Slitherine

I've played the standalone scen 3 times now and lost 2 (sniffle)
The AI Indian unit who the Brits are supposed to be escorting to the purple exit square at top left refuses to stay safely behind them and instead runs through them like a crackhead into the teeth of the Japs and gets wiped out!
Here he is, he ran headlong down the red arrow on turn 7 and got his chestnuts roasted by that flamethrowing thing and the message came up "Defeat" because I failed to protect him! Huh you try to be nice (sniffle)..
I eventually managed to scrape a win (third time lucky) because I deliberately clogged up the hexes in front of him with Brit units so that he had no hexes up front available to run into, a very unrealistic ploy but it worked.
He's under AI control so we can't rein him in, but are there any other ways to stop him running into the enemy like a comedian, heaven only knows what the Japs think of him..



"He velly funny man!"

http://www.mission4today.com/index.php? ... orum&f=134

You need to clear the bridge first, IIRC. And leave a small corridor over which your AI allies can retreat over it.

PoorOldSpike wrote:I eventually managed to scrape a win (third time lucky) because I deliberately clogged up the hexes in front of him with Brit units so that he had no hexes up front available to run into, a very unrealistic ploy but it worked.
He's under AI control so we can't rein him in, but are there any other ways to stop him running into the enemy like a comedian, heaven only knows what the Japs think of him..

Yeah, that's about the way to do it. Either advance real fast and clear enemy units in the front or hinder this units movement paths by deliberately blocking the road ahead.

Thanks guys, yeah the "holding open a corridor" is a good challenging feature of the scenario, but like I said, the first AI unit won't wait sensibly for me to clear the japs off the bridge to open a corridor for his escape, he just runs ahead into the enemy and gets killed which kinda spoils the whole scenario because it ends in "Defeat" the instant he's killed.
The best solution would be a scen tweak to make him spawn on say turn 8 which would give the Brits 8 turns to clear the bridge and hold open a corridor for him. As things stand now, he begins on the map on turn 1 which is far too early as he immediately starts sprinting into the teeth of the japs.

PoorOldSpike wrote:Thanks guys, yeah the "holding open a corridor" is a good challenging feature of the scenario, but like I said, the first AI unit won't wait sensibly for me to clear the japs off the bridge to open a corridor for his escape, he just runs ahead into the enemy and gets killed which kinda spoils the whole scenario because it ends in "Defeat" the instant he's killed.
The best solution would be a scen tweak to make him spawn on say turn 8 which would give the Brits 8 turns to clear the bridge and hold open a corridor for him. As things stand now, he begins on the map on turn 1 which is far too early as he immediately starts sprinting into the teeth of the japs.

Strange, that's not how I remember that at all; I think the aux units started later. But it has been a while.

Andy2012 wrote:..Strange, that's not how I remember that at all; I think the aux units started later. But it has been a while.

To clarify- There are 3 aux AI Indian infantry units, and exiting them all is a Primary objective. If you don't exit all 3 you lose the game.
The first one (the mad sprinter) starts on turn 1 and usually dies around turn 7, game over.
But if you manage to clear the bridge for him (as I managed once by sheer luck) he'll successfully run off the map at the exit point.
His exit will trigger the second AI unit to spawn at the bottom right of the map and you'll have a good chance to hold open the corridor against fierce jap counterattacks from the east.
When he exits, it triggers the 3rd and final AI spawner, and he runs up the corridor and exits, and you get a win.

PoorOldSpike wrote:

Andy2012 wrote:..Strange, that's not how I remember that at all; I think the aux units started later. But it has been a while.

To clarify- There are 3 aux AI Indian infantry units, and exiting them all is a Primary objective. If you don't exit all 3 you lose the game.
The first one (the mad sprinter) starts on turn 1 and usually dies around turn 7, game over.
But if you manage to clear the bridge for him (as I managed once by sheer luck) he'll successfully run off the map at the exit point.
His exit will trigger the second AI unit to spawn at the bottom right of the map and you'll have a good chance to hold open the corridor against fierce jap counterattacks from the east.
When he exits, it triggers the 3rd and final AI spawner, and he runs up the corridor and exits, and you get a win.

Yepp, that's exactly how I remember it, too. And a delayed spawn of said first AI sprinter (2-3 turns) wouldn't hurt, that's true.

But maybe, Mr. Spike, if you'd play the scenarios inside a campaign, your units would've been more experienced and could clear out the Japs easier.

GabeKnight wrote:..But maybe, Mr. Spike, if you'd play the scenarios inside a campaign, your units would've been more experienced and could clear out the Japs easier.

I'm not a campaign man mate, not in OOB or Pz Corps or any other game for the simple reason I don't like to have battles dumped in my lap by the camp system that I don't much fancy playing for whatever reason, eg too big, too long, etc, but with the standalone scens I can pick and choose which ones I want to play.
As for troop experience, the AI in most scens usually starts with zero, so I like starting with zero too to make it a level playing field.
Same with difficulty levels 1 to 5, I always play at 3 to keep the playing field level.
Any reasonably skillful wargamer should have no trouble clearing Sitting Bridge within about 8 turns, but like I say, the mad AI sprinter doesn't give us time to clear it for him, he runs straight into the teeth of the japs..

PoorOldSpike wrote:

GabeKnight wrote:..But maybe, Mr. Spike, if you'd play the scenarios inside a campaign, your units would've been more experienced and could clear out the Japs easier.

I'm not a campaign man mate, not in OOB or Pz Corps or any other game for the simple reason I don't like to have battles dumped in my lap by the camp system that I don't much fancy playing for whatever reason, eg too big, too long, etc, but with the standalone scens I can pick and choose which ones I want to play.
As for troop experience, the AI in most scens usually starts with zero, so I like starting with zero too to make it a level playing field.
Same with difficulty levels 1 to 5, I always play at 3 to keep the playing field level.
Any reasonably skillful wargamer should have no trouble clearing Sitting Bridge within about 8 turns, but like I say, the mad AI sprinter doesn't give us time to clear it for him, he runs straight into the teeth of the japs..

I played it again last night. Got the first Indian unit over turn 11. I never had the problem you are discussing but it has come up a lot in previous discussions. I keep the road pretty clogged up trying to engage enemy with multiple ground units and artillery. Sometimes the Indians don't move or even run northeast into the woods where they engage Japanese heavy infantry - you have to rescue them (only the first unit -- after that the road is clear and they scoot right through).
It helps a lot to move the game along to put a pontoon bridge at the rail crossing so they can cross unimpeded.