Desert Dave

It was 35 years ago today. Forgive me this brief indulgence... ----------------------------------- I once shook his hand, May of '68 it was... see, He was passing through, On his way - to a brilliant Tangerine Land. It couldn't have meant much to him, It shouldn't have meant, That simple hand-shake, Nearly... the whole wide world To me. But, It did. And then the Evil arrived, As it does, And then the Evil-doer survived, As sometimes, All too often, It's true. Yeah, On occasion, It can be blue, Awful... pale-grey blue, Even, In a brilliant Tangerine Land.

There is... a NEW CAMPAIGN! on the way, even as we speak! Details forthcoming, but there WILL be an Italian Pre-War Mobilization campaign, thoroughly play tested! within a week or so. Now, there can be OTHER solutions to some of the "gambits" that seem to be bothering some players, and no doubt they will work just fine, as Zapp has suggested in another thread. Here, you will have the opportunity to play the Grand Campaign, and there will be NO NEED for any house rules. This will merely be an attractive alternative (I am confident) until such time as proper corrections to some of the "gamey strategems" are made. As I said, more details will be available, probably within the next several days.

Thank you Shaka. There is... a NEW CAMPAIGN! on the way, even as we speak! Details forthcoming, but ther WILL be an Italian Pre-War Mobilization campaign, thoroughly play tested! within a week or so. Now, there can be OTHER solutions to some of the "gambits" that seem to be bothering some players, and no doubt they will work just fine, as Zapp has suggested. Here, you will have the opportunity to play the Grand Campaign, and there will be NO NEED for any house rules. This will merely be an attractive alternative (I am confident) until such time as proper corrections to some of the "gamey strategems" are made. As I said, more details will be available, probably within the next several days.

This would work nicely... the "Free Forces" would be comprised of all those various refugees from The Blitz, to include the Poles... although, an argument could be made that they should have their own Corps, eventually. I would favor a 50-50% split on possible appearance of the Free Forces Corps. a) Appear near Suez. Appear in Britain 6 months or so after the first American ground unit lands there. Perhaps there should be some MPP expense involved in reconstitution... I do like the ideas expressed so far where size of Corps and available MPPs gifted to Britain would be based on how long France holds out, AND how many units are evacuated. Even ONE unit out and you receive considerably less MPPs. :cool: No problem with the small DeGaulle HQ either. Also, I would campaign for Syria and Iraq to go over to the Allies on a random chance basis, within reasonable historical dates. ---------------------------------- ****As for Hemingway, surely you are correct that he "stage managed" many of his combat experiences (... his "explosive gestalt" in WW1 MAY have had something to do with his need for constant re-enactment of an old, festering wound, yes?), including the wild, but entertaining idea that he hunted down Subs in the Carib. As with S Freud and Jack Kerouac, he is grossly misunderstood and too often criticized, IMHO, for the wrong reasons, usually having to do with post modern deconstruction nonsense (or, plainly, PC BS) that was started by such philosophical Mouses that roared... as Lacan and Foucault. And yea, the Nick Adams short stories are right up there with Whitman's Leaves of Grass as the very best of American Literature.

Thank you, at least, for this. Now, there is one way to ALSO compromise the various Rome/Italian gambits. :cool: Activate Italy from the beginning, only make them precisely weak enough, with understrength units, so that She is able to re-arrange OOB and deployments so to avoid mauling from FF units flying around all over the place like misplaced Witchen from Hell. :eek: After all, She will be NO threat to anyone and the Allies can easily fend off any premature forays into Egypt.... Italy will have to spend MPPs to build up the forces required, and if your calculations are correct, this will coincide EXACTLY with the historical situation. You could look at it as... Italy is in a "pre-war" mobilization state, yes? Do that, and I will download your '39 Scenario, post pronto! [ June 04, 2003, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: Immer Etwas ]

And we STILL are if we are asking for more than ONE Corps sized unit. I guess I don't understand how everyone requests a couple of Corps here, and an Army there and another AF and a this and a that. You may add up numbers of French soldiers loyal to the Ancien Regime and arrive at a figure that would, ON PAPER, amount to an Army and a Navy and an Air Force. BUT, they, no matter how Romanticized, or how much we want to balance this game... WOULD NOT, and DID NOT have ANY effect on WW2, either in the desert, or on the plains or in the wide blue sky. Hemingway, arriving in Paris in a jeep, had MORE actual impact on the Western Front than any aggregate Free French. Do I like the French? They're OK. I have supported them on those recent occasions when others have bashed them due to alleged conspiracy against America (... as if NO OTHER Nation on Earth wouldn't look out for it's own best interest!). But, I am still waiting for someone to supply the specific battles and the significant outcomes that would demonstrate the justification for more than ONE Corps? :confused:

Yeah... ditto... although, This seems a bit... gratuitous, As if we didn't know... It's that last... whatsoever ... that Kind of sticks in the craw, But! Hey! Say La Vee! Fine by Me! See, I am star-stuff and choked with Bliss, I am the Walrus, Chewing on a thumb-screw, Koo-Koo... Ka-Choo!

Agree, 103 % Honest, Gut-throe'd... Self-appraisal. The simplest thing to desire, THE... most difficult thing to embrace, Who wouldn't want to... aspire, For the one, And the ONLY thing, That will... push back! All the empty space? ***I say 103% because you have hit the nail on the head, and, with the additional 3 %... you have, Minerva-like, made Owl-eyes All over the place! :cool:

True, but the Free French NEVER grew to the extent that they had ANY impact on the War. Some time ago I issued a challenge to any interested party: tell me in what way, and with what particular units... did the Free French have ANY impact on WW2? No replies then. Now? With the popularity... due mostly to intellectual disgust with the NEW human penchant for indifferent, long-distance slaughter, as at Hiroshima, Dresden, Hamburg or by way of V2 rocket attacks... of Existentialism , as shallowly propounded by the suddenly horrified Sartre & Camus **(... as opposed to the GENUINE article as elaborated by such careful thinkers as Kirkegaard, Dostoevsky and the psychologist William James) we have a false impression of the ACTUAL impact of French "underground"... and, due to this feel-good "Romance story," the French are presto! ELEVATED in the eyes of the wider world, thus alleviating various throes, gestalts, guilts and martial ineptitudes. Well, be that as it may, and there is plenty of room for Thesis-sized debate on that philosophic issue, I still like JJ's idea of some unit appearing SOMEWHERE, even if in Limbo... better yet, Purgatory, what with France being a Catholic Nation... AND, his suggestion for a DeGaulle HQ unit (size... 2 or 3 max). Dan Fenton's idea could be used, so that the Free French unit (and, tres petit DeGaulle) would appear in London WHEN the first American ground unit lands in Britain? My own proposed solution would allow Free French as part of SPECIAL EVENTS. In the same way that our NEW! Commonwealth units (SA, NZ, Aussie & India) randomly appear at Suez. :cool: It would be a "special event" that would allow Britain/USA to convert a very small portion of the FF army or navy (... but not AF). It would be a "special event" that would place this unit in Britain. As is, IMHO, the curtailment of the Free French is resisted, BECAUSE it is one of the FEW ways that the Allies have of countering the German Juggernaut... in THIS game. Remove that rationale, and I am thinking that there would be considerably less support for the spurious Romantic notion, boosted by the UNDUE influence of that paltry version of Existentialism... of ANY French impact after June of 1940. Or, alternately, you could have pre-determined arrival, say, in the way that other board games such as A3R will allow for unique units to appear at certain dates, and under certain circumstances. [ June 02, 2003, 11:40 AM: Message edited by: Immer Etwas ]

Great idea! I would humbly suggest, for simplicity sake (... and applying Occam's Razor) that we use the following table: 1) Winter... AF's perform at... 25% 2) Fall ... AF's perform at... 50% 3) Spring... AF's perform at... 75% 4) Summer... AF's perform at... 100% This would surely make for quite realistic planning of Major Offensives, given that the Fall and Winter especially was a time for reinforcement and reassessment and occasionally, scattered Attrition type combat. No longer could the Hated Foe simply bomb & strafe all over the place, unless he would be satisfied with lesser results. Too, I suppose you could also have some variation in the above Table due to Research and/or Reconnaissance... depending on how detailed we wish to be?

You are allowed? Lo & behold! All these many months & months of suffering the slings & arrows of Outrageous Misfortune, due to an unrealistic deployment of Free French hordes... and NOW I find out I can - ipso facto! Turn them off! Actually, I understand and appreciate the reminder, but what I meant to suggest is that it would be fine with me if there was a very SMALL chance, say on the order of 10-15% that one, or just maybe 2 FF units could come into play. After all, when you play another person, some choice has to be made, and I'd rather it wasn't... ALL or nothing, yes? And, as added benefit, we would eliminate all those gamey "evacuate France" routines. :eek:

JJ & Shaka... When I mentioned "group therapy" I merely intended to suggest that we, or anyone CAN communicate and work things out... AS A GROUP. Nothing wrong with that, and I benefit from this kind of catharsis or "therapy" as well. (... NOT that this is some kind of "sanctioned" psychological process which has the "taint" of Official State intrusion. That sort of "brainwashing" stuff is... absolute anathema to me.) Right you are! I don't believe anyone has disputed this. If the Moderators were unhappy with our discussing this issue, they would have locked the thread. This goes a long way toward suggesting that their tolerance and Good Will are perhaps, greater than some would suppose. :cool: As for the off-hand remark about Character, I would surely disagree that "all elements of character -- are ultimately in his control." Even the LAW allows for extenuating circumstances, "beyond a person's control." This doesn't exonerate or excuse bad behavior, but it does permit some leeway in the kind and degree of punishment exacted. The Mind (... or more modernly, The SELF ) is NOT some sort of Computing Machine that can be fine-tuned or tinkered with UNTIL it attains some optimum level of "normalcy." Everything from Fugue States to brief Hypnotic influences (... as, actual brain patterns altered by TV and Video Games!) and momentary "flights of fancy" where... we might ACT as if a lunatic were in our head due to falling into Lust or "ascending into... Love." Well, there are many other issues to discuss, and so, having been granted the great favor (... it is not a "Right") of adding my opinion to this thread, I now leave the rest up to Battlefront. I am confident that they will do what's fair and appropriate. [ June 01, 2003, 10:59 AM: Message edited by: Immer Etwas ]

This whole issue is problematical. 1) There should be some penalty to pay if you should willy-nilly and with your stalk boots highly glossed, decide to invade Spain. Perhaps in SC2 we will have a deeper diplomatic paradigm (... even if the cost of Rampage is assessed in economic terms), and this will prevent some of the madcap adventurism. 2) Spain should probably have an armor unit, and air unit, and a HQ... Generalissimo himself! Then, it wouldn't be so easy to capture the mighty Grand Alhambra! 3) There should probably be a port on the west coast of Iberia. Well, we don't have it. Meantime, any Allied assistance to the beleaguered Spanish mainland will very likely FAIL. :eek: There is just NO WAY to keep the expeditionary force adequately supplied. I don't really care for the gamey Free French capabilities in this game, and I surely hope that SC2 will be truer to actual fact... a VERY small chance that ANY French forces are left to seriously impact game play! But, if we are intending to be "players" and NOT feeble on-lookers, then it is a fairly good strategem for the Axis to take the peninsula for the bountiful MPPs. It's either them or some other hapless Foe, since the Eagle studded war chest must be over-flow!

Well, whether this is necessary catharsis among competitive males, Or 2-D group therapy, hardly matters. Back to rambo's original request. I would agree with his friendly idea that there should be a suspension AND NOT an outright life-time ban (... we don't know this is the case, for sure... it hasn't been written on mountain-stone tablets, has it?). I would only hope that all of our Empathy and Compassion extends to ANY others (and not, say, those who LIKE, or are LIKE us) who find themselves in a similar situation, here or anywhere! Everyone, save certified Psychopaths, or NY Yankee Owners, should have another chance in Life, or SC forum activities. I also agree with those who have said that there NEEDS to be rules and standards of behavior, else the whole damned World will, sooner than later, descend into the most blood-filled and hellacious free for all you've ever seen... you think the situation in Iraq is terrible... JUST WAIT until 2 billion humans go on the self-indulgent, ME first! rampage. :eek: If you would disdain religious restraints, and I am not saying that ANYONE is, then you surely and absolutely require some CIVIL law. The fact that "privileged" folk have BETTER lawyers and get a better brand of Justice shouldn't concern us, unduly, at the moment. Battlefront IS entitled to do whatever they see fit. However, in a Democracy, kind of like we used to have in America, we ARE sometimes allowed to register our opinions and suggestions, though if you control mass media, well, some suggestions matter more than others... anyway, Therefore, I would humbly submit my own... let Kuniworth back, on PROBATION, so that another incident would set him back even further, but not so far that he could not have some HOPE for eventual "reform."

Gather up the martial moxie! Apply the on-stage! make-up, Assume the Zen sitzen position, And get all your gooses in a row, for It's Show Time!!! Great idea, disorder... kudos to you, With adept help from JJ, For seeing this through. :cool:

Interesting question, as valid today as it was when we were going to & fro and roaming around singing & slaying! out on the Vast Savannah. Here's one true story. Take it as you will. Long ago there was a social experiment... back in the days BEFORE the John Q Public began wondering about "brainwashing" and "mind control" (... The Manchurian Candidate was topical news) and the extent that Pscyhologists were allowed to go in their search for Truth, Beauty and the Need to Know. Anyway, these white-coated "doctors" brought the test-subject into a room, and he was INSTRUCTED to apply electrical current (... by way of a console with dials... which actually wasn't attached to anything at all) to another human (... a "ringer" or, part of the experiment). The white-coated doctors (... the "authority figures" who may just as easily have been military officers or high-school teachers, etc) then told the test-subject to begin turning up the heat... gradually increasing the amounts of electrical current applied to the "other guy" who is sitting, hooked up to wires... AND THE TEST SUBJECT CAN SEE HIM, and HEAR HIM should he choose to try and communicate. So, the dial is steadily moved higher... the "doctor" is hovering nearby, TELLING the test subject - go higher, GO HIGHER! Meanwhile, as the dial is turned up, 2, 4, 7... 10 :eek: the "victim" of the fake electrical current is now... BEGGING for relief, even screaming from the (non-existent)pain... one guy even claimed he was having a heart-attack, writhing around and begging for his very life! But, the test-subjects, almost without exception, KEPT RIGHT ON turning up the electrical current. Now, these were very ordinary Joes & Janes, screened for "normalcy" so that you would not get any psychopaths or otherwise overly sadistic test subjects (... you CAN tell, not merely by psychological testing, but by looking in the eyes... it isn't what's there, usually... it's what ISN'T THERE, as most of you know from your own experience.) Think of this... fairly ordinary Americans, who prize their independence and extremely individual nature, WILL APPLY torture... IF AN AUTHORITY FIGURE says... it's OK. This test result shocked the sensibilities of those who read about it, or saw the actual TV story... it changed many people's minds about just how "evil" the "Good German people" were, in comparison to other cultures. JJ has made a good point... we DON'T know what we would have done if we had lived in Germany in the 1930s... this doesn't excuse the horrific crimes against LIFE and against "God" (... however you perceive that... innate yearning for something GREATER than we are, or can be) that were committed in the name of "reclaiming lost National Status." After all, throughout the Renaissance and well into the 20th Century, the Germans were leaders in very many scientific, academic, and industrial fields... everything from Psychology and Anthropology and Optics and History (rigorous standards of veracity) and... Poetry & Aesthetics and... well, they were a highly accomplished and studious "volk." If the evidence before our eyes suggests that ANY people, no matter how educated or righteous or well-meaning, MIGHT indeed act as a back-brain Brute... upon orders from "an authority figure"... well, it is best, I am thinking, TO CONTINUE to keep a very watchful and mindful eye on ANY of our leaders, no matter what party or what innocent claims to the contrary, yes?

LOL! You know, children can be much more morbid and naturally faithful to Life's gruesome and gorey cycles... maybe, as with Huck Finn, it's because they are not quite so "Civilized"... many of them would probably really enjoy stories that deal with such things as abattoires and bloody hogs skittering around, and all other things elemental. If I can remember back, those Hansel & Gretel type things I used to read, well, they weren't so tidy and nice. After all, it hasn't been so very long that we've had the convenience of the Supermarket... used to be it was SOMEBODY had to prepare and dress the meat, to eat... although, no doubt there were the crouching slouchers out around the Edge of the campfire who would dart in and... with a blood-curdling cry of success! grab! that raw bit of... well, probably didn't matter WHAT it was... :eek: disorder ... that is one great and hilarious story about your former job... reminds me of a book by the LA poet-novelist, Charles Bukowski, called "Factotum"... highly recommended. The only thing I ever did that was remotely similar... used to work in a "grease pit" as a high school kid... standing beneath some inert (... and somehow... impatiently! breathing) old two-ton clunker, TRYING to find even ONE of the 30 or 40! grease fittings, all the while oil and road-tar and suchlike is falling into your clothes and your hair, and of course, when you try to casually back-hand that gob of grease out of your eyes, you manage to smear it into some other orifices... it's then, of course, that you pinch your knuckles in between the damnable tie-rods and spring... ah yes, those old learn-as-you-go jobs, and in those days, at a buck an hour, there wasn't any such thing as running to the OSHA fellow sitting in the office having a coffee and a stogie and staring at the wall calendar that has the pictures of scantily clad ladies bending over a parts counter... ***BTW, sorry about this additional theft of your thread, CvM, but, you know, IMHO it is good to just tell stories and shoot the s**t now and then... I would suggest to any Moderators, past or present or eventually to come... allow MORE of this type of give & take, and you will have a happier crowd! Who will in turn, spend more money and talk up your merchandise... I worked in my old man's Business for 10 or 12 years and learned this much... you don't need an MBA from Harvard to appreciate the many, many simple ways to promote a product...

Great responses everyone! :cool: One of my ideas was to see where we tend to agree for the potential SC2... after all, there have been many discussions, and so I figured that most members would have a good idea of what they would MOST like to see, next. I have "weighted" the responses (... since I had asked that they be listed in order of preference) and here are the preliminary results... I say preliminary, since some folks may not have visited in a while and may still wish to put in their couple of odd Pfennigs. #1) Battle of the Atlantic (and/or more naval and sub operations): 24 points #2) AI Enhancements: 9 points (... and here, we all surely appreciate how hard Hubert has worked to make this game exciting and immensely playable... we are merely hoping for some added features here and there) #T3) Special Events: 6 points Paratroopers: 6 points Split Alliances (more interplay) 6 points A***nd so, we seem to MOST FAVOR a better and more comprehensive "Battle of the Atlantic" and this pleases me no end, since I have been campaigning for this since day one. Right on, discerning gamers! :cool: ************** As for the Rock Bands, I was remiss in assuming that most people would surely have 3 that they listen to... perhaps I should have said: ANY 3 musical groups or individuals, BUT I wanted to have an unofficial "House Band" (... with appropriate origins in the open-air garage of your next door neighbor, at 3 AM when you are ready & willing!! (... as disorder's Mencken-like character) to seriously consider back-brain mayhem, etc. Anyway, the House Band is!!! The Doors and Pink Floyd, tied, with 5 points each! (Morrison is not really dead, it's said, and some of his old SoCal band members still get along just enough so that... should he arrive on the Ocean going Tramp Steamer from Paris, well, Time to Rock AND Roll!) (Pink is retired, I understand, so I don't know that he could or would round up sufficient Bad Cats in order to wail at the Moon, one more awesome time... we'll see, I have my 60s contacts and MIGHT be able to talk him into a rowsing revival!... though I doubt it.) Why even ask? For that SC Convention!!! at the Big Sur hideaway of Bob Dylan's favorite (... eagerly escaped) pet cat... "Jive Johnson"... etc, Stay tuned! (We are the joy boys of Radio, We chase electrons to & fro!!)

Well, we are pretty sure that SC2 will become a great reality... no doubt Hubert and/or Battlefront will be forthcoming with details when they are more certain as to what the game will entail, and so, while we are all being extremely PATIENT, A couple of lists. A) List 3 things, AND 3 things ONLY, that you absolutely HAVE TO HAVE in SC2... list these in order of preference and, please, no more than a couple lines of explanation! List your 3 favorite Rock & Roll groups of all time... again, NO MORE than a couple lines of elaboration. ********************* So, here we go: A) What I would really REALLY like to see in SC2? 1) Battle of the Atlantic... as has been seriously discussed, this was CRITICAL to Britain's survival. 2) MUCH larger map... from Mississippi River to most of Scandanavia, and Persia in the East, down to mid-Africa or so. 3) SPECIAL EVENTS... everyone knows what this means... different games EVERY time you play, no matter against what or whom! Favorite Rock Groups: 1) PINK FLOYD... "The Wall" is simply the best rock anthem, the best & most literate album ever! 2) THE DOORS... Morrison was a genuine Shaman, since a little psychotic and indifferent to "normal" affairs, as Neitzsche. 3) THE BEACH BOYS... Brian Wilson was THE GENIUS of the 60s... and he paid for it with his very heart & soul. Well, I wonder if our shy & retiring board members (... like little lie-down-by-the-Lion, Lambs... have any opinions on these two innocent issues?...

LOL! O I tried, But they just wouldn't admit me in! Why? It's my eyes, Affixed to the skies, And not to the wallowing, Dust swallowing, Turning un-eternal, Earth. It's my ears, Attuned to blue & white-light Rock, But rarely to the Classic, Or the rip-rapping shlock. And worse-most of all! It's spirit... a bit too Martial! (long live War Games!) And, alas, an "attitude" a reason (elites can ALWAYS find these) For... hand holding, Swan song singing, Existential Grief! :eek: ************************* (BTW, darned if I don't sometimes see... fleeting & mightily denied, no doubt... a bit of BUKOWSKI-like Poetics... in yee... )

KDG ... why so expensive on your level 1, 2 or 3 HQs? Unless you agree with notion that these NEW! generic HQs would still support 5 units? See, my principle intention was to provide a LOW COST HQ for the "stray fire-fights" which occasionally occur away from the main fronts. Jersey ...I justify the LOWER cost (... else, these HQs may not be used so much?) due to controlling ONLY a FEW units... hmmmmmm, well, perhaps we could allow these generic HQs to be the ONLY HQs which could select which units it controls? This would more surely insure that you would be controlling that specific AF needed in Bergen (... or, in our & your NEW! SC2 map, Trondheim or even Narvik?) Shaka ... O Big LA, what a flush-life, story-book City, what a terrific Tangerine Land... I fell in love with that vamping Damsel back in '68 when I got mustered out of the Army (... the CONTRAST in these 2 Gestalts was so discreet and decided!) and to this day I REFUSE to listen to all & any who claim that she has fallen to husk & seed, that She is holed up in a ramshackle road-house over on Sunset Blvd with the ghost of Jim Morrison, reading old tattered Black Mask & Dell Noir paperbacks... no, no I say, She is merely girding herself for that MGM Grand! come-back... :cool: etc.) Anyway, here we are tasking generic HQs for SPECIFIC and small-scale encounters... it is imperative to get the EXACT kind of HQ that you need! **Though I do like yer proposal for a Naval HQ... this would work best if we finally get Sea Zones in SC2, so that a Naval HQ based in a port on THAT ZONE, would influence all naval sorties. This would require more CHOICES by the SC Field Marshal... as the Brits, do you risk sending the Admiral to the risky area of the MidEast? Edwin P ...the idea that a randomly selected HQ is unknown as to ability, UNTIL the battle is joined is a good one... assuming you can still select the SIZE you need (... also assuming a list of names will be provided in SC2). John DiFool ... Interesting idea of Front Commanders - why not? They would gain/lose experience just like the Field commanders. To this I would add: RANDOM EVENTS which would change some of their abilities and/or ratings according to whim, and not merely victories or defeats... else, the German Front Commanders would be much too strong and damn near OMNIPOTENT! :eek: in the mid to late game, yes? CvM ...if there is any justice, if there are ANY blue-birds flitting to & fro in this our post-modern Eden, THEN ABSOLUTELY!! you shall receive... a new HQ unit in SC2 that perceives all and eveything in every way ANEW!!... each and every instant of every Finnish day... named Mannerheim!! ***************** A couple of other ideas: 1) Rommel should be SPLIT into two separate ratings... in order to encourage using him in the Med, I would give him a 6/10 split. Used in Europe he is rated 6... send him to the desert and NOW! he is rated 10!! :cool: 2) This may be stretching things, but I wouldn't mind seeing "random re-assignment." Of course, this fits with many of our general requests for SPECIAL EVENTS, but wouldn't it be daft if SUDDENLY!!! your (... nameless, faceless, Kafka-esque :eek: ) Supreme Commander, or bespectacled Clerk! arbitrarily re-assigned Manstein RIGHT IN THE MIDST! of a key battle in Kursk! Let's do it!! [ May 23, 2003, 11:57 AM: Message edited by: Immer Etwas ]

Seems as though we go through cycles, like Neitzsche once supposed, and now is the time to suggest the following: (... perhaps JJ and several others have also requested something similar, I can't remember all the details of the various threads... they can jump right in and clarify their own proposals/desires) Off-screen trumpet: TA DA! ***I would VERY much like to see a NEW HQ unit! Size 1, 2 or 3 and designated HQ-1, HQ-2, and HQ-3. Costing 175, 200 and 225 MPPs, or thereabouts. Additional restrictions (... justifying the lower cost): This unit could ONLY provide supply for one, two, or three units, depending on the HQ size, of course. Rationale: We need a small HQ to allow for those limited, attrition style combats. 1) For instance, in Bergen. The German player could buy a 2-sized HQ to support the garrison there and one Air Fleet... which is sorely needed to provide air cover for the subs (... and/or harrass the new! Murmansk Transfer hexes) since they would use... something akin to JJ's proposed "exit Arrows" to raid into the Arctic, Norwegian or North Atlantic Seas/Zones. Or, in our expanded SC2 the placement of Naval Air (... our 3rd AF type!! to include tactical, strategic and now, expensive, specially tasked... naval air!) would require these kinds of small HQs... for instance, the Brits could use this to support Alexandria and the Eastern Med. And, the USA could utilize them to protect that NEW! sub hunting facility in Iceland! 2) Next, the generic HQs could be used to direct those mostly ineffective Minors such as Hungary or Bulgaria (... also, our New! Commonwealth units, which arrive, randomly at Suez, depending on which SPECIAL EVENT occurs, and when!) These HQs would support ANY units, so you would have to manipulate them and keep your Minor units in a separate cluster as much as possible, else these rash but game mini-HQs would end up dispatching highly experienced, high-tech Panzers! :eek: (... we could even use the new HQs for the Minor countries like Finland, or Sweden, or Spain, which arguably SHOULD have some better field leadership than Belgium or Denmark and other similar Sacrifical Lambs.) 3) And, the generic 1, 2 or 3-sized HQs could be purchased by, say, Russia to fill in the gaping gaps and protect VITAL interests (... such as those 2 Ore resource hexes near the Black Sea) until they could afford higher rated leaders. 4) These new generic 1,2 or 3-HQs could perform SECURITY for those areas vulnerable to nefarious "sneak attack" such as the Baltic States or Southern Italy (... and, incidentally, they would boost that Strat/Naval Bomber that the Germans always provide to protect the mighty cowering Italian Navy)... remember, ***these generic HQs support ANY units within range, BUT, ONLY a number based on their strength, with limited supply due to smaller size) All in all, IMHO, this is an idea whose time has cycled 'round... this I would most definitely like to see in SC2! You? :cool:

The great grandson didn't know, no, he couldn't, since as we know HISTORY in the second-person singular, utterly subjective History books, is not REALLY... any real history at'all, well Anyhow, he was a'digging through the spider scuttling stacks up in that thatched attic (... and here, we allow that this whole Idiot's story may actually be... a figment of that young dude's bristling IMAGINATION... a REM dream one night when the moon was O so slightly blue) and Lo! and behold, He chanced upon an old letter of Great Grampa, who was one of those anonymous Desert Rats who witnessed up close and personal Herr General Rommel's clanking-chained War Machine... and so the coddled (... well, was he? we shall soon enough see, then the alarm goes out! whence The Scourge is, once again, roaming free) youth settled in amongst the dust motes and GAH! those ubiquitous spider webs!! and read... ***************************** Dear Delores, my always Luv, forgive me delerium, I can't think so good anymore, it's all that smoke and anti-godlin' screaching noise and... Satanic 88s! O, what stooped creature, What a whistling beast... indeed! What scourging demiurge? Evil as blood-bellied spiders Woven in bristling covens... o'er An innocent's swaddled pale crib Could dream up! Such a cunning doom-gun As this, As these... Satanic 88s! Could seal such a quick silken Hell! While the babe, and! The screaming sick Mother Are lost - O notice The brittle bleak voices! In the harrowing throes, And ever & ever it shall be so... Of a slow... slow tolling bell... Yers, Fer as long as I ken hold out, Mick the Knife ************************ Well, The great grandson learned a little something That day. Easy to say - defeat! that ever-insistent Evil, Only... leave ME to my spider-free Curds & whey! And BTW, Stick around 88, Looks like there's gonna be! An SC2... ain't it Great! To anticipate! :cool: [ May 21, 2003, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: Immer Etwas ]

... when it was that the freaked and shrilly bescreaming Berserkers... were cresting the cross hexed hill!!! Actually, this interesting observation suggests another possible complication, although... I am FIRMLY in the camp which assumes that most, if not all the "small & telling details" of ANY wargame, are what makes that game exciting and out of the ordinary. And now that we have (... apparently :eek: ) limitless computer power so to handle and effectively dispatch the scut-work, perhaps this next suggestion would not overly cramp the style of our less adventurous members? ***How about a separate category, possibly located on a side-bar (... we could insert several other access buttons here as well) ... which would be for SUPPLIES & MUNITIONS, and manipulation would directly effect ALL units' readiness in the various Theatres? The more MPPs you allot to the field, the more READINESS, and of a certainty, vice versa. This would presume some Xtra supply wagons and security escort and bespectacled clerks and the like, and might be set up so that... EACH NATION would have a separate (... and possible researchable) cost! And so, la lo, here we merrily go, the USA could flex its Paul Bunyan sized industrial muscle, yes? I am thinking that it might be interesting and challenging to allow (... require?) each player to assume other active and quick-reactive! ROLES within the game, say, in this instance, as Supply & Munition Administrator. Fail at that extremely critical task, and you will be increasingly hounded by the yelping War Dogs of Hell... :cool:

LOL! Nor do I... always... stick to these sorts of guidelines when trying to survive... in this, our mostly biologically determined world, no matter any progressive preference for better, more Spirit-infused behaviors. But, excellent insights nonetheless... especially in regard to HQ matters... hope you have sent these and other suggestions to Bill Macon so he might continue to update the SC Strategy Guide, although... I probably would never use the floating kamikaze Corps idea, since I am an old poco loco Caballero, who is sometimes staid & hide-bound... who would surely have the Devil's own time against... all the "young reckless guns" who do use such gamey strategems... **Speaking of which, the Lincoln County sheriff out here in my native state of New Mexico is intending to compare the DNA from the exhumed remains of Billy the Kid , and Billy's mother, AND! some guy who claims he is related (... we get buku batches of these old crusty Cowboy Cons out here). See, they're trying to solve... The Mystery... did Pat Garrett kill the gun-slinging Kid at Fort Sumner, New Mexico back on July 14, 1881? or... did the "real" Billy escape from that relentless Pat Garrett and actually die... many years later... stay tuned all you Wild West aficions... :cool: