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