Matrix Games Forums

If any further patches/updates are planned for this game, based on my play-throughs of the 1939 campaign, these are my suggestions for improvements, mostly focusing on the Middle East:

• Update the messages regarding DE 602/DE 603 (i.e., the Axis conquering French Algeria to bring Spain in to the war) to state that you need Spain to be at at least 60% pro-Axis for it to work. At present new players have no way of knowing (other than going in to the game files/searching forum discussions) that this is a requirement and will face disappointment if they try without also spending diplomacy chits on Spain first. This kind of thing - i.e., events having hidden requirements beyond the ones in the message shown - is probably true for some other events but this is the one I've run across myself.
• I understand the armies of Jordan/Palestine/Egypt being limited for game-balance issues (i.e., to prevent the Allied player recruiting a large and ahistorical Arab army), but since Iraq is not an Allied country at the start of the game and won't become one without substantial diplomatic influence, Iraq should have more units available to build than just a single garrison in the main scenarios. Historically the Iraqi army of the time reached a strength of 30,000 men in four divisions, which would be roughly equivalent to a corps and one-two garrisons. Obviously the Iraqi army deployed in response to the coup event shouldn't change. The game-balance impact of this wouldn't be great other than slightly strengthening an Axis invasion of this area after the coup (similar to the small benefit the Axis gets for liberating Persia), but there would be a "colour" benefit from allowing the recruitment of a meaningful Iraqi unit. Given the speed with which the AI invades Iraq as the Allies, this is unlikely to result in e.g., the Axis player being able to stop that invasion by recruiting more units since they would not be built in time.
• A French surrender after an Axis invasion of Tunisia/Algeria should result in Syria being released unless Syria is also occupied, or at least a decision for the Axis player as to whether to release Syria or not. Leaving Syria as Axis-occupied but also not defended just results in it being occupied by the Allies, and raises the question of why Syria is surrendered to the Axis without being occupied. If implemented as a decision, choosing to release Syria should result in the US/USSR mobilisation being slightly reduced relative to simply annexing all of the French colonies.
• Choosing the "Conquer Algiers" route, and using Italians to capture Algiers, results in all of France including Metropolitan France being conquered by Italy, which is a whacky result that surprises new players. However, using a German unit to take Algiers also results in the unintuitive result of Italy being left with nothing from the invasion that would likely involve large numbers of Italians, in an area where Italy had ambitions. I realise game-mechanics probably makes this a very hard problem to solve.
• Just for colour, the UK should have a "form the Jewish Brigade" event in August 1944 so long as Palestine is Allied and not occupied, giving them either a garrison or a low-strength division in Palestine in exchange for e.g., 50 MPP. The game-balance impact would be minimal this late in the game, but it would add a significant historical event to a part of the game which is a bit bare. Possibly the same event can be triggered early if the Axis approaches Palestine, as it would make sense for the British to make this move earlier if Palestine was threatened.
• At present invasions of Iceland by the Axis during 1940-41 are too easy - you simply sneak through a German special forces unit on an LR Transport. I guess the reason why not UK unit is deployed to Iceland when you take the decision to deploy Royal Marines there is likely due to the complexities surrounding having a UK unit there when the decision to deploy US troops is taken, but possibly there is a better fix than having no units at all deployed to Iceland between the UK occupying there and the Americans occupying there? An Icelandic garrison unit perhaps?
• Newfoundland should be a British dominion, not part of Canada - historically it didn't become part of Canada until 1949. I'd still have the RCAF naval bomber unit deploy there by event, but implementing it as an additional country would add a bit more colour to the game. Their army could be a single garrison unit that the Allied player can choose to build or not - historically Newfoundland was defended by a small unit of militia during WW2 so this is historical. This would also discourage ninja-style invasions by Axis special forces.

Anyway, I'm having a blast playing this game - I bought it ages ago in a sale but didn't play it until recently as I was playing other games in the series.

One of the best things about the SC series is the user support on these forums. The best thing is the support by Hubert and Bill. They deserve a round of applause. HERE HERE!!!

Here are some of my suggestions:
1. A system that makes multiplayer games easy. (i.e. more than one person per side.) You can do this now but very very clunky and easy to cheat.
2. The map scale and variable turn lengths in WiE are much better for the fluid ground warfare of the eastern front than the scale and turn length in WaW. Most of the comments over the years have favored adapting the WiE scale to WaW. The variable turn lengths do an excellent job of simulating the difficulties of winter warfare. Obviously, in the tropics and for naval warfare this is not needed. But this needs to be retained for land warfare at least for the eastern front in some manner. Perhaps a compromise, by-weekly turns with a drag factor applied based on the weather and location to movement, air ranges, and supply. For example: for MUD in the USSR a 50% reduction whereas for SNOW a 35% reduction. The games already do this but adjustments would be needed to account for eliminating the variable turns.
3. Yes we would all like to see improvements in Naval warfare. Many have commented on this and there are some good ideas and mods that could be incorporated.
4. Supply works in WiE and has been improved markedly over the years. I still have a hard time figuring out how making changes to my HQs locations will affect supply. An improvement here would be to be able to move HQs around to test the results (modeling) before having to move them.
5. Given the grand scale of WiE and WaW I don't think stacking is needed.
6. Other game systems work for different ages and scales. Focus on the scales (grand strategic) and age (WWII) that SC has done so well.

In my war experience was bombers came in first. Then we fire LZ prep (8"/175mm). Then tac air came in to support the landing. If so in WWII here a thought.
Hex attack is first Sac, then Med Air, then Artillery, finish off with tac air.