pzgndr Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 I have sent a .txt file to Otto for posting on his SCHQ site. Below is an advance copy you can all cut and paste if desired. There's a lot of useful information, particularly about HQ supply and linking. STRATEGY GUIDE UPDATES and ERRATA, September 2003 By Bill Macon and Dan Fenton NOTE: These notes reflect Strategy Guide updates and errata for the Revised Edition dated June 2003. INTRODUCTION Strategic Command went Gold on July 12, 2002 with the changes made for the version (v) 1.01 demos according to the SC Version Changes file. However, the demo was not officially released until July 19 and updated to reflect v1.00 (i.e., Gold version). This was also the date that Battlefront.com began accepting pre-orders for Strategic Command. Shipping began on July 31, 2002, and the rest is history. AXIS STRATEGY - UNITED KINGDOM Invading Edinburgh or Scapa Flow has no effect on USA or USSR war readiness. Therefore, raids into northern England could be useful distractions without provoking USA or USSR interest. Once Axis units approach London or Manchester the USA war readiness increases at about 10% a turn. There is no USSR war readiness increase. When London falls, then there is a quick USSR war readiness increase starting at about 10% a turn and increasing quickly. However, if Manchester falls before London there is no USSR war readiness increase. The USSR war readiness remains the same until London falls. Thus, Axis players could consider a strategy of attacking Manchester first and London second. Then when London falls the UK surrenders at the same time that the USSR war readiness begins to increase, ensuring that your Western Front is secure before USSR prepares for war in the east. Capturing Edinburgh first as a supply source would be an important invasion goal, since attacking Manchester without it would be problematic. ALLIED STRATEGY - FRANCE A French armor unit placed in Paris is effective, but some players prefer to use a French Corps or even the Canadian Army to entrenchment to level six. Armies and tanks can then be used for counterattacks to destroy an enemy unit or two. Paris will usually survive the first enemy contact and this will allow French survivors to evacuate if playing with the Free French option. Defending France and keeping it in play for as long as possible has an interesting side effect in the game. While France remains active, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Spain will not join Axis under any circumstances. Yugoslavia will not coup. Once France surrenders, the random political triggers for these countries become effective. The game apparently checks for the usual minors first and then for Spain (see below). For example, it is possible in games where France surrenders late for Hungary and/or Romania to join Axis AND then for Spain to join Axis, and for all three things to occur at the end of the same turn. The triggers for Finland and other minors do not appear to be affected by the status of France. ALLIED STRATEGY - SPAIN The chance of Hungary and Romania joining Axis on or after their trigger dates depends on the status of Spain. If Axis declares war on Spain or if Spain joins the Axis alliance when UK is near surrender then they will not activate if they are still neutral. Likewise, if the Allies declare war on Spain and activate it as an Axis minor ally while Hungary or Romania are still neutral then they will not activate. The activation of Bulgaria only depends on the status of Hungary and Romania, not Spain, but obviously Spain has an indirect effect. Additionally, if the Allies attack Portugal then Spain has a 75% chance each turn of joining Axis. Thus, Spain has important strategy implications for both Axis and Allies, regardless of how it activates. A pre-emptive Allied attack on Spain early in the war (the "Spanish Gambit") could secure the Iberian peninsula and deliberately deny Germany most of its minor allies and their MPP's. This places considerable pressure on the Axis if the Allies are allowed to entrench and build up for a major offensive at a time of their choosing. However, if the Allies fail to defeat Spain or fail to hold it then the Axis gains a favorable advantage. Gibraltar becomes vulnerable and the lack of ports in Spain seriously hinders the UK's ability to evacuate valuable ground units. USA war readiness is also reduced by about 8% for the Allied attack on Spain. Therefore, the Spanish Gambit is a risky strategy for the Allies in the 1939 scenario and virtually impossible in the 1940 scenario. If the Allies attack Spain it creates a totally different game, but it is usually a disadvantage for them. Axis gets Spain, Gibraltar and the virtual connection to Africa for free and earlier than normal (i.e., Axis won't need units for Spain and can use them for other purposes). Axis won't have to attack Spain themselves and this saves 18-27% USA war readiness and around 5% USSR war readiness (plus the USA penalty for Allies attacking Spain). That's a lot of Allied MPP's. Axis only loses MPP's for the Axis minors and their force pools for a while. Germany can always get its minors by conquering them later and gaining plunder, evening out the loss of the Axis minor units. One advantage the Allies may gain with the Spanish Gambit is a better start position for USSR if Romania remains neutral, but that's usually not worth the many MPP's the Allies lose in the long run. GENERAL TIPS - HEADQUARTERS The only "rule" in the HQ attachment algorithm is to support the closest unit first, in no special order. Unit attachment to an HQ allows it to receive that HQ's commander rating and combat morale bonus. Basically, the game uses a spanning tree algorithm where the HQ keeps spanning out until it collects the maximum five friendly units within five hexes. If multiple HQ's are in the vicinity then checks are made for the higher commander rating first but it is not clear how the computer resolves attachment conflicts, so some exceptions to the rule should be expected. HQ SUPPLY CALCULATIONS (a clarification) HQ supply = 5 if out of normal supply HQ supply = 8 if within range of city with supply value 1 to 5 HQ supply = 10 if within range of city with supply value 6 or more Normal unit supply is determined by a unit's distance from its nearest supply source. However, the HQ supply calculations described above depend on the supply value (i.e., strength) of the nearest supply source city. As long as the HQ is within the normal supply range of the city then it receives the full HQ supply value associated with that city. In other words, if the HQ's normal supply is at least one (which is not displayed anywhere for the HQ!) then it is within range and is being fully supplied by the city. For example: an HQ's supply value is ten if within nine hexes of a strength ten city; its supply value is eight if within four hexes of a strength five city; its supply value is eight if it is inside a strength one city, etc. Again, if the HQ is in supply range of a city, it receives the full HQ supply value from that city according to the HQ supply calculations described above. If the HQ is out of supply range of a city, then it is out of normal supply and its HQ supply value drops to five. Supply tracing for HQ's is determined in the same manner as for other units. Normal supply is traced over controlled hexes only and is reduced by one for each MC. Terrain movement costs apply to supply paths, costing two MC for entering marsh and mountain hexes and one MC for all other terrain. Thus, marsh and mountain hexes will further reduce the normal supply ranges discussed above. For example, a British HQ two mountain hexes north of Athens, with city strength of five, would have normal supply of one (i.e., within supply range of Athens) and its HQ supply value would be eight. The British HQ would be out of supply if it moves farther, reducing its supply value to five. Friendly HQ's can be linked to supply other HQ's over extended distances. Normal HQ supply based on cities is calculated first. Then if an HQ can increase another HQ's supply in the vicinity based on the rules of how HQ's supply other units, the linked HQ will receive an increased value. This could benefit an out-of-range HQ by giving it supply greater than five, thus giving it maximum action points for movement and maximum reinforcement ability; however, no increased supply gets passed on to extended units beyond what they would normally receive from the linking HQ. Additionally, two out-of-supply HQ's would have no effect on each other. In other words, supply linking provides some marginal benefit to the linked HQ itself, but not for any other units. With supply greater than five, a linked HQ does not suffer the -1 AP penalty and unit reinforcement limitation. From the earlier example, the British HQ with supply value of eight could link with another HQ in a third mountain hex north of Athens, making its supply value six rather than five and allowing it to move into another mountain hex. In all cases HQ's would receive the higher value of supply available to it; another HQ with lower supply in the vicinity cannot decrease an HQ's supply. RESEARCH - ROCKET RESEARCH Every level of rocket research improves the attack values, strike range, and maximum strength values for all Rocket Detachments. However, the attack values decrease with range. For example, Level 1 Rocket Detachments have a soft attack value of two at a range of one hex, but only an attack value of one at two hexes. This decrease in effectiveness represents the inherent inaccuracy of WWII rockets at extended range. Advanced Rocket Detachments with higher unit strength, unit experience, and HQ command bonuses can still be lethal at extended ranges, but players need to consider the decreasing attack values. DESIGNER'S NOTES - SURRENDER Surrendering is not always necessarily immediate, it does vary from country to country and is generally related to how much of a fighting force is left once a capital falls. Although, some countries will have a tendency to surrender a little quicker than others, i.e., France, Italy, [Norway], etc. [if a country loses its capital and does not surrender, there is a probability of it surrendering each turn from then on. For every unit still active there is a % chance that the country will fight on and try to retake the capital. When calculating the value of remaining units for surrender all units are equal; the probability of surrender does not grow with time.] DESIGNER'S NOTES - COMBAT RESULTS Combat formulas take many factors into account (i.e., experience, attack and defense types, defensive bonuses, entrenchment, HQ ratings, rivers, etc.) and are well defined in the manual. After that there is a +/- 1 point variation thrown into the mix to add some randomness to the battle. While I think a +/- 1 point variation is small enough to produce reasonable variety from game to game this is not to say that others may not like it. KNOWN GAME BUGS - Hexes 30,30 and 53,35 do not work for surface raiders because they are dual land/water and have been set with land attributes with a ship movement exception. - If Axis controls St. Johns port but Allies maintain control of Canada, Axis subs can still perform surface raiding in the North Atlantic. - Subs cannot normally attack other subs, even with Sonar technology advances, but can inflict losses through surprise encounters. However, there are some reports of AI controlled subs attacking friendly subs. - In Germany the mountain hex 35,14 south of Berlin is coded as a clear hex. It only takes one AP to advance through this hex and units do not receive the mountain defense bonuses. - The distancing algorithm is not entirely perfect, and may affect HQ attachments and supply tracing. For example, hexes 19,7 and 20,7 in England seem to restrict the range of HQ's to only four hexes at times. - French units transferred via the South Atlantic/Suez Canal loop appear to be exempt from the Free French determination if France surrenders while the units are in transit. Units remain coded as French when they arrive in Egypt. They cannot be reinforced or transported (since there are no French MPP's) until France is liberated and reenters the game. STRATEGY GUIDE TYPOS - Several instances of MMP's instead of MPP's. [ January 13, 2004, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: pzgndr ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin P. Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Many thanks, Much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyJohn Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Clarifies quite a lot. Much thanks for the excellent contribution we all take for granted now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Originally posted by JerseyJohn: Clarifies quite a lot. Much thanks for the excellent contribution we all take for granted now! I strongly second that Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leopard Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Thanks for the valuable tips and notes. We have some great informational posts here from time to time, and your Strategy Guide rates among the top ones. Good work soldier-I salute you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 Thanks all. This Strategy Guide effort has been quite an adventure, and an eye-opener for me regarding several details. What started out as a modest effort back in March to cut and paste interesting forum discussions into a single document grew rapidly. Obviously the first cut needed work so the Revised Edition was warranted. What's amazing was that something important like the HQ supply issue slipped through the cracks all this time. I always thought that city supply dropped over distance and that HQ supply was based on that reduced supply value, but no! What seeemed obvious from the User Manual update was not so obvious after all. A little playtesting and a few exchanges with Hubert cleared up this and other issues. I hope there are not any more issues like this lingering out there. Have we all figured out how this game works yet?? Dan Fenton and I will continue to monitor the forum for new issues, so keep them coming. We'll update the Updates and Errata file as necessary, but hopefully this is it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leopard Posted September 5, 2003 Share Posted September 5, 2003 bumping a good post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted September 27, 2003 Author Share Posted September 27, 2003 BUMP ... For Friendly Fire and other newbies, who are most welcome to this forum. Btw, Otto is still AWOL and has not posted this errata file on his SCHQ site yet. Let's all close our eyes and chant "Otto come back!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted January 13, 2004 Author Share Posted January 13, 2004 Bumped. Relevant to current Supply Lines thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nanope Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 Yes it is very useful. But I think that this sentence: When London falls, then there is a quick USSR war readiness increase starting at about 10% a turn and increasing quickly is only true after january 1941 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friendly Fire Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Hey! Why I am singled out as a newbie above, been active on this forum for quite a while now! Sounds like fighting words! This said, I am always interested in learning more about the subtle points of the game. With SC, the devil is in the details. The guide is excellent, thanks for the effort! [ January 14, 2004, 01:41 AM: Message edited by: Friendly Fire ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted February 17, 2004 Author Share Posted February 17, 2004 Otto has finally posted the errata file to his Strategic Command HeadQuarters site. Thank you Otto! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Dave Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Bump. Bump bump bump. Bump bump bump bumpity bump... BUMP! If ony many would read this truly excellent and informative SC Guide, Which Bill Macon and Dan Fenton put together, With CONSIDERABLE time & effort, and SC playing experience, They wouldn't need to ask half as many questions. NOTHING wrong with serious query and question, but of course not!! Anyway, Please... read. You'll be glad you did!! :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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