Suggestions for v 1.050

[SGT Rice]

First off, let me say that I LOVE THIS GAME! W@W successfully meshes the simplicity of Axis & Allies with many of the elegant design elements of World in Flames and lots of great new ideas to create a fantastic gaming experience. My hat's off to GG and everyone else involved in developing this awesome game.

In the interest of further evolution in the game system I would like to offer the following for consideration:

TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES

There are certain historical tech expenditures that the game system rewards such as:

Tank, Infantry, Artillery Evasion & Land Attack
Fighter Evasion & Air Attack
Submarine Evasion & Torpedo Attack

while there are other historical tech expenditures which are much less cost effective in game terms, such as:

Anti aircraft (for non-AA units)
Ship & Sub ranges

To make some of the historical technology advances more common and cost effective in W@W it would make sense to modify the research table such that certain technical advances would be applied to multiple unit types. For example, an increase in the AA rating of ground units should apply to tank, infantry and artillery units equally - because the same weapon systems would be used by each type of unit.

The same would apply to an increase in AA values for carriers, battleships and cruisers - each unit type used the same types of AA ordnance - i.e., in the US navy the 20mm Oerlikon, the 40mm Bofors, the dual purpose 5 inch, 38cal gun and their associated fire control systems were all employed on DDs, CLs, CAs, BBs and CVs. The historical record makes it clear that the WA should not have to make three separate tech advances to upgrade the AA ratings on their naval units.

Nor should it require three separate tech advances to boost the range of your surface fleets; this is a function of fleet support ships, at-sea refueling, etc., which - once developed - apply equally to each surface naval unit.

I would also submit that the one-zone range increase for naval units should be revisited; it's not very cost effective. Perhaps range increases for naval units (subs or surface) should come in increments of two?

MAJOR POWERS

In W@W, the German major power is able to pursue avenues of global conquest much sooner than seems historically possible. One design element which makes this possible is the seamless integration of Italy into the Third Reich.

In historical fact the Italians had a separate force pool from the German; Italy produced the full range of ships, aircraft and land units, but with few exceptions these units were far behind the Germans in their technical characteristics. W@W doesn't reflect this; to do so would require that the German production phase be split in two; so the European Axis could move & attack at the same time, but research & produce separately.

The same principle could be applied to the WA; the UK and the US had separate force pools. But they did share technology much more readily; perhaps tech advances by the US would be available to the UK with a one turn delay and vice versa.

SGT Rice

[toddtreadway]

This is a really interesting idea. I like it because, at current time, I don't think I've ever seen a few things researched. E.g., ship ranges, transport capacity, AA values for certain things, and I'm sure I could name a few more.