Sample of MultipleChoiceSupportAssets & Secondary

[Pyros]

Hi,

It took me less than 2 hours to prepare this very basic sample of a combination 1-turn M.C.S.A. mission plus a secondary mission.
You will request your support assets at mission 1 and at mission 2 you will have the choice to either destroy the arty camp and gain some benefit to the next primary mission or you may bypass the arty camp and simply gain 10 more turns to the primary mission (the secondary mission won't delay you)!

[Pyros]

By the way, the secondary mission should be playable...

You should notice the difference of the support assets not only in type, but also in entry time and probability chance.

North/south edges have minefields, and use smoke cove to create smoke screen while crossing the bridge.

Be aware that hostile reinforcements will arrive after turn10 (from the jungle).

So the choice is yours... if you destroy the camp you won't face any arty in the primary mission but if you prefer to ignore this you will avoid casualties and you will gain 10 additional turns in the primary mission (still the enemy will have arty).

cheers,

p.s this is not a real mission, just a quick example of secondary mission (has not been tested)!

[Pyros]

I forgot to mention that you will also experience the full strength of the core force and the actuall strength of the Aux air assets (Helos as reinforcements)

cheers,

[FJ_MD]

I'm going to try this!


Geia sou!

Davide

[FJ_MD]

Is there a way to not show the screen results after the first map? (the one where you choose what support to have)

What about if you select both flag in the camp map?

And what about if you achieve both of the choices in the secondary map? +10 turn -5 turn = +5 turn plus no arty in the primary?



Davide

[Pyros]

Hi Davide,

No there isn't any way not to show the results, but there is a way to change the campaign result text by importing a new text file with the description of the support assets for the selected ToO.

It will be stated that the player should select only one of the two flag locations. If he chooses both of them he will win a decisive victory and he will follow the second path/choise. The choice A is from decisive defeat to draw and the choice B from marginal victory to decisive victory.
So whatever a player do he will receive one of the 2 support assets.

In the secondary scenario, if the player wins a marginal or decisive victory he will follow the second path of the primary mission. If on the other hand he choose to simply walk by the map (taking the north road) he will probably score a draw or marginal defeat and he will follow the first primary path.
But if he chooses to not engage at all he will suffer a decisive defeat and he will lose the chapter (he will continue with the next chapter)

The basic scoring mechanism of the secondary mission is not based on the value of the flags but it is based on the value of some critical equipment (hostile mortars) that cost 800!!! points. So in order to win something more than a draw the player should destroy that mortar units. In the enemy camp there are also some high value VP flags.

If the player choose to not engage and take the direction of the north path he will still engage the enemy (few low quality troops) and he will conquer some VP low value locations (because these locations are low value the AI might ignore them in the reaction phase and probably won't contest them). The game will probably end with a draw in the "not engaging" condition. If the support elements manage to kill many hostile units (scoring this way a marginal vic) then I will increase the value of the flags inside the arty camp.

The whole point is to play with the "draw" - "marginal" victory conditions or with the "decisive" - "all the others" vicory conditions.

Anyway these are the first tests of the theory... so be patient!

ciao,
Pyros

[Pyros]

Also, in order to make equal the score result from the M.C.S.A. mission we may give a little advantage to the support assets of the marginal defeat path.
This way the player will score less points but he will receive better support assets for the whole ToOs (maybe the availability of some assets will vary; their entry time/reinforcement turn will be earlier in the mission.

ciao,
Pyros

[Pyros]

Just 2 more comments:

1. Today I will try to prepare also a sample primary to present the effects of the secondary to the campaign structure.
2. The player who will contest the arty park in the secondary mission will gain the NO HOSTILE ARTY (or reduced), but this will also have 3 more side effects:
a. The player will have a penalty -5 turns
b. The Aux AirCav spt assets will become available several turns later due to resupply from previous mission
c. The enemy will be slightly better prepared/better defensive positions (because of the delay of the secondary mission).

If in the other hand the player had chosen not to engage the arty camp on the previous secondary mission then he would:
a. Face hostile arty on the primary mission (much more)
b. Caught the enemy somehow unprepared (surprise)
c. He will earn an addition of 10 more turns in the primary mission length
d. The availability of his AirCav spt assets will be sooner (since he stayed out of big troubles in the secondary mission the readiness of the Air assets is higher.

In other words, every decision of the player may/should trigger/alter several parameters/options/features

Another example of a M.C.S.A. mission would be to give the choice to the player to decide wether he wants to split (between secondary and primary) or he wish to keep/use all the support assets during/for the primary mission.
The secondary will receive only a very small fraction of the support assets (nothing like the current secondary - due to sample you have available all the support assets).

cheers,
Pyros

[Pergite]

Pyros said:

In other words, every decision of the player may/should trigger/alter several parameters/options/features

How much of this should be laid out in plain text for the player, or should he be needed to read between the lines?

[Pyros]

This is something for each scenario designer to decide...
For instance, I like to see in the map as much clues as it is possible...
Other players, don't like this and prefer to read in the scenario text all the scenario description.

IMO, any (real) battle commander will make notes on the map!

In other words, you have the last word!

cheers,
Pyros