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If only it were all like this bit. Astrakhan is a lonely place ...

OK the map is now finished terrain-wise. I just need to put the Towns on. That is fiddly.

The rail density in Germany is very high indeed.

Finland has all its towns now. Also Karelia (not shown).

Here's the in-game strategic map. Note Landpower resource, this will be very important.

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

Here's the in-game strategic map. Note Landpower resource, this will be very important.

So, what is a landpower resource ? Hexes controlled ?

No it's what Towns produce. This is then used by Cities and Factories to make things. Basically it's another abstracted resource like Raw and Oil which is the output of the countryside. It is supposed to represent a combination of manpower, food, horses and what you might call "comfort".

There will be a lot of Towns on the map. I decided that having to micro-manage the production of them all was way too much so they are all NoHQ/Autoprod.

Landpower may also affect things like morale and partisan effects. That's a way off though. I need to get the map done before thinking about how everything ties together.

This is what a Town looks like in game.

All Cities will be able to do Basic Production.

Supply:-

Horse:-

Truck:-

The costs in Metals and Land will need to be tweaked, this is just to give the concept.

Larger Cities will have more extensive factories with the ability to produce heavy stuff like tanks, guns & planes, and for infantry there will probably be large "bootcamps" in various places.

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

No it's what Towns produce. This is then used by Cities and Factories to make things. Basically it's another abstracted resource like Raw and Oil which is the output of the countryside. It is supposed to represent a combination of manpower, food, horses and what you might call "comfort".

There will be a lot of Towns on the map. I decided that having to micro-manage the production of them all was way too much so they are all NoHQ/Autoprod.

Landpower may also affect things like morale and partisan effects. That's a way off though. I need to get the map done before thinking about how everything ties together.

Excellent concept, I totally agree about the micro-management. I really like your morale concept too. Fingers crossed on the eventual release.

Can I be first in line to playtest ?

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

No it's what Towns produce. This is then used by Cities and Factories to make things. Basically it's another abstracted resource like Raw and Oil which is the output of the countryside. It is supposed to represent a combination of manpower, food, horses and what you might call "comfort".

There will be a lot of Towns on the map. I decided that having to micro-manage the production of them all was way too much so they are all NoHQ/Autoprod.

Landpower may also affect things like morale and partisan effects. That's a way off though. I need to get the map done before thinking about how everything ties together.

Excellent concept, I totally agree about the micro-management. I really like your morale concept too. Fingers crossed on the eventual release.

Can I be first in line to playtest ?

As long as you don't mind playing me

It will be a long time before it's ready.

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

No it's what Towns produce. This is then used by Cities and Factories to make things. Basically it's another abstracted resource like Raw and Oil which is the output of the countryside. It is supposed to represent a combination of manpower, food, horses and what you might call "comfort".

There will be a lot of Towns on the map. I decided that having to micro-manage the production of them all was way too much so they are all NoHQ/Autoprod.

Landpower may also affect things like morale and partisan effects. That's a way off though. I need to get the map done before thinking about how everything ties together.

Excellent concept, I totally agree about the micro-management. I really like your morale concept too. Fingers crossed on the eventual release.

Can I be first in line to playtest ?

As long as you don't mind playing me

It will be a long time before it's ready.

No problem, maybe I can help with something ?

Thanks, but I have all the information I need. It's basically just a massive data entry task, and there is only file so it's difficult to share that with anyone.

What I will do is post the map on the Scenario Bank when it's finished. Sometime next week I should think.

Putting the Towns on is very time-consuming. I guess I am about 50% of the way through now.

The Caucasus has some interesting place names.

A prize for anyone who can guess what the dollar sign means.

I'm guessing a port ?

It is a port, but that's not it. There will be 5 towns or cities with dollars, and 3 are not ports. One is up in the north west, one is in the Urals and the other 3 in the Caucasus.

Update

I am still working on this every day. However I seriously under-estimated how long it would take to put the Towns on the map. It's a fiddly process since because of the long place names and sheer density of settlement I am having to use manual labels instead of automatic ones, and I can only tolerate doing a little bit each day because of the lack of moving between fields with the keyboard in the editor.

As I said, once the map is done (this is the critical path item) I will post it to the Scenariobank and then can get on with the fun part of actually making the scenario. In fact I have already started doing this in small chunks (event coding mostly).

These are the features thrashed out so far:-

Land (previously Landpower) - the utility of the countryside. Every Town on the map matters, but there will also be significant off-map locations representing the various countries in German Occupied Europe and the Asian part of the Soviet Union.

Comfort - units get small randomised morale bonuses for being in a town (or other meaningful location e.g. a fortified hex or airfield).

Research - this will be date-based, but with the possibility of accelerating items using action cards. Based on stringlists.

As to the dollar signs, these signify Lend-Lease entry points. The picture below shows the three in the Caucasus that represent the Persian Corridor. There will also be a point in the Urals for Pacific/Vladivostok and another "up north" for the Arctic Convoys.