View Full Version : I'm proud to announce RobO's Quick campaign (ROQC) version 1
Version 1.00 of ROQC is now ready for your pleasure! Get it here (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/) :D
Lead your men across the Russian steppes or through the Finnish forests. Up or down the Baltic coast or towards Moscow or Berlin. The choice is yours.
Take a platoon, a company, a mixed force, a battalion or even a single tank. Watch your men fight, learn, gain medals, become casualties, get replaced and - if you're doing well - get rewarded with better equipment.
Your core force can be German, Soviet or Finnish. You can decide what your force will be, but not what the enemy will be. ROQC is designed to adjust to provide the proper level of difficulty for you, so that the games against the AI will be challenging and varied. Some will be easy, some will be very difficult.
The battles you get are generated on the basis of the strategic historical setting at the time and region of the battle. Your job is however to fulfil an operational order that simulates the local situation at regimental level. This usually involves winning in Combat Mission terms, but not always. Different operational orders emphasize different goals. For example, Exploit requires you to exit a mechanized force off the enemy side of the map and Hold requires you to hang on to the victory flags, no matter what.
To be a bit more specific:
In ROQC you take a core force through a series of quick battles against the AI, interspaced with some bookkeeping. Your core force participates in all battles, and is supported by (or supports, if you prefer) varying troops from your side.
This is basically what you will do
1. Pick a nationality, time and place
2. Select (if this is the first battle) or update your core force.
3. Set up and play a quick battle following these rules.
4. Record and process data from the battle
5. Advance the time of the battle and go to 2. Repeat until finished.
That?s all, really. You will be using both the editor and the QB generator, but it?s all explained in detail. Don?t worry; you can accomplish this even if you have never opened the editor before.
There is a spreadsheet that automates pretty much everything, including setting up the sheet for the next battle. Highly recommended. It really makes using ROQC very easy. The spreadsheet is programmed in Excel using VB, which will unfortunately make it unavailable to some potential users. But you can stil use ROQC, as the necessary tables can be printed. It's more tedious without the spreadsheet, but not more tedious than BCR without automation ;)
ROQC Version 1.00 is the result of more than 6 months of development and testing. It is a great product, and I'm proud to release it in the shape it has. Many thanks to the testers - I didn't do it all alone, though I ofc. did drive the process.
At the ROQC website (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/) you'll find, besides the campaign itself, updates and add-ons (e.g. more suggested campaigns) and - in time - a list of problems and suggestions.
:) So, go ahead and enjoy :) That's what it's all about, really. I find ROQC both fun and addictive.
To provide a bit of spice I have added an image from my latest campaign, where my core force consists of a single SU122 and starts in January 1943. It shows an artillery top hit, probably from an 81mm mortar. Those tanks are some tough bastards. The crew didn't even budge.
Sounds like fun, & seems similar to the first Steel Panthers campaigns. As soon as I clear up some time I'll give it a shot.
How many battles typically make up a campaign?
Sounds like fun, & seems similar to the first Steel Panthers campaigns. As soon as I clear up some time I'll give it a shot.
How many battles typically make up a campaign?
The original SP campaign was a main inspiration. I spent a lot of time with that end enjoyed it very much.
The full east front campaign from Barbarossa to Berlin is around 50 battles, perhaps a bit more. The average should be a bit over 1 battle per month, depending on the time and region. Time moves faster in ROQC on static frontlines. The Finnish region is a bit different, but not all that much. And if you pick a small core force (less than 500 points) many battles will be small. A very small one, like the one I used in the example mentioned above, with a core force of less than 200 points, will generate battles in the range 300 to 800 points. But then your core force will most likely increase in value over time, making for larger battles as time progresses.
But you could well make a smaller campaign by starting later than June 41 or finishing before May 45. A number of the example campaigns are shorter. It's not that hard to come up with others, and I expect most people have a specific core force or vehicle model they'd like to try. Many of these aen't available through the whole east front war.
Thanks,
Can't wait to find the time & get started.
Can you start with say with a PZ III and upgrade your crew eventually to a PZ V?
Sorry for the delay. I have been away for a few days.
Can you start with say with a PZ III and upgrade your crew eventually to a PZ V?
Sure. It will cost your crew a couple of experience to change tank type, but that's not a major problem. The cost difference could be, esp. if you're upgrading a whole platoon. Panthers are expensive. You ought to be able to manage it if you accumulate Favor and take advantage of the upgrade bonus you get when your PzIII's go obsolete - provided the experience of the crew is high enough. See 7.2.2.3 in the rules.
I have received an interesting request from 88mm (username from the BF forum), which I'd like opinions on if anyone is listening.
It appears that 88mm is using the player ranks as a roleplaying element, and gets into problems because the promotion/demoton mechanism is intended solely to balance the game difficulty. You're not supposed to strive for a higher rank - in a way I guess I should have used generic names for the difficulty levels.
The roleplaying aspect is interesting, however. His suggestion is to have some generic difficulty levels (novice/beginner/etc) that are the main factors in determining difficulty. The ranks would provide smaller difficulty adjustments on top of that. The promotion and demotion mechanism would remain much the same (perhaps changed a bit) so that gaining ranks doesn't come entirely free. This would mean that it is up to the player to adjust the overall difficulty level to his own level of play.
What do you think? Would that be a good addition to the campaign? Please note that the player rank has nothing to do with the rank of the CO of your core force. It would be somewhat ridiculous to have a General command a platoon of tanks.
There is now a beta version available at the ROQC site (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/)
I need some help to test it. Please post here or send me an email if you download it, as I'd like to have some feeling with the amount of attendance it gets. I do not count downloads.
The main changes are the addition of mortars when counting unit experience, a support force adjustment for large core forces and a change in the handling of difficulty that should allow you to progress to a higher rank more easily.
I'm mainly looking for errors in the spreadsheet and in the rules. There is no pdf file yet, nor gif tables - please tell me if you need any of those.
Oh, and be sure to check section 2.3.7 in the rules before moving data from the old sheet to the new one.
Here's the list of changes:
Error corrections:
· Citation for core force as a whole computed incorrectly: Core force citations were never awarded in 1.00
Modifications:
· InText macro removed from spreadsheet.
· The probability of skipping June 1944 in the Finnish region decreased.
· Experience of core force additions added to Control Sheet to help you when upgrading the core force (the value is a copy of the replacement experience value from the previous battle)
· Support force points increased for core forces with point value at least 1200 to allow for more variety in battle size.
· Demotion limit changed to -20% of Favor limit
· Enemy Force Handicap roll changed to decrease the spread of handicaps you get for different battles at the same difficulty level.
· Unit experience update after battle changed so that you now get points for mortars, and tanks with 75mm guns or larger gets less for killing vehicles.
Beta version 1.01d (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/Beta_version.htm) is ready for your pleasure.
There's a minor bug fix and the promised (on the Battlefromt forum) changes to difficulty handling and rank.
Here's the rule text on those issues:
3.1 Difficulty Level
The level of difficulty acts as a modifier when determining the amount of support and opposition you will get.
There are five difficulty levels, explained in the following table:
Difficulty Level Explanation
Tutorial Intended for those people who are unfamiliar with the game.
It is in my opinion too easy for a lengthy campaign.
Easy For people who habitually have difficulty beating the AI.
Normal For people who have some experience with the AI and can beat it fairly often.
Hard For those who have learned how to outmaneuver the AI and who need an extra challenge.
Grueling Use this level if you?re really bored with the AI and don?t mind biting nails :)
Pick the level that suits you best. This level will stay with you for a complete campaign. You can change it during a campaign if you find that you picked the wrong level, but that should be a rare exception. Picking a too low difficulty will, essentially, cause you to gain a lot of Favor and win most of the battles. It will also promote you fairly quickly.
3.2 Player Rank
The rank of you, the player, is used as an extra difficulty modifier and as a role playing element in ROQC. The available ranks are shown here:
Rank Abbreviation
General Gen
Brigadier General Brig Gen
Colonel Col
Lieutenant Colonel Lt Col
Major Maj
Captain Cpt
1st Lieutenant 1st Lt
2nd Lieutenant 2nd Lt
Corporal Cpl
Private Pvt
You start out as 2nd Lieutenant when you start a campaign (you can of course pick another level if you find a need to do so, but that should be an exception).
Your rank changes when you perform exceptionally well or exceptionally badly.
Battles become slightly more difficult on average when you increase in rank (and vice versa), but not as much as changing the difficulty level. Going up 4 ranks (e.g. from 2nd Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel) is equivalent to an increase of one difficulty level.
and
3.7.6 Your Rank and Losing the CO
It is up to you to decide if your rank (see section 3.2) is equivalent to the rank of the CO of your core force. It?s somewhat strange to see a Colonel being in command of a company-sized force ? but it can be a fun way to role play your way through a campaign.
There is a price to pay if you do decide to take on this responsibility: You drop in rank when your CO is replaced.
This happens if the unit with your CO is completely eliminated with no returning soldiers. Your rank drops 2 levels if this happens, but not below 2nd Lieutenant (i.e. the replacement will at least be a 2nd Lieutenant). You will have to edit the new rank into the spreadsheet yourself, this feature is not automated.
I need feedback on the way the difficulty modifiers works, i.e. if your rate of promotion is reasonable and the difficulty matches your expections. I have not changed the promotion and demotion limits from 1.01c, but they are subject to change as well.
Once again, please give me a hint if you intend to use 1.01d. I appreciate all the help I can get.
I expect to use up to 2 weeks to stabilize this, then release it in good time before the Xmas "season".
Beta version 1.01e (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/Beta_version.htm) is out.
It corrects the problems in 1.01d with wrong colours on favor cells in the control sheet as well as some rank promotion stuff - all cosmetic.
There's also the addition of national ranks along with a toggle that allows you to switch them off, and the ability to always fight with your own division instead of a random nationality and division type (as another toggle - I just couldn't resist that change once I learned how to add them toggles :D )
Have fun. As before, I'll appreciate a notice if you decide to use it.
beta version 1.01f (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/Beta_version.htm) is out. Here are the changes from 1.01e:
The amount of Favor you get from a battle is adjusted for the difficulty of the battle. Large handicap die rolls battles give you a Favor bonus and small handicap die rolls give you a negative favor adjustment.
A demotion will now halve any negative Favor you might have instead of costing you 20 Favor.
Rarity table modified to allow for wider spread of results.
Force Purchase Handicap values reduced to decrease the probability of getting a negative support force purchase allowance.
That should address all of the issues raised (in the corresponding thread on the BF CMBB forum, where a good part of the discussion takes place).
Beta version 2.00b (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/Beta_version.htm) is out.
The main changes are the addition of rules for core force replacements. There's also a lot of other stuff, most of which has already been published in the 1.01 beta versions. The full changelist is available on the web site referenced above.
I decided to introduce replacements to be better prepared for the CMAK conversion (I didn't want to do it twice). Also, the Crete region in CMAK only covers a few days, and would be impossible to do properly without rules for replacements.
ROQC for CMBB beta version 2.00b updated to 2.00c (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/Beta_version.htm)
I found a couple of minor problems in 2.00b, one of which might well deprive you of a few tanks in your core force as time goes by (it did take out one of mine), so I found it prudent to make an update, and threw in a few tweaks of the replacement modifiers along the way.
There is a small, mainly cosmetic, error in the spreadsheets, all the way back to version 1.00:
The briefing for your own force shows the axis fitness setting even if you're allied.
I won't publish a new version for such a small change, but the fix is to use Auto!I19 instead of D33 in the formula in cell D9 of the Setup sheet.
Here is the last beta (2.00e) (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/Beta_version.htm) before version 2 proper, if things go as expected.
The main changes from 2.00c are:
Error correction: The briefing for your own force would show the axis fitness setting even if you're allied.
Change: Retreat battle changed to Relief, which is about passing a number of supply trucks through the enemy lines to a surrounded force.
The last change is a bit of a gamble. It simplifies the rules a great deal, but may or may not be a good change. But, as I said, if it goes well this version shoud form the basis for version 2, and thus for the CMAK conversion.
Let me hear what you think.
Version 2.00e gave the German winter modifiers for replacements to the Soviets as well. That has been corrected. As well as a small typo.
Get it here: http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/files/ROQC_Sheets_2_00f.zip
I wanted to share this as some of you may be inclined to try it and the changes are quite important. But you should know that I haven't had time to test it very much. I plan to do that asap.
1. I decided to reimplement Retreat battles. It was simply a shame to let all that good work go to waste. But their rate of appearance has been reduced a good deal.
2. I implemented Raid battles. A Raid is a local attack with the purpose of achieving a specific objective, followed by a withdrawal to the original frontline.
To get more info about Raids, read sections 4.2.1, 4.3.5, 4.4 and 5.2.9 in the rules.
There are eight raid types/targets:
· Regimental Command
Your intelligence has located a Regimental command post in a Manor house close to the front line. You are to raid the post, gather as much information as possible and return with as few casualties as possible.
· Command Pillbox
Your intelligence has located a Battalion command post in a bunker close to the front line. You are to raid the bunker, gather as much information as possible, destroy the bunker and return with as few casualties as possible.
· Mortar / Gun Battery
A battery of mortars / howitzers positioned fairly close to the front line have been harassing us for some time. AA guns protect them, and in any case we don?t have enough aircraft to spare for such a small job. Our artillery is busy elsewhere too, so you are to raid the position, destroy them and return with as few casualties as possible.
· MG / Gun Pillboxes
We are planning an attack, and have located some pillboxes that needs to be taken out first. Destroy the bunkers and return with as few casualties as possible
· Supply Depot
The enemy is planning an attack, and has placed a forward supply depot, which our intelligence has managed to locate. Destroy it before they have the chance to attack, and return with as few casualties as possible.
· Repair Shop
The enemy has placed a forward repair shop, which our intelligence has managed to locate. We suspect that they are using it to prepare for an upcoming attack. Destroy it before they have the chance to attack, and return with as few casualties as possible.
You can get a Raid each time you roll an Attack or Hold order. There's a 1/6 chance that iti is converted to a Raid.
This still needs some balancing, but now I _really_ want to stop adding features before I turn to the CMAK version. Just a bit of testing first, and balancing. I'm of course interested in any feedback you might want to provide.
Oh, and the files. Get them here:
http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/files/ROQC_Rules_2_00i.zip
http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/files/ROQC_Sheets_2_00i.zip
http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/files/ROQC_Sheets_2_00i_Example.zip
Enjoy,
Robert.
Beta Version 2.00j (http://www.roqc.cdgroup.org/Beta_version.htm) is out.
There are several good changes from 2.00e, in particular Raid batles (which are a somewhat unusual challenge - requiring you to enter enemy territory, destroy a target and - here's the interesting part - withdraw to your own lines). And Retreats are back, albeit with a lower frequency of appearance.
This time I really don't expect to change anything from this version to version 2.00, except for error corrections and balance adjustment of parameters.
It's pretty much ready for a release as 2.00, but a complete release is a good deal of work e.g. with updates of all the example campaign files. It only takes one spreadsheet change to invalidate all these campaign updates. So, I'm going to let this simmer for a while, probably a couple of weeks, then go for 2.00.
Version 1.00 was a great product, but I think it has come a long way since then. It is much better now, and a good base for conversion to CMAK (I have in fact started the conversion based on this version).
I forgot one thing in 2.00j:
Add 10 turns to the game length if you have a Raid battle. You need time to get back in good order.
You can simply do this manually when setting up the game until you get the next version.
Don Maddox
22 Jan 04, 09:26
Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Good to hear that. I was wondering if there was a need to post here as well as in the Battlefront Forum. There's also the release mailing list.
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