Observations on the game
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:24 am
Now that I have a little bit of PBEM experience, I wanted to post some observations and questions.
1. In general, the game is really good. The AI is pretty good, but it can be exploited, especially in naval warfare.
2. The interface has been talked about a lot, but I for one would like to see a report on what exactly is causing hits or bumps to morale. I would also like to see a list of killed naval units--more about that later
3. Strategic movement is a little wonky, and sometimes doesn't happen even if the target hex is hex or so behind the lines, especially if the game has to kind of maneuver the pathing for the movement around an enemy salient between the start and end of the trip.
4. I just finished a PBEM game where my opponent was using unrestricted submarine warfare. I wasn't looking too much, but my impression was that it didn't cause a huge jump in the United States entry into the war. That should be tweaked. Historically, Germany initiated unrestricted submarine warfare in Spring 1915, and stopped it later that year because of U.S. pressure. Then when the Germans restarted it in early 1917, the U.S. declared war within a couple months. I would say that if a player uses unrestricted submarine warfar (which I guess you can't turn off once you start it) the U.S. should have its "wait" to enter the war halved. That would be about right. If Germany had kept up with unrestricted submarine warfare in 1915, the U.S. most likely would have entered the war in the first half of 1916 instead of 1917.
5. Naval damage is not transparent. Looking at the number of hits on some ships in naval combat, I know that ships are getting sunk when they have not taken a number of hits equal to or greater than their protection ratings. So is there a difference between a hit and a point on a ships protection rating?
6. Forts (not trenches) need to be fixed so that they are actually a help in defense. Right now, they do not modify defense, but they keep defending units from retreating. This is a bad thing in some instances, for example, France when getting attacked in 1914. You don't want units in the French frontier forts like Nancy and Belfort, because these units refuse to retreat even when they are getting hit repeatedly and are down to very low strength and readiness. As a result, forts currently "pin" defending units in place so that attackers can throw waves of troops at them (if they troops are there to be found in abundance, like when Germany throws everything at France early in the game. The guy I played in my PBEM game counted on the frontier forts to do that so he could destroy units that were too stupid to retreat when they had a retreat path and were clearly down to low strength and readiness.
Make forts boost defense cumulative to entrenchments and terrain, and remove the "no retreat" effect.
1. In general, the game is really good. The AI is pretty good, but it can be exploited, especially in naval warfare.
2. The interface has been talked about a lot, but I for one would like to see a report on what exactly is causing hits or bumps to morale. I would also like to see a list of killed naval units--more about that later
3. Strategic movement is a little wonky, and sometimes doesn't happen even if the target hex is hex or so behind the lines, especially if the game has to kind of maneuver the pathing for the movement around an enemy salient between the start and end of the trip.
4. I just finished a PBEM game where my opponent was using unrestricted submarine warfare. I wasn't looking too much, but my impression was that it didn't cause a huge jump in the United States entry into the war. That should be tweaked. Historically, Germany initiated unrestricted submarine warfare in Spring 1915, and stopped it later that year because of U.S. pressure. Then when the Germans restarted it in early 1917, the U.S. declared war within a couple months. I would say that if a player uses unrestricted submarine warfar (which I guess you can't turn off once you start it) the U.S. should have its "wait" to enter the war halved. That would be about right. If Germany had kept up with unrestricted submarine warfare in 1915, the U.S. most likely would have entered the war in the first half of 1916 instead of 1917.
5. Naval damage is not transparent. Looking at the number of hits on some ships in naval combat, I know that ships are getting sunk when they have not taken a number of hits equal to or greater than their protection ratings. So is there a difference between a hit and a point on a ships protection rating?
6. Forts (not trenches) need to be fixed so that they are actually a help in defense. Right now, they do not modify defense, but they keep defending units from retreating. This is a bad thing in some instances, for example, France when getting attacked in 1914. You don't want units in the French frontier forts like Nancy and Belfort, because these units refuse to retreat even when they are getting hit repeatedly and are down to very low strength and readiness. As a result, forts currently "pin" defending units in place so that attackers can throw waves of troops at them (if they troops are there to be found in abundance, like when Germany throws everything at France early in the game. The guy I played in my PBEM game counted on the frontier forts to do that so he could destroy units that were too stupid to retreat when they had a retreat path and were clearly down to low strength and readiness.
Make forts boost defense cumulative to entrenchments and terrain, and remove the "no retreat" effect.