May I consider that this manual is the ultimate last updated version ?
In addition, I love that :
(extract of presentatio)
My immediate goals were for Strategic Command
to cover the European Theater, play as a grand
strategy game, include items of interest such as
experience medals, show colored control changes
on the map, and be quick and easy to play. Much
of which, at least in this type of combination
which is probably surprising to hear today, simply
did not exist in a more serious PC war game back
in 1999.
Having it quick and easy to play was probably
the most important item on my list as I found
all the other more serious war games of the day
very cumbersome to play. Right or wrong, they
seemed to be porting board game type rules to
the PC, whereas I wanted this to be an unhindered
pure PC game only. Not having played war board
games of any kind other than games like Axis and
Allies probably helped in this regard as I felt no real
attachment to the default implementations at the
time.
This meant eliminating specific game play
mechanisms such as restrictive phases, and points
systems for purchases, operational movements,
transports and so on. The idea was to have a
simplified production point system (MPPs in
Strategic Command) that allowed the player to
spend on anything they wanted to spend on, and
at any time they wanted to spend those MPPs in
game.
When I discovered SC 1, I was a Third Reich PC player (Avallon Hill), a game with lot of rigid phases. And I said to myself : "no any specific phase in wargame ? This guy is a complete crazy heretic, he has never played a real wargame"
