Mirror match disparities

Liebchen · 11-30-2006, 02:20 PM,

Glenn Saunders · 11-30-2006, 04:54 PM,

FLG · (This post was last modified: 11-30-2006, 06:11 PM by FLG.)

I would raise an issue here which is that all scenarios use the std programmed weather, but for some it is not appropriate.

For example, I was playing one the shorter St42 scenario, 1120-23, which requires the soviets to assault Rumanians and the axis get a German motorised div as support. Nearly all soviet objectives are deep in axis territory.

The scenario lasts about two and a half days and I got bad weather for two of them, iirc it was a storm on both days. This cut movement to 1 hex per turn for 95% of my forces. Even though I anhiliated his Rumanians, obviously, I still ended up with a total loss because, except for a lone tank brigade and to some extent a cavalry unit, none of my troops could reach any other objective. Nothing I could do about it.

For any game which requires one side to meet objectives deep in an enemies territory using programmed weather which makes that impossible is inappropriate and a seperate weather file should be created specifically for that scenario removing the worst excesses of the weather

Sgt Fury · 12-01-2006, 03:01 AM,

If this is the RedStar match, I have the same situation. And, in fact, these games are played with programmed weather. Unfortunately, programmed weather is not checked until the midnight turn -- not at scenario start. So you will end up with whatever the designer set, but it will be properly reset at midnight.

Fury

**Ricky B** · 12-01-2006, 04:21 AM,

Actually, I am the other party in this, hadn't given it too much thought except remembering at the start there was a wide swing in visibility. I am just glad I didn't start the turns or I might think something was funny in it.

Glenn, I will probably send you something on this, as I don't think that first day visibility matches either the weather.dat OR the scenario set weather, but I need to look at it a little bit more first. I will work on that tonight!

Rick

Liebchen · 12-01-2006, 08:56 AM,

If that's the way the game works, well then, that's that.

I'm not really complaining... Well, not that much, I mean. :rolleyes: Just more like curious as to whether this happens much. I'm still not clear on the answer.

Are you all saying that weather for turn one is random in any game? (Within parameters, of course.) Is there no way for the designer of the scenario to say what the weather for the first day will be?

Sgt Fury · 12-01-2006, 12:35 PM,

No, the designer can set the initial visibility and then it can vary within the parameters he set (ie min/max) until midnight when it appears that programmed weather will take over.

In the Redstar scenario, the initial visibility is 1, min is 1 and max is 5. In my game, on turn 2 one of the games jumped 1->5 in visibility while the other stayed at 1. The weather.dat file indicates 2-3km I think.

Fury

Liebchen · 12-01-2006, 01:51 PM,

Well that is odd, then, because we're still on day one. Visibility has been 1 and 5 since turn one...

FLG · 12-01-2006, 07:22 PM,

Sgt Fury Wrote:If this is the RedStar match, I have the same situation. And, in fact, these games are played with programmed weather. Unfortunately, programmed weather is not checked until the midnight turn -- not at scenario start. So you will end up with whatever the designer set, but it will be properly reset at midnight.

Fury

Programmed weather uses a percentage for the 5 different weather types plus a chance of storm. So unless the designers sets the percentages to 0 or 100 in both type and weather slots there is always variability in the weather experienced.

For the example I gave, the appropriate weather data is

21 11 1942 0 0 0 75 25 2 4 10
22 11 1942 0 0 0 25 75 2 5 10

The chance of storm on either day is 1 in 10. So there is only a 1 in 100 chance of getting a storm on both days. I was unlucky yes but it also made the scenario unplayable.

In a grand campaign this probably wouldn't have been too significant but in a short scenario it was a killer. Hence my argument that short scenarios, where one player starts off with a major loss and requires rapid movement and manouver to gain the victory points to win or even draw, those scenarios should use specially tailored weather files to remove the worst of the weather on those days

**Ricky B** · 12-01-2006, 11:58 PM,

In the case of shorter scenarios, the easiest solution is just don't play with programmed weather. For programmed weather, there is only one weather.dat file used, and rather than reprogram for a small benefit, go with the scenario set weather. The only real benefit to programmed weather is to control the chances of various weather and visibility conditions over time rather than being the same every single day, but for a short one, playing with the scenario set weather should work fine because it isn't long enough to matter.

Rick