Slitherine

Schnurri wrote:No? You could strat bomb it. I'm sure that isn't the right answer but I give up.

I'll give a couple of hints ... the answer to the first part of the question is yes. And, a big hint is that this technique only works for cities, which are shrouded in the fog of war, within fighter range.

I did some hotseating - is it that you get an odds for the attack if it is occupied and don't if it isn't?

Schnurri wrote:I did some hotseating - is it that you get an odds for the attack if it is occupied and don't if it isn't?

Not sure about that one; but you're on the right track. Another hint: what unit has the same range as a fighter?

You must be talking about a para unit but I tried and can't see how it works.

Schnurri wrote:You must be talking about a para unit but I tried and can't see how it works.

What happens when you click on a para unit?

If the city it outside the range for plane spotting it doesn't do anything that I see.

Schnurri wrote:If the city it outside the range for plane spotting it doesn't do anything that I see.

OK. If the city is within range of the airborne unit and is unoccupied then the para symbol will appear on it indicating that the unit could jump into the city. Of course, the unit has to meet the requirements for jumping. If the city is occupied then no para symbol will appear indicating that it's occupied. Thus, you can use the para unit for recon under certain conditions to determine if a city is occupied or not. I liken this to discreetly dropping a small commando unit (e.g., squad size) to scout out the city.

I tried hotseating with the para in range and the planes out of range and don't get anything. Mac version. Hmmm.

Schnurri wrote:I tried hotseating with the para in range and the planes out of range and don't get anything. Mac version. Hmmm.

I'm totally fully of it! The para drop symbol only appears in hexes that are spotted and does NOT appear in any hexes covered by the fog of war. In total disgrace, I pass the initiative to Schnurri.

Hah! I was really confused. Quickie to get some other players in the game.

What are the major advantages of the Axis taking Malta.

1. Gives the Axis a +10 boost to its supply limit for operations in North Africa/Middle East.

2. Denies Allies use of important air bases for attacking Italy.

3. Malta's port, being closer to the Italian coast, extends Allied ability to make contested amphibious landings (i.e. if you're too far away from a friendly port, you can only do amphibious landings on uncontested hexes).

4. Deny Malta's production to UK (1) & gain same for Axis.

5. Knights of Malta join the axis, so you get neat mounted knights units.

Very good! Especially 5! You're up.

Diplomaticus wrote:5. Knights of Malta join the axis, so you get neat mounted knights units.

Schnurri wrote:Very good! Especially 5! You're up.

Hey! Diplomaticus beat me to the post on that one. That was going to be my response.

BTW I've encountered a bug recently. If you capture the airfield with paratroopers and THEN take Malta, then the mounted knights of Malta don't appear.

Here's the situation: It's summer 1942. You lost England to Operation Sealion, but you still hold Scapa Flow and Northern Ireland/Belfast. To reconquer the British Isles, you need to get your fighter planes (not CV's but land-based fighters) back to the UK to cover your invasion. The problem is that your opponent has a lot of u-boats swarming around British home waters, and you're afraid that you will lose your precious fighters in transports as they approach Britain. The German has enough subs, for example, to blockade your ports so any unit trying to enter the port will run into the sub. Let's further stipulate that you have a lot of demands on your DD's, so you don't feel you have enough available to adequately escort your fighters into their destination in the UK--not without taking unacceptable losses.

Q. Name at least one way that you can get those fighters safely from North America to bases in Northern Ireland or the Scapa Flow area.

You fly from USA to Canada to Greenland to Iceland to Scapa Flow. This requires some tech in strategic operations so you get the air movement range to make the airfield jump.

You have a base movement range of 14 with a fighter. Strategic operations tech 1 increases the range to 16. That means you can fly from Scapa Flow or Kirkwall to Keflavik. It's easy to jump from Keflavik to the 2 Greenland airbases. In order to get to Canada you need a movement range of 18. That means you need strategic operations tech 6 (gives you range 23).

So if the UK fighters evacuated to Iceland and Greenland they can fly back to Kirkwall and then to Northern Ireland. If they were evacuated to Canada they have to wait for tech 6.

I think it should be possible for the Allied player to use DD's to scan the ports in Canada and clear any subs there. Strategic bombers should easily kill remaining subs. Then fighters can sail from Quebec or Halifax and make a landing in west Greenland and then fly to Kirkwall and Northern Ireland without any lurking subs interfering.

Stauffenberg wrote:I think it should be possible for the Allied player to use DD's to scan the ports in Canada and clear any subs there. Strategic bombers should easily kill remaining subs. Then fighters can sail from Quebec or Halifax and make a landing in west Greenland and then fly to Kirkwall and Northern Ireland without any lurking subs interfering.

That's the answer I was looking for. (This is exactly what I did in my game vs Max in order to get my fighters back to the UK.) The initiative is yours.

My question is a very difficult one and I may have to give hints if nobody gets it right.

What is the highest possible efficiency (morale) a unit can get in the game? Which unit type is this? Show what contributes to this value.

Hint for now: value is quite a bit above 100.

Another hint:

Here is the actual formula:

Max efficiency = LOWEST_MAX_EFFICIENCY + efficiency boost from technology + 2 * unit quality value + 3 * supply level in unit hex + 2 * best leader in range quality value

Found in general.txt
LOWEST_MAX_EFFICIENCY 40 /*Max EFFICIENCY for a unit with no commander, no supply, no tech, zero quality*/

To solve this you e. g. need to find out how much max efficiency gain you get from technology (first find out which tech increases efficiency).

You also need to find the unit quality value and find out which unit can get the highest quality. Then you need to think about what can increase the quality from the base value (there are 3 different methods).

Supply level in hex should be easy to find the highest value for

Best leader in range quality value should also be quite easy to find. First you find the best leaders in the game and check them.

I hope these hints will help you find the max possible value.

I will give you the solution later since nobody has taken the challenge. In order to get the contest going I'm instead making a new quiz question.

1. What is the highest ground attack value that's possible to get? Which units can get this value?