Occupying buildings

[conjotter]

Hi.

I'm finding the stock battles involving occupying buildings to be quite dull and frustrating.

Could we please get some brigade and division-level scenarios that don't include occupying buildings?

In the meantime I will limit play to the sandbox.

Thanks!

[IronBMike]

Hi.

I'm finding the stock battles involving occupying buildings to be quite dull and frustrating.

Could we please get some brigade and division-level scenarios that don't include occupying buildings?

In the meantime I will limit play to the sandbox.

Thanks!

Well I can't speak for the team, but the scenarios are historical so not much room around that. It was a part of the battle.

As modders get going, we will have plenty and plenty of other scenarios.

[RebBugler]

Yeah, when scenarios were designated among us scenario designers I got WL03 Papelotte and it scared me to death. How was I going to keep this scenario from becoming "dull and frustrating"?...as quoted by this thread's author. Obviously, following the scenario historically, at some point the objective would have to be the large fort, and the only way to conquer and acquire it would be to 'Sit and Pound'...for obvious reasons, 'Sit and pound' becomes unfun fast. Also, there is no way for the player to gain points during this process since the fortress has the advantage of a steep defensive bonus, as it should...thus his troops take a beating.

Fortunately, this scenario is provided with a smaller fort next to it that has less of a defensive bonus and can be more easily captured, so, a strategy can be set up. Still 'Sit and Pound', but less mundane as the player must defeat the outlying troops and work around to capture the smaller fort, which when effectively pounded from several angles will fall fairly swiftly. Once the enemy is ousted it serves as an excellent 'pound from' fort with most of it's defensive bonus intact to help conquer the Objective fort.

In addition there are other tactical decisions and moves to consider. The player may choose to head off the enemy unit moving from the west to the Objective fort. If halted by engagement his friendlies, also coming from the west, will have time to engage and relieve the player's battalion from any more time there and enable it to move on to the fort 'sit and pound' engagements. If it is not stopped and engaged, sometimes it enters the Objective fort, in which case the Player's chances of achieving a Victory are practically toast.

Also, additional strategies may be called upon, depending on the variant, on how to use the cavalry reinforcements in defeating the enemy outlying troops, which can definitely be a pain to chase off or rout.

So, not just 'Sit and Pound', lots of things to consider. Tried my best to make this scenario interesting and entertaining, and stay close to historical circumstances. However, if you win it, as you eventually will, it won't be historic, for the French never achieved victory in this arena, Papelotte remained in control of the Allies throughout the battle.

[Skyhigh]

Play Sandbox - especially the Hunt Them Down - variety. You can have Occupiable objects in there as objective or not, but you will have all the fun you need on Army, Corps, or Division level.

Lots of replay value here.

[Saddletank]

Or try MP which has infinite replay value

[conjotter]

Thanks.

It would be great if one could easily put together some historical variant scenarios.

For example, the French being able to launch brigade or division attacks that bypass Le Haye, Hougament and Placenoit, but fight the allied units that were deployed in the same general area without the buildings being the objectives.

The "what if" factor would be fun.

It would also be great if a player could easily and quickly select the force he wants to play. For example, an infantry division or brigade with attached artillery and cavalry that you (not the computer) could control.

I've never designed a scenario, but would like to try if it isn't too difficult.

[RebBugler]

Thanks.

It would be great if one could easily put together some historical variant scenarios.

For example, the French being able to launch brigade or division attacks that bypass Le Haye, Hougament and Placenoit, but fight the allied units that were deployed in the same general area without the buildings being the objectives.

The "what if" factor would be fun.

It would also be great if a player could easily and quickly select the force he wants to play. For example, an infantry division or brigade with attached artillery and cavalry that you (not the computer) could control.

I've never designed a scenario, but would like to try if it isn't too difficult.

If you want to just play the scenarios for fun, try some different units that were not available, ignore objectives and victory conditions, I have a suggestion.

First download the SDK just made available so you have access to all the scenarios. Then open the Mods folder. Make a new folder and call it whatever you want, maybe My Scenarios. Open it and create another folder, name it Scenarios. Now, go back to the SDK folder and copy one or more scenarios and paste them into your My Scenarios/Scenarios folder. Rename your scenarios you copied in, one letter different or a space in the name will do.

Open one of the scenarios you wish to start with. Of the files you see open the scenario.ini file. Find the sequence rank, it will look something similar to this:

[rank]
cmdlvl1=1
cmdlvl2=1
cmdlvl3=1
cmdlvl4=1
cmdlvl5=2
cmdlvl6=0

Change it to this:

[rank]
cmdlvl1=0
cmdlvl2=0
cmdlvl3=0
cmdlvl4=0
cmdlvl5=0
cmdlvl6=0

Save and close.

You have just created a 'Select Unit' type scenario.

Start the game and go to User Scenarios, your scenario will be listed there. Select the scenario and you will see the full scenario OOB listed below. Select the unit you wish to play and hit Start.

I suggest that you pick the same side that the scenario is designed for because the enemy will be scripted to put up a good fight. Still you may pick an enemy unit if you want. If just orders are scripted selecting either side should work pretty well. However, if one side is TC'd that side won't fight, they'll just sit there until you come along, and their officers will be what we call TC'd zombies. The battalions and squadrons will fight but with no leadership, so they'll basically just stay in their original place.

If you like this check out the scenario.ini file for more things to change and try out. Changing to different maps using the same scenario set up can also be a nice change. Refer as to the map names in the SDK folder.

If you want to wipe the scripting completely, which would also eliminate the TC issues discussed, rename the battlescript.csv file, I just put a 0 in front of it. You could just delete it but you might want to save it and mess around with it later.

Then open your scenario.ini file and change the following:
strategicai=0
to
strategicai=1

Save and close.

This turns both sides into aggressive killers, all they want to do is kill the other side and they will go at each other if within LOS. :woohoo: And you and your unit are in the middle of it all. :ohmy:


Good Luck and Happy Variety, your first steps in learning about scenario design.

[conjotter]

Thanks for the tips Reb!