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RandomAttack -> RE: Testing thread for Public Beta 1.03b : Balance Adjustments (2/14/2016 6:03:27 PM)
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I've played a few SP games through to the end, and here's my final take on 1.03B. Some of these items have already been acknowledged, but I'm throwing them all in here. I can see my "normal" mode of play will be Limited Decisions, Normal AI difficulty.
1. Siege Artillery is essentially useless. If confined to German-gauge rail why even include it? You will NEVER get it to Moscow or Leningrad in a useful timeframe. Even Riga and Odessa are a stretch as far as timeliness is concerned. If you want to leave it at "half-strength", fine. But at least make it all-gauge capable.
2. Garrisons. The whole concept, especially MAJOR Garrisons seems tied to the concept of needing to use Siege Artillery to dislodge them. But see above. And Riga (which almost ALWAYS gets one) can only be attacked from 4 hexes-- 2 across a river. Odessa from 4 hexes. Very difficult to dislodge a Major Garrison w/o siege arty--which is pretty ahistorical and will never get to where you need it. I personally would rather see the whole super garrison/siege arty mechanic just go away than continue as-is. Brest-Litovsk actually fell in about a week (about 2 turns in DCB) WITHOUT the need for something like siege artillery, at the cost of about 500 Germans killed. Just try that in this game and see what the butcher’s bill is. Sure it was a tough fight, and the Soviets fought desperately (well, they were surrounded anyway so it was either that or surrender) and well-- notable because it was an EXCEPTION in the early days. But Riga? Sure, they blew some bridges, but a FORTRESS? Hell, partisans rose up all over the Baltic States and hurried the Soviets on their way-- they even recaptured a few cities on their own.
3. Modifiers, modifiers, modifiers. Some (first 4 turns, entrenchment) have been beat to death. Some haven't really been discussed.
- Soviet base & starting morale HIGHER than the Germans?? I'm sorry, but that dog won't hunt. A balancing mechanism I guess, but hard to look at.
- All Soviet HQs seem to start with a leader bonus rating of 50%?? While the "great" German generals are at 65%? Sooo, the vaunted German leadership starts with a net bonus of 15% over the pilloried Soviet purge survivors, toadies, etc., who (even if a few WERE that good) wouldn't make much of a difference as the rest of the army crumbled around them.
I really do understand the need to balance the game to account for the AI, but in all fairness I don't see how *any* AI could do worse than what really happened the first couple of weeks. Make the LATER turns tougher-- more reinforcements, tighter German logistics, etc. I am not a "fanboy" of either side, but while this is a fun game, to me it doesn't have the "look & feel" of what actually happened the first few turns.
On the plus side, the editor at least allows some of this stuff to be tweaked to each persons preference and I thank you much for that!
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