Slitherine

Some time ago the rising number of (core) units to deploy and move was mentioned as a convenience problem.
Just too many pieces to move.

But there is more to it: It might be premature as I am still at Ilovoya or so and not in Stalingrad, but the ratio of player units vs AI units is shifting in my favor.
Not only are my units usually better and controlled my a human, they often manage to fight in superior numbers or at least equal 1:1 vs enemy units.

The situation 3-4 tanks vs 3-4 russian tanks, but I am backed up by 2 artilleries, some other units in the rear and Stukas bombing the crap out of the Russian tanks is quite the norm by now!

This made Voronezh and Novoa... well, you get it, the scenario after it very easy.

The ratio of units is also what made Vitebsk so extraordinarily interesting! Your units were divided up and your bombers and fighters could not be everywhere. The unit vs unit ratio was more even and sometimes even in favor of the Russians.


The thing is, there can be only so many units on a map without placing units everywhere. We have already seen reinforcements coming from off-screen occasionally, but this is something I would try to avoid doing too often.


I have no solution for this yet but I fear the growing number of core units is going to be a problem. Now add ~ +1 SE unit for every DLC/year.
I think we have hit the maximum and going further by adding more core units might be problematic for reasons stated above.


Think about it for a while and share your thoughts, dear testers.

I also have been somewhat troubled by what I have called core inflation. My main problem with it is that it is making battles take a lot longer. Storming Stalingrad, an epic and unforgettable scenario, really takes a kinda crazy amount of time to play through. I think that core inflation should really be slowed down, if not brought to a halt altogether in future DLC.

That's going to present the designers (Kerensky) with a dilemma - how to recreate the epic, enormous battles of the eastern front without the sheer numbers involved. There are approaches, of course, but I'm not sure which even I prefer, let alone the wider community.

1. Up the scale of the maps and therefore reduce the number of units. A unit becomes a division, rather than a regiment, for example.
2. Concentrate on portions of the whole - a bit like Kiev in DLC 41. This reduces the sense of the whole but makes each scenario more manageable.
3. Increase the number of placed AUX units to reduce the time taken to place core units. This doesn't change the time taken to move all the AUX units, though.
4. The obvious, but sometimes annoying: reduce the number of core slots available in a scenario.

Something else?

Core inflation has already begun to slow and may stop altogether at some point. We're past the half way mark for the DLC as it is, but there are still some really good battles ahead.

Some scenarios are designed to be quicker and easier. After the tough slog through Sevastopol, the maps switch to short timer, large map, fewer enemies present. If every scenario was the same with massive enemy forces present in every one, it would get dull really fast. So blitz maps show up every now and then to mix things up a bit.

As for splitting things up Kiev style, this is the whole point of the DLC so... ya we're going to keep doing that. Kursk will probably be broken up into 5 or more scenarios.

Kerensky wrote:Core inflation has already begun to slow and may stop altogether at some point. We're past the half way mark for the DLC as it is, but there are still some really good battles ahead.

Some scenarios are designed to be quicker and easier. After the tough slog through Sevastopol, the maps switch to short timer, large map, fewer enemies present. If every scenario was the same with massive enemy forces present in every one, it would get dull really fast. So blitz maps show up every now and then to mix things up a bit.

As for splitting things up Kiev style, this is the whole point of the DLC so... ya we're going to keep doing that. Kursk will probably be broken up into 5 or more scenarios.

That's good to hear because the turns will start to get really long if the Core got up into to the fifties and beyond. 30's-40's is like the "sweet spot" for Core units in this game. Not only that, but the maps would have to grow substantially to to fit 50+ core army and a sufficient enemy to counter that core. This would then cause the AI's turn to be extra long as well.