Bucks
Posts: 679
Joined: 7/27/2006
From: Melbourne, Australia
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ther19
OK. This was back in the 3.2 -3.3 days. But I'm not sure that you understand what I was getting at. Setting up loadouts and patrol zones and identifying threat axis is not the same as having your planes on station when the clock starts ticking. It then took game time to get those guys in the air and on station. During the time when they were taking off, 10 Backfires whould jump me, fire cruise missiles and boot. I'd lose 2 ships. In real life, I would accept command with CAPs in place according to the head man's standing orders for that area. Since I am the head man, that would be everything set up, in place and on station the way I want before I say "go" to the AI or opponants. I'll d/l the 3.9 in the next day or so and see if it seems better. If not, it would be an easy enough fix to put a hold on the AI until a "ready" signal was given. Thanks.
3.2 - 3.3 days hey? You should have been around in the days of H2, when Ed Ladner first released "A Fight to the What?" Where he modified the Global Conflicts I scenario - "A Fight to the Death". If you went active with anything several Oscar I & IIs would unload before a single Tomcat had left the deck. It is all about scenario design and for that what the personal preferences of the player concerned.
In most cases where you want realism then type of pre game setup really needs to be undertaken by the scenario designer. He has the ability to place your CAP and AEW assets on preplanned patrol zones etc but most players will change these as soon as the game starts. This can't really be down anyway, I'd suggest that the normal setting for the commencement of a game in ANW is where nothing is assigned and the player has to set his own fomation stations and mission planning needs to be made prior to game start. Also remember that when a scen is opened all of the designer created missions and assignments are deleted leaving the player to complete his set up anyway. So it's more a matter of timing rather than the designer didn't give me what I wanted. What happens if you're the 2ic and the commander goes down with a heart attack. Maybe now you're in charge you don't agree with how he has the forces deployed, now you can change that deployment, although as always that's going to take time.
The scen designer needs to take this into account during the design phase and either provide time for the human player to deploy his assets (not always enough time). As has been mentioned the concept of complete tactical surprise can be simulated by having an inbound attack almost underway leaving the player with limited opportunities for a planned reaction. The almost "enforced" losses mentioned may very well be part of the intended scenario design. These losses will then influence your ability to complete your mission. Think of it in these terms. You open the scen to play, browse over your forces, consult your orders and sit back thinking, "this doesn't look too hard".
You hit F12 the game starts running and within seconds you have hostile inbounds; lose say, three of your vessels and now you have a fight on your hands to meet your mission goals. You might say that the designer could simply have not given you the vessels in the first place, but there's always an element of luck and who can be sure exactly which ships go down or are damaged. How much use is a Tico with no Aegis radar? What happens if your carrier takes a hit a some of the aircraft on the deck get knocked out?
Scenario design is complex to some extent but it doesn't have to be. How long does it take to create a map and add a ship to each side? That's where it starts and where it ends is all up to imagination and curiousity... 
Cheers
Darren
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