Alternate graphics for John Ellis' Boneparte

[Tigey]

I'd have thought a WW1 scenario would have been one of the few situations where the AI actually worked in the way it "should". It's tactics of constantly throwing units against fortified positions, regardless of casualties, and with little hope for success, seem somewhat appropriate.

[fairline]

Originally posted by Patient English
Fairline,

Your project has my blessing - a lot of players request this, and now I can offer it as well. Sheer laziness was stopping me doing it myself... Post it around and advertise it as you see fit.

But for myself, I agree with Case - the multiunits give it a certain "feel" I like. You have to be quite at home with the scenario before you get over the confusion factor though, I agree.

And thanks for the words of support everyone. Much appreciated. Might even get me to do Boney III one day...but I have been saying THAT for nearly a year now...



John

Alright, thanks John; I'll go ahead and make the ToT versions for Techumseh's site.

C'mon make Boney III and WW1 SP. As Case and Tigey say, crappy AI behaviour should be wholly in keeping with some of the real numbnut strategies employed in WW1.

[Patient English]

Case - amazingly, yes! The German Admirals at least made a good showing with their U Boat campaign...the AI hasn't a clue how to use subs.

The AI (when playing France) makes a realistically dumb effort to attack massively but futilely in Alsace and Lorraine in the first few moves, because I set the scenario up that way. After that, they throw units away in small dribs and drabs. The grand offensives of WW1 were wasteful of lives, but at least they had a small CHANCE of breaking through.

In fact, my reading of the histories suggests the attack usually succeeded - for a few miles, and the first lines of defence. But the poor communications of the spearhead with reserves and HQ over ground churned up by their artillery, coupled with the ability of the defender's railways to rush troops to the threatened sector, spelled doom to the assault eventually.

Anyway, as an MP game I think it can work, as long as both sides understand how to use (or misuse) their forces. The interesting thing is how often it seems to make sense to prepare and launch a large offensive - only for it to grind to a halt for the gain of a few squares....

If only my free time was as copious as it used to be before I got married!

[Patient English]

Tigey, fairline:

As I say above, it's not the grand attacks the AI can do, only the piecemeal wasting of forces. My task is to make it tempting for France and Britain, if the first German assault peters out, to keep attacking the Germans with some hope of success. But not too much.

I'm not happy with my graphics for this scenario yet, which are either borrowed or crap, but if you promise not to laugh I'll post the beta version for you guys to play around with. Bear in mind that the final version will have a bigger map, and more of Russia on the map....

[curtsibling]

Some garbled thoughts:
The 'glimpse of victory' factor could be dictated by the use
of clever att/def levels for infantry units. Also, a giant
number of active units might not be a need here...

If the player is only able to churn out a small amount of
attack units per month, then there could be a mustering factor
for the player as he tries to polarise forces for a push...

And making each defender unit require on average 2-3
infantry units to smash through...It could reflect the
appalling losses of the Great War.

This would only need some static defence trench units and
also some attack units that might bring that static unit to
zero if you 'just had one more' attack unit!

Just ideas...But I am of the mind these days that a scen
should not need masses of units. Especially if units can
do more and are harder to wipe out...High unit healths
and low firepower modifiers can achieve this...

And if replacements are hard to bring to the front, it
might be possible to create a really tasty challenge!

The perfect 'what-if' feeling for a WW1 epic!

[Exile]

Not too pround to beg . . . . . .

PLEASE JOHN . . . . .

Pul--leeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzeeeeee

Finish your WWI scenario.

And can anyone tell me who made the WWI scen that uses a "tilted" unique orientation map?

[Harry Tuttle]

Jim did. East Europe was on top.

[Arthedain]

It's only in beta status though. I like the multi-units he used in it.

[our_man]

Even moe begging.

I was replaying your Hundred Year's War scenario a few months ago John, and I noticed in the readme you felt constrained by the event space. Have you ever though of dusting off this classic and remaking it in MGE with it's increased event space?

[curtsibling]

Or even in ToT, with the 100kb of events space!

[Patient English]

our_man: Hundred Wars badly needs remaking. Too slow, and too many units for the map size.

It has potential, though the events text file is already at 16k - the max for MGE. Have you played my "Seize the Crown!" scenario?

Never got to grips with ToT, Enemy Ace. But your garbled thoughts mostly sound like mine...certainly I don't want too many units for the map size. Although the map will be biggish, as I want to show the Western Front in some detail.

[our_man]

Yes, I loved Seize The Crown. Absolutely fantastic job recreating this period of history. Good units balance; great terrain ideas, fantastic events - this is one scenario that doesn't need an update.

So... Can I take it from your remark that a Hundred Years War remake might be on the cards sometime?

[curtsibling]

A massive WW1 scenario would be really fun, especially if
the whole begins to feel 'locked down' and immobile after 1914.

A few tech awards that replace mobile and effective units
with slow and killable ones after a set time, this can be
achieved with good effect!

Looking forward to more news on this front!
(if you can excuse the pun..... )

[Broken_Erika]

my idea of a ww1 scenario is where all of the infantry units have stats like 6 attack and 6 or 7 defence, 4 or 5 cost. and specialty infs like sturmtruppen, highlanders, anzacs and canadian infantry have attack of 8 and 7 defence and cst 9-10, or be event generated at a pace similar to molasses, that way you would literally need massive artillery and infantry attacks to make any progress,

oh and nice threadjack!

[Patient English]

Erica: I'm allowed, as the thread was about another of my scenarios in the first place...

Your stats are almost exactly those of my Western Front beta. Coupled with weak "barrage" missile units that can be built in the normal way, plus infantry (and cavalry) units that take a population point to build as well, you get the right sort of effect. But it has to be MP or the AI spends its time building roads....

Curt, I'm beginning to get motivated. Which to do first - Boney III or Western Front/WW1?

Then maybe the 100 Years War remake, our_man...?