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Konrad_Novak -> 1.08.01 criticism from a Russian wargamer (2/4/2015 7:39:22 PM)
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The message is from Saper from Russian wargaming community at war-game.org.
"1. There's a "1:1=2:1" rule for CV ratio, which favours USSR. Because of it, Axis player suffers big losses during retreat. Sure, you can replace infantry squads and infantry weapons, but replacement is not easy with AFVs (allies can forget about losses with their 6-point-industry). In practice, nobody wants to play Axis now, and the activity of players in Matrix forums has decreased sharply.
2. Developers tried to balance the game for the aforementioned rule and have increased Axis CV (while Soviet divisions have even less CV because of their small experience value). So, the latest games now finish even before the winter of 1941, because players (which waited for return of 2:1 CV ratio rule) can't build up their defenses. Increased time for fort building doesn't help either.
3. Developers tried to retune WitE supply system for a better compliance with WitW supply system. Now, while a player may have tons of supplies somewhere in Linz or Magnitogorsk, his frontline units have about 0-30% of supplies and 70-100% of ammo. Why was it necessary to change? Players were used to looking at truck pool and supply production - if their ratings were OK, then units would have almost 100% of supply. Also, if you make entrenching cost more supply, then you should insert an "entrench" button somewhere in the interface. Otherwise, I really don't understand how a player can control supply consumption, since entrenching is automatic.
4. Latest innovations of supply build-up - has there been anyone with whom the developers tested this properly? I haven't played as Axis player, but I think the game will finish in 15 turns. Before these innovations the picture had been somewhat clear - you made the supply difficult for Axis, you would lose a couple of divisions, but then you had one turn for rest and entrenchment. Now, however, an Axis player can do a supply build-up at the turn of advance, and can have 46-48 movement points even if Soviet player will hinder German supply lines. Also, Soviet divisions with good CV (3-8) are quite scarce and you can't afford losing a lot of them. Fresh divisions (CV 1-2) just can't do a thing and are totally worthless.
5. Air combat aspect of the game is still a mess. I don't know where the developers got their data about air production, but in reality, up to April 1943 the Axis usually had the advantage in air fighting or at the very least the sides were equal. In current version of WitE you can destroy Luftwaffe by the winter of 1941. To cure this, developers must severely lower the fatigue build-up of Axis pilots, then it won't be so easy for Soviets to bomb the hell out of their airbases. Currently, after 3-4 turns of intensive air combat and fatigue build-up (more than 40 points), Axis pilots begin to miss attacks on their airbases. With current ratings of aircraft production and impossibility of increasing the number of fighter airgroups (if you change CAS airgroups into fighter airgroups, they will be dead quickly) Axis army begins to suffer heavy losses from Soviet Il-2 (300-1000 men per sortie in 1942-1943, which is more than ground combat elements can inflict in the same battle).
6. Something was done for lowering Axis retreat losses in the winter of 1941. Previously, an Axis tank division was losing all of its AFVs, now it loses about 50-60 units. What makes me uneasy is that even with massed Soviet attacks (20-30 attacks per turn) almost all Axis losses are capped at 700-800 men, up to 30 artillery and about 30 AFVs. This, coupled with huge spread of CV, makes me think that something was done with the engine and formulas of the game.
7. Now, if you click the "choose the exact route of supply" button, you can choose the colour of units. The former is critical for sieges (for example, Siege of Leningrad), while the latter is unneeded.
8. The rule of field upgrade of weapons and equipment is quite controversial too. While playing as Soviets, I got hundreds of replaced 76-mm AA guns (they were removed from infantry divisions). Instead, the game keeps producing 85-mm. The engineers '39 are replaced by engineers '41 - why? The growth of Red Army is now slower (BTW, 85-mm AA guns fought in separate units - not in infantry divisions).
9. Interface. Well, it's my personal opinion of course, but before the latest patches I (as Axis player) always looked at what my industry was producing. Now, after the implementation of a detailed report, I stopped looking at it at all. It's too cumbersome and overloaded with unneeded information.
10. WitE was made after 10 years of developer group's efforts, latest patches are done by one man in 2-3 months. Before them, Matrix forums and Russian community had a lot of AARs. Now they have 3-6 AARs and even those are decreasing under the weight of bugs and errors. Too bad, it was an exceptional game".
Don't shoot the messenger :)
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