Carl Puppchen Posted February 2, 2005 Share Posted February 2, 2005 I took the old favorite "Our Backs to the Volga" and converted the map to CMAK and created a scenario for it that I posted out on Scenario Depot. It plays differently because there are no factory tiles in CMAK so I had to adjust the buildings a bit with rubble and multi-hex buildings because you can't move from square to square across a typical multi-hex building. Like all my scenarios, it has "random" reinforcements to spice up play a bit. The piece density is lower than the original by far... I played the original volga as Germans and was overwhelmed by how much work there was to do (and the fact that I play many of my turns at night slightly intoxicated didn't help ) so I moved up the flags closer to the action and reduced the number of guys. I also posted up one called "Water Struggle" that has an axis assault on 3 sides across a river with dynamic flags AND random reinforcements. I also posted up a test scenario and some tips on river crossings at my home site for CMAK which is http://www.carlstumpf.com/combat%20mission/CMAK_New/combat_mission_home_new.htm You can also find this by going to carlstumpf.com and clicking on the picture. Hope you enjoy them! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenAsJade Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Oh no! My "Scenario Balance Indicator List" program will have a hard time telling the difference between results for "Our Backs to the Volga" and "Our Backs to the Tiber"!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenAsJade Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Hey, Carl, the original 1000 ways to die was for vs AI only. Yours almost look like they are designed for vs human, though I couldn't find anything to tell me that for sure. Can you clarify... do these fascinating looking random reinforemcent games play well (reasonably balanced) for human vs human? Ta, GaJ. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Puppchen Posted February 3, 2005 Author Share Posted February 3, 2005 I did design all of my games for PBEM or human to human. I enjoyed "a thousand ways to die" but since I spend 95% of my CM time against a human opponent, I wanted to start building versions of these scenarios for face to face play. The first thing I'll admit is that it is HARD to create a balanced scenario. I try to pick situations that I find interesting and that usually isn't a meeting engagement with roughly equal forces on both sides. Thus if it is hard to create a balanced scenario normally, it is twice as hard to create a balanced one with random reinforcements, and really it is just a wild guess when you throw in dynamic flags. I play each of these scenarios against a human opponent that is a good even match. If one of us is stomping the other, I usually go in and change the forces for one side or the other before I post it up on the depot. In these scenarios it is usually me who gets the stomping The random aspect certainly impacts play balance. In the scenario with the most downloads called "heavy traffic" I as the German player received way more reinforcements (reins as we call them) way sooner than the Allies. One item that kind of makes up for this is that when you get reins you tend to hurl them at the enemy because their forces are building up, too, and thus time is against you. If you have an advantage, you should use it as soon as possible! This behavior rewards higher risk attacks (compared to a plodding attack designed to minimize casualties, which is what I would typically do in a CM scenario) which, in turn, leads to more interesting and fun situations. When you play a reasonable opponent at the end of the scenario you typically adjust your expectations for the reins. In that heavy traffic game it was a draw but really this was a victory for the Allies because my opponent played a better game than I did to earn that draw. The way I design a scenario tends to be self-correcting. The reins come in near your "defense" flags, so your opponent has to cross the board and mix it up on your end of the field while your reins only have to motor a bit and they are in the thick of things. Thus even if you are losing and have gotten the short end of the "luck" stick, you still have a chance as long as you know that there are some reins that MIGHT show up to turn the tide or at least allow you to contest an objective. I think that the random reinforcements cause more realistic behavior. The fact that your opponent could be reinforced at any time adds a lot of uncertainty to the mix. A real-world commander never knows what they are up against, they could be heavily outnumbered or it could be a walk-over. In a typical CM scenario as a defender you can usually tell what the enemy has in a few turns and as attacker you have a good idea of the defense facing you after you probe it effectively. In the random scenario, you know what you can see, but you can also bet that it will change, and the force balance could tilt in or away from your favor at any time. Now that I have played so many random scenarios I honestly get a bit bored when playing a "typical" scenario because it seems too structured. As a commander I feel that I know too much about what I have and what my opponent probably has. In a random scenario I know that both of us have to keep on our toes! As far as balanced, I would say that - heavy traffic - a bridge too far - random - khamsin are the most balanced. A bridge too far has some of the most intense combat this side of the volga! - bloody beach - water struggle are a total crap shoot because of the random nature AND dynamic flags. Water struggle also has boats! - bulge - tobruk 1940 - abbey hill - our backs to the tiber seem to be reasonably balanced but bulge also throws in "exit for points" which makes it more of a crap shoot. Abbey hill is such a slaughter that you are exhausted by the time it is 1/2 over. Tiber probably will approach Abbey Hill in terms of dead and if the Allied player is blundering around it will be a fiasco for them (my Allied opponent is very meticulous). I hope this answers the question and I hope it helps. Down load the scenarios and try them against a human. Feedback is welcome - use the scenario depot or send me an email at my profile. Check out my web link for articles, background and other stuff. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenAsJade Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Thanks Carl. I'll have to look into these... after ROW V ! GaJ. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnstone185 Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I am Carl's usual opponent and I have to say you can tell that Carl has spent a lot of time on these random scenarios and done a great job. We go way back to the good ol' CMBO days and have both invested literally thousands of ours over the years in our pbem games - we play two or three games at once, and I do turns in the am, Carl in the pm. What I am getting at is that we have played lots of different types of scenarios. When Carl stumbled upon "A Thousand Ways to Die" our eyes were opened. We haven't totally abandoned "static" scenarios, but most of our time is now devoted to games with "random" reins. The random factor, IMHO, brings another dimension of reality to the games. Like Carl said, you really have to know how and when to gamble and when to consolidate. Carl seems to be losing the luck game so far. In A Bridge too Far I got some key infantry reins early, before Carl got some of his and I was able to set up camp right on top of an objective in force before he could react. Right now, in Backs to the Tiber things seem to ge going relatively well for me - that can all change in one turn. Most importantly, do not play these games vs. the AI. The AI doesn't seem to grasp the concept of time very well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Puppchen Posted February 4, 2005 Author Share Posted February 4, 2005 By the way, what does Green as Jade mean? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenAsJade Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 About 20 years ago, when I first entered a MUD, I chose that name to signal to the experienced denizens therin that I knew nothing. Since then I've just kept using it My ROW IV results indicate that it's still a pretty good moniker for CM work. Recently, on realising that at my age perhaps I'm no longer as Green as all that, I had started to change to the other internet nick that I have (in much more limited use), but it's suprisingly hard to change! There are lots of places where the hassle/price/impact of changing is high. So it looks like I'll be Green till I die. Cheers, GaJ. (Oh - jade is a very green and hard kind of rock, often used in jewellery and sculpture, if that wasn't clear to non-English people!) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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