Jim D Burns
Posts: 4013
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Salida, CA.
Status: offline
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Hi Andy,
Have you taken the 40 squads out of the baseforce units so they don't suck up all the replacements? Your whole minimalist approach goes out the window if all the squads get sucked into baseforce units that are merely trying to keep air support squads at close to maximum.
A better solution would be to give the player the ability to shut off individual lines in the TO&E. So if I want no squads to go to a baseforce unit, I simply toggle that line off, the rest of the equipment will still be drawn.
Also how is Japan being hamstrung? With such limited replacements, a non-historical strategy by Japan will be devastating to the allies since they are now hamstrung with historical limits for almost the entire game. Can Japan still build unlimited equipment items of all types?
Don’t get me wrong, I want and enjoy historical accuracy and appreciate all your efforts. But it has to be a two sided coin or Japan can simply exploit the weakness.
In the current system, Japan can build 10,000 tanks if he needs them. Granted he probably won’t need them and won’t build 10,000 tanks, but he can if he needs to, the system places no limits on anything other than raw production power. There is absolutely no historical basis for this and it is pure fantasy, but there it is.
So while Japan has a completely flexible and responsive production system, you are hog tying the allies into some pretty restrictive and non-responsive corners, with little or no ability to make up for non-historic outcomes in the game.
That’s the biggest weakness to this approach. Let’s say you’re transporting a division to India and a big chunk gets sunk. Since the replacement rates have been tailored to specifically allow x number of units to flesh out, you now can never replenish that division. Or if you do some other unit will never flesh out, because there are a finite number of squads in the replacement stream and there is no potential to make up for your battle losses.
The British didn’t run out of men and stop building new divisions when they did, but your replacement system seems to go off that premise. The British replaced losses just like anyone else, and when replacements ran low they cannibalized their AAA battalions. The US did this as well, but it was in Europe that this happened, not in the Pacific. Or if it did happen in the Pacific it was to a much lesser degree.
Losses after D-Day were far higher than planned and there were not enough replacements in the pipeline to refill depleted units, so cannibalization occurred. But eventually the replacement pipelines adjusted and caught up with the shortfalls.
By using the replacement system to try and recreate the British reluctance to launch an offensive in Burma, you’ve taken away the system that is supposed to allow players to make up their battle losses.
I like the idea of fixed militia squads used to hold units in place with timely reinforcements used to change over equipment items to release them. The problem is you chose to use infantry squads to fix them instead of some other non-essential equipment item that is less needed by the replacement engine.
Make it a special AAA gun that is immobile and upgrades to a mobile one rather than infantry squads. Then you can give the British enough troop replacements to make up for unexpected losses like they should be able to do without breaking your timed releases.
I’d say Britain should get at least a brigades worth of extra squads a year to make up for unexpected battle losses, probably closer to a division if baseforces still use infantry.
Jim
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