Uhu wrote:- First of all, I still not 100% agree with the logic, that countermessures should be made to avoid the player to move his airforce from NW Europe away - in that logic in ALL occupied territories should have serious consqauences, when the player moves his land troops away: NW Europe (I almos completely emptied it, only in partisan-dangered regions are a few inf units), Russia, Crete, Norway, etc. Sure, there are partisans in some places, but again I want to point on that, that with this logic, all occupied city should have garrisons to not have a rebellion, or allied commando raids...
If the player moves away all his units from those areas the partisans would eventually take over the control of that area. (With the exception of Crete, as of today - it is too small on the map.) Then, for example, the Allies can use the airfields in that area to extend the range or their operations. How serious it is? It depends. Still, if I compare the possible loss of Crete or Norway from a German point of view, with the complete destrucion of all the German cities, I think the latter could have more serious consequencies. It is not very well known how great efforts the Germans made to protect their cities as most books and games deal with the much more spectacular tanks and fighters, but as wiki writes :
"The financial costs associated with anti-aircraft cannon were substantial, especially when compared to fighter aircraft.[7] For example, in January 1943 – at a time Germany was desperately fighting to regain the strategic initiative in the East and was also facing a heavy bombing campaign in the West – expenditures on anti-aircraft defenses were 39 million reichsmarks, whereas all the remaining weapons and munitions production amounted to 93 million (including 20 million of the navy budget and only nine million of the aircraft-related budget).[7]"
Uhu wrote:
- Some far I accept the point that some axis aircraft should guard NW Europe and AA units should be also there.
In the light of the above quote I think it is fair enough. The only question is how else I could convince the player to do so? Ask him nicely? I guess the possibility of an occasional prestige penalty is the best way to make sure the player at least tries to protect those cities and minimize the loss. Hit where it hurts.
Uhu wrote:- The replacement for completely destroyed axis aircraft is a good idea, it should be implemented in limited way.
I think there is already one or two such planes, but there can be a few more, up to a certain number. Also, the player gets 'gift' planes throughout the scenario, like the first Fw-190 or the Italian MC.202.
- I find the penalties for allied bombers beeing on given axis cities too high. It's should be lower, as with the partisans - they are much easier to prevent to enter the guarded zones!
Currently the player gets the very same penalty for partisan incursons as well: 50 for one partisan unit, 100 for two, 150 for three or more blocking the railway lines at certain points. It would be the same with one or more bombers over the objective cities.
- The bombers - if they bomb - will cause anyway much prestige loss. It should be tested, how much - that would add to the penalty prestige loss. !
I have tested it. It looks like the AI is only willing to bomb empty victory objecitve cities for which the player gets a 10 prestige point deduction. IMO it is way too low to make the player to do everything to protect those cities. For example, if I would only lose 20-30 prestige points on average each turn for not protecting the cities, I would not bother doing so. In that case my fighters would be much more useful on the frontline.
- With this solution in no way would be simulated, how much the fighters have herassed the bombers: a bomber unit with strenght 2 would give the same penalty, as a strenght 10 one. And it was really common, that, if the bomber squadrons were heavily attacked by the enemy, they dropped their bombs elsewhere, or not so accurate.
Sure, it is a game engine limitation, so the bombers have to be destroyed. But, it is the same with all other units in the game: an infantry unit at strenght 1 can capture an empty city in the same way as another unit at strengh 10.
- With that solution, player can stationate fighters on the given hexes to prevent allied bombers to enter it. That sounds gamey.
Not really. There are about 10 such city hexes, which means virtually all Axis fighters on the map should be used to protect all cities in a way like that. But then, who is gonna fight over the frontline? Also, I think AI escort fighters will try to eliminate Axis fighter cover at times.
- With that solution, the game will be extreme hard (if played in that way, that the player do not conquer England early), because permanent high prestige losses could not avoided: bombers are though targets - even the later types - and they are guarded by fighters.
Well, we all know that Germany lost the war, so it should not be easy. Permament prestige losses can be avoided if the player spends all his prestige before clicking the end turn button. The prestige penalty will be deducted at the beginning of the Allied turn - and if the player has 0 prestige there is no deduction as there is no negative prestige in the game. Then, at the beginning of the next turn the player would get the normal prestige allotment, which he can spend again.
During my test plays I found that the Me-110G is an excellent bomber destroyer due to its high Air Attack. I think there are other units in the game with high AA. When it comes to bombers it is the AA that really matters. Initiative and Air Defense is not so important in this case. Having some dedicated bomber destroyers in the team could lead to a more balanced and historical core composition.
As I have reduced the range of the Spits to the lower 40's in the mod, strat bombers will not always be protected by them, as historically. Targets like Berlin, Dresden or Nurnberg cannot be reached by the Allied fighers from England. At least until the arrival of the Mosquito and the P-51.
So to avoid such losses, the player not only should destroy all bombers, before entering the given hexes, but destroy before all escort fighters. But, if it can be done, that the allied fighters cannot escort them so far, than it is a good solution. Question is, how this affect the allied air power in other regions (mediterrean)?
Well, it has to be tested, of course. I can imagne adding a few addtional airfields to the Med. However, I did not have to reduce the range of those fighters so much. The Spit VB now has 42 instead of 50, and the other Spits had 43-47 before the change, so there should not be a big problem.
BiteNibbleChomp wrote:Seeing as you like the quest idea, why not add one for this mod?:
I do like quests, and I had already added a few things which are very similar to your suggestion. For example, in 1941 the player is given the 'quest' to encircle the Soviet units around Kiev. The reward is the surrender of those units. However, if he does not make it by a certain time, those Soviets units would go on the offensive. Then, there are the 'quests' for the capture of certain key objectives like Malta or Leningrad, for which the player gets prestige reward. The problem is all such quests are governed by AI zones, and there are just not enough of those.
In that way, the player don't feel limited or forbidden. I don't like the idea to totally forbidden to enter the shores - see the explanations. I would let the player to put several units on the shores, but many gaps should still exists.
The lack of AI zones is still great concern. If there were more, I could make more reasonable and realistic AI operations.
), further postponing the coming release. Now I am seriously thinking about not checking this forum for a while and only concentrating on testing until I can release it. All other suggestions and stuff would then make their way to a possible later v1.5 version.
