Bru's Scenarios and Campaigns

[ColonelY]

A cautious approach during an emergency situation?

You know, using the last idea/hint I've employed as well, I haven't lost a single one of these torpedo planes...

So, yes, it is still possible to "delay" the engagement of the two enemy fighters from the East and, while remaining in range, to avoid extra AA fire from British cruisers... and this is still cautious, but one must take into account the relative urgency of the situation: waiting too long is a sure failure!

[bru888]

Definitely, definitely, the torpedo planes are provided to help with the coastal gun battle. As a matter of fact, I tried to make it so that it would be a blunder to go after the capital ships with them too soon . . . Also, forget about it if the player gets it into his head to switch them to bombers and use them on German land troops, despite being warned. He will regret it.

So, I believe this is a challenging balance in the sea battle for the threshold to be retaining no less than 6 out of 12 guns. The land battle seems to be a bit easy, even at a threshold of retaining 4 out of 8 harbour facilities, although I have a hard time visualizing it. Perhaps it's because I envisioned players holding back, cowering in their forts and bunkers, until attacked whereas it seems what is happening instead is that they are sending out the Free French forces to counterattack.

[bru888]

Operation Lila Denied v1.5 is uploaded. The link is in the first post.

- Introduced a second wave of 10 Waffen SS units on Turn 8, representing the balance of the 2nd SS Panzer Division being called into the battle.
- City Hall is out; Capitaine de Port (harbourmaster) is in, and represented by a factory building instead of a concrete bunker. (Although out of fairness, I did throw sandbags around it and the Arsenal.)
- Added a mention of torpedo bombers in one of the introductory messages.
- Changed the naval mines in the harbour narrows from neutral to German and explained them with a popup message.

So. Guys have said the land battle is too easy. These are experienced, aggressive players doing the unexpected: attacking instead of defending. To ramp up the challenge (but hopefully not make it too hard for newer players), I brought in the most of the rest of the German 2nd SS Panzer Division:

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Also, two of the harbour facilities are not concrete bunkers now; they are the arsenal and harbourmaster:

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Here is the message that hopefully will clue players about the torpedo bombers which they are meant to use against the British fleet:

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Colonel, I liked your suggestion about "Germanizing" the naval mines (it is historical, as you pointed out) but to actually program mine-laying planes doing the job would have been a lot of work. Also, German planes down there, near the coastal guns and the outer harbour, would have been a balance-upsetting temptation to chase with the Free French fighters. So I decided to give the story a nod in this fashion:

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[bru888]

Operation Lila Denied v1.6 is uploaded. The link is in the first post.

- Assigned all the "Remainder of 2nd SS Pz Div" units to a S&D AI team.
- Changed the harbourmaster label to "Capitainerie du Port."
- Labeled the other Panhard 178 as "Amiral André Marquis" and moved it near the Capitainerie du Port.
- Replaced the removed Panhard 178 at La Tour Royale with an old Renault FT-17 tank.
- Added an AT gun near the Arsenal.
- Included a popup message, similar to Admiral de Laborde's, for if and when Marquis' Panhard 178 is "captured" which explains who he was. Basically, de Laborde was in charge of the fleet while Marquis handled the administration of harbour facilities.
- Lowered the threshold of coastal guns to be held from 6 to 5. After careful analysis and discussion, this seems to be the sweet spot for the sea battle.

As always, thanks to all players but especially ColonelY for his care and diligence.

[ColonelY]

You're welcome. But above all, thank you for your work!

[conboy]

Hidee-ho,
I'm playing 1.6 now -- looks good. If someone ends up whipping this soon, please send me a replay of your victory in 1.6. I'm having a little trouble on the ground side. No cause for alarm, just off this week.

thanks!

conboy

[ColonelY]

Damn, I've just done it (Major Victory end of turn 20 out of 24; most of the enemy German and SS troops entirely whiped out...), but I haven't saved any replay... Well, usually I never save the replays anyway.

[ColonelY]

So, tell us, what are your strategies and tactical decisions for (the start of) this land battle?

[bru888]

And remember this: The goal is not to necessarily defeat the Germans (or the British) but to hold them off long enough to finish the scuttling.

[conboy]

Use the partisans to spread out and delay the Germans, move conventionals to key intersections in substantial combat teams (3 I think) and hope to engage the Germans piecemeal before they reach the infrastructure. Seems to be working so far. It's not hard to figure out where they're headed.

Like Nathan Bedford Forrest said, Get there first with the most men ... In this case, enough men to do the job against an AI opponent.

conboy

Well,
I lost on the 9th turn this time. I just couldn't degrade the british ships fast enough to keep my guns alive. Things were turning a little in the Germans' favor on the ground as well. Maybe.
Great scenario, Bru and ColonelY, the official advisor nowadays.
I think less experienced players will have a tough time with this one, but it's another supremely constructed scenario. My compliments!

conboy

[bru888]

Operation Lila Denied v1.7 is uploaded. The link is in the first post.

- Lowered the threshold of coastal guns to be held from 5 to 4.
- Lowered the threshold of harbour facilities to be held from 4 to 3.

I was just coming back here to add the advice of using (sacrificing) the partisans to delay and distract the Germans. It does work, because it buys time.

But based on Conboy's comments (thanks!), I decided to take the challenge down one rung for both battles. Both of you guys are experienced players. One is battling like heck on land, using what seems to be an unorthodox procedure ("Charge! Divide and conquer!") to actually overcome and destroy the Germans. The other is probably doing as what I expected: defending each harbour facility and hoping for the best (although not using the partisans as described above, until now). And that guy flops again in the sea battle, despite knowing now what to do with the torpedo planes.

But here is the key: "I think less experienced players will have a tough time with this one . . ." I have to keep that in mind. What I design should give experienced players a challenge, but ultimately they should win. If they are struggling, newer players are certainly going to be frustrated and that is not my intention.

[ColonelY]

Operation Lila Denied [...] One is battling like heck on land, using what seems to be an unorthodox procedure ("Charge! Divide and conquer!") to actually overcome and destroy the Germans. [...]

Well, it may be a little unorthodox, but it's not about careless charges anyway... Actually, it's more like setting traps for them, trying to strike fast and hard after having first created local numerical superiorities... once they have lost a few units, the balance of power begins to tip in our favor and everything becomes easier and easier...

I get the partisans involved; not just to die while delaying a little the enemy units (by themselves, they won't last long against several armored units anyway)... let them more or less alone, and what will happen: the numerical superiority, locally, belongs then clearly to the... Germans! That's what we don't want.
So, about partisans, first I pull them back to join the regular troops (who give the main shock) so that these partisans can support them (by attacking troops in their transport trucks or already weakened units, or staying hidden at crossroads, waiting for German units moving a little too fast nearby for ambushes, for example)...

[...]
- Lowered the threshold of coastal guns to be held from 5 to 4.
- Lowered the threshold of harbour facilities to be held from 4 to 3.
[...]

Again!?

Well, I wouldn't change the treshold about harbour facilities, to be honest. Like this, it could be 4 each (so one third of initial coastal guns and the half of harbour facilities - don't forget that harbour facilities can be reclaimed during this battle!)
(Harbour facilities left at 4 - that was the initial number for them, wasn't it? The land battle was too easy before, so that should have been fixed without having to change this threshold.)


Well, to end it once and for all, we could set these two numbers to 1 (ridiculously low on purpose!, to avoid triggering any early defeat or something), so that one could be sure that anyone can win this scenario, then inform us about how many coastal guns and how many harbour facilites he has managed to save and/or to reclaim (for the later)!!!
(And hoping, of course, that it will be played fairly , I mean with the player doing really his best to save as many of each... )


By the way, Bru, have you played it yourself?

[ColonelY]

[...] I lost on the 9th turn this time. I just couldn't degrade the british ships fast enough to keep my guns alive. Things were turning a little in the Germans' favor on the ground as well. Maybe. [...]

"Maybe"?! Well, that's not really precise...

"I just couldn't degrade the british ships fast enough to keep my guns alive" Have you used torpedo planes this time? Which ships are you targeting first using coastal guns? The DDs? Are you concentrating fire against them or not, shooting a little everyone of them at every turn? More importantly (as hint for us before really trying to adapt any threshold), how many ships where left once you've been defeated? (Perhaps at the end of the last turn - 'you can certainly reload the save game of the last "end turn" file...)

[conboy]

I just PM'd y'all the link to my replay that should answer all ColonelY's questions.

good job! thanks for doing what you do.

conboy

[ColonelY]

Thanks

[bru888]

By the way, Bru, have you played it yourself?

A very astute question, Colonel. The answer was "not since the days of version 1.0." So I rectified that situation just now, and I am glad I did.

Now, I am not a good player (excuse: too much time spent designing) but that was offset by knowing what to expect and what to do. Result:

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First of all, let me say this: Operation Lila Denied is one heck of a scenario, if I do say so myself!

But enough of that. Back to business.

Yes, using the partisans as sacrificial lambs is key. It's mentioned in the text as a very obvious hint that they will distract and delay the enemy.

As you see, I ended up with 4 harbour facilities. Basically, the four forts. It's rather a foregone conclusion that the player will lose the arsenal (which did change hands three times, though), the harbourmaster office, and the two headquarters buildings. I played mostly defensively but I did strike back occasionally when opportunities were apparent. The western forts were depleted but successfully defended. The eastern forts enjoy the advantage of that bottleneck peninsula. It is not unreasonable to expect the player to save at least these 4 harbour facilities. I am going back to that threshold.

Five coastal guns were left, three at 10 strength, one 8, and one 6. A couple of guns were taking fire from land artillery toward the end. If I had not played the sea battle well, perhaps those shots would have made the difference and I would be left with four coastal guns. Still there was enough of a cushion. I said previously that the sweet spot for this battle was a threshold of 5 coastal guns. I am going back to that threshold.

As far as scuttling, I actually had to hold off on the last cruiser until I could sink the capital ship. I finished early because I knew not to waste time scuttling the third battleship (BB Dunkerque) when only two are necessary. I want to see if I can hold off the primary scuttling objectives until secondary objectives are met.

I noticed a few other improvements that I could make, so I am going to work on OLD for a while. For now, I will leave you with this tidbit: I was able to save Admiral Marquis from certain "capture" (if not death) by embarking him at this critical point! I sailed him down to La Tour Royale where he recovered from his wounds and survived the battle. Too bad I don't have a slot open for a "Save an Admiral!" objective. (Unfortunately, Admiral de Laborde was not so lucky.)

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[ColonelY]

By the way, Bru, have you played it yourself?

A very astute question, Colonel. [...]

[...] Operation Lila Denied is one heck of a scenario, if I do say so myself! [...]

Yes, it's definitely an awesome scenario!


I do perfectly agree with both thresholds back, for challenge sakes, the coastal guns at 5 and the harbour facilities at 4.
(Besides, if anyone does really not manage to succed in this, the difficulty of the scenario can always be lowered before launching it... If it becomes really necessary...)

Nice option, indeed, to sail some of our units from one place to another... Actually, I've never used it during this scenario, but it's a cool option.

[...] I noticed a few other improvements that I could make, so I am going to work on OLD for a while. [...]

This looks interesting! I'm curious and I'm already looking forward to seeing these changes.

[bru888]

Nice option, indeed, to sail some of our units from one place to another... Actually, I've never used it during this scenario, but it's a cool option.

Actually, that could be a "cheat" in a way, but I'll leave it in. Say your threshold for harbour facilities is 4. Say you are frustrated from last time when you lost with only 3. It occurs to you to:

a) scuttle ships in such a way as to clear the outer hexes beyond a ship moored at the docks; this allows using those ships to enable embarking.
b) abandon the HQ and harbourmaster office, moving the defenders by transport to the forts and the arsenal.

That pretty much guarantees a win in the land battle; i.e., holding off the Germans long enough to finish the scuttling.

Heh, it reminds me of the shenanigans that Gabe would pull . . .

But okay; if the player is ingenious enough in this case to do this, I am alright with it. As I said earlier, I look for thinking commanders; players who can figure out the best way to attack or defend and achieve objectives.

As far as the improvements, just minor things that I noticed. I'll be back later with an update.

[ColonelY]

Nice option, indeed, to sail some of our units from one place to another... Actually, I've never used it during this scenario, but it's a cool option.

Actually, that could be a "cheat" in a way, but I'll leave it in. Say your threshold for harbour facilities is 4. Say you are frustrated from last time when you lost with only 3. It occurs to you to:

a) scuttle ships in such a way as to clear the outer hexes beyond a ship moored at the docks; this allows using those ships to enable embarking.
b) abandon the HQ and harbourmaster office, moving the defenders by transport to the forts and the arsenal.

[...] As far as the improvements, just minor things that I noticed. I'll be back later with an update.

Well, my personal threshold for harbour facilities would be higher than 4, as I've never actually decided to abandon the HQ. Always chosen to put there a stand, and always kept it (even if one of the two concrete bunker has been destroyed in the process ).

"Frustrated", "last time when you lost with only 3"?! Whaat? Well, you aren't talking about me directly as it actually hasn't happened to me. But that doesn't matter here anyway.


So, to summarize, do we agree with 5 coastal guns and 4 harbour facilities?


And 'looking forward to seeing these improvements, even minor.

[bru888]

Operation Lila Denied v1.8 is uploaded. The link is in the first post.

- Raised the threshold of coastal guns to be held from 4 to 5.
- Raised the threshold of harbour facilities to be held from 3 to 4.
- For the "Sink at least one British capital ship" objective, inserted the ship type designations for clarity in selecting a target: "Battleship (BB), battle cruiser (BC), or aircraft carrier (CV)." Just hover the mouse over each ship to see which is which (and avoid sinking the wrong one, like I did).
- Included this warning for all "Destroy X fighters/ships" secondary objectives: "[This objective must be achieved before the scuttling of the fleet is completed.]" It was too complicated to try putting in a primary objective delay mechanism to allow for all secondary objectives to be achieved first.
- Removed some of the outlying 30 supply points in order to keep the AI teams focused and not wandering around conquering out-of-the-way locations.
- Moved the Air Defend hex radius for Carrier Fighters from 5 to 10 so that they scramble a bit sooner.
- Changed the Turn Start alliance from German to French on Turn 8 for the "Telephone Chat" messages; this way, the player views the chat before he sees the second wave of SS troops arriving. (Otherwise, he was seeing the messages on Turn 9.)
- Put the three schnellboote in a Static Defense AI team so that they will at least fire at the airfield defenders if they stray too close to the shore.
- Split the second SS Panzer wave into west and east groups. Choreographed both of them to head south when northern harbour facilities are taken, instead of "sitting on their laurels."
- Tweaked the balance back to the Free French a bit by shoehorning another 155mm cannon in Fort de l'Eguillette (it barely fit).