pat.casey
Posts: 393
Joined: 9/10/2007 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: gradenko_2000 quote:
This was obviously not feasible IRL since neither Stalin nor Hitler would have authorized such a move. A big part of the appeal of these games is the ability to perform moves which you know wouldn't have ever been authorized by the nation's respective leaders, such as Manstein's Backhand Blow, Guderian not redeploying to AGS or STAVKA actually retreating to form proper defensive lines. I suppose that may also imply that it should be allowed to assume the Germans were properly prepared for a winter campaign, although it depends on how "fluid" we allow the pre-game assumptions to be, since the game starts on June 22, 1941, and proper winter preparation might have needed to be started prior to that. I agree wholeheartedly, and I at least would be opposed to any "fixes" to the current system which involve limiting player choice. I do think that many posters here have a valid point though, which is that the ability to "not repeat history's mistakes" actually helps the soviets more so than the germans. This really works on two levels I think: 1) Historically, the soviets made a lot of bad decisions, especially, but not limited to the early war. To be sure, the Germans made a lot of bad decisions too, but I think that on balance the Germans made significantly better military decisions than the Russians did. 2) Arguably the worst decision the soviet made was Stalin's disasterous "no retreat" policy in Summer of 1941. Players have no obligation to follow this policy. Arguably the worst decision the german's made was Hitlers "ignore the winter" policy that resulted in massive German casualties in the winter of 1942. Players *are* required to make this decision since the game engine hard-codes the soviet 1942 blizzard advantage. I'd naively assume that a game mechanic change which allowed one of the following might help: a) Units within x hexes of their railhead have significantly reduced blizzard casualties (this would encourage the Germans to dig in and not push for the last few yards) b) For a cost of (a lot) of rail points, the Germans could "winterize" a division in the same way they can render it static. Winterized divisions take reduced blizzard casualties. Idea would be that if the Germans were willing to sacrifice some of the depth of their summer offensive they could likewise reduce the impact of the blizzard.
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