Occam's Razor

[Desert Dave]

Wow! :cool:

Many tremendous and thoughtful ideas have been proposed of late, as befitting a hard-corps group of gamers, for... another game.

Probably not Hubert's game, but, some sort of designer's work-shop game that would be interesting to try out... I am looking forward to the eventual Demo.

Likely, MOST of these great ideas were, at one point, considered, then rejected by Hubert.

Very true that most of these ideas, including mine, already exist in some other board or computer game. Hard to imagine that Hubert is not already aware of them.

William of Ockham, a Franciscan monk of the 14th century, had some fine advice:

1) No unnecessary assumptions should be made (... the word "cat" does not remotely describe any PARTICULAR cat that you might see sauntering along the alley-way) AND,

2) The most parsimonious/simple explanation is the best one (... all is not relative).

And so, I shall propose that there is ONE FINAL PATCH, knowing full well that this is quite unlikely to happen... Hubert has already hinted that he is looking forward, toward SC2, and not backward.

To solve the apparent imbalance that remains (... at least, among Grogs... not to forget, however, that well over 99% of Fury's buying public does not comment on any forum) I propose 3 simple adjustments.

This would go a long way toward satisfying the LESS THAN ONE PER-CENT of us who would indeed like to see the Allies arise right up! and smite the unholy Reich.

1) Reduce the plunder by 20-25%. Or, add one more category (... with new experience level at 1 & 1/2 medals).

2) Adapting a suggestion originally made by Bill Macon I believe, change USA and Russia's Industrial Tech benefits to 10-10-10-10-10, keeping it at 5 for each advance for all others.

***3) Reduce the combat benefits of attacking with EXPERIENCED units... by 20 to 25%.

RATIONALE:

The first two would be OPTIONAL, so that essentially we would keep the same game that we currently have.

Without experience benefits, the perceived Air Power problem would be diminished, if not eliminated altogether (... as indeed it would be by the other two suggestions).

With better results from Industrial Tech advances, USA and Russia would gradually and eventually become stronger, duplicating the historical situation.

And, the reduced plunder would not allow the Axis to command TOO MANY units, which seems to be a simpler method than having elaborate manpower/unit restrictions.

Well, we all have had our own ideas about how to improve the original SC, and what we would especially like to see in SC2. No doubt this is a favored past-time, one that I enjoy immensely as well. I hope Hubert will keep them in mind.

And so, like Alexander the Great, boy wonder, Hubert will likely apply his very own Razor to these many interesting and thoughtful ideas, which are... a unique kind of "Grognard's Gordian Knot."

No reason to act in a hurry or in haste,

No need to wield the gem-studded Sword,

(The Eastern Bull is not so easily gored)

Raise the blade - high, and higher!

A simple, parsimonious FLASH! slash!

Of ol' Occam's Razor,

Is all that's required.

[JerseyJohn]

Immer

Great suggestions. I'd like to see them implemented, they're the sort of tweaking adjustment that should be possible in a simple patch without involving new rules or map changes and they would definitely help things.

Unfortunately, the Soviets would invariably use their increased production to churn out even more corps, but till the really big changes come much farther down the road, lines of Soviet Corps will have to be a fact of life.

Cutting down on experience effects is a great idea. At the same time, once attained, it might be good if it weren't lost as quickly to reinforcements. Maybe cut the dillution of experience down to 1/3 it's present rate. This would maintain the reduced experience value while keeping at at useful levels in veteran units.

In summary, I give your interim ideas two thumbs up.

[ March 12, 2003, 03:38 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]