Strategic importance of oil

Gary Grigsby's World At War gives you the chance to really run a world war. History is yours to write and things may turn out differently. The Western Allies may be conquered by Germany, or Japan may defeat China. With you at the controls, leading the fates of nations and alliances. Take command in this dynamic turn-based game and test strategies that long-past generals and world leaders could only dream of. Now anything is possible in this new strategic offering from Matrix Games and 2 by 3 Games.

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SGT Rice
Posts: 451
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 3:05 pm

Strategic importance of oil

Post by SGT Rice »

In an earlier post GOOSESTEPPER said:
Anyways i guess the 4 resources in e.germany include the luena chemical plant and the other chemical plants.

You're touching on an interesting point.

In W@W (and some other wargames) the abstraction of all the raw materials of war into a generic category of RESOURCES allows for a fairly clean game mechanism of RESOURCES > FACTORIES > STUFF where STUFF may include UNITS and SUPPLIES.

W@W's system is very clean; you can spend 30 minutes (15 min. movement, 15 min. production according to the TCP/IP guidelines) recreating 3 months worth of Germany/Italy's war effort. That's the payoff from the elegant design; less time/drudgery working through game mechanics; quicker games.

But the abstraction hides some strategic realities that many players would like to explore, i.e., the fact that oil was (and remains) a unique raw material. Large scale movement of military formations in WWII (and today) requires fuel derived from crude oil; the only alternative was huge investments in (very vulnerable) synthetic fuel plants. This strategic consideration is largely hidden from view in W@W's production system - in W@W any concentration of generic RESOURCES can be translated into generic SUPPLIES that can move your W@W armies/navies/air forces. To make the importance of oil visible would require a layer of chrome on the game system that some people wouldn't like, i.e., making a new category of raw material called OIL, making two new categories of factories called REFINERIES and SYNTH PLANTS, and making a new category of supplies called FUEL.

What's the forum's view; should be explored, or too much chrome?
GG A World Divided Playtester
Ancient One
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2000 8:00 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

RE: Strategic importance of oil

Post by Ancient One »

Way too much chrome. Oil is not special enough to justify that.
SGT Rice
Posts: 451
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 3:05 pm

RE: Strategic importance of oil

Post by SGT Rice »

Might as well include my vote ... without oil your ships, aircraft, tanks, trucks, etc. don't move ... period. There are substitues for just about everything else, but not oil. I think it deserves separate treatment.
GG A World Divided Playtester
Davidovich Trotsky
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 6:17 pm

RE: Strategic importance of oil

Post by Davidovich Trotsky »

"Supplies" is Fuel that you use to move your units.
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