How many PBEM ONLY scenarios in TOAW III?

[Erik2]

ORIGINAL: Szilard

ORIGINAL: Erik Nygaard

Even in smaller scenarios there are a couple of problems with getting the PO to play properly,
even the updated Elmer.
1) Elmer won't activate Theater Options, TOs are one major way to make a scenario interesting
2) Elmer won't use airtransported units properly.
3) Elmer won't use seatransported units properly.
Due to TOAW's restricted usability on a few issues, ie naval matters, sometimes house rules are neccessary.

Erik

For (1), there's a "PO Activate" event which will do the right thing - haven't noticed this not working in TOAW3? Not sure what you're referring to with (2) & (3) - has something changed?

1) The PO activate is selected by a hardcoded event (with a % random prossibility).
Bu it's not chosen by Elmer after careful consideration of the situation.
For 'what if' options I usually emply a VP penalty as well and choosing the TO has to take the cost into consideration.

2) and 3) are observations that these earlier problems haven't been completly resolved in TOAW-3.
Ralph has written w few words about the improvment on Elmer with a couple of tips for air/seatransports,
but I haven't found them totally reliable yet.

Erik

[*Lava*]

Darn..

I've created a monster here with many heads!

[:)]

BTW, I've had the game now for a couple days and am having a blast with it.

Thanks again guys!

Ray (alias Lava)

[hank]

I've started playing some of the old "Classic TOAW" battles.  In some ways I think I like these better than the new ones for sparring against the PO ... it seems. 
 
Are there any issues with these scenario's?  ... like extreme imbalance? ... or inaccurate OOB's? ... or anything anybody can think of?  More specifically i'm interested in the WWII western and eastern front battles?  
 
I started Cobra 44 last night and it looks good.  Arracourt looks good.  ... there's a lot of nice looking scenario's in that folder.
 
later
Hank 

[Catch21]

ORIGINAL: hank
Are there any issues with these scenario's? ... like extreme imbalance? ... or inaccurate OOB's? ... or anything anybody can think of? More specifically i'm interested in the WWII western and eastern front battles?

Always check the scenario briefing. It usually will mention whether it's set up for PO play. Imbalance- suggestion: check the ladders to get an idea of this. If 10 people have played Arracourt 44 and the Germans only won once, well... There seems to be a lot of inaccurate OOBs out there, judging from some designer comments. But there's also a balance between playability as a player and scenario 'purity' as a designer. You be the judge since everyone has their own poison.

WWII W & E Front? If you could be more specific on # units/turns/complexity, I'm sure you'll get a lot of suggestions. They range from Arracourt 44 (probably one of the smallest and you can play in an evening) to the entire Barbarossa campaign which can take significant time and effort.

[hank]

Thanks General.  I got the email. 
 
I'll be scrounging around in that subdirectory quite a bit over the next night or two ... as I'm waiting on der Oberst's moves ... or may I restate that:  "as I'm waiting on der Oberst's devestatingly overwhelmingly amazingly well planned moves".   ... there!! that's better.
 
Battles of interest:  Kursk, Korsun, Barbarossa, D-Day (all), Ardennes, Loraine, Arracourt, ... and more but ... work becons ... I must go.  ... dangit!
 

[Catch21]

ORIGINAL: hank
Battles of interest: Kursk, Korsun, Barbarossa, D-Day (all), Ardennes, Loraine, Arracourt

There are a number of Kursk 43 scenarios. I'm partial to manoeuvre and since the Russians knew what was going to happen, ploughing through vast minefields even in Pz V's doesn't do it for me. Maybe try Marc Custer's version.

There is a Korsun 44 scenario that I like. Not PO-designed IIRC and very imbalanced but that's the way it was on the day.

Barbarossa. A lot of these. But they're all pretty big scale. Like the operation itself I guess. Not for the faint-hearted.

D-Day. 2 Weeks in Normandy is a good start. There's also a variant (NormandyRommel 44?) that releases the Panzer Reserves early.

Ardennes. At least 6 I'm aware of. I'd suggest trying to defend (or take) Bastogne first and move on from there. Bastogne 44 is 12 turns.

Lorraine 44. Todd Klemme did one on this that worked for me. 8 turns.

In summary, to new players I'd suggest don't be too ambitious at first- find short scenarios without too many units. Also don't worry too much about play balance- just learn. Over time you'll come to judge scenarios for yourself and there's already a player poll (using their feet) on the ladders for popularity and play balance. That's whose playing what, how often and which side wins.

Hope this helps.

[sol_invictus]

Has anyone tried the Franco-Prussian war scenario, "Der Deutsch-Franzoesischer Krieg" by Joe Bower? I have always been facinated by the Wars of German Unification and this scenario looks very detailed.

I should add that this scenario does not come in the box, it is downloadable at Rugged Defense.

[hank]

Thanks.  I have made a list of sce's off the Blitz web site of battles I remember seeing in the TOAW scenario's that seem to have fairly even pbem record.  One of the big Bulge sce's I've played several turns through is Rundstedt's Plan Martin (but I didn't see it on the Blitz list but thats OK).  It looks good, feels good, and after a few more turns I'll let you know if it satisfied me.  [:D]
 
 

[WYBaugh]

Not sure if anyone would be interested in this but I've created a quick .NET program that will allow you to browse to a scenario folder and examine the description contained in each scenario file by clicking on the scenario. Here's an example:



If anyone finds this useful and would like to use it you can download from my website:

NOTE: Requires .NET Framework 1.1

http://www.buttuglysoftware.com/TOAWIIIScenBrowse.zip

I threw this together in an hour so I'm sure that it can be much more user friendly and show more information. If this is useful, please give me some ideas to add to the design.

Thanks,

Bill

[*Lava*]

ORIGINAL: WBaugh
I threw this together in an hour

[X(]

Wow... that is utterly kewl!

People like you make people like me feel like totally nincompoops!

[:)]

Ray (alias "how do you turn this thing off again" Lava)

[sol_invictus]

Looks like a nice little utility. I might just use it if my game ever arrives.[:(]

[golden delicious]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

I think, for all "official" scenarios (i.e. those which come with the game) there should be a standard header in the briefing.

And then some. A lot of designers emulate the standardised header which runs somewhat thusly;

** Title **
Subtitle

Date:
Time Scale:
Map Scale:
Unit Scale: (Number of Units)

Unit Colours:
etc.

[golden delicious]

ORIGINAL: geozero

You don't really need to tell us that General x ordered 3rd Div. to pull out, when the 5th Regt...blah blah blah. If you need to say this do it farther below in the description after you tell us the important stuff. We can pick up a history book if we want to read about the battle.[:D]

This information is neat- but as you note it should be separated out. Some designers have a tendency to bury key information about the scenario amidst their own historical ramblings. The briefings should have clearly labelled sections for significant events, house rules, design notes and version history.

[Chuck2]

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

I think, for all "official" scenarios (i.e. those which come with the game) there should be a standard header in the briefing.

And then some. A lot of designers emulate the standardised header which runs somewhat thusly;

** Title **
Subtitle

Date:
Time Scale:
Map Scale:
Unit Scale: (Number of Units)

Unit Colours:
etc.

There is a new header format. It basically looks like the one above but has a few changes. Everyone should use that, under penalty of death.

[a white rabbit]

ORIGINAL: Arinvald

I bet one of you benevolent souls out there will take the opportunity of this weekend to go through all of the scenarios and make a list of which ones are PBEM only. I would do it but I have to paint and mow the yard; oh, and I don't have my copy yet.[:(]

..don't you mean mow and paint the yard, if not isn't the mower going to be difficult to clean ?

[Der Oberst]

First of all NICE TOOL!

Thanks for sharing it. Some ideas...

1. Print button functionality. This way I could find what I need and print.
2. Rather than "launch scenario" button maybe just a "launch game(quick start)" button as I can't select how I want to play the scenario.
3. Search function within the document or maybe the folder. That way I could search for things like "PBEM" etc.
4. A special tool to identify all of hank's forces in my PBEM games with him that allows me to put all of his forces retreat [:D]

Seriously, though a good tool and I'll drop more thoughts on improving on it as I use it.