Casaria

I've win only 2 months before the 1946 limit, so... Is the early bonus important to get a high rating ? [ September 02, 2002, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Casaria ]

I have win as Axis at +1, all options on except war in Siberia. My rating is +251. I wonder what are the results of other players ?

Hello, I just received my CD and play my first campaign which end by the 1946 message "All parties enter negociation for a peace treaty". Fun. But I can't refrain to compare SC to the old DOS-based game High Command. I think SC improve the fastidious tasks of High Command but should keep some features. Overall SC is fun to play and much more user friendly than HC (right click is marvelous). The research part is better in SC, as well as the transport system. HQ are my favorite addition in this game in comparaison of HC. But I would like Hubert to consider the good part of HC ! - a bigger map to the south : it is impossible to surround a city on the african coast. - add a port somewhere in Turkey. I know Turkey was not significant in term of battleships, but we need at least a port to transport. - unlock the end in 1946, I want to finish them !!! - stackable units : one of the most important improvement I would like to see in a future version. At the end of the SC campaign, France map was almost entirely hidden by american markers. Stackable units allow to make hole on weak line of defense too. However High Command allow a total of 8 units on a stack and that was too much, causing Russia to have a lot of difficulties to defend. But a stack of 3-5 units would be great. - the possibility to split or merge units of the same type. - a diplomatic phase. High Command was using a nice diplomatic phase. The countries enter at war by "trigger actions" like in SC, but it was possible to compensate a little by using a lot of money in diplomatic action. - the possibility to begin the game which Germany alone activated. It was fun to make a totally new game opening. UK was activated on the first declaration of war of Germany, but not France, which usually wait for a couple month to do so. - the possibility to specify option for the 'biggest minor countries", I would like to be able to specify if Spain, Turkey or Sweden are neutral or random. - and more important : the production system. High Command was using a far better system (IMHO). It use manpower, coal and oil to produce units. This was a very important factor of war. As Axis for example I was always lacking oil and definively need to get the Iraq oil as well as Romanian. As long as the Allied player was strong enough to defend them, Germany was unable to produce a lot of tanks and airfleet. High Command use a system of allocation of ressource which was quite boring (each ressource have to be allocated to a specific factory), and I'm delighted not to have to spend 5 minutes each turn to do this... The production system in High Command use a system of delayed production : 1-3 months for army, 4 months for tank and airfleet, 8-12 months for boats, which was more accurate and exciting, you have to make the good choice for the future. With SC, I was able as the Axis to build a large fleet in a few turn ! HC use a cool feature factory-based for USSR : the possibility to relocate is industry far away from front line. - the possibility to give an allied some limited amount of MPP. - the national anthem of each country which enter to war This is the first time I take a moment to ask for improvement, but this kind of game is totally out of the general stream and we need to take care of this precious exception Anyway, the game is fun and worth well $32. And forgive my rusty english.

USA are #1, no doubt about this, but this do not mean their system is better all the way ! I lived and worked in San Francisco some months for a french company and what I see is an industrious and friendly nation. However they way of thinking is often quite reduced, as if they were no other options, sometimes I even felt like they do live in a kind of autarcy. There are a lot of nations which decide that economy was not the absolute ending of every human activities and that some money can be spent to help the poorest to access to minimum services and dignity. France is quite a nice country to leave in, and is close to the Sweden system. The social services are taken in charge by the state, hospitals are free (even for heavy disease) as well as universities, there are paid vacations, the economy is good, the taxes not so high (33% for the vast majority of french people). Private insurance are not very helping the poorest, as they never save enough money to pay it. Actually I run my own company, and even with the taxes, I make confortable profits. Overall the french system is not perfect, but quite equitable For the WW2 part, of course France lost a lot of its power but that the way things are, and the youngest generation has no problem to live in a medium size country, as long as it is nice to live in for everyone. And the European Union give us a new opening. All countries in Europe gain considerable advantage with the Union. Of course it becomes a threath to the US economy and there is a struggle between the two of them on many points. Sometimes it is US that are the bad guys (the tax on steel is the last I remember), and sometines it is the EU. But thats all fine overall, both entities growth, no ? The system is in no way similar to the soviet communism. The european deputy are elected, they are not bureaucrats with no control ! Ciaooooo