Slitherine

OK, thanks for replying.

Stauffenberg: You're probably right about the CTGW engine, but what I was suggesting isn't diplomacy as such. And thanks for the nice work that IS being done!

joerock: fair enough about someone else taking the lead. Personally I don't have the skills to program it - although I can make abstract programming suggestions, like the bit about the random seed above - but I can lead a discussion on the details. You're absolutely right about different people probably wanting different options. Let me start with this proposal:

There should be 4 toggleable options, with the possible changes split by their potential importance to game balance:
1. Random entry date for USSR (1942) and USA
2. Random Spanish/Turkish/Vichy activation (see that other thread linked above for some good starting discussion on Turkey)
3. Random Italian surrender
4. Other random political events (entry dates for Axis minors, possible activation of Greece/Ireland/Persia, random Lend-Lease etc., random response triggers (eg USSR & events in Middle East), random colonial revolts, new partisan possibilities (see 2nd post in thread).

(As an aside on the partisan question: I now HAVE seen Italian partisans in Albania. That should really be fixed and it doesn't need to wait for 2.3! )

Depending on what kind of response I see now, we can start discussing the nitty-gritty details. Maybe a separate thread for each area?

A big downside of having variable join dates is that players can reroll to e. g. postpone the date USA joins the Allies. So such dates have to be calculated before turn 1 and stored in the save game. But then the values won't be variable regarding events in the game.

Being unlucky with critical joins can alter the game balance quite a lot. E. g. if USA joins 5 turns earlier than expected then the Axis will struggle. The Allies will struggle if they join 5 turns later than expected. Germany needs that Romania joins in the fall of 1940. If it's delayed for e. g. 5 turns then they receive oil later and might run out of oil too soon.

How does Italian activation work in-game? Isn't the % chance for it dynamic when the Axis controls Belgium?

csluyuan wrote:A big downside of having variable join dates is that players can reroll to e. g. postpone the date USA joins the Allies. So such dates have to be calculated before turn 1 and stored in the save game. But then the values won't be variable regarding events in the game.

Not quite true. As I pointed out earlier in this thread, to avoid cheating a random variable would need to be calculated before turn one. But the formula that variable is plugged into can take game events into consideration.