A view from the other side-Battle of Wadi Al-Batin

Mustang · #1 February 10th, 2006, 01:33 AM

The Battle of Wadi Al-Batin ("Fright Night") (not to be confused with the 1st Cav probing action a few days earlier, already a scenario in the game) was the closest Iraq came to winning a battle in the Gulf War. Using a reverse-slope defence, the Iraqi commander suckered the Americans into a close-quarter duel, disabling two Abrams tanks (the only ones lost to enemy fire in the whole war). Only seven Abrams tanks were hit during the whole war, making this battle the closest America came to defeat. It was a small, short, but intense encounter. As the Iraqi commander, can you decisively defeat the American advance and save the day for your country?

Mustang · #2 February 10th, 2006, 01:29 PM

Come on, I know it might not be the most interesting scenario in the game, but taking artistic license comes at the cost of historical accuracy. The battle only lasts 10 turns, and the real encounter took only a few minutes. It was very short, intense, and unsophisticated, which is what this scenario is supposed to be. What are your comments?

Artur · #3 February 10th, 2006, 06:21 PM

I tried the scenario.

The idea is brilliant. I have one comment that not all VHexes are deployed on the map. If you wish to place low value VHexes you can do it by setting their value to 5 or 10 each.

I played it to a draw, slightly more points to the Iraqi side but I hope I will do better next time. I like this scenario very much but it neads tweaking.

Good work!

Artur.

Mustang · #4 February 10th, 2006, 10:11 PM

Well, I made it in about 30 minutes so I'm not surprised if it isn't perfect. The game (M1 Tank Platoon II) I based this on gave a good map and OOB for each side, but I have no way to check whether it's accurate or not.

I placed the VHex there just to give the AI something to advance on. It's low value because I don't want to give the Iraqi player points for just delaying the enemy.

And about the tweaking, can you be specific? It's about as historically accurate as I can get it, so I'd rather not mess with it too much, but do you mean it's too easy, to hard, too boring or what?

Artur · #5 February 11th, 2006, 05:08 AM

Three things that came to my mind.
- Deploy all VHexes. Make them with value od 10. Spread on the two ridges to give the AI a hint where to go.
- Dig in the iraqi tanks. I would put them all on the reverse slope, and dig in.
- Dig in Artillery too they are in good place ready to be evaquated if needed.

Again, this is a very good idea!

Artur.

Mobhack · #6 February 11th, 2006, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Artur said:
Three things that came to my mind.
- Deploy all VHexes. Make them with value od 10. Spread on the two ridges to give the AI a hint where to go.
- Dig in the iraqi tanks. I would put them all on the reverse slope, and dig in.
- Dig in Artillery too they are in good place ready to be evaquated if needed.

Again, this is a very good idea!

Artur.

Yes - NEVER have any V-hexes off map, it can cause the AI to have navigation fits trying to drive to -1,-1. (Any not needed you can give 0 value and lay on top of one with value).

Also - very low value V-hexes may simply be ignored by the AI, perhaps those under about 25 points. So 5 or 10 point V-hexes therefore are probably not that good an idea.

Cheers
Andy

Artur · #7 February 11th, 2006, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Mobhack said:

Also - very low value V-hexes may simply be ignored by the AI, perhaps those under about 25 points. So 5 or 10 point V-hexes therefore are probably not that good an idea.

Cheers
Andy

Well I always learn something

. Mustang, make the VHexes worth 30 or 40.

Artur.

Mustang · #8 February 11th, 2006, 07:59 PM

The attachment at the first post has been updated. All I did was dig in the Iraqi tanks (I'm not sure, but they were likely in sand berms) and I also placed all V-hexes on the map. Also, the artillery has now been placed in a retreat hex so that it's off-map and safe.

Quote:

Deploy all V-hexes and spread them out over the ridge.

I think I only really need one V-hex. The Americans realistically just layed down artillery and charged over the ridge. It was a very simple strategy, and they paid for it. It's enough to just put one V-hex on the ridge, because that's enough to tell the AI where to go.

Quote:

Dig in the Iraqi tanks. I would put them all on the reverse slope, then dig in.

At the beginning of the scenario, the tanks are deployed as they realistically where at the start of the battle. You have one turn before the Americans come on-map, giving you a chance to redeploy the way YOU want them.

Quote:

Dig in the Artillery too.

I updated the first post now, and the artillery has been placed in a retreat hex so that it withdraws off-map. Apparently, the SO-122s and mortars can still fire even when retreated.

hoplitis · #9 February 11th, 2006, 08:08 PM

Onmap artillery continues to fire after retreated offmap? Sounds like a bug to me!

Mustang · #10 February 13th, 2006, 03:05 PM

Well, at least it dosen't hurt in this scenario. You never noticed that?