What else do you want to know more about?

[carlkay58]

Augustas answers:

1) That really depends on the terrain, the rail net, and the number of units you are supplying. I tend to have "bands" of supply - high priority port depots (drawing supplies from national sources to the mainland) feeding low to medium priority feeder depots (which supply the airbases behind the lines - both strategic and tactical levels) and then high priority depots again behind the front lines (feeding the combat units and forward air bases).

2) Yes - 1 AP will create a depot.

3) Yes, it is a slow process that takes three to four turns to happen.

4) Yes. There are a few supply 'hot keys' that will display the depot supply paths (tracing supplies to and from depots), detail supply depot levels and the supplies & trucks present, and a few other types of displays.

5) Yes - but different also. Why the difference? Simplified overall. RRC expenditure is 1 per hex and recent test versions eliminated the maximum hex conversion per turn so there is no limit. This last is very important or the Allies will frequently NEVER have forward supply heads. The terrain in Italy and southern France/Germany really limits the distance the rail conversion will proceed and all of the river lines in northern France and Belgium will also limit the conversion in that area. Note that you really want to have multiple rail paths to your supply depots for good supply flow because all rail usage is deducted by hex - if you actually use rail to move combat units no two units will use the same rail path in France because of these limits. That is for the Allies. The Axis has the additional problems with Allied bombing effects on the rail net that can make things even worse . . .

[norvandave]

I will play against the AI because this is such a large game that will take a lot of time. I haven't played WITE so please forgive the question. How good will the AI be? I don't want to invest a lot of time in a game that I can just beat up the AI on. Also, please describe what AI advantages can you set to add more balance?

[RedLancer]

We appreciate that a lot of people only play against the AI and therefore it gets a lot of development time. 
 
It is obviously not as good as a human player but it does very well.  The game has set five set difficulty settings (easy, normal, challenging, hard and impossible) and also the ability to customise against a range of factors.  The AI is a capable opponent especially when you are playing on challenging or harder.  At easy and normal it is beatable and those levels should only really be used to learn the game.   

[JamesM]

Question regarding Ports. The biggest issue for the Allies getting ports operating so as to relieve the pressure on the Mulberry's. So are fortification and port repairs handled in the same way as they are in WitE?

[RedLancer]

Forts have roughly the same rules as WitE but allow for the Atlantic Wall.
 
Port repair is the same as WitE if I remember correctly - you can set priority repair at a 1 x AP cost to send a Construction Unit to the hex.  I also think that creation of a depot in the hex speeds things up too.  Ports now have barrage baloons to prevent gamey bombing as low altitude.

[warshipbuilder]

Ports now have barrage baloons to prevent gamey bombing as low altitude.

How high do those things go? They can't be more than 8k.[:-] You can be reasonably accurate and do a lot of damage from 9k. Depending on flak.

[RedLancer]

Keith
 
Would we be so ahistoric....it discourages those people wanting to bomb at 1000ft with a Lancaster.  You can do so but flak and the balloons cause significant losses.
 
The precise rules are:
 
Barrage Balloons – All ports are assumed to have barrage balloons that will impact any raid that is bombing anything in the port's hex. Aircraft bombing under 3000 feet have a chance of being destroyed by the barrage balloon equal to two times the size of the port (port 3 means 6% chance bombing aircraft will be destroyed). For night missions, the percentage chance is tripled (so port level 3 has an 18% chance of destruction).

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: norvandave
I will play against the AI because this is such a large game that will take a lot of time. I haven't played WITE so please forgive the question. How good will the AI be? I don't want to invest a lot of time in a game that I can just beat up the AI on. Also, please describe what AI advantages can you set to add more balance?

It's quite a bit better than the WITE AI in my experience. It had to be, in order to be able to play a game where there are so many strategic choices, long coastlines and many possible amphibious/airborne invasion choices. Give it a try as either side and you'll find it gives you a good game. IMHO though for any WITE vets, the minimum level you should play it on is Challenging.

Regards,

- Erik

[zakblood]

so for a useless one like me then, easy mode then it is[&o][&o][&o]

[warshipbuilder]

Imagine flying around at 3k or less in a Lancaster at night, the mind boggles. Unless of course we are dealing with 617 Sqn or some seriously ballsy PFF. I do think 3k is a little conservative, you could have gone 5 and I don't think to many people would have objected. 8k was the pretty much the ultimate limit. 5k was quite common.

Thanks John for clarifying that.

[FroBodine]

ORIGINAL: zakblood

so for a useless one like me then, easy mode then it is[&o][&o][&o]

Hahaha, me too zak! If we both learn this game, we should try a multiplayer game. It might take forever, but that's ok. I have never played a monster game multiplayer, but it's never too late to learn!

[norvandave]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: norvandave
I will play against the AI because this is such a large game that will take a lot of time. I haven't played WITE so please forgive the question. How good will the AI be? I don't want to invest a lot of time in a game that I can just beat up the AI on. Also, please describe what AI advantages can you set to add more balance?

It's quite a bit better than the WITE AI in my experience. It had to be, in order to be able to play a game where there are so many strategic choices, long coastlines and many possible amphibious/airborne invasion choices. Give it a try as either side and you'll find it gives you a good game. IMHO though for any WITE vets, the minimum level you should play it on is Challenging.

Regards,

- Erik

Thanks for the replies John and Erik. I will be asking for the boxed version of this game for Christmas.

[Kronolog]

One last question before the game's release: When playing as the allies against the axis AI, would you recommend that one should play with the "eastern front control option" on or off? Which choice is best for the AI?

[carlkay58]

I have tended to play with it off for the AI, after all why give the AI more stuff to have to worry about? But it does work well with it on also.

[Templer_12]

After initial enthusiasm on War in the East, I cant't understand the hype today (It's a good game though). [:)]
Whether I purchase War in the West? No idea.

My first three, most important questions to War in the West:

1. Are there now concentric attacks?
2. Are there more than three units per hex allowed?
3. Do the HOs beaming still continuing?

[morvael]

1. If you mean attacks from several hexes into one hex then they were always possible (in deliberate mode, using shift).
2. 3 on-map units per hex, but there are big support (multirole) units now, which can increase actual number of troops in hex by a significant number.
3. I don't understand what does it mean.

[Templer_12]

ORIGINAL: morvael

1. If you mean attacks from several hexes into one hex then they were always possible (in deliberate mode, using shift).
2. 3 on-map units per hex, but there are big support (multirole) units now, which can increase actual number of troops in hex by a significant number.
3. I don't understand what does it mean.

Huh, it's been a long time since I've touched WitE.

1. Yes, but if I remember correctly, there was no bonus if you attacked a unit from different directions.
2. -
3. If enemy units get too close to your HQs, it happened that your HQs jumps somewere on the map.

[morvael]

Now I understand. The bonus for attacking from different directions is the ability to add more on-map units into the battle. Simple as that This also helps to circumvent your issue number 2 (in addition to reserve units, and those rules helps the defender as well). Displacement is also common in wargames, be it on computer or using paper maps and chits. The idea is that HQ is not a cohesive unit located in one place but an abstraction of many smaller units spread over several hexes to the rear (logistics) and behind the frontlines (support units), so it's actually impossible to fight it in a given hex, it's rather about desorganizing enemy's logistic and command structure.

[Templer_12]

Hm, hm, hm...
Is this checkerboard defense still effective?

[davidepessach]

Ah, so this games classifies as a Monster Game? I'm a bit scared of too much detail. I can bear much, but not the "much" of a monster game...