by Veitikka Studios

Introduction GENERATING THE CAMPAIGN

This is an overview of the first iteration of the Armored Brigade Campaign

Generator system. It and the original Battle Generator are built with the
same design philosophy in mind: To have an easy way to generate an infinite
amount of replayable content that can be shared with others. It provides a
context for the battles and adds more depth to gameplay by making use of
the game’s features that some players might otherwise have overlooked. The
flexibility of the battle system that can handle almost any forces, locations,
and other parameters is made use of by having units with tracked statistics,
battle locations that are dictated by the outcome of the previous battle, and
the time of day and the weather that keep changing during or between the
battles. One strength of Armored Brigade is the enormous size of [Link]
offer a myriad of unique and realistic locations, and when fighting over a piece
terrain, even for several battles, its special characteristics become familiar
and memorable. The system tracks explosions and terrain fires, and these In the first screen of the campaign generator, the campaign map is selected.
areas become destruction zones in the following battles. All this creates a The battle map depth and breadth can be adjusted in the settings. The larger
sense of drama. the map, the more time passes between battles. After selecting the map,
the campaign ‘path’ is constructed by adding waypoints on the map view.
Let’s take a look at how a fresh campaign is generated, and how the transition This is done by left-clicking, and then right-clicking to end the path. Another
between the campaign battles works. right-click restarts the process. The battle sector locations, orientation, and
start sides vary depending on how the campaign progresses along the path.
Use the ‘RANDOM SECTORS’ button to randomize the sectors if you are
not satisfied with the initial random placement. The system validates every
sector. If one or more sectors are invalid, then new sectors must be created
by selecting a new path or using the ‘RANDOM SECTORS’ button. Water
and impassable terrain are the most common causes for unplayable sectors.

The campaign settings include several options:

• The ‘player supply’ option determines how many supply points the
player receives for refitting units and selecting support assets. The base
value depends on the player force [Link] opponent force size is scaled
up in proportion to this value.

• The ‘water’ option determines the type of water in the battles. To have
frozen water the option must be set to ‘varied’.
• If the ‘allow night battles’ option is not enabled then any campaign battle PLAYING THE CAMPAIGN
that is about to start at dusk or night will start at early dawn instead.

• If the ‘allow varied weather’ is enabled then the weather can change
gradually between the battles.

The opponent base points usually depend on the player points and the mis-
sion type. If one side is defending, the size of the other force is multiplied. If
the defender is dug-in then the advancing side receives an addition combat
power bonus. The same rules are used to scale the opponent force size up
or down. In the ‘combat power allocation’ screen, the opponent minimum
(defend) and maximum (advance) points are shown. The AI opponent selects
its force automatically for every campaign battle.

Before every campaign battle, the player can refit formations and select air
and artillery support and other assets, if the current battle parameters allow
it and there are enough supply points available. New units cannot be selected
during the campaign.

The player ‘core force’ is selected once, before the campaign starts. It cannot
be changed afterwards. If units are lost they must be refitted by using supply
points. The core force units gain experience by surviving battles and killing
enemy units. Units with a low training level gain experience faster than highly
skilled units.
When zooming out the battle map, the campaign path end points are marked to its full strength in the next battle. All units receive full ammunition and
with the faction flags. This can give an overall impression of the progress of weapon resupply and damaged vehicles are repaired automatically. Destroyed
the campaign. The defeated side is usually forced to move back towards his and abandoned vehicles must be refitted by using supply points. The tracked
end of the campaign path. When one side is driven to the end of the campai- unit statistics include kills, the number of survived battles, experience, and
gn path the campaign ends. If a battle ends in a draw the next battle will be a the edited unit names. These are reset if the unit is lost.
meeting engagement in the same location. Otherwise, campaign movement
depends on the mission type, in addition to the battle end result. If the next Map cells with craters, shell impacts, or terrain fires become ‘destruction
battle is in the same location the player will get a supply bonus. The more zones’ in the following battles. The system remembers the ‘quick-group’ and
there is movement towards his end the more temporary supply bonus he SOP engagement range settings that were used in the previous setup phase.
will get in the next battle. If the AI opponent if forced to retreat instead,
the AI gets a permanent bonus to his force size. The defeated side can start
with its units dug-in and can be allowed to purchase obstacles and pillboxes,
depending on how far he retreats. If the ‘player character’ unit is killed the
campaign ends.

The player can choose to end a campaign battle prematurely. In that case the
player victory points are halved, and the end result is always a tactical defeat
or worse.

The amount of additional refit points is based on the campaign supply option.
The refit points are cumulative. In certain situations a unit can be automati-
cally ‘recycled’ after a battle, even if it has not been fully destroyed, and the
refit value of the unit is absorbed to the supply point pool. Such cases include
infantry units that have high casualties, dismounts that have lost their tran-
sport, and a HQ formation that has lost its leading unit.

The formations that have units to refit have an orange color in the list, and
the refit cost is displayed next to the formation name. The missing units have
The campaign status can be seen as the status bar in the bottom of the AAR a red color in the unit [Link] refit a formation, left-click on it twice, right-click
view. In the same view there is a button for continuing to the next battle, or on it once, or click the ‘REFIT’ button after selecting the formation.
ending the campaign if the conclusion has been reached.

If an infantry unit has taken low casualties it will be automatically restored