Planning during PBEM

[Commander]

Do any of you guys print out maps and do detailed planning when you have the time (vis a vis PBEM)? What kind of planning do you do? Any procedures from real life that you can point out to a rookie? (I hate the term newby)

[CMplayer]

On defence, find his covered approaches and put trps on some nice bottlenecks. Then make sure you have observation to those areas, maybe even via some high quality troops that move forward on the initial turns. Another good place for TRPs is assembly areas for final close assaults. Then buy plenty of arty in various calibres.

Then, remember that he might just drive straight through the open and ignore the covered approaches. So cover the open areas with long range direct fire weaponry. Try to get a nice mix. Put them where they will be useful even if their primary kill zone doesn't get used.

Then decide on one or more VLs you don't want to contest, and pretend they don't exist. This keeps you from having to spread your infantry too thinly.

Then take one platoon and one or two tanks and put them in reserve. They should not be released until at least halfway through the battle.

Then take the rest of your guys and just toss em out in any old kind of line, so that the platoons can support each other some.

Wait to see what he does, react sneakily and aggresively.

I wouldn't print out a map to do this, but I admit it could be fun.

[ 10-05-2001: Message edited by: CMplayer ]

[Soddball]

On PBEM I'll start off making careful notes and forget by around turn 9 Then, of course, it all starts to go downhill. But yes, I always take time on setups for PBEM games.

[Silvio Manuel]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Soddball:

On PBEM I'll start off making careful notes and forget by around turn 9 Then, of course, it all starts to go downhill. But yes, I always take time on setups for PBEM games.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can attest to this. ...in our game you've been forgetful for what, 24 turns now?

If you think I have a lot of infantry...what's with your HT's towing 20mm...its like you have a Gauntlet-style Generator for them!

[ 10-05-2001: Message edited by: Silvio Manuel ]

[Gen-x87H]

I always survey the land on PBEMs. And determine my course of action. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.

TCP\IP games are much tougher and I usually can not keep up hehe. I have noticed this lately that I play a much better game in PBEM than TCP\IP.

Gen

[karch]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gen-x87H:

TCP\IP games are much tougher and I usually can not keep up hehe. I have noticed this lately that I play a much better game in PBEM than TCP\IP.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Very interesting. I think I play better IP games than mail. I think I'm a very average tactician, but I'm about the same level average with plenty of time to plan moves, or very little time...and I do notice people used to long PBEM planning have more troubles with short IP times.

Anone else notice that?

Scott Karch

[Redwolf]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by karch:

...and I do notice people used to long PBEM planning have more troubles with short IP times.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You couldn't be more right, at least that's the case for me.

[CMplayer]

One of my TCP/IP opponents made some interesting comments about that issue. He said he preferred TCP/IP because you had to focus on making fundamentally sound large scale movements, instead of trying to micromanage each squad. He thought this was both more realistic and led to better overall play.

One compromise which I've used a lot, is to agree with my opp to turn off the clock for the setup phase. This way you can study the terrain in advance and get a decent initial disposition. But you can't plan for every angle of fire and dead zone which might turn up later on in the village, as you can do in a pbem.

[Rodimzew]

We often play QB with PBEM. It's always fun to purchase troops without knowing the style of the countryside. But that's how in reality, where you have some troops do achieve something. Planning starts with placing the units and there you can rightup block your path to victory. Look at your units and to the topography and decide whats best. With a bunch of Kingtigers its possible to start on a hill knocking out enemy tanks and withstand a lot of enemy fire. That works due to a higher punch of the gun and a high accuracy. With these thinny shermans i won't try that. You have the choice to close to the enemy and give him some sideshots...thats the strategy. Planning is the implementation of a certain strategy and it depends of the unit selection, the setup and the topography. Should be finished before the first shots are changed because then psycho war begins. You are alwas tried to leave your strategy and to react to enemy moves.

But to come back to the thread i personally have not used maps. Planning IMO means that i first build "Kampfgruppen" of tanks, infantry and support weapons. These Groups are more or less independent (depend of the size of the battle)and may have a different stance (Att/Def). The "8" view is useful to find a path for these Groups to the enemy, the "6" and "3" is useful for detailed setup and the "1" view for units that are not supposed to move the first turns. And then "Auf Geht's" and i mark a bunch of units and give them move orders. At start i do'nt use micromanagement. That's of more use within City fights, at bridges or in dense terrain.

[Pascal DI FOLCO]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by karch:

Very interesting. I think I play better IP games than mail. I think I'm a very average tactician, but I'm about the same level average with plenty of time to plan moves, or very little time...and I do notice people used to long PBEM planning have more troubles with short IP times.

Anone else notice that?

Scott Karch<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, I did, as I was used to Pbem I plainly sucked in my first IP games because I *felt* hard pressed by time - even if I wasn't really (5 min turns...).

So I'm an average tactician in Pbem but a *bad* one in IP

[CMplayer]

It's the same with chess and go and all games that you can play with a clock. It's a bit of an adjustment to get used to having a time limit. Now I prefer playing fast. The only really sad thing about TCP/IP games is that you don't have time to just relax and enjoy the movie, because it isn't saved. IF TCP/IP saved the movie file (optionally) like pbem files, it would be fun to go back and see just how much you missed.

[lcm1947]

I wasn't the orginal poster of this subject but I really enjoyed and found very useful your comments CMplayer. Good instructions in good old plain english. Thanks for the tips. I really liked and will start using the reserve unit idea. I see that as a good sound idea and had I thought of that myself I would be better then 60/40 with the AI after 12 months of playing

[CMplayer]

Thanks for the comments, lcm1947. A lot of those ideas I got from the TacOps user guide.

(perhaps you've already seen it) If you download the demo I believe you still get the user guide in .pdf format. There is a section on strategy and tactics tips with articles by several different people. They are really useful, and written in comprehensible language. You might want to skip the tips for handling helicopters, but most of the commonsense stuff applies just the same in WWII as today.

regards,

--Rett