Cold Steel SBCT Campaign (Untested Conversion)

[scorpio_rocks]

Originally Posted by Duzmond

Now about the multiple vehicles per hex.

Maybe the game should impose a limit of some kind?
I have found having an entire platoon together when defending is considerably more effective in the game. Attacking as well.

I believe that this is considered very "Gamey" in many circles. Certainly all "house rules" I have found for PBEM from places like The Blitz, etc limit Tanks to 1 /hex and APCs to 2/hex.

[Duzmond]

You realize I'm playing the AI here right?

"Gamey" is when your opponents entire force is AT units,or when there main force has a swarm of cheap vehicles to soak up your defensive fire.

[Imp]

Originally Posted by scorpio_rocks

I believe that this is considered very "Gamey" in many circles. Certainly all "house rules" I have found for PBEM from places like The Blitz, etc limit Tanks to 1 /hex and APCs to 2/hex.

Well that's new new I have never come across it, sometimes the situation requires more than one per hex. Certainly they don't stay there because multiple units in one hex is generally counter productive.

Costs movement points to pile them in.
Chance of another unit getting hit by a stray shot
Everyone suffers suppression. from fire.
Cant remember but I think the chance of being hit increases slightly.
Artillery will be more effective.
MG or auto cannon fire at will have a field day, wait & listen to the shots ricocheting of the vehicles.

Versus a human you wouldn't need house rules, I would try to cover the route hexs & then attack.

[wulfir]

Nowadays I think PBEM players often limit Z fire to a few shots per unit, maybe its not allowed at all - in that case there might be a point to limeting the number of troops in a hex...



For those that might not play PBEM Z fire is the so called 'area fire' allowing the troops to fire into hexes out of direct line of sight.

While the AI does not use it a human player can (use or abuse ),
- and it is hugely effective. It will cripple units, esp. moving infantry and cause most, even dug in units, to a state of retreat/rout if you blast them enough.

If you pile up units in a few hexes it will be a very juicy target for Z fire.

Experienced PBEM players of the type I met when I first started to PBEM over ten years ago were experts at the use of Z fire. The used all kinds of creative SP-Mortar, SPA, SP Rocket, HMG setups taging along the assault columns, maybe not the most realistic use of SP artillery but very effective in game turns.

Against the AI piling up units in the same hex might be useful, getting more OP fire as enemy units appear in their line of sight, but against a human opponent in can be a terrible disadvantage.

[Suhiir]

Even against the AI putting too much in one hex can lead to disaster when it rains steel.

[Mobhack]

The AI tags hexes where area fire is fired from as "of interest" for delivering packages by mail. So expect incoming if you do it a lot. A sensible human player would also read all the fire messages and target the area for a quick drenching of indirect fires too. At the very least, the messages will give him info on the forces firing - which he may not yet have located.

Piling up units in one hex can be a nice defensive tactic, until some arty hits that hex, or an enemy finally manages to get a shot into the stack, causing mayhem. Also - the more stuff in a hex, the more MP are charged for going into that hex. The tight pack of units are also not covering other lines of approach either. So it all gets balanced out. Remember that a hex is half a football pitch in size - so packing 2-3 AFV in there is not really "stuffing" it, it just looks crowded since the unit scale (1 pixel to a foot or 6 inches - I forget which) does not match the map scale of 1 hex is 50 metres/yards.

As to Z fire - I hardly ever use that since its rather ineffective in therms of both accuracy and effect - I designed it that way!. But I hear lots of complaints from these PBEM players that it is massively effective - are these guys going crazy and firing 50-odds units at a time or something?. Now, that would be nuts. If it is something like that, then I suppose I could implement a "Z counter" so that each Z increments it until some magic number is reached (12 shots?) and Z is no longer available to the player for the remainder of the turn. Better yet - adopt a house rule limiting players to whatever number of bursts of Z in a turn suits them.

cheers
Andy

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Mobhack

- are these guys going crazy and firing 50-odds units at a time or something?.

Depends on the size of the PBEM game I guess...

I think most people who play with the same buddies have house rules, of various kinds - arty limits, size 0 unit limits, Z fire, resupply rules etc.

[Mobhack]

Yep - and there really is no way to rewrite things to cover each and everyones local house rules.