Probe scoring

[willbell]

I just recently played a Quick Battle Probe game. I was the defender. The attacker essentially assaulted, which didn't work that well since his force wasn't very much larger than my own.

So here is my question, since the computer AI doesn't give the attacker a far superior force in a Probe, how does it score the result? It can't rely just on flags taken since that is the goal of an Assult or Attack. And the attacker is bound to have greater casualties. So where is the compensation? I think the attacker I played had the wrong objective in mind (taking my flags) but can't really say what his objective should have been.

[tar]

The scoring works the same.

The main compensation for the attacker is that the flags are at the front of the defender setup area, and the defender doesn't get as many foxholes.

With practice, it should be possible to win probe battles.

[rleete]

Probes are the opposite of assaults. The attacker must be cautious and conservative to limit casualties.

[willbell]

Tom,

That's pretty subtle. When you say fewer foxholes, do you mean you can't do those back up kind? Does the flag positioning and lack of foxholes make that much difference? I'm surprised. I guess I would now like to try being the attacker to see the problem first hand.

Will

[Stirling]

And everybody knows just how painful it can be to have your probe scored. :eek:

[Folbec]

Originally posted by willbell:

When you say fewer foxholes, do you mean you can't do those back up kind? Does the flag positioning and lack of foxholes make that much difference? I'm surprised.[/QB]

In my experience :

Assault = foxeholes + fallback + more pillboxees, etc. Attacker ~172% of defender.

Attack = foxeholes + wire, pillboxes, etc. Attacker ~150% of defender.

Probe = no foxholes, no wire, pillboxes, etc. Attacker ~140% of defender.

Flags tend to be deeper inside the defender region for assault than for probes, but this is not a given.

[karlis]

I've played some PBEM Quick Battle probes where the defender is able to purchase wire, pillboxes, mines etc., but some where he isn't. Not sure why; maybe the terrain has something to do with it?

[Folbec]

Originally posted by karlis:

I've played some PBEM Quick Battle probes where the defender is able to purchase wire, pillboxes, mines etc., but some where he isn't. Not sure why; maybe the terrain has something to do with it?

:confused: Never happened to me, or I never noticed it (I usually play with "random" type of battle so I may have mistaken a probe for an attack).