Aacooper Posted February 3, 2000 Share Posted February 3, 2000 Question to testers, and the answer will of course be "it depends", is: In Operations, do you accept lower casualties (in each battle phase) than in a stand-alone scenario? How does it work (without giving spoilers out) in the Operations you've been testing. I'm thinking most Operations will have some ebb and flow. Germans stuck close to their doctrine to counterattack after the enemy took some ground. For example, the Germans in Last Defense can end with a force of three two-man squads and a company commander, but win if the Americans are all gone. In "Last Defense the Operation" the Germans who ended the first phase like that would be run over by the American counterattack. When playing against the AI, does the AI behave differently in an Operation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Tom Posted February 3, 2000 Share Posted February 3, 2000 I think that the AI behaves differently than in the Beta for every game. It won't do some stupid moves that it presently does. Also, inbetween engagements in Operations each side can experience reinforcements, being of fresh formations and/or troops slightly wounded (but counted as lost) from the previous engagement. You might have lost 100 men in the last battle, but, only 25 were KIA and 30 were very wounded, leaving 45 men to return to their formations. Sometimes equipment can be repaired, if a tank was knocked out but not burning and you ended the battle with it well behind your lines you have a chance to repair it. I don't know about HMG's or Mortors, if the crew abandons them, I am not sure wether they get a replacement or not (that is if the crew survives). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted February 3, 2000 Share Posted February 3, 2000 Well, obviously, when playing an operation one determines what is an acceptable casualty level vis a vis ones ability to accomplish the overall goal and NOT one's ability to win that specific battle. End result is that you pull back a little and wait for reinforcements rather than going for an "all or nothing" gamble in operations. That's the general "rule" I've observed. Since a scenario is a stand-alone battle and is all or nothing then one is often willing to do whatever it takes to win including desparate charges etc which wouldn't be countenanced in an operation where you might have to fight the next day and the day after that etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted February 3, 2000 Share Posted February 3, 2000 I'd like to add to what Fionn said, that in the full version you'll see a forced ending of a scenario or operation when the global morale of one or both sides drops too low. As far as I remember this has not been in the beta demo. So something like the three two-men squads left for the Germans in LD that Aacooper mentioned above should be a highly unlikely occurance with the full version. The game would most likely force the game to end earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ol' Blood & Guts Posted February 3, 2000 Share Posted February 3, 2000 Interesting thread here. So going on what Fionn said above, basically during an Operation, one might take a conservative approach to obtaining victory if casualties become an issue. For example, if there would be like two "rows" of objectives. Like maybe a line of bunkers/pillboxes and then a village or something past it. And you start taking more casualties than expected, but do manage to take the line of bunkers. You would probably wanna wait for the next engagement before assaulting the village and after you recover your wounded and receive replacements. Right? ------------------ "I want you to remember that...no bastard ever won a war...by dying for his country...He won it...by making the other poor dumb bastard...die for his country."--George S. Patton [This message has been edited by Ol' Blood & Guts (edited 02-03-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted February 3, 2000 Share Posted February 3, 2000 If units are 'fanatical' will they (or should they) be able to ignore an enforced cease-fire? Jason ------------------ Board member since 9/99 with 340 posts. I'm a member, dammit!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argie Posted February 4, 2000 Share Posted February 4, 2000 Moon, I think the global morale thing is in. If you take the town in Last Defense by turn 8 and the USA global moral fall below 10%, in turn 10 the reinforcements come only to surrender to you. Not sure if it is by the Global Moral or the fact that you already have all the Victory Locations. Ariel [This message has been edited by argie (edited 02-03-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Fox Posted February 4, 2000 Share Posted February 4, 2000 Fionn said: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Since a scenario is a stand-alone battle and is all or nothing then one is often willing to do whatever it takes to win including desperate charges etc which wouldn't be countenanced in an operation where you might have to fight the next day and the day after that etc.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Gee, we would never have thought you play scenarios that way Fionn Not everyone has the same attitude however. Personally I would like to see sensitivity to casualties factored in to scenarios as well to reflect the real life variation found in the relative importance of each operation. This could be indicated to the player in the briefing ie desperate 'last ditch defence' or 'one more step on the road to Berlin' It could be implemented by making the victory point cost of casualties a variable (within limits) which is set by the scenario designer. Furthermore each side could have different casualty sensitivity in a given scenario. This could added another layer of complexity to playing scenarios (in a future iteration of course ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted February 4, 2000 Share Posted February 4, 2000 Simon Fox, Ah, I have fun talking about mad charges but there's method behind the madness . Still undefeated ! (apart from the damned Alpha battle Grr... and the use of incredibly sneakiness and unfairness to get a draw against Steve ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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