Winter

[stockwellpete]

It seems to be for a fixed period each year in the game. Could it be randomised slightly, say starting 2-4 weeks earlier or finishing 2-4 weeks later? Shouldn't the winter be longer in eastern Europe/Russia? Apparently the winter of 1916/17 was particularly ferocious - could that be replicated at all (or even randomised)? Just thinking aloud here.

[stockwellpete]

Anyone?

[Myrddraal]

Well, it certainly could be...

We could randomise the length of winter, although I'm not so sure about randomising the winter effects...

[stockwellpete]

Hello. Yes, I was just thinking of it in terms of replayability really. Just to slightly randomise the length of the winter and its starting date would create that little bit of unpredictability and help to keep the game fresh. Whether you would also want to re-create that brute of a 1916-17 winter is a slightly separate issue. Efficiency could suffer tougher penalties for movement/combat, I suppose. I am not sure if it adds that much really, other than it being a nice historical touch.

[IainMcNeil]

I like the idea of randomizing the start and end of winter so its less predictable. It doesn't have to vary much - just a +/- a couple of turns on the start and end dates.

[stockwellpete]

Yes, that's right, it only needs a slight modifier there to make it more interesting.

[nobikaigan]

Agreed with OP... At least making the winter season length a little random will keep it interesting. I am on the fence about randomising the severity of winter effects, that might be just too much randomness to appease this group of grognards

One suggestion that I make in regards to many 'improvements' that people suggest: Allow this to be selected on or off at the game start... Random weather checkbox ftw! Helps keep more people happy and also improves replayability IMHO.

[stockwellpete]

Agreed with OP... At least making the winter season length a little random will keep it interesting. I am on the fence about randomising the severity of winter effects, that might be just too much randomness to appease this group of grognards

I suppose what you could possibly do is just make the 1916/17 winter the maximum length possible in every game but still randomise its start date.

[nobikaigan]

I suppose what you could possibly do is just make the 1916/17 winter the maximum length possible in every game but still randomise its start date.

That sounds pretty reasonable... Hinges on maintaining historical accuracy with weather patterns in the 16/17 winter (where it was most notable) yet adding a bit of randomness that makes each game a little different. I am all about making these things selectable options when you start a game.

[avoran]

If it's random why would it have to be 1916/17? Let the dice fall where they may...

[stockwellpete]

If it's random why would it have to be 1916/17? Let the dice fall where they may...

Yes, you could do. Just have the possibility in the game that some of the winters will be really bad.

[nobikaigan]

If it's random why would it have to be 1916/17? Let the dice fall where they may...

Well then it wouldn't be totally random in that case... The point is really that it would be nice to have, but any way to impliment the change would make some of us happy and others of us left wanting a return to the default... So make it players choice!

* Random weather (Start, length, and severity all randomized)
* Semi-Historical weather (Random but the 16/17 winter is severe, as in history)
* Historical weather (Weather is modeled for historical severity, length, and start)
* No weather variations (EZ mode)

Might be way outside of reality for what the devs have planned for expanding the game... But I can be a dreamer!

[stockwellpete]

Bump. This would be good to introduce and I imagine it would be quite simple to do.