The Grog's Rules '09

[xe5]

Because, after 13 years, solo play vs the CC AI is about as challenging as killing ants...
and because the CC developers obstinantly refuse to offer similar built-in options for increasing the difficulty level...
and also because of overwhelming popular demand...

The Grog's Rules '09
Fair, accurate and balanced play vs. the AI since 1996.

Game Options:
Player: Elite
AI: Recruit
15 min timer
Force Morale: On
Windowed mode: On
Game Speed: Fast

The Rules:

1. The Player must accept the default Order of Battle.

2. The Player may position his units but orders can only be issued in the pre-battle Deploy phase.

3. The Player may move and allocate support in the Strategic phase during operations and campaigns.


Standard Exceptions:

A. The Player may issue orders, but not re-position units, in the Deploy phase:
1. for any battle groups on the June 6th night turn
2. for Allied "beach map" battle groups on the June 6th Turn 1

B. The Allied Player is allowed to remove AT guns from his battle groups on any/all June 6th turns. AT guns so removed may be replaced by the most common, "weakest" unit type in that battle group's Force Pool (eg. if there are 21 Rifle and 21 BAR units in the Force Pool, the Player may select a Rifle unit.)

C. The Player may check LOS, offer/accept Truce and change available game options during battle.

D. The Player may allocate and utilize Air, Indirect Fire and Flare support.


Optional Exceptions:
(Use none, some or all. Combining G & I is discouraged. J is just for true CC heroes.)

E. The "Cant See" clause:
The Player may change Defend/Ambush arc facing during battle.

F. The "Cant Go There" clause:
Since the Player cant be certain that some of his Deploy phase movement orders wont be cancelled by "Cant go there!" when the battle begins, he has the option to re-issue that cancelled movement order by placing a single destination 'dot' in the same vicinity as the original (ie. no waypoints for the do-over).

G. The "Higher HQ" clause:
The Player may issue smoke and fire order to on-map mortar units. When this exception is in effect the Player may never have more than two mortar units at a time. The Player may not add mortars to the Order of Battle. The Player must remove mortar units that exceed the limit of 2. The Player may substitute another unit per Standard Exception B for mortars so removed.

H. The "Self Preservation" clause:
The Player may issue Defend, Ambush and/or Smoke order to any *non-moving* units. A unit which has reached its destination, or had its movement cancelled by enemy fire, but which still has soldiers "Seeking Cover" is considered moving.

I. The "Avatar" clause:
The player may issue orders to any one of his infantry units during battle.

J. The "Warrior" clause:
The Player may issue orders but not position units in the pre-battle Deploy phase.

K. The "Phase Line" clause:
Often the Player will want units, particularly vehicles, to begin moving sometime after the start of battle. In such cases the Player will note the unit(s), the game time (eg. 10:30) the unit(s) should begin moving, and the intended destination(s) prior to battle. During battle the Player may then use the zoomed-out view to issue a single destination 'dot' (no waypoints) to that unit at the appropriate time, to its destination.

L. The "Real Life" clause:
The Player may run CC:TLD in the background in windowed mode (a god-send). Useful when you only want a depleted battle group to survive a battle and have other things to do in the meantime.

[RD Oddball]

hehehe awesome.[:D]

[z1812]

Hi xe5,

A very nice and comprehensive set of Grog rules. Thanks for the information!!

Over the years I have found ways to try and make CC solo play more interesting for myself. As well as using many settings that you have mentioned I also allow myself no more than 10 units including commanders. Only 2 pieces of armour allowed. If it is an uber tank such as a Tiger, Panther or Firefly ect. then 1 tank counts for 2 and you have only nine peices.

I allow myself 20 minutes battle time, only because I like the time to sneak about and to try and flank. I also have the opposing force play at a lower difficulty level.

I am now experimenting with dice throws to determine how many units I may choose. For example with a cap of 10 units then only dice rolls between 5 and 10 count. So roll a five and you can only choose 5 units ect. If you have more than 5 units available from the last battle then you must rest or retire units until 5 remain. Any rolls outside of 5 to 10 and of course you must roll again. This really provides for some desperate moments and the occasional scream should you roll a 5 during a difficult battle.

So far I find the "dice" rolls very entertaining.

Regards John

[xe5]

I too use randomizers (dice, coin flip etc) for various functions like determining which team type to add to my battle group.

re: 20 min time limit

The default game setting choices are 15, 30, 45 and 60 mins. Curious if you hex edit bytes 24 & 25 from say 28 23 (15 min timer) to E0 2E in the save files to create a custom 20 minute timer?

[z1812]

Hi xe5,

I should have mentioned that I do not have The Longest Day yet. My last CC purchase was COI. I also have all the forerunners.

So there is no option for 20 mins in CCTLD?

regards John

[Andrew Williams]

20min is my preferred playing time too!!
 
Unfortunately at present there is no 20 min in tLD

[VicKevlar]

I see Da Thumb is back around with his "Grog Rules"

Time to break out this old classic from the SSI boards.

[:D]

Alot of players look at Close Combat as a game and will use everything they can in the game to
win. So if it is a plethora of flamethowers and your opponent is OK with it, PLAY ON!

Problems and conflict arise when one camp bumps into the other. An example say of a hard core grognard meets a
half-liquored Friday night CC goon whose girlfriend/wife wants nothing to do with him. They fail to
establish "ground rules" and charge into a doomed battle.

The Grognard, with his AFV posters and manuals is slaving over which Allied doctrine to try and
modelling his unit purchases against WWII OOBs. "Now did Captain Johnson have a single or gold plated
command rating? Well let's see how he fought at Anzio..." and so on.

The Half-Baked Goon; "OK let's see what a map with nothin but Snipers and freakin Flamethrowers will
do..heh,heh. Oh ya I'll throw in some half tracks cause they burn good....man I am hungry....and thirsty. What
is taking this guy so f#$4ing long."

Now our two warriors meet. The Grognard has a perfect platoon advance as per the "Closing of the Falaise
Gap"..."Now which squad actually was forward left..." The Goon sits and giggles "C'mon you pansy assed
Yank Sh$t eaters...come to Fritzy....atta boy"

Boom! Arty starts dropping like bird crap at a beach wedding. The Grognard "oh my now what was the
allied drill...ah yes...very good..oh my he is using it all up at once...I think vonGoosestep tried that in
Italy but this is France tsk, tsk."

Goon " WOOOO-HOOO!!....(to sleeping boy/girlfriend)...you see that?! Now for the big stuff, airstrike!
and another beer...belch".

BOOM, KA-F$#%ing-BOOM!!!

Grognard; "Oh my, well let me see an Axis SS Division has ### long range arty assets...oh my! That
doesn't seem right. My opponent will very "red-faced" when he sees his mistake, tee-hee....

Goon; "TAKE THAT!! AHHHH-HAHAHAHAHA. I love this freakin game, I swear I saw bodies flyin. Oh
sorry dear.....And now for the half tracks."

Half track assault onto hill 130 is carried out.

Grognard; "Now I am afraid he has gone too far...time for a stern chat message.."

Goon; "I wonder what's on Fox or wait I think that Arts channel has Euro-porn on at 11..."

Chat message:

GenAllisterMontegue: "Excuse me for saying but your force purchase seems a little excesive in the
Artillery and Recon assets."

JOhnnyRottAN: "What do yu meen?"

GenAllisterMantegue: "Well if you consult "ALL THINGS AXIS" the 1998 edition, you will see that you
simply do not have the amounts you are using here."

JOhnnyRottAN: "Hey pal! If it works, it ain't broken...you callin me a cheater?!!!:{"

And we can all see hard feelings and anger which will result as the exchange degrades into....a forum
thread.

So the only rules are ones you mutually decide on and in the long run it is only God you will have to
answer to in the end. So happy gaming and let's just be friends.

[panzerlehr62]

ORIGINAL: Andrew Williams

20min is my preferred playing time too!!

Unfortunately at present there is no 20 min in tLD

I couldnt agree with you more on that one. Playing only GC's, I can tell you 30mins wasnt a issue at all thou. Most of the battles go the distance or come real close, a few were pretty much done around 20 to 25 min mark, so there wasnt a lot of wasted time(always use the time to get another drink or #1). [:)]

Gz...

[squadleader_id]

30 mins...you can 'conquer' almost any map vs the AI.
15 mins will have you scrambling and timing your moves and attacks...for the bigger maps the goal would be just to capture crucial VLs while leaving the rest for next turn(s)...or maybe capturing certain exit VLs so the BG can move off the map next turn.
Defending vs the AI for 30 mins (stock game without vetmods)? You'll have plenty of time to make coffee, cook dinner, have a conversation with the wife, play with your kids... [;)]

[loyalcitizen]

This is nice, but it's a lot to remember. I just play by the following simple rule:
 
A squad that has anything less than a green command circle can't be issued movement orders during the game unless it is within the command radius of an HQ unit.
 
Works well for me. And naturally all the same game options.

[Senior Drill]

What I'd like to ultimately see for the CC games is a per battle time limit option in Battles, Operations and Grand Campaigns. Prior to the Battle Group screen, there is a screen or dialog window that offers the choice of the time limit for the upcoming battle.

In H2H, the players opt for the battle game time of their choice and see the choice of their opponent. They could have one or two more chances to come to agreement or they can have the game engine flip a coin set the battle timer to one or the other of their preferences. There should also be timer on that: Resolve the game time in 30 seconds or less, or else the game engine will flip it's coin and choose a random time (of those supported).

Playing solo against the AI, the player should have the option to set the time limit for the battle of those time limits supported by the game or opt for a random, game engine assigned battle length. This is per battle, regardless of whether he is playing a one off battle, an operation or a grand campaign.

To take it one step further add xe5"s battle clock ideas: Change the count down timer clock to a count up timer clock. The battle starts with an arbitrary time based on that battle's setting - Night, Morning, Mid-day, Afternoon, Evening. The game clock starts at an arbitrary o'clock for that time frame. For example, a night battle could begin at 2233 hours or 0314 hours and is shown that way on the game clock.

Then add complexity to the count up timer. The battle timer will expire at a random time somewhere within +3 or -3 minutes of the set game time. That right there will put a kink into VL rush plans.

[GS_Schimpf]

As even Andrew is all for a 20min timer, what about introducing this time setting in the upcoming patch and perhaps also for WaR? I would really appreciate this!

[Renato]

Interesting options. I already use some of them, but my game speed is generally medium.

What I did not resign myself to accept is the default setup. The only exception is the first night when the paratroopers are launched. To simulate the disruption of the launch, I don't change any position and don't give any order.

[panzerlehr62]

ORIGINAL: squadleader_id

30 mins...you can 'conquer' almost any map vs the AI.
15 mins will have you scrambling and timing your moves and attacks...for the bigger maps the goal would be just to capture crucial VLs while leaving the rest for next turn(s)...or maybe capturing certain exit VLs so the BG can move off the map next turn.
Defending vs the AI for 30 mins (stock game without vetmods)? You'll have plenty of time to make coffee, cook dinner, have a conversation with the wife, play with your kids... [;)]

My comment was not based on playing the AI. Without vetmods I see no point in playing the AI outside of just wanting to make oneself feel better after getting beat'n down by a fellow CC'r [:@]. One can get into bad habits playing the AI if you are not carefull! [:)]

Gz.

[z1812]

Hi All,

ORIGINAL: loyalcitizen

This is nice, but it's a lot to remember. I just play by the following simple rule:

A squad that has anything less than a green command circle can't be issued movement orders during the game unless it is within the command radius of an HQ unit.

Works well for me. And naturally all the same game options.

That's a great idea. I will try it this weekend. Perhaps others will chime in with their ad hoc rules.

Regards John

[Adraeth]

Tried the Grog Rules yesterday in CCMT and they work really well.
 
I made a battle on 30 minutes, iussed orders at deployment and every 5 minutes i threw a 1d12 (being my HQ a rookie one i did not give any bonus, but for experinced or crack HQs should be nice to add +1 or a +2) see how many units i can activate. Activating an unit i can give new orders, the only exception is the dismount order that can be combined with the move one.
 
The AI beated me and i suffered a major defeat (i was Russia Vs Georgians and Chechens); i really like Grog rules!!!!!

[xe5]

Optional Exceptions:

M. The Player can not use the min or overview maps during battle.

[Tejszd]

ORIGINAL: Senior Drill

What I'd like to ultimately see for the CC games is a per battle time limit option in Battles, Operations and Grand Campaigns. Prior to the Battle Group screen, there is a screen or dialog window that offers the choice of the time limit for the upcoming battle.

In H2H, the players opt for the battle game time of their choice and see the choice of their opponent. They could have one or two more chances to come to agreement or they can have the game engine flip a coin set the battle timer to one or the other of their preferences. There should also be timer on that: Resolve the game time in 30 seconds or less, or else the game engine will flip it's coin and choose a random time (of those supported).

Playing solo against the AI, the player should have the option to set the time limit for the battle of those time limits supported by the game or opt for a random, game engine assigned battle length. This is per battle, regardless of whether he is playing a one off battle, an operation or a grand campaign.

To take it one step further add xe5"s battle clock ideas: Change the count down timer clock to a count up timer clock. The battle starts with an arbitrary time based on that battle's setting - Night, Morning, Mid-day, Afternoon, Evening. The game clock starts at an arbitrary o'clock for that time frame. For example, a night battle could begin at 2233 hours or 0314 hours and is shown that way on the game clock.

Then add complexity to the count up timer. The battle timer will expire at a random time somewhere within +3 or -3 minutes of the set game time. That right there will put a kink into VL rush plans.

I like idea of adding or subtracting a random value from the selected battle duration to try to stop VL rushes. A few months ago there was a number of submods released for the more popular CC5 mods hiding the time completely.

Both of the above changes are small as I don't know how much effort of the developers time should go into the game timer when there are so many other things that could be worked on....

[xe5]

Thumbs up for a hidden clock and FM meter mod.

[Senior Drill]

ORIGINAL: Tejszd
..... Both of the above changes are small as I don't know how much effort of the developers time should go into the game timer when there are so many other things that could be worked on....

The research and development of a count up timer, variable deploy times, time of day, clock start time and other scenario settings are already done. Plus a lot more. Randomizing the end time would not be any harder to do than random deploy time - a random value between -3 to +3 is added to the internal game clock.

Creating a battle timer voting option requires no more of a UI than a simple dialog box. The choice made, whether default, players option or random is applied to the saved game file or a .tmp saved game file prior to opening the battle by changing the 8 bytes that set the timer in it.

Stuff for the future to be sure. Chosing the time limit, with or without a random end, should become an option for each battle in an operation or campaign.