Red Front

[Vengeance]

I have come to enjoy scenarios more than a standard game of civ. I find them more challenging and rewarding. However Red Front has got me in a mess. Now Im not in any need of strategic advice as far as I understand. The problem is the sheer number of cities and units spread over such a massive area. Can anyone offer up advice as to help manage such a sprall? I spent two and a half hours playing my first turn and even then I had not finished! Further more the goto function is almost useless when ordering units to follow longer routes due to the fact they tend to zig zag over road and not follow it! This has made this scenario a true nightmare to manage. I really would appreciate any input from veterans of the home war. I think C.Nemo did a great job and I don't want to miss out on such a great scenario but the management required is making me go ape****.
:aargh3: :aargh3:

 

[Xin Yu]

Welcome! Do you have the genuine MPE version? If so, you can download my CivManager utility. It can reduce some of the works. Make some notes at the note column so that you have a plan for every city.

See here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30547

 

[Smash]

that will help alot but there will always be some level of tedium when running such a large civ.

Moving all the units is tough.But you just can't trust the "go to".Especially in a situation like Red Front where a wrong turn could be disasterous.

My general rule is when the sheer agony begins to outweigh the fun,then its time to declare victory.

 

[SunTzu]

I love red front, the only part i hate are the long 1st turns, when your retreating or dieing.

 

[damntim]

i have to agree that the first turns of Red Front do seem a bit tedious, especially in conjunction with having to watch the Wehrmacht slaughter your units and cities at will. But, it has to be said, the moves you make (or don't make) during these early turns are critical to your success (or lack of it) later.

I notice in many scenarios the first couple of turns nearly always take a long time. For me, this is because it takes time to learn the various aspects of the game - units, techs, wonders, terrain, etc. When all of these thigs have been customized it can add a great deal to the learning curve, and thus the time frames for turns.

I had to restart Red Front three times because I didnt understand or realize what my capabilities and limitations were. Believe me, it was frustrating to have to sit through 20 minutes of pounding from the Nazis every turn, and finally I just sucked it up and pushed on through. It was very rewarding, although my wife might use a different term .

To me the most frustrating thing when beginning a scenario is trying to figure out what to build in the cities, or why the city is building this particular improvement, wonder, or unit. Some scenarios seem really dumb in this regard.

Generally, after I've figured out all of the above to my satisfaction, the game flows pretty smoothly. Granted, there seem to be endless units to move at times, and I rarely trust the GOTO command, but when the Red Army startst rolling, it can be a wondrous thing.

 

[Smash]

Yes first time thru a scenario,alot of time is spent looking at the units.txt and hopefully civlopedia info has been done.You need to know what each unit's capabilities are and what any changed techs,improvements,wonders actually do.

I actually find the early turns of Red Front quite entertaining.It is later when you are part rushing in all your cities every turn that is becomes extremely tedious.Then moving them all up to the front one by one.....

 

[damntim]

how true that is, SMASH. it's almost as though my fingers know the exact pattern of the arrow keys to get the troops from point A to point B. I think I could do it in my sleep. in fact, i think I may have a few times...lol.

Does anyone ever talk strategy about scenarios? Seems like that might be a halfway decent thread.

 

[Ace]

Most of the time this is a very useful tool. The fact that it is completely untrustworthy is irrelevant! Unfortunately, the only way to test a route is to try it (save first if in doubt), but once a good, long run is proven, it can be safely used over and over again. It is especially useful on routes that are used repeatedly.

If using lots of freight units and you home them in your best trade city before delivery to a demand city, the goto command can save, literally thousands of keystrokes. this requires a well-developed road net (railroad preferred), but it really speeds up the game. (and its fun to watch the freight fly along the route, using a PC with a pentium IV, the units move faster than the eye can follow!!)

Units will usually follow railroads if available, but do not seem to like right angle turns, they always want to take a shortcut through the forest or mountains.

A trick I have picked up is, if the unit will not follow the road/railroad, try a shorter trip. Many times a unit that will "go astray" when given a goto order from city A to city C, will go correctly if sent from city A to city B, than another goto city C. its a couple of extra keystrokes, but its much easier and faster than keying in each movement!

 

[funxus]

I agree, the goto command is useful for short distances. If I have a big continent and want to move my freight to the other side of it, railroaded, I'd click on a square on the side of the screen, which means the screen is then centered on the unit when it reaches the square.

 

[ElephantU]

It was very rewarding, although my wife might use a different term.

Hah!

Units will usually follow railroads if available, but do not seem to like right angle turns, they always want to take a shortcut through the forest or mountains.

If you've got some Engineers waiting to deal with pollution, set them to rounding those corners - you may even be fixing the "critical path" between cities that gets the Transportation Bonus for calculating caravan/freight delivery bonuses!