Two ways to make this game much better

[gwgardner]

I've posted about this before, but this time I'm going to ask if anyone out there has an idea how to do this either with 1) a mod, 2) house rules.

implement:

time at sea - whereby a ship group starts to take a major loss in effeciencey, or even starts to get automatic hits to simulate the need for maintenance, after x number of turns at sea.

distance from major port - whereby a capitol ship would take an efficiency loss (or again hits to simulate that) for being too far from a level 8 or 10 friendly port.

I think these two additions to the game would make it much more realistic. Any ideas on how to implement these, without requiring the development team to get involved?

[later] Historically it took the Japanese strike force two weeks to get within range of Pearl Harbor (correct me if I'm wrong). It left for Hawaii on Nov 26. After action there, it returned straightaway to home port, not due to damage, but for maintanence, refueling, reorg in preparation for the next action; That's what I'd like to see in SoP to make it more realistic, forcing players to play more realistically. Right now I could park a Japanese carrier force off San Diego, and leave it there permanently.

[Rasputitsa]

I agree with the proposal, with the exception of submarines where a unit could be considered as several boats, where individual boats return to port and others take their place, to maintain the strength of the unit.

I have no immediate answer, apart from to note the later use of more capable replenishment, that would allow units to remain in sea areas for more turns than during the early war period. The USN developed this into an art, which should allow them to remain at sea for longer.

Without replenishment, or nearby port, a unit should lose efficiently, in that ships without fuel become unable to function, but rather than accumulating hits it should happen at the limit of range, with a one-off drop (but never to zero without combat). Players would be forced to return now vulnerable units to port, to avoid potential destruction. [:)]