making an operation

[junk2drive]

"An operation doesn't necessarily have to be balanced all the way. Let's say that a five-battle operation is decided in battle three. Then you can end it with a ceasefire agreement or by surrendering."

What, quit?! never, lol

"But there are many ways for keeping the operation interesting throughout the fight. One way to achieve balance is a constant stream of reinforcements. ..."

Long maps can be a problem if the reinforcements have to travel too far.

"However, an operation doesn't have to be exactly 'balanced' to be enjoyable. Indeed, an operation can begin with one player being the underdog and struggling hopelessly while trying to pull out of the way of a superior attacker.

Drive to Morain CMAK

The attacker can't be stopped from taking the objectives, but it is possible to cause losses while keeping own core force intact.

warmonger's The Forest Battle

Then, after a couple of battles, the roles change and the previous attacker now has to stand fast to prevent a counter-attack from taking the objectives back."

HSG First Town Liberated

Good choices!

[willbell]

Here is a note in support of what Sergi is saying. I am currently playing a Hans Op, Operation Sea Lion.

I have ended up in a position where I am greatly outnumbered by the Germans. The game might be unbalanced, or maybe I made a few mistakes in the beginning. But the outcome is that I am hanging on in a practically hopeless situation. If I make one mistake my whole defence will collapse. I have a small band of poorly armed men holding off a battalion.

At first I was unhappy with the situation, but over time I have started enjoying it. There is a kind of grim satisfaction in holding the superior forces at bay. Ultimately I know I will fail, but the game is to see how long I can hold failure at bay.

So this has opened a whole new line of thought for me, what if a balanced game is not the only type to make. What if the critical decision is when to break off contact?

Just some food for thought.

[Hans]

Hey Willbell

You sure about the name of the scenario?

Unless their is another Han's about I can assure you I didn't design that one!

[Hans]

Ah found it, that is the CMBO operation Sealion by Michael Naragon you are playing?

[junk2drive]

Small Operations, May 1940 is as close as I can find but is German vs French (with Brit armour).

Small Battles, Englishmen at War 1940 is not an op but a good one none the less.

[Guest Manstein22]

Hallo Emar

I would be interested in your map/operation.

If you are interested in a different approach to operation making search for "random reinforcement" in this forum.

Manstein

[Emar]

Blut und Ehre is inbound to your e-mail. The Normandy buildings and mods would look great with this map as well. Let me know what you think.

[Carl Puppchen]

As far as playing unbalanced scenarios, one way to indirectly balance them is to shorten the # of turns. Typically the attacker does OK throughout the game but in the last few turns when the defender breaks and runs out of positions or when their AT assets are killed, that is when the battle becomes a rout.

If you have a battle with a few hard pressed defenders take 10-15 turns off the time limit - the attacker will have to be much more aggressive which will often (although not always) cause more casualties and leave your defenders in "good order" for a longer period of time.

Another way to balance the unbalanced is to make a few of the attackers have to "exit for points". If they don't exit they count as casualties which adds a whole new wrinkle to the game because not only do you need to take the objective you need to screen off these units from enemy fire AND drive them all the way across the board. The final difficulty is that once you move them off the board they can't help you by firing on the enemy, so your force multiplier goes down.

Of course, I tend to lose the scenarios that I design, so what do I know

[Sergei]

Originally posted by Carl Puppchen:

Another way to balance the unbalanced is to make a few of the attackers have to "exit for points".

Not much to do with operations, though?

[Sergei]

Originally posted by Emar:

Blut und Ehre is inbound to your e-mail. The Normandy buildings and mods would look great with this map as well. Let me know what you think.

So did you e-mail Admiral Keth about the hosting? Would be easier for you, and more people would know that it is available. Ask him to change the upload limit (or to mention in the instructions what to do when size goes beyond 100k), while you're at it.

admketh@dragonlair.net

Or upload it to The Proving Grounds and challenge someone to play it with you!

[Emar]

Yes Sergei. I have sent the Admiral a couple of e-mails a week or so ago inquiring about the size limit but I have not heard back from him. I can understand where it might put him in a sticky position because if he hosts my huge scenario then he would be obliged to host everyones and I could see where huge ops like mine could eat up webspace.

Still I was hoping to make this series and had started on an Epsom op and another near St.Lo with intentions for Goodwood and Falaise as well. Perhaps I will pick them up again in the future.

[Sergei]

Ah, well then don't worry, just wait for the reply. He is a busy man nowadays (unfortunately, but for an understandable reason). I'm sure he'll set it up once he's got time, though.

Anyway, you did notice that there's three different options for hosting files:

Remote Hosting Option: Only fill in the following two fields if the file for the operation is hosted on another server. Make certain that you enter a fully qualified URL in the URL of Scenario field.

Scenario Depot Hosting Option: If you intend to have the Scenario Depot host the file for this operation, leave the following two fields blank. You will be given an option to upload the file to The Scenario Depot server on the following pages.

Email Option: If you would like for The Scenario Depot to host your file, but are uncomfortable performing the upload yourself, leave the following two fields blank. Then email the operation to Admiral Keth, along with the name of the operation from the first field.