I debated whether to post this, and in the end I decided to go ahead. I would premise my comments by stating that I know it's easier to analyze errors after-the-fact; further I have never served as CM for any sort of scenario. So feel free to take everything I'll say with a grain of salt. That said, it's time to bust some skulls concerning the Med League:
First off, running this type of scenario is without doubt the most difficult challenge any CM can face. Whereas your normal Sunday scenario features at most 4 different kinds of aircraft and as many fields, runs for an hour, and is entirely composed of walk-ons, this one features 16 squads of something like 12 different types of aircraft taking off from 16 airfields and flying for a period of two hours. This is a major undertaking, and two CMs are the minimum. The Med League CMs have been extremely ambitious in trying to tackle something of this scale, especially given the unfamiliarity and relative novelty of the AH CM interface and their freshness to the CM role.
A. Things that should be done in any scenario:
1. Keep the game balanced. Good Job on Saturday guys!
2. Maintain a clear chain of command. It is the country CO's job to run his team. That means the CO, or someone appointed by him (such as a FL), is the one responsible for forming flights, assigning walkons to aircraft ("internal balance"), and outlining the mission. The CO gives the order to take off. The CM's communications to players should largely be limited to maintaining balance between countries ("external balance"), keeping time, enabling/disabling flight, and announcing victory conditions. The ONLY orders a CM should be giving are ones that pertain to the scenario rules (Stay on the ground, RTB, auger or be ejected). One of the major problems I had with this scenario was that it seemed that I had three COs, all giving orders that often were at cross-purposes; mnoreover, I suspect that many players were unaware of who the CO was.
2. Get the arena setup BEFORE the start time. I know scenarios are new to AH and the interface is difficult, but the quicker you can get the scenario underway, the less chaos you'll have. This is aggravated with such a complex setup: if you've got to enable flight at 16 fields once, and you don't have a country-wide "Flight Ops" setting, you HAVE to have all flights enabled at the start (and hit the bombers first).
3. Expect problems. This goes for everybody. Many AH players are herd types. If they log in, and see one arena with 100 players, and the other with 40, they'll go to the one with 100. Until there are tools in place to exclude such things, you will always get newbies logging on and flying around without authorization. Many of these people may not understand English. GEt upset with them, get rid of them, but don't judge them too harshly.
B. What makes this league more difficult:
1. Expect no-shows. Not everyone who registered will make it. This percentage will only increase as the league progresses (at least it's done that with every multi-frame scenario I've ever been in). COs will not make it either. This is a game, and people to have other priorities or bigger problems (I tried to CO JU88s yesterday, but after 3 discos (2 inflight) I had to pull the plug when my Cable Modem ISP told me that they'd passed from static to dynamically-assigned IPs without telling anybody.
2. The attrition rules are only going to make this more difficult. My guess is that you'll always have anough players that you'll never have to turn anybody away. Still, the strat rules should be made with an eye to guaranteeing good tactical action in most conditions, not a crushing victory. We'll have to see how this develops: it seems to be doing a good job of preventing suicidal flying, yet is flexible enough not to effect really the overall balance.
3. It will never go perfectly. You might as well play according to the rules you've established. You will never get everyone to follow precisely all the rules you've laid down, so be flexible, and continue the good job of exercising restraint when criticizing players for not adhering to all the rules (such as having to enroll in a squad). The bad news is: that's normal.
Now, to get to the rest of you whiners:
PLAN YOUR MISSIONS WITHIN THE SCENARIO PARAMETERS. If no mission is possible, it is every player's duty to get that rectified in advance. Two hours is the time allotted in the frame. B17s stationed in Tripoli can hit any target in Sicily and return in that time. It's a one-and-a-half-hour one-way flight to Sardinia. That is out of range for this scenario. The problem is not that the frame is too short -- beyond 2 hours you run into all kinds of problems for the fighters -- nor is it that the B17s are stationed too far from any targets, but that the target selected for them lies out of the effective range. Don't blame the rules for your failure to follow them.
USE THE TOOLS YOU HAVE
Yes, the Allies have superior aircraft in every category. That doesn't mean they can't be beat. The Axis has a superior starting position, but that doesn't mean they'll rule the map. What makes scenarios different from the MA is that a much larger percentage of confrontations are determined by superior group discipline, not individual flying skills or the size of your cannons.
Sorry, just had to get this off my chest. See you next week.
Dinger.
