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AEWHistory -> Concerns and ideas..... (6/13/2015 5:01:54 AM)
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I have been playing a lot of MP for about two months now, although recently some personal issues required me to put it aside for the moment (I hope to get some turns back to those of you still waiting). However, I have been meaning to share some ideas for this game. First, let me say that I really like this game quite bit. Simulating the First World War is a challenge and I appreciate how much fun this game is while preserving so much of the historical flavor of the period. So with that said, here are my suggestions. I will try to be brief.
1. Submarines should not block movement. This seems to run counter to what a sub is and, more importantly, has allowed some very gamey situations to happen. As the CP I can plug up the Adriatic nicely by using subs as a supplemental force to the AH surface fleet. OTOH, if subs couldn't do this then the AH navy could be displaced from the opening of the Adriatic with a reasonable effort and Serbia might hang on nearer to its historic time until collapse. Same with the Baltic. The Germans had some interruptions to their iron shipments, but nothing like what a good player can inflict with the Russian navy (and British too!). This brings me to my next point....
2. The Russian dreadnought should start the game in the production queue. The Russians received these ships in DEC/JAN of 14/15 and they were not fully fit for service for months after. So giving the Russians a fully operational unit of modern dreadnoughts is historically unrealistic and allows the Russians to do WAY more damage to the early German war effort. Instead, give the Russians a FREE dreadnought in queue to arrive some time between Jan '15 and summer of the same year, depending on which makes most sense for game.
2b. The strength of the Russian navy and the ability of subs to act as blocking agents has also had another odd effect. Instead of subs serving as a convoy raiding counter for the CP, they instead often serve convoy protection duty, naval combat duty, etc. This is just not right. The Russian navy is so capable early in the game that the German player must use every naval asset just to protect the Swedish iron ore convoys in the Baltic. The flip side is that this means the allied convos have nothing to fear for months, years, or ever. This isn't realistic. German subs (and everyone's subs) should not be able to protect convoys! Nor should they be providing a battle screen to other ships attacking your convoys. Instead, perhaps landing on a sub should cause a small amount of damage to the moving vessel but the sub is then displaced?
3. Convoys must be controllable. The more I play the more I realize that this is a must. Otherwise you might as well remove the CP Atlantic convoys and replace with a timed event, or something like that. In a typical game the CP should be able to evade the blockade briefly. Counting the Norweigian convoys, the Germany should get 0-3 convoys before the blockade takes effect. As it is, it is almost always zero with a rare chance at 1 from Norway. NEVER have I seen 2 or 3 ( it would take a stunningly incompetent entente player to allow for this) despite the fact that the historical blockade took time to truly close Germany off from world shipping--not too long, but certainly long enough for the game equivalent of a couple convoys to have a shot at making it....
4. Bulgaria MUST enter correctly. As a CP, if I am to have any hope of Bulgaria entering I cannot use gas first and I must exceed the historic success of the central powers in order for Bulgaria to enter on time. Why? The Germans introduced gas, right? So if I repeat, exactly, what the CP did in WWI then it stands to figure that Bulgaria will enter at about the same time. Not so. To get the Bulgarians I must exceed the success of the Central Powers and do it without gas. What is worse is that this apparently allows the allies to deploy gas first, which has some nasty effects it appears. But since the CP cannot do without Bulgaria there is no choice but to accept this quandary, I admit that this is frustrating and takes away a lot of my enjoyment. After all, without Bulgaria the Ottomans are bound to be isolated and destroyed. So why not change the entry requirements so that Bulgaria enters at the historic time, but if the Germans forego the use of gas (for example) and the allies shock the world by introducing this noxious weapon then Bulgaria enters EARLIER than historic while pushing entente allies back? It seems like that is the intent of the game right now, but it doesn't quite work out that way. Actually, it seems when the allies introduce gas everyone moves up getting involved in the war, but I could be wrong. ---All of this brings me to a question: does the first person to deploy gas still get an advantage or was that only in an earlier version?
5. I would love to see supply/support tweaked. Break it into four categories: home and hostile territory, territory easy to supply and hard to supply. Grasslands are easy to supply whereas mountains are hard, for example. So, mountains in hostile terrain would be VERY difficult and would create a multiplier for supplying a corps. This would minimize things like huge armies rampaging around the Caucasus and Sinai. It would force nations to deploy more appropriately, unless they are willing to pay a significant penalty. HOWEVER, stationing troops at home should allow for a large savings! This should allow both sides to kept some reserves that aren't in the game and minimize breakthroughs. The truth is, the game has more breakthroughs than really existed because there are not enough units available to the warring powers because of the support system. This can be tweaked by allowing nations to finagle how they deploy. I understand I may not have explained this idea well, so if it isn't clear I will gladly clarify.
Okay, these are my first ideas.... I have a few more, but since I have already bungled the whole brevity thing I think I will hold off. Thanks for any feedback,
Aaron
PS- special thanks to Operating and Sarek for letting me bounce some ideas off of them and listening to some of this blather, thanks!
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