Something about 1.03 I'm worried about

[Dogovich]

My main guide for creating the compromise that I did is based pretty much on what the designers placed in the programming. The following gives an approximate to the weather conditions that are suppose to represented within the game:

Clear 18-20 Hex Overcast 15-17 hex Haze 10-14 Hex
Dust/LtSnow/LtRain 8-9 Hex Intense Heat Haze/Squals 6-7 hex
LtFog/ModDust 5 ThickFog/HvyRain/HvySnow 1-4 Hex

Basically Overcast and clear weather can be fairly stable conditions and can be expected to remain constant. Many factors in the lower part of the spectrum such as Thick fog/Hvy Snow etc can also stay steady for long periods of time. Anything in the middle are relatively unstable conditions that can change suddenly or gradually over a short amount of time. From what I've seen in my test runs for the mid range that I selected, things are fairly gradual and not overly severe over the long run.


"So to answer Dogovich question if a scn is unhistorical when visibilty changes randomly is YES. Once it changes outside the historical weather reports, it is unhistorical. I do not claim to have read or used weather reports for all my scenarios, but for those with 1 hex visibility it is documented well, exceeding this 1 hex is unhistorical."

"Huib"

In answer to this, once a player starts to move his forces, and fails to use the historic tactics of the day, or alters things to such a degree that the outcome of a battle is changed, then it ceases to be historical and becomes a "what if." Then too, what of the effects of random events? How many ambushes, assaults, etc have been affected by the moon coming out, or the rain ceasing, or any other chance encounter. If we as players are able to the minute to account for weather conditions and when they'll change, we can base whole strategies on them. In tossing in a little variability, I sought to enhance the degree of chance in a fight and maybe present the player with a greater amount of replay in a scenario. Isn't that why a good designer will set percentage chances on when reinforcements arrive or when fixed troops are released?

I was less swayed by arguments about history than I was about scale. Ed is right. Scale does have to be accounted for. Claims of historical accuracy are often subject to a designer's interpretation or else by an absence of facts concerning a battle. But as long as a designer can get the general feel of a battle down, and make it fun to play for both sides, then I have no problem if the facts are fudged a bit, or the situation changes. The best scenarios are those that don't follow the same exact path each time they are played. Otherwise, they tend to get stale and too predictable.

But anyway, for my part, the visual variability that I originally programmed in was overly severe and I had no problem with altering it.