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Will there be events in the game? Im not talking necesarily about events that change the game settings (though that would be nice) but events portraying, for example, different Directives (like D33, mandating the destruction in detail of the Sov armies) or Pearl Harbor, the US declaration of war on Germany, events going on in the Middle East, Stalin's speech after 11 days of silence. I've always loved reading about the global affairs during historical games and think it would be a really cool addition if there was just a little screen showing whats going on during that turn.

Another possibility would be events that would have some impact on the game, such as the destruction of the damn in southern Ukraine (which the soviet player would have the option of doing).

Lastly you could have reactive events, for example whenever a German formation became pocketed during a Soviet turn, the following axis turn there could be a (large) chance for an event 'Hitler sais not one step back'. That could be the end all be all of the event, or perhaps if the player evactuates the pocket the General in charge could be retired.

Just possibilities I'm curious about.

There are no events in the game now and I have not heard of any being added.

Well I guess there must be some events. Like Torch, Husky, or Overlord. So the German player is supposed to send troops from the east to bolster defence forces in the Western theater.

Units withdraw and reappear based on historical timetables.  You can think of that as being tied to events but there is no reference to those events in the game.

On a number of occasions, the Germans got into trouble and brought in a number of units from out of theatre.

Since it's unlikely that most players are going to get into such trouble on the exact dates the Germans did historically, how does the game handle these sorts of Fire Brigade reinforcements when in the game no fire brigade may be required?

Regards,
IronDuke

It is one of the consequences of the fixed and variable parameters used in the game, that the arrival and withdrawal of units gets out of sync with the situation that evolves as the game progresses - that sometimes units withdraw when your offensive is just about to achieve a key objective , and units arrive when you don't appear to "need" them.

There has already been a ton of discussion on this, but my feeling, and I think the feeling of most of the testers is that the amount of combat power coming and going is tiny in relation to the total available combat power on the map, and I get on with the game without worrying too much about what goes and what comes onto the map.

Actually, this does have some basis for actual events. When Hitler was planning his late fall 1944 offensive into the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), he could have sent those troops to the East, but quickly realized that even a 20+ Division offensive there was going to do little against the mass of the Red Army - so for the German to gain or lose a handful of divisions, it shouldn't make that big of a difference, given the overall high percentage of troops that Germany committed to the front from 1941 all the way to the end.

ORIGINAL: BigAnorak

It is one of the consequences of the fixed and variable parameters used in the game, that the arrival and withdrawal of units gets out of sync with the situation that evolves as the game progresses - that sometimes units withdraw when your offensive is just about to achieve a key objective , and units arrive when you don't appear to "need" them.

There has already been a ton of discussion on this, but my feeling, and I think the feeling of most of the testers is that the amount of combat power coming and going is tiny in relation to the total available combat power on the map, and I get on with the game without worrying too much about what goes and what comes onto the map.

I suppose the point is, though, that at times of dire emergency, the Germans had the ability to draft in units from out of theatre. If memory serves the 6 Panzer Division (slated for the Stalingrad relief) was rushed in from France when it was about to do something else.

306th Infanterie Division was also in France before being transferred to the Southern sector, and there were others.

Not a huge issue, but it blocks one avenue of relief for the Germans when disaster strikes.

Regards,
ID

Maybe we'll need to learn to behave ourselves and keep our our own strategic (OKH) reserve, even if that is only a couple of divisions, to deal with the inevitable serious breakthroughs and counter attacks.   This will be a tough discipline for me, at least, as I tend to be a 'last battalion' sort of scrapper.   I find it hard enough to maintain a tactical, let alone an operational, reserve.

BTW - is it a public holiday or something?   I am missing my daily fix of AAR's and interesting questions and arguments.   Work alone is not enough to sustain me....

Apropos of Events, how does the game handle, for example, the the '41 Soviet Winter Offensive? Is there some time variability on the arrival of the 58 (iirc) divisions from Siberia? A Richard Sorge random card? The Germans were caught by surprise, over extended and bereft of cold wear clothing. But the player approaches this situation with pre-knowledge and can take appropriate counter measures in advance.

We can't remove the pre-knowledge issue, but there is a first winter rule that simulates the German unpreparedness. Of course, the player knowing that it's coming will ususally try not to drive his units to the gain the last mile before the inevitable counterattack. Bad weather arrives in December, although with random weather, the exact timing can be altered.

IMHO, it makes sense to have historical reinforcements & withdrawals as long as production is historical. Only if the game was expanded to cover the entire war in europe should the German player have the freedom to make strategic decisions. But that, as has been pointed out in other threads, is a different game (hint, hint!).

So what is GG's next game, after War in the East? Will he hang up his coder's hat and retire? How can he possibly top a magnum opus like this?

Hang up his hat? He's got here potentially the new "it" game engine for doing the entire ETO at the divisional level. He has created a franchise. The same treatment can be done for the war in the west, the desert, the Balkans, etc. It's the old Europa formula a la GDW.
 
Naturally, none of these other sideshows are as interesting as the main event in the East, but still.
 
 

Stuart, I hurt my back agian. I'm lucky to sit for more than 10 min, sorry. I hope to be back in the groove soon...

@ Von Jaeger: Because WITE is so different from anything that has gone before in terms of game mechanics, and due to the IGO/UGO structure, you HAVE to have tactical,operational and strategic reserves that operate during your opponents turn. When the H2H AARs are released, you should see this demonstrated.

@Pford: I think some time after release, and once people get used to the editor, you will see variants coming out looking at the Sorge/Siberian options etc.

We can't remove the pre-knowledge issue

If there are both fixed and variable parameters used in the game, why couldn't there be an option for historical or variable reinforcement/withdrawal dates? The variability could be subtle, +/- a couple of weeks for each historical date, but this would provide sufficient uncertainty to resolve to pre-knowledge issue.

ORIGINAL: PyleDriver

Stuart, I hurt my back agian. I'm lucky to sit for more than 10 min, sorry. I hope to be back in the groove soon...

Sorry to hear that Pyledriver. Nothing's worse than a bad back. (speaking from own experience)
I hope for a speedy recovery.

Jon

That's really bad news - please get well soon

In the spirit of enlightened self-interest
Stuart[:)]

Thanks Stuart, I'm 52 and did some workouts to get in better shape, and hurt my back. It's hell getting old. I get hurt just getting out of bed now...lol...I did get some posts out for you guys today...Enjoy...BTW there were major changes in production tables and Joel asked me as soon as Moscow is taken I need to restart...So, my AAR will stop soon, but I'm sure Joel will allow me to start another 42...I'm the jocky, I now how to put the carrot in front of the horse...