Edwin P.

Handicap scripts - good idea! Perhaps; For Axis AI: 5% that Vichy France Joins Axis when France surrenders. 5% that Turkey Joins Axis if Axis takes Karkov or Rostov 5% that Japan and USA resume trade, USA war readiness declines 25% 5% Turkey annexes Syria, Jordan and Iraq after France Surrenders For Allied AI: 5% Japan signs economic trade package with Russia, Siberian Transfer occurs early. 5% USA signs peace agreement with Japan, this frees Pacific Command to send two carrier fleets, battleship fleet, McArthur HQ and 2 Marine corps to Egypt for training exercises. Ideally, the scripting language would include a Player_Flag where 0 = all games, 1 = activate for Human vs. Allied AI, 2 = activated for Human vs. Axis AI. The default would be 0, activated in all games. Then the player would not have to manually switch them on or off. You could even have them linked to an AI level. Example; Beginner - 0% Vichy Joins Axis when France surrenders and AI is Axis Expert - 5% Vichy Joins Axis when France surrenders and AI is Axis [ April 07, 2006, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

According to the manual, taking London has a big influence on Spain and Turkey joining the Axis. Invest in diplomacy and an early sealion may give you two allies, one on the southern border of Russia!

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--------------------------------------------- Long Term (i.e. bottom of list) a. Option for player scripted Event Popups that could include JPG Images. Example: Pearl Harbor event might include a B&W Photo of Japanese Attack above (or below) the text. b. Option for player scripted Event Popups that include audio files. Example: Public Domain Version of Winston Churchill's speech. c. Events with Player Choices (and allowing for scripted AI responses). ----------------------------------------------- News Flash - Dec 7th 1941 -Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor [ April 08, 2006, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Simple Solution: Neutrals can't purchase Amphibious Transports (or normal transports too). But I would hold off on implementing this until after players have more experience with the game. It may not be needed.

Based on the demo here are my initial thoughts for the top 2 enhancements; 1st - Victory Requirements Screen with Game Length, Victory Conditions and different descriptive text paragraphs for Allies and Axis (or Union and Confederacy or Greece and Persia), etc. My guess is that this is already at the top of HC's long list. 2nd - Event Scripting Condition for Linked Event Activation. I.e. If Produce submarines will research advanced submaries. If UK invades Norway, USA will invade Norway too. Medium Term ---------------------------------------------- Convoy Route Enhancement Ideas a. Intel Advantage +1 allows viewing of Convoy routes on main map, otherwise you must go to the convoy map. Intel Advantage +3 allows viewing of enemy MPP balances. b. User can select from 1 of 3 convoy routes, as SeaMonkey suggested - User selects a route and can't change it for another X turns. SeaMonkey suggested 4 turns, I would have it be based on Intel Advantage. Default 10 turns. USA Intel Advantage reduces this by 2 turns * advantage. Axis Intel advantage increases this by 2 turns * advantage. Example: US selects convoy route 1, if Axis has Intel Advantage +2 then USA can't change it for 14 turns. If USA has Intel advantage 2 then USA can change it every 6 turns. --------------------------------------------- Longer Term a. Option for player scripted Event Popups that include JPG Images. Example: For Pearl Harbor event you see a B&W Photo of Japanese Attack. [ April 08, 2006, 11:08 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Yep, if they want to keep the Axis from seeing the Convoy routes.

And linking the display of convoy routes to intel also makes researching intel more important.

Thank You Lars. One bit of historical info - in the early days of the war merchant ships did not cross in convoys and the routes were wider and easier to find by the German subs. Later in the war the routes became much narrower and thus harder to find and easier to protect. Also most USA convoys traveled from the Gulf Coast up the Atlantic seaboard before heading to England. [ April 07, 2006, 06:29 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

So it wouldn't be too easy, why not have the convoy routes show on the main map only if an active major power has an Intel Tech advantage? That way, the Allies know exactly what tiles to guard on the main map if they have the higher Intel rating and the Axis knows which to attack if they have the higher Intel Tech rating. If neither has a tech advantage then both see nothing. As for changing the route, I will wait until I have some experience with the full game as it may not be needed, but at first glance I would say I have a preference for user selectable routes (selected from a predefined list). Changing a route would incur a cost in MPPs - i.e. 100MPPs for Canada to change from Route 1 to Route 2 and it might not help if the Axis has an Intel Tech advantage that allows them to see what the route changed to. [ April 07, 2006, 06:15 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

I can op move land units out of Hungary and Romania. So I assume that this only applies to air units.

Quick note, on another Moscow First Game. Reached Moscow in Game Two and reduced HQ unit guarding it to 4, Siberian Transfer Occurred and DEMO Ended. Perhaps next time I will actually take Moscow before time runs out in the Demo Version. Found diplomacy to be very useful as got Hungary to join Axis on Turn 2 and Romania on Turn 4. In the West, the Allies followed a new strategy, only two attacks on the German units guarding the Border with France, and much less use of Allied Air Power. They must be sleeping this game. In the Atlantic - WOW - Allied Navy patrolled South Atlantic and found my sub off the coast of Spain! Just luck? Other Sub was attacking UK convoy route to Russia.

I like the developments in the Choose Side screen. Did any one notice that AI experience bonus is now 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2.0. Not just the 1 or 2 bars of old. It allows a lot more fine tuning.

I agree on the objectives screen. If this is offered as a future enhancement I would like to see: 1. Victory conditions 2. Game length 3. Scenario Background - a short paragraph of text on the historical basis for the scenario - perhaps with a different paragraph depending on whether you are allied or axis. Example of Allied Text - "It is June 1944. The Russian are advancing in the East. General Eisenhower has ordered the launch of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Europe. American, Canadian and British forces are under your command. Your mission objective is to sieze the towns of xxx,xxx, and xxxx before July 29th." Example of Allied Text - "It is December 1944. The Germans have launched a surpries attack in the Ardennes region of eastern Belgium controlled by American and British forces. Their goal is to reach the sea, trap four allied armies, and impel a negotiated peace on the Western front. Your mission is to stop the German advance before they can cross the Meuse River, the gateway to Antwerp and the Allied port supplying all Allied units in the region. You must hold the towns of xxx,xxx, and xxxx." [ April 06, 2006, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Historical Background: Web Page on Balbo Question - How would you rate Cavallero as compared to Messe and Graziani? [ April 06, 2006, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

As I recall, when Balbao was shot down, accidentally by his own men as he was flying a plane back to base, it was a great loss for the Italian war effort. Why? He was one of the few gneral with the guts to stand up to El Duce, and was pushing for more planes, better planes, better training and better logistical support. My guess is that if he was not shot down the Italian forces would given a better showing in WWII. That said, in Sc2 you can customize everything.

This is why I like the Sc2 concept. It makes it easy for the players and designers to tweak the AI. No single designer (i.e. HC) or design team (i.e. Microsoft and the Age of Empires Line) can plan for all possible player strategies. You focus on the most likely player strategies and not the rarely used ones. The strategy I mentioned above would be one of the rarely used ones. Only a dumb human would not attack the Benelux countries, correct? A most unlikely strategy, but one that the AI needs guidance on how to respond to. The SC2 system allows the players and designers to easily improve the AI's actions. No other tile/hex based wargame; that I am aware of, offers this in such a user accessible format. [ April 06, 2006, 08:42 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

As the demo is really short, I figure I could have more fun by seeing how many Russian cities I could conquer. So I conquered Denmark and Norway. Then moved all Axis units except for 3 units on the French border and 1 air unit to the Eastern Front and Mechanized all of my corps. Then I invaded Russia. Now, what did and French and British AI do while I was doing this. 1. The Allied Air units were constantly attacking my German cities. Good. 2. The French land units need better leadership. One or two French Armies units attack the center German unit on the border. Then they switched to attacking the unit on the left and then the unit on the right. Often times only one unit attacked. Why didn't all three French units attack the center German unit on Turn 5, then pull back the damaged French units and attack with Fresh units on Turn 5+1. Supported by air power they should be able to break the German line. 3. Russian AI was better than SC1, it guarded its cities a lot better. Everytime I got in range of an empty city it would operate or move in a Russian unit. When a HQ unit was about to be surrounded it operated East, good move. So far, it looks as if the French/UK AI needs offensive scripts to use if the Axis is at war with Russian and the Benelux countries are still neutral.

Yes, Left click at each way point while holding the control key down.

Reading through the events in the SC2 user manual, I found them to be plentiful and well thought out. Now there are real penalties for the allies and Axis attacking neutral nations. Example. An Allied attack on the Benelux countries affects not only the USA but also Sweden and Switzerland. Axis occupation of Gibraltar may affects Allied resources in the Mediterranean. I noted that Free French is changed from a 100% (in Sc1) for land units to a 20% in Sc2. This explains why the French air unit in the UK vanished when France surrendered. I assume that it is 0% for Air Units? The only event I would change is the event for partisans in Egypt that is triggered if Germany conquers Egypt. During this period the Egyptian populace was pro-German. I am impressed. A big improvement over Sc1. Example: [ April 05, 2006, 09:24 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Played through by attacking Russia early, and moving in the Med. Motorization tech really has a big impact in Russia. Huge jump in Russian production once they are at war. In Med and Atlantic Allied Navy much more active that it was in Sc1. The Quatra depression really limits the Axis advance and gives the Allies a chance for a defense. I like the events that reinforce the allies in the Middle east. Am used to the new interface. Impressed by the different costs to research different techs. Some techs such as Anti-Air and Intel cost less. Others more. Nice balance. I like the movement after combat; for naval and land units, and the bonus given to units that attack before moving. Much to ponder this week. Well worth it. Much impressed by the features and simplicity. Your tech choices can have a really big impact on your strategy in this game, much more so than SC1. All in all, I like it. Good game. Still simple to learn, but will take awhile to master.

Another Naval AI comment - Replayed at FOW OFF - (Turn4)UK AI retreated 2 UK Naval ships (Str 10 and 9) from Battle with German fleets and in same turn sent 2 aother ships (at Str 10 and 10) forward to engage the same Axis German Fleets after having lost 1 carrir and 1 surface ship in prior turns with no sunk Axis units. UK lost another ship, no German ships sunk (damaged yes, sunk no). At simplest level AI should have: 1) attacked with all 4 warships or 2) not attacked. At a more advanced level AI should have 3) attacked with all 4 warships and sent ship from London North to reinforce UK fleet or 4) Amassed a single great fleet to sink the Axis Navy or 5) sent all units North - including Air units to engage Axis fleet.

FYI - in the demo, here how I baited/sunk AI fleets. Case 1 - In first game with FOW on, evaded AI ships by sailing north and then west. German Fleet safely reached Iceland. Sent sub south to convoy route. AI responded with 1 (or 2) ships, sunk, then 2 ships, sunk, then 1 ship sunk. No Axis loses. Axis ships retreated to Iceland to repair to 8 and then repeated. Problem was that AI responded too quickly and without massing a fleet to face an unknown or known threat. A human player would never make this mistake, and would probably move air units to Canada to help spot any axis units. Once the AI saw that there were 4 or 5 Axis naval units off the coast of Canada it should not have sent in ships 1 or 2 at a time. It should have massed a counter fleet and then moved in for the kill. PS: In the first Game I did not know where the UK fleet was, just lucky to avoid it by sailing straight north. PS: Key was being able to repair ships in Iceland. If Axis had not taken Iceland (or UK had invaded and garrisonned it as it historically did) this would not have been possible. Case 2 - With FOW off, (now I saw where the Allied Ships were). Conquered Norway. Moved Air units West coast of Norway and Axis fleet to west coast with transports shielding the fleet. Moved subs in Atlantic towards Norway. AI attacked transports with 2 Allied units and did no or minimal damage (I don't recall which). 1 AI surfce ship attacked a German sub which dived. 2 attacking units sunk by combined Air and Naval attack. Remaining ship retreated. Allied AI sent forth 2 more surface ships from the south, which were sunk. Damaged Axis ships retreated to Norwegian ports along the west coast for repair, etc. Then sallied forth to sink Allied Carrier which was waiting next to a port tile. Problem was that once more the AI did not mass for a counter attack. But sent in units piecemeal even when it saw number of Axis Naval and Air units in the area. Also it attacked transports before combat surface ships. Despite this, it looks as if the Naval Game in SC2 will be far more interesting both for single and multiplayer with the much larger ocean and the ability to run silent. As HC said, enhancements to the AI scripts should take care of this. [ April 05, 2006, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

This is something I will be adding as a future enhancement</font>

Interesting, I found just the opposite playing against the Allied AI. In three quick games (2 with FOW on, 1 with FOW off) I sunk 4 to 6 allied surface ships in the Atlantic before the demo ended. Axis losses were 0 to 2 fleets. D-Day scenario was good but I was unsure what the victory conditions were or how long the scenario lasted. [ April 05, 2006, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]