Victory Conditions and the Patch

[Forwarn45]

There had been a lot of discussion some time ago about tweaking the victory conditions so there are more draws and marginal victories - particularly to give the Axis an incentive to see what they can do. I know the current beta patch tweaks the victory conditions if the game actually reaches the end of 1946, but in my experience this is still fairly difficult for the Axis (assuming they didn't actually win). The extra militia for Japan also helps. But I would still like to see a minor adjustment to the victory conditions.

For example, the cross-over between a decisive allied victory and a marginal allied victory is 1945-1946. I would adjust the line by at least one turn if not two - so the Allies win a decisive victory only if they win by the end of Spring of 1945 or maybe Summer of 1945. Also - it could be a draw if the Allies win in Fall of 1946 OR if they don't win but have at least 100 times the Axis production. The effect of this would be to mean that the Axis will win at least a marginal victory if the Allies haven't taken Hokkaido and Manchuria AND are not at the very least in a position to damage remaining Japanese resources by air bombardment. In Fall of 1946, this would still be tough to achieve for the Axis. If they do achieve it, I think they deserve at least the marginal victory.

[Harrybanana]

I agree with you Forwarn, but as you say this has been mentioned before (by me as well) and the Developers don't seem to be inclined to change the Victory Conditions. I suppose Players could just change the Rule themselves by way of a House Rule. The only problem I see with that is that if we play that way as a House Rule it will skew the reults on the Ladder, unless Jan adds yet another coloumn to his table.

[Lebatron]

If more master players would play Franco's Alliance and give me feedback, I'm more than willing to make changes that better balance the game. As it stands now my mod is much better balanced than the stock game, but there's always room for improvement.

Edit. I have made some small changes already for my next update, but if there are any ideas please post them in my mod's thread for further discussion.

[Harrybanana]

Lebatron,
I have no doubt that you can mod the game to make it "balanced" in such a way that the Axis stand a good chance of surviving until F46. However, IMHO, this can only be done by making the game unrealistic; as historically the Axis did not have any realistic chance of surviving untilF46.

[Lebatron]

That's true, but for those who are more interested in just playing a good strategy game, balance is most important. If they are looking for an exacting sim of WW2 they aren't going to find it in WAW. This is just a basic game with a WW2 theme thats all.

Concerning the Axis chance of survival until F46, I have never experimented with adjusting the end date so I'm not even sure if that can be modded. I have always wondered if the code lines VIC_TYPE_BEFORETIME and VIC_TYPE_TIME could be used to set up time intervals for surrender. It appears that way. Anyway, if it can't, then obviously the game needs to be tweaked to allow the Axis to last longer. I have done just that so that draws and marginals are more likely just like Forwarn45 wants.

The third option would be to just house rule it like you say harry. If I decide to go that route players of my mod would just have to consult my mods readme at games end to determine victory level.

I have some things planned for Franco's Alliance v2.4 so I think I'll add this to my list to tinker with to see if VIC_TYPE_TIME can work in this manner. I will update my mods thread with this list to get player feedback before I commit to anything for v2.4. Go here to see update list. LINK