X-Mod thread

[TheBigRedOne]

There has always been a debate about the parameters within SB, especially on the Development Team. A lot of thought goes into scenario design and playability leveling itself out with overall lethality and effectiveness. A LOT of discussion went into the M-1A1 in Modern War. Part of that issue was dealing more with unrealistic tactics, especially folks who like to use their armor as roving steam-rollers, something I've never thought was a very realistic tactic, but is done quite often. By this I mean an individual tank searching out targets and instead of suppressing them with fire, simply running them over without any infantry support, like a combined assault on an objective. By this I mean if a tank sees a squad on a road, say 300m away, the 'realistic' thing to do would be to simply open fire. In SB a tank can cover that ground and roll over the infantry squad, something, to me, that isn't really realistic, but the engine allows it. Some changes to the PDTs over the years have changed which terrain armor can go and increase the immobilization factor in others, which helps slow down this type of play. I also never liked the fact that single shot weapons like RPGs or Bazooka degrade. Either you have the rockets, or you don't, although wear-and-tear does come into play. LAWs are single use weapons, but as we all know, if you carry more weapons, you get hit with a movement penalty. It's why I hate radios!

The thought of all weapons being somewhat immortal has some issues as well, but given the length of most SB scenarios, it isn't all that unrealistic. The key, I think, is keep the unit morale levels as they were when the scenario was designed and play with the Quality Loss Modifier on. This will temper the increase in lethality and lack of degradation because your casualty rate is now based on the soldier, not the weapon, which is a very realistic modifier to have in play under these circumstances. A D moraled soldier is not going to be as effective as an elite one. Not sure if you guys do that or edit the morales in the X-Mod, but I think it would be the true 'realism' modifier if you kept that part of the game as-is.

I think anything that increases playability and interest in the series is a good thing. I could envision an X-Modded Tourney in the future, if there was enough interest, and it could be coordinated properly.