American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

All

Can anybody explain why the Scenarios By John Ferry in Forgotten and Overland are so Different in their Movement, Weapon range etc.

It is Very confusing and the Parameter Data doesn't seem to match the actual costs in say changing formation etc.

I Like the Battles he did but it is a pity that for whatever reason he chose not to apply the standard Movements, ranges , ECT

Can you Edit them using the editor files

Thank You

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COL. R.T Coyne
7th Brigade 4th Division" Coyne's Cavalry Rangers"
1st Corp Army of Northern Virginia

From what little I know - John Ferry had his own views on weaponry and such. The range of weapons and their effectiveness has been, and will, argued and debated until doomsday. Since there is no right answer (or one that is agreeable for all), it is generally left up to the designer to create the values (with WDS's blessing).

Do I like John's settings? Doesn't matter. They are what they are. I don't think they greatly impact gameplay. Variances in PDTs though are a headache as all 15 games seemingly have variations in the PDT files which can cause confusion from title to title. People just want consistency. Whether that means the range of rifled muskets is 3, 4 or 5... they just want it to be uniform. Honestly, firing muskets at a range of 4 or more is generally a waste of ammo. So I don't think it matters all that much. With movement points, that's a whole other bag of worms. I think John just wanted to try out some things in Overland and later with Forgotten Campaigns. WDS gave him the green light. I don't care for 30 minute turns or 36 MPs for units but that's just me. I avoid those scenarios and play the others. I haven't looked at the Notes for Overland recently but I imagine John had some thoughts he wrote in them for why he did what he did.

Can you edit the PDTs? Yes and No. You can edit them if you like but you should NEVER do this without saving the original PDT. You should also never do this if you intend to primarily PBEM. If you forget to edit the PDT back to default settings then you might be playing with a PDT that is different than your opponent who is playing with the original PDT. That is a recipe for disaster!

I will edit the PDT's for my personalized scenarios. But I then make sure to rename them and alert all participants that they need to download them. That way there is no confusion with the default PDTs which remain untouched. That's the best way.

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012

Richard,

An excellent point and well raised by you. I had always assumed, at the outset, on joining the Club and playing the WDS CWB series, that the PDT's were standard throughout the series, but as you note, they are not ! I believe Blake very adequately explained the position in this regard. One of the first things I do when entering a game is to check the game PDT and suggest this should be considered ' good standard practice' in every instance, if not a wise one also.

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Karl McE
General
2nd Brigade
2nd (Gator Alley) Division
Army of Tennessee





Make my enemy brave and strong, so that if defeated, I will not be ashamed.

Thank You for the replies.. So i guess WDS does not have a standard for their titles that they ask Designers to adhere to.

to your Point i Almost Never fire at max ranges The Movement and 30 min turns are the things that really concern me

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COL. R.T Coyne
7th Brigade 4th Division" Coyne's Cavalry Rangers"
1st Corp Army of Northern Virginia

I totally agree with you. I have previously submitted a Crossing the James scenario that changed the PDT to the movement and time values that are contained in the huge Overland Scenario so that they could include it in a future update. I don't know if that will happen but since it has been a year or two or three (who is counting), I would say that it will not. What makes it appear even more difficult is that weather is automatically included in many (I can't say all because I haven't looked at all of them) of those scenarios so movement can cost more than what the PDT standard says. Add in the effects on movement of skirmishers, entrenchments with no roads or trails running the length of them, abatis, and swamps and it feels a bit like a Forrest Gump movie in that you never know what you're gonna get.

I love some of the Overland scenarios but if you win one of the big historical ones with the Rebs (I love playing as the Reb commander), then you should frame it and hang it above your computer, but the same thing can be said for almost any large ACW historical scenario after the Gettysburg campaign because the Rebs were so outnumbered, they learned to count by counting Yankees.

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Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00