rbensing

[ This is one of the problems with historical games: you know how the movie ends. If the French had known that the Maginot Line was useless and that Germany was going to kick their butt regardless of what they did, and that the only sensible thing to do was hold the Germans off for a couple extra months -- all things which the Allied player in this game knows -- they might well have pursued Blashy's strategy instead. I don't think that the strategic options should be wildly ahistorical, like, say, putting a couple units around Paris and trundling the rest of the French army off to Britain, to live to fight again. But I don't think a player should be strait-jacketed by history, either. Besides, it's way too early to tell whether Blashy's strategy is fool-proof. It gives the German player much greater room for maneuvering his units than he otherwise would have. I'd want to wait a while before we come to any conclusions on it. RB

I think that's an excellent idea, too. I understand the point you're making, and I agree with it to an extent. I just don't like the idea of getting 300 MPP's for my turn, deciding, "well, I need a tank group," and presto, there it is. It would be one thing if you really did have to save up MPP's, but in many cases you don't. Plus, even when you do have to save them up, it's not like you're making anything more than a mental commitment as to what you're going to use them for. Go back to my example of Britain. If I hoard MPP's and get Sea Lioned (when did that become a verb?), I build corps, if I don't, I build ships or airplanes or do research. I have a problem with the concept of 40,000 soldiers being told that they've just become sailors or pilots or scientists instead. RB

With all due respect, I don't buy that. Even in the early stages of the game, it takes no more than a couple of turns for Germany to get the MPP's to build a tank group; in the latter stages, one turn is more than sufficient. Disabling the production queues leads to the "instant army" effect of SC, which wasn't in the least historical. And it's not good from a gaming standpoint, either. A good strategy game compels the player to make strategic choices. Disabling the production queue removes that compulsion. For example, if I'm Britain after the fall of France, and the PQ is disabled, I simply hoard my MPP's. If the German player does a Sealion, I build a bunch of corps. If he goes with a sub offensive, I build cruisers. If he goes with Barbarossa instead, I dump it into research and planes. But if the PQ is enabled, hoarding doesn't do me any good, because I can't react instaneously. I've got to make some hard choices, with the knowledge that if I make the wrong ones, I'm screwed. As you point out, the great thing about the game is that you can decide whether you want it on or off. But I think it's far more realistic, and a better game, with it on. RB [ November 10, 2005, 05:00 AM: Message edited by: rbensing ]