Key Leader Unit - ie Stalin

[Edwin P.]

Perusing the Wargamer.com site I came upon a review of an East Front game from Avalanche Press that included a unit counter for Stalin.

What a cool way to differentiate a country that relied on a strong ruler - be it Soviet Russia, Genghis Khan or Ceasar.

Now the question arises, what if SC2 Russia had a Stalin unit. What would be the effect of such a unit?

Obviously it can not attack. But what if it is destroyed? Would the morale of the Russian army be affected postively or negatively? What would be the temporary effect on its Generals and supply lines? And as long as Stalin is alive is there any benefit that the Russian forces would gain?

So here is my concept of a Stalin Unit(new leader unit, max of 1 per country, and in SC2 only Russia has it);

Stalin Unit

--- Increases Build Limit of Corps (and only corps) by 20%

As long as the Stalin unit exists Russia gains a 20% increase in the number of Corps it can deploy as his dictatorial powers ensure that there are enough volunteers to fill the army ranks.

If Russia has a limit of 30 corps, the Stalin unit increases this limit by 20% to 36.

--- Reduces cost of Corps by 5%

If play balancing determines that the Russians need some help, then one might consider saying that the Stalin Unit also reduces the cost of Corps by 5%. If the Stalin units is destroyed then this benefit is also lost.

Thus in an abstract way the existance of the Stalin unit reflects the glue that held Russia together during the onslaught of its greatest enemy.

Naturally the Russian player will seek to protect this unit at all costs and keep him far from the battle lines, but if he is careless and the Axis player bold then the Russians will face a major setback if this unit is destroyed.

Should there be a downside to the Stalin unit I would have it be that Stalin overrides the players choice of which HQ unit to purchase and forces a purchase of a random one of lower value 20% of the time. This if the player wants to purchase a Lvl7 HQ unit, there is a 20% rhat he gets one of lower value instead.

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And for a varied what if, what if Stalin did not win the power struggle, but Trotsky did? Say a 10% (1 in 10 games)

Replacing the Stalin Unit with the Trotsky unit would give the USSR an additional 2 HQ units to start the game with, but if the Troksky unit is destroyed these two HQ units are purged and eliminated.

[ June 25, 2005, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Kuniworth]

Im afraid that the game would focus more on killing the stalin-unit than on defeating the red army forces at the front. That could make the simulation of the eastern front turn into something else.

[Blashy]

micromanaging alert .

[komninosm]

Or a Hitler unit.

If you kill it the Germans don't make a bunch of stupid mistakes and war efficiency increases as well as moral.

Seriously though I agree with the previous people that it's a bad idea.

[Edwin P.]

Excellent points, but on a more historical note, how would the death of Stalin affected the war in Russia?

I do not ask this question of the Roosevelt or Churchill as I see that their policies of opposing the Reich would have continued, but with Stalin would his death affected the course of the war in any way?

Also, what if Russia had not experienced the purges that decimated the red army? Would they have avoided the loses that they endured early in the war?

[John DiFool the 2nd]

Doesn't sound very micromanagey to me. The poor AI

likely would have its leader units blunder into the

front lines, and promptly get obliterated, however.

[Edwin P.]

On a related note, should German air units along the border with Neutral Russia be able to spot the location of Russia units? I think so.

"Stalin rejected these reports as Western provocations and barred the Red Army from taking elementary precautions, like chasing off the German reconnaissance planes surveying their defenses."

Thus giving the Russian player new benefits if he decides to ( he may decide to build it or not) deploy the unit called: Stalin.

Stalin Unit: Costs 0MPP / AP 6 / Strength 1

Pros: Increase Corps build limit by 20%

----------- Reflects effect of a Police State on recruitment.

Cons: Axis Units can spot Russian units while Russia is neutral.

----------- Reflects Stalin's order to allow German recon air units to overfly Russian positions.

Thus:

Build the Stalin Unit: 20% Bonus to Build Limits on Corps while Stalin unit survives, Germans can spot neutral Russian units.

Don't Build: Gain Randomly Selected Bonus HQ at start.

[ June 25, 2005, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Kuniworth]

Edwin about your questions;

1. Stalin's death would not have meant the end of Russia. Molotov, Beria, Zhdanov or someone from that fraction would simply have continued the mass mobilisation of the russian society and continued to fight.

2. Without the purges the red army would have had a lot fewer losses early on thats something most historians agree on. However if the no retreat order still would be in use it would as Zhukov stated in his memoirs "be a sacrifice of no use" as the forward positions meant the doom of the russian forces.

[vveedd]

We have discussed that already. As I remember the main point was – Stalin or Hitler or Roosevelt it’s YOU (the player). So if you want to see yourself on the map very good but if you died the game is OVER.

[Bill101]

Edwin P wrote:

"20% Bonus to Build Limits on Corps while Stalin unit survives".

I'd choose the randomly selected HQ every single time. Corps can buy the Russians time but they will never win them the war, so increasing their build limit isn't going to make much difference.

I'm also not very keen on the general idea of representing Stalin, Hitler etc. As Vveed says, let's have the players play their roles.

[kozmeister]

I don't agree with the concept of vulnerable piece that would move around only to be targeted. After all that is what the capitals themselves are.

I DO agree with the idea that the 'government' could potentially resides in one of say 2-3 cities and could be relocated at the player's discretion. For example, say Moscow is in danger or indefensible; Soviet player could decide to move the capital at any time to another location- with a requisite reduction in moral or other penalty for the army of course.

This would be a BETTER SYTEM than simply following a historically predicatable precedent.

KOZMEISTER