Malta

[PanzerMike]

Right now the importance of Malta is very little. In ww2 the Axis bombed the heck out of it and the UK went to great lengths to get supplies to it. Malta was a threat to the Axis supply lines, so the Axis suppressed it by continous bombing. This of course diverted a lot of Axis resources to the Mediterranean.

I am looking at a way to make Malta matter. It could be done by checking if the island is owned by Allies and if so, subtract some recources from the Axis every turn:
transports=number – changes the transport pool + or - the number
merchantMarine=number – changes the merchant marine pool + or - the number
PP=number ― changes the production points stockpile value + or - the number
OP=number ― changes the oil points stockpile value + or - the number

By using these commands you can simulate actual raids on the Merchant marine.

Thoughts?

[AlvaroSousa]

Read "Struggle for the Middle Sea".

You will find that the Axis could invade Malta at their whim but didn't because Hitler liked Rommel and Rommel said there was no reason to invade it. He could do it all without the invasion. At the time he wanted the resources for it to do his offensives. Kesselring argued the opposite.

90% of the convoys that went to North Africa succeeded in reaching port. The Italian navy did their job. With this kind of view it is no wonder Rommel didn't care for it's invasion. Where people get things wrong is that on occasion what was sunk was a critical supply like tanks or fuel delaying an offensive action.

Granted without German airpower in the area of course the RN would have killed the convoys but even taking Malta would have required them to be there.

So it isn't as large of a deal as many people think it is.

Much like it is now know that it was damn near impossible for Germany to win the Battle of Britain as is. They would have needed to revamp how they trained pilots. They didn't have enough. While the UK was short on pilots they had plenty of planes. If they got shot down they were over the UK and could fly again. If Germans got shot down they were lost.

WW2 is fascinating to me. It reads like a Lord of the Rings novel. You almost can't believe such evil exists in our world less than 100 years ago. But a lot of things we grew up thinking were true are different. I don't even watch documentaries anymore because they are more and more incorrect. These made for the common people shows. One even said Midway was the first carrier vs carrier battle that no one saw each other and this guy was supposedly a historian.

So I mimicked what I read the book. Malta is annoying, relatively easy to take, and not as important.

[PanzerMike]

Perhaps Malta is minor in the greater scheme of things, but the axis did use a lot of airplanes to subvert Malta. The effect was, that Malta could hardly be used as a port for raiding the Axis convoys. Also the number of planes able to operate from Malta was modest at the best of times.

But right now, there is no real need to divert Axis resources to keep Malta in check. So I am looking for a way to have Malta play a modest role in the Mediterraneum theater. But it's not easy to come up with one.

Playing against the AI it is child's play to starve the Island by blockade and landing unopposed after that. Getting the AI to respond to this is hardly doable I think. That's why I was looking for an alternative.

The Mediterranean was secondary in WW2, yet vast resources were diverted to it from both parties. The Germans lost a lot of planes in that theater for example. The Med could use some more spice in WP imho.

[Tanaka]

Read "Struggle for the Middle Sea".

WW2 is fascinating to me. It reads like a Lord of the Rings novel. You almost can't believe such evil exists in our world less than 100 years ago. But a lot of things we grew up thinking were true are different. I don't even watch documentaries anymore because they are more and more incorrect. These made for the common people shows. One even said Midway was the first carrier vs carrier battle that no one saw each other and this guy was supposedly a historian.

So I mimicked what I read the book. Malta is annoying, relatively easy to take, and not as important.

Lord of the Rings is based off a lot of his experiences in WW1. I highly recommend the movie "Tolkien".

[canuckgamer]

I don't know how much Malta impacts Axis supply in Africa but we are now playing our second PBEM game and it is easy for the Axis to take Malta. All you do is blockade it and station air units in Sicily. Land based air can really do a number on naval units and not knowing if Malta has a significant effect on Axis supply I was not about to lose naval units in attempts to break the blockade.
Considering that Malta was never taken and the Axis had to make a decision as to whether it should be invaded maybe it should be removed from the special rule. As the game plays now invasion is a non decision given that it can be blockaded.

[generalfdog]

the allies can, like they did historically base a fleet and an air unit out of Malta and interdict axis supplies to na, thus hindering axis operations, it can be a factor

[PanzerMike]

I am experimenting with Malta. See the picture. I am trying to make the AI make use of it.

I am not sure what will happen with land units if placed on the extra hex I introduced. If Alvaro hardcoded that only land units on the original Malta hex will starve with a naval blockade, than I have an issue, since a human player will know that.

The extra Malta hex will now also allow a paradrop on Malta, even with a defender in the original Malta hex. Something the Axis was planning to do, but is now not possible since you can't do a paradrop ON an enemy unit. Of course, a human player can put an extra division on the new Malta hex and the problem of not being able to do a paradrop will be back...

So not easy to get this right, but I am going to give it a try at least.

Ow, and Malta now looking to big and all, consider it a blow up box, hehehe.

[stjeand]

The issue I see there is that if the Allies put a second unit in Malta the Axis can't even invade.

There would be no "beach" hex.

Perhaps there is a way to make a beach hex invadable by a paradrop?
I doubt it without game changes though.

[PanzerMike]

Hmmm, good point. Let me see what I can do about that.
I think the naval blockade thing on hex 161,21 (Malta) is hard coded. So I am running into limitations here, alas.

[AlvaroSousa]

The A.I. can't handle Malta well but neither can a human player. What are you going to do park a fleet out there to get killed? Malta can be easily taken by the Axis.

[Nirosi]

In my experience, the Allied player can make it costly for the Axis to take Malta and even make him abandon the attempt. The UK need to send subs in port only every three turns (or a fleet from time to time when there is bad weather or if subs are too damaged). If you do that, it also takes a fighter on the island and 6 AA guns to make him think twice. The Axis will still take it, but he might just decide it is not be worth it. Of course, the UK must also accept some loses, potentialy big, when trying to do that (as in the real war).

Something that can also make Malta useful is a medium bomber with the Detection/electronic advancement on Malta once it is clear the Axis will not take it. At 14 range it can be used to harass reinforcement fleet up to Bengazi. Not super useful, but a nice annoying touch from time to time.

[AlvaroSousa]

That is about right on both counts. I usually put a bomber there and interfere with port supply or ground strike something.