Upkeep

[Uxbridge]

I think that upkeep is a great addition to the game, that can greatly limit a country from building more units than is reasonable. Since conquering other areas makes you stronger in most games, instead of weaker which is more often the case in reality when nations conquer other nations in rapid succession, one reaches a point where one becomes quite instoppable. Having an upkeep cost can fix this problem.

But I'm a little curious, Wasteland, why you made the Russian upkeep cost so much lower than that of the other countries? If I understand it right, USSR has an upkeep cost of 0,5 % of current strength. Germany, on the other hand, have an upkeep cost of 3 % of current strength, with UK and France having 2 %. I suspect som tweaking here, but why this rather dramatic difference?

I don't really disagree; I simply don't follow the philosophy. [:)]

[cpdeyoung]

I do think they would be far cheaper in reality. The Germans were stunned when they saw how poor Russia was, and conversely the Soviets were stunned by how rich Germany was. The mass of Soviet soldiers expected much less of the supply system than the troops of other armies.

As a practical matter you need a lot more Red Army troops, because they are going to be so very much less effective. They are cheap, but fight poorly.

Like you, I will be interested in the developers take.

Chuck

[doomtrader]

Two main reasons
1. Gameplay - it is much more easier to reflect Soviet Hordes
2. Reality - sad but true, many of the Red Army soldiers were peasants taken directly from the plow and send with a rifle to the front, without any training. Many of the Russian soldiers were eating only what did they found.

Of course there are other factors, like amount of logistic troops etc.

There was a joke:
Russian (R) and American (A) soldier meet during the war.
R: So how is the food in US Army?
A: Very good, we got 5000 calories daily.
R: It's impossible, it can not be truth.
A: Why?
R: Because nobody is able to eat 50 pounds of potatos every day.

[Uxbridge]

Hmm ... funny though the joke may be, I do see a possible problem here. [8|]
 
If the Soviets have a much lesser cost in upkeep, this means that they will be able to place their PP's on other things than units. It's of course good to have a numerical advantage, but since there's no stacking in this game, this only applies to a certain degree. The Soviet player will therefore spend the excess PP's on research and on upgrading excisting units to higher tech levels, causing more losses to the Germans, preventing the German player to do other with his PP's than replacing losses. In the end, is it not a risk that the disparity between the USSR and German upkeep levels will create - not red hordes - but very strong Soviet units, in fact stronger ones than their German counterparts?
 
I'm not saying that this will be the outcome, it needs to be tested, I'm only trying to think ahead.

[Uxbridge]

Upkeep must be readable from somewhere during PBEM-play, since only the German player can see the reports. 

[PrinceBolkonsky]

I addition to upkeep costs, forms of unhappiness including war weariness should be used to prevent open ended expansions. As the size of an empire expands and as war becomes perpetual, including the effects of partisan activity and sacrifice made on the home front to support the war effort, the percentage of manpower in arms disrupting families and society etc etc should lower the productive capacity of even the regimes. Along the way diplomatic strength is lost as well.

Code that!

[Chocolino]

I addition to upkeep costs, forms of unhappiness including war weariness should be used to prevent open ended expansions....

There are already many events in the game that deal with war weariness, morale at the home front and increased unhappiness of the population (can affect production via both, war economy and unrest). Once you play the game a bit you will run into these events.

Code that!

.

Looks as if the developers have acted in preemptive obedience. (But most likely they will be more responsive to good suggestions than to orders.)

[PrinceBolkonsky]

Sorry if that seemed like an order it was just enthusiasm. Looking forward to experiencing these aspects of the game that you mention.