Hello all,
Some may recognize my name from my Combat Mission days here. I recently have been trying out some operational scale games and find them quite interesting.
I have some questions from playing Tiller's Stalingrad 42, specifically the Don Bend scenario vs. AI, which I hope you experts can assist me with!
1. Does the AI ever assault? From my observations watching it, it doesn't seem to.
2. HQs - I understand the range concept, but in this scenario some of the corps HQs listed are not even on the map in the scenario, yet the subordinate HQs are in supply at times. How can this be?
3. Locking ZOC: My first try I had it on, but then I started over with it off, but I still get the message "cannot move from one enemy ZOC to another" when trying to move?
4. While trying to damage a bridge I got the message "Bridge damage is controlled by wired bridge feature" - I don't get this?
5. During my turn I can usually fire 2X with each unit - but during the AI turn it seems like it is firing a lot more than that? Like 4X at each unit?
Thanks in advance for the help!
(03-06-2015, 11:52 PM)Der Kuenstler Wrote: [ -> ]Hello all,
Some may recognize my name from my Combat Mission days here. I recently have been trying out some operational scale games and find them quite interesting.
I have some questions from playing Tiller's Stalingrad 42, specifically the Don Bend scenario vs. AI, which I hope you experts can assist me with!
1. Does the AI ever assault? From my observations watching it, it doesn't seem to.
2. HQs - I understand the range concept, but in this scenario some of the corps HQs listed are not even on the map in the scenario, yet the subordinate HQs are in supply at times. How can this be?
3. Locking ZOC: My first try I had it on, but then I started over with it off, but I still get the message "cannot move from one enemy ZOC to another" when trying to move?
4. While trying to damage a bridge I got the message "Bridge damage is controlled by wired bridge feature" - I don't get this?
5. During my turn I can usually fire 2X with each unit - but during the AI turn it seems like it is firing a lot more than that? Like 4X at each unit?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Welcome to the TOC area of the club, it is always great to see members return to the electronic battlefield and trying out a new game system as well !!
I am no expert, but I can answer a couple of your questions and leave the others to the real experts.
1) The AI while improved is still no match for a human opponent, I have seen the AI assault but it does not always take advantage of all situations as a human player would, however the AI is a great tool to learn the game system before you enter the world of PBEM.
2) A HQ can still pass it's command test even if it's parent HQ is not on the map, having a complete chain of HQ's only serves to improve the chances that your HQ will be in command when it takes the command test.
3) With this rule off you can still only move from ZOC to ZOC if the hex you are moving to contains a friendly unit.
4) In certain scenarios bridge damage is controlled by a percentage parameter and the player cannot damage bridges manually, if you read the section in the rules about bridge damage the auto-destruction feature is explained.
5) sorry can't help you will that one, are the shots coming from multiple units?
Quote:2) A HQ can still pass it's command test even if it's parent HQ is not on the map, having a complete chain of HQ's only serves to improve the chances that your HQ will be in command when it takes the command test.
To add to that answer, an off-map HQ can still be in range of on-map HQ's, as command range is counted normally from the position of the off-map HQ (which is usually on the full "campaign" map) to the position of the on-map HQ. The same principle applies to off-map artillery units: their range is the range calculated from their off-map position to the on-map target.
Quote:3) With this rule off you can still only move from ZOC to ZOC if the hex you are moving to contains a friendly unit.
To add to that answer, there's a ZOC movement multiplier value in the parameter data screen. If it's 0, you can never move enemy ZOC to enemy ZOC unless there's a friendly unit in the hex you're moving to, or the unit type of the unit you have selected allows it to move ZOC to ZOC at all times.
Quote:5. During my turn I can usually fire 2X with each unit - but during the AI turn it seems like it is firing a lot more than that? Like 4X at each unit?
Every normal non-artillery unit can usually fire 6 times during a numerical turn, 3 times during your phase and 3 times as opportunity fire during the phase of the other side. Maybe that is what you're seeing: first the AI's units fire in return to your units on your turn, and then they fire again on the AI's part of the numerical turn. You use MP's when firing, and the counter is reset once you hit end turn. There is no standard unlimited opportunity fire in the PzC series.
Those answers helped a lot - thanks! So regarding the off map HQs, is there a way to know where they are off map (North, South, etc.) so you can be closer to them and have better chances of being in supply? The scenario I played only has three on map corps HQs which can't cover all the units spread out on the map.
Some scenarios do not have parent HQs on map or off map. This is used by the scenario designer to show a 'detached' organization.
Some designers set HQ's to be temporarily subordinated to a different HQ than their normal parent HQ just for the purpose of that scenario. Right click an HQ to see what it actually assigned to. Use the highlight organization and hot key 'O' combination to walk up the chain of command for any initially chosen HQ.
Check the menu item Units> Corps Attachments on the midnight turn, in longer scenarios, for a full view of reassigned HQ's.
Dog Soldier
Sadly, the strength dialog is less useful than it could be, as it doesn't show HQ units in most cases, nor their location, so the main way of pinpointing where a HQ is would be to open the campaign map and see where it is relative to the location of the HQ in the current scenario.
It's cumbersome, and as Dog Soldier wrote some HQ's might not be physically present in the campaign scenario either.
Ah...OK.
Now about campaigns - I can't find a campaign in my Stalingrad '42 folder. In Combat Mission a campaign is a series of linked battles where you import your units from one battle to the next. A scenario is one battle. Is it different here? All of my files end with the .scn tag.
Also, I noticed that some units like AT guns have an assault rating, yet they can't assault. What is the assault rating for on them?
(03-07-2015, 10:48 PM)Der Kuenstler Wrote: [ -> ]Ah...OK.
Now about campaigns - I can't find a campaign in my Stalingrad '42 folder. In Combat Mission a campaign is a series of linked battles where you import your units from one battle to the next. A scenario is one battle. Is it different here? All of my files end with the .scn tag.
Also, I noticed that some units like AT guns have an assault rating, yet they can't assault. What is the assault rating for on them?
1. Campaigns in most PzC are large scenarios that encompass the entire operation. I've only seen linked scenarios forming a campaign in the FWWC games that have a "Grand Campaign" framework.
2. Well, AT guns still have to defend in assaults, right?
Yes it is different in PzC to CM, all the files are scenario files, but we often call the large scenario(s) that cover the whole battle the "campaign" scenario although it is just a scenario like all the rest.
Quote:Now about campaigns - I can't find a campaign in my Stalingrad '42 folder. In Combat Mission a campaign is a series of linked battles where you import your units from one battle to the next. A scenario is one battle. Is it different here? All of my files end with the .scn tag.
Ah, yes, apologies for not being more clear on that point: I'm referring to the largest scenario(s) in the game as the "campaign". Some games cover one campaign, others cover several.
As Lohengrin wrote, the assault rating for units that can't assault is mostly there to increase the survivability of the unit when it is assaulted itself, as the outcome of the assault comes from a comparison of assault strength and defensive strength, which is then adjusted to the low/high loss values for assaults in the parameter data dialog. Unlike in the majority of wargames, odds are essentially meaningless here and have no direct effect on the outcome of an assault.
Note that assaults are resolved for an entire stack at all times, not for single units, so if you stack a unit without an assault value (like an HQ) with a unit with an assault value (which usually comes down to everything except HQ's) the HQ's will contribute their defensive strength normally.
It's a risky strategy, but it can be worth it to stack an HQ that you're either going to lose anyway or that isn't immediately needed elsewhere with defenders in a crucial hex. The bigger the HQ, the more useful this becomes. In PzC, the tactic is however less useful than in Panzer Battles as HQ's are significantly smaller in terms of the number of men in the units compared to the standard infantry unit size (battalion) in PzC.