Strategy vs Tactics

[Valadictum]

I've been reading some previous threads and from what I've seen some people want to see deployable divisions and others want to stay at corps and army level. But I don't see why it isn't possible to acheive both in a way that will benefit the game, especially PBEM.

I think the game should still be played at the higher level, but behind the units each could be constructed from available divisions.

Have a number of division types available to each playable nation/side, E.G standard units like Infantry Division, Motorised Division, Mechanised Division etc. New types of division become available when appropriate research is done.

To play the game you'd need to create your corps or army from the available division types. When you then buy a corps or army its of the current type. Once a year a side should be able to change the design of their new corps and armies (by spending MMP)and can upgrade exisiting units (also by spending MMP) to the new standard.

The game would still be played at corps and army level, but it would be possible to see the divisions each of these contain.

Divisions could then have officers that could be promoted to corp level command, based on experience and corp commanders could be promoted to army command and army commanders to group commanders.

I can't help thinking this would add an extra dimension to PBEM, or against the AI. What do people think?

[vonManstein39]

Sorry - seems like an unnecessary complication to me. If a feature makes no difference to the gameplay, why have it?

[pzgndr]

We're not likely to see divisions introduced at this scale, even abstractly as you're proposing. The best we can hope for is some later addition of specialized corps units, like airborne, mountain, or artillery. Mech infantry corps and armies have been proposed for British and US forces, so maybe that will happen eventually.

And as it stands now with leadership, unit success affects HQ experience, which simulates commanders being promoted and such. That's fine. I really don't want to deal with additional detail below the HQ level at this scale. Interesting idea though.

An interesting strategy vs tactics issue to watch is whether to buy more armies or more corps, since there are pros and cons both ways and there are no force pool restrictions to deal with. It's hard to tell in the demo, but maybe the playtesters have some insight on this. If we eventually see specialized corps, it may get even more interesting.

[Desert Dave]

As originally posted by Bill Macon:

An interesting strategy vs tactics issue to watch is whether to buy more armies or more corps, since there are pros and cons both ways and there are no force pool restrictions to deal with. It's hard to tell in the demo, but maybe the playtesters have some insight on this.

I have noticed that the Russian AI buys mostly corps. This seems to occur when the initial German invasion has rapidly reached the major cities, but are a bit thin and depleted.

Generally, this could be due to the vast tundra that needs to be defended. In particular, the Russian AI tends to surround a threatened city with a whole passel of corps, which can be quite annoying to an exhausted, over-extended, and lowly supplied Wehrmacht.

One can't help but get exasperated (... as the hackles start to rise on the neck), and imagine this huge shadowy bulk :eek: of a Russian commander, who is hunched over in a hooded parka,

And all you can see is a frost-cracked face, and a drooping mustache and two off-kilter eyes like cigarette holes burned in an old army-mule's saddle blanket and... let me outta here! :eek:

[Hubert Cater]

One can't help but get exasperated (... as the hackles start to rise on the neck), and imagine this huge shadowy bulk :eek: of a Russian commander, who is hunched over in a hooded parka,

And all you can see is a frost-cracked face, and a drooping mustache and two off-kilter eyes like cigarette holes burned in an old army-mule's saddle blanket and... let me outta here!

I was hoping that there would be an exasperated mood induced when playing the eastern front, much more than I could have hoped for

Hubert

[Mammou]

Exasperated is a good word for it. Although the AI can be fooled for a win (esp after seeing the deployment, Brit complacency etc) a real opponent is another story. Those seemingly endless corps are a nightmare (or your only hope - depending on which side you play), anyone who expects to win in a single year vs a person is in for a surprise.