Random Battles - How small?

[Grim.Reaper]

I prefer much smaller engagements in order to handle controlling all the units, how small can a random battle be? Afew tanks against a few other tanks? etc. Or is there a minimum size?

Game is looking good and likely will pick this up, along with CM:BN...never can have too many of these

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: Grim.Reaper

I prefer much smaller engagements in order to handle controlling all the units, how small can a random battle be? Afew tanks against a few other tanks? etc. Or is there a minimum size?

Game is looking good and likely will pick this up, along with CM:BN...never can have too many of these

Junk2drive has used the Random Battle Generator more than the rest of the Dev Team I think, so he might add to this reply, but I just went in and moved some sliders on the force selection, clicked a few times on the points for each side and genned up a random battle that ended up with only 4 German tanks, and no other units. (I didn't check how many Soviet tanks).

There is a LOT of flexibility in the RBG.

Thanks
rick

[Grim.Reaper]

Thanks for the response.  I am hoping if I select only a few tanks from my side that I can equally do that for the enemy...hate to see 3 versus 50

[junk2drive]

The random generator can be seen in the PCK forum. It has changed a little for PCO. An oversimplified explanation is that you assign each side an amount of points and move the sliders to adjust a percent of the points to be spent in each category. Since Soviet units are generally cheaper than German, it becomes an art to get it somewhat what you intended.

I will say that I did not like medium size or larger battles in CMx1 but enjoy them with PCO. 2-3 companies of troops, 10-20 tanks, and some support units is not bad at all.

[Grim.Reaper]

Thanks for the additional information.  Sounds like there will be reasonable options to get it where I like.

[junk2drive]

PCO is not as critical when moving as CMx1. You have 3 different pathing settings for units to attempt to follow. You can order the platoon to a point forward and your units will find a path to the end point. There is none of the delay and pause routine needed to follow a road like CMx1.

Edit: we still have the occasional cluster xxxx when the front unit stops due to a threat or hit but nothing like some of the games that I have played.

[Grim.Reaper]

Stop telling me about the goodness of this game   I need to find a reason to not buy it on day one, but my impulse buying will likely prevent me from doing so   The next couple of weeks are going to be a good time for wargamers.

[junk2drive]

Here is the initial RBG window

[junk2drive]

Clicking the underlined text "Preset" displays the units available to be chosen from. Clicking the dropdown list the available Presets for each side. Such as a Panzer Division or a Soviet one that I made, Heavy Metal 44-45 that only has big gun late war armour.

[Grim.Reaper]

Cool...that really looks flexible.

[junk2drive]

Forgot the picture oops.

[JMass]

I like small engagements too. After I generated a random game, I make small adjustments with the Scenario Editor, i.e. I could discard a T34 M43 platoon to replace it with a T34-85 platoon, in this manner flexibility is very high.
Scenarios so generated could be used to play them pbem with a trusty opponent: I am the attacker, I generate a new scenario, I load it in the Scenario Editor and I change it to have the tank model I prefer, then I send the file to my opponent, he load it in the Editor and he adjusts his units placement etc, then he send back it so I can begin to play.

[gijas17]

I hope the battle generators this time are not IE version compatable as in the last game... bw, the new version of IE is version 9... just updated.

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: gijas

I hope the battle generators this time are not IE version compatable as in the last game... bw, the new version of IE is version 9... just updated.

I haven't installed IE9 yet to check, but my understanding was that the programmer that worked on them did indeed make them compatible with IE9. I tend to be a 'late adopter' when it comes to upgrading browsers.

thanks
rick

[oldspec4]

ORIGINAL: gijas

I hope the battle generators this time are not IE version compatable as in the last game... bw, the new version of IE is version 9... just updated.

I am running IE9. Would clicking on the "compatibility view" tab on the IE9 toolbar also work?

[Mad Russian]

I ran a company sized attack on a map that was 500 meters on a side. If you put the points down low enough you could get a pretty small action.

Good Hunting.

MR

[junk2drive]

Here is a preset that I made that I called Katz. It only has German tanks with feline names plus one unit from early war just in case someone tries to create something in 1941. xml format gets lost in forum posts but this will give you an idea of how to make your own presets to use with the RBG.


<preset side="German" id="Katz"
name="Katz" title="kampfgruppe" infantry="10"
transport="10" artillery="10" air="5" gun="0" armour="65"
showinmenu="true">
<auxillaryunits>
<unit unitid="Sd Kfz 222" unitname="Aufkl Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Sd Kfz 234 Puma" unitname="Aufkl Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Sd Kfz 250" unitname="Halftrack Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Sd Kfz 251" unitname="Halftrack Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Opel Blitz" unitname="Truck Platoon"></unit>

<unit unitid="MG34 HMG Team" unitname="HMG Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="MG42 HMG Team" unitname="HMG Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="MG42 HMG Team 43" unitname="HMG Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Grenadier 41" unitname="PzGren Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Grenadier 42" unitname="PzGren Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Grenadier 43" unitname="PzGren Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Grenadier 44" unitname="PzGren Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Grenadier 44 Late" unitname="PzGren Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Grenadier 45" unitname="PzGren Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="Pioneer 41" unitname="Pioneer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pioneer 42" unitname="Pioneer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pioneer 43" unitname="Pioneer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pioneer 44" unitname="Pioneer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pioneer 44 Late" unitname="Pioneer Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="Pioneer 45" unitname="Pioneer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Tank Hunter 43" unitname="Tank Hunter Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="Tank Hunter 43 Late" unitname="Tank Hunter Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Tank Hunter 44" unitname="Tank Hunter Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="Tank Hunter 44 Late" unitname="Tank Hunter Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Tank Hunter 45" unitname="Tank Hunter Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="50mm GW36 Mortar" unitname="Light Mortar Platoon"></unit>

<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw IIF" unitname="Light Panzer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw IIL" unitname="Light Panzer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw V Panther A" unitname="Medium Panzer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw V Panther D" unitname="Medium Panzer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw V Panther G" unitname="Medium Panzer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw V Panther G Late" unitname="Medium Panzer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw VI Tiger I" unitname="Heavy Panzer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw VI Tiger IE" unitname="Heavy Panzer Platoon"></unit>
<unit unitid="Pz Kpfw VI Tiger II" unitname="Heavy Panzer Platoon"></unit>

<unit unitid="81mm Mortar" unitname="Heavy Mortar Platoon"> </unit>
<unit unitid="105mm Artillery" unitname="105mm Artillery"> </unit>
<unit unitid="150mm Artillery" unitname="150mm Artillery"> </unit>
<unit unitid="105mm SP Artillery" unitname="105mm SP Artillery"></unit>
<unit unitid="150mm SP Artillery" unitname="150mm SP Artillery"></unit>
<unit unitid="Nebelwerfer" unitname="Nebelwerfer Battery"> </unit>

<unit unitid="JU-87 Stuka" unitname="JU-87 Stuka"></unit>
</auxillaryunits>
</preset>

[jinchoung]

awesome thread!

i think i posted this question a while back too but i TOTALLY like a smaller scale too! when there gets to be too many units, i just can't properly grasp in my head what's going on and what everyone should be or be doing! i just end up lassoing a whole bunch of units and say GO!

mad russian gave me some good info on that thread as well and it seems like PCO will make larger engagements more manageable.

but it's still nice to know that it's possible to make company sized engagements like a lot of minis wargames. in fact, i'm really hoping that PCO can scratch the minis wargaming itch that i've really needed scratched on the pc screen.

anyhoo, great news and info all around.

jin

[junk2drive]

Someone posted that PCO maps can be rotated for random battles. Not exactly. What you do is pick the side or corner or type of formation that each side will take on the map. This shot is the various choices available plus the dice roll random ones plus the arrows indicate types of formations like pincer movement.