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Wild Bill -> Scenario Design 101 - Art of War #5 - Settings (4/30/2001 10:40:00 AM)
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Folks, we have covered a lot of ground, but I'm sure it hasn't been fast enough for those of you anxious to get your own battle completed. We will get there, trust me :D
For a review of how to do your map and how it should look see lessons #3 and #4.
I hope you finished your map last week. You should have added any details you wanted, mud around the riverbank, maybe a few rough hexes on those hills, and those farms done.
Well now, it is time to review that text file we published a few weeks ago. Do you remember it? It gives us the scope and intent of the battle. The text file should be your guideline in making your map, picking your units and setting your objectives.
Here it is again, to refresh your memory :D
______THE BREAKOUT*
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____Meeting Engagement:*
____US Army vs Germany*
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_St Pois, France, Aug. 5, 1944*
Location: Near St. Pois, France*
_______Turns:10*
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Scenario Design: (Your Name)
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The massive bombing raids near St. Lo have left most of the German defenders either stunned or dead.*
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This is your chance as part of the US 70th Tank Battalion for the breakout from the hedgerows into open country.*
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You will take your tank forces and move south. You are to seek out German armored forces, remnants of 2nd Panzer Division that might be in the area.*
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When you find them, you are to destroy them and take the objectives*
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What we are about to do now is probably the most important part of the scenario design. We are going to feed into this scenario all the particular data of this battle. You will want to double check all of these settings to be sure that they are correct. Let's start the editor, load our map and get to work. Once the map is loaded, you will work for the moment in the main scenario editor screen.
The Opponents
Using the text file as our guide, the first thing we want to do is set the nationalities. Who is fighting whom in this scenario? Read the text file and see.
Now, whichever side you prefer be used by the human player should be the first nationality. We know that the combatants are the US and Germany. For the sake of uniformity let's make the US the human player (Nationality #1).
Click on the first nationality flag (should be German right now) and then click on the US flag. Change the second one to German in the same way.
The Type of Battle
In the center you want to be sure that you set the scenario as a meeting engagement.
Briefly, you have three types of battles: meeting engagements, advance and delay, and assault and defend. Their names tell it all. A meeting engagement means that both sides are moving and headed toward each other. In this type of scenario, the objectives are usually neutral.
The other two are offensive setups with one player defending objectives while the other player tries to take them. In this case the objectives would initially belong to the defender.
Now as you develop your skills, you will learn how to mix these in scenarios by using the tools within the editor. You can then have one side defending and build in a counterattacking force for the defender. But that is for later.
The Other Settings
Look at the bottom of the main editing screen and you'll see the places to set the date, time, weather, sighting distance and the number of turns. Most of this information we have already decided upon and put into the text file. We don't have the exact hour but we can set it for a day battle.
REMEMBER! If you want a night battle, you must set the time between Midnight and 6AM or from 20:00 Hours (8 PM) to Midnight. When you do that, adjust your sight distance accordingly.
1. Date: This is very important because the game looks at the date you have set and allows you to pick units appropriate to that time frame. You can't have a Tiger or a Pershing tank in 1941. So set the date as August 5th, 1944.
2. Scenario Hour: Since we don't know the exact hour of the battle, let's set it for 1PM (13 - military time).
3. Scenario Length: We have already determined that we want the scenario to be 10 turns in length.
4. Visibility: This setting determines just how far your units can see, discounting line of sight (LOS) obstacles. I use "20" as my default visibility setting. More on that in a moment.
5. Scenario Weather: The numbers here represent the type of weather you want, 1 being ideal weather and 5 being the worst kind of weather. The numbers 2,3 and 4 vary the possibility of inclement weather. As the number gets higher, the greater the possibility is of bad weather.
Here again, bad weather can affect visibility just as the time of day (or night). Keep that in mind when you set this. Let's set ours as a beautiful summer day in France. We'll set it at "1."
Now look to the right of the editing screen and you'll see a bar titled, "Battle Location." This tells the player just where the battle occurred. What is the location? Read your text file again. Okay, now click on the bar, type in "Near St. Pois" and hit enter
Well now, our scenario is set up and we are ready to pick our units. Question: Why do we do this first? Think about it. How will the settings affect how we pick and deploy units? I'll let you answer this one yourself.
If you have followed the text file you should have the date as August 5, 1944, the time as 13 (1300 hours or 1PM), length of scenario, 10 turns, visibility =20, and the weather as "1." And we have given our battle a location.
One more thing to do in this lesson. Look to the upper right of your editing screen. Click on the "buy" button under the US flag. A new screen pops up with an US HQ unit. That is a default purchase that the computer will ALWAYS make. Don't buy any units. Just click on exit.
Do the same for the German side. Click exit and go back to main editing screen.
Now save your scenario setup. Remember, up until now we have only saved our map. Now we are saving the entire scenario, at least as far as we have taken it. Look over your settings one more time to be sure they are right, then hit the save button. Scroll your list of scenarios until you find the slot where you want to put it.
Remember to put it into a blank slot. If you click on a slot that already has a scenario name in it, you will overwrite it. So be careful where you click! :eek:
When you click on the slot a black screen will appear. You are going to type in the name of your scenario. What did we name it? "The Breakout." Okay, that will be the name you will type now. After typing it in, hit the enter key. Now your work to this point is saved.
All right! Good job. Let's double check our work so far. You should be back in the main editing screen. Click on the load button to the right, just above "Battle Location." Scroll (or with version 5.0 type in the scenario number) till you find your scenario. Click on the name you just typed in. Boom! You are back at the main editing screen but your scenario is loaded.
Remember, you can do anything you want with this scenario, anything, and it will not affect your previous work until you click on the "save" button.
We have done enough for today. Click now the exit button. In version 5.0 you will be asked if you want to save the scenario. Just type N because you have already saved it and nothing has changed.
Next week, we will pick the forces for both sides. Be thinking about what kind of units should be included. Do some research on the breakout at St. Lo and also try to find out what types of units were involved on both sides.
[ April 30, 2001: Message edited by: Wild Bill ]
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