The slowest, quietest game ever

[REVS]

Inspired by WBS's post about his "amazing mad minute" of action, I thought I'd raise the opposite topic. What's the slowest, quietest game you've been involved in?

I'm currently playing a PBEM game, we're up to Turn 10 of 35, and so far about three shots have been fired at my side, no effect, and I've shot at distant boys twice, probably to no effect. (Well, I couldn't see anyone doing face-down rap-dancing). That's all.

It's a heavy woods, large hills meeting engagement, and I think there are oodles of boys sneaking around stealthily out there, but so far virtually nothing has happened.

This seems to be the outcome of a case when both commanders are hell-bent on not exposing their positions before committing their troops. My scouts are looking, his scouts are looking, but....

[JonS]

I'm currently 15 turns into a 30 turn scenario PBEM. No fire has been exchanged.

[Shoot Me_I Explode]

I just finished turn 11 of a 30 turn of a Meeting Engagement PBEM game. So far i've knocked out 2 tanks with my 75mm anti-tank gun, 4 half-tracks, Infantry kills are unknown but i think they are high. And now my Vet King Tiger, 75mm Half-tracks and my 75mm gun are destroying all buildings between his forces and the flags that i hold. Im hopeing my oppenient dosent have any more surprises up his sleves

[ June 17, 2003, 08:30 PM: Message edited by: Shoot Me_I Explode ]

[Rob Murray]

This often happens to me when I set EFOW & give the computer maximum experience. In a 30+ turn game; it's usually at least turn 15 before anything happens ( like war was declared & somebody finally decided to show up [ just to be " fashionably late " ] ).

[chrisl]

In CMBO I played Bucholz Station (a port of an old Squad Leader scenario) against the AI. I think the AI was germans. I lost a truck to bogging in the mud (it was unarmed so it was abandoned). I think there was only one, or maybe two, very minor exchanges of gunfire. I don't recall many, if any casualties.

[Cpt. Cook]

I played Antonescu Kaputt or whatever (B&T Stalingrad pack) pbem and had a similar experience.

Too bad I can't review the scenario anywhere, it was great. Particularly my Romanian platoon leader knocking out a T-34 with a grenade, heh-heh.

[Black Max]

In CMBO I started a scenario against the AI (cant remember the name), I had to move my men and tanks as covertly as possible up to and into a town. I managed to get into the town without anyone shooting at me and thought I was doing well. I then proceeded to take the victory flag with no casualties or any sign of the enemy. After a couple more turns of scratching my head, I decided to surrender the game and found that all the enemy were lined up at the very edge of the map and on the reverse slope of a small hill all across the map. The person that designed the map did not bother to set up the men and the AI just didnt move anyone.

Needless to say, I still lost. That AI sure can be tricky.

[Firefly]

Originally posted by chrisl:

I think the AI was germans.

Now that's what I call 'Fog of War'!

[Joachim]

Two expereinces came to mind: A night time attack by the AI Soviets on the Kiev factory district of BCR map pack 7 (huge map, 2k*2.5k or something). Night, fog&rain, 9/41, Sov medium quality Paras with infantry type force. 35+ turns. Could not hold the area so I dug in most of my 2 inf companies around my armor&support assets, with two plts in forward position around a forward flag on the left side. When the AI did not come from the front, I expected that he would come from the middle (ie the flank of my forward position) and brought some armor along to cover the fallback once necessary. Needless to say the flank had some TRP, wire and mines, too. The AI did not show up till turn 35. In Extra-time the AI lost 300 men in 2-3 mad minutes against the plt facing them. When my fallback started, game was over. Draw or minor victory, but no casualties to me, which is important in the BCR campaign.

Another one was a 10/41 AI armored attack on a random map (south, heavy woods, medium hills). I saw 5 tanks, which all were killed in 2 turns by a 7,6cm PaK. The AI barely reached the undefended flags, but did not control all. 5 tanks destroyed vs 0 cas. All AI arty ammo expended. 10 7,6cm shells expended on my side. Total victory.

Gruß

Joachim

[Boo Radley]

I think the scenario was "Hornet's Nest", I was the Germans and the AI was waaaaay the heck over on the other side of a huge map. After playing a few moves and seeing just how slowly the AI was advancing, I restarted the game with all of my troops hidden. Then I forwarded through all the moves because the AI was, for the most part, milling around on the other side of the map. It never did get even halfway across the map. My guys stayed in their foxholes reading magazines.

[Hensworth]

This is all kid's stuff.

In an 80+ turn scenario which I cannot name because I believe it is still to be released, I've spent the first 30 odd turns advancing an armored armada across wet steppe without a single shot being fired. All I've had to do is hunt down my bogged vehicles each turn and try to salvage them.

This took the better part of 5 hours (allowing for such stoppages as letting the dog out and pizza delivery). And if you think I'm mad, spare a thought for the defender sitting on the other side of the TCP connection, doing absolutely nothing but hit 'Go'.

Art is suffering.

[Beta1]

A game I'm just finishing has consisted of 1 turn of action at the beginning when I lost a scouting HT, then 17 turns of silence as I sat on the flags then 2 turns of carnage as my opponent drove 3 tanks straight infront of waiting AT assets and had them all killed.

Just waiting for the turn 30 file but its been, 90% nothing happening, 10% all guns up and firing.

[Monty]

ZzzzzzZZZZZzzz

ZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzz

[Bone_Vulture]

I've noticed that small scale meeting engagements are notoriously risky of turning dull,when both sides have very limited assets. When a single botched assault can result in a disastrous tip of of the scales, neither side is willing to risk it, and instead snoop in buildings and patches of forest near the flags.

[Subvet]

I played a meeting engagement where both sides lost all their tanks early in the game. Each of us helf the flags that were closest to us at the start, and the infantry of both sides was waiting for the assault on the flag they owned. And waiting, and waiting, and waiting.... Both of us figured that without support the infantry attacking would get chewed up. The game ended in a draw. The last 2/3 of the game was boring as hell.

[_Axe_]

Originally posted by Beta1:

A game I'm just finishing has consisted of 1 turn of action at the beginning when I lost a scouting HT, then 17 turns of silence as I sat on the flags then 2 turns of carnage as my opponent drove 3 tanks straight infront of waiting AT assets and had them all killed.

Just waiting for the turn 30 file but its been, 90% nothing happening, 10% all guns up and firing.

A fairly accurate description of life in the armed forces, doncha think?

Cheers,

Jason

[Kevin Kinscherf]

This is a good thread for designers. How long is tolerable before the action begins on average?

Kevin

[-E]

Originally posted by Boo_Radley:

My guys stayed in their foxholes reading magazines.

Which magazines?

[Monty]

Nice idea for CMAK :

When during 2 or 3 turns nothing has happened, the next turn both sides start singing and / or shout taunts to the other side.

Monty

[Panzer76]

1500 pts QB, ME TCP vs human opponent.

I rush the VPs and occupy them, opponent moves a scout forward and it gets killed of cos by the waiting inf in amush. This happens on turn 4 or something. So far so good, Im thinking, now I'll just have to wait for him to attack them.

And I wait...and wait... and wait some more... and u guessed it, wait even more. So, on turn ca 24 out of 40 I start to ask if he ever gonna do anything. He replies that he's happy at where he's at. I cant belive what Im reading, so I ask for a cease fire, which he gives me. I get ofcos a Total Vic, only cas is the scout and some unlucky dudes that got wasted by a stray 152mm shell.

So I ask him why he didnt do anything, and he replies that it would be suicide for him to attack. And why I didnt attack him....

1. It wouldnt have been suicide.

2. Even if it had been, he should atleast have tried, and not wasted both our time!

3. And if he would try, then say so, at turn 4, and CF.

[MikeyD]

Haw! Sounds like your opponent fights as though it was a real war! What's that old saying - war is long stretches of boredom punctuated by brief moments of stark terror. Nice to see BFC built in the 'long stretches of boredom' part for accuracy sake!

[ June 19, 2003, 02:14 PM: Message edited by: MikeyD ]

[Bone_Vulture]

The key in preventing infantry stalemates is artillery, either in the field or off-board.

[Visom]

Played a game with random parameters. Dice gave both sides 20% ammo. Autoceasefire kicked in for both sides the first turn, game ended before any enemy was spotted or any bullets fired. :eek: Total victory to me (100-0), I held all the flags as the defender

[Ligur]

Originally posted by Kevin Kinscherf:

This is a good thread for designers. How long is tolerable before the action begins on average?

Kevin

Before the current something+ round system I regularly waited on QBs for the last three or two rounds for the enemy to act and the action to start.

Basically that ment there were 20 rounds inbetween the real game, totally wasted time, the one who, according to mission/flags, should have attacked could have, then and there, instead of waiting and hoping for a "gamey" draw or victory by attacking in the 11th second.

IMHO intolerable is doing nothing for even a minute. I don't mean attack blindly, just waiting for Jesus to come and save or something.

[Franz Liszt]

I've had a QB using a solo King Tiger to tackle 8 Russian tanks in Axis attack 35 turns. In the second turn, my tiger became bogged and immobile and stayed there for totally 33 minutes...without firing a shot.