HELP - 'Exit for Points' Query

[xian]

A question for scenario designers:

I'm having problems balancing the objective points for a mission I am designing that includes an 'Exit for Points' major objective.

In CMx2 only the opposing side gets points for those units marked as 'needing to exit' that fail to do so. I find this a bit strange. In CM1 a player used to gain points for exiting an 'Exit for points' unit as well as (in effect) losing points for not doing so.

i.e:

Imagine there are 300 points available to BLUE for stopping RED exiting 10 vehicles.

If RED manages to exit all vehicles then RED should win:

But points are: RED:0, BLUE:0 - a draw. (In CM1 this would be RED:300, BLUE:0 - RED win)

IF RED manages to exit half of the vehicles it should be a draw.

But points are: RED:0 BLUE:150 - blue win (In CM1 this would be 150 each. draw)

Thus, I am finding hard to set the EXIT objective without resorting to artificial Bonus points.

Can anyone help with suggestions as to how to balance the EXIT objective in CM2?

Many thanks.

[JonS]

Give red 300 points for friendly force preservation, setting the level to, say, 50%.

You'll also need to give the Red player an objective to actually strive for, worth some amount of points.

What I usually do is start from a position of "OK, each side in this battle is playing for 1000 points". Then I figure out what each player has to do in order to earn their 1000points. Say, 400 for various DESTROY unit objectives, 300 for various Terrain Objectives, and the last 300 for parameters (though I usually try and avoid parameters).

If you have all the points resting on achieving - or failing to achieve - a single objective then I think you'll often have problems trying to balance a scen. This is especially so for Terrain Objs and DESTROY ALL Unit Objectives (and parameters) because they are binary - a player will either achieve it and get all the points on offer, or fail and get 0 points.

[xian]

Thanks - that is really useful advice.

Do you think the exit point system in CM1 was better?

[JonS]

Do you think the exit point system in CM1 was better?

They are different. 'Better' is irrelevant - you have to use them the way they're built in this game, not the way you wish they were built in another game.