Mod Les Cent Jours - download link

[RALB]

Well things went a little belly up. The new Mod played well and I've been having a lot of fun, the odd minor bug but nothing that would distract from the enjoyment. However I just fancied fighting St. Armand and well over half my buildings have gone and it's the same with every stock scenario. I tried disabling the Mod but to no avail. I removed the Mod and the new Grog Toolbar but still the same. Any ideas would be appreciated

In Options, p 2, did you change the level of 'Show Map Objects'? Best is best...

Damn how stupid of me I didn't even realise I'd done that duh

[RALB]

The units level 8 you see are guard units category, the hessians have 4 battalions of this level in this battle.

we wait a new gameplay video, Rob

I love me some guard units. They were so good in melee's. I'm going to put up a video of the Hessian brigade scenario next. But probably a new playthrough of it. While I still won the one I played last night, it was kind of sloppy gameplay by me in taking the French guns across the river. I probably could have found a better way to do it without taking so many losses from French canister. I was lucky that 2nd town was worth 1000 points. I really needed them at the end. But once I took the guns the Hessian troops were really impressive against the French in hand to hand combat.

I also looked at the rest of the scenarios. One of the things I really like is how much strategic movement there seems to be. It's not like say Waterloo where both armies are basically lined up and ready to go. Here you have the road network and the town's to think about. Strategy, approach, timing and coordinating your forces will matter alot more. Those full battle scenarios are going to require some thought.

All in all this looks like a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it.

Would really appreciate you doing walk through videos on these new scenarios. I really enjoy working out my own strategy and comparing the two. On another note I wanted your input on "No Prisoners" I find this by far the hardest to get a Major Victory even when I follow your walk through. An interesting tactical variation is to skirt the town from the right instead of the left, I've had great fun and some success with this approach

[DarkRob]

Would really appreciate you doing walk through videos on these new scenarios. I really enjoy working out my own strategy and comparing the two. On another note I wanted your input on "No Prisoners" I find this by far the hardest to get a Major Victory even when I follow your walk through. An interesting tactical variation is to skirt the town from the right instead of the left, I've had great fun and some success with this approach

I do plan on doing videos for all the Les Cent Jours scenarios. But I wouldn't exactly call them walkthroughs. These scenarios are brand new, so I'm just stumbling through like everyone else.

No prisoners is a pretty straight ahead scenario, whether you hook left or right of the town, or go right through the center, all are viable strategies. That scenario is just all about being a bull and making use of the Imperial Guard's troop quality. Charging relentlessly, casualties be damned. The thing that most surprises players is just how aggressive you have to be to bully your way through and make it to the objective. The faster you get there the more points you get, so like I said, casualties be damned. They're the Imperial Guard, they're meant for the hard work.

Also, if I were to rate the top three most difficult scenarios in the game they would be

1. Napoleon's finale(The final assault by the Imperial Guard at Waterloo)

2. Pursue the Enemy(French army battle of Wavre)

3. That Damned Village(Prussian corps assault at Plancenoit)

[RebBugler]

Also, if I were to rate the top three most difficult scenarios in the game they would be

1. Napoleon's finale(The final assault by the Imperial Guard at Waterloo)

2. Pursue the Enemy(French army battle of Wavre)

3. That Damned Village(Prussian corps assault at Plancenoit)

Shucks, thought QB04-Quatre Bras (F-Corps) would be in the running.

[DarkRob]

Also, if I were to rate the top three most difficult scenarios in the game they would be

1. Napoleon's finale(The final assault by the Imperial Guard at Waterloo)

2. Pursue the Enemy(French army battle of Wavre)

3. That Damned Village(Prussian corps assault at Plancenoit)

Shucks, thought QB04-Quatre Bras (F-Corps) would be in the running.

Actually, both the French and allied scenarios for quatre bras are very well done I think. Both are challenging. But as far as the absolute most difficult scenarios in the game go, the fact that you can reach 15,000 points without having to take either Bossu wood north, or Quatre Bras keeps it out of the running for most difficult. If Bossu wood north had to be taken, it would be up there though. By that point in the game the allies really have alot of troops on the field and the French do much better playing purely defensively along the Gemioncourt line

[RebBugler]

the fact that you can reach 15,000 points without having to take either Bossu wood north, or Quatre Bras keeps it out of the running for most difficult.

Well, Congratulations, you broke that scenario.
Bossu wood north is supposed to be a MUST CAPTURE objective to have the necessary points for a Major Victory. It was structured that way and tested out that way, by some very competent testers, and especially, since I designed it, ME. I did score much higher than the MV bar once, managed to get also some points from Quatre Bras, then withdrew as the Allied horde amassed. Still, I was confident that Bossu Wood North was the final key to a Major Victory.

[DarkRob]

the fact that you can reach 15,000 points without having to take either Bossu wood north, or Quatre Bras keeps it out of the running for most difficult.

Well, Congratulations, you broke that scenario.
Bossu wood north is supposed to be a MUST CAPTURE objective to have the necessary points for a Major Victory. It was structured that way and tested out that way, by some very competent testers, and especially, since I designed it, ME. I did score much higher than the MV bar once, managed to get also some points from Quatre Bras, then withdrew as the Allied hoard amassed. Still, I was confident that Bossu Wood North was key to a Major Victory.

The scenario isn't broken, its fine. As I said, both Quatre Bras scenario's are very well done. You have to understand, no one else plays this game the way I do. No tester is ever going to find the things I find unless they think like I do. And most players don't. They want realism, historical accuracy, and other things like that. They cant push the game to its absolute limit because that becomes about game mechanics, not realism.

Take something like being able to recall skirmishers right as they are about to be charged. Your average tester would probably never even think to try that because from a realism point of view, it makes no sense.
But from a game mechanic point of view, its a devastating tactic because when you recall a skirmisher unit, as far as the game is concerned they are instantly part of the parent unit again and become invalid targets and cant be charged. The attacking unit loses its target and stops to reform, and gets butchered for it. When I discovered this I didn't just say "oh that's interesting" and forget about it. I found every way I could to exploit and abuse it. That's the difference between the way I think and the way other players do.

I did this time and time again and it led to still more discoveries.

Things like the Fortress, horse fort, and the real power of skirmishers weren't known about back when you wrote the scenario. Its not a problem with the scenario, its abuse of the game mechanics, and it couldn't have been forseen that a player like me would come along that doesn't care at all about doing things in a historical way, but just winning. I play this game like a video game, not a simulation. Im not a historian and not even all that knowledgeable about napoleonic warfare. But I am stubborn, and I don't like to lose.

The AI used to kick my ass when I first started playing and I didn't know what I was doing. In fact I learned a lot from the AI. It taught me the foundations of what I needed to know to play. It took me years to discover all the things I learned about how the game works, and how to make it work to my advantage.

Ultimately, humans have advantages in the way our brains are wired that will always, in the end, make us better than computers. We can learn from past mistakes, grow, evolve and adapt. For now, these things are beyond a computers ability.

There are just to many ways to completely neutralize the AI and turn all the games mechanics to your own advantage while denying those same advantages to the AI. The Fortress is probably the ultimate example of this.

That's not to say the AI is bad. In fact I think the AI for this game is incredible. But AI's only can do what they are programed to do. They cant learn from past mistakes. They cant adapt, or evolve, and most importantly, they cant change(well not on their own anyway.) Sooner or later if you put in enough time, a human player will catch up, and eventually surpass.

But again, I spent years with this game. You don't spend years with a game unless its incredible and has a lot of depth and complexity to it, and Scourge of War has them in spades. Ive said before many times in my videos, Scourge of War is hands down the best wargame Ive ever played.

Yes, I broke the game, eventually, but it took me years to do so. That's a testament to the game. The game was worth me putting the time into it to get to that point.

It was 4 years well spent.

[RALB]

Funnily enough I've kinda mastered those three but my problem in No Prisoners is their Cavalry, there's not much of it but it's a bloody nuisance and often keeps my Guard units tied up in Square

Haaa Quatre Bras is challenging but I've found that when you win the objective in Bossu Woods south if you can quickly get a Brigade from Jerome's Division over to reinforce your center and left it's no contest.

[RebBugler]

Take something like being able to recall skirmishers right as they are about to be charged. Your average tester would probably never even think to try that because from a realism point of view, it makes no sense.
But from a game mechanic point of view, its a devastating tactic because when you recall a skirmisher unit, as far as the game is concerned they are instantly part of the parent unit again and become invalid targets and cant be charged. The attacking unit loses its target and stops to reform, and gets butchered for it. When I discovered this I didn't just say "oh that's interesting" and forget about it. I found every way I could to exploit and abuse it. That's the difference between the way I think and the way other players do.

Didn't know that move. Sounds effective, but doing stuff like that mars my sense of accomplishment when winning a difficult scenario. Besides, it obviously involves a lot of micromanagement, and micromanagement bogs down tactical management, my fun thing.

I do use a version of your "Fortress", flanking artillery batteries with infantry, keeping the enemy within canister range and the guns out of musket range. This arrangement goes back to TC2M days when folks built formations for this purpose, I was one. But contrary to your fortress design, I generally only use skirmisher units for guarding my flanks, or chasing off guns.

Haaa Quatre Bras is challenging but I've found that when you win the objective in Bossu Woods south if you can quickly get a Brigade from Jerome's Division over to reinforce your center and left it's no contest.

What, another Major Victory without taking Bossu Wood North? Drats, another one breaks the game. :ohmy:

[RebBugler]

Back on Thread...

New Grog Toolbar update, Post 22

Enlarged the Compass and fixed the Terrain picture behind the Compass. This issue was caused by both mods having a ToolbarButtons1 file. I changed the Grog Toolbar version to ToolbarButtons3 for a fast fix, I already have a ToolbarButtons2. Glad I found that same-named file, the Terrain issue drove me crazy for a while. Also fixed some minor stuff.

Looking forward to DarkRob's videos with at least this latest update...


Davide,
How important is that Unitstatus file? Right now the Grog Toolbar's Unitstatus file is canceling it out and I see no way to prevent this other than removing it, which won't happen. If it's a biggie, guess players could be notified on how to treat it, on your end. Or, tell me what's different and maybe I can add it to the Grog Toolbar. Right now I can't detect any differences in data.

Too bad we don't have a variable for target so it would display the Primary Target, or do we, and it was just missed.