what battles are play balanced?

[SgtShultz2]

Can I get a list of battles that are fairly well play balanced? That means players with equal skill have about the same chance of winning against each other. So many battles are one sided, which is part of the design.

Thanks.

[ineffable]

Between force morale, victory locations, timer and difficulty settings, a scenario setup can have hundreds of different variations. Then factor in a wide range of player skill levels. A battle that is imbalanced at Reg vs Reg, FM off & 30 mins may become balanced at Vet vs Green, FM on, 20 mins.

[SgtShultz2]

ineffable, I know all that. This is pretty obvious to anybody who plays this game, and anybody who played the older Close Combat games. What's I'm looking for are battles that are play balanced while keeping all the default settings for things like the duration of the game. 30 minutes is the default. I'm hoping for somebody's list of which battles are play balanced with the default settings. The computer opponent AI is still very weak compared to a human player, so I can't play the AI and get any realistic idea of play balance by swithcing sides in multiple games.

If I know which battles are play balanced I can suggest a battle to play, and then let the other player decide which side he wants. Then I'm playing a game where I know I likely have an equal chance of winning. I want to see how I do against really good players.

[SteveMcClaire]

The stock battles are designed as part of a campaign to be played from the Allied side, either single player or co-op.

If you're looking for stock battles somewhat more suited to balanced head-to-head play I would suggest some of the Mateur battles (not The Mousetrap), some of the later Sicily battles, or the Normandy bocage battles (Cerisy has some armor on both sides for example.)

Alternately you can make a custom battle that is a meeting engagement with lots of uncontrolled ground and VLs in the middle and roughly equal forces on each side. This is probably the simplest way for balanced head to head play.

[ineffable]

"...make a custom battle that is a meeting engagement with lots of uncontrolled ground and VLs in the middle and roughly equal forces on each side. This is probably the simplest way for balanced head to head play."

Make what you think is a balanced scenario at the default settings then let your opponent choose sides.

[AUBGeek87]

This would be cool, but every custom scenario I make ends after just one engagement. No regrouping, rearming, selecting fresh squads, picking when to attack (you know, all the things that make this game unique). After just one engagement it's over. I don't understand why is it so hard to make it just like during the operations. This is such a good game mechanics, why wouldn't the developers implement it in every mode?

[ineffable]

ORIGINAL: AUBGeek87
This would be cool, but every custom scenario I make ends after just one engagement. No regrouping, rearming, selecting fresh squads, picking when to attack (you know, all the things that make this game unique). After just one engagement it's over. I don't understand why is it so hard to make it just like during the operations. This is such a good game mechanics, why wouldn't the developers implement it in every mode?

Im working on a mod 'package' that will facilitate single map custom ops. It will still require a bit of text editing but nothing more difficult than typing in a couple of YYYY M DD HH date formats to specify the start & end of the op.

[AUBGeek87]

Thant you be amazing! I played my first multiplayer operation today and it was great fun. I think it would be even more fun if I could set up a sorta balanced battle where both sides would have equal amount of infantry and tanks and just go at it, but in the 'operation'-type of way where you get to resupply, reshuffle your troops and all that jazz.

[ineffable]

Custom Op mod. Create one map custom ops.



You must have at least v1.1.0 to use this mod. An illustrated readme is included in the linked .zip above

1. Create a custom scenario in Scenario Editor.

2. Save this as Custom Battle.txt

3. In C:\Documents\My Games\CloseCombatTheBloodyFirst\Maps open Custom Battle.txt

4. On the top line change 4.1 to 3

5. Place the cursor after the last entry in file and press the ENTER key three times to add 3 empty lines

6. Save edited Custom Battle.txt to C:\Documents\My Games\CloseCombatTheBloodyFirst\Mods\Custom Op\Campaigns\Main\Data\BATTLES\ and replace the existing Custom Battle.txt in that folder

7. Open C:\Documents\My Games\CloseCombatTheBloodyFirst\Mods\Custom Op\Campaigns\Main\Data\OPERATIONS\Custom Op.txt

8. On line 7 set the date & time you want your custom operation to start. On line 8 set the date & time you want your operation to end. On the last line set the side that will initially have initiative; 0=US, 1=GE

9. Save the edited Custom Op.txt

10. Start TBF, select Custom Op from the Mods drop down menu on the Main Screen

Play game

[OPTIONAL] Open C:\...\Documents\My Games\CloseCombatTheBloodyFirst\Mods\Custom Op\Campaigns\Main\Text1.txt, press CTRL+F, type "TEXT" (with quote marks), and replace with your own Campaign/Operation summaries and briefings. Or just use the Scenario Editor to create a custom Battle summary and briefings.

[AUBGeek87]

Awesome! I'm gonna try it out right now.

[AUBGeek87]

Do you think you could post an example of the Custom Op.txt for this? Thank you.

[SgtShultz2]

Steve McClaire, thanks for your suggestions. [:)] We will start there. I like the idea of playing battles without knowing the map ahead ot time like I used to. It seems more realistic. My partner likes knowing the terrain before picking the troops.

I don't like to make up custom battles. I want something as realistic as possible, so I'll always look for balanced real battles. I'm a bit discouraged in that we can't get the game to run anywhere close to real-time.

[ineffable]

The red arrows indicate the start and end dates you'll edit to determine how long the custom op will last. At the the end of the file is the Initiative setting (0=US, 1=GE)

[t001001001]

I have this new one, haven't played much. Regarding creation of new scenarios mostly played cc3. I built a few scenarios, and did all I could to balance. When another player joined I told him I built the scenario and would wait patiently so he could look at it and choose which side he'd play. It seems fair. It's like splitting a quarter in the old days. One guy splits the quarter as fair as he can and the other chooses which one he wants. This new Close Combat game is prolly the same. Set up a scenario and let ur opponent choose. Keep it fair