Excellent decision! Oil was without parallell the most important resource of the WWII, and since it had so significant an effect on ground as well as air and naval operations, having it as a separate resource is as vital as differing industry and manpower.
One word of warning, though. When playing HOI (I can??™t remember what version it was [it might even have been during BETA], and it might have been adressed by now) emptying your oil pool ment an immediate stop for all units consuming fuel. This created an almost ridiculous situation, where a victorious army was not only suddenly brought to a general halt all along the front, but where all the fuel-consuming parts of the entire war machine suddenly just died. At this point, needless to say, there was no reason for a player to continue.
To avoid this sudden collapsing of the house of cards, I would suggest some buffer functions:
First, make all units capable of a minor degree of movement, even if they??™re out of oil. It could be one half, or one third, of it??™s ???supplied??? status. They should also still have the ability to fight, but maybe with the same strength as if the were out of normal supply.
Secondly, give the player a way to turn his oil pool on and off the same way he would a tap. That way he could shut the flow off, move a couple of naval units and maybe a base changing air unit in ???no-fuel-state??? without losing oil points, or he may move some armour or mechanized units from the front line to a point of rail transfer on a secondary front. Of course, during this ???off-movement??? the units movement allowance is also very low. Then, turning to more important matters, the tap could be turned on again, and the player could move his shock units to attack and his air units to their chosen targets consuming oil points normally.
Thirdly, make the units consume oil points in relation to their acctual actions. If, as an example, an armoured unit have a movement allowance of 5; moving it only 2 hexes would not lead to any consumption, whereas moving it 3 to 5 hexes would. This way the player doesn??™t have to turn the above tap on and off as often. He has the choice of working with option 2 or 3 as the situation or his taste of playing dictates.
Understand me correctly; the above mentioned ideas is just only ideas. If the developing team finds something in them worth considering, they have to compare it to their own designs, programing and wishes how to make the game.
I think over emphasizing oil, especially for the allies, is wrong.
