Some Scenario Design Do’s and Don’t’s

I start all my scenario design in PowerPoint with an overarching plan - highlighting the forces and making sure that I know where they have been fighting in recent days, etc. I want to make scenarios that are realistic, challenging, and fun. I try to map out the scenario in PowerPoint, showing where the forces will be coming from, and what they are trying to do.

Once the first draft of the scenario is done - test it a couple of times with the AI playing on both sides. This gives you a chance to see BPs and a good view of the overall flow. Then, I play one side against BP and make any tweaks. Then the other side.

I have discovered that the scenario can be different with the BP from where the player will start. For example, a Soviet BP may start with an Motor Rifle Regiment farther West than the player gets to start. This helps with balancing, and I find can make it more fun.

I try to wait until I get a bunch of feedback before making too many changes. Sometimes one person says it is too tough for the NATO player and a second one says it is too easy. I'm looking for a balance.

Take the time to set the SOPs for all units.

Don’t place units where the player is likely to deploy them in the pregame setup, place them in a location out of the primary area.

You must start with a clear idea of what you want the scenario to be (i.e., meeting engagement, the attack against the dug-in defender, etc.) which is the first step towards understanding what the forces will be.

Define the OOB before you start battle planning. It just creates further difficulties if you do not do so. Adding a unit to an existing force is simple enough, adding a force starts to become complicated as you will then need to make sure you deploy them in every single BP, adding orders, etc.

Make good use of the 'use this for all' button on the SOP battle planner. This avoids repeating the same SOP on and on for every single similar BP order you add.

Don't forget, any order you add (for ex, you added a new force to the OOB) after finishing the BP will need to have its SOP done from scratch.

Be careful with EW settings as it may have a dramatic effect on order cycles. Order cycles above 20-40mins need to be looked at to make sure they are shortened.

There is scope for some units to be left under AI control. You don't need to BP every single force but, on the other side of this coin, the AI will use its judgment for their usage, so, any fundamental or core units should have a BP. I usually only leave the odd support unit free for the AI to use.

Carefully read the manual with regards to how the AI uses BP orders and what happens if it cannot complete an order or when your BP orders finish. It's important to grasp this to understand what you sometimes see on the screen.

Once you have the scenario complete, I would like to do some runs of AI-vs-AI testing. This normally flags any obvious mistakes with BPs, reinforcements, deployment, etc.

Often forgotten, be sure to set the loads of your arty units.