Taking part or not taking part - that's the question

Well, the responses from the inquiry sent out some weeks ago have been dropping in.
Development of the MC has taken quite some time since the first announcement of OPNEM and some players have lost interest in waiting (although start of the MC never has been stated to be anything than "after release of NATO-module").

And feedback is mixed; there are still players who want to participate in the MC; 11 BLUFOR and 5 REDFOR players filled in the confirmation form stating they're still interested. The confirmation form was sent out to all enlisted players. Some have responded that they're not going to take part, some haven't responded at all - which one must interpret as a "not interested" ;-).
I regard this number of players as sufficient for continuing the development and aiming for a start of the campaign as soon as the orbats for the new NATO-countries have been finished - i.e. some time after the release of this long awaited module.

I'll however take some days off from development now and go for a Christmas leave. I'll be back with updates and resume dev in the first days of january. Til' then; a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Explaining the CaT

I've spent the last days updating the rules and going over the parts that needed more attention. It's not like you're starting at the beginning and just add things till you reach the end, unfortunately. A bit of writing here and some more thinking, some more writing on another part and then back again.

Sometimes I wish I were a programmer; the one ultimate thing the CM community would need is a smooth Campaign tool that could export and import to CM, like the CMC-project. That would make all management and rules superfluous...

Parallell to this I'm doing some modding as well - with just a little work and some imagination we'll have several other minor countries participating with smaller contingents, like the danish;


I'm almost finished with the "read me" text for the CaT - the campaign tool, that will be used to move the units on the operational map and giving orders to the commanders.


I'm actually pondering on whether Google Wave would be a good tool for gathering all the information during campaign play. If you're reading this and happen to have an invitation just lying around, I'd very much appreciate to be able to have a look at the app. !

Consequences of the TACBAT on the OPMAP

The result of the TACBAT has consequences on the OPlevel. The TACBAT VPs will decide who win or lose the TACBAT according to the sum of the Victory Points for the OBJs achieved – as reported in the “After Action Report” screen after the battle.

If a unit is forced to retreat into a hex with friendly a unit the retreating unit will have to deduct TOEPs to fit in the hex – max number of friendly TOEPs are by default 50. If the only eligible hexes are occupied by friendly units, the hex with the lowest number of TOEPs is chosen.
A unit in stealth mode is not in control of the hex it occupies and the TOEPs of the hiding unit are not included in the max hex TOEPs mentioned above.

TACBAT Consequences Table (TCT)
The loss ratio influences what the consequences are on the OPMAP as follows;

(the alternative after the slash mark for attacking unit)

Non-enemy hex refers to a hex not occupied by any enemy units.

A) unit may remain in contested hex
B) unit to retreat into adjacent non-enemy hex/remain in starting hex
C) unit may remain in contested hex
D) unit to retreat into adjacent non-enemy hex/remain in starting hex
E) unit may remain in starting hex or retreat into adjacent non-enemy hex/unit cannot enter contested hex if d10<3>
F) unit surrenders if d10<3,>disorganized, DIS)
K) unit routed

If the result is a DRAW, both sides are regarded as winners.

Exceptions to the consequences;
Irregular units that suffer a loss and due to the loss would have to retreat out of the hex according to the TCT above may change to stealth mode if the hex is urban or rural.
Special Forces Units, smaller than 10 TOEPs will not have to roll for surrender (F-J) if losing a battle with heavy losses. Apart from that exception, F-J applies as for other units.
K – unit routed do not apply to SF units at all, the SF unit will retreat into adjacent non-enemy hex instead.

The TACBAT Parameters - a short recap

There are three things to consider when it comes the TACBAT parameters in OPNEM; TER, PEC and PFC

Tactical battles in OPNEM have three different objectives that reflect the priorities in the orders the OPCO has given the TACCO.
Tactical victory points may be rewarded for holding terrain (TERRAIN OBJECTIVE), by inflicting enemy casualties and knocking out vehicles (UNIT OBJECTIVE) and by maintaining the cohesion and status of the own force (PARAMETER FRIENDLY CASUALTIES).

The TACBAT OBJs are designed by the GM that sets up the TACBAT and reflect the priorities of the OPCO in the OPORDERS – the orders given to the TACCO by his superior commander.
The total sum of the victory points are always 100.

TERRAIN OBJ (TER); The area of the terrain objective in a defensive battle may be assigned by the OPCO. The area of the TERRAIN OBJ in a meeting engagement is usually located in the center of the battlefield, with some modification taking specific features of the battlefield in consideration – if there's a village just to the south of the center of the map, that's likely to be the area of the TERRAIN OBJ. There may also be several smaller areas that are defined as Terrain Objectives. Each area/objective may each have a unique point value - ie the areas do not necessarily share the points for terrain objectives.

(For example; Area A 5points, area B 3 points and area C 12 points)

PARAMETERS ENEMY CASUALITIES (PEC); points are awarded for inflicting losses to the enemy in a relative manner. Knocking out vehicles and eliminating units render victory points according to the total sum assigned to this OBJ.

PARAMETER FRIENDLY CASUALTIES (PFC); points are awarded for preserving the own force. Keeping the the friendly casualties below 30% will render a set amount of victory points, reflecting the priorities in the orders from the OPCO. The total possible sum of victory points for these OBJs are always 100. The ratio between them varies to reflect priorities and the OPSIT for the TACBAT. The distribution of the points are expressed as follows; TER/PEC/PFC.

(For example; TER 32/PEC 20/PFC 15)

Oh, and finally, a small unofficial bone. Care to guess which units/nations these mods will represent? (Mods are WIPs!)