rleete

It might be nice, if there were a chance to interdict the MPPs being sent. Otherwise, I see it as a major force unbalance in the sides. All the British have to do, is sit tight until the USSR enters the war. Then, send them boatloads of money, and the German player gets swamped in no time.

I'll chime in here, too. With just the report screens, PBEM is downright boring.

I think what Hubert is getting at, is that a port adds even more MPPs, and so makes it an even more tempting target. A port and a city is a much jucier target than just a port, and having no way to get back off evens it up a bit. Might be a different story if the cities all had differing MPP levels.

I think you meant to put reinforcement, not suppy. Different things, I think.

Not only that, but it was more effective than bombing a city. It cost me more to reinforce my defending fighters and the rockets than bombing a city would have been. I guess the AI tricked me into that one.

With only one PBEM game going, it is fairly easy to figure out what's going on. Now, if I get 8 or more games going, like I do with CM, it may shoot to the top of the list. For now, most of my concerns have to do with playing against the AI.

Rockets are way too ineffective for the cost. Only gotten them once, and the Brit AI bought an extra bomber just to attack them. I think Germany even starts with a +1 to rockets, too. Number one change? A toss up between cheaper/sneakier subs, and a more agressive AI.

So how many MPPs does he get as plunder?

More serious, but as a reactionary force, not a purely offensive one. As Jeff Heidman pointed out, they didn't have radios, and some other shortcomings. One of the things that made the blitz so effective, was the excellent coordination of units. Except for within the Maginot line, the French didn't have that.

Just to see what would happen, I did the following: Played as Allies, AI to expert, +2 bonus. No FOW. Declared war on all countries. This resulted in US war readiness of -90 something percent. Disbanded all British ground units, and any air units on a city (maximum points). Transported Canadians to France. Moved all ships towards northern coast of France. Moved all other air fleets to cities, to be disbanded. Disbanded French southern corps, Syrian corps and one in Algeria. Reinforced French front line units. I continued to bombard with the fleet, which he attacked with air power. His subs attacked the British surface fleet! Ground units attacked French line as usual, but did not capture the low countries until the second turn. The Canadian units landed, and were eliminated, mostly with air power. By simply reinforcing with the French, they held out for five turns. Once France was eliminated, he never attempted to attack Vichy. Forgot to declare war on it as the British, so it sat neutral. With no units except fleet, I attacked ports to slowly eliminate all ships. When no allied units were left on the map, the German AI purchased HQ units each turn. The ended up with about 9 or 10 of the things. Even after all remaining Brit units were gone, all the AI did was buy a few units, always including a HQ. The demo ended with a huge army around Berlin. At least 5 HQ, 3-4 tank, 4 armies, and half a dozen corps. He never attacked anything, after France. Everything was wide open, and he sat and did nothing. Thinking that the huge pile of MPPs that Britain had was preventing Sealion, I tried it again. This time I bought carriers, and wasted them by strategic bombing of Antwerp. Defended by fighters, they didn't last long. Even after losing all the carriers, the AI did nothing except buy a few units. He didn't even take Gibraltar until I used that unit to invade spain. Most weren't even poised for an attack, but clustered in the middle of Germany. This indicates (to me at least), that the AI needs to be more agressive. I guess since it had all of Europe given to it, via my declarations, it didn't want to push further. He never put any points into research, and never even threatened to invade any part of Africa. To my way of thinking, Russia should have been invaded, and some of the points used on HQ's be put instead into tanks, armies, and maybe some research. Now obviously this isn't a very good "real life" example. Maybe I confused it. But to not transport a single Corps to take London, even threaten USSR, or Africa means the AI is too content to sit, rather than attack. Thoughts?

Okay, after further reflection, I guess I did know that, just didn't quite register. I was under the impression that most of the tanks were II's and III's, with a sprinkling of IV's. Never paid much attention to TOE. The tank prokect is an attempt to create a 40% scale Tiger 1 (late). Mostly plywood, with some aluminum reinforcing.

Agreed. The pillage bonus (provided you take Algeria) and the annual MPPs more than offset any losses to attacking units.

That is my point exactly. It was French doctrine to do exactly that. They were still thinking trench warfare. Which is one reason they got beaten. Incidently, most French tanks were surrendered, not destroyed, which is why there were so many for the Germans to use later on. Edit: yes, I meant PzII. I didn't know that the IV was used, though. I'm not that much of a grog. Jeff, I see you are here in Rochester. Where abouts? I'm over on the south east, near the 'can of worms'. Care to stop over and help with the tank construction? [ May 29, 2002, 11:43 AM: Message edited by: R_Leete ]

French tanks in 1940 were technically superior to their German counterparts. Standing toe to toe, a PzI was no match for the French heavies. It was the doctrine they were employed under that was their downfall. Heck, even the Germans conceeded that point, using many captured French chassis and tanks after the fall of France.

They must have to stay behind to quell the uprising! Even if there are no partisans, shouldn't any conquered country have a chance to revert to neutral, or even to the enemy if there are no garrison units? In the case if a small country like Ireland, a single corps within one hex of the capital should suffice. And, any attacks on neutral countries by the French or British should have negative effects to US war readiness.

I consider myself the ultimate "beer & pretzels" wargamer. Everything from Avalon Hill, continuing up through Empire Deluxe (anyone remember that one?), Axis & Allies, all of the Panzer General series, ad infinitum. I am not a grog by any means, and I regularly get stomped when playing CM. What SC holds for me is the replayability. I've tried many different strategies, and the AI seems to be able to adjust to them quite well. Whenever I think that "if I just do this, it will work", the AI changes it's strategy to counter. While PBEM is great, it isn't at the sacrifice of a decent AI to play a quick game. As anyone who has played the computer version of A&A knows, certain fixed strategies will win (easily) every time. That isn't the case with SC, and that in itself would be well worth the price. The fact that this game has shown the same support as the BTS crew (all hail Hubert), with it's open forum and ready opponents is icing on the cake.

I agree that a disable undo option would be very nice feature. A standard "rule" for use in PBEM, like FOW. But I'd still like to have it for playing against the AI. No, it isn't going to be any kind of "silver bullet", but it does aid in making the subs more survivable. That goes a long way towards making the Axis side more playable, in my opinion.

Ah, yes. Only a matter of time before this popped up. The "official" word is "soon". Since the demo is still beta, early summer is the best estimate.

I notice that France seems to have 470 some odd MPPs left. What the heck? Whomever is playing the French side should have spaent them earlier, and maybe it wouldnt be such a rout. Duh! Should have scrolled over before spouting off. Need sleep... [ May 28, 2002, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: R_Leete ]

Partisans in every conquered country should be there, to some extent. Not necessarily to retake the country, but to "nip at the heels" of the agressor. If Germany has to spend MPPs every turn to reinforce 5 different areas, the cost is eventually going to mount up. Between that, the USSR invading and strategic bombing, the idea is to continually bleed off points.

Sorry, slipped into my golum mode there. If you move the unit into the city hex, you can disband it for full points. Then just buy another in the UK.

Couldn't us move the unit operationally?

You have to get your own army, first! BTW, where is Hubert? Does he think he gets a holiday this close to release?

You can only build a maximum of 10 research points, so A.O. was correct. You can put the points wherever you want, up to a max. of 5 in any single category.

Jeez, I'm getting my own army of supporters! Maybe I should be hired by Hubert as an official beta tester. Hint, hint, Hubert!