This looks amazing, few questions....

[Panzer_Meyer]

Hi,

This game sounds amazing. I've never had the chance to play the older grand strategy games that people always talk about. So this is something I am really looking forward to.

It seems like almost everything will be modeled, oil, production, resources. Will man power be modeled in anyway, if so in what way?!

Also, will tank groups be able to travel further than infantry? My guess is yes, but you never know.

So how does one capture territory, do you just have to drive on to the countries captial and ask for a surrender. Or can you beat them to submission and starve them off natural resources, like oil and the like? Btw, will other natural resources other than oil be modeled? I saw oil rigs in one of the screenshots, so oil will play part in the game, thats for sure.

Will road and rail-road networks be modeled in anyway? So if your troops use roads, they will move further? And if these are cutoff by enemy formations, will they cause reduced supplies for frontline troops that are cutoff?

Well I thinks thats all the questions for now, thank you, I am really looking forward to this game!

[Hubert Cater]

Good questions, and my fault for not having an online manual quite ready yet (something I hope to have up and running in the next couple of weeks)

For the most part your guesses are correct, but to answer a few more specifically... yes all units are modelled with different action point values as well as different values for various attack and defence types, i.e. soft units attacking tanks, tanks attacking tanks, etc.

There are no roads used in the game (simply a design decision for a game at this level) but supply is calculated properly to include cutoff units. In general supply is determined by a units' proximity to cities or their respective HQ's (which act as supply wagons). Operational movements are included which act as rail transport between friendly connected cities and a unit's current location and so on. There are also action point penalties included for trying to cross over unfriendly rivers and attempting to pass through enemy unit formations etc.

Hope this helps,

Hubert

[GriffinCheng+]

Originally posted by Hubert Cater:

There are no roads used in the game (simply a design decision for a game at this level) but supply is calculated properly to include cutoff units. In general supply is determined by a units' proximity to cities or their respective HQ's (which act as supply wagons). Operational movements are included which act as rail transport between friendly connected cities and a unit's current location and so on. There are also action point penalties included for trying to cross over unfriendly rivers and attempting to pass through enemy unit formations etc.

Oh, as far as I am concerned, the supply rules comes first. Please don't feel offended but it sound a little "simplifed" to me. Can you elebrate how production and other "hardcore" factors would it be in or would it be close to "War in Russia"?

But fun comes first!

TIA.

[Hubert Cater]

None taken For the most part it may seem that way, but there are a few surprises in there that I think both tactical and strategic level gamers will enjoy.

For example, and now keeping in mind that supply is calculated from your proximity to the nearest city, cities and other resources can be bombed to reduce their efficiency which in turn will affect your supply from that city (not to mention your overall production capabilities).

Let's say the nearest city is running at 100% efficiency, then your supply will be 10 - distance in hexes from that city, including costs for various terrain like mountains etc. Now let's say that city has been damaged from bombing and is now running at 60% efficiency. Now your supply will be 6 - distance from that city. Tie this in with generally reduced efficiency in countries that your forces have occupied as opposed to home cities, as well as the scorched earth strategies on the Russian front where the Russians effectively destroy their cities as they retreat and you could really be running into a logistical nightmare trying to maintain unit readiness with good supply values.

So what are you left with, maybe protecting your cities with Air Fleets, making sure your HQ's are kept close to your advancing forces but not too close to have them vulnerable to attack and so on.

Hope that answers your questions!

Hubert

[Panzer_Meyer]

Thanx for the answers, it does clear up a lot of things for me. I like the way the supply works, type of terrian matters, how far the unit is and so on, sounds awesome.

Another question is how will a nations manpower be modeled? Will you just get certain amount of points each week/month to buy new units? So Russia for example gets 200 points a week to buy untis, but germany gets 40points to buy units.

And how about the peace negotiations be medoled? Will you be able to ask for peace or offer any peace offers? Or do you have to simple conquer the entire country and capturing it's capital to win? Personally I hope not, I hope you can offer peace and initiate in peace negotiations with the nation you are at war with.

So lets say you are fighting Russia and you conquer everything all the way to the Volga, including Lenningrad, Stalingrad, and capture tha Caucasus oil field. Now, we know Russia would still keep fighting (most likly). Will you as Germany be able to offer peace terms, or if you are Russia in the same situations, will you be able to offer peace terms?!

Thank you in advance.

[caligula_jones]

wow, two posts in one day... i guess i'm not lurking anymore.

i've been a gamer for close to 20 years now, and pretty hardcore about it. CMBO is the best game i've played, ever.

and now we have this *and* CMBB coming out. i can't wait until both are tied together. massive army sweeps, and zooming down to certain areas to duke it out in person.

man, imagine a PBEM game with different levels of command, using 100s of people.

keep up the good work, guys. i can't wait to get my grubby hands on this baby.

shane

[Lah]

(moved my questions to another topic)

[ April 19, 2002, 08:10 AM: Message edited by: Lah ]

[SwedishPSK]

Caligula Jones.. I agree with you a 100%!!

merging a strategic part with Combat Mission..

that would be the perfect game..

SWE

[von Lucke]

Another supply question: If being in supply is judged based on distance from friendly cities, is it possible to "chain" units to extend that distance? And how about HQ's --- do they ever run out of supply? And how many units can an HQ supply anyway?

[Hubert Cater]

Originally posted by von Lucke:

Another supply question: If being in supply is judged based on distance from friendly cities, is it possible to "chain" units to extend that distance? And how about HQ's --- do they ever run out of supply? And how many units can an HQ supply anyway?

Good question, technically you could chain your supply with HQ's since they act as supply wagons on top of their other influences (very helpful when playing against scorched earth strategies on the russian front ). But as you've guessed, an HQ will not always be in 100% supply itself, the further you move away from any other supply source it's supply giving value drops as well.

A quick note: units that are cutoff will have supply = 0, but a unit that is cutoff with an HQ in it's immediate vicinity may have some supply since the minimum supply value of an HQ is I believe 3, what this does is simulate airborne supply to cutoff HQ's and their subsequently attached units.

[Compassion]

Originally posted by GriffinCheng+:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Hubert Cater:

There are no roads used in the game (simply a design decision for a game at this level) but supply is calculated properly to include cutoff units.

Oh, as far as I am concerned, the supply rules comes first. Please don't feel offended but it sound a little "simplifed" to me. Can you elebrate how production and other "hardcore" factors would it be in or would it be close to "War in Russia"?

But fun comes first!

TIA.</font>

[Funker Vertinox]

Roads not important?

Feh

Yeah I know that not even WIE or WIR had them, but if you think about it they were quite important to the overall aspect of the war.

1. Russia was damn near hard for the Entire 3 German Army groups because there was not a single paved road in that country.

The germans did make use of the single road leading for warsaw to Moscow.

Otherwise another to note is that the roads in Western theatre were quite better (albeit large groups of refugee's)

I don't think it should really make the travel of troops any faster (considering if you were trying to cram a single korps along a a two lane highway), but perhaps it should influence supply.

Which leads me to rail roads which are quite more important...

I know 3r didn't have them, but WIE and WIR both had them and WIR was mostly on the Korps level.

Not as much for the Western allies, but the Germans and Soviets used them extensively on the OstFront to transfer large amounts (Entire Armies and even whole factories for the Soviets) of troops and weapons.

Which also was a reason that the Germans had a time converting the Russian gage to Euro gage...

Could they be added at least for major networks like WIE or is that not being considered? (WIE and WIR was on 20km per hex I believe)

If they are being considered and the Russian vs Euro gage is going to used in the system, remember that Spain had Russian gauge and by the time the Germans invaded in 1941 most of the Baltic states were not converted to Russian gauge because of general logistics and laziness of the infrastructure leaders.