A revised Game Manual?

[mdsmall]

Hi Bill and Hubert

Do you have any plans to revise the Game Manual for War in Europe (and/or the other two SC games) to reflect the various patches, clarifications and precisions to the rules that have been explained in this Forum? It would be great to have one place where you could find all this information, without having to read through all these posts on this Forum. I realize that this would be a significant amount of work, but it would be a great help to new players, as well as more experienced players who would like to have just one place to look up the rules.

If so, I have a lot of suggestions for new sections to add to the Manual to more fully explain how the game works. But I will refrain from itemizing those here if a revision to the Manual itself is not on the horizon.

Michael

[nnason]

perhaps this could be crowd sourced.

[BillRunacre]

Hi Michael

I do hope to provide some updates to the Manuals, especially the War in Europe one, though I don't know if adding a significant amount of new content will be possible. At least it's not something I'd like to promise as such.

That said, there's no harm in making suggestions because even if an updated Manual doesn't include them all, there are benefits to it! [:)]

One being that it helps highlight what might be giving you (and anyone else who posts) trouble with learning the game. For those who have been playing this series for years much of it is instinctive, but we want the game to be as readily accessible to new players as possible. It should be a pleasure and not a headache to play.

Secondly, because it should reduce the risk of me missing something important.

A third being that it might help inspire us as to what to include in the Manuals for future games, e.g. if we aren't explaining something very well, or at all.

Bill

[The Land]

ORIGINAL: BillRunacre

I do hope to provide some updates to the Manuals, especially the War in Europe one, though I don't know if adding a significant amount of new content will be possible. At least it's not something I'd like to promise as such.

You could also provide it in an easier-to-maintain format. A "Rules updates FAQ" on a webpage somewhere is probably less hassle for you guys than redoing the PDF manual

[BillRunacre]

Like a streamlined version of the Patch notes?

[nnason]

Bill,
The support you all provide is simply outstanding. Upgrading the manual and keeping it updated is a costly proposition. I think you all should "Crowd Source" a new manual hard and/or soft. If you get enough subscribers (and I think you will,) you can justify to the powers that be the effort needed. You could also add a small subscription fee for people who want page updates. The way the military did it was the have binders and replace pages. If the added text went over the amount on the current page a page was inserted with a page number like 23A. If you only did an electronic manual you could keep the subscription costs way down. You would still publish change notes as you do now. The subscription would pay for the effort to integrate the change notes into the manual.

[The Land]

ORIGINAL: BillRunacre

Like a streamlined version of the Patch notes?

Sort of, but written in the manner of the manual and with a few screenshots to illustrate it. Maybe even in the same order as the manual and referring to the section headings, so you can have the manual open and also this document and it's easy to see where the webpage updates what's in the manual

[mdsmall]

Bill - I very much appreciate your openness to ideas for an updated Game Manual. An interim step, as suggested by others in this thread, would be to produce a consolidated list of all the rule changes since the game was released keyed to the headings in the Manual. But speaking for new players (which I was six months ago) having an up to date version of the Manual is important. I learned the game by reading the Manual and I still refer to it frequently, even though I know it is not the final word on how the game works. The Manual is the place where everything is laid out in a logical order and explained in full sentences. It is also the best place to explain the intersection between different elements of the rules - which is the heart of gameplay.

There are some rules that have been changed since the game was released, but there are many more game mechanics which were very briefly or never explained in the first place which I have learned by posting questions on this Forum and receiving answers from yourself or Hubert. A small example is supply levels for units on amphibious transports, addressed in a recent thread. If you do revise the Manual, it is those under or unexplained areas that I would most like to have spelled out.

For me the two biggest areas that would benefit from a rewrite are the supply rules and the mechanics governing production and the economic warfare. Supply is an obvious area, as you can see from the many posts on this Forum addressing supply questions. It is also an area where a few significant changes have been made to the rules.

But a better example of an area that would benefit from a revision and expansion of the Manual would be to add a section on the economic dimensions of the game. By this I mean questions like the following: how are MPP levels calculated? How many MPPs do different resource hexes produce? How can you increase your side's production of MPPs and what are the ways of reducing the enemy's MPP production? What are the various functions of: urban resources; ports; railroads; roads; mines? How can you damage the enemy's economic infrastructure by attacking, blockading or capturing these kinds of hexes, and what are the limits to being able to convert them to your own use? What are the scorched earth rules and when do they apply? What are the rules for convoys? What triggers convoys starting? How can convoys be reduced through raiding? How can convoys be shut down entirely through military action or through diplomacy? What is the difference between the supply level of a resource hex, its MPP value and its National Morale value (if any)?

Some of these questions are well covered in the existing manual but they are in disparate places. For example, a description of reducing the supply values of cities can be found under Air Combat dealing with Strategic Bombing but of course there are other ways of reducing cities' supply values e.g. through naval bombardment. Pulling them altogether into a new section on the economic dimensions of the game would be really helpful, in my view.

Other players no doubt will have other sections they would like to see added or expanded to the manual. I think crowd-sourcing suggestions through this forum is an excellent idea.

Michael