ORIGINAL: FlashfyreSP
After re-reading the Extreme Challenge thread, and these other collateral ones, I dawned on me what the problem might be: The interpretation that this Challenge campaign is for everyone. Let me try to explain what I see as the problem.
This campaign system is designed to allow two human players to compare how they play the campaign, without actually facing each other. In other words, Player A plays this campaign against the AI, as does Player B, and when both are done, they compare End Results to see who is the better player. The restrictions imposed are designed to "level" the field not for the AI, but for the individual players. And this system is best used in a tournament-style challenge, where 2 or more human players wish to know how they rank against each other as "campaign players", not PBEM players.
Unfortunately, most players out here don't really care how they "stack up" against another human when it comes to playing against the AI; they want to know who's better at H2H meetings, with no AI involved. And this campaign does not do that; result, most players don't see it as a challenge for the player against the AI.
A true Challenge Campaign, against the AI, without involving other players, would require the use of the following settings:
AI Advantage - ON
AI Level - 200
Reduced Squads - ON
Reduced Ammo - ON
Weapon Breakdowns - ON
Vehicle Breakdowns - ON
Mines - ON
Command & Control - ON
Use the Hardx2 setting for all battles
Select one of the 6 major nations for your HQ, but then only buy allied equipment (if British, only buy Indian, for example)
Set Spotting to 70% for Player 1, 100% for Player 2
Use Historic Ratings as designed
There may be some other settings that would make the Challenge more challenging to veteran players, but these are most of the important ones.
Flashfyre,
I will address your comments (quoted above) point by point.
Point #1
Fact is, my five friends and I in the Austin/Dallas area
DO in fact compare campaign scores against the AI. That is why this campaign format was developed in the first place. We also play PBEM against each other. But there are many real-life reasons why we can't always play PBEM and so this campaign format works as a substitute.
Point #2
Unless all competing players are playing the same nation using the same baseline standards, then it is, as you noted, impossible to compare campaign scores. And since my friends and I
DO compete using this campaign format, then we all have to play the same nation using the same baseline standards.
Point #3
When playing the campaign format in a competitive format (like my friends and I do), the chosen nation MUST be Axis and not Allied. Why? Because when playing the Axis, then the AI gets progressively stronger as the campaign goes on. When playing any Allied nation, the Axis AI gets progressively weaker as the campaign goes on. So, the greater challenge is to play the Axis. And getting my friends and I to agree on anything is difficult enough, but trying to get them to all play the Italians or the Romanians or the Hungarians, etc., would be nearly impossible. So, it comes down to the Germans or the Japanese. The Germans offer more variety (in terms of number and types of opponents, weather conditions, terrain, etc.), so the Germans were chosen by a vote (not much of a vote really, it was unanimous).
Point#4
My friends and I do in fact increase AI Level over the course of the campaign in a stepped, incremental fashion. There is always a fine line between challenging and impossible. Starting out with an AI Level of 200 is something my friends would never have agreed to. When dealing with any group, compromises must be made.
Point #5
Reduced squads is something that I am opposed to on just about every level imagineable. Reduced squads only reduces the men in "infantry" type units. It doesn't reduce the number of tanks in a tank company, it doesn't reduce the number of guns in an artillery battery, it doesn't reduce the size of artillery or tank crews. In other words, I consider it a ridiculous and useless artificial construct. And since it also reduces the AI's units, then it doesn't give the AI any advantages. Indeed, reduced squads probably hurts the AI more than the human player. Silly, and I will never use it.
Point #6
Reduced ammo definitely hurts the AI more than it hurts the human player since the human player knows how to use ammo trucks and ammo dumps and the AI does not. Again, silly, and I will never use it.
Point #7
You suggest using Historical Ratings as designed. As I've mentioned before, I don't believe that the Historical Ratings are historical. In fact, I think that they are wrong and not historical at all. However, the reason that Historical Ratings are turned OFF in this campaign format for the first two battles is to give the competitors some leeway and variety in their choice of core units. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the way this campaign is scored, it makes little or no difference what troop quality you choose for your core. Nobody seems to believe this. I stated it over and over. I'll say it again. I've played this campaign many times and I've tried cores from 50 to 110 in initial troop quality and there is not a huge difference no matter what initial troop quality you choose. The reason for Historical Ratings OFF for the first two battles is NOT to give competitors an advantage (because it doesn't). The reason IS because it allows competitors some latitude in the KIND of core they want to build. Choose a low initial troop quality and you can build a heavier battle group, choose a high initial troop quality and your core will be light and weak. I assure you, if you pull an Assault battle in your very first battle and you chose a high initial troop quality for your core, then you will likely get slaughtered.
Note that after the first two battles, Historical Ratings only have relevance for support troops, and so turning Historical Ratings ON after the first two battles actually handicaps the players since the German Historical Ratings decline over time, meaning that their support forces get weaker and weaker during the campaign. This is yet another reason why this campaign format works best with the Germans (and not the Japanese, whose units aren't so much affected by Historical Ratings over time).
Point #8
All the other stuff (hard battles, AI advantage, etc.) must be set as a baseline standard and agreed to by all participants. As I've noted before, it is not easy to get a group of participants to agree to many of these things. And if you think dealing with me is difficult, you should see my friends.
Point #9
However, the fact that we have actually managed to develop a working campaign challenge that we (my friends and I) are actually willing to use in a competitive way is, to me, a significant achievement. This campaign format does indeed work as advertised. It is indeed more challenging than it seems to be. There are many subtle refinements that have been added over time that are not obvious. But the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It works and it is NOT easy.