Command Action Points and Persistent Mode

This exciting new release is a faithful adaptation of the renowned Conflict of Heroes board game that won the Origins Historical Game of the Year, Charles Roberts Wargame of the Year and the James F. Dunnigan Design Elegance Award, as well as many others!

Designed and developed in cooperation with Uwe Eickert, the original designer of Conflict of Heroes, and Western Civlization Software, the award-winning computer wargame studio, no effort has been spared to bring the outstanding Conflict of Heroes gameplay to the computer. Conflict of Heroes includes an AI opponent as well as full multiplayer support with an integrated forum and game lobby. To remain true to the core gameplay of the board game, the PC version is designed to be fun, fast and easy to play, though hard to master. The game design is also historically accurate and teaches and rewards platoon and company-level combined arms tactics without overwhelming the player with rules.

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Gizuria
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Command Action Points and Persistent Mode

Post by Gizuria »

I've been playing a couple of missions in Classic mode and I like the fact that I have to decide what to do when I have an active unit with APs remaining that can't influence something that the AI player is doing. In Persistent play mode, there's no decision to be made. I just activate other units and come back to your currently active unit later. But what about requiring an expenditure of CAPs to do this in Persistent mode? If I expend one CAP, I can activate a second unit without the first unit losing all its remaining APs. Since these CAPs are meant to simulate leadeship on the battlefield, this is in keeping with the spirit of the game, that a better led force can react more quickly and adapt its plan during the course of a battle.
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IronFist00
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RE: Command Action Points and Persistent Mode

Post by IronFist00 »

Hi FD, I agree with you; I've always preferred Classic APs to Persistent APs. I wrote a little comparison for someone else here: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/fb.asp?m=3237156 but for the sake of keeping it in your thread, here's what I wrote:

Classic AP mode versus Persistent AP mode is an interesting question. I know in the BoardGameGeek forum where they cover the board game (obviously), people are biased towards the Classic AP system as one would expect. Both have merits and I've played with both systems extensively. I feel at the end of the day , Classic AP is a more tactical system and rewards long term planning. You have to be thinking ahead and what you want to accomplish and then execute that plan. When something unforeseen happens, you have to decide the best way to deal with it and there are many, many options (most with pros and cons). With Persistent AP mode, you really don't have to deal with this since it has absolute flexibility and there is rarely if any, repercussions to switching on and off units.

For example if you have a LMG34 as the Active unit and a Rifle squad covering its flank that is "Fresh" (meaning hasn't activated yet) and your opponent unexpectedly launches a flank attack on the LMG34, in Persistent Mode you would simply activate the Rifle hopefully kill the attacker, and then go back to activating the LMG34.

In Classic AP mode you would have to make some choices. You could:
1. Mark the Active LMG34 unit spent losing its remaining APs and Activate the Rifle squad with it gaining its full APs to use.

2. Keep the LMG34 active and decide to use an Opportunity Action. This would allow you to perform one action with the Rifle squad and then it would be marked spent while the LMG34 was still the Active unit. It's inefficient but represents the difficulties of command and getting a unit to change tasks on a fly.

3. Keep the LMG34 active by using a Command (CAP)Action. This means spending only CAPS to make the Rifle fire while preserving the LMG34 as the Active unit and also the "Fresh" state of the Rifle unit. Of course you need CAPs do do that and there is never enough around to do everything you want.

4. Keep the LMG34 active but doing a Card Action which again allows the Rifle to act without changing either the LMG34 or its status. A card could also negatively affect the enemy unit, something like "Marked as Used."

As you can see, there are many more choices and combinations of what can be done using the Classic AP mode over the Persistent AP mode. I do know the PC allows the Persistent Mode whereas the board game designer didn't think it would work in a board game setting.

It does come down to personal preference so in that way, there is no wrong choice. However the two people I know who came to this game by way of the PC game and Persistent AP mode who I taught Classic AP mode to, prefer it and have switched.
Ratzki
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RE: Command Action Points and Persistent Mode

Post by Ratzki »

Would you favour one type of game over another dependant upon your opponent? Do you think that Classic gives the AI a better showing or Persistant?
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IronFist00
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RE: Command Action Points and Persistent Mode

Post by IronFist00 »

It wouldn't be dependent if I was versing a human. In that case, I give my opponent their choice since I feel comfortable playing either; if they didn't care, my preference is Classic AP. If I'm playing the AI, I play Persistent APs since my understanding from conversations with Eric is the AI was coded with that mode in mind.

When I do play the AI, I usually use boardgame settings so no Fog of War, etc. I find it more enjoyable that way.
Ratzki
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RE: Command Action Points and Persistent Mode

Post by Ratzki »

Does the AI seem to play better using with persistent APs? What differences have you noticed between the two modes and how the AI plays?
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IronFist00
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RE: Command Action Points and Persistent Mode

Post by IronFist00 »

In my opinion, the AI does play better using Persistent APs. The main reason is because it doesn't "spend" its units frivolously trying to get a unit to react to what you are doing and while trying to get another unit to do what it wants. Since Persistent AP mode is much more forgiving, the AI benefits from this.
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