Matrix Games Forums

1) Seen alot of posts about sea lion and how it is dominate PBEM gains. An idea would be to have an invasion trigger a very early US entry into the war. I know is concern about England do gamey stuff - maybe some clause like the way Germany has to keep so many units within 10 hexes of warsaw. So England is forced to keep so many strength points in England. Or change USSR entry date if german units are in England.

2) Also regarding the play balance or changes to the AI. Suggest two different orders of battle be used for PBEM and Human / AI game. When playing as Allies (vs computer Axis) weaken number of French starting units. And for USSR could reduce the number of free reserve divisions that are activated. Could make some sort of adjustment the other direction when playing as the Axis. Doesnt need to be massive overhaul just a few divsions and a fighter here and there.

I dont think it is realistic to have a game that is well balanced for PBEM and also vs the AI. I think most people would at least like the option to have a little tougher game vs computer without just giving it a flat "cheat" bonus which is how many games are at higher difficulty levels.

3) Finally I think the ability to break down units for production should be scrapped entirely. It leads to a lot of the "gamey" plans people come up with. Maybe still break down units to get rid of them and get the logistics back - but no refund on the production.

1) USA already enters early in the war. The problem is that IF Axis Sealion, USA enters war in early '41 (Before Barbarossa pratically - assuming Axis also takes Egypt or so, and anyhow has pratically wartime production as soon as German units set foot in UK). Then in '42 the Allies retake UK already. -- BUT if Axis don't SeaLion, they get DDay in '42 instead of '44. Make your choice.

2) Playing only PvP nowadays. AI ... I know some likes it but simply does not reason like a human.

3) Breaking down for production is new to me. Maybe you mean to convert into garrisons? To me that's something that makes sense and is hardly broken.

An idea would be to have an invasion trigger a very early US entry into the war.

As Cohen says already in the game.

There is no historical justification for early USA entry, the US only joined in after they could see that the UK was going to hold out from '40 onwards. Then they got part in, with military supplies and attacking subs which was part of the provocation for Hitler in '41.

I would take this out of the game and revert to the historical situation. The UK was able to fend off any invasion on their own. They should be able to do that in the game. Not automatically, so if the don't apply the required resources for defence then Sealion should have a chance.

The reason for no Sealion was the Battle of Britain, which was won because the UK applied more relative effort to fighter command then Germany did to the Luftwaffe.

Some other ideas to make Sea Lion more difficult for Axis

A) I think France starts with 3 fighters. Keep in same location but transfer 1 or 2 of them to the UK

B) Move some of the bombers that Germany starts with to the production Que - with an arrival of 4 turns + the length to build fighters. (So allies could build more fighters on first turns and have them in time for battle of Britain)

C) Change the one escort fighter to a regular interceptor to make it easier for UK to bring all up to tech.

D) Give UK a head start on interceptor upgrade research so they gain a technology edge

I prefer to balance a game around playability rather then stick strictly to historical parameters. However everything I ever read about Sea Lion is it never was feasible for the Germans. MAYBE if they had everything ready to go and did it right as UK was pull out of Dunkirk - but the Germans never had the transport capacity nor did they have the right fighter with enough range. They needed total and complete air superiority like the Allies had on D-day and they never come close to that.

If interested check "Dowding System" on wikipedia.com for an explanation of how/why the UK won the Battle of Britian.