Suggestions - Capital City Enlargement and more details
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:29 am
Capital City Enlargement - Capital cities should not be defined as a single hex.
They should be a 7 hex segment (Main capital hex (set as current) with adjacent 6 hexes as ‘surrounding city limits’). This will allow for deeper game play and remove
simple capital takeovers rushing to destroy a simple single hex. All 7 hexes should
have no enemies and the center hex should have the conqueror’s unit to successfully
capture the capital. 1,2,3 enemies in a capital 7 hex will yield a negative bonus of -1 to all units in the capital hex (moral effect). 4,5,6 enemies in a capital 7 hex will yield a negative bonus of -2 to all units in the capital hex (moral effect). What to do about
small countries that don’t have much “hex space” on the map?
Simple issues to be addressed --
Bucharest is a capital on the border of another country. Suggest moving this 1 hex
north to allow for the 7 hex change.
Washington DC is a capital on the border of the map. Suggest moving this 1 hex south east to allow for the 7 hex change. Or add in 1 hex column on left side of map.
Ottawa Canada is a capital on the border of the map. Suggest moving this 1 hex north east to allow for the 7 hex change. Or add in 1 hex column on left side of map.
What about capitals surround by water? Prime example would be Lisbon Portugal – even though it has the center hex and NE and SE as land, the rest are all water. This is part of the strategic element. If your capital is on a seaport, your strength is in the sea. The 7 hex rule would apply but a player would need to fortify the capital with sea units for the adjacent sea hexes within the 7 hex rule. A pure advantage offset by its own
disadvantages. So would it require capturing all 7 hexes for a capital like this? Or for these capitals, ignore the 7 hex rule?
Capitals major hexed by water/sea -
Hague Holland
Stockholm Sweden
Helsinki Finland
Copenhagen Denmark
Lisbon Portugal
Commander units that are purchasable should have more varied stats. They appear to only focus on minimal ground attack and defense (no more than a +1 bonus)… but leadership is between 0 and +7 … Commanders are great but need more reason to
purchased. If they came with a unit designated to their bonus, it would help. Example… Rommel is notorious for his armor divisions. He should include an armor division when
purchased.
Unit Levels and Experience difficult to see – The only way to see a unit level is to try
and upgrade units and click on the upgrade button, this shows all units and their level.
Where is this level calculated? How is it calculated? What does it mean? Also the only
way to see an experienced or seasoned unit is by clicking on it and looking in the lower
right. How does this effect the unit from experience? It would be nice to see a button that
showed experience level of units in one easy toggle… all the icons would show 1-4 (if 4 is max) dots of experience instead of having to click on each one and remember which is trained or not. It would also help to see the unit level in the upper right of the units you are producing on the produce unit menu.
Message Log of turn that prompts user at end of turn so player can view. Should have
notes such as County attacks Country = Unit (strength) vs unit (strength) = RESULT.
RESULT = Forces a retreat, annihilates enemy, suffers losses, is in a stalemate.
A declarations of war and surrender should be noted. Any city losses or capital contentions should be listed.
Casualty Report at end of Turn Menu – Would be great to see casualty reports at the
end of the turn menu for your country. In addition to your lab developments, it would be great to see how many men you lost, the enemy lost to your attacks, etc. Coincides with
end of turn message log I guess but is a summation of unit wins and losses and city captures or losses.
Shift Unit Command – It would be great to allow a shift unit command that can swap
a unit adjacent to another unit. This would consume all movement and attack points and cost an additional 25 production points but allow the units to swap spots in case of an emergency. Similar to a “castling a rook and king” in chess. This could make taking a city / capital quite a different experience.
Ability to turn off “predetermined” country attack and surrender historical events. Example – it would be nice if Russia didn’t always attack Germany…maybe they could ally?
Ability to start as only 1 country out of the 6 and determine the war in speculation. What if you could play as Russia and wipe out the rest of Europe? What if you could play as France and fight the USA and Russia on both flanks with Germany as your ally (insert maniac laughter here).
Ability to fortify/entrench a unit - Unit cannot move and takes 1 turn to activate and deactivate the fortify option. Unit gains a simple +1 bonus to entrenchment or something (a weaker version of the French fortresses).
Option to turn off viewing of the AI LendLease Phase or AI movement/attack phase – Would be nice to turn this off to increase the Fog of War effect and only be notified of battle events and city takeovers etc at end of missions.
Start Game Begin button – When starting a new game as allies, the axis instantly start
their move. It would be good if there was a pause in this where you could view the map
and start status, then click “Begin” and then the axis start their turn.
Red Sea Route – What is this?
More Random Events – Examples Below
Rough Seas - Movement across Atlantic Ocean reduced because of bad weather
Calm Waters – Movement across Atlantic Ocean increased from calm weather
War Bonds / Funding – Units cost 5 production points less this turn to purchase
Production Line Failure – Units cost 5 production points more this turn to purchase
Impossible Winter Weather – All units cannot move in REGION by severe weather storm
Severe Storms – All air units cannot move this turn in a REGION, nor can be air attacked
Exhausted Production – Units take 1 turn longer to be produced
Zealous Patriotism – Any units on production take 1 less turn to be produced
Enemy Propaganda Campaign – Reduced moral (-1 entrenchment bonus)
Insurgent Uprising – All empty cities will produce 1 infantry enemy insurgents
Mechanical Breakdowns – All units in a REGION get -1 to Strength due to breakdowns
Mechanical Inventions – All units in a REGION get repaired for +1 Strength
Oil Reserve Found – All units use less oil this turn for movement
Oil Reserve Dry – All units use more oil this turn for movement
Broken Supply Line – Random units out of supply for a country are hit with -1 STR
Secured Supply Line – Random units out of supply for a country get a +1 STR
Traitor Amongst Ranks – One random unit of player turns to enemy unit -1 STR
Traitor Enemy Turncoat - One random unit of AI turns to player unit -1 STR
Bugs Discovered –
When playing Allies, before Russia joins the Allies you can still buy industrial labs and units. Is this correct?
When playing Allies, if you have deployments of various countries, IF the next deployable unit is of a country that isn’t ALLIED yet (USA) then you can’t deploy it and it causes confusion each deployment attempt.
During Allies game… sometimes cannot access units of Allies (Russia is accessible but UK is 50/50 and USA is none…) They all should be accessible now… USA was and now it isn’t allowing me to move any units.
During Allies game… added Commander to tank unit that was recently deployed, now cannot move the unit and is inaccessible. Unit took 2 turns before it would allow movement.
When playing as Allies, UK moves into France, Germany currently holding it. UK takes over a city in France. There is no way to deploy new units to captured cities. Am having to ferry troops from London to Paris. Should be an easier way to deploy troops to a captured city.
Background – About Me – Turn game experience stems from Warlords, Age of Magic, and Combat Mission. I have no real experience in war hex games beyond that. The reason for these suggestions would be to increase the replay ability factor and change some simple design decisions that might enhance the game further.
I agree that the game needs to be kept simple and very close to the original design.
The biggest issue I personally have with the game would be that capitals should include the 7 hex base, it is just too easy to rush in and grab a single hex to shutdown a single country of 100 healthy units.
Of all the turn based hex based games, this is the one that caught my eye and love it. I hope the development team can offer up some enhancements such as these for War in Europe and future titles. Thanks for reading!
They should be a 7 hex segment (Main capital hex (set as current) with adjacent 6 hexes as ‘surrounding city limits’). This will allow for deeper game play and remove
simple capital takeovers rushing to destroy a simple single hex. All 7 hexes should
have no enemies and the center hex should have the conqueror’s unit to successfully
capture the capital. 1,2,3 enemies in a capital 7 hex will yield a negative bonus of -1 to all units in the capital hex (moral effect). 4,5,6 enemies in a capital 7 hex will yield a negative bonus of -2 to all units in the capital hex (moral effect). What to do about
small countries that don’t have much “hex space” on the map?
Simple issues to be addressed --
Bucharest is a capital on the border of another country. Suggest moving this 1 hex
north to allow for the 7 hex change.
Washington DC is a capital on the border of the map. Suggest moving this 1 hex south east to allow for the 7 hex change. Or add in 1 hex column on left side of map.
Ottawa Canada is a capital on the border of the map. Suggest moving this 1 hex north east to allow for the 7 hex change. Or add in 1 hex column on left side of map.
What about capitals surround by water? Prime example would be Lisbon Portugal – even though it has the center hex and NE and SE as land, the rest are all water. This is part of the strategic element. If your capital is on a seaport, your strength is in the sea. The 7 hex rule would apply but a player would need to fortify the capital with sea units for the adjacent sea hexes within the 7 hex rule. A pure advantage offset by its own
disadvantages. So would it require capturing all 7 hexes for a capital like this? Or for these capitals, ignore the 7 hex rule?
Capitals major hexed by water/sea -
Hague Holland
Stockholm Sweden
Helsinki Finland
Copenhagen Denmark
Lisbon Portugal
Commander units that are purchasable should have more varied stats. They appear to only focus on minimal ground attack and defense (no more than a +1 bonus)… but leadership is between 0 and +7 … Commanders are great but need more reason to
purchased. If they came with a unit designated to their bonus, it would help. Example… Rommel is notorious for his armor divisions. He should include an armor division when
purchased.
Unit Levels and Experience difficult to see – The only way to see a unit level is to try
and upgrade units and click on the upgrade button, this shows all units and their level.
Where is this level calculated? How is it calculated? What does it mean? Also the only
way to see an experienced or seasoned unit is by clicking on it and looking in the lower
right. How does this effect the unit from experience? It would be nice to see a button that
showed experience level of units in one easy toggle… all the icons would show 1-4 (if 4 is max) dots of experience instead of having to click on each one and remember which is trained or not. It would also help to see the unit level in the upper right of the units you are producing on the produce unit menu.
Message Log of turn that prompts user at end of turn so player can view. Should have
notes such as County attacks Country = Unit (strength) vs unit (strength) = RESULT.
RESULT = Forces a retreat, annihilates enemy, suffers losses, is in a stalemate.
A declarations of war and surrender should be noted. Any city losses or capital contentions should be listed.
Casualty Report at end of Turn Menu – Would be great to see casualty reports at the
end of the turn menu for your country. In addition to your lab developments, it would be great to see how many men you lost, the enemy lost to your attacks, etc. Coincides with
end of turn message log I guess but is a summation of unit wins and losses and city captures or losses.
Shift Unit Command – It would be great to allow a shift unit command that can swap
a unit adjacent to another unit. This would consume all movement and attack points and cost an additional 25 production points but allow the units to swap spots in case of an emergency. Similar to a “castling a rook and king” in chess. This could make taking a city / capital quite a different experience.
Ability to turn off “predetermined” country attack and surrender historical events. Example – it would be nice if Russia didn’t always attack Germany…maybe they could ally?
Ability to start as only 1 country out of the 6 and determine the war in speculation. What if you could play as Russia and wipe out the rest of Europe? What if you could play as France and fight the USA and Russia on both flanks with Germany as your ally (insert maniac laughter here).
Ability to fortify/entrench a unit - Unit cannot move and takes 1 turn to activate and deactivate the fortify option. Unit gains a simple +1 bonus to entrenchment or something (a weaker version of the French fortresses).
Option to turn off viewing of the AI LendLease Phase or AI movement/attack phase – Would be nice to turn this off to increase the Fog of War effect and only be notified of battle events and city takeovers etc at end of missions.
Start Game Begin button – When starting a new game as allies, the axis instantly start
their move. It would be good if there was a pause in this where you could view the map
and start status, then click “Begin” and then the axis start their turn.
Red Sea Route – What is this?
More Random Events – Examples Below
Rough Seas - Movement across Atlantic Ocean reduced because of bad weather
Calm Waters – Movement across Atlantic Ocean increased from calm weather
War Bonds / Funding – Units cost 5 production points less this turn to purchase
Production Line Failure – Units cost 5 production points more this turn to purchase
Impossible Winter Weather – All units cannot move in REGION by severe weather storm
Severe Storms – All air units cannot move this turn in a REGION, nor can be air attacked
Exhausted Production – Units take 1 turn longer to be produced
Zealous Patriotism – Any units on production take 1 less turn to be produced
Enemy Propaganda Campaign – Reduced moral (-1 entrenchment bonus)
Insurgent Uprising – All empty cities will produce 1 infantry enemy insurgents
Mechanical Breakdowns – All units in a REGION get -1 to Strength due to breakdowns
Mechanical Inventions – All units in a REGION get repaired for +1 Strength
Oil Reserve Found – All units use less oil this turn for movement
Oil Reserve Dry – All units use more oil this turn for movement
Broken Supply Line – Random units out of supply for a country are hit with -1 STR
Secured Supply Line – Random units out of supply for a country get a +1 STR
Traitor Amongst Ranks – One random unit of player turns to enemy unit -1 STR
Traitor Enemy Turncoat - One random unit of AI turns to player unit -1 STR
Bugs Discovered –
When playing Allies, before Russia joins the Allies you can still buy industrial labs and units. Is this correct?
When playing Allies, if you have deployments of various countries, IF the next deployable unit is of a country that isn’t ALLIED yet (USA) then you can’t deploy it and it causes confusion each deployment attempt.
During Allies game… sometimes cannot access units of Allies (Russia is accessible but UK is 50/50 and USA is none…) They all should be accessible now… USA was and now it isn’t allowing me to move any units.
During Allies game… added Commander to tank unit that was recently deployed, now cannot move the unit and is inaccessible. Unit took 2 turns before it would allow movement.
When playing as Allies, UK moves into France, Germany currently holding it. UK takes over a city in France. There is no way to deploy new units to captured cities. Am having to ferry troops from London to Paris. Should be an easier way to deploy troops to a captured city.
Background – About Me – Turn game experience stems from Warlords, Age of Magic, and Combat Mission. I have no real experience in war hex games beyond that. The reason for these suggestions would be to increase the replay ability factor and change some simple design decisions that might enhance the game further.
I agree that the game needs to be kept simple and very close to the original design.
The biggest issue I personally have with the game would be that capitals should include the 7 hex base, it is just too easy to rush in and grab a single hex to shutdown a single country of 100 healthy units.
Of all the turn based hex based games, this is the one that caught my eye and love it. I hope the development team can offer up some enhancements such as these for War in Europe and future titles. Thanks for reading!
