teutonkopf

I think that night warfare (night bombing, night fighters, naval night gunnery, infrared night sights) should be added. A 'night warfare' technology can be added that would show up on air, naval, and land units. The attacker would specify on each attack how much weight to place on night operations. The result would be that an attacker with a higher night warfare rating that shifts the attack focus towards night warfare would be more successful against a defender with a lower night warfare rating than he would have been if he focused his attack in the daylight hours: * A low rated 'advanced aircraft' fighter unit with a high 'night warfare' rating would fair well at night against a high rated 'night warfare' bomber unit on a night bombing mission with a high rated 'advanced aircraft' escort unit that has a low 'night warfare' rating. Low rated 'advanced aircraft' with a high 'night warfare' rating would also be instructed to not interdict daylight raids else they be slaughtered by escorts. This reflects the high effectiveness of a low rate 'advanced aircraft' like the Bf-110 as a night fighter in spite of its total uselessness at a daylight fighter. * A high rated 'night warfare' naval unit like a cruiser would fair well against battleship of greater power but lower 'night warfare' rating. * A land unit with higher 'night warfare' rating would be more successful in combating a stronger opponent with a weak 'night warfare' rating. Night warfare was critical in the air war and even more so in the naval engagements of the war. Historically, it was not as critical a factor in the ground war because the germans employed infrared technology very late in the war in Europe. However, modern warfare has amply demonstrated that the infrared night attacks would have had a much greater impact if they had been implemented in an earlier stage of the war. Night Warfare Technology would add a new dimension of strategy to the game along with historical accuracy. This major facet of the technological arms race could be added and yet not make the technology dimension too complicated. v/r, tk

I think there should be a decision event for Germany to support Finland in the Winter War. This is one of the biggest "what ifs" of WW2 because it would have allied Germany with the UK and France against the Soviets. Choose 'no' and the stratcom AI will be the same as it traditionally has. Choose 'yes' and a very very interesting alternative history begins. Germany, UK, and France are now fighting as allies against the Soviet Union. v/r, tk

I think that Axis Spain/Portugal should result in significant pro-axis influence on Latin America. Spain and Portugal both had fascist governments at the time and Brazil was significantly pro-axis. Spain/Portugal axis conversion would inspire latin american support of the motherland(s) in much the same way that the english speaking nations supported Britain. South America may be more likely to be pro-axis due to further proximity from the USA, and significant german, italian, and japanese populations. Central American, Caribbean, and Mexican pro-axis sentiments cannot be discounted in light of anti-american and anti-colonial dispositions. (Also note that many former german soldiers stationed in Mexico during WWI remained there after the war.) Latin American axis support would likely be less stalwart than Commonwealth allied support and wane with axis failures and cautiously flare with axis success. Limited latin american infrastructure would limit convoy capacity, but it would be present to some extent. This along with their ability to act on the Panama Canal would add a new dimension to the naval strategy of the game. Axis units would gain friendly access to the western hemisphere to establish bases of operations thus making Axis threats to the USA more plausible. Axis ships and aircraft operating out of Latin American ports and airfields are a very realistic and significant plausibility. The exploits of Germany's surface raiders and u-boats, and Italy's flying boat fleet's trans-atlantic crossing amply illustrated this. v/r, tk

I think a decision event to create independent Ukraine should popup after some trigger related to german advancement into ukranian territory. Historically, the ukranians greeted the germans as liberators from the stalinist oppressions such as collective farming induced famine. Historically, the germans ruined this opportunity due to nazi ideologies of lebensraum and hyper-racism against slavic peoples. Choosing 'no' would produce the same traditional stratcom AI for soviet territory. Choosing 'yes' would produce very interesting alternative history. Ukraine would become a nation and join axis. This could be accomplished with programming logic technologies similar to Vichy France. Ukraine resources would be at full capacity. Ukraine could generate ukranian military units. Soviet forces still in ukraine would not leave peacefully, but would be greatly weakened in their ability to defend or operate against german forces in ukraine. Perhaps even a chance of sebastopol based black sea ships, or existing soviet units in ukraine (likely comprised of majority ethnic ukranians) would convert into ukranian units under axis control. Soviet partisans would not be able to operate in Ukraine. Ukranian independence is a very important and realistic historical "what if". The game should not assume that the axis player wishes to conduct himself as a nazi fanatic and alienate the ukranians! :confused: v/r, tk