Erwin Posted July 9, 2016 Author Share Posted July 9, 2016 Tried sending again - same problem... You need a new e-mail address or company. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 It's not even showing up as spam.....This only ever seems to happen with CM files. Testing is proceeding well, the first AI plan seems to work (in static & dynamic tests), so I'll add a couple of variations and then move on to balancing the VPs and writing the briefing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 may be counter-terror measures. the watchers don't like large "encoded" files being passed around. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 Yeah, I mean wargamers are such a threat to national security.....All these dumb algorithms took all the intelligence out of intelligence and that's a fact. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Having a bit of a frustrating time at the moment, the scenario is working, but it is still 'bigger' than I wanted and it definitely won't suffice as an opening scenario for the campaign (although it is fully playable in and of itself). Can anyone recommend a really good platoon level scenario (or a couple) for CMA or CMSF that I can pick apart in the editor for ideas? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted July 15, 2016 Author Share Posted July 15, 2016 Having played a lot of CMA and CMSF I can't recall a scenario that only had a platoon - at least not an enjoyable one. The most fun scenarios are the ones where you get to play with a wide variety of toys - so at min a reinforced company. I very much enjoyed your first effort, but you seem unhappy with it. You should go with what you got and move on. Some wise chap once said that "perfection" is impossible. One needs to aim for excellence. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 (edited) It's OK, I think I've sussed it out.....I was a bit tired and fed-up when I posted yesterday, too much staring at the AI panel and trying to understand why units sometimes do what they do. I'm working on some really small scenarios just to establish the storyline. Hopefully if the player does well I can structure things so they will receive benefits in the more significant battles. If they balls them up completely the Mujahideen may come looking for them one dark and stormy night. "Cutting Back Prophets" mostly works and I do like the scenario, but it definitely doesn't work as an opening mission (you will be throwing mortar at each other and Hinds may become involved). I need to start the campaign with a couple of skirmishes depicting the wave of detentions and killings that triggered the next round of the Mujahideen uprising (adding a spattering of disgruntled Daoud loyalists to the various anti-communists and royalists up in the hills since 1973). I'm still trying to shape the AIs behaviour into something that resembles a plan (rather than a suicidal zombie march), if you've ever tried doing this, you will know why it's taking a while.....Part of my irritation yesterday is that I want to get something posted and get some feedback, but that feedback is useless if post something that I know has big holes in it. I really would appreciate input and discussion at any level.....If any of you guys have advice, requests or suggestions I'd really be interested to hear them. If anyone wants a copy of the amended 'Herat' map to mess around with or critique I can upload it easily enough. Right.....Back to it, again! Edited July 15, 2016 by Sgt.Squarehead 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted July 15, 2016 Author Share Posted July 15, 2016 (edited) FWIW my favorite campaigns had a "rising tension" and an "ebb and flow". By that I mean, yes start small (as in Act One) with one or two smaller recon scenarios. That doesn't mean a small map. Vehicular recon requires a large map or it makes more sense to dismount and recon on foot. Subsequent missions (Act Two) should start with a "surprise" (perhaps a change in mission expectations) and each mission should offer different "toys" in a systematic fashion so that one gets something new as well as different challenges in each subsequent mission. The final mission(s) (Act Three) should give one all the toys and the largest scenario(s) (as in Armageddonoutahere). (There are several existing CM2 campaigns that start with a massive mission and then smaller ones after that - and they are always an anticlimax. Similarly, starting small and immediately getting a massive scenario for (say) mission 2, can be overwhelming - and then missions after that can seem anticlimactic and boring.) Going home soon. Can't wait to get back to my high end system and 30" monitor. So, hope you get your campaign done soon - I should be ready in a couple of weeks! (And to think I was all set to go to Turkey a couple of weeks ago. Phew...) Edited July 15, 2016 by Erwin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 (edited) That is exactly the type of thing I want to create.....I'm rewriting "Changes At The Top" as a tiny squabble, about 1.5 platoons per side, no heavy weapons and with the bad guys mostly trying to run off as usual. Basically your current regimental commander will be attempting to 'arrest' your previous regimental commander. Naturally his tribe won't like this at all and will feel obliged to kick up a fuss, so regardless of the outcome you won't have heard the last of it.....If he actually gets away (and I really am trying to give him a fighting chance to do so) you will lose the battle (assuming I'm getting my VPs right) and you won't have seen the last of him. "Taking It To The People" is on hold for now, but it will be pretty familiar to you when it reappears. "Ring Of Iron" is parked.....I got a bit side-tracked experimenting with a section of the map while trying to get my head around exactly what the AI is doing. But in the process I generated a fairly amusing (if initially terrifyingly brutal and utterly one sided) minor scenario which will reinforce one of the campaign subplots (unless the player completely cocks it up, in which case it will probably just annoy him). As yet untitled, it's a bit of a nightmare to begin with.....You start up with the survivors of an ambush and the ambush isn't over (you will almost certainly take further losses immediately, but these will not affect the outcome pointswise) however you did manage to get a radio message through to base and both a mechanised infantry platoon and one of those shiny new gunships are on the way.....Just please don't all die before they arrive! In tests thus far I've survived until the gunship arrives and directed it against the ambush position, but I got cocky and didn't live to see the results (which is important for the campaign subplot)! Some more tweaking still required there I feel. Anyhow back to "Cutting Back Prophets".....I've already tested one plan successfully tonight, now for the next one. Edited July 16, 2016 by Sgt.Squarehead 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Meh.....Can't face another dynamic test of the same mission (this is where I get the burnout) so soon (especially considering how well I know the damned thing), it would be easier if I didn't know which AI plan I'm testing, but I kind of have to! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Wow.....So wrapped up in this I missed the whole Turkey thing! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted July 16, 2016 Author Share Posted July 16, 2016 Yeah, was about to go to bed when Turkey suddenly flooded the foreign news airwaves (not so much the UK-based news surprisingly). Turned into another late night. /) Re news quality: In Europe I learned to watch RT and Al Jazeera for good international news. The BBC and other UK outlets have become almost useless - last week it seemed like 90% of British "news" was about tennis, football and other sports as if there was nothing else going on in the world. Re your mission, I would caution about creating a scenario that the player will "lose" if you mean the end result is a Victory "loss" with no way of winning. Even if the enemy succeeds in whatever it's trying to do cos the player is in an impossible situation, the player should still have a good (better than 80%) opportunity to secure some sort of "win". It's very frustrating for players otherwise. We players feel we have to keep replaying to get a "win" since we're used to the idea that a "win" is always possible. And replaying missions repeatedly was well-known to the ancients as the devil's route to hades. Am certain that old testament specifically mentions this. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 (edited) I ensure all of my scenarios are winnable by the simple expedient of winning them before considering my own testing to be complete.....In the instance of the former Regimental Commander I simply meant that the majority of the player's VPs will come by eliminating him or preventing his escape. If he escapes (ie: the player fails the primary mission objective) the campaign will take a different turn (at some point) than it would had the player succeeded. In the case of the ambush scenario the player's initial objective is simply to stay alive long enough to guide the gunship(s) onto the target (I may need to use two Hinds to get the results I need).....It's meant to be a tricky scenario, but it's mostly a scene setter. Basically if you play it right you get to see the ambushers come down out of the hills to loot the convoy (a bunch of Mujahideen heavy weapons will spawn around the trucks) and then you get to blow them to tiny little pieces with a gunship (or two), if you mess it up those units will march off to a hidden (but guessable) exit zone and will then (nominally) turn up to shoot at you in future missions.....If the player isn't able to guide the gunship(s) in the mech platoon will probably turn up too late to achieve much, welcome to the Mujahideen insurgency! Stringing the campaign script together to achieve all this will be complicated and obviously I have to build and test a certain number of base missions to get things underway, which is what I am currently doing. Got a bit side-tracked again late last night attempting to model Turkish units in CMSF using Canadian, Dutch & German units.....Decided it was probably in poor taste. Edited July 16, 2016 by Sgt.Squarehead 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 (edited) To further clarify a possible misunderstanding, when I said "Naturally his tribe won't like this at all and will feel obliged to kick up a fuss, so regardless of the outcome you won't have heard the last of it" I was referring to the Afghan 'code of revenge'. Regardless of whether or not the player 'wins' (ie: kills or prevents escape of the commander) or 'loses' (fails to do so), the Tariqi tribe will become a recurring enemy.....How much access they have to military grade weaponry will depend on the player's achievements. PS - Does anyone know how to delete attachments? I can't seem to find a way to do it in the user CP. Edited July 16, 2016 by Sgt.Squarehead 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Zaitzev Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Is this campaign still on the works? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 Very much hope that Sgt S gets back to this. I thought his first efforts were very good - better than 90% of scenarios I have played. But, he wanted to keep improving. I appreciate the desire for "perfection", but generally that's what leads to designer burn-out and disappearance. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Still here.....Six scenarios in. I'm also still up to my neck in kit builds, but once they are done this will get my full attention again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 (edited) Very glad to hear you are still on this, Sarge. What builds? Model kits?? Pics??? Edited September 13, 2016 by Erwin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 At present a Soviet T-35, I've added some pre-shading/underlying-weathering since this picture was taken, but I've not uploaded the pictures yet. I will be taking some better pics once I have the 4BO basecoat on.....It's quite a complex structure to airbrush: I'm also working on a 1/72 Iraqi Bf.110 and a 1/76 LWS (Landwasserschlepper).....Feel like I'm posting in the wrong forum again, I wound up singing the praises of CMA over at Britmodeller not so long ago! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted September 14, 2016 Author Share Posted September 14, 2016 Amazing detail! Love looking at models like this. No talent or patience to do em myself. What's the kit manufacturer? I can understand why you suddenly got distracted from your campaign. Do you make these models for your biz? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Nope, they are for wargaming.....I like several rule-sets from these guys: http://toofatlardies.co.uk/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 Am familiar with microarmor for gaming (many years ago I bought an entire Brit '44 armored div at a convention - beautifully painted and mounted on magnetic plates still got it sitting around here someplace never used). However, your scale is HUGE. How do you wargame with such large models? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 These are for platoon level skirmish games.....Check out the 'Chain of Command' rule-set at the site I linked to. I also have 'Troops Weapons and Tactics' (platoon level) and 'I Ain't been Shot Mum!' (company level). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted September 20, 2016 Author Share Posted September 20, 2016 (edited) You must have a very large play area at this scale (1:32?). What do the inf and terrain look like? Any pics? (I can see the weathering on your tank is going to look terrific.) Edited September 20, 2016 by Erwin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 (edited) It's 1/72 scale (1 inch = 6 feet) and it's finished: So I can now get back to CMA campaign building on a rather more regular basis. I may have accidentally joined one or two other GBs in the mean-time (I've actually even nominated one, set in Afghanistan), so if I get distracted again, you know where I'll be! Edited October 4, 2016 by Sgt.Squarehead 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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