TGIF: scenario list, discussion, and house rules

[TankHunter]

Soviet forces advance to the FLOT

[Volcano]

05 NOV 2021:

 

MBT-S07-05-Exploitation-4267a

(I will announce when the scenario is uploaded and available for planning)

 

NOTE: The scenarios can have long time limits in the MBT campaign (some up to 180 minutes), but scenarios will seldom play to the full time limit. We should try to limit planning to 30 minutes.

 

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

• Draft? No, but by side if no CO is available.
• Random CO selection? No. Any new players will go to the side that needs them at the moment.
• Minimum # players: 8 (Red [4] vs Blue [4])

NOTES:

• Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

[Volcano]

Scenario is now available for your planning delights.

 

This one and the next one has the longest time limit, if I recall, so we need to limit our planning to about 20 minutes and start at TGIF + 30 or so.

[Volcano]

An error was noticed with the NATO side -- supposed to be +1 M2 Bradley. I'll fix tomorrow, along with some other fixes, hopefully, and will post here when it is available...

[Volcano]

Corrected version (MBT-S07-05-Exploitation-4267b) now available in the usual place.

[Poofydoodle]

Hi guys, I'm pretty much brand new and was hoping to drop in, but I was wondering where I can get the scenario? I just want to make sure there is a vehicle I feel somewhat competent in crewing available before I end up causing any issues.

[TSe419E]

The scenario is in the file browser of the Steel Beasts TeamSpeak Server "SB Lobby."

 

Choose "Connections" in the upper left-hand corner of TeamSpeak and click on "Connect."  Enter this IP; 216.22.24.158 and then connect.  Right click on "SB Lobby" and choose "Open File Browser."  The scenario file is the zipped file, double click on it and it will automatically download.

 

There are M1s, M2s, M113s, and M60A3s on blue but not all are ready at the start of the scenario.  There are T-72s and BMP-2s (mostly) on the red side.

[Poofydoodle]

Awesome thanks! Ill probably try to get on red if I can. Ill take a look at the scenario and see if it feels like something I can handle.

[TSe419E]

👍

[Volcano]

Thanks for playing scenario 7.

2 more remaining. Blue won another, but Red kept it close. After the awards were factored in, the points accumulated by Blue was only +286. Not bad, still close - at least a Draw result is still very much possible (only 330 points away).

 

Interestingly, after all the awards so far, the difference in points is only +2. That means its pretty balanced so far there. (Of course once its over I will adjust the requirements based on all the accumulated data, that's why we are playing it out), and then will likely also use it in Firefight 79 too, once its balanced and adjusted. The MOM and MOV must be possible for both sides, but rare to make it noteworthy (but obtainable) achievement. 

 

Here are the results + awards... 

MBT 87-21

[Volcano]

22 hours ago, Poofydoodle said:

Awesome thanks! Ill probably try to get on red if I can. Ill take a look at the scenario and see if it feels like something I can handle.

 

Glad you could participate.

 

Hopefully you managed to have some fun - we could always use more people on Red (we seem to be scraping by on dedicated participation right at the end of the campaign here), so please return if you can. 😎

[Valleyboy]

It was a fun game, I think we all respected Red's decision to not push for a breakthrough because it would have gotten pretty bloody and I think not to Red's advantage, though maybe closer on points.  On the other hand, the divisional commissar is detecting a distinct reluctance to die for one's country.  Western Europe doesn't conquer itself.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Valleyboy
Changed "blue" to "red" and fixed my itself quote

[Poofydoodle]

On 11/6/2021 at 2:01 AM, Volcano said:

 

Glad you could participate.

 

Hopefully you managed to have some fun - we could always use more people on Red (we seem to be scraping by on dedicated participation right at the end of the campaign here), so please return if you can. 😎

I had a great time even though I dont feel like I helped a whole lot haha but that was to be expected that I just happened to get the game a day before lol.

 

I prefer reds units so I have no problem playing red although I like german units too if blue ever needs me.

 

Part of me wonders if there was any validity in trying to heavily push before blues rear units were resupplied.

 

I will be here as long as I dont fall asleep after work on friday lol

Edited November 8, 2021 by Poofydoodle

[Gibsonm]

53 minutes ago, Poofydoodle said:

I prefer reds units so I have no problem playing red although I like german units too if blue ever needs me.

 

I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to change sides as you go along, so you are likely to be a Red player for the duration.

 

I'm also not sure if either of the remaining missions have German units.

[Volcano]

Yeah, once you join a side you have to stick with that side until the end, so you are Red for life (well, at least for the last two missions if you show up again). 😁

[Volcano]

3 hours ago, Poofydoodle said:

Part of me wonders if there was any validity in trying to heavily push before blues rear units were resupplied.

 

True, but in hindsight the terrain didn't fit Red's assigned mission well as the terrain was quite restricted (apart from say, just blindly advancing into a possible ambush area, which isn't fun). The idea being that Blue has to use some haste in resupply with some forces. 

 

But then again, that is why we are playing the campaign - so I can see what works, and what doesn't, and I will make (and have already made) changes to make all the scenarios better.

 

Choosing the right map that fits the mission type is the single most difficult aspect to making a good scenario in SB (IMO), as this affects the experience the most. So far the map selection has been good I think, so 9 out of 10 (hopefully) would be a pretty successful rate there. 😎

[Valleyboy]

3 hours ago, Poofydoodle said:

I had a great time even though I dont feel like I helped a whole lot haha but that was to be expected that I just happened to get the game a day before lol.

 

I prefer reds units so I have no problem playing red although I like german units too if blue ever needs me.

 

Part of me wonders if there was any validity in trying to heavily push before blues rear units were resupplied.

 

I will be here as long as I dont fall asleep after work on friday lol

One thing to keep in mind is that after the campaign is over, we'll likely be back to a mix of missions with lots of variety in terms of what units are being used and what's being accomplished, sometimes with as many as 4 sides.  You'll have a good chance every Friday to get used to being on the same team with a lot of the long-term players of Steel Beasts (I'm a noob myself), so while you already came at an opportune time, you'll get to see a lot of variety outside of the existing campaign fairly soon. 

[Poofydoodle]

That all sounds great, I have no problem sticking with red side for whats rest of the campaign and really there are some American units i'd like to try out too like the TOW vehicles, I really wish the BRDM-2 with ATGMs was playable because thats pretty much my all time favorite vehicle haha but its fun to drive the normal recon version too. Ill have to try commanding the AI ATGM version sometime.

[Volcano]

Yes, a playable BRDM-AT would be nice (tm). 

[Volcano]

12 NOV 2021:

 

MBT-S08-26-Power Strike (BAOR)-4265a

(I will announce when the scenario is uploaded and available for planning)

 

NOTE: The scenarios can have long time limits in the MBT campaign (some up to 180 minutes), but scenarios will seldom play to the full time limit. We should try to limit planning to 30 minutes.

 

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

• Draft? No, but by side if no CO is available.
• Random CO selection? No. Any new players will go to the side that needs them at the moment.
• Minimum # players: 8 (Red [4] vs Blue [4])

NOTES:

• Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

[Volcano]

Scenario is now uploaded to the SB Lobby for your pleasures.

 

Keep in mind that this scenario is very complicated, lots of events, they were inspected and should work, but keep in mind that there might be issues.

[Volcano]

OK, so I noticed some typos and contradictions in the briefing. I'll keep the current version of the scenario and fix the typos after, so I don't screw up the plan, but here are the corrections for NATO side:

 

-Reinforcement arrival should say "70 - 130 minutes" (72 to 128 to be precise), but in the briefing it might say something else in various places, and also the on-map text might differ too.

-Red side has 1x BRM-1 and 1x BRDM-2 for recon (it only says BRDM-2).

-Red side ATGM teams are AT-4b exactly, not a mix of AT-7/AT-4.

 

In the score section, I forgot to add this text:

-15 penalty pts per each non-relief force BAOR vehicle located outside the sector at the end of the scenario (For example, you cannot move all the M113s to the outside of the sector to hide in the AA1,2,3,4,5 areas to avoid strength losses)

 

If I notice anything else I will edit and add it here.

 

[TSe419E]

I think one of the bridge demo’s is just west of its intended target.   There is a big red “X” over a river just west of a bridge northwest of the objective.

[Volcano]

3 minutes ago, TSe419E said:

I think one of the bridge demo’s is just west of its intended target.   There is a big red “X” over a river just west of a bridge northwest of the objective.

Ah, good catch, the X is in the correct place - there used to be a bridge there but I removed it because the rail line went up the hill and ended and looked terrible. I'll remove the X in the next version though. Thanks!

[Volcano]

One more correction to the briefing added the post above (in purple text) -- there was some text that was missing from the scoring section.