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1997-10-11
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Age of Rifles FAQ #3
This document will probably be expanded in the near future.
A FEW GUIDELINES FOR SCENARIO CREATION
As anyone who has designed historical scenarios can tell you,
a battle sometimes isn't as interesting when you finish a scenario as
when you conceptualized it. Just because a situation has already been
modeled in an existing scenario doesn't mean someone else can't
tackle it again. You might be able to do a better job than the other
fellow.
Orders and Objectives
Definition: All objectives except for the final (highest numbered)
assigned to any particular command are referred to as intermediate
objectives. Intermediate objectives are useful for refining the
action of the programmed opponent, but have no direct effect upon play.
Units assigned to "attacking" commands will attempt to pass
through lowest numbered to highest numbered objectives while
advancing on their final objective. In many cases it is not necessary to
specify a particular path for an attacking command, since the
programmed opponent does a pretty good job of picking a good path
the command. There are two exceptions though: 1) If there is a
significant obstacle, such as a river, it can be helpful to place
intermediate objectives in such a way as to create a "path" for advance.
2) If many commands will be advancing on the same objective it can
be helpful to use intermediate objectives for each command to avoid
traffic jams. Otherwise, since the programmed opponent will tend to
take the easiest path when moving its units, you may find your
commands bunching up near roads or passes through dense terrain.
Defending commands will stay in place unless an enemy unit
occupies one of their objectives. In many cases this is what you want.
But you can also use intermediate objectives to set up "tripwires". For
example, a cavalry command can be placed behind a hill out of enemy
view. Its final objective might be in a village located behind the
command. This ensures that the village will be defended if approached
by the enemy. But you could also set an intermediate objective on one
side of a bridge in front of the hill. When the enemy advances across
the bridge your command would ride out to attack, but if other enemy
forces threatened your command's final objective it would pull out to
defend the village. By clever use of intermediate objectives you can set
up a very active defense.
To begin with, set all of your command orders to "normal"
emphasis. You can adjust up (all costs) or down (cautious) when you
start testing for historical accuracy and play balance.
Leaders have a very strong effect on game play. It is easy to
forget to set leaders away from national defaults, but the results can be
worth it. Private soldiers in many 19th century armies were quite
professional, but their officers were sometimes political appointees. In
some cases, the better leaders have become legendary figures. You can
reflect this by setting commander values as appropriate.
Unit names are limited to 16 characters, but you can get
additional mileage out of unit names in many game displays by using
the following abbreviations (spaces are significant). This also gets
around spelling problems:
" Hsr" >>> " Hussar"
" Fslr" >>> " Fusilier"
" Drgn" >>> " Dragoon"
" Gndr" >>> " Grenadier"
" Jgrs" >>> " Jaegers"
"Hlndr" >>> "Highlander"
" Arty" >>> " Artillery"
" Bn" >>> " Battalion"
" dA" >>> " d'Afrique"
"Hvy" >>> "Heavy"
"Lt" >>> "Light"
" Rgt" >>> " Regiment"
" Bde" >>> " Brigade"
"Mtd" >>> "Mounted"
"Gren " >>> "Grenadier "
"Gd" >>> "Guard"
"Irsh" >>> "Irish"
"Fld" >>> "Field"
" Bodygd" >>> " Bodyguard"
" Div " >>> " Division "
"W'phln" >>> "Westphalian"
"B'burg" >>> "Brandenburg"
"Lwr " >>> "Lower "
"E.Pru" >>> "East Pru"
"Sfrth" >>> " Seaforth "
"Camrn" >>> " Cameron "
"Ryl" >>> "Royal"
"Bty" >>> "Battery"
" Tex." >>> " Texas"
" Ark." >>> " Arkansas"
" Lou." >>> " Louisiana"
" Miss." >>> " Mississippi"
" Tenn." >>> " Tennessee"
" Ala." >>> " Alabama"
" Fla." >>> " Florida"
" Ga." >>> " Georgia"
" S.C." >>> " South Carolina"
" N.C." >>> " North Carolina"
" Ky." >>> " Kentucky"
" Va." >>> " Virginia"
" Md." >>> " Maryland"
" Penn." >>> " Pennsylvania"
" Del." >>> " Delaware"
" Ia." >>> " Indiana"
" Ill." >>> " Illinois"
" N.J." >>> " New Jersey"
" N.Y." >>> " New York"
" Conn." >>> " Connecticut"
" Mass." >>> " Massachusetts"
" Vt." >>> " Vermont"
" N.H." >>> " New Hampshire"
" Me." >>> " Maine"
" W." >>> " West"
" Vol." >>> " Volunteer"
" Vols." >>> " Volunteers"
" S.S." >>> " Sharpshooters"
Example: If you name a unit "1st B'burg Jgrs", it will display
in the game as "1st Brandenburg Jaegers" if space allows.
You can do interesting things with some unit and command
parameters. For example, if you look closely at Buena Vista you will
find that the Mexican army arrives on the map in an exhausted state.
This strongly encourages the Mexican player to do what Santa Anna
did historically - probe the pass then set up camp for the night. You
can also set the ammo levels of individual units very low while setting
their parent command supply ratings much higher. The units would
start off with very little ammo but would rapidly resupply. Or you can
do the reverse, if you want to recreate the legendary "quartermaster
effect" at Isandlwana.
If you are designing an historical scenario, try to get
historical results by selecting objectives and command orders. Don't
worry about play balance until you are satisfied with the feel of the
scenario. Once you have done this, you can manually modify the
values of the objectives to achieve play balance.
The best way to test for rough balance in your scenarios is to
launch them in a computer vs. computer play mode. You can speed
this up by using the "quick" command line parameter (which was
specifically designed for this very purpose. See Rifles FAQ #1). The
"quick" parameter will cut all delays to a minimum, which will allow
for the most rapid possible test of the scenario. It comes with a cost
though: The game will play so rapidly that you won't easily be
able to follow the action.
A FEW GUIDELINES FOR CAMPAIGN CREATION
Make sure that you don't change sides with the forces from
one scenario to the next. That is, if the first force in the OOB (order of
battle) is Allied in scenario 1, make sure it remains the first force in
all subsequent scenarios. Also, keep _exactly_ the same names for any
units that carry over from scenario to scenario. Any change in the
name, even one character, and the unit will not get any experience
benefit for serving in previous battles. If you swap sides for your
forces from scenario to scenario, anyone playing the campaign will
experience a side swap when they make the transition to the side
swapped scenario.
I recommend the following: Create one master order of battle,
with all units from both sides for all scenarios. Then save this OOB
and use it as a template, loading it as necessary when creating
scenarios. Create the individual scenario orders of battle by _deleting_
units not needed for the specific scenario. This guarantees consistency
and ensures that you won't have to worry about any of the points
mentioned in the paragraph above.
Be sure to edit the transition text when you set up the scenario
linkages. The automatic display of this information between scenarios
will make your campaigns look more professional.
Norm Koger 2.0
September 11th, 1996