WW3 Scenario - Units & PBEM advice needed

[frunobulax]

Hi All,

I'm in the process of completing a Cold War scenario - "World War 3" (original name eh!) - and I have a couple of questions before I get further into the testing stage.. and refining events etc..

1.
This might seem obvious, but what features make for a good PBEM game ? I've only played 1 so far (still am - Winter's 'GNB' Deity Game) and have some ideas myself, but I'm keen to know what other people would look for. Is it replayability, good balance of power, a full complement of 7 playable nations (i.e. no-AI controlled ones ?), plenty of events (lots of historical references, or purely game related events.. i.e. "city taken" type ones, reinforcements etc), good sound, nifty graphics, historical accuracy, extensive tech tree, or a combination of all these...? Are any of these things more important than the others ? Lemme know.

2.
Units request:
there's a few units I still haven't been able to make... can you help. They need to be 'photo-real' style, like in ZWK, not 'Nemo-esque'... if you know what I mean [I've attached an image below of what I've made, to give you an idea].

What I'm still looking for are...

1. Fanatics
2. Marines
3. Cruiser (pre-AEGIS)
4. Partisans
5. Engineers
6. Spy
7. Terrorist/"barbarian" (sort of Baader Meinhof/Red Army Faction style)
   [/list=1]
   
   Full credit will be given etc etc.
   
   Thanks in advance,
   
   Fruno
   
   P.S. A brief guide to the units below...
   they incl. in no particular order:
   English Electric Lightning, F-4 Phantom, B-1 bomber, B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, Su-27 Flanker, Typhoon Class nuclear sub, Fast Attack sub, Destroyer, Carrier (USS Abe Lincoln), T-55, M-1 Abrams, Infantry, MiG-21, MiG-19, Tu-95 Bear, Iowa Class battleship... er, what else.... MiG 25 Foxbat, and SR-71 Blackbird...oh, and Jimmywax's excellent Vulcan bomber (only one I diddn't make so far).

 

[kobayashi]

What makes a good PBEM?

1. tribes should start out at least semi developed so you don't waste 50 turns growing from a single city.

2. Equal opportunity to win for the main players.

3. The game must be flexible enough to to let the AI handle any of the tribes (or atleast all but one). This means the AI must be capable of using all units. HARD TO DO.

4. Should be playable as a single player as people like to get familiar with the game before PBEMing. HARD TO DO.

5. Distinction (besides geographical) between tribes so that there is replayability. (e.g. different government, different units, different advances).

6. Winning Objective that is not kill everyone else - will take too long.

 

[frunobulax]

Originally posted by kobayashi

3. The game must be flexible enough to to let the AI handle any of the tribes (or atleast all but one). This means the AI must be capable of using all units. HARD TO DO.

Yep, I agree here... I've been testing it as a single-player (btw, I agree with what you said about PBEM'ers needing to play it as a good single player game irst)

It's the old familiar problems of an AI using Carriers poorly. However, I was suprised that it managed two Marine amphibious landings in successive turns... as this, I think, is a rare AI occurence.

 

[The Art of War]

I don't mean to be picky, but since you asked, I have to say. If I download a scenario that has "real" units instead of Nemo units, I usually don't play it. That's just me, though.

Also, make your land varied. I downloaded a (offense to the creator) Falklands War .scn and all the land was plains and the units were horribly off the mark. This person had some form of heavy WW2 bomber in the A-4 Skyhawk slot. It is one of the worst scenarios I've had the fortune (rolls eyes) to play.

 

[frunobulax]

Originally posted by The Art of War
I don't mean to be picky, but since you asked, I have to say. If I download a scenario that has "real" units instead of Nemo units, I usually don't play it. That's just me, though.

So what exactly puts you off 'photo-real' units ? Can't understand - I like both 'types': photo-real and Nemo-stylee...

Originally posted by The Art of War
Also, make your land varied. I downloaded a (offense to the creator) Falklands War .scn and all the land was plains and the units were horribly off the mark. This person had some form of heavy WW2 bomber in the A-4 Skyhawk slot. It is one of the worst scenarios I've had the fortune (rolls eyes) to play.

I know the one you mean - it is pretty poor !

 

[Case]

Fruno, check out Mindseye/Time Smith's High Resolution Graphics collection. It's got heaps of really well scanned units.

As for what makes a good PBEM scenario, really what Kobi said. I'd add that games where there are relativly few units to move around tend to go a lot quicker then more complex ones (ie: GNB vs Imperialism)

 

[frunobulax]

Originally posted by Case
Fruno, check out Mindseye/Time Smith's High Resolution Graphics collection. It's got heaps of really well scanned units.

Thanks ! Just downloaded them, they're great - found good Alpine Troops, Marines, Spy and Frieght, plus some great terrain/cities. I'm also using a few bits from your 'Cruel Sea' terrain - hope that's okay - full credit given etc !

Originally posted by Case
As for what makes a good PBEM scenario, really what Kobi said. I'd add that games where there are relativly few units to move around tend to go a lot quicker then more complex ones (ie: GNB vs Imperialism)

Good point about the number of units - last night I went through and weeded out some units (especially Soviets) as there were probably too many to start with. The main civs - N. America, European Union, Soviet Bloc - have approx 60-80 at start; more for Soviet Bloc, though I might revise this down again.

 

[Case]

Originally posted by frunobulax

I'm also using a few bits from your 'Cruel Sea' terrain - hope that's okay - full credit given etc !

That's fine. I don't have a problem with anybody using any of my work as long as I'm given a nod in the credits
Bear in mind that I didn't make any of the terrain, so you'll need to check the readme for credits (from memory most of the terrain's by Captain Nemo)

 

[Andrew Livings]

frunobulax: I love the naval units you used, especially the carrier (I'm thinking TOT compatibility). Is there any chance you post those icons here separately, or do we have to wait for the release?

 

[frunobulax]

Originally posted by Case


That's fine. I don't have a problem with anybody using any of my work as long as I'm given a nod in the credits
Bear in mind that I didn't make any of the terrain, so you'll need to check the readme for credits (from memory most of the terrain's by Captain Nemo)

Thanks Case !

I'll consult your readme from Cruel Sea just to be sure.

 

[frunobulax]

Originally posted by Andrew Livings
frunobulax: I love the naval units you used, especially the carrier (I'm thinking TOT compatibility). Is there any chance you post those icons here separately, or do we have to wait for the release?

Hi Andrew,

thanks for the feedback ! I'm kinda waiting for the release with these units etc, but I figure one tiny little US Carrier would be okay to sneak on here - I'm still tweaking the units somewhat, so final layout isn't really complete yet.

Funniest thing - I just did a single-player test today, playing as the Chinese, and two bizarre things happened. A few years into it (c.1965/6 I think) an American U2 spyplane (flying from Seoul) got shot down by a Soviet MiG (just like with Gary Powers in the 60s) and of course... "boom"... nuke war broke out. A few years after that the USA nuked Baghdad, totally unprovoked (cease fire with Arabs ran out). Weird. Is this some kind of historically accurate/wildly predictive AI behaviour ?

Anyway, here's the USS Abe Lincoln for you...

 

[frunobulax]

Just ran another single-play test and this time, for fun, let the AI run all the Civs, and there was a 20 year nuclear war between the European Union and the Soviet Bloc, as well as China and the Soviet Bloc/Neutrals, and the Arabs vs. Neutrals.

By 1986 the Soviets had got 6 (!!) units left and 3 cities. Global warming went haywire and sea levels rose 5 times !!

Here's an image showing what's left of Europe (Moscow no longer exists, a long with a few other places...) China now has control of Eastern Russia up to the Urals, and the Europeans the rest. The USA was at peace with the Soviets throughout, and by 1986 had amassed 15,000+ gold and over 30 nukes, and countless Stealth and B-1 bombers...

 

[Case]

 

[WarVoid]

Whoa! Cool!