Author Topic: Time for some harsh words for everybody  (Read 653 times)

Offline Dinger

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Time for some harsh words for everybody
« on: October 15, 2000, 01:42:00 PM »
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.

Offline Mark Luper

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Time for some harsh words for everybody
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2000, 06:06:00 PM »
Good post Dinger,
Had some similar thoughts myself but being a walk on didn't feel it was my place to make them. I think you were fair in your assesment of what happened and I appreciate your support for those that put this together.

------------------
MarkAT

"It is not the critic who counts,
it is the man in the arena..."
Teddy Roosevelt
MarkAT

Keep the shiny side up!

Offline Nash

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Time for some harsh words for everybody
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2000, 08:50:00 PM »
Excellent post Dinger. And not too harsh at all.

I think the most important thing you pointed out is regarding the chain of command. The CO *has* to be able to delegate much of the work, and be able to trust that it get done. There are just far too many things for one or two people to deal with.

That being said, I've gotta give a hearty <salute> to Hangtime. He made the over-all strat and flight mission orders very clear to everyone, and the flight leaders did a great job in executing them. Of course there are gonna be some gaffs, but they were minimal (nowhere near the level that would warrant some of the posts I've seen imho). And, well, not everyone is gonna agree with their mission orders. So be it... that's the way it is/was, right?

Ya gotta expect that a few people are always gonna be dissatisfied.

Anyways... growing pains I guess. It's only gonna get better.

Btw - I was a bit shocked to discover that Zig wasn't a CM. In light of this Med league undertaking, I think it might be time to let him in.

Great job fellahs... Had a blast and looking forward to the next.

Offline gatt

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Time for some harsh words for everybody
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2000, 10:03:00 AM »
Very good post Ding. Anyway thanks to CM's who almost well. AH is a young community with a lot of greenhorns. Not bad.


------------------
GATT
4° Stormo Caccia - Knights
"And one of the finest aircraft I ever flew was the Macchi C.205. Oh, beautiful. And here you had the perfect combination of italian styling and german engineering .... it really was a delight to fly ... and we did tests on it and were most impressed." - Captain Eric Brown

Offline tshred

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Time for some harsh words for everybody
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2000, 02:08:00 AM »
Good post Dinger. I've flown in a few large WB scenarios, and ours haven't come close to the orginization I experienced there. I've been a F/L, and flown for a few F/L's, and only one I've flown under here in Aces have had any idea of what their 'role' was. Leadership and communication between the leaders has been the biggest problem I've seen in our latest one's so far.

I think also that the players participating aren't 'playing their roles' very well yet either. Groups seem to break up and disregard orders once the engagement finally occurs (ie dropping below established hard decks, not sticking with group or wingman, etc.).

I haven't even heard from my F/L for my squad, he wasn't there last Sat(in fact only 2 of our squad made it, if I had been aware of our mission I woulda led all two of us to escort Hang), a second in command hasn't been established four our group, don't know what his basic guidelines are, etc. I did sign up late via the webpage, after I participated in the first practice I should mention. You out there Central? What's our mission this Sat? Who's gonna take over if you can't make it again, and are they aware of our mission?

I'm hoping this sort of stuff will get worked out in the near future  

ts
39th Fighter Squadron  

Offline Duckwing6

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Time for some harsh words for everybody
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2000, 02:33:00 AM »
One comment to the Med Leage....

It is a 3rd Party event meaning that it wasn't designed nor run by the scenario Corps .. that is no problem at all .. but AFAIK the CMs were recruited on the fly..
So there wasn't all too much preperation time for them be that scoring / field setup / arena setup, all of which are prety time consuming tedious processes at this scale of event (especially with the event log not available at that time).

Please keep that in mind.

DW6
CM Aces High Scenario Corps