Meeting Engagement - Force Selection - New & Improved :-)

[GottaLove88s]

Ladies & Gents,

RE: Meeting Engagement Redux - Multiplayer/Force Selection - The Faster Version - You want it, you got it!

I've been playing around with Pip & Iain's awesome Meeting Engagement Map.

Slitherine's original map has got nearly everything you could possibly want... Lots of space for clever strategies. Plenty of trees and houses to hide in. The full monty of tanks, tank destroyers, infantry, artillery, mortars and AT guns.

BUT for you afficionados, it has only three transports per side... which means a whole lot of slow plodding early on... And the Brits got cut out of WW2 (no hard feelings to fellow Limey's, but it's worth recalling that the Brits brought two things with them that would be totally worth having when you're fighting Tigers... the 17 pdr AT gun and upgunned Sherman Fireflies).

So you want those? You got it.

*** AUG 25th 2012: DO NOT USE THE LINK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD. SLITH HAS NOW EDITED FAST & SNEAKY TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE AS USER CONTENT. THE BEST WAY TO ACCESS THIS SCENARIO IS FROM THE CAMPAIGN MENU WITHIN BA ***

Click this link -> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31228617/FAST_N_SNEAKY.zip <- and unzip the downloaded files straight into your \Documents\My Games\BBCBA\MULTIPLAYER folder. Start up Battle Academy, choose Multiplayer, Click Accept Challenge and look for anything called "Meeting Engagement's Fast N Sneaky" (you may only see the first three words). Or you can propose your own "Meeting Engagement's Fast" challenge in the usual way. This new map will show at the bottom of your list.

Here's your July 4th present...

The Allies now have access to US and British 1943-44 kit, including:
Up to 3x Brit 17pdr artillery (a better match for the German 75mm Pak40 and heavy tanks than the US 6pdr)
Up to 3x Brit Sherman Fireflies (with armour piercing attack strength that gets you closer to the Panther)
An extra Priest self-propelled artillery (you now have max 3 instead of max 2)
An extra Calliope (now max 2 instead of max 1)
Up to eight transports (two of which come free; no more accidentally forgetting them) so you can now roam the map at speed
Recognising that German heavy tanks are still (a lot) tougher than you, you get TWO free Sherman 76s (previously one)

US Force Selection.jpg (108.39 KiB) Viewed 4542 times

It wouldn't be fair to push everything only in favour of the Allies, so the Germans have two important enhancements too:
Up to three Wespe self-propelled artillery (max 3 instead of 2 previously)
Up to eight transports (two come free, like the Allies)

German force selection.jpg (106.56 KiB) Viewed 4542 times

I'm hoping this will...
(i) Even the terms for Allies and Germans,
(ii) Create faster games, with less plodding, where rapid mobile attack brigades should be rewarded
(iii) Force us to make choices. 2,000 budget won't be enough to get you everything you want, so only buy what you plan to use!

I've created an Allied and a German challenge, so please accept and Let's Play...

NB. This is my first attempt at modifying an existing map so there might be some glitches (thanks Enric for cleaning up the obvious ones). All feedback welcomed. Please post here and I promise to fix and improve.

[pipfromslitherine]

Nice. We did think that people would tinker with force setups, and we've been proven right! If people play the variations and enjoy them we can always make a pack with a load of them in with subtle variations .

Cheers

Pip

[k9mike]

Sweet! I joined one of them! See you in there
Mike

[GottaLove88s]

Thanks Pip, Found a couple of "see through" trees (which must have come through from the Meeting Engagement original). How do I use the editor to change a tree's attribute to "blocking"? Will get the locations for you (to update Mtg Eng original).

[gortwillsaveus]

Thanks Pip, Found a couple of "see through" trees (which must have come through from the Meeting Engagement original). How do I use the editor to change a tree's attribute to "blocking"? Will get the locations for you (to update Mtg Eng original).

I believe that "see through" tree is also in the original Meeting Engagement.
Can't say precisely,...but it's one of the cluster of 2-3 trees (forest) on the right side about 1/3 of the way from the top.

[GottaLove88s]

Pip, Since this is a simple modification of an existing map, with no changes to the map (yet)... is there an easy way that I can make it accessible to iPad players? Thanks, GL88

[junk2drive]

In the editor you will see trees and blocking trees. Only one blocking tree needs to be in the square, the rest can be trees or whatever.

[pipfromslitherine]

Pip, Since this is a simple modification of an existing map, with no changes to the map (yet)... is there an easy way that I can make it accessible to iPad players? Thanks, GL88

Unfortunately not. Once it has been battle tested, we can put it up on the download system. It might be worth me looking at whether we can add a 'beta' section to the download system for these kinds of things, but then I am not sure of the best way to allow people to upload their own versions, and how to handle versioning as people attempt to fix issues.

Cheers

Pip

[gortwillsaveus]

Am playing 3 of these games against gottalove88s
While we're just about ready to engage and lock horns,..I wanted to throw out something I noticed as they come up:

As the Allies, I don't think the 17 pdr AT gun affords you much in this scenario.
Reason: You can't get it into a position where it will be of any value quick enough.

Yes I know, in our game I did get it way south and in a potentially great position,..but it doesn't seem that it can be of any use.
In fact,..you stumbled upon where I dropped it, and it was destroyed the next turn.

The distances needed to be covered means that if you choose heavily on infantry, those boys will be doing a lot of walking.
I could be 7-8 turns before you even stumble upon the enemy.

The extra arty is always fun. As allies I have 3 Priest and 2 Calliope. But seems to me, that I can put a big hurtin' on you when I find you.
That can get old real fast.

In no ways should you read the prior comment as complaints,...I only want these scenarios to be so fine tuned and fun, that all can enjoy.
I applaud you for even taking a stab at modifying a scenario!!

The game is still ongoing, so I hope to report back on more.

[GottaLove88s]

Hi Gort, Really helpful feedback. Thanks mate.

The 3rd self-propelled artillery - Yep, you're right the 3rd SP Arty seems to make a stronger difference than anticipated (except in that game where you bombed it into submission early on darn it! ). I'm finding across the games on this scenario that different units have just become much more valuable because of the extra Arty tho. I haven't finished any games yet, so I'm not 100% sure, but King Tigers/Tigers aren't invulnerable, all killing mobile fortresses any more. They're still dangerous but the slowness/unreliability genuinely impact them when there's enough artillery around. Units that are suddenly "must have" seem to be those that can sneak around hidden (infantry of all flavours) and those that can ambush and move fast afterwards (M18 Hellcats and Panthers). To be honest, that's sort of the psycho-Rommel/Patton-tactical environment I wanted to create. Fast & sneaky. But if people hate suffering that 3rd SP arty, I'm happy to pull it. Keep feeding back please.

AT Guns - Take some screenshots and let's swap after the game. How many transports did you choose? I'm playing another game (not one versus you, honest ) where I chose the full 8 transports. I know I've got less infantry than my opponent, but I've got three 17 pdrs, supported by two mortars, infantry spotters and a mixed group of Fireflies and 76s within firing distance of a juicy group of five Panthers. It's only turn 5. I reckon I can take out 2-4 Panthers if my opponent comes the right way. This feels like Eastern front stuff. Crazy I know, it's only a game, but I can really feel the "will he, won't he" tension in that one. (You were brave dropping the 17 pdr inside what's normally very German woods, close to the town, so early in the game; unlucky because I was immediately the other side of you, which is rare, but I'm pretty sure you'd have got away with it maybe five turns later when lots of troops have moved on). Do you have another AT gun? (Yes, I'm being cheeky, because I'm not really expecting you to tell me until the game's over ). Good luck!

Take some screenshots if you can. I really appreciate your comments...

[k9mike]

Thanks for the spoiler Jon...lol. Did it go the way you thought???
Mike

[GottaLove88s]

Hey Mike, Who said this was you...? Btw, you've got me worried now... The Ruskies didn't do so well in '41

[Slazz]

Greetings all,

Been awhile since I posted here. Where can one find these new scenarios? I have not been able to play BA in some time, I have the latest updates. Are they in the user created content section in the game?

Thanks.

[gortwillsaveus]

Greetings all,

Been awhile since I posted here. Where can one find these new scenarios? I have not been able to play BA in some time, I have the latest updates. Are they in the user created content section in the game?

Thanks.

You'll find the link in the first post of this thread.

BTW Gotttalove88s: I've been awol a few days, but should pick up our three games tonight.

[GottaLove88s]

Hey Slazz, Welcome to Meeting Engagement Fast N Sneaky...

*** AUG 25th 2012: DO NOT USE THE LINK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD. SLITH HAS NOW EDITED FAST & SNEAKY TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE AS USER CONTENT. THE BEST WAY TO ACCESS THIS SCENARIO IS FROM THE CAMPAIGN MENU WITHIN BA ***

Click this link -> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31228617/FAST_N_SNEAKY.zip <- and unzip the downloaded files straight into your \Documents\My Games\BBCBA\MULTIPLAYER folder. Start up Battle Academy, choose Multiplayer, Click Accept Challenge and look for anything called "Meeting Engagement's Fast N Sneaky" (you may only see the first three words). Or you can propose your own "Meeting Engagement's Fast" challenge in the usual way. This new map will show at the bottom of your list.

Let me know if nobody's proposing a game or if you can't propose one, I'll set up a 2way for you...

The Allies now have access to US and British 1943-44 kit, including:
Up to 3x Brit 17pdr artillery (a better match for the German 75mm Pak40 and heavy tanks than the US 6pdr)
Up to 3x Brit Sherman Fireflies (with armour piercing attack strength that gets you closer to the Panther)
An extra Priest self-propelled artillery (you now have max 3 instead of max 2)
An extra Calliope (now max 2 instead of max 1)
Up to eight transports (two of which come free; no more accidentally forgetting them) so you can now roam the map at speed
Recognising that German heavy tanks are still (a lot) tougher than you, you get TWO free Sherman 76s (previously one)

[GottaLove88s]

Thanks Gort, Hope it's nothing serious for your AWOL? Will be back at you this evening. Am downloading the 2.0.5 update but it's pretty slooow. I guess everybody's doing the same thing...

[GottaLove88s]

Fast N Sneaky v2 released... viewtopic.php?f=87&t=36065

[Oxygen]

Hi,

Sorry SLITHERINE if I acted needy and as with entitlement about new username and also nagging on the graphics of this forum. A work in progrogress (?) for me.

I'm looking for a multiplayer game and wanted to download Meeting Engagement MP. The link does not work for me. Is there another one?
Thanx!