Absolute Maximum

[brian brian]

I like Defensive Shore Bombardment and and generally use it.

A land battle in the game is much more than one day.

I think problems with Shore Bombardment aren't on one side or the other, offense or defense, but it is just somewhat over-rated. If you asked an Army commander in WWII which he would rather be given to add to a battle, 6 cruisers off-shore or a full strength Infantry Corps of 30,000+ men - I don't think many would pick the Cruisers as a first option. But in WiF, they are about the same thing.

So the coming editions of the game will tone it down some.



I have tried the idea of putting naval units that bombard or disembark in the zero box. That is an improvement. But the other side still has to "find" them to attack them, when their own infantry quite likely have them spotted in their binoculars just off-shore once the sun rises. And in the zero box, short-range FTRs from any base can defend them…. the classic example in WiF of the poor implementation of all this is the USA invading the Bonins and using land-based air from the Marshalls to cover the invasion forces.

Look up the fate of the USS Savannah for an example of the risks…

So I am also experimenting with putting debarking and bombarding ships on a hex dot for the next enemy impulse, where they can be subject to a Port Attack mission, & any and all forces at sea on either side can be rolled in (or additional escorts can be placed on the hex-dot) to a counter-attack, or covered by land-based air from a base within range. Then you have to truly island-hop.




The Maximum I would not play with includes Hitler's War, Japanese Command Conflict, Limited Aircraft Interception, Railway Movement, Construction Engineers, Food in Flames, and Variable Re-Org.