Parameters

[kevinkins]

I really like them. Can someone with experiance jump start us on out to use them and how they affect the game play. Also, should the parameter setting be made available to the player via the briefing. I mean if I can take 10% losses without a big % victory point loss that would affect tactics.

Kevin

[Sergei]

Not as a RTFM but as a reference so people don't have to check between manual and this thread, here's the manual entry on this:

CASUALTIES - the number of casualties the side is allowed to endure.

CONDITION - the number of units allowed to be panicked, routed, tired, or wounded.

AMMO - the amount of total ammunition that side is allowed to expend.

For each parameter the scenario designer determines the threshold in % (from 0% to 100%) and the amount of victory points associated with each once the threshold is reached. Specifically, you get the points if:

Enemy Casualties > X%

Enemy Condition < X%

Enemy Ammo < X%

Friendly Casualties < X%

Friendly Condition > X%

Friendly Ammo > X%

Casualties is casualties suffered, e.g. 100% means the whole force was wiped out. Both soldiers and vehicles are factored into this and you get partial credit for immobilizing a vehicle.

Condition is a combination of (from most important to least) morale, fatigue, suppression, and light wounds (more serious wounds or death are part of casualties, not condition).

You can eg. award the Blue player for keeping his casualties below 15% and award his enemy for making the casualties go over 50%. Preferably these thresholds are defined so that they are equally difficult to achieve and that most of the time blue casualties would fall between.

I haven't used other parameters than casualties much, but the condition and ammo are something that could be used to good effect in an otherwise heavily imbalanced initial assault scenario, with the reasoning that the aim is to break through and still have good amounts of ammunition and a non-exhausted, non-panicked, non-wounded force. Of course then mentioning that in briefing is wise.

But I don't think that a briefing should clearly tell the exact point values of everything (especially since they shouldn't know what the enemy force parameters are). The player should focus on tactics, not precise point counting. Except for competitive (ladder) play, where people don't want any fuzziness.