MWIF Expansions

[Anendrue]

@Steve

For the last 4-5 years there has always been talk from forum members of MWIF Product 2 and talk about additional expansions and products. As MWiF starts to increase with momentum towards a finality is there any substance to the idea of a Product 2 (hopefully DoDIII aka MDoD maybe... or an expansive and difficult Artifical Intelligence. aka MWiFAI maybe). Could you address the viability and possibility of such addons, expansions and additional products?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: abj9562

@Steve

For the last 4-5 years there has always been talk from forum members of MWIF Product 2 and talk about additional expansions and products. As MWiF starts to increase with momentum towards a finality is there any substance to the idea of a Product 2 (hopefully DoDIII aka MDoD maybe... or an expansive and difficult Artifical Intelligence. aka MWiFAI maybe). Could you address the viability and possibility of such addons, expansions and additional products?

This is an interesting topic and I have gathered a lot of ideas while I have been working on MWIF. However, presently I have buttoned down the hatch and just look out through a narrow slit these days, grinding the gears towards getting MWIF product 1 out.

I certainly have nothing against others discussing this topic though.

[Anendrue]

I for one am split between a days of Decision and an awesome AI. To take a few years and fully develop either idea would be awesome.
 
MDoD would add political strategy to the game. Additionally it would force players to respond to political initiatives and introduce some cautionary thinking. Obvously it would add more variables to deal with. This could help overcome some of the gambits people throw into games. Perhaps it could be implemented as a seperate player causing combat commanders to respond to governments initiatives. Otherwise it could be placed into the game as originally envisioned as an extra muscle for the combat commander to flex. I think both methods are good and could propel MWiF in many directions.
 
MWiFAI -  need I say more. An AI that would take a year or two to develop could help eliminate gambits and appeal to solo gamers. Many who just want to sit back at their own pace and enjoy a game by themselves. It would spring forth from the awesome minds of the players on this forum who are developing the initial AI right now. As we all know though, a working AI is far different from an exceptional AI. I would like to see an AI equivalent to any good chess program on the market today. Perhaps in my lifetime equivalent to Deep Fritz or Hydra (master chess programs).
 
Well these are just two ideas. With all the people on these boards what do you want to see Steve and Matrix work on next. Yes I am a member of make Steve wealthy and keep him employed club. After all, he needs an income to keep singing in his quartets.

[brian brian]

I think it was Fred Zimmerman who pointed out awhile back that it will be a joy to play the game on a touch screen...this is close to being a reality:

HP Releases touch-screen laptop


Think about how nice it will be to move the 'counters' around on a screen without a mouse....

[Anendrue]

Pretty close to a modern "sand table" I'd say. The US Army has been working on a hologrphic projection version. Take that and combine it with touch screen controls. That would be pretty cool in my book.

[macgregor]

Steve if I'm not mistaken, I believe you said that there would be a way to change unit values. Notwithstanding placement, as long as unit names could be changed, perhaps in some MWiF product down the line there could be a MWiF editor. Then it could be up to the 'community' to come up with expansion ideas. Unless of course I'm wrong in which case, never mind.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: macgregor

Steve if I'm not mistaken, I believe you said that there would be a way to change unit values. Notwithstanding placement, as long as unit names could be changed, perhaps in some MWiF product down the line there could be a MWiF editor. Then it could be up to the 'community' to come up with expansion ideas. Unless of course I'm wrong in which case, never mind.

There are CSV data files for all the unit information. These can be edited using either a simple text program (e.g., NotePad) or a spreadsheet program (e.g., Excel), or any database software that can read CSV files.

There are a few restrictions on renaming units. For instance, the setups call for specific units by names (e.g., HQs and surface ships) and those can not be changed since then the program wouldn't be able to find all the units for the setup phase.

[fiveof6]

Publish a strategy guide for newbies.  I would buy one in a second if it would help me see how to combine all the aspects of the game into a cohesive plan.
 
Kevin

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: fiveof6

Publish a strategy guide for newbies.  I would buy one in a second if it would help me see how to combine all the aspects of the game into a cohesive plan.

Kevin

Australian Design Group provides extensive notes for each major power for each scenario. It is part of the Scenario booklet. On the advice of forum members I am including a section in the Player's Manual for important decisions. Here is the outline for that section - I haven't written any of the text for it and am looking for volunteers to help.
===
3.4 Important Decisions
3.4.1 Setting Up Units
3.4.2 Action Choice
3.4.3 Committing Air Units
3.4.4 Deploying Naval Units
3.4.5 Using HQs and Armor
3.4.6 Air Combat
3.4.7 Naval Combat
3.4.8 Land Combat
3.4.9 Reorganization
3.4.10 Production
3.4.11 International Relationships

[michaelbaldur]

I was born a volunteer ....

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: michaelbaldur

I was born a volunteer ....

Okay then. [:)]

Choose a section and write some text on what you think a new player should know about making those decisons.

[michaelbaldur]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: michaelbaldur

I was born a volunteer ....

Okay then. [:)]

Choose a section and write some text on what you think a new player should know about making those decisons.

3.4.2 Action Choice

[mavraamides]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

I think it was Fred Zimmerman who pointed out awhile back that it will be a joy to play the game on a touch screen...this is close to being a reality:

HP Releases touch-screen laptop


Think about how nice it will be to move the 'counters' around on a screen without a mouse....

The tough thing about a touch screen is it has no way to represent mouse movement without the button being down.

On a touch screen, the mouse is always 'clicked'. I just got done working on a touch screen ap and this caused us much grief! Its very difficult to develop an interface for that.

[SamuraiProgrmmr]

I, for one, would love to see a DOD product that integrates with MWiF so that you can play the conflict from 1936.
 
Back when I actually played WiF, the most memorable and fun games started as DOD with the units being on the WiF Map.
 
Surprisingly, I feel that this is a great way to introduce new players to the WiF system.  There are not as many counters on the map and is not as overwhelming when you start in 1936. 
 
But this is for the future.
 

[Anendrue]

ORIGINAL: SamuraiProgrammer

I, for one, would love to see a DOD product that integrates with MWiF so that you can play the conflict from 1936.

Back when I actually played WiF, the most memorable and fun games started as DOD with the units being on the WiF Map.

Surprisingly, I feel that this is a great way to introduce new players to the WiF system.  There are not as many counters on the map and is not as overwhelming when you start in 1936. 

But this is for the future.

It may be for the future. But no time like now to lay the ground work.

[iamspamus]

DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII,DoDIII, DoDIII

I concur. My favorite WIF/WiFFE games were DoD based. I played DoD, DoDII, and have yet to play DoDIII. [:(] So, I'll wait for it to come out.

Jason

ORIGINAL: SamuraiProgrammer

I, for one, would love to see a DOD product that integrates with MWiF so that you can play the conflict from 1936.

Back when I actually played WiF, the most memorable and fun games started as DOD with the units being on the WiF Map.

Surprisingly, I feel that this is a great way to introduce new players to the WiF system.  There are not as many counters on the map and is not as overwhelming when you start in 1936. 

But this is for the future.

[composer99]

When my group has played DoD, we've found it to be fun, but we found the game was almost invariably broken by 1940-41, which means we don't get the real fun late-war stuff going on.

[composer99]

Incidentally, I volunteer to do the newbie advice write-up for 3.4.10 Production.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Incidentally, I volunteer to do the newbie advice write-up for 3.4.10 Production.

Please do so. Thank you. And anyone else who wants to chip in a few words of 'wisdom?'
===
Just remember that we don't want these to be neither too short nor too long, but Goldilocks perfection in between. We want new players to read these and gain some 'important' insight into how to play the game, without being overwhelmed by a ton of advice. I guess rules of thumb might be very useful.

There has to be some heft to make reading the section worthwhile, and there will probably have to be some things specific to major powers/theaters of operation. Best is advice that applies to all major powers, and I suggest leading with that/those paragraph(s). Then follow with specifics for major powers/theaters of operation, if needed. In some cases there might be a need for specifics for scenarios, though I expect that if we can do a good job on providing advice for Global War/Barbarossa/Guadalcanal that will be sufficient.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: michaelbaldur

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: michaelbaldur

I was born a volunteer ....

Okay then. [:)]

Choose a section and write some text on what you think a new player should know about making those decisons.

3.4.2 Action Choice

Thank you.