Matrix Games Forums

don't know if anyone has already used this but i use it all the time and think its v good, and thought i'd share it,

1. take a scenario and play it to the end
2. you are given the option to save the scenario so save it but save it with the postfix .scn
3. This will save the game at the last move as a new scenario.
4. go to the editor and open the scenario. To be extend the scenario you must extend the number of moves in the editor (eg a 15 move game should be increased say to 30 moves).
5. When you have changed it as you wish save it under a new name and go and play, it will start say at move 15 and you play on.

you can therefore add in fresh units and model reinforcements, reflect tiring & depleting troops by reduction of strength and morale , new fortifications, altering objectives etc...You can represent days or weeks of battle.

never played it against a human opponent but would be good I think for a extended campaign

Is this for Campaign's only or can you do this with single Scenario's?[&:]

I believe he is refering to taking single scenarios and turning them into campaigns.

A variation of this is the "von Earlmann" type campaigns that are run at the Blitz, although a Game Master is required to run properly.

Jason Petho

I am off my seat....[&o]
Sounds great for "big" scenarios (mapwise) against the AI.
Play 100 turns then have a break adapt some settings and go for the next 100.
I must try this out asap.

CB

it is for single scenarios...

eg take for instance a mid-range game like "counter attack at Hamich" complexity 5

This game is 12 moves long and with a small battlegroup on each side. The objectives are clear and the AI will cope ok.

but with this tool at the end of the game you can consider 'what happened next' - when I first tried this for instance the germans just about held on but were badly chewed up , so i had the germans be reinforced in the next 'game' with a couple of battalions of ragtag units , dug in the troops already there with some mines, gave the americans more men to try to go on a counter offensive..

in the third game a german Panzer KG arrived to stabilise things...

as the games are short and you alter the objectives each time realisticallythe AI can cope with the longer game.

find it particularly good with new assault rules as you can take more time to achieve objectives

also I prefer to set really rather low morale settings as morale will reduce in game much faster and be hard to recover which as the games progress seems to model troop exhaustion well so that frankly with a unit reduced to morale 1 or 2 through action it simply is useless for offensive action

from speaking to a man I know who was a sgt-maj in the Welsh Gds in the Falklands he was quite clear that a platoon once it takes even a handful of casualties loses its offensive capacity massively, and frankly at 50% forget any forward movement - everyone is to busy coping with looking after the wounded and loss of control.

I find the following morale settings to work best in this campaign version - conscripts (Morale 3) , Regular (4), Vets (5), Elite/fanatic (6)
you will find conscripts at this setting dissolving rapidly !

Very interesting, 
 
May be some stupid questions:
 
If I understand it correctly, you have to change the name of the .scn file? For example 'Hamich.scn' must be changed into something like 'Hamich01.scn' after changing the number of turns?
 
Do you have to start the 'new' scenario as a new game or just continu with the (newly) saved game?
 
What about the Order of Battle? Do you need to have a large OOB at hand and decide at the end of each 'game' which units will enter now, or do you need to change the OOB file too according to your whishes at that moment? (I wouldn't be surprised if you can do either!)
 
Is it possible to make a sequence of scenario's at forehand, e.g. 'Hamich01.scn..........Hamich99.scn' and thus creating a campaign? If so, it must also be possible to split existing huge scenario's (in terms of gameturns) into more manageble parts.
 
What an eye-opener, Thank you!
 
Hajo Baltjes

Realise I should probably set this out in more detail, so here it goes

1. Open your choosen scenario ( I suggest a home made version or Bootcamp 1)

2. Play scenario to end.

3. When the game ends the " time limit reached in scenario" message pops up....press OK

4. The results page will come up...press OK

5. The 'do you want to save the current file?' message will pop up

6 press the cancel button.

7. now bring down the menu and press 'save as'

8. It will come up as file name 'battle' add .scn and press save. The game at the stage it has reached has now been saved as a scenario file.

9. Now exit from the menu

10 you are now returned to the main menu.

11. Open 'edit scenario'

12. type in 'battle' it will come up as 'battle.scn.btl' open this file

13 it should now open the scenario where you left off.

14. Go to conditions and for example alter the conditions as follows

(a)the number of moves from 7 to 14
(b)reduce both sides ammo levels from 80 to 70
(c)increase the axis A/I level from 30 to 100 as we want them to counterattack
(d) you will need to alter victory levels as with any scenario design.
(e) lets increase visibility level, the sun is up high in the sky!

Lets say in Bootcamp 1 the USA troops have successfully captured the village, lets dig them a trench and place a small mine field.

you could alter the terrain a bit, eg turn part of the village to rubble...

importantly you can alter your objectives, this is good for the AI as you can for instance set objectives realistically for the AI , eg in Bootcamp 1 , instead of leaving the objectives on the the village , change them to the road behind the american positions as a real commander would probably avoid a frontal attack but try to cut the americans off from support.

to do this click on existing objectives , reduce value to 0 and the objective will disappear. Then set new ones.

15. Once your happy save your new scenario with a name eg 'scenario'

16. Now exit back to main menu.

17. You want to bring in more troops so go to 'edit order of battle'

18. Open the scenario org file of the game you were playing , eg for bootcamp, open 'bootcamp.org'

19. this brings up the bootcamp organisation.

20. Lets add in a german mixed battlegroup

21. Now that you have added what you want save the org. file. To do this you MUST save it under its original name ( ie bootcamp.org). Obviously this means you will alter the original scenarios organisation file, so be aware of this..

22. Exit the organisation editor.

23. Now go back to the scenario editor. Open your new scenario under its saved name 'scenario'

24. You will see the new added units in the organisations box. Deploy as you see fit.

25. Save the scenario.

26. Go to the play scenario button and open. Now search for your game. If you have used a existing scenario it will appear under the same name ( ie you will see two 'bootcamp 1' games , but you will notice one has 7 moves to it and another 14. Open the longer one.

27. Hopefully ....hey presto you have a new game starting at the end of move 7. Play on.

as an aside if you do this it kind of alters you approach to the game as as in any campaign you are compelled to conserve you men more carefully as the war will continue after move 7 now, and who knows what is over the next hill. If playing against the AI , either follow historical reinforcements or alternatively randomise new arrivals, replacements positions of arrivals etc etc.

I notice most replies are thinking this would be useful for v long games, personally I think it is better for mid range sized games , with 15-30 moves and for those who cant or dont want to play human to human campaigns it enables the AI to cope better.

I hope that helps

one other thing prompted by one of the questions.

It is possible also to carry over your forces onto new maps.

If you have made a scenario and done the above, but instead of continuing to play with the exisiting units on the same map, but would like to take them in their damaged state onto a new map then do the following

Open the scenario editor

Open your scenario.

Now in a seperate window open your map editor

Create the new map you wish to transfer your men to.

Now save that map with the file name of the orginal map you will be asked do you wish to replace the exisiting map , say yes

Now go back your scenario editor - a box telling you the scenario has been updated should appear and asking you if you wish to update the scenario - say yes

the new map will appear with the units deployed on it at the same hex coordinates of the previous map.

Now move those units about to their new start positions, ( ie in a campaign the advancing units on the edge of the map where they would appear).


Now obviously this procedure would destroy each previous map, some thing you will want to avoid. Have not worked on this yet, but I assume its a simple case of saving a backup of the original scenario an/or maps before you do any of this.

You can use the JSGME program to swap these. Take the original scenario, with all the map, oob etc. files, put it into a mod folder, then enable after editing the files in the mod folder each time, safely swap out without screwing up originals!

Mike