Turn Length

[Massattack]

Apologies if this is somewhere in the manual, I could not find it ; how long is one turn?

[fritzfarlig]

around 15min.

[Jason Petho]

It will vary depending on the scenario and if it is night or day.

[alwaysdime]

The old manuals state 15 minutes per turn. That was removed in ME and they "claim" its now variable depending on the scenario. I find that to be BS since if its now variable they would have to adjust the actions and to my knowledge the action points stay the same for all units each turn.

[Massattack]

Thanks all. This should be somewhere in the manual, unless I am going blind in my old age [:D]

[Crossroads]

To be brutally honest this is a topic we'd not like to discuss at all.

There's two things.

First, how each individual unit is designed, what parameters, what capabilities it's got, that has not changed at all.

Then, scenario design, and how a scenario plays out. Scenario designer picks up a historical battle, studies it in detail, then implements the force pool, the map, the settings. It is then playtested. Per playtesting, you find out that this particular scenario takes X turns to finish historically, as an average of all playtests. That is then the scenario length: X turns.

Finally, you then look at the facts, the historical battle raged on for seven hours, you divide that with X you ended up with, and then, often times, you can deduce a typical scenario turn represents an 10 to 30 minutes timeslice. That averages towards 15 minutes per scenario turn. Longer for night turns, as battlefield friction typically hinders the night operations. But there's friction in day operations too. And unlike the chits on the mapboard who go on tirelessly on their duties from the beginning to end, that's not what each platoon did historically.

So mostly what I have seen there's passionate discussions where one is talking about unit scale the other is talking about scenario turns. Apples and Oranges.

Unit scale remains unchanged. Scenario turns represent a time slice that as they are.

[Massattack]

Thanks for the explanation. I am used to the likes of Panzer Campaigns, where a turn is 2 hours day, 4 hours night. Perhaps an explanation in the manual that turn length is between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on the scenario designer. Just a suggestion.

[mrfeizhu]

Spent a lot of time searching for the time length, then see this ‘’ To be brutally honest this is a topic we'd not like to discuss at all.” That says a lot. I wish I would have seen this before I bought the game. Time is time 15 minutes in 1953 is the same as in 1967. The game does have potential The graphics are not good at all. I am a big fan of John Tiller Civil war battles; I am not looking for cutting edge graphics I would like something that I can see the units.

[Jason Petho]

Keep in mind, the original series (JTCS) claimed to be 6 minutes per turn.

Careful analysis of any scenario would reveal that was not the case.

15 minutes makes more sense, but is not stringent for every scenario, as stated above. Note the typical time frame between a scenario like Bootcamp 1 and "A Week in Binh Long". Each turn is not created equal.

As for the graphics, in which view are you struggling to see the units? Is it too much green? Have you tried the CSME in the desert? Does it have the same issue? Maybe someone will make a mod that mutes the background so the units jump out against all the foliage.

Have you tried play 2D with 3D icons? That helps the units stand out a lot.

[JWW]

Why can't we just say "approximately 15 minutes." Is it that critical to game enjoyment? I really don't understand the problem. Maybe I'm just dense.

[mrfeizhu]

15 minutes is fine to say, or about. most games will say the scale of the games in the first few pages of the manual. In the John Tiller gold games they will say the turn length in the scenario description. Every one is different for what they want from a game.

[TheGrayMouser]

Keep in mind, the original series (JTCS) claimed to be 6 minutes per turn.

Careful analysis of any scenario would reveal that was not the case.

15 minutes makes more sense, but is not stringent for every scenario, as stated above. Note the typical time frame between a scenario like Bootcamp 1 and "A Week in Binh Long". Each turn is not created equal.

As for the graphics, in which view are you struggling to see the units? Is it too much green? Have you tried the CSME in the desert? Does it have the same issue? Maybe someone will make a mod that mutes the background so the units jump out against all the foliage.

Have you tried play 2D with 3D icons? That helps the units stand out a lot.

I alway thought it was 6 minutes for side a and 6 for side b … so almost 15 minures…

It seems to be a non issue though, as long as there are enough turns
to accomplish what was possible in the real life historical encounter.

[Jason Petho]

I alway thought it was 6 minutes for side a and 6 for side b … so almost 15 minures…

No, it was 6 minutes per turn in total as both sides would operate in the same turn.

It seems to be a non issue though, as long as there are enough turns
to accomplish what was possible in the real life historical encounter.

Precisely!