Need for small tutorials
Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 8:23 pm
This also applies to Kharkov, since the mechanics of the game are the same.
What I would like to see given the complexity of the game is a set of tutorials explaining various tactics,such as defending a line, breaking through a line, and so on.
Although one could argue correctly that all that information is in the manual, it is just too much to digest all at once, and I think it would be easier to digest a small bite at a time. For example,in one scenario, the player would be told to break through an enemy entrenched line and to drive his armor through to play havoc with enemy rear units or encirclements while infantry held the breakthrough open. Although most wargamers are familiar with the theory of concentrating force on the breakout point, preliminary bombardment, breaking out etc, how this translates in game terms is far from obvious.
For example, the game discourages a player from keeping his armor forward, and any armor unit that finds itself behind enemy lines without an infantry unit on the same hex faces annihilation. Also the need to maintain a continuous front line seems much greater than in other games.
I would call such a series of tutorials "Kharkov 101". This could ease players into the game, and help reduce the "mind-boggle" that grasps even experienced wargamers like me when they start to play the game. [:D]
The Marchand videos (absolutely essential to watch at least 3 times) and a few other posts are very useful, but IMHO they are not enough.And as for the totorial - well let me just state that the "Battles in Italy" tutorial was one of the best tutorials I have seen, but I find the Kharkov tutorial insufficient.
The changes introduced in Kharkov and AtD2 ere supposed to make the game "simpler", and maybe it is just me, but I don't find it simpler at all.[&:] Experiments in psychology have shown that the human brain is incapable of taking into account more than 5 independent factors at the same time, but I think that this game may have a lot more than 5...[:D]
Henri
What I would like to see given the complexity of the game is a set of tutorials explaining various tactics,such as defending a line, breaking through a line, and so on.
Although one could argue correctly that all that information is in the manual, it is just too much to digest all at once, and I think it would be easier to digest a small bite at a time. For example,in one scenario, the player would be told to break through an enemy entrenched line and to drive his armor through to play havoc with enemy rear units or encirclements while infantry held the breakthrough open. Although most wargamers are familiar with the theory of concentrating force on the breakout point, preliminary bombardment, breaking out etc, how this translates in game terms is far from obvious.
For example, the game discourages a player from keeping his armor forward, and any armor unit that finds itself behind enemy lines without an infantry unit on the same hex faces annihilation. Also the need to maintain a continuous front line seems much greater than in other games.
I would call such a series of tutorials "Kharkov 101". This could ease players into the game, and help reduce the "mind-boggle" that grasps even experienced wargamers like me when they start to play the game. [:D]
The Marchand videos (absolutely essential to watch at least 3 times) and a few other posts are very useful, but IMHO they are not enough.And as for the totorial - well let me just state that the "Battles in Italy" tutorial was one of the best tutorials I have seen, but I find the Kharkov tutorial insufficient.
The changes introduced in Kharkov and AtD2 ere supposed to make the game "simpler", and maybe it is just me, but I don't find it simpler at all.[&:] Experiments in psychology have shown that the human brain is incapable of taking into account more than 5 independent factors at the same time, but I think that this game may have a lot more than 5...[:D]
Henri