Asymmetric Commander Propagation

  1. 7 years ago
    Edited 7 years ago by Crapachi

    So basically I have a mission that starts off with a small set of insurgent groups at one corner of the map with its AC and base area, and then I have say, a majority of the remainder of the map set up as objectives only.

    I love the idea of the small groups going out into the map, and sewing seeds of discourse by creating installations like the recruitment centers, weapon depots, etc. but it seems like right from the get-go, at mission start, out there across the map, there are installations like this already in play. And those installations breed insurgents, and more and more groups are put out there, and in less than an hour it's like... Insurgents everywherrrrrre. Total saturation, with the original small insurgent groups having hardly stepped off home plate.

    Is that by design?

    And that's fine if it is, but the thing that I run into every time when playing with a smaller group across a pretty well-sized map, is that we go clear a town, we flush out the insurgents, we blow up the installations, we make some peace with the locals, and head to the next town over... Like 10~15 minutes will go by and another insurgent group has snuck back into said town, another installation or two has been formed. Another 10~15 minutes and the installation count has doubled yet again, and soon there's like 10 groups back on the streets and it's like we never shoulda' bothered.

    It's easy to see that if we had a full server, with enough teams at play, that we could be just about everywhere all the time, but for a smaller group it seems like a never-ending, never-winning battle.

    And in a way, that's plenty realistic. But has anyone here come across any particular ALiVE settings, or series of settings, that have worked for them in slowing the propagation of the asymmetric commander, just a bit? Or something in the AC logic that can be worked with to help delay reinforcement or the development of installations without getting rid of them completely? Perhaps a winning formula that cuts back the exponential multiplying of groups off of single installations/areas from over 9000, to something a bit more tame?

    Best regards and thanks you for your time,

    -- Crap

  2. Edited 7 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

    There are a few things you can do to at least help with this. Firstly, in the OPCOM settings, place installations to either low or none. This will ensure that no (or few) installations are placed on that map immediately at mission start.

    I don't know if you have any friendly AI troops in this mission, but what I like to do is after clearing an important objective, is to call in reinforcements either under Operations or Logistics to come in and reinforce the area. What's happening is, the AI also deems this area as important too (you have custom objectives placed) and they will continually try to take the area back just as desperately as you want it to be cleared (after all this is the nature of battle).

    Hold the area and hold the objective.

    You could additionally try reducing the amount of civs (though that's not ideal), and (more preferably) lowering the initial enemy count. Insurgency missions need surprisingly few units at the beginning of a mission.

    British Steel by AuTigerGrad is a perfect example of that. I think if I understand him right the entire map starts with 50 Taliban and no installations at all.

  3. Cool man, thanks. The OPCOM's installations setting... Does that happen to only affect mission start?

    I normally start with installations low and like 30 units in the isolated zone, but that reinforcements idea may be the long-term ticket.

    I'm hearing more and more references to British Steel, so I'll def give that a look.

    Thanks again!

    -- Crap

  4. Edited 7 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

    Yes even if you set it to none, installations will begin to pop up as the insurgency builds. Depending on the map and number of civs, I'd say 30 insurgemts is an ok place to start and test for a few hours with.

    Over the last few days, every substantial edit I've made to my missions has been lowering the amount of initial installations and insurgents. Currently I have around 85 on Reshmaan (BIG map), 65 on Takistan (probably too many. We'll see) and 50 on FATA (seems ok).

    Though obviously if these are one off sessions and not long term persistent, your mileage may vary. I prefer long term persistent (in the vein of British Steel :) ).

 

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