Four Scenario Design Questions

[OGF Keller]

Four questions that relate specifically to a scenario I have just about finished, and to a couple of Stalingrad ones that I may want to tackle.

1. As far as I know, a player can walk or drive off any unit from the map, and once gone, it's GONE. Question: is it possible in a scenario design to disallow/prevent the units from exiting the map under any or all circumstances?

2. Assuming a player decides to have units exit -- for example, running away from an attack, but they don't or can't exit through areas that gain bonus points. What happens to such units and their points on the AAR? Are they considered destroyed or otherwise "lost" and therefore count against that player? Can you "penalize" such "flight from attack?"

2. While you can lock units into place at setup, once you hit GO, you can then move your units in the first turn. Is it possible in a scenario design to LOCK your units for one (i.e., the first) unit turn??

3. In the Map Editor you can increase or decrease the size of your map, but from what I can tell you can only do it on the North (height) and the West (width). Is there any way to adjust the map size using the South and East edges??

[ December 03, 2002, 12:41 PM: Message edited by: OGF Keller ]

[Kingfish]

You're keeping me busy...

1) What you can do is line the edges of the map with impassable terrain such as water or cliffs. A good example is Jwxspoon's 'Fire on the mountain'.

2) If the exiting units are listed as 'eligible to exit' and either do not exit, or exit off an edge that is not designated as an exit zone, then the opposing player is awared the value of that unit. If the unit is killed then the opposing

player is awared a double bonus - one for the kill, and another for preventing the unit from exiting. I suggest you click on my sig and check out the Boots and Tracks times for December. wwb has written a nice article on the finer points of exit scenarios.

3) Not sure

4) Yes you can, but can't think of how off the top of my head. Someone will be along shortly to tell you how.

[ December 03, 2002, 12:59 PM: Message edited by: Kingfish ]

[WWB]

First, I got your note and file, I will have a looksee time permitting.

Second, your questions:

1. As far as I know, a player can walk or drive off any unit from the map, and once gone, it's GONE. Question: is it possible in a scenario design to disallow/prevent the units from exiting the map under any or all circumstances?

Not really, aside from kludges like impassible terrain mentioned above. I would not recommend using fire to close off an edge for the frame rate hit. One trick that could work well in Stalingrad would be a double row of large buildings, since troops cannot walk thru the walls separating them.

2. Assuming a player decides to have units exit -- for example, running away from an attack, but they don't or can't exit through areas that gain bonus points. What happens to such units and their points on the AAR? Are they considered destroyed or otherwise "lost" and therefore count against that player? Can you "penalize" such "flight from attack?"

In an exit zone battle, the only units that give positive exit points are those that are set to Exit For Points and exit on the proper map edge. The units that exit off an improper map edge are treated as if they survived the battle but never exited AFAIK—which means a VP hit for not exiting units.

2. While you can lock units into place at setup, once you hit GO, you can then move your units in the first turn. Is it possible in a scenario design to LOCK your units for one (i.e., the first) unit turn??

Aside from starting units panicked not really. That is kind of a gamble because they can be very easily routed from there.

3. In the Map Editor you can increase or decrease the size of your map, but from what I can tell you can only do it on the North (height) and the West (width). Is there any way to adjust the map size using the South and East edges??

Try shift-clicking on the add and subtract arrows.

Overall, it is pretty difficult to keep players from retreating off map. OTOH, most players are reluctant to do so on a psychological level—they would rather attempt to fight it out than run away.

Hope this helps.

WWB

[russellmz]

maybe use reinforcements arrive at turn 2? that way they aren't there in the first turn to move. you have plenty of reinforcement slots to do it if you need precision:1 unit per reinforcement?

[OGF Keller]

Originally posted by russellmz:

maybe use reinforcements arrive at turn 2? that way they aren't there in the first turn to move. you have plenty of reinforcement slots to do it if you need precision:1 unit per reinforcement?[/quote

Actually, in my Hube's HQ scenario, they (German soft-sided vehicles) need to stay still for that first turn -- really around 15 to 30 seconds, to represent the reaction time to the fact that HE is exploding all around them -- so they can get shot at. As a result, positions need to be fairly precise, and not so random as in the case for most reinforcement placements.

[demoss]

Maybe you should try another approach. Abstract the bombardment (if that's what it is) out of the scenario - make the vehicles start at pinned or even panic (an excellent example of how this works, albeit for a completely different situation, is SP-Kalach-na-Donu) and perhaps place a few wrecks, if the editor allows that, which I don't know (IMO, it should!). Pre-damage the map if you need to.

This also has the advantage of taking some randomness out, which is probably good if the scenario is intended for competitive play.

[General Tacticus]

If they are intended to die...you could make the conscript...they wont get moving for quite some time that way. See SP - A Glimmer of Valour for an example...