DrD Posted June 1, 2000 Share Posted June 1, 2000 IMHO a simple solution to the problem of play balance is that known and loved by bookies everywhere i.e. point spread. It's a shame to have to design scenarios in which forces are balanced because in real life they rarely were. VoT represents a situation that was all too common to the Germans: overwhelming U.S. arty. So what would be neat is if the victory point levels could simply be changed so that all the Germans have to do is hold 1 victory location (for example) to get a minor victory. It would also be neat if the computer could play itself. Then when you design a scenario you could let the computer play like 10 games overnight and see who won the most and then adjust the point spread until you got it 50/50. Then you don't have to worry about force structure being even. I'd also like to see the ability to assign different amounts of points to objectives so you could model "do or die" vs. "keep casulties low" missions by making the objectives worth more or less respectively. It'd be even better if they could have different points for each side. Then in VoT, for example, I'd make them worth alot less to the U.S so that if they took excessive casualties they'd lose. This is more realistic also IMHO as the German presumably were "fighting for their lives" on the front door of their Fatherland while the U.S was always very careful about casualties and would break of an attack if they were too high (usually). What do y'all think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisPick Posted June 1, 2000 Share Posted June 1, 2000 The "point spread" solution is already in... You can add +/- points to the axis score when designing the scenario as a balancing tool... Ain't Charles good to us? =) Cheers, Chris -- CM Beta Team -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrD Posted June 1, 2000 Author Share Posted June 1, 2000 Thanks, Chris! Yes, Charles is SOOOO good to us! I've already told him to e-mail me if he's ever in N'Awlins and I'll take him out to the best restaurant in town! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted June 1, 2000 Share Posted June 1, 2000 Gee, how would a guy in "N'Awlins" know anything about bookies and point spreads? I experimented with giving the Germans extra points in VoT. The problem was that when the Human played as the Germans victory was basically a sure bet. Even if the AI did really well the Human is more likely to have caused it lots of casualties. In one test game I was on the big hill, with the remains of a platoon and a disabled Panther, and that was all. I had only one Victory Location under my control, but I did whack all the US armor and a decent number of troops. I won a Major Victory or something like that, and so I took the bonus out. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Ling Posted June 1, 2000 Share Posted June 1, 2000 A question: If I were to edit the VL's so they all had a small value for each side the AI would not risk high casulties and preserve more of his force. The AI would thus concentrate on defeating my force rather than risking and loosing all trying to take one more VL. Is that right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
109 Gustav Posted June 1, 2000 Share Posted June 1, 2000 I'm not sure a point spread would be enough to cancel out overwhelming forces. When you have enough tanks, infantry, and arty to totally rout the enemy, as the Amis do in VoT, it doesn't really matter how many points the Germans have in advance, they lose them all when they surrender with massive casulties. ------------------ There is nothing certain about war except that one side won't win. -Ian Hamilton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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