Karhu

I believe it does work that way to an extent, in that Axis and Allied chit totals invested in a given country (er, Spain) cancel each other out. However, I think it's much better to keep the buying of chits seperate. Otherwise Germany with plenty of loot could simply pay for all Italy's chits, and it would be far too easy. This way the skint Italians have to make choices.

That goes for me, too. If anything I think there's almost too much information in the pop-ups sometimes, and so surprises are reduced. As the Axis, not knowing quite when the Siberians hit town would keep you on your toes and help the Allies to spring a trap. Ditto diplomacy. In the heat of battle it's easy to forget to check for a turn or two and then: oops, where did Sweden go?! Information gaps all add to the fun.

Madmatt, Moon, Many thanks for all your efforts with this. Have just managed to download this puppy in Holland in about 25 minutes at 60-70/KB sec, not bad at all in the circumstances. Now all I have to do is re-arrange the appallingly-timed family holiday which kicks off tomorrow!

Ok, ok - do the decent thing and help the man if you can.

Ok, ok - do the decent thing and help the man if you can.

Moon/Martin, Ok, thanks. That was obviously the part I missed - I keep forgetting that your today on the other side of the herring pond is a fair bit after our today. After two years (and a pre-order on 5 March!) another hour or two won't make any difference

Moon, I've still not received this email, and it's not in the junk folder either I did get the email with the order confirmation, though, and I have the order number. Is there something I need to do at this point? Cheers.

I'm certainly intending to share any intelligence that comes my way, though I will also be putting a large book down the back of my trousers. Mind you, Blashy said he would be using a different strategy each time. Still, some patterns should show up quite quickly. Hopefully it will be quickly enough for us to avoid that thrashing.

John DiFool the 2nd raises an interesting point. In SC1, Sealion was viable if only to knock the UK and its MPPs out of the game. With the UK government moving to Egypt, and the US entering the war early after a SC2 sealion, it's really out of the question. Meanwhile, Axis invasions of Sweden and Spain look like non-starters too, as again they would bring the US in earlier. So what are the poor Germans to do? I daresay Blashy will demonstrate in our PBEM game. :eek:

Looks like this might be the only way, then. It would be nice if it could be done. I was pleased to see that the Polish "red-and-white-squares" symbol is used in the game for Allied minor nations' units, because otherwise the Poles just disappear from the game after turn three.

Many thanks for your input, gentlemen. Though it's true the rising occurred when the Russians were close (indeed that's part of the reason it happened, as the Poles wanted to secure their city themselves before the Russians got there), it seems to me that in game terms if the Russians are within five tiles the Germans are likely to have a unit in Warsaw anyway. The rising happened almost literally from under the Germans' feet. Is there some way to have, say, a chance that one or two army-sized partizan units suddenly appear next to Warsaw regardless of any German garrison when the Russians get close? There's a fine joke they tell in the former Yugoslavia and Poland about Partisans: Shortly after the war, a Yugoslav (as was), a Pole and a Czech were discussing over a beer who had the more effective partisans. The Yugoslav says, "Oh, we killed lots of Germans all over the country for years". The Pole says "Ah, we killed so many Germans left right and centre for years, we lost count". The Czech says, "You were lucky. That was strictly forbidden in Czechoslovakia".

I for one am very pleased to see partisans (or at least their effects) cropping up more or less all over the map in SC2, and not just in Russia and Yugoslavia. They were a major drain on the Wehrmacht in several countries. So it seems a pity that there's no sign of them where the largest uprising of WW2 took place - Poland. The Warsaw uprising in August 1944 was unparalelled in occupied Europe - much of the city was out of German hands for a month. The Germans ended up evacuating the entire city of its surviving population. Any chance of there being say a 90% chance of an uprising being triggered in Warsaw each time the Germans leave it ungarrisoned, as one of the enhancements to come? Cheers.

Well spotted, Hubert, indeed it is. I'll have to think of something more difficult next time

Though when I just tried attacking Italy early as the Allies, the AI did quite well, rushing in German units - HQ and all - to help out.

So they are. Just goes to show how long you can look at something and not see it. Thanks.

If you click on the unit it tells you what it is. </font>

Thanks for the offer. Ok, count me in: mjeffery@wanadoo.nl Allies please, as it's the first time round.

One minor suggestion and an even more minor correction: I like the addition of amphibious transport v normal transport, but the resulting ships look identical to me, and I can never remember which one is which when I've got an invasion going combined with normal transport ships. How about marking the amphibious ones in some way to avoid the confusion? One typo - Iceland should be declaring independEnce. Cheers.

Of course it's perfectly possible my sub crew were too busy getting the pasta sauce ready to notice a covoy going by.

I've tried parking the Italian sub everywhere from Gibraltar yachting harbour to Cairo fish market - no effect yet. Do the Atlantic convoy routes cease to function if the Allies somehow manage to lose all their fleets? Can't see it, somehow. It just means the subs would have a good time.

Number 1 on the list of cool features - can we have national anthems for the minor countries too? Oh, and a Mediterranean convoy route please, to keep the Italian sub from going bananas looking for something to do once the UK Mediterranean fleet is sunk.

It is good to know for sure that reducing the port does help reduce the defenders, in any event.

Nice one. Were you reducing the port as well as you went, or didn't it make any difference to the UK unit's supply? From the screenshot it seems to be still at full strength.

Thanks for the quick reply, Pzgndr. Why were the Mediterranean convoys left out? After all, they were very important, especially for Malta, and they were in SC1 - at least the Italian sub could interrupt them by hanging around in the right places. Now it will only be fit for disbanding once the UK Mediterranean fleet is gone, unless the Axis can take Gibraltar. I know about the convoy map, but the one niggle I have is about having to go backwards and forwards between the maps to see if my subs are more or less in the right place. I like Lars's idea of the dotted line on the main map you need to be within 2 or 3 tiles of, and of them shifting a little over time. Perhaps they could do this in response to successful attacks? After all, it seems only natural that if ships were being sunk on one route they might vary it a little.

Gentlemen, Full marks on what looks like a cracking game. I wasn't sure how the tiles would work out, but actually they work very well by allowing much more movement "through the gap". This is especially true at sea, where it's now much more difficult to surround and destroy subs, evening up the odds a little. I especially like the diplomacy options, as this adds a whole new aspect to the game, and the fact that many of the minors have been beefed up to make them potentially very valuable allies. Getting Spain on board, for example, now looks like really being worth the effort. It's also good to see Mannerheim at last! A couple of questions: 1. How do you get paratroops back up into the air once they've carried out a drop? 2. Is a city still connected to its capital if their territories meet at just the corners of two tiles? 3. Do the Mediterranean convoys appear later in the full game, or what happened to them? BTW, I'd like to add my voice to the request for the convoys to be marked on the main map in some way. Cheers.