Come Back

[wodin]

After playing BftB I decoded to boot up CotA again....I've been having a great time again...now I've overcome my fear of large scenarios I've dived back into CotA...the Narvik scenarios are superb...Infact I find some of the CotA scenarios that are in the mountiains require alot of thought when it comes to the attack...the terrian is really a major factor in this game more so than the Bulge game.

Great Stuff...

[Foolio]

It's not just me playing this game then!
 
I've work through the tutorials, gave on the first scenario in the list. I forget the name, but it's the long narrow map where you have to delay the German advance without getting cut off. Needless to say, as a noob, I can delay them in certain points by ambushing them with AT guns of the limitted armour I have, but I always get hammered. All my foot troops in theNorth get cut off and/or wiped out, and the speed of their advance just overwhelms me.
 
I started the Iraklian historical campaign scenario as the Germans to see if I can have any more luck.

[wodin]

The delay and withdraw orders are required in that scenario if I'm not mistaken....there are two narrow passes the germans have to come through near the top of the map...it is possible to win I managed it but it was awhile ago now...if you struglle with a scenario try playing it as the other side...then you can get a feel of what the enemy needs to do next time you play as the allies.

[MarkShot]

Perhaps you are discussing Tanks at Platamon. A very challenging scenario which I have recently replayed.

You have to remember that for most scenarios the bulk of their play testing takes place prior to final release candidate builds and follow on patches. OPFOR AI aggression was heavily tweaked in one of the COTA patches. After recently replaying the scenario and seeing how the Germans surge towards the East, I think this scenario probably has gotten considerably harder than it initially was.

I think to get a decisive victory. You really need to blow the two tunnels. Normally, I am pretty good at forcing bridges to blow, but this scenario is much harder to manipulate.

You can set up units to blow the tunnels in reverse slope, but it is hard to guarantee the sequence of events the way the situation is constructed:

(1) In reverse slope you are blind. Unlike a bridge situation, the ground rises up at the tunnel instead of dipping. So, it is possible for an OPFOR engineering unit to park unseen on the other side and unprime the tunnel. Friendly AI blows when they feel threatened, but seem blind to the fact that the tunnel is being unprimed. If they cannot see it, then they are not concerned.

(2) If you park the demolition units on the top of the ridge, then they are visible from everywhere to the West. They become mercilessly surpressed and have little chance of a successful blowing.

(3) You cannot be sure that you won't get flanked at Panteleemon.

(4) Unlike a river, the Ridge is not an impassible barrier; is just slows movement. Thus, the Germans are not channeled through the tunnels. They can quite easily come cresting anywhere over the Ridge as they assault. This lack of channeling and inability to keep the degree contact small makes the reverse slope set up for blowing the tunnels much less of a sure thing.

I would say that you probably have a 20-25% of blowing both of the tunnels. Failure to do that and you don't really have enough troops (on foot too) to hold the Germans back or stay ahead of them.

BTW, I don't really like the withdraw and delay orders. The big advantage of the delay order is that it is fast. It does not incur additional order delays each time you displace. But its big disadvantage is the lack of control. You cannot decide to break contact right after night fall when it is safe. You cannot make sure that displacing troops get enough lead time that they can get dug-in before in contact again. You cannot determine that the entire force is not longer at risk and can pull back. You cannot determine that successfully breaking contact is unlikely and it would be best to hold in the current positions and fight it out to the bitter end. Well, you get the idea ... I am sure if I were to experiment with it more extensively that I might find under what parameters that it exceeds my personal decision making process.

[Westheim]

Came back to this game as well last week, although I never gotten much into it in the first place. Ordered it back in January, but grew frustrated with the controls and my inability to "read" the map. Since coming back I somehow won a minor victory as Germans at Elasson, but now I'm about to get a major defeat as Germans at Thermopylae... I don't know, it may be the controls and the maps or my general incompetence as division commander.

I also consider doing an AAR, but then again, this could become embarassing for all of us. I could have ordered Pickett's charge. And when the remains came back down the hill, I might have ordered them to attack again [X(]