Input Combat Results?

[gcbisset]

I just posted this under 2 specific titles, but maybe here is a good spot to address this for strategy games in general:

I, like many miniatures wargamers, am always looking for strategy wargames that can be used to run miniatures campaigns. I am a solo wargamer, so need a program with AI, which most have.)

To do this you also need 1 of 2 things:

A game feature that allows you to do the tactical battles using another game or system, and just input unit strength loses and whether one side retreats.

Or a way to edit saved games that would allow the same thing.

How hard would it be to add such a feature to startegy wargames , or to edit the saved games for the same function? Does anyone know of strategy titles where this could be done, especially the edit saves part?

Ive read there are 10 times the number of miniature wargamers than serious computer wargame users, so the potential to increase sales is great for any serious computer strategy game.

George

[rhondabrwn]

Ah, the Holy Grail of miniatures gaming! I've been hearing people express this desire for decades now. I'm surprised that no one has created some kind of universal campaign generator for miniature gamers.

There are games that could be adapted though.

John Tiller's HPS Campaign series for ACW and Napoleonic periods can actually meet your needs.

If you start a PBEM campaign game (not a scenario) the games have a little box called "Use Expected Values". If you select this, the campaign will run through a number of battles automatically, with your strategic input being requested after each battle. The sim then selects the next battle scenario (from a huge library) based on the player inputs. The next battle is auto resolved and the campaign continues.

HOWEVER... and I expect few players realize this... if you click "CANCEL" instead of "OK" when you get the battle description, it will drop you into that scenario to fight it out. So you can jump through several auto resolve battles and then pick one to actually fight.

BUT you say... I want to fight with miniatures.... gotcha covered... you look at the battle scenario and use that as the parameters for your miniature battle and then when you have a result from that battle, you can go back into the game and input a PBEM Termination Bid with five levels of battle results... major, minor, draw, minor major... the 2nd player agrees to the level of defeat or victory and the game ends with that result and a new battle scenario will be produced once again in response to the battle result and player strategic input.

I think this could work pretty well AND you can mod these games to insert your own orders of battle and create your own campaign scripts so you could probably create a series of small battles that could be fought out easily at miniature scale.

I don't see why this wouldn't work. The games come with PDF instructions for the campaign scripting. The maps can be edited as well.

Hope this piques your interest

[Saint Ruth]

I've been thinking of doing something like that, but currently
in my spare time, I'm doing a wargame, so maybe it (as is) would work for what you want:

You can edit saved games, and it allows import/export of data in csv format (so you can use a spread sheet editor to change the data if you want).
So you can take your turns and then go in and edit the scenario to put the "correct" values that units should have after the battle...

There's a full scenario editor too, and though it's all Desert, you can of course change the terrain/unit graphics to whatever you want as everything is in the images dir...

It's here:
http://members.upc.ie/jeanette.kelly/

[Wolfe1759]

From the Empires in Arms product page

Save your unit setups for quick reuse in later games, import / export battles for miniature games, multiplayer hotseat games, solo games, PBEM games

Don't have the game myself so can't comment on how good / bad or comprehensive this function is.

[gcbisset]

So far I had ruled out the Tiller campaign games because they are a decision tree type game, and not one where you can decide yourself where to march, move as you wish over the map, etc. Have they changed that? I do love the tactical system and I talk about it on my wargaming site:

http://gbisset.bravesites.com

Also its my understanding that the oobs are locked, unless there is a work around for that. and the maps cant be created, just made smaller. Now the good thing is that they make such enormous maps, you can use the less famous corners of those maps as a sort of random, unknown map.

Im going to check out that new wargame now, thanks!

EIA I have, and It could be used for most European wars. It turns out the minis part doesnt work smoothly right now for combat results in solo mode, but does for multiplayer games, and there is a workaround where you can have the AI take over for a PBEM player, so you can play PBEM solo, so Im looking at that.

[Alex777]

<deleted>

[Sarge]

ORIGINAL: gcbisset

I just posted this under 2 specific titles, but maybe here is a good spot to address this for strategy games in general:

I like many miniatures wargamers, am always looking for strategy wargames that can be used to run miniatures campaigns.
George

we use vassal on the laptop to muzzle load Tactical Combat Results onto a strategic map…… I’m sure whatever era you're rolling there’s a strategic board game vassal module out there.
http://www.vassalengine.org

[gcbisset]

Yes, Vassal, Cyberboard, etc work well for human PBEM campaigns. Im afraid I am a solo wargamer, and so I am looking for something with AI.

I tried Berthier, which has some AI thru Warplan, but I was too dense to figure out how to play.

But there are many, many good strategic pc games with AI that I think could be modded fairly easily by their designers, or where the saved game files could be edited to achieve the same results.

[Sarge]

What era ‘n rule set are you rolling, there’s plenty of AI opinions available for minis . I thought you just wanted a strategic map and counters to record the tactical results ?

[gcbisset]

I use a lot of PC games for minis, some of them old DOS games: The Tiller games, Field of Glory Digital, AOR, SPWAW, Battle Academy.

I do like For Liberty, and would use that for both aspects if it had an editor and map maker. Also Forge of Freedom for both.

I could badly use something with a map editor. Id like to make a filibustering game for central america, Cuba and Mexico.

Im not fussy about the rules, only that they be intuitive enough that I can figure them out. The strategic part can be simple and still give a great story to the minis battles.

I play all eras.


Incidently the Desert War game by St Ruth mentioned above looks great, and I will test it out. The only thing I cant figure out at this point is how to make a new map, what size it could be etc. I would like something larger than the Desrt War map, if possible.