Fury Games has now signed with Matrix Games, and we are working together on the next Strategic Command. Will use the Slitherine PBEM++ server for asynchronous multi-player.
The only other option is a couple of Motor Torpedo Boats, to be used after the line shifts. They're better at attacking subs than Destroyers, but less good at defending against them.
"Part of the $10 million I spent on gambling, part on booze and part on women. The rest I spent foolishly." - George Raft
I recognize that I wasn't clear enough, though. I was thinking about the first few turns of the game when Germany seems to inadvertently lose the income from Norway. There still is no time to build anything and the navy seems too weak to attack a determined UK fleet eliminating the convoy. 40pp less at the beginning are significant in my opinion.
Interesting, thanks. So, you I guess there is no reliable way to stop a competent UK player from doing that.
SC4 - yes, hopefully. Maybe 2024 or so. I also wish they would scrap some of the more bizarre game aspects by then, like the different turn lengths and the corps(e) and army differentiation, but that's probably just me. Having fun with SC:E nonetheless (MP).
1. Support your Kriegsmarine with your Luftwaffe. Possible short term solution, you`ll need your Luftwaffe more urgently elsewhere, but between Poland and France there's still some time to use.
2. Occupy Luxembourg during first turn.
3. Occupy the Netherlands and Belgium asap.
4. Research Industrie
5. Buy marit. bomber and mtbs
And last, not least: hurry up in Poland, 2 turns should be enough.
I don't think it was a mistake to pull the Soviet Union in early, it's a huge amount of MPP's to get with the Soviets fully in war. Considering they entered the turn France capitulated, it really put me off footing through most of 1941, as I had to stay mostly on defense against Russia while securing the Balkans. Considering it cost around 900 MPP's to get full diplo points with Russia, but then Russia gets around 800 MPP a turn once in war, I think it's a good payoff for the investment.
Okay, so after several games, I'm convinced this mechanic is unbalanced and probably broken, though it can go either way. If either side invests heavily into diplomacy with USSR early on, it can swing the game heavily in their favor. I suppose it's capable of being "countered" by the opposing side investing heavily in return, but this just feels off for a primarily military game.
What are the possible solutions to this? I imagine the easy one is to cut off diplomacy, but if you do that, it seems to me like historical nations such as the Balkans will never join their respective sides. I realize it can also be house-ruled, but I tend to pick up opponents on the PBEM++ server and it's hard to negotiate this ahead of time.
I don't think it's broken. It's a high risk gamble that can easily backfire, and can be effectively countered by an opponent willing to play the odds. FREX, the Allied player in one of my games invested heavily in diplo re USSR. I countered with some diplo but played the odds that he would not hit with a 5% chance. He got one hit but the cost bankrupted the UK and I walked into Britain in fall 1940, cleaned up by early 1941 and after Vichy installation invested successfully in diplo to bring the USSR back down to normal mob.
As Axis I hope the Allies will go for heavy diplo early.
Yeah, I agree it's not a 100% fool-proof mechanism, and it's exploitable by Axis too. In a lot of ways, Axis are better at this, as they can more easily spend MPPs than Britain can once it's alone. The 800 or so MPP's needed to get full with Britain and Germany are more easily expended as Germany than as Britain.
It just feels off and broken to me. I'd rather see games fought out militarily, but I'm worried if I just cut off the diplomacy, it'll affect other aspects of the game (such as the Balkan minors entering the war).
How about this for a solution: scale the percentage chance of an opposing power's diplo chit firing with the % that the power is already in the war, while keeping their full counter-diplo ability?
So if USSR is at 25% mobilisation and Germany has two 5%* chits in, Germany has a 0.25x0.1 = 0.025 (or 2.5%) chance of scoring a 7*-10*% hit, pushing the USSR that much away from the Allies.
If UK has 1 5% chit invested and Germany has two, Germany now has a 0.25x(0.1-0.05) = 0.0125 (or 1.25%) chance of scoring that same 7-10% change.
If UK now invests 3 chits, two cancel out Germany's (which both count as -5%) and the one left over has the full 5% chance of firing to swing the USSR to the Allies, partly to ensure that majors can't get locked at 0 mobilisation forever and also because Stalin is more likely to listen to the foreign ministers of people he is likely to side with than those he would side against.
But if USSR mobilisation is now 80%, those 2 German chits are now much more effective (8% vs 2.5%), which allows them to delay USSR's entry to the war (which is the entire point of diplo chits in the first place) without adversely affecting MPP too significantly. But at 80%, the USSR is already close enough to entering the war that they won't be delayed indefinitely or crippled by a couple of pro-Axis hits.
The same would apply to all other majors too (so UK chits are less effective against Italy) but not minors (the system doesn't make much sense if a minor is at 0% either side; in major power terms this means they have no interest in entering the war, but for a minor it just means they are unconcerned which side they might join). None of the minor powers are strong enough to really make a diplo-spam strategy worthwhile, if someone attempts one on say Spain, whatever benefit they gain from the Spanish forces is approximately equal to what benefit they would gain if they invested in something else, rather than being disproportionate the way an 800 MPP investment in the USSR is.
* = I'm using the SC2 numbers as I'm much more familiar with that game than SC3, but the same concept applies either way.
