing 1:1 sounds original and interesting.

[Pelican Pal]

I will be making an AI for it. Although I'm not sure how it will turn out. 1:1, or as close as CM allows to it, requires a a lot more precision than the AI is usually able to do. So we will see how it turns out.

[Erwin]

Yes, it is an interesting experiment.

[kohlenklau]

I am happy to try and assist you.

[Pelican Pal]

Does anyone know of German riflemen that I can get as single units that carry hand grenades? I've been using truck drivers however, their lack of grenades is a serious detriment to German capabilities so far.

Edit: I've thrown together a quick battle showcasing a German platoon attacking a small village supported by 2 medium mortars and a single halftrack. Everything seems to be working pretty well currently. Interestingly enough long range combat has become much less lethal while close range combat has had its lethality increase dramatically. In my few test runs I've managed to lose entire squads to not more than 3-4 Russians.

http://imgur.com/lZdhwDI

^ I can't seem to get images to embed properly. This is a picture of 2nd squad advancing through a wheat field while the supporting halftrack and second squad wait for trouble to brew.

[kohlenklau]

[Pelican Pal]

I recently received permission from PanzerMike to use his map for the Squad Battles scenario. Currently there isn't any AI behind the opposing side (allies) and the briefing isn't done. However, by the end of this weekend I should have a basic scenario done that I would like people to try out.

Mainly I'm trying to find out what size should the missions be for the different control mechanisms (RT and WeGo). Also what sized force is the most fun.

edit: Also thank you for posting the picture Kohlenklau

[kohlenklau]

I guess you got 2 projects going on here and I am a little confused. Please elaborate on this squad battle thing. AFAIK 1 man teams are possible with vehicle drivers and your two man teams cut down to 50% casualties. Snipers, shrecks, etc. 3 man scouts round back up to 2 guys.

Will the soviet enemy also be whittled down to 1 person teams?

Maybe one thing to test is if all these 1 man teams will interchange ammo without buddy aid. When within a couple AS of each other.

[Pelican Pal]

Ah, yea. So Sicherungs is a very standard scenario. Which is almost finished at this point. I just need to add the briefing and send it out for playtesting. Getting motivation to finish that last bit is a little harder than it was for the rest of it. But it is really closed to *finished*.

The other is called Squad Battles. The name will probably change or become a signifier for a style of battle, but it is supposed to be CM at a platoon level with every man in a squad controllable. I'm doing this through the use of scout, sniper, AT, and lmg teams at 50% strength. I am also using transport vehicle drivers and breaching teams.

This is creating some issues that need to be worked around or controlled via house rules (German riflemen have no grenades and SMG soldiers are represented by observers which can call down artillery). Currently it is working, but does need some fine tuning to make sure everything works together like it should.

An average German Squad would look like this:

HQ (2 men, basic HQ team at 50% casualties)

Riflemen X6 (truck drivers, no grenades)

1 LMG (LMG team 50% casualties

1 SMG (Observer team, at 50% casualties)

While a Russian squad would look like this:

HQ (2-3 men, normal HQ 50% casualties. Must be a company HQ)

Riflemen x6 (Truck drivers, come with hand grenades)

SMGs x4 (Observers at 50% casualties)

1 LMG (LMG team at 50% casualties)

So nearly every unit on the battlefield is a single man that is controllable by the player. This is not always true, especially with crew served weapons and HQs. I figure in these cases it is okay for it not to be 1:1.

The idea for this mission arose during the discussion in this thread (http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=116173&page=2) about the overly high effectiveness of SMGs.

[kohlenklau]

Well, I can flesh out a briefing. Just PM me what you got so far along with a bottle of scotch. Might even do all the STRATMAP, OPMAP and TACMAP images if you make it a case!