Odd Ending

[Missouri_Rebel]

Playing the Huemen Bridge scenario I had a strange occurrence. My troops had barely made it 'North' to the road and the game quit awarding me, the Allies, a victory. The only thing I did was move all units 100 yards or so to the road, some rather slowly, and placed a Barrage Order that did trap a German unit on the bridge causing heavy casualties. Also, one of my platoons was beginning to engage a unit in the woods next to the river.

The victory conditions were set to Battle Ends When After Taking All Victory Locations and Two Minute Warning.

The screen showed that I had taken all locations at the end. Even if it was a time issue, I surely couldn't have won them by merely eliminating 2 squads.

Am I missing something? Has this happened to anyone else?
I don't have a save game so I am going to try it again.

mo reb

[RD Oddball]

Hey there Missouri_Rebel. You can have a look at the game manual for more details but basically what likely happened is the timer for the bridge destruction expired, you didn't control the VL's for the bridge and the German player (AI in this case?) decided to destroy the bridge before you had a chance to take it.

Each bridge on the strat map has a different pre-destruction timer that gives you time to capture the bridge before the German player has the opportunity to destroy it.

Like I said the manual has quite a bit more detail about bridge destruction in it.

[jomni]

But why award a victory to the Allies? When the Germans blow up the bridge?

[RD Oddball]

The destruction of the bridge would've been a last resort for the Germans. Destruction of the bridge is essentially conceding defeat of the battle.

[Missouri_Rebel]

Now wait a minute here. The briefing clearly says to capture the bridge before it gets blown. I just played it again and the bridge was blown and I once again received a victory and control over all objectives. The enemy only sustained 10 casualties. Again, this as playing as the Allies.

mo reb

[jomni]

Ah I see.  So it is conceding defeat for the particular battle.
But for the operation / campaign, it might just slow down the Allies to the advantage of the Germans as a destroyed bridge is persistent for the whole campaign.
I also saw that you can repair the bridge in the Wargamer article.

But it's funny since Allied obective is capture bridge before it's blown. But a blown bridge is also an Allied victory.
So this means German victory is awarded only if you prevent allies from capturing bridge without resorting to it's destruction.

[RD Oddball]

ORIGINAL: Missouri_Rebel

Now wait a minute here. The briefing clearly says to capture the bridge before it gets blown. I just played it again and the bridge was blown and I once again received a victory and control over all objectives. The enemy only sustained 10 casualties. Again, this as playing as the Allies.

mo reb

Not 100% certain I understand what you're experiencing. Is it immediate? There should be anywhere from a 1 minute to several minute delay depending upon the map. Was it a single battle or part of the grand campaign?

If you're playing the Grand Campaign - One point I didn't make that I'd assumed was self-explanatory that perhaps I should've made is that a destroyed bridge will prevent movement on the strategic map through any VL's on the opposite side of the river. So obviously it's in the best interest of the allied player to capture the bridge intact because it allows movement through that map area on the larger STRATEGIC map. Hence the strategic and tactical issues in the r/l Operation Market Garden. I hope I'm making sense. Sorta feel like I'm not doing a good job of explaining.

ORIGINAL: jomni

Ah I see. So it is conceding defeat for the particular battle.
But for the operation / campaign, it might just slow down the Allies to the advantage of the Germans as a destroyed bridge is persistent for the whole campaign.
I also saw that you can repair the bridge in the Wargamer article.

Correct, the German player in essence conceding defeat for that battle since they would've found the bridges useful if they thought they'd be victorious in the campaign. [;)]

Yes you are correct about the bridge repair.

[Missouri_Rebel]

Let me be more clear. Huemen Bridge single battle

I am playing as the Americans.

The briefing states(paraphrasing here) That one of these bridges are need so the XXX corps can capture Nijmegen. I am to move fast and capture the bridge before it is blown and then 'mop up'.

Well in both scenarios, the bridge gets blown and I am awarded the victory, showing me in possession of all locations. I should be the loser as per the conditions of the briefing.

[&:]

Again, this is a single battle

mo reb

[RD Oddball]

Ah okay! That makes more sense. First the battle briefings are written with the Grand Campaign in mind. But in the context of single battles it still applies. Look at single battles as if they're part of a larger conflict (they are in the Grand Campaign) but there is no battle preceding nor following.

*EDIT* I removed my point about bridge timers and single battles. It was incorrect.

[SteveMcClaire]

Victory, in Close Combat terms, is all about who controls more Victory Locations on the map.  If the Germans blow the bridge, then the Allies end up in control the map. This is a 'victory' on those terms.

In a single battle you don't get to see the 'big picture' implications of a bridge being destroyed, so I can understand how it might be confusing to see 'victory' after failing to capture the bridge, even though in game terms this is a 'win' because you took total control of the map.  It is good feedback, and something we can keep in mind for future versions.