Strategic Command Ghost Edition

[Liam]

After having played Strategic Command 2 a great deal, and I've yet to upgrade but I shall. I have come to noticed something. A strategic limitation with the new Tactical aspect to the game. I know I will get barked at for pointing this out and some may disagree but it is a primarily limiting factor to the Poker-bluff aspect of SC2. Probably stretching into WAW.

You should not know every move that is being made by your opponent and limiting FOW doesn't help. Similarly you should be fed misinformation because they never knew every move that was being made. This is War, and it's confusing... Bluffing, faking-out was used compulsory in every great Generals Agenda. Since the game is not SC1 and is not on a tactical level, this is the new age in my opinion. Intel-CounterIntel. We need to be more confused, to be more alert and to make the game more unpredictable but yet more realistic

[arado234]

If you are going to make the game more realistic in this aspect then the Allies would have a HUGE atvantage.Overall one of the main reasons why Britain was able to do as well as she did early on was because of Ultra(i know the axis made some dumb moves which helped).From the books ive read(4 or 5) if the way Ultra effected the war in favor of the allies was added into this game(i know the axis were breaking our codes but no where near our ability)the Germans would have NO hope.From about mid 1942 on the Germans may as well have been sending most of their messages in the clear.

[Liam]

It's true, the cracking of their code unveiled much. It was however still difficult, codes get changed. Certain aspects of communications were carried through Ultra. As flakey as Hitler was as a General, and he was the GHC HeadMan from about late '42 on... It would be hard to predict what he might do or change. Depending on the Stars, Sun, what not...

The Lucy Spy Ring, picked up the info on Kursk, allowing Stalin to dig-in reinforce. Montgomery setup decoys in the Desert to fool Rommel and it happened again with Patton's Ghost Army. These are just a few of the instances in WW2!

Papers that contained the entire D-Day landing were blown out into the STREETS outside of Allied Command for the whole world to see. So much information and misinformation, intel counter-intel happened...

Point being all in all, when 1 army showed up on a border pre-DOW USSR had no idea and no possibility other than to cross the border to see what was there and even then, it was partially invisible. In SC2 you see an HQ, 1 fighter, some Land Armies and you know the whole bloody Country is coming. If you had a variant in this, either being visible or invisible then it would be reflective on history. A player would have to prepare for whatever and predictability would be put out. Which can bore a game

[Colin I]

Isn't the obvious solutions to have false alarms, fewer the higher level of Intel is? It would take some scripting to make false Intel results plausible, but there really were panics and false alarms. So you spot an allied Amphib off spain. vanguard of an invasion force or a blip, a rumour that isn't true?

I guess one false Intel report to 2 real ones at base level.

[arado234]

Liam,Colin this is a tough one.I guess you could do it like you guys suggest.Although Liam trying to hide the attacking force Germany used against Russia would be kind of tough under any conditions.

A great book to read on this subject is called:What Stalin knew.Believe me if you ever read it you will realise that Stalin knew exactly what the Germans were up to months before the actual attack.Troop movements etc etc.

[Liam]

Yes, fellows it's a tough thing to implement. However you both can see the value. As Paras-Engineers have FOW protection it is invaluable or they'd all be picked off like sitting ducks. Part of my reason for raising this topic is again the humdrum I see your Barby Force, here it comes, "Whoa!" I gotta run... If for instance I did see it but an elaborate Hoax was created, and what really was going on was a Massive High Tech Amphibious Fleet landing on London, then that would change the whole Enchilada. Historically speaking, one might say English Intel would've caught this! Though actually, it might not have... If proper Recon wasn't done, if Intelligence wasn't invested into and if a few slip ups happened who knows. One could say D-Day was highly preventable, those Panzers in the rear would've rolled over our Doughboys like Dough. But Hitler held them back, not because he was dumb but because, "Calais, Calais!" The REAL invasion Perhaps certain large large operations should be more detectable, as they were. How can you hide 3 thousand tanks or 1000 Barges? But, my deep feelings and I'll reiterate them is that I know what my opponent will do normally 95% of the time. I post a cheap recon or lookout Corps-ship-plane and there you go. There is no skill here and it's not at all accurate. The Entire Pacific Fleet sat there while they were mauled because the Japanese caught them with perfect clarity, at Midway the complete reverse. The Whole War was about this constant back and forth action. Anyway... You get my drift but it would be nice to break away from some of the predictability and add in an element of I JUST DON'T KNOW... or better yet, I KNOW EVERYTHING! Something both sides faced continually, and it would add to the depth and interests of the game.

I've never read that book, but I'm sure Stalin was a bit wiser than some make him out to be. What else were 3 million German Troops doing, entertaining Norwegian girls?