Utilizing ScenHack/MOBHack/SHPEd creatively

[MKSheppard]

I came up with this idea while walking the dog:

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/6284/revetments5pz.gif

Aircraft Revetments. Take a bunker and give it 10-20 cm of armor on the sides and rear, but no frontal or top armor. Zero carry capacity.

Only useable in scenarios, really, because to accurately depict the importance of the aircraft inside, you have to edit the scenario yourself and re-cost the units.

Once I came up with this gem, my mind began to wander....what if when I bought the CD version, I changed the icons of ground units to aircraft ones to represent aircraft on the ground? You could now represent a terrorist attack on a US Airbase, in much the same vein that a Puerto Rician Nationalist group actually attacked the PRANG's main field and destroyed like 20~ or so A-7s in the 1970s or 1980s...

[MKSheppard]

As my mind wandered further, I realized you could create a building icon and then assign it to a bunker-like unit, to represent an absolutely crucial facility that needed to be destroyed; like for example, the communications shack of a Marxist Guerilla group in the South Americas? If you gave the unit a cost value of like 900~ in the scenario editor "unit editor" you'd be able to represent the special victory conditions from destroying that shack, rather than having to have a special house rule in the introductory briefing.

Yet another idea popped into my head. Why not use this costing to create a civilian aircraft? Give a large aircraft a very HIGH cost, then program it to "strafe" a location on the map at on a specific turn. The aircraft of course would have no weapons and would have no EW. So you could then use that to represent say, dropping a Special Forces team into the area to hunt down a terrorist group that's planning to shoot down a civilian airliner with a SAM.

[Double Deuce]

You need to walk that dog more often ! !

[Double Deuce]

If you gave the unit a cost value of like 900~ in the scenario editor "unit editor" you'd be able to represent the special victory conditions from destroying that shack, rather than having to have a special house rule in the introductory briefing.Could this lead to their use in Campaigns or would it require the player to have a modded OOB or lbm's?.

[Sunburn]

Very interesting! (I usually have such brainstorming sessions during shower, but to each his own :laugh: )

To take this a bit further, why not make up complete HAS shelters and have the enemy force target them with precision artillery? Or alternatively stage a scenario where a Spetsnaz group is attacking a NATO airbase with mortars, portable ATGMs etc. This was a very likely scenario for a WW3 "first hours" situation. Similarly you could model an assault on, say, a Lance or Pershing battalion. A similar method of assigning a very high value to the specific targets can be employed.

I know I've asked this again in the past (http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27375), but can anyone think of a proper way to model CAS/BAI aircraft hunting indepedently over the battlefield instead of being used as another form of artillery?

The "typical" scenario I have in mind is this: A column of OPFOR vehicles is crossing from one side of the map to the other (terrain is a combination of open space, forestry cover etc.). A pair or two of friendly aircraft, say A-10s, is circling overhead. The aircraft have not been explicitly called to strike at a specific hex, they have simply been assigned to "search & destroy" on the scenario map. The player should not have to do anything manually (ie. the scenario must be able to be run in AI-vs-AI mode). Suggestions?

[Vas FURY]

Those are some seriously good ideas MK Sheppard, and Deuce is right in saying that dog should be taken out at every opportunity.

Sunburn, i dont think what you ask about is possible to achieve, i have tried to do this countless times, and it just doesnt work. The only way for it to work is if the designers make some amendments in the game code, but that is highly unlikely to happen as it is not a minor change we are talking about here.

[Mustang19]

You could get the same effect by using ammo dumps. Set them in the hex with the aircraft you want to blow up, and make them a reinforcement to arrive on whatever turn. Set the ammo dump's "men" rating to 0 (no WinSPMBT unit can survive with 0 men, and will destroy itself the instant it appears on the map). It will blow up on whatever turn it arrives, but may or may not destroy the aircraft (if you want to ensure its destruction, pile several ammo dumps on top of each other). Make sure that you set the ammo dump cost to "1" so that noone gets points for them blowing up.

[Mustang19]

I know I've asked this again in the past (http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27375), but can anyone think of a proper way to model CAS/BAI aircraft hunting indepedently over the battlefield instead of being used as another form of artillery?


Say the mission is going to last 10 turns. Buy ten spotter planes, and in the editor preplan missions for them so that one spotter plane flys over each turn. You can do this by using the "shift fire" function, which adds a delay to the mission's arrival turn every time you use it. So shift the mission location around a little back and forth until each plane arrives on the right turn. (Time consuming, but it's the only way.) The AI should then be smart enough to call in airstrikes on the units that have been spotted.

If anyone else wants to know about creative scenario editor uses, or wants to contribute their own, I started two scenario editor tip threads- one at Shrapnel Forums and one at SZO.

Shrapnel one:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=425348&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1#Post425348

SZO one:

http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39542

[Sunburn]

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

[MKSheppard]

I figured out a good mix that would let you simulate VBIEDs

EDITED with new info.

Unit Class: 11 - Armored Car (to get them to move real fast)
Move Class: 2 - Wheel
Available From: 1/89 to 12/120 (1989 to 2010)
Cost: TBD
Crew: 1 (driver)
Size: 0 (to simulate it being a civilian until it acts crazy)
CarrY: 0 (only a nutcase would ride to battle in a suicide car)
Weight: 10
Speed: 40 (so that you can crank her up to 50+ MPH on a nice level stretch of road)
Swim: 0
EW: 0
Radio: 0 (They ain't going to waste time with a radio on this guy)
Vision: 10 (so you can see your targets)
Fire Control: 99
Range Finder: 99
Stabilizer: 99
(All to simulate the fact that the driver can steer the car into the target, the ultimate smart bomb)
Survivability: 0

Weapon 1: VBIED (1 HE)

Armor:
HF: 1
HS:0
HR:0
TF: 1
TS: 0
TR: 0
Top: 0

This is to simulate the fact that the car's engine block and general mass will stop small arms fire, etc you need to use a .50 Cal to reliably stop a suicide car charging at you.

ROF: 6

Icon: 1948 (Sporty Red!)

The Weapon
Weapon Class: 14 (Cluster; hey it won't look right but it gets the right effect, eg. destroys vehicle reliably when it's fired, a suicide car which survives it's own car bomb would be illogical, no?)

Accuracy: 100 (due to sucide car driving it)
Weapon Size: 50
Warhead Size: 50
HE Pen: 3
HE Kill: 50
AP pen: 0
AP Kill: 0
Sabot Pen: 0
Sabot Range: 0
HEAT PEn: 0
Range: 1 (if you try doing a 0 range weapon it just won't work)