Tech Questions

[Edwin P.]

What do the Amphibious Warfare and Infrastructure techs offer?

[pzgndr]

Amphibious Warfare did not make the cut. Infrastructure research reduces the cost of operational moves and transports.

[Desert Dave]

The Ever Curious Edwin P:

What do the Amphibious Warfare and Infrastructure techs offer?

The chance to move land or air units to distant locations at reduced cost.

Amphibious Movement was originally conceived to be a separate research category, but, in the end, Hubert opted for the KISS principle,

IE, IF you have an argument with your wife or mistress or girl-friend, ALWAYS make it right, just as soon as you can, with a kiss... Ooooops, WRONG one

I mean to say, Amphib is contained within the Infrastructure category since that allows ALL forms of movement to be in ONE category, thus... "keeping it simple, Senor."

Amphib is EXPENSIVE (... twice the cost of plain old transport from port to port) and so researching Infrastructure will reduce the cost of amphibious movements, and, transport as well.

It is supposed that you are not only improving roads and rail, but also port facilities and your transport network in general, no matter how done or whether across land or the 7 Seas.

**[... having Amphib COST a LOT more is ideal in another way, as it prevents too many of those willy-nilly "nuisance raids"... IF you intend to amphib invade, you have to PAY for it; thus, it would most especially be something the USA Player would probably want to invest in for later invasions of North Afrika or France]

And, it is for your usual Operational Moves.

This could be an immense savings over the course of a 6 year war, especially for those countries that have far-flung territories, as Britain, or who would advance deep into enemy territory, as GErmany early, and Russia later.

And, if you are using "home builds" as an option (... and it IS part of the default game) then Infrastructure would save you MPP's since you could only place newly constructed units that arrive off of the build queu in your HOME country.

OK, what benefit? Well, it REDUCES cost of Op Moves and Naval movement of men and materiel by 15% for EACH level of achievment.

IF you should reach level 5, you would consequently save 75% (... 5 Xs 15) for each and every Op Move or transport/amphibious movement.

[ December 16, 2005, 05:06 AM: Message edited by: Desert Dave ]

[Bill101]

Will evacuations be possible without ports? I'm thinking Dunkirk style.

[Edwin P.]

Sounds pretty powerful.

Lots of choices.

Too few MPPs.

You can't research everything.

Perhaps, no longer will the game be won by researching soley Long Range and Jets.

[pzgndr]

Will evacuations be possible without ports? I'm thinking Dunkirk style.

Not currently. This would be nice to have as an enhancement later. Allow units on coastal tiles to select Transport but at double the cost and something like 25-75% random losses inflicted?

Perhaps, no longer will the game be won by researching soley Long Range and Jets.

You'll find that the unit costs and reinforcement costs start to add up more quickly in SC2 for these high techs. I still have a tendency to upgrade most all my units when I can, but then find I don't have enough MPPs to sustain them. Unlike SC1, players will have to make some tough decisions about how to spend their MPPs. And with production delays, you also need to correctly predict what you will need in the future.

[SeaMonkey]

Thanks for the insight guys.

Now tell us about the intelligence disclosure.

It is pretty much like SC1, where you only know how much of each type unit your opponent has deployed or is there something more?

[pzgndr]

Each new level of Intelligence research increases your own research bonus by 1% and decreases your opponent's bonus by 1%. This is in addition to the catch-up bonus you're already familiar with in SC1. That's all the intel tech does.

The military strength and loss reports are pretty much the same as in SC1, with updated graphics. These can maybe get enhanced later. Keep your fingers crossed.

[Edwin P.]

Report Ideas:

Diplomacy Spending Report

-Accessible at Intel Level 1

-Shows how many chits each nation currently has invested in Diplomacy.

Accessible means that the diplomacy spending report button is greyed out until your Intel Tech Level is 1 or higher.

Diplomacy Spending Report is relatively easy to achieve, if you research Intel.

Research Spending Report

-Accessible at Intel Level 2

-Shows how many chits each nation currently has invested in research.

-Example: USA 4, Germany 10, Russia 2, UK 5, Italy 2

Accessible means that the research spending report button is greyed out until your Intel Tech Level is 2 or higher.

Military Command Report

- Accessible at Intel Level 3

- Shows name, strength rating and deployment theater (?) for highest rated HQ unit of each major power.

- Example:

Germany - Rommel (9) - Eastern Front

USA - Eisenhower (8) - Western Front

UK - Montgomery (7) - Western Front

USSR - Konev (5) - Eastern Front

Accessible means that the military command report button is greyed out until your Intel Tech Level is 3 or higher.

Military Command Report (v2)

- Accessible at Intel Level 4

- Shows name, strength rating, deployment country and closest city for highest rated HQ unit of each major power.

- Example:

Germany - Rommel (9) - Russia - Stalingrad

USA - Eisenhower (8) - Egypt - Cairo

UK - Montgomery (7) - UK - Manchester

USSR - Konev (5) - Russia - Moscow

Italy - Barri (4) - Italy - Rome

The military command report (v2) will only be available to players focused on Intelligence spending, and the information therein may indicate the axis of the next enemy advance.

Miliarty Command (v3)

- Accessible at Intel Level 5

- The highest rated HQ unit of each major power and the uints it supports are visible on the map (ie spotted).

[ December 21, 2005, 12:18 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]