Two ideas

[Taxman66]

1) Remove the 10 hex radius from Warsaw and replace it with "Axis units east of xxx hex column and north of xxx hex row."
Say East of German/Polish border and north of Baghdad. Adjust number to account for some/most German minor units.

[Taxman66]

Or 2)

Eliminate the border build up completely but add some mobilization for certain minors joining Germany (Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Finland, Sweeden and Turkey). More for bigger scarier ones (Turkey, Romania) and less for Bulgaria.

[sPzAbt653]

they had their own timetable they didn't speed things up when the Germans started massing at the border.

I see that as a fair statement. As I think you said, Stalin suspected England of 'causing mischief' between Germany and the USSR so Stalin didn't want to play into that.
SC3 obviously desires to have a mechanism by which Germany is pressured to attack the USSR. I suppose you agree with that. I certainly do, because without it Germany would have a cake walk. So there needs to be something, and perhaps Taxman is getting close to it ...

[Hubert Cater]

ORIGINAL: KorutZelva

ORIGINAL: xwormwood

Clash of Steel used a system where you could gain pressure points from great victories. With them you could put pressure on a neutral (and this could even backfire).

I like this mechanic. Too bad no game has stolen this in 25 years. [:'(]

Yes it was a good system, however the issue was because it was an instant effect, anytime you clicked on the pressure button and it didn't work, you could simply reload the game and try again over and over again until you were successful.

This is the primary reason Strategic Command uses the method whereby you may or may not have some success each turn and eliminates that type of abuse.

[xwormwood]

I never reloaded during my COS Times. [:)]
Another solution could be to use such points in a way where you get the results of your pressure only one (or more) turn(s) later, but not instantly.

[Taxman66]

Maybe a temporary boost to your chits' effectiveness? Each chit gets a 1 or 2% bonus for a few turns? Over 5 chits that adds up and might be too much for chits applied to majors though.

[xwormwood]

Or a temporary chit (part of a plundered / freed nation). Usage of temporary chits could kick in DE for the opponent, too (counter, or new options to decide upon).

[PvtBenjamin]

The effect of Axis troop positioning on USSR mobilization works fine in my opinion. There be some minor modifications like Taxman suggested.

The largest improvement would be limiting major country diplo investment, its abused at this point.

[xwormwood]

ORIGINAL: PvtBenjamin

The effect of Axis troop positioning on USSR mobilization works fine in my opinion. There be some minor modifications like Taxman suggested.

The largest improvement would be limiting major country diplo investment, its abused at this point.

You need to add that you're writing about multiplayer games. And not the normal multiplayer games.

[PvtBenjamin]

ORIGINAL: xwormwood

ORIGINAL: PvtBenjamin

The effect of Axis troop positioning on USSR mobilization works fine in my opinion. There be some minor modifications like Taxman suggested.

The largest improvement would be limiting major country diplo investment, its abused at this point.

You need to add that you're writing about multiplayer games. And not the normal multiplayer games.

HUH? I don't understand.

[xwormwood]

What you describe is no problem in a "standard" game against the AI.
And not if you play a multiplayer game against an average "regular Joe" kind of player.
It is maybe a problem if you play for competition, against other players who play this game to win no matter the cost, and who try to learn about exploits, simply to be able to use them in a competitive game.
That is of course my personal point of view, and you're free to disagree.

[PvtBenjamin]

I agree completely, its a issue with PBEM games and I hope the authors will limit the amount that can be spent on major diplo.

Considering that it isn't an issue with AI games (and many PBEM) it shouldn't matter that it changes.