Re: Solitaire play? -- Squad Leader Discussion Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:14:29 11/16/05 Wed
Author: Alan Yngve
Subject: Re: Solitaire play?
In reply to: Scott 's message, "Solitaire play?" on 15:31:33 11/16/05 Wed

Scott writes:
>Hello-I've been recently learning Squad Leader on my
>own through solitaire play and I've really enjoyed it.
>The problem is that as I progress through the rule
>book and the training scenarios here concealment
>becomes an issue. Some scenarios-Beta, for example-
>seem extremely unbalanced if the Germans know what's
>where. I have 2 questions:
>
>Does anybody have any advice as to how I could alter
>the scenarios to make them better for solo play?

In most cases it would be better to just not use
scenarios that have concealment for solitaire play.

The whole idea of Beta-1/2/3, for example, is to give
players a good/quick method of learning the affects
of concealment. You've discovered some of that by
your comments above! :-)

Similarly, SL#2 will not play as it should without
the concealment actually _concealing_ the deployment
of those (concealed) troops.

>Is concealment allowed in any scenario as long as a
>certain amount aren't specified in the scenario rules?

Concealment can be "grown" (rule 25.3) in any scenario
that permits the use of that rule. In practice this
means any scenario except SL#1 [Guards Counterattack]
in the game scenarios and any scenario _after_ BE-0 in
the TTS series. OTOH, its unlikely that either side
would find value in using concealment in Alpha.

To look at your question from a different angle, it is
NOT permitted to use concealment in your initial set up
in a scenario unless the scenario explicitly provides
for concealment counters. Hidden Initial Placement
(HIP) is similar, only permitted at the beginning if
the scenario explicitly gives you that opportunity.

[Why? The basic SL assumption is that there has been
patrol activity in the area sufficient to (a) give the
attacker some knowledge of defensive deployment and
(b) give the defense some knowledge of the attacking
unit and its capabilities. When concealment or HIP
is specified it indicates the lack of prior patroling.]

>Thank for any help!

As for solitaire with concealments. It is possible to
create multiple set ups and some sort of random selection
system, but even this will not do a very good job of
duplicating the concealment issues ... how can you run
the defense and deciding whether to reveal and fire if
you don't know what is in the hex?

For play of concealment scenarios, try VSQL email or
live play. It really is pretty easy to set up games
with _real_ folks ... and then there will be TWO people
enjoying the game! :-)

Hope this helps,

-- Alan

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]