What is the deal with Bulgaria?

[mcaryf]

I tested out my idea to make infantry have a move 2 (motorised with extra fuel cost) and to improve militia to cost 2 (it is actually a sort of improvement as you get 1 pop point back for damaged).

Both of these seem to work on first impressions, however, it showed up an anomaly for Bulgaria.

The test I did was to change the stats for Germany and then attack Yugoslavia first with a bomber and then with some move 2 infantry and some militia. When I used the three militia from Bulgaria and they were damaged rather than destroyed, I discovered that one went for repair in an Italian factory and 2 went to Czechoslovakia but all the released pop points stayed in Bulgaria and were not therefore available for the repair.

What is the deal with Bulgaria - why does it have a pop point at all if it cannot be used?

I shall return to the idea of motorised infantry etc later but for time being just leave my Bulgaria question on the table.

Mike

[JanSorensen]

I cannot figure out any reason why Bulgaria would have a pop point either in game terms. Its likely the reason Bulgaria sometimes bugs and starts reporting partisans too. I will list it as a possible bug.

[Joel Billings]

Not a bug. Units have the nationality of the area they start the game. Their population is of that nationality and will go back to that populations pool. Units try to go back to their nationalities factories, but if this is not possible, they will go to another friendly factory. This happens for all units. Without a factory in Bulgaria, you will never see their population available. We probably gave Bulgaria a population point a long time ago when the Axis areas generated partisans (a modder can still make this happen).

[silodhlehan]

Too bad you can't build a factory there to harness your allies population. Even if it only makes militia and supplies.

[Daykeras]

You could always build a factory somewhere else and move it via strategic movement

[silodhlehan]

I didn't think they could go from say Romania to Bulgaria. Different countries.


I'm learning. [:(]

[Daykeras]

Well I have never personally moved a factory to Bulgaria, so I fully admit I could be wrong.

However if you've ever played as Russia or China, you will sometimes find it is fully necessary to move factories back behind your lines before the Germans of Japanese capture them.

Which reminds me... When are we getting the ability to destroy units/buildings? I want to recreate the Russia burnings of their own land.

[JanSorensen]

You cannot move a factory to Bulgaria. You can only move factories within the same "nation". I checked the rules and tested it in game.

[Daykeras]

Ah... Any way to modify the game so Bulgaria is part of Germany?

And why the odd in the same nation rule?

[Joel Billings]

To prevent Italian factories from moving to Germany, etc. The best thing to do in this case is to set up a Bulgarian factory if you really want Bulgarian population. Some have wanted to do the same with Hungary. These can be added and a Factory can be taken away from Germany (although it is x3 and the others would be x1, so you might have to add another to Rumania to even things out - of course added population for the Axis might be worth 1 less factory).

[Lebatron]

There is room in the German production screen for one more nationality. Notice the empty flag spot at the top. In Franco's Alliance I added a factory to Hungary which then filled this empty slot. You could do the same for Bulgaria. But in my opionion Hungary was the better spot for the extra factory.

[mcaryf]

I have nearly completed my mod to make the Axis a bit more challenging to play against as the ai. One of the things I have done is to make Rumania into "The Balkans" so it includes Hungary and Bulgaria for factory/unit purposes. Seems to work well enough. Another change is to make militia into more ordinary infantry that cost 2 - this means that they can be repaired and one of their pop points saved which helps Axis quite a lot.

I have also created the Vichy fleets in Oran and Dakar to give the RN something to think about before the Allies go attacking in North Africa. The Japanese have the Kamikaze and the Germans the V2.

Just to be slightly fair I have also given the SU the equivalent of 3,000 extra rather poor tanks and 2,000 poor aircraft so it is a little bit closer to reality - I felt the real 12,000 extra tanks and aircraft would be rather too many units cluttering the map!

I will wait to publish my mod when I can incorporate it with the latest patch.

One final query - since I have made the Axis somewhat stronger it now always wins the hands off games that I set it to play itself. I have watched on many occasions when the Axis has captured Grozny, the SU has no units in the Caucases but the Axis does not bother to capture this 6 Resource Point location! Surely if the AI had any hard wired policy it should be to capture that location above all others!! As far as I can tell the AI strategy is not moddable apart from R&D and build strategies.

Mike