New Game Mode: Scorched Earth

[markb50k]

In addition to writing my own games in the past, I have been a "modder" for the majority of my gaming life, taking games and doing tweaks to suit my own desires.

Well, while doing my AAR I have been generating an idea for a new way of playing MWIF. It has so far existed only in my head, but I wanted to start getting it down on electronic "paper" so to speak.

The overall idea is that I would like to create an alternate starting point of the war where the world has taken side, and there are no neutral countries. I plan on doing this using the current code, and simply push the game engine to its furthest extent using the existing capabilities of Matrix WIF. How I would do it would be this: (NOTE: Yes, this is completely a-historical, but I will try to follow a semblance of some of the realities that existed at the time, in so far as allegiance building).

- As stated above, there will be no neutral countries. I will use the current Sept/Oct 1939 turn to establish alliance on a worldly scale. Due to some limitations like the Nazi/Soviet pact, and the fact that I wouldn't want the war to start in the middle of winter, I am predicting that I can use the first three game turns to completely setup the world where every country is an active belligerent including the United States and USSR.

- The first real turn of the game would be (still figuring this out) March/April 1940. On the turns prior to that, all major powers would not use their build points, and generally wouldn't do any moves other than setting up the alliances. (Initial setups and calling of reserve would of course still happen).

- The goal on that new start date would be that there would be no surprise impulse, but I will try to still have each major power have full unlimited gearing limits on that new first turn. This can be done by, for instance, by having Italy yet to DOW the US until the Mar/Apr 1940 turn. Italy cannot actually hurt the US on that turn but it will give the US full capability to initiate builds without any gearing limits, like every major power gets in Sept/Oct 1939. The same would be attempted for each major power. I don't know if that can work, but it will be attempted. UPDATE: This really can't be done for all major powers, so I am dropping this as a requirement/goal.

- This "setup" phase of the game would use forced die rolls where necessary to allow full DOW/aligning in the first few turns.

- If successful, this thread will capture the simple steps anyone could take to setup the game in this "Total War" scenario. I will also provide a saved game and instructions on how to start the very first turn.

- I haven't seen what the resulting world would look like using this setup, but I show the results in this thread. And as mentioned above, YES I know this is not realistic, YES I know this is completely removing the political aspects of the game, and YES I predict that the Axis will be far stronger initially by my choices of allegiences, but I will try to balance that, plus the US being in it from the beginning is a great equalizer for balance.

- Because of the increases in US production that come on a yearly basis, the plan would be to wait to just before the new start date to put the US at total war and starting the gearing up timeclock.

- Consider this a poor-man's attempt at implementing a Days of Decision pre-war "what-if" scenario where political rhetoric and fear-mongering pushed the globe to a full world war. Countries never really used in the game will have a possible real role in the game. Strategies that are as old as WiF first edition will probably have to be re-thought in this new game mode. Anyway, let's see what happens next. Thanks

[markb50k]

Alignments by neutral country
will summarize at the end

Siam:
This was an easy one to start with, Japan.

Tibet:
Since they don't get anyone else, alignment with China (if that's even possible, if not then Commonwealth).

Nepal:
Commonwealth.

Afghanistan:
CW or USSR. I think ill do Commonwealth.

Persia:
From what I read, there were Axis leanings in Persia throughout the war, but from a gaming perspective, I want Persia to be initially aligned with the Allies (especially since the USSR really doesn't get any aligns using this setup). So, it will align with Soviet Union or if you want to be more historical, align to Germany.

Iraq:
Have a couple of ways I could go here, but I'll follow the trade agreement leaning. France or Germany depending on your preferences.

Saudi Arabia:
given proximity to other CW possession, I will go with an alignment with Commonwealth.

Yemen:
Commonwealth.

Turkey:
Old Ottoman Empire leanings here, plus they would never side with Greece which we will mention later. So they will align with Germany.

Greece:
As you'll see, most of Europe is going Axis, but Greece will go Commonwealth due to rivalries with Turkey and Italy.

Bulgaria:
The Axis will start this game with a sizable alignment block throughout Europe. Bulgaria was easy of course, since they had Axis leanings almost from the beginning, so Germany

Hungary:
They will align with Germany.

Yugoslavia:
Kinda torn on this but I decided to go with Italy.

Rumania:
Will align with Germany of course, but USSR will have Bessarabia, and Rumania will be a full Axis ally. This will be tricky to get setup right but doable I think.

Poland:
Mandated by the game, but will be Commonwealth.

Latvia:
For balancing purposes they align to Soviet Union.

Lithuania:
For balancing purposes they align to Soviet Union.

Estonia:
For balancing purposes they align to Soviet Union.

Finland:
Due more to their hatred and rivalry with Russia, they will align with Germany.

Sweden:
Remember this is a what if, they will align with Germany.

Norway:
Tough one again, but decided on Germany.

Denmark:
Decided to go with Commonwealth.

Netherlands:
Western leaning, I decided to go with Commonwealth.

Belgium:
Decided to go with France.

Switzerland:
Yes, even the Swiss, so either CW or France, but from my reading I would say Commonwealth.

Spain:
Definite Axis leanings here, so Germany.

Portugal:
Long historical ties had me go with Commonwealth.

will continue this on next post, but wanted people to see where I was heading...

[Centuur]

Beware of one thing happening if you have all countries involved in the war. It means very long calculation times for movement. Also, loading saved games will take a long time to do. This is due to the very large number of supply calculations which MWIF has to do if all neutral countries are involved in the war...

[markb50k]

Thanks for the warning, like I said this is a bit of an experiment, so it performs some good research, no?

[markb50k]

Alignments by neutral country (continued)
will summarize at the end

Ireland:
Aligns with Commonwealth.

Crete:
Aligns with Commonwealth. Yeah, this won't actually be setup since Greece will begin the scenario active, but purely from a scorekeeping perspective I mention it here.

Faeroes:
Aligns with Commonwealth. Same thing as Crete, just mentioning here for completeness.

Argentina:
Most of the Western Hemisphere will be Allied, but reading up on things, some countries had definite sympathies with the Axis, and that will be reflected here. Aligns with Germany.

Chile:
Yeah taking some liberties here for game purposes, but seems there was some strong trading ties with Berlin so it aligns with Germany in a small pro-Axis bloc.

Uruguay:
sympathetic to Axis cause, aligns with Germany.

Mexico:
The United States will have a vast alignment block, starting here. Aligns with United States.

Cuba:
Aligns with United States.

Haiti:
Aligns with France just to spice things up.

Dominican Republic:
Aligns with United States.

Brazil:
Aligns with United States.

Panama:
Aligns with United States.

Costa Rica:
Aligns with United States.

El Salvador:
Aligns with United States.

Guatemala:
Aligns with United States.

Honduras:
Aligns with United States.

Nicaragua:
Aligns with United States.

Colombia:
Aligns with United States.

Venezuela:
Aligns with United States.

Peru:
Aligns with United States.

Ecuador:
Aligns with United States.

Bolivia:
Aligns with United States.

Paraguay:
Aligns with United States.

Liberia:
formed by emancipated slaves, Aligns with United States.

I think that's it, will summarize in next post.

[markb50k]

Axis Alignment

Germany:
Austria
Czechoslovakia
Rumania
Hungary
Bulgaria
Finland
Sweden
Norway
Turkey
Spain
Argentina
Uruguay
Chile
Persia (optional)
Iraq (optional)

Italy:
Yugoslavia
+ 1939 starting possessions

Japan:
Siam
+ 1939 starting possessions

[markb50k]

Allied Alignment

Soviet Union:
Persia (optional)
Latvia
Lithuania
Estonia
+ 1939 starting possessions

China:
+ 1939 starting possessions (I think the game will not allow align with China)

France:
Belgium
Iraq (optional)
Haiti
+ 1939 starting possessions

Commonwealth:
Poland
Denmark
Netherlands
Switzerland
Portugal
Ireland
Tibet
Nepal
Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia
Yemen
Greece
Faeroes
Crete
+ 1939 starting possessions

United States:
Mexico
Brazil
Cuba
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Guatemala
Costa Rica
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
Colombia
Venezuela
Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Paraguay
Liberia
+ 1939 starting possessions

[Centuur]

From a historical perspective, the Arabian nations were shifting towards the Axis side more that towards the Allied side. So I would have put Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Persia into the Axis camp and not into the Allied camp. Remember the coup in Bagdad during WW II. It was only because there were no Axis units in Iraq that the CW could counter that coup...

[markb50k]

Thanks for the feedback.

I think you have valid points here, and the fact that Iraq and Persia have Axis alignment possibilities shows this, so definitely something to look at.

I am going to try to see if it is possible to get the setup working right, and I am going through it right now. At the point that I can assure the game code can handle this scenario, I'll relook this. And of course, after I have come up with the setup instructions, people can choose to veer off my alignments as they see fit. At this point, its more an exercise in testing out how to modify the setup to fit this global war scenario.

But yeah, giving those countries to Axis would definitely make for some cool storylines to start with, although even switching Iraq and Persia over, I'd probably keep Saudi and Yemen going CW.

EDIT: updated above posts to reflect Persia/Iraq can go either way

[WarHunter]

Your idea for a game may not be completely historical but looks to be fun nonetheless.

Looks like i should expand my Land unit mod and rename all the neutral nations not renamed.

[markb50k]

Yeah, maybe WarHunter

Looks like things are going well in my tests. I'll be putting up the results soon. Following my instructions, you could conceivably still start the war perhaps earlier than I first thought. But let me make sure with some more testing..

[Ur_Vile_WEdge]

This seems like a really bad idea from a game balance perspective.

For starters, you won't have the staggered surprise attacks on the Netherlands and the Belgians, which is going to make France VERY tough to knock over. In fact, it might be best for the Axis to go full bore on the USSR from turn one, when the Soviets are at their weakest and the Axis have all those minors lined up.

And the convoy war will be all wonky; with all those American minors in the war, and the Americans entering the fray immediately; I'm not up to doing the calculations right now, but I'd be enormously suprirsed if the U.S. couldn't keep the CW at full production just by shipping 15 convoy points through the East Coast, North Atlantic, and Faeroes gap, and if you can simply concentrate the bulk of your fleet in those 3 sea zones, the odds of the Axis raiders getting through are negligible.


Production multiples are also going to be screwy. Most people have a PE of .75 in 1940. The U.S. will have 1.25 and rising steadily.


All of this is going to make the western allies so strong that it might create the ultimate anomaly of WiF, that even if the Soviets go down, the Allies will still win in Europe.

[markb50k]

You're right. But I wanted to see it could be done, and it can, which I'll show below.

Also, just the reason why I think you should wait until 1940 to begin the war, so that the Axis multiples have a chance to catchup, and you can also delay the US clock by waiting until just before the game start to do the gear up.

I'll show below where Germany's production is at, at the end of the turn..

[markb50k]

Game Setup
Setup all major powers as normal, except remember the alignments, and remember that the first turn will start with every country hostile.

Basically, rethink everything you thought you knew. How different is the war for Poland now, knowing that the Soviet Union is actually Polands ally at the beginning? How does France deal with Spain AND Italy hostile to it?

OTHER THINGS TO REMEMBER:
- for major powers, additional reserves will also be added prior to hostilities, so include those in your plans (i.e. Germany can have some additional units for the attack on Poland)
- don't plan on internment of Polish fighters, since no neutral countries.
- US Entry doesnt matter, as the US will be in the war by the first turn.
- for optimal balance, after setup, you shouldnt move any units, so get the setup right and just "Pass" each impulse until setup is complete and the war is ready to start.
- If you REALLY need to do some setup, then just prior to the war, call some lands to move things around. This is after all YOUR war, but

I'd recommend everything starting as if it begins with countries' initial setups.
- other than the builds that automatically show up for each power, don't build anything. Basically we are trying to fast forward to good weather in March and start from there.

Anyway, setup all Major Powers. I would recommend perhaps not placing down any fighters as they can placed down in March 1940.

[markb50k]

Sep/Oct 1939

Axis 1st Impulse:
- Setup Poland (remember that USSR will be an active Ally and cannot gobble up half of Poland)
- "Pass" through rest of impulse

[markb50k]

Sep/Oct 1939

Allies 1st Impulse:
- Setup Germany reserves. They will be organized by the time the war starts.
- Setup CW reserves. They will be organized by the time the war starts.
- Setup France reserves. They will be organized by the time the war starts. Remember that Italy and Spain will be hostile. Also remember that Netherlands and Belgium will be mobilized.
- "Pass" through rest of impulse

[markb50k]

Sep/Oct 1939

Axis 2nd Impulse:

Weather: To keep the turn going as long as possible to give you time to setup things, recommend forcing the weather roll to be "1" FINE weather.

Declare War (on Major Power):
- Italy DOW China so that Italy is activated and can get alignments.
- Italy DOW USA
- Italy DOW CW
- Italy DOW France
- Italy DOW Russia
- Japan DOW USSR so that USSR is activated and can get alignments.
- Japan DOW USA
- Japan DOW CW
- Japan DOW France
- Germany DOW USA.
- Germany DOW China

I have all three Axis major powers DOW the USA now. This is not necessary, and depending on how you want to play this, you may leave either Japan or Germany DOW until later. Again, why wait? Just because I think its smarter to start the war in good weather, not the middle of winter. Also, US War Appropriations option, which controls the US production multiple for the rest of the war, its time starts ticking the minute US is at full war (Germany/Japan)


BUT if you want things to progress quickly,its possible to get everything done in this turn, other than Germany/USSR DOW, so you could conceivably start in the J/F 40 turn if you want to, or N/D 39 if you don't mind Russia and Germany not at war, it's up to You!

Declare War (on Minor Countries):
- Japan DOW Afghanistan. Align to Commonwealth.
- Japan DOW Belgium. Align to France.
- Japan DOW Bolivia. Align to USA. (the game will only allow you to align with USA for countries in the Americas)
- Japan DOW Brazil. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Colombia. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Costa Rica. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Cuba. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Denmark. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Dominican Republic. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Ecuador. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW El Salvador. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Estonia. Align to Soviet Union.
- Japan DOW Greece. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Guatemala. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Haiti. Align to US
- Japan DOW Honduras. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Iraq. Align to France. (if you want it Allied)
- Japan DOW Ireland. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Latvia. Align to USSR.
- Japan DOW Liberia. Align to USA (if you want USA, otherwise if USA isnt active youll have to choose another major power).
- Japan DOW Lithuania. Align to USSR.
- Japan DOW Mexico. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Nepal. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Netherlands. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Nicaragua. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Panama. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Paraguay. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Persia. Align to USSR (if you want it Allied)
- Japan DOW Peru. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Portugal. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Saudi Arabia. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Switzerland. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Tibet. Align to CW.
- Japan DOW Venezuela. Align to USA.
- Japan DOW Yemen. Align to CW.

Amazingly, it seems you can get ALMOST all (Liberia excluded) the DOWs done for the Axis (aligning all Allied countries). I thought there would be issues with this, but the game seems to process these fine. Even for the US aligns, which surprised me. As the RAC states, any country in the Americas DOW'd by the Axis can ONLY be aligned to the USA, so that's good

Do all the chit rolls, remember to not to worry about this, just do what the program says, even if the US chits go to 0, the Axis will DOW the US before this starts anyway.

- Setup Italy reserves. They will be organized by the time the war starts.
- Setup USSR reserves. They will be organized by the time the war starts. Pay attention to what countries will be aligned with who when setting up all countries, especially USSR.
- Setup USA reserves.

- At this point, all US Entry options are auto-selected. Click through them. You'll have to answer whether to intern the CV Bearn or not.
- Setup each attacked minor
- At this point, Germany can align Bulgaria. It may be because of the DOWs on the Baltics or some other reason. Either way, go ahead and align it.

"Pass" through rest of impulse

Example:

[markb50k]

Sep/Oct 1939

Allies 3rd Impulse:

Russia Special Actions: Do these NEED to be done? No. but this scenario assumes the world has gone on the warpath, so it makes sense that USSR would be bullying its neighbors, all the more reason why they are becoming belligerent. Plus, with the large Axis block in Europe and possible Persia, Russia needs as much land as possible, and this is a balance to that.
- Claim Bessarabia. Germany allows the claim.
- Claim Finnish Borderlands. Germany allows the claim.

Declare War (on Minor Countries):
- USSR DOW Argentina. Align to Germany.
- USSR DOW Chile. Align to Germany.
- USSR DOW Hungary. Align to Germany.
- USSR DOW Iraq. Align to Germany (if you want it Axis).
- USSR DOW Norway. Align to Germany.
- USSR DOW Persia. Align to Germany (if you want it Axis).
- USSR DOW Spain. Align to Germany.
- USSR DOW Sweden. Align to Germany.
- USSR DOW Turkey. Align to Germany.
- USSR DOW Uruguay. Align to Germany.
- USSR DOW Yugoslavia. Align to Italy.
- CW DOW Finland. Align to Germany.

Not sure what it would do, but DO NOT DOW Rumania yet. We still want full ally for Germany. Let the other claims happen next impulse.

- Do all the chit rolls, again, don't worry if the US GE/IT pool goes to 0 and US can't DOW Germany. They'll DOW USA anyway.
- Setup each attacked minor

"Pass" through rest of impulse

[markb50k]

Sep/Oct 1939

Axis 3rd Impulse:

Weather: To keep the turn going as long as possible to give you time to setup things, recommend forcing the weather roll to be "1" FINE weather.

- Germany DENY claims on Rumania by Hungary and Bulgaria.
- At this point, you will have to do all the chits for minors being declared war on. Just click through them.

"Pass" through rest of impulse
- after passing, the End of TUrn roll will happen. Recommend you set the die roll to be 10 so it doesnt end. There is more stuff to do.

[markb50k]

Sep/Oct 1939

Allies 3rd Impulse:

"Pass" through rest of impulse
- after passing, the End of turn roll will happen. Recommend you set the die roll to be 10 so it doesnt end. There is 1 more thing to do.