A Playtest Too Far

[curtsibling]

Yep - Tech has shown his mastery of the ToT art again!

[Eivind IV]

Ok, I havn't gotten the scen in my mailbox, but don't bother anyway. I just moved, and forgot my TOT CD in my old house. I'll get it mailed up, but I doubt it will come before the 60th aniversiry. But from the play test reports here I can't wait to try it!

[curtsibling]

Are you keeping the beta under wraps until release, Tech?

[jim panse]

Here is what I´ve got so far

I played up to Turn 11/12. More tomorrow.

So far I admit this is one of the best scenarios ever made in my humble opinion.

[AGRICOLA]

Reading the playtest I was puzzled by one thing, what or who is the 88th Airborne?

Just to make sure, I looked up Market Garden Order of Battle on the Web. Sure enough, there was the 1st British Aiborne and the 82nd and 101st US, but no 88th of any nationality.

Do you perchance mean the 82nd?


Finally got my TOT. What a thoroughly disgusting palette. Looks like it was selected by a manic depressive who was having a really bad day.

However, can't wait to try out ABTF.

[jim panse]

Doh! Stupid me. I always meant the 82nd. Argh.

@ AGRICOLA: Say, this a report the designer can get some feedback?

[AGRICOLA]

Originally posted by Jim Pense
Say, this a report the designer can get some feedback?

Could you please clarify your question. I suspect that you may be giving me hell for butting in with an inappropriate post. If so, please accept my sincere apologies.

[jim panse]

If I would also use predicates it would be easier to understand.

I meant: Is this a report a creator can work with? I know you always provide people with excellent feedback. So I wanted to know if you were a creator: Could you work with that kind of feedback?

[AGRICOLA]

If I correctly understand techumseh's interest in when events happen and where, when and what German units show up then your report is great. I believe that his concern may be less with what you do and more with what the Germans force you to do. IMO, your report covers this excellently.

I really wish that I had the scen so that I wouldn't be talking off the top of my head about it. The only thing that I might add would be the results of any recce that locates German units and concentrations in the vicinity of Allied forces. This might help the designer determine if events is doing its job.

Sorry to butt in with my earlier post but I am really interested in this scen. I'm looking forward to Friday only slightly less anxiously than a 5-year old looks forward to Christmas.

[techumseh]

Re: On to Berlin!

@Jim Panse: Sounds like you're doing very well so far. Thank you for the detailed reports. Yes, the creator is pleased.

You may want to review the bridge blowing section of the readme, though. Those sappers on the main bridges aren't defending it. They're trigger units (each one is different), and killing them is just the start of your problems. For each one you've killed, there is now an identical barbarian, sapper unit within 3-4 squares. It's invisible, but not to the AI. If the Germans kill it first, the bridge will be blown. Good luck!

@AGRICOLA: Thanks for your interest. Friday is just 4 sleeps away! Actually, it's the arrival of the ALLIED reinforcements that I'm mainly interested in. These events are the most complex I've ever tried, and I want to be sure the right units arrive at the right time and place, given which of the 3 plans is selected.

@Curt: Thanks for the positive feedback. Try the website now.

[curtsibling]

Cheers, Tech!

[Exile]

Brian I am very interested in how the multiple scn files trick plays out. When I first purchased Civ2 some time back, I initially played the Jules Verne scenario many times. Loved playing it. Like most, I then completely forgot that multiple scn files was a technique available to scen designers. I'd like to hear all the details of how it works for you. Thanks for expounding on the intricasies of the mechanism so far. It's an idea that has seldom, if ever, been utilized, and, as you've noted, its use allows a designer to present alternatives that can confront a player with a "new" experience almost every time. I'm not a mathematician, lol, but the combination of random scn files with random events files suddenly opens up a whole new vista of "surprises" for players.

[curtsibling]

The feature should be explored for sure.

[techumseh]

I can tell you it works well. I used it for Red October a while back (avail. on my site: http://www.tecumseh.150m.com/ ).

It's easy to use. Just take your master save file, make what adjustments you want, save as scenario alt2, etc, then reload the master save file and start over. I made 9 scn files and 9 events files for OM-G, though I only had 3 different startup positions. I could have used only 3 scn files since an events file is assigned randomly to whichever scn file is loaded when the scenario is first started. I had first thought there was a direct relationship between '5' scn file and '5' events file, etc.

The most interesting aspect IMHO, is the use of multiple events files. It allows significantly increased randomization of events for for ToT and for the first time in MGE. Not that I want to encourage you to stay with an obsolete technology, Phenix.

I've found this feature is easy to use and, based on my experiments, it provides reliable randomization.

[Leonidas]

Originally posted by techumseh
I can tell you it works well. I used it for Red October a while back (avail. on my site: http://www.tecumseh.150m.com/ ).

It's easy to use. Just take your master save file, make what adjustments you want, save as scenario alt2, etc, then reload the master save file and start over. I made 9 scn files and 9 events files for OM-G, though I only had 3 different startup positions. I could have used only 3 scn files since an events file is assigned randomly to whichever scn file is loaded when the scenario is first started. I had first thought there was a direct relationship between '5' scn file and '5' events file, etc.

The most interesting aspect IMHO, is the use of multiple events files. It allows significantly increased randomization of events for for ToT and for the first time in MGE. Not that I want to encourage you to stay with an obsolete technology, Phenix.

I've found this feature is easy to use and, based on my experiments, it provides reliable randomization.

This is a feature that should be built into most wargames. Sadly, it's not.

I would like to see it used more in Civ2 scenarios. It offers so much gameplay.

What would be interesting is to have a WW2 Pacific Theatre scenario utilizing this random technique along with new units, etc, etc. . .

Would make for a great scenario. . .

Cheers!