SeaMonkey

The Allies can win, but it is about luck, especially in the Jet tech category, LR helps too. If you don't stay with the German levels or get ahead, bend over,... put your head between your legs,.. and kiss your ass goodbye. Back in the sixties they called this "Duck and Cover" to supposedly survive a nuclear attack.....yeah right.

Good decision Knavery. I've got alot of the games Les mentioned. The only two currently on my HD is HttR and SC. HttR takes most of my game time and has an excellent AI, the only problem is it has no PBEM feature. SC is the greatest for H to H competition especially PBEM which fits my lifestyle (laid back, take your time, contemplate your move). I'm told both are great for wham! Bam! thank you Mam!, TCIP right now games.

I kinda of like MinorHammer for that Finnish HQ.

Let's not forget that inclement weather conditions also hamper fortress construction.

Kuni....you'da man, completely agree. If I change my mind, freedom's prerogative, there is always the editor.

While a nice thought, Komet, this is for the operational scale type games. We must all remember why SC is such a great game,"intriguing depth of simplicity". While we all crave the interaction of the forum ideas with the game's features and interface we must all, myself included, remember that each additional feature adds to the time necessary to complete a turn hence additional micromanagement which detracts from what made SC so attractive in the first place. Now are you sure you want more detail in bridging features than SC1 had?

Scorpion, I to was instilled with great enthusiasm at the promise of HoI. I to have never played it, I have interacted with many people who have and I regard their opinion with great respect. I have not posted with my disappointment with HoI's initial release and don't intend to but I have followed Les' statements of his position in this forum and many others. I don't necessarily agree with Les' stance on all the issues revolving around HoI, but one thing is certainly clear and I believe this is Les' main objection to HoI. That is; the game was released in a beta condition and the people that it was marketed to were not informed of its incomplete status. Now I understand that this was not what Paradox's intent was, and lord knows they have hung in their with patches most admirably, but they should have somehow curtailed Strategy First's premature release. In this life I have been taken for the fool to many more times than I care to acknowledge and when the chance presents itself for me to take a stand against misrepresentation then I would like a chance to not be apathetic towards this sort of economic betrayal. So I make a statement and I do not patronize a company who would submit to this underhandedness. Am I being selective? Yes, there are many others I have not taken the same action against either through ignorance or inconvenience, but it is my choice, that's what freedom is, and I believe that is Les' underlying motivation and on that we agree.

Bill, Was wondering if you would like to comment, if not, understandable, wouldn't want to spoil any surprises.

Old news Dutch...."Divide and Conquer".

I hear it DD, It's a matter of using the circular shells As... stepping stones, I would suppose. unless of course you can swim, for the "dark matter" encompasses an additional dimension.

Don't get me wrong, Japinard and roman uk, I acknowledge the fact of the Nazis being initially accepted as a liberator. All I'm saying is the nature of the regime was not conducive to taking advantage of that fact. Could it have been? Yes, anything is possible and let's say hypothetically it happened, then what? I find it somewhat outlandish that the millions of people in the Soviet Union would have been, before being conquered, duped into believing the new guys weren't as bad as the old guys. But that's my opinion and you know what they're worth. I'll cop out of here with letting history be my witness. My apologies Japinard, perhaps it is a viable "what if", I'm just adamant about the outcome.

Hmmm! DD it seems we have met there......where the land meets the water......and it is a beautiful place. Come... have a swim...and I will have a walk. :cool:

Dang Norse I thought this was relatively simple, the German plan for the East was "subjugation". What people imply and what they truly do by actions leads to interpretations of their initial plans. I don't "believe" anything I read, and only half of what I see, for all is qualified by subjective perspectives, as you have so admirably admonished. Sure they had a plan, but what was their intent? How did the original plan evolve? Be careful of what "men" say, write....watch what they do. That's my subjective perspective or how is it that you said it...."know".

Hubert has provided a feature where land units within 5 tiles of an enemy and naval units within 10 tiles will automatically face each other, as best as possible. Otherwise a default facing would be used, which could be edited. Essentially a simple mirroring process of the 3-D icons. Bill, watch out with this as it could disclose a previously unspotted enemy unit or at least alert the opponent to an unseen unit, removing the element of surprise.

Now that sounds like a superlative "what if" (WW1, with better tech). I'll be looking forward to that one, with the Old Guard Prussian High Command. Think in terms of JJ's Brest-Litvosk Aftermath.

Come on Japinard this is the Nazi regime we're speculating on, run by the supreme racist, Adolf Hitler. Remember what he said in "Mein Kampf" about the Slavs of the East. His rise to power was based on the theology of superior beings, it is unthinkable of his ideology to liberate a "degenerate" ethnic population represented by the Eastern European peoples. They were little more than slaves for the "supreme race" to use in their rise to world domination. This "what if" is what if the Nazis weren't Nazis and hence no WW2.

What happens when you have to retreat to an occupied tile and there is no stacking? What effect(s) are enemy ZoCs going to have on a retreating unit? Like I said before, think abstractly, the unit is not destroyed (how many corps/army sized units were completely destroyed in WW2), it has been made combatively ineffective. You must reorganize, refit......ie rebuild the unit from its cadre.

Marklavar I applaud your wisdom, the German attack on the USSR had a forgone conclusion. This was a struggle of ideologies as much as armed force and with a proper perspective of the vast scale and intensity of the combat, sheer power of strength, will and instinct would prevail. All the "what ifs" are superfluous.

Rambo...I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. On the contrary, I believe the Med theater presented possibly the only medium in which Germany could have won the war. Think about it, delay or forget the USSR invasion and put the resources into the Med, stretching the reserves of Germany's only remaining antagonist, UK. Don't be stupid and bring in the USA or USSR until the UK is defeated. Germany gets the Mideast oil and resources of N.Africa and all the while Italy is helping. Wouldn't be too long before Spain joined the Axis camp and there goes Gibraltar. Remember how easy it is in SC1 "Fall Weiss" to make the Med an Axis lake, that wasn't so far fetched from what could have been reality. Who's going to stop them? The Russians wouldn't have come to the aid of Turkey with a gathering Wehrmacht storm on its border. The USA was like it is now, divided as to what to do, and with Pearl Harbor vengeance at its peak, all Germany had to do was restrict its u-boats in the Atlantic a little with an apology here or there for indescriminant US merchant sinkings. So what say ye naysayers?

It happened 3 times on the strategic level in WW2 IIRC. Barbarossa, Pearl Harbor, and Battle of the Bulge were astonishingly efficient use of strategic surprise, so how is SC2 to simulate the effect? Since we know there will be a category for "Intelligence/espionage/counter-E" research and there has been much discussion for randomizing initial invasion deployments on DoWs, will it be a simple single attack combat enhancement OR? Going further to the operational/tactical scale, how will tech levels of "Intelligence" research modify the outcome of "Surprise Contacts" that we were used to in SC1? How will it be represented.....that sneaky u-boat getting into Scapa Flow, or those Italian frogmen wreaking havoc...what about that unorthodox movement of a Panzer group through the Ardennes? Any ideas/comments?

Thanks again Bill, you are much to accomodating. So I'll take advantage. In reference to carriers; will their air arm take losses to some degree when attacking ground/naval targets? Remember we discussed this possibility of carriers not falling in combat strength under a certain value due to intercepts/air losses unless they are directly attacked?

Talk about critical decisions for the French, what if Gamelin had decided to attack the Ruhr soon after Germany had attacked Poland. Sounds like a neat "What if" campaign for SC1 while we wait for SC2. Anyone interested? Hmmmmm....2nd week Sept. 39, custom campaign "France Attacks". Put the Russians as neutral, embroil the Germans in Poland for a turn or two.....could it have happened?

Hmmm! Regarding Naval Bombers, is it possible that they may be attached/stacked to a carrier group? Would they add a greater ground/naval attack factor to carriers if they aren't attached directly (abstracted). How much additional firepower is their potential at max values?

Way to go Kuni, excellent thread, fits right into my what if ponderings. If I'm not mistaken I believe the SC2 "all powerful" editor will allow us to create our own Generals, comment Bill? And JJ what a wonderful, off/def rating, suggestion. We could even create some of the old German Hierarchy such as Werner von Fritsch, Ludwig Beck, or even Franz Halder to name a few. And then of course a fantasy general here or there, "ourselves".

Excellent Bill, thanks for your prompt answer as I have limited time before I lose my connection. My idea to create a pre Sept 39 condition seems to be well suited for SC2 since I will be able to add a military, diplomatic and geographical setting for Austria and Czechoslovakia. Hitler faced much dissension in the late 38 and early 39 time period and there was a real possibility of his disposal. Of course with Goering and later maybe Hess at the controls things may still have gone badly albiet differently. There is even a remote possibility of Pres. Benes/Poland joining with Germany for an "adventure" in Czechoslovakia which would be another variation of the European political climate. Now while I'm wondering, will the Editor allow for an extension of MPPs to another country while the giving country stays neutral on the Axis side? I'm aware this can be done for the Allies ala "lend lease", but what for the Axis?