Disbanding of Units (and getting cash)

[sogard]

I thought it was interesting that the User's Manual says the following about unit disbanding and the resulting crediting of MPPs to the owning nations bank account:

"DISBANDING A UNIT

Units were often disbanded when they were no longer deemed necessary and military

funds would be better allocated to other areas. Any unit that is disbanded results in the

immediate recovery of MPP, and is based upon a unit™s supply

Recovered MPP = 5% unit™s cost * greatest value of unit™s supply or strength

To avoid abuse of the disband feature, only land and air units can be disbanded and they

must have a supply value > 0 and no enemy units next to them.

In order to disband a unit, right click on the unit and select Disband from the drop down

menu."

However, in a current pbem game with Iolo, I discovered that he had been disbanding naval units and getting MPPs for them (resulting in a different Allied Order of Battle and research capability). Iolo directed me to the patch history and sure enough, I found:

Changes Made For v1.01a (July 25th 2002)

- added disbanding of naval units (max return 10% of purchase value)

I am rather curious about this change. Why was it done?

How do other players feel about the fact that the game permits players to significantly change the Order of Battle for both sides? Is this a good thing?

I must admit that one of the things that attracted me to STRATEGIC COMMAND (SC) was the fact that the early part of the game made alot of sense in a historical fashion. However, would Churchill have scrapped significant elements of the Royal Navy to pursue Jet research or produce additional aircraft for the Royal Air Force?

I am still mulling this part of the game over and have not reached a final conclusion. I can see that gamers who don't care much about history or realism would love the fact that they can tailor their Armed Forces more toward the specific threats contained in the game; but, I am just not sure that I want that kind of flexibility in a WW II strategic level wargame.

Anyway, I would appreciate other's thoughts on this subject and maybe Hubert would like to chime in and give us his design philosophy which resulted in this change in the game from the User's Manual to a patch upgrade.

[ September 22, 2002, 03:16 AM: Message edited by: sogard ]

[HankWWIIOnline]

Historically probable? No.

However, it's a game. People don't HAVE to disband naval units. Simply find people to play with that will not scrap a bunch of their navy if you wish to play games like that.

I personally like more opportunities to do things differently. If I wanted a game where more 'user made' rules apply, I will find someone who is willing to play that way.

[daringly]

Both the french and british navies are much more valuable intact, than scrapped and respent on technology or forces.

A full strength battleship will give you 60 mmp. The entire french navy is worth 220? I *promise* you I'll do a lot more than 220 mmp damage with the french fleets, as well as possibly hinder Germany's attack on France.

And disband the Royal navy? That sounds like a formula for disaster. Even if things go badly in France, and England loses most of its air and ground forces, her navy makes it difficult to quickly take England. If your invasion is slowed from 3 turns, to 6 (to take London), England wins.

I do like having the flexibility of doing weird things, but curiously enough, the "historical" paths work fairly well in this game.

BTW, does anyone else notice Italy declaring war much earlier, if french forces are pulled out of the Med?

[iolo]

Just gloating here, but my 9:1 PBEM victory/loss ratio (and climbing) argues that there is some merit to disbanding naval units (not all of them). It's a cornerstone in my defence of France.

[Rouge]

A whole squadron of Destroyers was scrapped so that the british war office could bolster the production of the Churchill Tanks, so if it happened in real life why cant it happen in the game?

[Kuniworth]

Darlingly;

I´ve noticed that activity in the mediteranean, for example moving the fleet at Alexandria into striking position triggers the Italians to join the war much earlier.

[sogard]

Originally posted by Rouge:

A whole squadron of Destroyers was scrapped so that the british war office could bolster the production of the Churchill Tanks, so if it happened in real life why cant it happen in the game?

What is your source for this assertion? Any examples of the Nelson, Rodney or even a WW I battleship being scrapped to produce anything?