What makes a good PBEM scenario ?

[nukkxx5058]

Hi,

I'm thinking about what makes a great PBEM scenario. Would appreciate your inputs.

For me, a good scenario would:

- Be fairly large and complex (Canary's Cage is a good example for perfect size and complexity)
- Have naval (incl. subs), air and possibly ground ops
- Be balanced as much as possible (ie. both sides be winnable)
- Perfect balance (ie. exactly the same units/positions, like in a chess game) is not necessary (and could even be boring ?) as matches could be played in two games, one which each side and the win is decided based on the sum of the two games.
- There must be significant number of commercial/neutral units (including neutral submarines, neutral military planes (not just commercials) and there must be HUGE penalty for shooting one. This forces the players to wait for identification before shooting, or take the risk of a huge impact in scoring and losing the game.
- there must be more than just a frontal assault (e.g. two fleets facing is not enough).
- there must be a search phase. If units from both sides are located too close, the fun of searching where the other units are will be lacking.
- Up to 30/40 turns seems good to me

What do you guys think ?

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PS: hope this is the right location to post this (i.e. that this sub-forum is for all PBEM related posts, not just for finding opponents). In case, don't hesitate to move the post to the appropriate section.

[nukkxx5058]

I have to amend a bit what I thought ! I'm currently playing the PBEM tournament scenario (COMPLEX #1) and it's perfectly symmetrical, two fleets facing but at the same time incredibly fun !
So two fleets facing and perfect equilibrium of forces can be very fun. Why that ? Because, among others, the scenario has an interesting configuration with the islands in the middle and possibility to take land objectives. Also it's interesting because of the large range of different aircrafts and possible loadouts. Subs play an important role to in the scen. Changing meteorological conditions add some salt.

A very nice piece of work ! ***applauds***
To be meditated when creating a new scenario ...