Slitherine

Hi All,

I have always played on the regular, full random setting.

Is this what most use, or is the semi-chess like with 20% variation more preferred overall?

Is one better for the major campaigns?

Regular, full random setting. Haven't played other ones.

I use the middle setting, which is +/-2 from the predicted value.
Enough to make a difference but not so random it makes planning a waste of time.

dice chess always

Limited dice chess. I find it to be the best balance of variance and justice. I couldn't imagine playing on Manstein and having a single bad roll destroy core units or even cost you the scenario, despite doing everything right.

Note, rugged defense chance is not affected by this setting so there's that randomness still.

Regular full random setting.
The game is more fun this way.

I play regular, but have considered doing something else, but just can't seem to give up seeing those overwhelming destructive rolls...on Manstein it can get a little crazy

While occasionally infuriating, I prefer normal. I tried dice chess and it was very comfortable, but I felt it quickly got boring in that you line these units up, you get this, you line those up, you get that and there really isn't much need for strategy (being prepared for the unexpected) other than I have a better unit than you and, therefore, I should win a battle, or at least, it will be near to as expected and I don't have to worry about overly costly losses. It is obviously easier to be successful as you never have to worry about that devastating bad roll that costs you a favorite unit or wipes out your strategy.

In this response, I in no way mean to denigrate anyone, it is just my preference. To each his own. If you prefer sergeant level on chess mode, hooray for you. Contrarily, if you are a glutton for punishment and want to play Manstein on full random, hooray for you too (you know who you are). Anyway, the important thing is whatever makes you happy and allows you to enjoy the game in your own way. The ability of this game to adapt to your preferred play style using sergeant to Manstein levels, normal to chess results, and numerous customizations regarding experience, prestige, or number of turns, is one of the things that I think makes it so popular.

I typically play regular Field Marshall level. Dealing with Manstein hordes just doesn't excite me much nor does the reduced turn count of Guderian. Rommel I think is easier than Field Marshall as you have reduced prestige, but regular accrual of experience (as opposed to a lower experience accrual in Field Marshall) which aids you in every combat whereas prestige only makes a difference when purchasing troops/upgrades (for the most part). But again, that's just me. Mostly, I just like to have a decent (for me) challenge while I have fun playing around with all the different units.

Limited dice chess always - played full random at the beginning years ago, but got frustrated (like others already mentioned) by the sheer unexpected and in more than enough cases, totally idiotic outcome of battles. It does, like the earlier comment, provide a somewhat casual outcome / predictable, true - but the rugged defense occasions provide for enough surprise outcomes for me.

Dice chess now. Used to play random but it got too silly too often.

turn4441 wrote:While occasionally infuriating, I prefer normal.
Dice chess is very comfortable but boring in that there isn't need for strategy (being prepared for the unexpected). It is easier as you never have to worry about devastating bad roll that costs you a favorite unit or wipes out your strategy.

Yeah I think 'normal' is more realistic, my tanks have learned to respect any infantry in town,
so I never enter a town with a tank unit without firstly pin the meat down with arty or bomber.

Normal. The abnormal settings all sacrifice a lot of strategy and skill, as well as realism. Strategy is lost because there is no need to support your attacks as your front line until will never suffer unexpected heavy casualties, because you always know exactly how many units are needed to hold a given position against attack, etc.

Realism is lost because unexpected heavy losses absolutely do happen. Kolobanov once destroyed 43 German tanks and lost none. In real life, your favorite units do die sometimes. I get that it feels good to be able to beat the game on Manstein every time without losing a unit, but that must also get pretty boring.