View Full Version : Scenario Design, have you tried it?
I often see posts of people looking for smaller scenarios or just alternate situations. Have you ever tried to create one? A common complaint is there's no map editors with the games, but then next to no one is creating custom scenarios using the existing maps and OOB's. So really the available resources haven't been tapped.
In fact, this is one of the primary reasons I created the huge map for Campaign Waterloo. While the campaign & grand tactical situations benefit from it, there's also an abundance of unused map segments that are just crying out to be used for battles. See the hypothetical Corps vs Corps scenarios I did to give you one idea how they can be used.
The editors are really quite simple to use. Here's a tutorial that will help get you going...it's written with Campaign 1776 as the example, but it really applies to all of the Tiller pre-twentieth century games.
http://www.hist-sdc.com/help/scn_creat.html (http://www.hist-sdc.com/help/scn_creat.html)
I hope to see some of you venture into this side of the hobby. It's really a great untapped resource and will be sure to bring you, and others, enjoyments once you dig into it.
A thread in the PzCamp forum made me think that maybe it is time for another scenario design contest?
I fiddle around with the scenario editior from time to time but to be honest, I don't know enough about it to create anything other than that which is for personal use. It looks to be intuitive enough to put something together with a little bit of practice.
Gary McClellan
10 Jan 06, 22:53
I would like to second this. While my primary experience is with the Scenario Designer in the Naval Engine (where I've done a large number of scenarios), all of the editors are pretty straightforward and can be quite interesting to use.
While I've lost some of the files, I did an adapation of 1776 to show the orginization of the armies in 1705, as well as a small scenario designed to train people in the engine.
The more scenarios, the better.
Making up campaigns is probably one of the most interesting parts of game design.
I plan on putting a section on my website that describes how to build campaigns from top to bottom. Er, given that I get the time to do it.
One BIG help with scenario balancing is to use a spreadsheet.
Breakdown the formations by type and then use the spreadsheet and VPs per type to build a series of figures such that whenever you want to know how many VPs a corps is you can quickly look it up.
From there you can add up the points for a side and it really helps you determine your VP point differentials.
Then you can start tossing VP locations on the map. Its much easier to balance a scenario this way than to try and add in the VP objectives first.
Thus if 10,000 French infantry, 2,000 cav and 20 guns are facing 15,000 Allied infantry, 3,200 cav and 16 guns I can quickly calculate it using a spreadsheet.
Getting the data from the game is a bit fun. You basically have to open up the editor and view the Strengths under the Info menu item. I keep a copy of the OB open and just go down each formation adding each in to the spreadsheet.
Mixed brigades are a pain ... I like it when they are just infantry, cavalry or artillery but for instance, the Austrian army in Eckmuhl is a mix of each type in the Light divisions.
Anyway, this method has really helped me work out scenarios that are a bit more balanced that before. Hope that helps.
Any spreadsheet program will work. I happen to own a copy of Excel ...
I often see posts of people looking for smaller scenarios or just alternate situations. Have you ever tried to create one? A common complaint is there's no map editors with the games, but then next to no one is creating custom scenarios using the existing maps and OOB's. So really the available resources haven't been tapped.
I'm probably at my happiest creating scenarios, but my preference is for historical creations, which require historical maps. If those maps aren't included in the game, then tough, now that they've been locked. So it's not that the available resources haven't been tapped, rather that the one essential resource has been denied.
Paul
You'd be surprised what you can do with the existing maps and the sub-map feature. Especially with the games that come with huge maps there's often areas that can be "chopped" out and used for other battles, while not being 100% accurate they are quite similar. And with all the abstractions required to use a computer game engine to portray something as complex as Napoleonic warfare, a little variance on the terrain is not that big of a deal, IMHO.
For example, I created a battle of Jena years ago using the old BG Waterloo game that was pretty well received. Far from the game that was recently released, it was still a pretty good fight for players to tackle.
You'd be surprised what you can do with the existing maps and the sub-map feature. Especially with the games that come with huge maps there's often areas that can be "chopped" out and used for other battles, while not being 100% accurate they are quite similar. And with all the abstractions required to use a computer game engine to portray something as complex as Napoleonic warfare, a little variance on the terrain is not that big of a deal, IMHO.
For example, I created a battle of Jena years ago using the old BG Waterloo game that was pretty well received. Far from the game that was recently released, it was still a pretty good fight for players to tackle.
Well, I do have a bunch of hypothetical scenarios to convert, so I can work on those in the meantime (assuming the maps will be unlocked at some point). For what it's worth, I'd pay double the cost of a game for a scenario editor that did maps as well.
Where is the best place to post completed scenarios? Another question: is there a formula or guide for setting point values for victory levels? I don't see it in the editor manual.
Paul
Here's the section to upload Napoleonic scenarios to...please try to put the game prefix at the front so people can easily see what title it is for.
http://forums.gamesquad.com/downloads.php?do=cat&id=92
There's sections up there for pretty much all the HPS titles too, if you have other stuff.
Another question: is there a formula or guide for setting point values for victory levels? I don't see it in the editor manual.
Paul
Bill Peter's did something up at one time, but I don't have a copy of it handy. I generally have a "feel" for whats right, but I usually try to start a scenario as a draw unless there's a real compelling reason to do otherwise. So many variables though that its hard to answer this specifically.
In addition to playtested Ligny/QB scenario posted in download section (which further study indicates possible tweak), I've created an unplaytested Waterloo/Wavre scenario. Also just finished, with input from Prinz von Egan is a Four day scenario (not Campaign game) for June 15-18 historical.
I find Campaign game creation rather daunting, so havent tried it. How are the individual battles generated in Campaign games? Panzer Campaigns' Strategic Options seems much more flexible than assigning two or three (max) strategic choices to start a campaign.
A map editor would be useful for tweaking the maps. (The Fontaine Leveque- Gosselies road is missing from belgium map. Garden wall at Hougomont should not be impassible, add an abatis next to La Haye Saint, for example.) I know why there is no map editor: HPS doesnt want people buying one game and using it to create any scenario, anywhere that they like. Surely there must be a way to limit map editor functionality/portability to address this issue.
WOW! We can make scenarios!?! I might have to try. :laugh:
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