Playtesters wanted.

[Oberst_Klink]

Turn 25 of Anzio@2km PBEM vs. Prussian Tom and I have to say it's a hell of bloody brilliant piece of work Stefan! I hope my *still in progress* 48th Pz Koprs Chir Battles scenario will work out just 10% comparend to yours and it'll be fine, too

[Telumar]

ORIGINAL: Oberst_Klink

Turn 25 of Anzio@2km PBEM vs. Prussian Tom and I have to say it's a hell of bloody brilliant piece of work Stefan! I hope my *still in progress* 48th Pz Koprs Chir Battles scenario will work out just 10% comparend to yours and it'll be fine, too

Always nice to hear someone enjoys ones work.

25 turns? So is it rather a stalemate now or is it more fluid? For the Allies this means they won't receive much reinforcements for a long time, only Br. 56th Inf Div's Brigades towards the end. The Germans will still receive plenty of stuff. Maybe you can push him back into the sea?!

[Oberst_Klink]

That's exactly my plan... after 2-3 days of reorganizing and trying to re-establish divisional integrity... your scenario teaches system of different support levels in a bloody marvelous way! BUT... wo ist die neue Version? Or is the one you sent me just before x-mas the latest, including the terrain changes you mentioned here in the post?

kLiNk, Oberst

[Telumar]

No, this was the old version. The new one is only available by e-mail.. just send. Read the mail before you install.

[Telumar]

Any thoughts about the German PO? It's not really a match for a human opponent (not even for the Allied PO), or is it just me? Sudden Death on turn 11:

[Oberst_Klink]

To prevent a sudden death against the PO... well, a kind of "Nero Befehl" trigger perhaps? The question is, how to prevent this order in a H2H game.

Suggestion for the "Nero Befehl"... bridges over the canal get blown up or a withdrawal event for the Allies. e.g. "News! SS-Jagdkommandos blew up bla, bla, at the X sector. X,Y to be withdrawn to repair bridges and secure rear area near XYZ!"

Other than that, well. Did you try to fiddle around with the .AI file?

kLiNk, Oberst

[Telumar]

ORIGINAL: Oberst_Klink

To prevent a sudden death against the PO... well, a kind of "Nero Befehl" trigger perhaps? The question is, how to prevent this order in a H2H game.

Suggestion for the "Nero Befehl"... bridges over the canal get blown up or a withdrawal event for the Allies. e.g. "News! SS-Jagdkommandos blew up bla, bla, at the X sector. X,Y to be withdrawn to repair bridges and secure rear area near XYZ!"

Other than that, well. Did you try to fiddle around with the .AI file?

kLiNk, Oberst

It's not about preventing a Sudden Death against the PO, but iam sure you know this and it's only a small misunderstanding..

Preventing certain things from not happening in a H2H game is easy. The PO1/PO2 activate trigger.

I haven't yet fiddled with the .AI file as i still don't know much about it.. what is early/mid/late treshold for? And what else can i do except change tracks, objectives etc.? I had done this in the normal Editor. Some slight changes to objective tracks and strategic bias with the German Po with the result that the German PO now holds a bit longer against an Allied PO.
Objectives are currently more than 3 hexes away from each other, everything's fine from a PO view. Note that a) the situation was indeed very dangerous for the Germans had Lucas decided to push out of his beachhead immediately and b) Elmer is better in the offensive than in defence, especially failing in such defence tactics that are required here: delay, fall back, regroup, begin again with delay etc..

[Oberst_Klink]

I should have re-phrased it... Ja, the problem isn't SD or preventing it, but Elmer's way to handle the situation. Your scenario is challenging enough for a human player (German side). Regarding the thresholds or values in .AI. Quite frankly, no idea. I am sure you already had a look here if RT posted some .txt with definitions. There's one chap who seems to be more into the whole Elmer scripting - gianluca74_ai.
So, no "Nero Befehl" trigger then?

[Telumar]

Nero Befehl - don't know yet. It's an option to think about. But only in Human vs German PO games.

[Telumar]

Another option might be to add a range to the Valmontone EEV trigger so that an area with a radius of x hexes must be occupied to get the 10 EEV points. Again, this could be done only if the PO controls the Germans. As you see in the screenshot further above Elmer still had a sizeable force pressed against the Monti Lepini with which he could have cut off the Allied penetration into the Valmontone Gap if the Sudden Death wouldn't have triggered.

Something like this:

[Telumar]

Well, i'll set up the zone two hexes further north. Force attack will trigger the EEV increase and/or decrease, depending on side. Zagorolo, which will then be in the zone, remains a 3 EEV points single hex objective though. And it will only work this way when playing against the German PO. Any thoughts/critique/suggestions about that?

What do you lads think about an "EEV timer"? The longer the Allies need to reach their objectives the more EEV points they would need for a Sudden Death. It could be set up this way:

Each turn when substantial German reinforcements arrive, i.e. turn 10 (65.Inf Div) or turn 13 (bulk of 26.Panzer Div), the EEV will be decreased by, say 1 or 2 points. Or i.e. every fourth turn one point will be subtracted from the EEV. Or a combination of both. If this would make things too easy for the Germans in H2H play, this could be implemented only for playing against the German PO (also for playing against the Allied PO?). It also could be activated by a Theatre Option in Human vs PO play. This could help beginners playing as the Germans or make it more challenging for experienced players playing as the Allies.

Or is this "over-design"..?

[1_Lzard]

NOT overdesign, Stefan........try it!

[Telumar]

And done. Two things:

- When playing against the German PO the Valmontone EEV trigger is an area related event

- Added the optional "EEV Timer" in Human vs PO games as a TO, available only on turn 1. It will decrease the EEV over time or when specific events occur (or not occur..[:D]). As i posted further above it is thought as a help for the German PO and for beginners playing as the Germans and provides a challenge for experienced players playing as the Allies.