Caught on the Wrong Side

[Arjuna]

I was just doing some playtesting of the second tutorial, which is a bloody great scenario in its own right, when I came across this amusing situation. Well it was amusing for me as the German player.

The British had been hammering my infantry defending the north side of the crossing all afternoon, eventually forceing them back some 600m and most importantly beyond the effective 500m range for my engineers to blow the crossing. I was desperate to stop the British Bde, including a Bn of tanks from crossing. So at sunset I ordered my engineers, AT and inf back to the river line, working on that by the time the orders were implemented it would be night and they could do so under cover of darkness.

Well it was touch and go. The eng coy and At Pl got to the bridge first just as the first Brit tank sqn crossed. The bridge was already primed, and the eng unit hit the plunger blowing the bridge and leaving the lead Brit tank sqn to face the inf Bn I had sent in to support the engineers.

[Arjuna]

Meanwhile 6km to the south east at the other crossing things are a little more shaky. I spent the afternoon fighting a terrific blocking action on the south side of the river bank with 59 Krad Bn ( motorcycle inf ). They were trying to buy time for my eng unit to prime the bridge, but it got ambushed on the way by remnants from the Au 2/8th Inf Bn who were overrun in my initial onslaught. I was forced to send a Pz Coy back to assist the passage of the eng coy but it took until just before dusk for it to reach the north bank.

In the end I had to pull the 59th back over the north side of the river. The Brits ( played by the AI ) launched a Bn level attack heading west from the eastern flank along the road running on the south side of the river. Their attack included several tank sqns and was only stopped by the commitment of the 1/10 Mot inf and a Pz Coy. The firefight was pretty spectacular.

The Brist then surprised me with another Bn level attack com ing from the south west, which forced two of my MC inf coys to retreat. I knew then it was time to pull back or lose the whole Bn. With the 1st Pz Bn holding the north bank the 59th made a hazardous withdrawal across the river, under fire and suppressed often. I placed them in reserve as a backstop. They needed the breather.

As you can see from this screen dump though the Brits have other ideas. Their assault is now underway and my engineer unit may not be quick enough. I have plenty of firepower on the north bank though. Time will tell.

[Arjuna]

The end came quickly for B Sqn 3RTR.

[Arjuna]

There is no rest for the wicked and so the heroes of the blown crossing at Komma must now race to the third crossing and prime it and blow it before the Allies force a bridghead there.

Note the black outlined squares that represent old intel reports. This is because I have set the Intel filter show only current reports. However, you can see from these the build up of Allied forces late in the afternoon.

Blowing the crossing at Komma has bought me valuable time. It will take the Allies some time to replan and move their forces to the other crossings. It's going to be close though.

[Arjuna]

To allay my fears that panzers alone may not be enough to hold the crossing while my engineers prime the bridge, I order the 59th Krad to dig in on the north bank of the Yef Alamanas bridge. While they have rested, note that moving at night lowers their cohesion level dramatically.

This you can tell by the dark blue colour in the Unit Info Box of each unit. The Unit Info Box can display a range of information about your units from their current task, to how tired or organised they are. You can change the value displayed using the Infor Box filter button on the Display Toolbar at the bottom of the screen or hittin the corresponding key ( eg F6 for Cohesion ).

[Arjuna]

Meanwhile I have some mopping up to do in the north where the Greeks have laucnhed a rear area raid on the 33rd Pz Regt Base. I was alerted to this earlier and sent the 9th Recon Bn ( my Div reserve ) back to deal with the pesky blighters.

Note I have set a very wide frontage for the Move task so the Greek units won't escape being hit. I have also set the Aggro to Max and ROF to Rapid. this will increase the probability of the recon units firing at any enemy they encounter, rather than continuing on with their movement.

[GBS]

Arjuna, you guys seem to be having a great time playing this much wanted game. Why not just release it so we all can enjoy it. Christmas is coming up you know. [;)]

[MarkShot]

There you have it. Dave just finished announcing to us how it is the end of 2005 and we all need to work harder. Then, what does he do? He goes and posts that he is busy playing games behind the closed door of his office!!!

I bet later today he announces that there will be no holiday bonuses this year due to missed schedules!

[Banquet]

ORIGINAL: MarkShot

I bet later today he announces that there will be no holiday bonuses this year due to missed schedules!

That's easy to fix. Make the scheduled release date tomorrow. Then release the game tomorrow and collect your holiday bonus! Man, I'm a genius! [:D]

[RayWolfe]

ORIGINAL: Banquet
That's easy to fix. Make the scheduled release date tomorrow. Then release the game tomorrow and collect your holiday bonus! Man, I'm a genius! [:D]

Problem with that is that the scheduled release date was yesterday ... it's been yesterday for weeks. [8|]
Anyway, rest assured we are going like the clappers and have entered the really boring stage of bug testing ... no bugs. No job satisfaction in not finding bugs if your whole life for the last many months has centred on the daily bug report. What will I do on Christmas Day now?
Ray

[Arjuna]

Point taken Guys. But that was in the line of duty and my poor old brain had seized up to the point where I just couldn't face another line of code for the day.

BTW the Panther Prowlers have been doing a marvelous job of tracking down the bugs. We dearly want to release this game like last month but we also want it to be reliable. Yesterday we finally determined the trigger for one particular bug in the networking, which had eluded us for months. This was a fatal out of sync bug and therefore must be dealt with. We're onto it today. The end of development is nigh and the dawn of a new wargaming experience for you guys is near.[:)]

[RayWolfe]

ORIGINAL: Arjuna
The end of development is nigh and the dawn of a new wargaming experience for you guys is near.[:)]

Ooooh! He's gone all metaphysical. [:'(]
Ray

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: RayWolfe

ORIGINAL: Arjuna
The end of development is nigh and the dawn of a new wargaming experience for you guys is near.[:)]

Ooooh! He's gone all metaphysical. [:'(]

More like Metaxa physical ... [:D]

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[elmo3]

ORIGINAL: Arjuna

The end came quickly for B Sqn 3RTR.

With all due respect it sounds like the AI still needs a little fine tuning. Sending a lone tank unit across a primed bridge is a very poor decision IMO.

[RayWolfe]

Hi Elmo3
I'm not sureyou can make that assumption. You are seeing the FOW position and therefor don't know what was following ... someone has to be first, this time the volunteer would have been better to have stood at the back, crouching down slightly. [;)]
Think about the fact that the AI commander may have given the order half an hour before the incident to seven units, before those supporting units were knocked into suppression. If you don't like that thought, then consider AI may have thought the opposition puny because it does not have god powers.
Of course, you may be right but as Arjuna failed to turn on the special Beta Bunnies god view, we will never know. [:'(]
Ray

[Arjuna]

Elmo3,

Rest assured he was not alone, there was a long line of assault troops behing him, including the rest of a Brit Armoured Regt ( Bn size ), the 16th or 17th Au Inf Bde and other odds and sodds. As Ray said he just drew the short straw and ended up in the van. When the bridge blew it parted the waters and the line of march.[;)]

[HercMighty]

If a bridge blows while units are on it, are the units lost?

[MarkShot]

Not that I have noticed. Bridge blowing seems to impact pathing and not damage/casualties.

[Arjuna]

ORIGINAL: HercMighty

If a bridge blows while units are on it, are the units lost?

When the bridge blows the AI checks for damage to nearby units. How much damage depends on a range of factors, but it's like being blasted with a big airstrike. Now that may result in a unit being eliminated, but remember that it would be rare for an entire full strength company to be on the actual bridge.

[RayWolfe]

I have been playing or beta testing this game series for what seems to be my entire life ... and I still didn't know that bridge blowing could have a damaging affect on nearby units! This game is seriously good. But I think we all knew that. [;)]
Ray