Suggestions - Capital City Enlargement and more details

[prowlinger]

Capital City Enlargement - Capital cities should not be defined as a single hex.
They should be a 7 hex segment (Main capital hex (set as current) with adjacent 6 hexes as ‘surrounding city limits’). This will allow for deeper game play and remove
simple capital takeovers rushing to destroy a simple single hex. All 7 hexes should
have no enemies and the center hex should have the conqueror’s unit to successfully
capture the capital. 1,2,3 enemies in a capital 7 hex will yield a negative bonus of -1 to all units in the capital hex (moral effect). 4,5,6 enemies in a capital 7 hex will yield a negative bonus of -2 to all units in the capital hex (moral effect). What to do about
small countries that don’t have much “hex space” on the map?

Simple issues to be addressed --

Bucharest is a capital on the border of another country. Suggest moving this 1 hex
north to allow for the 7 hex change.

Washington DC is a capital on the border of the map. Suggest moving this 1 hex south east to allow for the 7 hex change. Or add in 1 hex column on left side of map.

Ottawa Canada is a capital on the border of the map. Suggest moving this 1 hex north east to allow for the 7 hex change. Or add in 1 hex column on left side of map.

What about capitals surround by water? Prime example would be Lisbon Portugal – even though it has the center hex and NE and SE as land, the rest are all water. This is part of the strategic element. If your capital is on a seaport, your strength is in the sea. The 7 hex rule would apply but a player would need to fortify the capital with sea units for the adjacent sea hexes within the 7 hex rule. A pure advantage offset by its own
disadvantages. So would it require capturing all 7 hexes for a capital like this? Or for these capitals, ignore the 7 hex rule?

Capitals major hexed by water/sea -
Hague Holland
Stockholm Sweden
Helsinki Finland
Copenhagen Denmark
Lisbon Portugal

Commander units that are purchasable should have more varied stats. They appear to only focus on minimal ground attack and defense (no more than a +1 bonus)… but leadership is between 0 and +7 … Commanders are great but need more reason to
purchased. If they came with a unit designated to their bonus, it would help. Example… Rommel is notorious for his armor divisions. He should include an armor division when
purchased.

Unit Levels and Experience difficult to see – The only way to see a unit level is to try
and upgrade units and click on the upgrade button, this shows all units and their level.
Where is this level calculated? How is it calculated? What does it mean? Also the only
way to see an experienced or seasoned unit is by clicking on it and looking in the lower
right. How does this effect the unit from experience? It would be nice to see a button that
showed experience level of units in one easy toggle… all the icons would show 1-4 (if 4 is max) dots of experience instead of having to click on each one and remember which is trained or not. It would also help to see the unit level in the upper right of the units you are producing on the produce unit menu.

Message Log of turn that prompts user at end of turn so player can view. Should have
notes such as County attacks Country = Unit (strength) vs unit (strength) = RESULT.
RESULT = Forces a retreat, annihilates enemy, suffers losses, is in a stalemate.
A declarations of war and surrender should be noted. Any city losses or capital contentions should be listed.

Casualty Report at end of Turn Menu – Would be great to see casualty reports at the
end of the turn menu for your country. In addition to your lab developments, it would be great to see how many men you lost, the enemy lost to your attacks, etc. Coincides with
end of turn message log I guess but is a summation of unit wins and losses and city captures or losses.

Shift Unit Command – It would be great to allow a shift unit command that can swap
a unit adjacent to another unit. This would consume all movement and attack points and cost an additional 25 production points but allow the units to swap spots in case of an emergency. Similar to a “castling a rook and king” in chess. This could make taking a city / capital quite a different experience.

Ability to turn off “predetermined” country attack and surrender historical events. Example – it would be nice if Russia didn’t always attack Germany…maybe they could ally?

Ability to start as only 1 country out of the 6 and determine the war in speculation. What if you could play as Russia and wipe out the rest of Europe? What if you could play as France and fight the USA and Russia on both flanks with Germany as your ally (insert maniac laughter here).

Ability to fortify/entrench a unit - Unit cannot move and takes 1 turn to activate and deactivate the fortify option. Unit gains a simple +1 bonus to entrenchment or something (a weaker version of the French fortresses).

Option to turn off viewing of the AI LendLease Phase or AI movement/attack phase – Would be nice to turn this off to increase the Fog of War effect and only be notified of battle events and city takeovers etc at end of missions.

Start Game Begin button – When starting a new game as allies, the axis instantly start
their move. It would be good if there was a pause in this where you could view the map
and start status, then click “Begin” and then the axis start their turn.

Red Sea Route – What is this?

More Random Events – Examples Below

Rough Seas - Movement across Atlantic Ocean reduced because of bad weather
Calm Waters – Movement across Atlantic Ocean increased from calm weather
War Bonds / Funding – Units cost 5 production points less this turn to purchase
Production Line Failure – Units cost 5 production points more this turn to purchase
Impossible Winter Weather – All units cannot move in REGION by severe weather storm
Severe Storms – All air units cannot move this turn in a REGION, nor can be air attacked
Exhausted Production – Units take 1 turn longer to be produced
Zealous Patriotism – Any units on production take 1 less turn to be produced
Enemy Propaganda Campaign – Reduced moral (-1 entrenchment bonus)
Insurgent Uprising – All empty cities will produce 1 infantry enemy insurgents
Mechanical Breakdowns – All units in a REGION get -1 to Strength due to breakdowns
Mechanical Inventions – All units in a REGION get repaired for +1 Strength
Oil Reserve Found – All units use less oil this turn for movement
Oil Reserve Dry – All units use more oil this turn for movement
Broken Supply Line – Random units out of supply for a country are hit with -1 STR
Secured Supply Line – Random units out of supply for a country get a +1 STR
Traitor Amongst Ranks – One random unit of player turns to enemy unit -1 STR
Traitor Enemy Turncoat - One random unit of AI turns to player unit -1 STR

Bugs Discovered –

When playing Allies, before Russia joins the Allies you can still buy industrial labs and units. Is this correct?

When playing Allies, if you have deployments of various countries, IF the next deployable unit is of a country that isn’t ALLIED yet (USA) then you can’t deploy it and it causes confusion each deployment attempt.

During Allies game… sometimes cannot access units of Allies (Russia is accessible but UK is 50/50 and USA is none…) They all should be accessible now… USA was and now it isn’t allowing me to move any units.

During Allies game… added Commander to tank unit that was recently deployed, now cannot move the unit and is inaccessible. Unit took 2 turns before it would allow movement.

When playing as Allies, UK moves into France, Germany currently holding it. UK takes over a city in France. There is no way to deploy new units to captured cities. Am having to ferry troops from London to Paris. Should be an easier way to deploy troops to a captured city.

Background – About Me – Turn game experience stems from Warlords, Age of Magic, and Combat Mission. I have no real experience in war hex games beyond that. The reason for these suggestions would be to increase the replay ability factor and change some simple design decisions that might enhance the game further.

I agree that the game needs to be kept simple and very close to the original design.
The biggest issue I personally have with the game would be that capitals should include the 7 hex base, it is just too easy to rush in and grab a single hex to shutdown a single country of 100 healthy units.

Of all the turn based hex based games, this is the one that caught my eye and love it. I hope the development team can offer up some enhancements such as these for War in Europe and future titles. Thanks for reading!

[firepowerjohan]

Thanks for the feedback, yes we are taking notes

[vypuero]

Most of these are not bugs:

When playing Allies, before Russia joins the Allies you can still buy industrial labs and units. Is this correct?
This is correct

When playing Allies, if you have deployments of various countries, IF the next deployable unit is of a country that isn’t ALLIED yet (USA) then you can’t deploy it and it causes confusion each deployment attempt.
This should not happen - if a unit is available for the USA or Russia, say before they join the Allies, you can deploy it, then deploy a UK unit for example. I know this works because I buy Russian units all the time before they join the Allies.

During Allies game… sometimes cannot access units of Allies (Russia is accessible but UK is 50/50 and USA is none…) They all should be accessible now… USA was and now it isn’t allowing me to move any units.
I don't understand. You cannot move units for Russia or USA until they join the war. You can only place them, but I am sure you can always move UK units.

During Allies game… added Commander to tank unit that was recently deployed, now cannot move the unit and is inaccessible. Unit took 2 turns before it would allow movement.
Adding a leader uses up the unit's turn. Additional ground bonuses are too powerful to add to leaders. Instead, their benefit is very broad. Every friendly ground/air unit of the same nation in 8 hexes gets +2x command to its potential effectiveness. That means that a 5 command leader adds +10, which means you regain effectiveness faster and can have a higher level. This is actually quite a large benefit.

When playing as Allies, UK moves into France, Germany currently holding it. UK takes over a city in France. There is no way to deploy new units to captured cities. Am having to ferry troops from London to Paris. Should be an easier way to deploy troops to a captured city.
New units MUST be deployed only in the home country where you raise them. You can't build new divisions in Paris for the UK. Yep you gotta ship em over, welcome to the Allies! Now you know why it took until 44 to invade France.

[vypuero]

Red Sea Route – What is this?

This takes your units from Suez around Cape Horn in South Africe and back around into the Atlantic in a few turns.

[Redpossum]

Most of these are not bugs:


When playing Allies, if you have deployments of various countries, IF the next deployable unit is of a country that isn’t ALLIED yet (USA) then you can’t deploy it and it causes confusion each deployment attempt.
This should not happen - if a unit is available for the USA or Russia, say before they join the Allies, you can deploy it, then deploy a UK unit for example. I know this works because I buy Russian units all the time before they join the Allies.

It happens sometimes. That is the, uhh, phenomenon I was reporting in this thread.

It's weird, it's intermittent, it's non-reproducible, it's all the things a coder HATES in a bu, uhh, I mean, game feature

[firepowerjohan]

Most of these are not bugs:


When playing Allies, if you have deployments of various countries, IF the next deployable unit is of a country that isn’t ALLIED yet (USA) then you can’t deploy it and it causes confusion each deployment attempt.
This should not happen - if a unit is available for the USA or Russia, say before they join the Allies, you can deploy it, then deploy a UK unit for example. I know this works because I buy Russian units all the time before they join the Allies.

It happens sometimes. That is the, uhh, phenomenon I was reporting in this thread.

It's weird, it's intermittent, it's non-reproducible, it's all the things a coder HATES in a bu, uhh, I mean, game feature

Can u post a screenshot or mail me a screenshot or save of any occasion where a unit actually blocks deployment?

[Redpossum]

No, Johann, much to my embarassment, I can't document it at all.

It's non-reproducible. But I'll be sure to get a screen if it happens again.

[therlun]

I like the idea, but I think 7 hexes is too much.
3 Hexes will already be a big improvement over the easy capital grab, 5 hexes would often already be "too much" in my opinion.
One problem I see is Poland and France. Both campaigns are often already longer than in reality.

[alaric318]

greetings, my oppinion is that better for alternate capitals giving more difficult to conquer, 7 hexes capitals still have to concentrate forces in one map site, i will like to see france do not knoc out after paris and moving capital to algiers, or algiers a capital for france from the begining, and of course in russia i will like to see leningrad and stalingrad as capitals in adding to moscow and perm, maybe manchester for united kingdom, although is enough as stablished on 1.00 with ottawa as capital for uk, most concerned problem is russia, you can screen north and south flanks and send a powerfull panzer spearhead towards moscow and from here to perm and ignore leningrad and stalingrad, in adding, the AI opponent gives fight trough all of russia, or try to do it, so my oppinion is i will like to see russia with four capitals, an empire of his magnitude will do not cease fire easyly, only hope the scenario editor allow to make more than two capitals for each major power in each faction, too, in example, munich for germany to give the axis player more freedom when turning to the defensive,

with best regards,

alaric.

[ungers_pride]

Maybe have different surrender elements for each country.

Poland is fine the way it is.

France could have a capital with TWO hexes.

The USSR might need to have THREE cities to be captured and held before surrender, such as Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. Moscow could be THREE hexes.

Britain - for London - could have THREE hexes.

Italy - for Rome - TWO or THREE hexes.

[ungers_pride]

only hope the scenario editor allow to make more than two capitals for each major power in each faction, too, in example, munich for germany to give the axis player more freedom when turning to the defensive,

alaric.

I am in full agreement with you on this!

[alaric318]

Maybe have different surrender elements for each country.

Poland is fine the way it is.

France could have a capital with TWO hexes.

The USSR might need to have THREE cities to be captured and held before surrender, such as Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. Moscow could be THREE hexes.

Britain - for London - could have THREE hexes.

Italy - for Rome - TWO or THREE hexes.

a good point, make convination of both multy-hex capitals and more capitals for some countries, very good point, agreed completly!

alaric, regards.

[ungers_pride]

Another suggestion:

Instead of capitals being held by garrison units (the weakest in the game), maybe they could be held by a very experienced Corps unit. This unit should also be entrenched and it should not be allowed to move.

I don't think most countries would give up their capital cities without a real fight.

[davetheroad]

Another suggestion:

Instead of capitals being held by garrison units (the weakest in the game), maybe they could be held by a very experienced Corps unit. This unit should also be entrenched and it should not be allowed to move.

I don't think most countries would give up their capital cities without a real fight.

Surprisingly the French declared Paris a open city in 1940 and its capture did not in itself lead to the French seeking an armistice. The french armies being beaten in the field and the country being overrun was what finished them!.

I can see some virtue in having 3 capitals for russia because of the sheer size of the country or even 4!, Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad and Perm, and perhaps two for France, e.g. say Bordeaux in addition to Paris so the germans have to overrun the country?

With 30+ mile hexes I can't see any justification for having multi hex capitals as during WW2 even London as the largest city in europe was less than 30 miles across?

Dave

[ungers_pride]

Another suggestion:

Instead of capitals being held by garrison units (the weakest in the game), maybe they could be held by a very experienced Corps unit. This unit should also be entrenched and it should not be allowed to move.

I don't think most countries would give up their capital cities without a real fight.

Surprisingly the French declared Paris a open city in 1940 and its capture did not in itself lead to the French seeking an armistice. The french armies being beaten in the field and the country being overrun was what finished them!.

I can see some virtue in having 3 capitals for russia because of the sheer size of the country or even 4!, Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad and Perm, and perhaps two for France, e.g. say Bordeaux in addition to Paris so the germans have to overrun the country?

With 30+ mile hexes I can't see any justification for having multi hex capitals as during WW2 even London as the largest city in europe was less than 30 miles across?

Dave

Hi Dave:

I agree with everything you have said.

I think the idea of multi-hex capitals and multi-city-surrender requirements is to help forestall early/easy surrenders, especially when playing against the AI.

It's one of those game compromises one makes to increase playability.

The USSR in particular should be a real bugger to get to surrender. Once it falls, the Allies are in a world of hurt.

In this game the Axis player needs to be tested: can he hold out in the east in Russia while being assaulted/bombed from the west in France. This is the Axis player's real challenge - to hold out, using scarce resources and manpower, and
attempt to gain a marginal victory or a draw....