Impromptu Games

OK I will move the Russian's up some ok a lot! I forgot about that and thanks for pointing that out for me.

Is this game being played today?

Yes, at the usual time, 20:00 BST, 15:00 EST.

Given that the PvP game we played was almost totally sandbox with teams given only vague objectives and a free rein how to achieve them (and even whether to gain them by defending or attacking) I am surprised how well that went. Although things were not well explained (deliberately I might add) I thought the two opposing commanders both came up with sound plans to achieve their aims. Both sides almost had the whole map to do as they liked (the Prussians more so). It was all down to position in the end and who chose to blink first and take on the responsibility of attacking. Unfortunately the French cavalry division commander with a lot of experience using the mod ended up facing a player who hasn't played with the mod very much recently and that showed, the inexperienced players division unravelling in minutes to leave a huge hole in their line.

Although it could not have been much fun for the infantry commander I was led to think of how things may have occurred on actual Napoleonic battlefields, especially in Napoleon's first ten years leading his armies: very experienced French commanders facing green Austrian, Prussian and Russian commanders and in a situation that would have been a stalemate with 2 equally skilled officers in this case it was over in minutes; all down to the ability of the commander.

I wish we could achieve this in more games as it would do away with the unhappy practice of "stats massaging" to get an army to behave how we think it should. Just goes to show that in most cases soldiers were soldiers of generally equal ability/bravery/commitment and the difference was in the commanders and junior officers.

The French curs will pay.

The battle did reflect how quickly one can turn. It reminded me of Austerlitz. A crucial difference between yesterday and a real battle was the lack of reserves. Given the small number of players that we have for such games, it's normally impossible to keep a division in reserve. I wonder if we could add an AI controlled division to these games. It could be crudely ordered forward via the courier system, but would essentially fight autonomously when it becomes engaged. It would also mean that human players wouldn't have to sit around watching the action while awaiting their turn to participate.

I may set one of these up for a future scenario.

That would be cool Kevin. The CinC or another Commander would have some real reserves.

Your game worked well Digby, and you did baffle us all with you on the fly briefing.



What you both failed to point out is that my superior military tactical theory of deal with it as it comes works.

You failed to point out that my army was intact and I had a positive score (I could care less about them I am objective driven) but it is an oddity.

You failed to point out that I am a legend in my own mind but still the best player of this game in Costa Rica.

I am disappointed. 

LOL.

Yes, more reserves and bigger battles generally would be great as long as we don't explode our PCs. IIRC we had a game with over 50,000 troops in a battle using the Russians on the Alpine map many months ago. I don't think we've breached that number in a while.

Kevin, is there a way to get the AI division commander flag to be displayed at the same height as a player flag, so the other team cannot know which is the enemy AI division?

Kevin, is there a way to get the AI division commander flag to be displayed at the same height as a player flag, so the other team cannot know which is the enemy AI division?

Unfortunately not. I looked for a way to reduce the height of the player flags but was not able to find a solution. That is set in the part of the game code we can't access.

Anything today?

I'm available for a game today at the usual time, 20:00 BST, 15:00 EST.
We can play Mike's 10 mile map scenario if we have fewer than 6 players. The problem was a missing grayscale entry in the map csv file. I'll make up a PvP scenario if we have 6 or more.

I forgot to grab the fixed map, can you post a link to it again today please?

Maybe we could keep a library of such links for these fixes, perhaps in the main KS Mod opening post?

For small things like this, I usually just add it to the existing mod that is posted and pass it out at game time for people who are playing. Since I usually delete these small files from dropbox after a few days, I don't like to post links that will soon be dead.

you are to take these Chateau's and liberate any wealth from them

Finally, a battle worth fighting.

The Polish Crimson color was used for the French since you appointed yourself as the CinC for today's excursion.

Might want to swap that 12pdr battery with the cavalry for a horse battery.

Admittedly I am not sure how to figure out horse or non horse battery, (slowly getting there) if you point it out I will do that.  I would assume that I would switch it around in the csv, right?

THX

"Schwere" is heavy in German so that nakes it a 12pdr battery. Looking at the rest if your corps it packs a real punch as most of the batteries are 12pdrs and howitzers ("haubitze"). This is a 'stand back and smack them with the guns' kind of army as it has a long reach

Open the main Waterloo OOB that you got the battle OOB from and find the Prussian army which I think is the last on the list and scroll down the csv file looking at the unit class (column K) until you come across unit type:

PRU_CAVART_GunLimbered_1

Which is a Prussian horse gun. As their foot and horse batteries both have 8 guns its easy to copy all 9 ROWS of that horse battery + its commander and paste them over the 9 rows of the Schwere battery that's in the cavalry division. No need to amend the scenario, the game will just place it in the same location.

OK let me try that out then,  thanks.

You gave Andrew a heavy foot battery to drag around. Good. He needs something to do in these battles.

Since this a battle for enrichment, I gladly accept command.

If there is a horse battery I would change it in hopes that the Prima Donna of the field might work a bit harder to ensure your victory today,he may even show up for the briefing too.

I can already hear Andrews subtle complaints about the scenario makers absolute ineptness.  Although the thought of listening to his complaints does bring a small about of joy to my heart.

Maybe you can walk me through how to do that, as I looked through the files I decided that this was better left to the pro's.   

In this particular scenario, the allies have no horse battery, so there is nothing to cut and paste. In this case you have two choices. Endure the whining of the cavalry, (there is some joy in that), or remake the scenario, (lot of work just to keep the prima donnas happy).

Confused says "not broke, no fix; prima donna whine big bonus!"  

1) How did it go yesterday?

2) Are we playing today? Can we test the 10mi map again perhaps?