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How do you deal with your perfectionism?


Alexey K

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While playing this game I constantly struggle to overcome my perfectionism.

"Damn, that freaking Stryker killed my new shiny BMP.... too bad, got to reload" :)

 

But then it gets worse: every next reload attempt is even worse because I'am comparing my performance to previous attempts :)

After few iterations I completely stop at mission and give up. :angry:

That is complete nonsence because I have enought reserves to run over enemy 

I just like perfect zero-loses victory a bit too much.

 

Do you have temptation to reload after significant loses?

How do you fight your temptation?   :)

 

 

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If playing single-player I will abandon a scenario if I think it has become unwinnable but generally I will continue with a few losses and hope for a Tactical Victory or something.

 

[EDIT]

 

Re. "How do you fight your temptation?"

 

I just tell myself that the scenario difficulty has just been cranked up a notch due to losing some unit or other, but that will make victory all the sweeter if I can pull it off.

Edited by Cpl Steiner
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If playing single-player I will abandon a scenario if I think it has become unwinnable but generally I will continue with a few losses and hope for a Tactical Victory or something.

 

[EDIT]

 

Re. "How do you fight your temptation?"

 

I just tell myself that the scenario difficulty has just been cranked up a notch due to losing some unit or other, but that will make victory all the sweeter if I can pull it off.

 

Yeah, I'll try this mantra :)

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Such an interesting question; I started a similar thread about this.

 

I am tempted to fight the perfect battle, to make all the right calls, to preserve my own forces while achieving all tactical goals and eliminating the enemy's ability to resist my genius as a commander.  The problem is that if you accomplish this by reloading turns (i.e. taking "mulligans") it becomes a Pyrrhic victory and you're gaming the game.  It is much more satisfying to take your lumps and, as other people have suggested, settle for a tactical victory; after all, what real-life commander would not settle for that rather than a loss?

 

I played the first mission in the US campaign and made many mistakes that resulted in far too many losses and a mere tactical victory.  I realised that, because the game is essentially glitch-free as far as AI behavior is concerned, I had nobody to blame for a too-high friendly casualty rate but myself.  My terrain analysis was not good enough so I wasn't reading the cover properly and above all I was too determined to push forward when the prudent thing would have been a much cannier combination of force preservation and carefully controlled aggression.  So, I decided to restart the campaign and replay the mission, determined this time to win a major victory.  All the time, I wondered what I would do if I made a regrettable mistake; would I take that mulligan and replay the turn with corrected orders?  Deep down I knew that I would not take any real pride in a victory won this way but I saved every turn just in case I felt unable to live with a particularly boneheaded decision.  However, I resolved to be as un-boneheaded as possible and to be patient and prudent in my command decisions; I had my arty and helos pound away with good spotter LOS  where applicable, I placed my tanks where I could leverage their range and above all I was patient; I decided never to cross open ground without cover from intersecting lines of fire and never to move into ground that had not been fully spotted by UAVs.  The trade-off was time; what if, by making force preservation a priority, I failed to accomplish all mission goals in the allotted time?  But here is a big secret about CMBS; you don't have to take the ground if the enemy surrenders.  If you advance patiently, stay in cover wherever possible and only move units forward with adequate fire support and if, through doing this, you spend forty five minutes killing six enemy units for every one you lose, you will probably force a surrender and achieve a total victory, as I did, without making a number of hail Mary moves on objectives.

 

So what I learned from this is: you tend to use mulligans when you have been impulsive.  The alternative is to resist such behavior and try to behave like a real-life commander in the field.  If your priority is truly to preserve your forces then even when you lose a vehicle to a lucky arty round or you misjudge a maneuver, resulting in an infantry unit taking effective fire from an unexpected direction and retreating, you won't be tempted to replay the turn with new orders because the loss was the result of effective AI maneuver (and a little luck) rather than your own deficiencies of command.  Much to my surprise, with half an hour left of that first US campaign mission, the enemy surrendered even though I only had boots on the ground on one objective because I had decided to see how tactically effective I could be by concentrating on force preservation.  I wound up with only two vehicle losses (one was a Humvee) and a total victory as I had managed to whittle the enemy's combat effectiveness down to virtually nothing.  It's a delicate balance between force preservation and territorial aggression.  And, somewhat to my amazement, I never felt the need to replay a turn once, because I was determined, no matter how long it took to plot all my turns, to "own" every decision I made.  It was by far my best experience in CM.

Edited by Bahger
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Still working on my rage quitting in single player mode.Not because of the game but usually at my own stupidity.One minute i'm Patton,a few turns later.....Paulus.

 

Yeah, I'ts like "Whoa!! Brace yourself while I reveal my strategic brilliance.... F@@k, where did that Javelin come form?!!!!!"

Edited by Alexey K
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Alexey K,

 

What's reloading?! I've not played any CM in Campaign mode, but my core gaming philosophy is that Murphy rules the battlefield with an iron fist; that if things go well, that's to be celebrated, and that casualties, especially under my frighteningly inept command, are inevitable. I'm so far from perfect I simply don't grok the perfectionism apparently bedeviling you. I certainly seek to minimize own losses, but this battlefield in particular is so lethal a mistimed sneeze (I only slightly exaggerate) could well bring disaster. This is particularly true vs a foe with thermals. Reloading isn't my style. Just ask 18 Platoon in CMBN. I got my unit shot to pieces, yet somehow survived, nursing a still impressive case of CM PTSD as a result.

 

Regards,

 

John Kettler

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I am a bit OCD in real life, silly things like making sure the TV volume is on an even number and not an odd one...

Last night I was playing the red hordes scenario in red thunder, I had a AT gun in the village nearest the river in a position to fire into the flank of any T-34 coming up the road, but before they could get any shots off all but 2 of the crew where killed by a Soviet smg squad...

A minute or two later the remaining crew recovered and on there own killed 4 T-34s..

I think this kind of situation is what makes CM special, through chaos , misfortune and heroism a realistic narrative is built in the mind of the player :-)

I think reloading breaks this process..

Edited by highlandcharge
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Sure, I'll reload on occasion. Usually, as described above, just after a very stupid set of orders. However, the game will forever be tainted after that...

 

I'll do it purely as a learning tool.

 

If you never reload, you'll play better. If you play pbem, you can't reload. Try practicing single-player mode that way, and you'll be a better player. My .02

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Sure, I'll reload on occasion. Usually, as described above, just after a very stupid set of orders. However, the game will forever be tainted after that...

 

I'll do it purely as a learning tool.

 

If you never reload, you'll play better. If you play pbem, you can't reload. Try practicing single-player mode that way, and you'll be a better player. My .02

 

For leanring it's fine, but for "playing for real" it is very disruptive.

It's like narcotics, reload once and then start reloading more and more. It comes to "Oh, s--t, they wounded my rifleman, it's too hard to continue" :)

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Sure, I'll reload on occasion. Usually, as described above, just after a very stupid set of orders. However, the game will forever be tainted after that...

 

I'll do it purely as a learning tool.

 

If you never reload, you'll play better. If you play pbem, you can't reload. Try practicing single-player mode that way, and you'll be a better player. My .02

 

I found a sort of compromise between reloading to change the in-game result and lesson learning.  When I come across a particular tactical problem that I struggled with I will sometimes save that turn under a different file name.  Then I continue with the original file and original results in the game.  I am then free to use the different named file to experiment with and come back to for training purposes outside of the mission.

 

Example:  QB Turn 10 43 I get my a$$ handed to me during a building entry.

 

Save as: Building entry drill 03.  Continue regular game with Turn 10 43.

 

When I have time I load building entry drill 03 and attempt to figure out how to do the building entry correctly and update my TACSOPs if applicable.  When I think I have particularly good drills I keep them saved and return to them to practice the particular drills.  This especially comes in handy when I don’t have the time to start and play a whole new mission.

 

Okay……….sometimes I will change the in-game result but it is my house rule not to and I try very hard not to. :)          

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I'm in the process of getting the hang of the game and thus do reload although sometimes I have a problem of ruining the immerson factor by doing so.

Threads like this are a good reminder reloading should be done for learning reasons and when AI does something you didn't plan like occassional quirky vehicle pathfinding.

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