Minotaur

(* Readiness factor of a unit will decrease when it moves. Has anyone noticed this effect?) Seem only to change from turn to turn... When processing the supply net I suppose... (* I'm confused on the Strength points. I "assumed" they were related to combat power. But it appears that are more a factor of how much damage a unit can take before it disappers. If that is true, I don't understand why a tech level increases this number. Isn't the increase in the relevant defense factor enough? If strength points are manpower (more or less), then does the increase mean that I am adding more divisions to my Corps/Armies? Confused.) Don't think more mens... Think better equipments... Better MGs, Bazooka/Panzerfaust, more powerful & accurate artillery/mortar, better shells, better communication, etc... (* I assumed the Anti-Air tech increased the Air defense factor of the ground units. Doesn't say that in the manual. So where is my counter to increased Air unit attack factors? Even if I didn't have a new tech items to give my troops, something should represent the additional Anti-Aircraft Artillery that the ground commanders would request.) Only cities, ressources... Probably to simulate the fact that each side throw a lot of AA guns to defend their cities/industries/ressources... I don't know if a Panzer division, for example, carries a lot of AA guns with them when they fight on the frontline... (* Carrier gets a strength increase from two (2) different techs. Does that mean a carrier can theorticaly become a twenty (20) strength unit?) JET AIRCRAFT RESEARCH As UK, my Air Fleets grow beyond 10 but my Carriers stay at 10... So no... Never been able to boost Carriers beyond 15...

I'll be the Devil's advocate on this one... Most wargamers, like myself, tried ol' paper wargames with it's huge, painful rulebooks... Then came wargames on computer... An improvement for us... No more '2-hours-to-prepare-the-map' or 'roll-one-dice-then-add-+1-if...' or 'Oh-God-the-cat-jump-on-Germany!!!'... Computers do all the dirty, boring work, leaving us only the fun of the grand strategy... For us, it's a big step forward because it is easier now to play our favourite passtime... But youngster who learn that computer games are 3D, 16 millons colours clickfest... Will they be able to accept a less spectacular but more challenging type of game???... The more the time pass (and the technology advances) the more I doubt it... We'll see more and more 'Shogun - Total War'-like games (not a bad game, mind you...) and less SC-like games... Oh God!!!... Please prove me I'm wrong...

You're right... As it's probably a good idea, as UK, to throw a Research Point or two in Gun Laying Radar... Since it boost both battleships & cruisers... But my point is some research are far more useful than these two... Industrial Technology for one... For Axis because they have fewer MPP than the Allies... For Allies because each country have so few points each turn that you must make the best of it... Both Axis & Allies to help pay for the upgraded units... On the other hand, Sonar is far less useful... Correct me if I'm wrong, but subs are used far more often as a warship than a strategic weapon... Italian sub near Alexandria when I removed UK from the Mediterranean is the only time I use sub as a Strategic weapon... And on top of that, if you play with FoW Off, it's completely useless... Of course, who play without FoW... That said, not all Technologies are born equal in usefulness... That's the main problem... Not the price... Boost the cost of Industrial Technology and people will still pay... Lower the cost of sonar and people will still ignore it!...

KDG - The problem, as I see it, is not the cost of research... It's the fact that everybody invest in Industrial Technology, Jet Aircraft or Heavy Tank but no one invest in Sonar, Anti-Arcraft or Advanced Subs... Either... - You make result random... You invest but when a breakthrough occurs, you have not direct choice on what you will have... - You pump-up, modify not popular researches so people will find them of equal value... BTW... You're right... Some randomization in the position of units could help the game being unpredictable, with 'FoW On' of course... [ February 19, 2003, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: Minotaur ]

Comrade Trapp & JerseyJohn - True France should continue the fight, from UK, if Vichy France is not accepted... New HQ DeGaulle?... Problem is: How many MPP goes to France?... A % of the UK goes to France?... Only MPP from French colonies?... France can barely construct a Corps in 1939... Imagine if it has to live only with Algeria & Syria... Perhaps in SC 2?... JerseyJohn - Now I understand what you means by 'the Kiss of Death'... Depend on how much they wish to improve their game (via patches) before beginning the next one... And just to improve on one suggestion: [Editor] Be able to place units of every countries BEFORE they 'awake' (when DoW is called)... Instead of being forced to activate (Update) the country to place units...

I agree with that... but I don't know if it's possible in game when the country 'awaken'... But in the Editor, definitely... And there's two more... - [in Game] Being able to Give MPPs to another country (with a % penalty, for the transport)... - [Editor] Being able to set the Plunder of each countries... [ February 18, 2003, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: Minotaur ]

Indeed... For me too... As for adding another idea to SC2: - Being able to give MPPs to an allies... But not just giving MPPs and the other guys total MPP automatically rise, no... Too easy... You'll have to physically move the MPPs from one of your city to one of your allies city... Via land, air or sea convoys... Each types of convoys should carry a different maximum of MPP... Air convoys carry a few MPP... Sea convoy a lot more, etc... If the convoy is destroyed, then the MPPs is lost... You'll have to defend it...

From the Acrobat User Manual: •Free French Units - Upon a French surrender, all French units located within territories controlled by the United Kingdom, or any Allied Minor country will automatically become a Free French Unit under United Kingdom's control. French naval units also have a 20% chance of becoming Free French regardless of current map position. The only things I can tell: - 4 Free French Ships = Very lucky die roll... - As for the Amphibious Assault, perhaps they were already en route to reinforce when France fell... So instead of turning back, they made an amphibious assault... That's only a guess, though... Only Hubert may truly answer this...

No... They have a good industrial potential... Especially Japan, since it didn't suffer a full scale invasion... Instead of building war material, they build Cars, TV, etc... I learn recently that Mitsubishi (my VCR!) built the Zero fighter that Japan used in WW2...

My God... Prepare your pen & paper... I'll stick to games with War as a theme and available on the market: If you like 3D Shooters: (All can be played on the Internet, if you have a Cable/DSL that is... There's a lot of fun playing these games as a team)... Return to Castle Wolfenstein - Best graphics... Easy to play... less 'Historic' (Some Science Fiction weapons + Zombies)... Medal of Honor Allied Assault - It has a more historic WW2 touch (original German propaganda on walls, Germans speaks... well... germans, only real war weapons, etc...)... The D-Day mission is a must see!... Last mission is quite tuff, though... If you like Real time Strategy: Sudden Strike II - Lot of micro-management... No ressources collecting (like C&C)... Very small units... Can play US, Germany, UK, Japan or USSR... You hate it or you like it, you are warned!... Red Alert 2 + Yuri Revenge - Simple yet full of options... SuperWeapon can really turn the tide of a battle (other C&C SuperWeapons didn't)... Homeworld + Cataclysm - Battle in space!... Complex yet easy to understand... You can control from the tiny scout ship to the behemoth Mothership... Ships Formations easy to apply... 3rd dimension not a pain to grasp (Unlike games like Descent)... Emperor: Battle for Dune - Real 3D units... If you like Dune (movie and/or books), you'll feel close enough to home here... Good story... Last but not least, turn-based games: Combat Mission Beyond Overlord - Good mix of turn-based and real-time... Planning your moves is easy... Both sides play simulteanously... 1 min. seeing what happen without any interference possible from you can be hard on your nerves... Panzer General 2 + People's General - Old, but in the Bargin Bin if you're lucky... As easy to play as a wargame with hexes can be... Of course there are a LOT more games on the market, and since my computer is beginning to be out of date, there are some games that I can't play (Battlefield 1942, America's Army, etc...)... But the games I listed here I have, I enjoy and I spend a lot of time playing them (perhaps too much, but that's another story...)...

Why not create a new research topic to put MPP on: Military Doctrine?... Or Military Tactics? The more levels you have, the better your base HQ will be... Not sure I want to add another research though... There's too much thing to research already...

I just look at them both... Gee... Didn't thought this forum has 84 pages!!!... It could use some organisation (General Topic, Troubleshooting Topic, Ladder Topic, SC2 Topic, Mod/Add-on to SC Topic, Strategy Topic, etc...)... Anyway, that's another story... I'll stick to what should be added to SC2... The North Atlantic - Depends if you whan it simple or complicated. A problem I see is how you show the convoy on the map... Since you can only have one unit in one hex (unless we can stack units in SC2), how do you represent a convoy of multiples ships?... Knowing that a convoy may have 20 ships and another 80... Perhaps a generic unit called 'Convoy' with a set defense value (like a cruiser or a battleship)... Or perhaps a unit still called 'Convoy' with X MPP to convoy and Y MPP spent to defend it (to simulate how big is the escort)... Personally, I prefer Genghis 'Boxes' idea, as I seen it on a tabletop game and it was quite simple... You have a box 'Atlantic', 'Barents', 'Mediterranean', etc... Axis can choose to put or remove a sub in any boxes or on the map (as a regular warship)... Allies can put or remove cruisers, battleships or aircraft-carrier (perhaps they could create a Destroyer Unit)... At the end of Allies turn, just before UK receive its MPP, the result of the Sub war for each 'boxes' is done: damage to ships and how much MPP is lost... Of course, when US is at war, it can add ships too... North America - I'll stick with my "If France,UK and USSR is conquered, then it's victory for the Axis"... If we want to see the conquest of Canada-USA in SC2, then we should have a map of the entire world... Both Europe and Pacific... No doubt Germany, Italy and Japan would have to team up to conquer USA...

Couldn't agree more... It has some good ideas (like the "Panzer-Jump") but the AI was unable to play properly... Imagine a map a little bigger than SC, but each turn represent 3 months!!! So if you did a mistake, you lost 3 months... Play aggressively and perhaps you will be on time... Play too carefully and you lost so much time that you conquer France around 1941-1942... And the AI didn't play carefully or agressively... It play badly...

First thing I would like to see in SC2 is... A bigger Map!!! I would like to simulate the (failed) escape of the Bismarck... A more real sub hunt... Having more than 1 hex to attack Russia from the south... The convoys from UK to Russia (Murmansk)...

To JerseyJohn: I like the idea of starting the game before the war (like starting in 1938)... Makes a lots of good "what-if"... - What if countries can use their starting technology points on technologies they want at the beginning... - What if countries can purchase and place the units they want... - What if you decide to invest your MPP more on technology and less on units... - What if Germany ignore Poland and strike directly at France... - etc... And if all these choices are kept secret until war begin, it will bring a lot of unpredictability to the game...

Thanks all for your replies... Vichy France - To the Victorious the Choice When France surrender, the Axis player see a pop-up menu appear: "Create Vichy France? - YES or NO" If you choose Yes, then it's exactly what we see in the game... If you choose No, then all France is under Axis control... France is still gone as a major country... No changes on how to handle Free French units... But each French colonies has a (low) chance of becoming a minor Axis territory or a (high) chance of becoming a "Free-French territory" under UK... Why choose to refuse the creation of Vichy France? - You want Marseille right now... A good MPP + a good and secure port for the Italian ships... - A better frontline against Spain if you want Gibraltar the land way, fast... To allow Italian fleet out of the Mediterranean... - Quicker Italian reinforcement of France in case of an Allied "D-Day"... - Etc... Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact & automatic capture of the Baltic States by USSR - Should be an option before starting the game (like Free-French yes/no, Partisans yes/no, etc..) I wish it simply as a "what-if"... What if the front line was closer to Russia than it was in reality... If the USSR want the Baltic States then he has to declare war and invade like for every other countries (lowering the USSR & USA war % in the process)... As for changes in the Editor, I don't think any would be a problem for the AI, except perhaps for Adding/Removing Cities and Port... I understand that removing Berlin may be a problem... Perhaps Add/Remove only non-capital cities?... To zappsweden & Shaka: About bombers, I see your point... I didn't actually sit down and use my calculator to check if the ratio MPP-lost-by-the-enemy/MPP-to-reinforce-my-aircrafts is acceptable... No doubt it is, after you have some levels of technology in Jet Fighter and Heavy Bomber... To JerseyJohn: Thanks... And I also hope you were just kidding about the Death Kiss...

Why not say... The HQ Command Rating = nb of units it supply... example: Zhukov (8) = can supply 8 units... It would give even more value to the best one! And the weak countries like Italy are stuck with poor HQ, like in the real war... And I think HQ should be destroyable too... remember Paulus at Stalingrad (BTW, He's not in the Germany HQ list ?!?)... So you must be careful where you use it, even if they can defend themselves... The high rating HQs would be a more tempting target because successfully killing it (or isolating it) would disorganize the enemy supply net... Hope you like my idea...

I see... Indeed Germany would've jump to control Copenhagen as soon as Italy fall. I wish I had checked if the Denmark MPP was indeed transfered to Germany though... And the fact that Germany did all the work of removing the Copenhagen Corps, but an Italian Army move into the city, is it a random occurence or something planned by the AI (to give more MMP to Italy, for example)?... BTW, I'm glad you reply so quickly yourself... Proof that you care a lot about your game... Keep the good work...

Clash of Steel... :cool: This and I played... - High Command (Spend most of your time managing ressources than fighting a war) - Third Reich (finishing France in 1942 ?!?) + countless WW2 Mods (Civ 2, TOAW, etc...) And now Strategic Command!!!... My 5 reasons why I bought this game? 1) I played 5-6 times the demo (I bought it after my 3rd time!...) 2) Simplicity (At last, it's gone the time when you must take an hour to play a turn!...) 3) Impressive AI... 4) Simplicity x2 (Not a throng of statistic to remember... Neither too much planning... (No more buying a Battleship and it arrives a year later!!!)) 5) Pure, simple fun playing a game with hexagon!!! (Never feel that since Panzer General...) The only thing I miss is a printed manual... But I can live with that... We don't have too much Acrobat to read, simple as it is... And for the record, It's the second game I bought from Battlefront.com... The first is Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord and I liked it!... [ February 12, 2003, 02:16 AM: Message edited by: Minotaur ]

I usually use a mix of #2 & #3... #2 - Germany's job: Poland... France & Low Countries & Denmark... Yugoslavia (before the Coup)... Greece... At least 1500+ MPP in research (good chunk of my plunders go there...) so Germany has (most of the time) Level 1 or 2 in Anti-Tank, Heavy Tank, Jet Aircraft & Industrial Tech. (The MOST important, IMHO...)... Then Russia, with love... #3 - Italy's job: Group Italian Fleet and destroy UK fleet in Egypt... Keep the sub here for free Convoy damage and move the rest toward Gibraltar as soon as France as fallen... Be careful to avoid Malta... No research or only Industrial Tech... With 1 Army, 1 Corps, 1 HQ and 2 Aircrafts move to attack Alexandria (transport Corps on the other side of the city to cut supply)... Then, when ready (depend if all goes well on the Russian front and if "D-Day" is imminent) Vichy France... Iraq... South Russia (with a HQ supply chain)...

Only playing for a few weeks and already wishing some changes in the game... Here what I hope to see... - [in Game] Bombers & Subs as a Strategic weapon are useless... Replacing 1-3 bombers cost far more than the 1-3 MPP points they destroy... As for the subs, if you're master of the seas, only then they can do their strategic work without fear of being annihilated the next turn!... - [in Game] When France, UK and USSR are conquered by the Axis, it should be Game Over... Axis Win... Having to invade USA make no sense... - [Editor or in game] Giving the Axis the choice of making Vichy France or not... Idem for Eastern Poland (German/Soviet pact On/Off?)... - [Editor] Being able to make every minor countries Axis or Allies... In other words, having the full choice when you Update a country (Side with Axis/Allies, Surrender to Axis/Allies, etc...) - [Editor] Change value of Cities/Ports... - [Editor] Add/Remove Cities/Ports... I think this would make a very good game even better... Feel free to add your ideas to this list... [ February 12, 2003, 03:11 AM: Message edited by: Minotaur ]

Only playing for a few weeks and already wishing some changes in the game... Here what I hope to see... - [in Game] Bombers & Subs as a Strategic weapon are useless... Replacing 1-3 bombers cost far more than the 1-3 MPP points they destroy... As for the subs, if you're master of the seas, only then they can do their strategic work without fear of being annihilated the next turn!... - [in Game] When France, UK and USSR are conquered by the Axis, it should be Game Over... Axis Win... Having to invade USA make no sense... - [Editor or in game] Giving the Axis the choice of making Vichy France or not... Idem for Eastern Poland (German/Soviet pact On/Off?)... - [Editor] Being able to make every minor countries Axis or Allies... In other words, having the full choice when you Update a country (Side with Axis/Allies, Surrender to Axis/Allies, etc...) - [Editor] Change value of Cities/Ports... - [Editor] Add/Remove Cities/Ports... I think this would make a very good game even better... Feel free to add your ideas to this list... [ February 12, 2003, 03:11 AM: Message edited by: Minotaur ]

Here what I saw, playing the Allies against the AI Axis... France has fallen... So Germany declare war against Denmark and did all the dirty work, but when the Corps at Copenhagen was destroyed, an Italian army move into the city (!?!)... So Italy captured Denmark... Later, with the US, I landed directly near Rome (north, south and Sicily)... After a few turn and a lot of Aircraft Carrier help, I captured Rome and Italy is knocked out the war... Here the "bug": Everything that Italy hold was liberated as soon as it surrenders... Except for Denmark... It still keep the full Italian color... Even if a German Corps was in Copenhagen... In my mind, Denmark should have turned gray because of that unit (liberated then conquered by Germany)...