Slitherine

I'm playing a paired game of Ardennes. When playing the Allies my opponent received a large amount of prestige around turn 9. In my game as the Allies, I haven't received any added increment of prestige and it's now turn 11 or so. I'm wondering what triggers this added prestige. Is it random, or is there some other factor?

Thanks,

Tim

I just had a look in the Editor: it is not turn based but when units enter zones on the map it triggers a 4700 point increase for the Allies - there are two such triggers. Basically, it has to do with Axis control of Aachen, St Vith, Bastogne and Luxembourg; if the Axis has units *around* all 4 the Allies get the boost, if they have Axis units *in* each they get the second boost. I guess that means your Germans must have done pretty well if your opponent got the bonus!

To make the above really clear:

* If the Axis manage to get close to ALL four eastern Victory Hexes (at the same time), the ALLIES get a 4700 prestige boost.

* If the Axis manage to take ALL four eastern Victory Hexes, the ALLIES also get a 4700 prestige boost.


You may think what you wish about this. Personally I'm not too hot about "hidden" triggers like this; since once the German player knows this he will make sure to avoid giving the allies this rather substantial prestige boost.

(Please note: I'm not saying doing this is easy. But assuming the scenario is winnable, here's what you should do if you think a bit of procedure is preferable to having to face 9400(!) prestige worth of allied reinforcements).

In short, the general idea is to simply not fulfil the triggers:
1) conquering one of the four hexes (say, Luxembourg) while staying clear of at least one of the other three (say St Vith)
2) driving back the front from the conquered victory hex so it can be left empty (completely vacating Luxembourg and the surrounding six hexes, and probably a bit more)
3) only then moving one or more units close to the last of the other three hexes (St Vith in our example)
4) while doing 1-4, be conquering the other two hexes (Aachen and Bastogne in our example)
5) making sure step 2 is done first, now clearing out St Vith's defenders BUT NOT conquering the hex (keeping one unit in an adjacent hex to keep the Allies from placing reinforcements in St Vith)
6) winning the rest of the map
7) in the final turn (when you see you can take the final western victory hex or hexes) you also move into St Vith to win the scenario.

End result: you postpone both Allied prestige boosts until the very last turn, when it doesn't matter any more.

What I don't like is that you create artificial hoops you need to jump through; maneuvers that make no sense unless you have looked in the editor.

I would probably have changed the hidden triggers to be more transparent and easy to understand, but above all impossible to circumvent. Since the Allies are to get 9400 prestige if the German player is winning, lets give the Allies 2350 prestige in turns 9, 11, 13, and 15 if there are any German units west of a north-south line from Aachen to Luxembourg. Simple - and inevitable, since the German can't delay pushing west if he wants to win the scenario. (As the allies, having the Germans voluntarily stall their entire offensive for two more turns is probably more worth to you than those prestige boosts)

But at the very least: these kinds of triggers need to be mentioned in the scenario description. It's a huge advantage to know this kind of information when, as in this case, the triggers can be "played".

What you're seeing is the result of trying to make 'all purpose' maps.
A map that can be part of a campaign, played solo, or played as a multiplayer game.

This idea, while noble, has somewhat fallen short in practice.
Just know if you play a campaign map as a multiplayer game, just keep in mind they are primarily balanced to fit into the campaign structure and may require handicap setting to be tweaked to be more 'balanced'. They may also have special and hidden triggers, like the prestige one you found in Ardennes.

If you are looking for more balanced multiplayer maps, you will have more success with the 10 special purpose multiplayer scenarios.