Husky to Dragoon - playtest thread

[tootall_2012]

Thank you for the confirmation, though it's become a moot point as I was able to complete my conquest on turn 49 with a total of 73 city objective points, good enough for a decisive victory.

I will prepare my feedback for you over the next few days and send it to you as soon as it is done.

 

[committed hero]

Sounds like 50 turns is a more realistic number.

 

[tootall_2012]

Not necessarily. For one thing reducing the timeframe would make it almost impossible to keep to a historical pace. For example, 50 turns would represent 13.2 days per turn which would mean to keep up with the historical pace you would have to conquer Sicily in 4 to 5 turns max, which my play test clearly demonstrates isn't possible (it took me 10 turns to accomplish this feat by pushing my troops forward relentlessly).

An alternate solution, would be to make the Axis defenses a little stronger at some key strategic points. More on this in my feedback.

 

[Patine]

Not necessarily. For one thing reducing the timeframe would make it almost impossible to keep to a historical pace. For example, 50 turns would represent 13.2 days per turn which would mean to keep up with the historical pace you would have to conquer Sicily in 4 to 5 turns max, which my play test clearly demonstrates isn't possible (it took me 10 turns to accomplish this feat by pushing my troops forward relentlessly).

An alternate solution, would be to make the Axis defenses a little stronger at some key strategic points. More on this in my feedback.

Yes, I remember seeing a picture of a Nazi German propaganda poster from 1943 taunting the initially slow slog of progress by the Allies "up the boot" by showing a snail crawling up a caricatured representation of a map of Italy.

 

[committed hero]

This is what I am thinking:

-change the road movement to x8, & Allied infantry to 1 MP [this will increase max aircraft movement to 31, addressing some other issues]
-Allied wheeled vehicles can't traverse impassable terrain (Valley/Line)
-Valley terrain is transformable at special "pilings" squares into Bridge; any Line can be transformed to Mud
-all regular infantry (GI/Tommy/Canadian/Polish/Indian) can transform terrain (downside is they won't be able to Fortify)
-Italian tank destroyers will be unable to traverse impassable terrain, so I can spawn them within zones of line
-redesign Catania & the Etna line to slow Monty down
-using .alt scenarios I can vary the mainland bridges that the Nazis destroy

 

[tootall_2012]

I don't believe its a question of movement ability, save for the artillery which I explained earlier was too slow to keep pace with the other ground forces. Given the scale of the map and the allotted timeframe, I believe the current infantry /air units MP and road multiplier are perfect for the game.

I believe its simply a matter that the defenses on the Italian mainland weren't stout enough (it was more than adequate in Sicily).

With regards the valley terrain, to be honest they weren't an obstacle to my progress at all. I simply followed the most direct and efficient paths of advance, aka the road networks, and whenever and wherever necessary brought the required firepower to punch a hole in the more troublesome points of resistance until they gave way.

Of course, as the designer this is your creation and its your vision which should prevail. I hope my feedback will shed more light on some of the weak points and how best you may want to address them.

 

[tootall_2012]

Hi committed_hero,

As promised you will find attached my review of your scenario. Sorry, for the delay but it took a little longer than anticipated to complete it. In the zip you will find a word document of the review, an excel statistics file, along with a revised rules and event file and my final turn 49 save game.

As I tell all designers who've asked me to play test their scenarios in the past, feel free to use as much or as little of it as you feel appropriate.

I hope you will find the review as useful as I enjoyed playing it!

 

[committed hero]

Thank you sir!

I think you've identified the main problem I've been grappling with: how to involve naval transport without rendering the scenario too easy. I am wary of increasing movement, as I expect players can find any number of ways to outmaneuver the defenders with them.

Did you increase the research rate after taking Sicily? It looks like you primarily researched bombing operations (I can add one more) in lieu of other options.

Speaking of bombing, what are your thoughts about the number and composition of Allied aircraft? Were there too many types and/or units by the end of the scenario?

 

[tootall_2012]

I think you've identified the main problem I've been grappling with: how to involve naval transport without rendering the scenario too easy. I am wary of increasing movement, as I expect players can find any number of ways to outmaneuver the defenders with them.

I think this could be controlled by 1) the number of beaches you placed and 2) as I mentioned, placing a time limit before the LST/LC were withdrawn.

Also, the further north the beaches, the heavier you could make the defenses around them.

In addition, don’t forget the further away the Allies would land from their airbases and subsequent air support the more vulnerable their invasion force could be made to sustained Axis counterattacks.

But again, these are just suggestions, based on your question asking if the current invasion mechanism could be handled differently.

Did you increase the research rate after taking Sicily? It looks like you primarily researched bombing operations (I can add one more) in lieu of other options.

As I was playing with a BETA version, I imagine I didn’t have a fully fleshed out ReadMe to explain these intricacies in more detail, so I didn’t immediately raise my science rate, at first, as I didn’t realize that you could even get reinforcements through the tech tree.

Afterwards, after building the MTO, as I started to get the option to research new techs, I started looking into the event file and then realized that they were associated to reinforcements. Only then did I begin maxing out the science rate. As I conquered more and more cities the number of turns required to get a new tech reduced significantly.

If the game had lasted longer, I imagine I would have received more ground reinforcements from the other available techs.

Speaking of bombing, what are your thoughts about the number and composition of Allied aircraft? Were there too many types and/or units by the end of the scenario?

There were quite a few different types. I didn’t have too much trouble handling them, though it might have taken 8 or 10 turns to understand each aircraft's role and capabilities.

Obviously some were more useful than others, like the heavy bombers and more capable fighters. Some units like the P-39 or Mustang/Apache were relegated to minor roles, usually used only to attack severely depleted enemy units.

Would it make a big difference to game play, if you removed the less capable aircraft? Probably not.

With regards the overall numbers during and at the end of the game, you can take a look at the excel statistics file to get a detailed breakdown.

 

[committed hero]

I've redesigned it with much of our changes in mind. I still expect the mainland defenses to be inadequate: instead of making Nazi units when Sicily falls, the Axis cities seem to like making city improvements they already have, despite rules.txt.

Still, I doubt I will change much more, now that I have been bitten by a new idea. Here are the new files.