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Elessar2 -> RE: Warplan or Strategic Command Europe (1/15/2021 9:14:44 PM)
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I'm not sure what would be the optimal way to handle the naval aspect in a turn-based strategic game. All games that I've seen seem to fall underneath several design philosophies:
1. Sea Zones [WiF]. Both sides can move their ships into the same sea zone, and, after a bunch of die rolls, see what got sunk. [Or shot down in the case of any planes present] I've found this to be rather dissatisfying & inelegant, seeing as how it is so much subject to the random dice gods. [warspite1 can probably give you some nice stories on that topic]
2. One ship/stack/task force per sea space, sail around until you find the enemy, active player only can attack. [SC] Someone mentioned above how this is akin to whack-a-mole, and yeah. Here a huge advantage accrues to the active player, and the naval game may often devolve into both players waiting around until the other side reveals itself first, at which point the first player will try to pounce and get the first rounds of strikes in. In principle (given a sufficiently-sized map) this is more elegant, less subject to purely random factors, but aggravating if you are on the receiving end first.
Warplan seems to have a mix of features of both #1 & #2 [after perusing the manual just now]-lots of random search rolls, only the active side can attack apparently, tho the defending side can intercept. [Someone who is more familiar with it can correct and educate me here]
3. Wego [WitP], both players give their orders, computer then runs the turn and takes care of all combat automatically according to the rules & limits as well as the doctrines both players have assigned their forces. Leads to gamey ahistorical silliness like cap traps and is only as good as the AI in question (read: not always good, often counterintuitive if not infuriating even if you are fully cognizant of all of the little rules and exceptions). Also no longer technically turn-based by this point.
4. Tactical battlefields: both forces when determined to have engaged will shift to a smaller screen where the battle plays out, and they can give their forces specific orders. For large campaigns with tons of units may not be worth the huge time sink & micromanagement that would be involved. [Yes I know WitP has these, but without any active input from the players] For a pure turn-based game this may be the most satisfying & elegant, but as said can bog the game down.
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