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Are Operations Worth Designing?


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...especially against the AI.

I've considered designing my own, but the increased work does not seem to add up to a more interesting or enjoyable gaming experience for the players.

I've played most of the disk operations against the AI and I have found that, on attack, a narrow penetration to the map's edge in the first round pretty much ends it all. On defense, forget about it! The AI is not a challenge.

Do people play operations head-to-head? Doesn't look like it.

Should we even bother to design hth operations?

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Operations offer a depth of gameplay, possible changes in advantage and game conditions that is unique. When done well, they are great. Thanks to all who have taken the time to design them, especially those that play well against the AI.

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I haven't tried a static operation (which is more like an overgrown scenario, really) yet, but I suspect that if you want the AI to put up a credible fight, either an overwhelming force on the attack (like the early stages of Mobile Defense), or a static operation is the way to go. Alternatively, something with a TON of fixed fortifications could work well (see Naataoja - I'm only on battle 4 of 11, and I think I'm making good progress, but there's a real challenge in figuring out how to attack the Russians there), but I've noticed that the AI still seems to deploy its troops oddly - though I can't say how much of this is due to padlocking of units between battles.

Thinking back to CMBO, I can recall some operations that worked quite well against the AI (21st Panzer, A Day in the Cavalry). Of the CMBB operations I've tried, they haven't been bad - Mobile Defense could have gone against me if I'd lost my biggest assets, which very nearly happened.

One of the big problems, though, is that if weather is important, you're basically out of luck. You can't control it. This is particularly true if air support is an important element. I think this really ruins a certain operation on the CD in which the Germans are supposed to get air support in the first battle. Suggestion for Battlefront - if air support is provided as a scheduled reinforcement, or as on map, the weather should automatically be clear enough for it to arrive that scenario....

[ November 06, 2002, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: demoss ]

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Originally posted by xerxes:

It's historic but with only 25% of real forces (just to keep it manageable).

Well I appreciate that, I do. ( Is Xerxes really your name?)

I have a problem, in more than one sense, in playing "Huge" scenarios... so far, I've tried a couple "Large" Ops, and they're pushing it. In a further stroke of bad luck, I did not enjoy the first scenario of either one, which is extremely rare for me, so... so I may never know what y'all are going on about, but I'd like to!

Anyhow, Kudos to any SDs who make "Large" or gawd-forbid "Medium" Ops for us megaherzally-challenged little people,

Eden

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I did try real hard to get Dergratschi Roadblock into the Medium range. In the end the conditional reinforcements bumped it up to large.

It is real, real hard to make an operation in the medium range. Especially given conditional reinforcements, fortifications etc. count against you. Also remember that over the course of 8 battles stuff ads up.

WWB

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umm, I've tried to keep it smallish, it's got a total of 7000 pts for axis and 5000 for soviet but it's spread over a number of battles, you don't have that many on the map, and a good chunk are disions/regimental and may not appear.

I loads fairly well on my machine.

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