Oleg Mastruko
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Joined: 10/21/2000
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Hello, this is GG WAW FAQ (Frequently asked questions about the game). Most of this document is compiled from various postings on the public WAW board, beta testers WAW board, and from e-mails. Most of the FAQ answers come from WAW beta testers and Joel Billings of 2by3 (developers of WAW).
New players and new board members should read this document before asking questions. Read the GENERAL INFO first – this section contains most "basic" questions about the game, and will give you "big picture" as to what this game is, and what it isn't. Other sections of this FAQ cover in-depth issues, right down to the strategy tips at the very end of the document. You will want to read these only after you've become familiar with the game yourself.
Keep in mind that at the time of this writing the game is in alpha version, and subject to change.
PART 1: GENERAL INFO
- What is GG WAW?
Gary Grigsby's World at War is "grand strategy" game for PCs, covering the whole of World War 2, from1940-1945.
Designed by the legendary Gary Grigsby, who has over twenty-five published wargames under his belt, including Steel Panthers and several more in the Computer Gaming World Hall of Fame. Developed by the acclaimed 2 by 3 Games team that brought the award-winning Uncommon Valor, Gary Grigsby’s World At War is World War II grand strategy done right.
With Gary Grigsby’s World at War, the historical course of World War II may change depending on your choices. The Western Allies may be conquered by Germany, or Japan may defeat China.
Lead your armies to victory by honing their abilities in research and development, creating a more powerful force than any other on the planet. Marshal your economic strength to out-produce your enemies. Build with foresight, however; the bigger and more expensive units take longer to build and are invested in over time rather than being an instant purchase. Players have to plan several game turns in advance, tailoring far-reaching strategies to fit the current strategic situation.
Game Features:
- Four full-length scenarios (Spring ’40, Summer ’41, Spring ’42, Summer ’43) lasting to the end of the war
- Over 350 areas on a sprawling world map
- Five playable forces (Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, the Western Allies, and China) and 38 different countries
- Command fifteen different combat units in the air, on the land, and at sea, as well as infrastructure and supply units
- Each unit has up to 14 attributes, most of which can be improved through research and development
- Rules that cover strategic movement, forts, cold weather zones, airborne attack, amphibious invasions, partisans, militia, and many other features
- Fog of War rules that hide enemy units and production
- Supply rules that can be set to provide a common pool for all units to draw from, or the creation of field units that must accompany the armies
- PBEM playability for two to five players
- Challenging AI that offers a unique gaming experience
- Ability to automate either or both the Production and Research functions
- An in-depth tutorial that smoothly integrates the player with the game
- What modes of play are supported?
Solo (vs. AI), hot-seat or PBEM (play by e-mail) play for 1 to 5 players. Player(s) may control any combination of playable sides. AI can even play in PBEM, so it's possible to set up a game where player A will control Germany, player B will control Soviet Union, while the three remaining sides are controlled by AI.
- What are the playable sides?
Five playable sides, and their order of play within every turn, are: Germany (GE), Japan (JA), Soviet Union (SU or Russia, RU), China (CH) and Western Allies (WA). There are 2 options for each playable side: control units, and control production. In most cases, a player will want to control both units and production for his chosen side(s), but it's possible to put production on computer control.
Game has 38 countries, so some players have more than 1 country (Germany and the Western Allies have several as part of their coalition). The individual countries can be currently at war or at peace, but they are controlled by the appropriate player, so the US can be at peace, only able to move supplies to support the other Allied players (Lend Lease), while England and the Commonwealth are at war and actively in the fight. Both England and US are controlled by WA player, though.
- Why China as the 5th "side"? This does look very similar to A & A, and I'm curious as to the decision to use China as the 5th as opposed to splitting the US and the Commonwealth. Not complaining about it, as it may be refreshing to play China and we haven't seen the game yet.
We didn't feel that the Chinese army was integrated into the Western Allies in the same way that the US and British and Commonwealth troops were. The British/US/Free French shared technology and knowhow and shared command in a way that the Chinese did not. Given the way we deal with these issues, it just made more sense to separate China and to let the United Nations (that's what they called themselves, but we call them the Western Allies) be one player.
The only real disadvantage that we saw in this is that the Chinese player is much less interesting to play than the other 4, but then you can also see that as an advantage. The same person can easily play both the WA and the Chinese if they want to, or a player with less experience can play the Chinese in a 5 player game without unbalancing the game too much.
- Is there a firm or tenetative date for release?
It should be out before second quarter 2005.
- You can have more than 2 PBEM opponents? How does this work?
You can have 1 to 5 opponents, but 2-player and 4-player games are and will be most common I guess. Read the huge AAR ("PBEM game 2") on this board to get the idea how it works.
In 4-player games, which I personally find the most enjoyable, Player 1 is Germany, he sends his turn to his Axis buddy Japan, who is Plyaer 2; then Japan player sends the PBEM file to Player 3 (Russia), and Russia player sends the file to Player 4, who usually covers both Western Allies and China. Although China can be set up as separate playable side (optional Player 5) China is considered too weak to be played on its own, so usually the WA player is set to control the China as well. The Soviet Player can also easily be set to play China.
Only Axis, or Allies may *win* the game. So even if Russia is completely eliminated, but WA wins the war on its own, Allied team won the game. Same goes for Germany and Japan. In our PBEM game 2 - German player almost managed to get the victory (or draw) for his side even though Japan was completely eliminated.
- Units?
Units are:
Infantry
Militia
Mechanized
Airborne
Flak
Artillery
Figther Air
Tactical Air
Heavy Air
Carrier Air
Carrier Fleet
Heavy Fleet
Light Fleet
Sub Fleet
Transport Fleet
Supply
Infrastructure Items:
Factory
Resource
Population
Railroad
- How much time does 1 game turn represent?
Three months (one season – ie. summer, fall, winter, spring...). First turn is Spring 1940 (April to June 1940). Winter is first turn of the year, so, for example Winter 43 is Jan-Mar 43.
- How many territory areas are there in the game, including sea zones, etc. ?
364
- Can the game be played in windowed mode?
Yes. Both windowed and full screen modes are supported.
- Is there a scenario editor?
No editor as such. However, everything is in data files so I'm sure user scenarios will be created (we'll even help answer questions once the game is out).
- How long does it take to play a game vs the AI? and vs a human player?
You can finish the games vs. AI in one evening-long session (albeit you'll need a looongish evening - 4-5 hours). You're free to split the game over several evenings if you wish so, and if you manage to order yourself to STOP!
Vs. human player(s) it's usually the same, depending on your style of play (hotseat, PBEM...). In every game vs. human I need at least 30% more time per turn to do the thinking (humans are more vicious than PCs, you have to account for all the possibilities) and if you play PBEM, you'll depend on other player's schedules.
- This could be a great game, but I was just looking at the screenshots of the map and the units and boy...it looks alot like Axis and Allies. Is there "any" combat in it or is it just "Player A lost one tank, player B lost two inf and one airplane?".
Combat is more detailed and complicated than in A&A, and the results can cause damage or destruction to units, and retreat for the defender or a pull back by the attacker. There are several phases during combat, but it is all automated by the computer with no player input. We feel we are taking advantage of the computer. Although the combat mechanisms are quite simple compared to most of Gary's games, and in theory this game could be played as a boardgame, the number of dice being rolled, the complexity of the various factors involved, and the different combat values that can change during the game (due to research) would make it very difficult and time consuming to do off the computer. With the computer, we can do a lot more than a simple, roll a 1 or 2 to hit kind of combat resolution. It is in this complexity of combat results that the subtleties of tactics come in. The strategy is in deciding what to research and what units to build based on the overall grand strategy for each player (long range torpedo carrying planes along with researched subs that can survive ASW to fight for sea control for the Germans, or strong infantry, artillery and/or armored forces for going after the Soviet Union are just two basic plans). Based on how players research and build their forces, they will need to adjust their tactics to match the weapons they and their enemies are working with.
This game is intended to be playable by anyone with a basic interest in wargaming and an interest in a turn based game as opposed to a continuous action game, and hopefully by gamers that don't yet have experience with games like this. However, to play it well, there are many levels of complexity and strategy that will allow the serious gamers to play it better. I think this game will be more like chess than Backgammon in that with Chess, the considerably better player will win every time, whereas in Backgammon, with a little luck, I could probably beat a grandmaster at least 1 in 20 games.
- Will there be special rules or benefits applicable to one side or another? Such as, a "Russian Winter" rule that adversely affects German units in Russia from October to March, while Soviet effectiveness is increased?
There are some special rules. There is a Russian Winter rule. There are partisans in many conquered territories. Winter usually helps the defender slightly, but during the first Russian winter the German defense values are decreased and I think Russian attack is increased. Basically they'll get one turn of great attacks.
As for partisans, the population value of the area will turn into partisan points each turn. As long as the area is garrisoned sufficiently, these points will be destroyed. If not, as they accumulate, they will begin to attack infrastrucure and then eventually supplies and units. To fight the partisans, there must not only be a garrison but a supply unit must be used up. So as Germany conquers more territories, there will be a drain on their supplies each turn just to fight the partisans, and they will have to assign troops to garrison the rear areas. There are a lot of special rules involving the when countries join the fight and what garrisons are required to keep from activating opposing countries. I'm sure there are other rules too but they don't jump to mind at the moment (too much War in the Pacific on my brain right now).
- Is this game similar to A&A (Axis and Allies) and HOI (Hearts of Iron)?
First off this is turn based, not continuous like HOI. Second it is area based, with over 350 areas, not hex based like Clash of Steel/etc. The best way I can describe it by using an existing game would be to say to combine Axis & Allies Europe and Axis & Allies Pacific, fill in the rest of the world, add depth and detail to the units so they have more attributes and that these attributes can be changed via research. A bit more complexity is added in terms of production, strategic movement, supplies (especially with the "advanced" supply rules on) and rules for many things that were never covered in A&A (partisans being an example). In addition, we hope the AI will be light years ahead of the AI in the computer version of A&A, and in fact we believe our current AI is already much stronger than the AI in A&A.
As for production, we deal with factories (industry), resources (oil is a big part of this) and manpower. It takes these three items to create units (including supplies), repair damaged units, and research (manpower not needed on research). As an example, Japan starts with 21 industry points per turn, but only about a dozen resources, so they need to capture resources. Some of their resources come from trade with neutral countries, some comes from occupied China, and some comes from the United States. There are some things that Japan can do to capture more resources without going to war with the Western Allies, however they may end up losing the resources that the US provides them. In any event until the Japanese can capture the resources in the areas they took in late 41/eary 42 (and until they spend supplies to repair the damaged facilities that they capture), they will find themselves falling far short of their theoretical maximum production.
Also, by having the need to build supplies instead of just building military units, along with special use of supplies (fuel) by armored units and large warships, we have dealt with the items you've mentioned. We've kept it simple, but the factors are all there.
- I see that both WAW & HOI2 will be released in ~ the same time period. Are they likely to compete against each other or will they compliment one another?
Totally different games. If anything, they complement each other.
It would be a bad thing if gaming public perceive them as competing titles. I hope the reviewers will make the difference clear.
- Will leaders and HQs be in GGWaW?
No leader units in GGWaW.
- Will the game be mod-able?
Game is VERY moddable but you won't be able to change the 5 playable sides, so no playable Italy or UK is possible.
Indeed, moddability is one aspect we rarely discuss, but this game is beautifully moddable, and I expect whole swarm of new and modified situations to appear after the game is published.
- Does the game have the ability for the owning player to rename his units?
No naming of units.
- I was just wondering if you get to design your own units or how that works.
You don't "design" units, you research their various attributes thus making them more capable than respective units of your enemies.
- I was wondering if the game needs to "follow" history (Does germany and the Soviet Union have to fight, or can they be allies? Does Japan have to attack the US on Dec. 7 1941?)
Game does follow the history, but not too closely. So the answer to your question is Germany and SU *will* have to fight, eventually, they can't be allies, but the date and the manner in which their war is going to be started is not set in the game. Same goes for Japan and US - they will fight eventually, but it does not have to be on Dec 7th, nor it has to be Japan who will start the war.
If Soviet Union and/or US are not attacked by January 43, they activate automatically, declaring war on Axis powers. It is up to Axis player(s) to decide whether it's more profitable to attack them earlier or to leave them to activate automatically.
- Can you "give" units to other players/nations?
You can't give units to other players/nations but you can help them with supply (essential!) as per Lend Lease, Russian conwoys, Ledo road etc.
LAND UNITS, "POLITICS" AND GENERAL COMBAT QUESTIONS
- How does combat work?
It's dice but it's quite involved, so much so that I can't explain it all here. There are real advantages to have air units involved, artillery and even bombarding fleets as even if they miss they give you bonuses that your follow on ground units can take advantage of to more easily hit the enemy. Combined arms is what it's all about. The sequencing can get quite involved, as does the number of dice being rolled versus the various defense factors (3 items, evasion, durability and armor all factor into defense) and modifiers so to fully understand it all will take quite some time.
Luckily, the computer does the work so you can enjoy the game while you learn the intricacies (or just wing it). We do provide a "combat analyzer" that gives a prediction of the number of hits both sides will take if you execute the combat, but there is so much involved that this is just an average and doesn't tell the whole story about how the combat will come out. It helps, but it is much better to understand the system if you want to excel.
- Do units somehow gain experience?
No, there is no experience gain for units.
- Can partisans appear in all countries or just some countries?
Eastern & Western France
Low Countries
Norway
Yugoslavia
Eastern Poland
England
Various Parts of the USSR
China
Phillipines
- Reading through some other threads regarding neutrals I learned that if Germany attacks a neutral country (say Turkey) then the Turkish army units, etc. are of the same quality as the WA. Is that correct?
They only take on the qualities of their allies if they survive the initial attack (most don't given 3 month turns). Until then they have generic neutral ratings which aren't nothing great. No costs to attack neutrals at the moment, however that might change (but probably at most would be a charge in supplies). However, the things that are captured (resource centers, railroads are all damaged to level 2, and thus require supplies to get working again). Given free trade rules, it can take more to fix the resource centers than you get by having them as opposed to just taking the free trade.
- Winter graphics is very nice, what winter effects we have?
Every region falls into one of only 2 weather types Cold and Not Cold
During Winter turns Cold regions suffer Winter Weather effects.
Modifiers to Evasion of Unit:
...
+1 when defending in a cold weather area during a winter (Jan/Feb/Mar) turn (unless a German unit in a cold weather Russian Nationality area during the first winter turn following a German declaration of war with Russia)
+1 when defending in a cold weather Russian Nationality area and shot at by a German unit during the first winter turn following a German declaration of war with Russia.
-1 when a German unit in a cold weather Russian Nationality area during the first winter turn following a German declaration of war with Russia
Also, during winter, no amphibious invasions can be made in that region.
- From screenshots I have seen, the units are depicted as 3D models of tanks, airplanes etc. Can I hope there will be counters as well? Like the NATO symbols?
This has been brought up from time to time - I believe the unit symbols are modable, so I'm sure someone will come up with a new set of unit symbols after the game is released. One thing to remember - keeping the unit graphics pleasing to the eye is a huge plus.
- I'm wondering why there are artillery units in a game of this scale.
We have it for a few reasons. 1) It functions as coast artillery. 2) It adds some variety into the combat system in that it has advantages over infantry in combat but it doesn't hold or take the ground like infantry/mechanized. Since artillery caused the majority of casualties, it seems only reasonable to work it in somehow. It allows additional differences between nationalities, as some have better infantry, and others have better artillery.
All I can say is it's a lot more fun with artillery included, adds another dimension to the game and the strategies that one takes in how you build your army. The fact that the units were part of other units does not take away from the fact that there were 3 main ground services, armor, infantry and artillery. We have flak units as well, and the same can be said about them, but again, it adds to the game to have them. Reserve final judgement until you see how it works out in the game. Maybe the testers can give some feedback on this once we get started testing.
- In the second strategic screen screenshot April '42 (the last of the ones currently there) the Russian territories in the west are shown as a darker color, I see they are all shown as a lighter color in the earlier screenshot (April '40). what does that signify?
The lighter color means the area is frozen for troop movement (in this case they can move units strategically, but may not move normally so they are not allowed to attack Japan). If Japan weakens its garrison in Manchuria, the area will "unfreeze".
- Why is this? I understand among politically allied countries, who are not yet militarily involved, you would not be able to stage troops, but in this case it is all within the normal country boundaries...kind of like preventing the US from moving troops from NY to SF and deploying on the west coast?
Certain countries are not allowed to move their military units before they are officially in the war. They may only move supplies (Lend Lease) through their territory. The Soviet Union is a special case as it is split into 3 zones. The west and middle become normal when the SU is at war with Germany. The east and middle become normal when they are at war with Japan. When they are at war with one and not the other, they may move troops via rail to strategically redeploy, but in this case they cannot attack out of the east to attack Japan.
- In the WAW screenshots, for example, it shows France divided into three territories, which I assume means that it will take the Germans at least two to three turns (6 to 9 months) to conquer. One could argue that this is historically inaccurate since France was actually eaten up in six weeks.
France can fall in one turn. Remember armor can move 2. When Paris falls, Vichy is declared.
- What does FOW affect?
Here's where the FoW discussion is at:
- only see enemy forces adjacent to your alliance or within 2 areas of any 2+ ranged aircraft.
- cannot see enemy alliance production numbers on the Military Forces screen.
- cannot see research "in progress" of the enemy alliance (ie. no Flasks).
did i mention yet a lot if this stuff is subject to change?
- If units are surrounded what effects are applied to them?
Surrounded has little meaning if the "pocket" has supply. ANY unit that does not have supply can not move or attack. If it is attacked it suffers -1 Evasion and on the unsupplied units return fire the attacker gets +1 Evasion.
- If I understood correctly from alpha reports if Japan attack USSR before Germany only units in east part of USSR will be unfrozen and if Germany attack all units will be unfrozen. So my question is: In first mentioned case (Japan attacked first) what will happen if unfrozen USSR units attack Germany units?
Well, unfrozen Russian units shouldn't be able to reach any German units to attack (unless maybe there are Germans in Persia). The Russian player is still locked from moving any units tactically in the west (though they can move them strategically to reinforce their Far Eastern position).
I doubt you'll see many situations where Japan attacks Russia first, because German players will wait only the minimum amount of time before invading themselves....the earlier Germany hits Russia, the better.
Also, Russia's production increases when at war, so Japan attacking Russia before Germany will just increase Russian production with little return. The best time for Japan to attack the Soviet Union is either on the same turn as Germany, or later if the Russians pull too many troops out of Siberia (the computer AI will track this and will attack if Siberia is left too weak).
- Italy joined the war in June 1940, so in spring 1940 it should be neutral...
The first turn goes from April to June and to simplify matters we assumed Italy will always declare war on the Allies during the first turn.
- I'm not familiarized by the color codes on the map, but it seems that Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg is already on the Allied side in Spring 1940, as are Italy, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria on the Axis side. Isn't that a tad bit ahistorical?
- Italy start sp40 (approx March of 1940) allied to Germany and controlled by German Player (there is no Italian player)
- Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria start "frozen" (politically locked) and unavailable to Germany.
- The Low Countries technically should be a Neutral instead of a WA Ally but they don't last long so it won't make much difference either way.
- Is there anything to stop Russia going on the offensive from the start?
Russia is frozen on start and may attack in Jan 43 unless attacked previously. Until Jan 43 or until attacked (whichever comes first) USSR can only do research and production.
- Does the German player keep a certain number of units on the Russian border in order to prevent Russia DoW him?
I need to keep at least one unit in Konigsberg/East Prussia and 3 in Eastern Poland to keep the Russians at bay. I won't deal with them until I am absolutely prepared (supplies galore & plenty of infantry). Might make it a little dull for a Russia-only PBEM'er, but its suicide for Germany to attack before they are ready - as England can put some serious hurt on the German player if they are not prepared.
- Is there the ability to have DOW on Turkey, Sweden, Spain, Portugal ect. or do they remain neutral?
You can attack them (no DOW necessary) and once attacked, they automatically join your opponent's side (Axis or Allies).
Quote:
Any neutral country attacked by the Western Allies or Russia joins the German player (except Siam and Tibet which join Japan). Any neutral country attacked by Germany or Japan joins the Western allies. End quote.
But in case of Switzerland, Sweden and Spain prospects seem discouraging. They have rather substantial forces, and you'd have to have very good reason to attack them (historical).
Also thing to remember is: "Neutral countries send a portion of their resources to player countries as long as they have a strategic movement link to an area adjacent to that country" etc.
- Is it possible for u to build a static fortification on a teritory or is it just assumed they are there by figuring it in to defensive bonuses?
Forts are predetermined and cannot be built.
- Is Soviet Union able to declare War on WA and vice-versa ?
WA and SU can't declare war on each other.
- Will Africa and South America have important roles in the game? Historically not much happened there (except North Africa of course). Will South America be controlled by the Allies?
Brazil is WA from the start (it has one resource IIRC). Other South American areas are neutral (some contain resources as well).
Africa is controlled by whatever colonial power controlled any of the territories. Angola and Mozambique belong to Portugal for example. Today's Ethiopia starts the game as Italian controlled AOI (Africa Orientale Italiana). So that means that most of Africa is WA controlled. There are some resources scattered over Africa.
In 99% of games you won't see any activity in any of the South American and African countries, except where it occured historically. There also may be some naval/submarine activities around west coast of Africa and near Pacific Canal.
There's anything you can do to bring Spain into Axis? If you are able to seal off the Meditterrean conquering Gibriltar you'll be able to use all those unit that are garrisoning coastal Mediterrean regions.
There's NO diplomatic or political model built into this game - which may be good or bad thing depending on your taste (personally I don't miss it). The only way of bringing the Spain to Axis camp is to invade it.
- How much is the US limited before they are actually attacked - Pearl Harbor ? Is the Lend - Lease available ?
Politically frozen zones freeze all movement except supplies. This means that the US can still send supplies over WA transports that are out at sea. This means they can send supplies to England, and they can even send them to the Soviet Union and the Chinese, although this takes more effort. Combat units cannot move in these frozen areas, so US troops will not be allowed to move. The US can build new units and supplies, although their production is much lower while they are not yet at war, and they can provide resources to other WA factories as long as their is a transport link. As for losing units, no, the second a US unit is attacked, they will be at war.
- Question: is there any significance to the capital cities on the map, or are they just eye candy?
As far as i can tell the only purpose Capitals are to provide a sense of emotional loss when they are captured (they don't serve any game purpose)
- How are the militia rules suppose to work? A once only added militia equal to the population, or new militias added each time an attack is executed?
Soviet is one time in all areas when first attacked by Germany (2 per population point). This is mass mobilization of reserves and happens during the Soviet production phase.
For all others, the way it works now for China is the model for the others. Happens just before combat, each time an area is attacked. 2xpopulation for China, 1x for US, UK, Canada, Japan, and Germany. This may change in the future, but we only had the Chinese system to use when we added the others. Because most of the system is externalized in data files, it's easy to mimic one rule and extend it to others. It's harder to adjust the rule (that takes the programmers to do).
NAVAL QUESTIONS
- Do ships must return in port after they spent all their movement points?
Ships do not have to return to port, but with advanced supplies, they need to be sure they have supplies near them or a transport link or they will have problems.
- How do I transport units across the ocean?
Transports don't move with their cargo, they set up chains that units move over.
You need to lay a string of transports from your starting point to your final destination - then you move units along that string.
- How do I supply across a sea?
Same as moving troops above. Protecting your lines of supply (and rail lines) becomes very important. If you can't move supply forward, you'll soon find yourself hitting a brick wall as far as logistics go and you're offensives will grind to a halt.
- Fleets?
Each Heavy fleet unit represents about 2BBs and CLs and destroyers and each light fleet 2 CA and CLs and destroyers. We also have carrier fleets, sub units and transports.
- Can players conduct sea invasion in winter turn?
Certain areas - like Europe, are off-limits for invasions during the winter. Japan can still conduct its invasions during the winter in the Pacific.
- Can new ports be built?
No, they are pre-determined.
- If land, where port is, is occupied by enemy what happens with ships and subs in this port?
They try to escape to nearest open sea, if they can.
- Can enemy attack with his navy and air force ships and subs in port?
With airforce - yes, ports can be specifically targeted when doing air attacks. With navy no.
- Can port be damaged with bombardment?
Ports cannot be damaged nor destroyed.
- What factor does Gilbraltar play in acces to the Med?
In game terms Gibraltar is "narrows". There are other narrows as well - depicted by two small yellow arrows on the map: Kattegat, English Channel, Persian Gulf, passages between some Japanese islands, Malacca straits etc.
Without going into too much detail, narrows offer some benefits to the side that controls them. For instance - automatic aerial and coastal op fire at any enemy naval units passing through the narrows. To put it short - you won't be sailing your naval units thru enemy controlled narrows too often, if they happen to be occupied by air and coastal artillery units
- Is that how the Panama Canal is handled, as a "narrows" or are canals treated differently and if so how?
Indeed, canals are something altogether different!
There is no MP cost for moving through the canal but this is only allowed if the canal area is owned by the moving country or an ally.
Canals are represented on the map with a dotted blue lines (see examples of the Kiel canal and Dardanelles on the map screenshots above - yes, Dardanelles are "canal", not "narrows" for obvious reasons).
That means you can "force" your passage thru enemy controlled Kattegat or Malacca strait or Gibraltar, if you're ready to accept serious losses (if the enemy has air units in adjacent land area) but you can't go thru Dardanelles or Kiel canal unless you own the adjacent land mass - which all seems perfecty OK to me.
- I noticed the IJN sub at the bottom of the screen has 3 torpedoes. Being that you have general supply rules on, or simple ones, do these actually represent something that has to be resupplied i.e., reloaded?
Subs do not need supply to move, but they must come to port to reload torpedoes (every 2 to 3 turns i think)
- What do the double line borders on certain sea zones represent?
Double lines means 2 movement points to move to the region.
- What was the logic behind "calculating" number of CV fleets, and BB and DD fleets for various combatants? Japan has IIRC 5 or 6 BB fleets - they had 11 BBs operational at the beginning of war so am I right in assuming simple algorithm "2 BBs equal 1 heavy fleet" was used? It seems so with Italians as well - they had 6 BBs, and are represented with 3 heavy fleets in the game.
You are correct in that Heavy fleets are basically 2 BBs plus DD's (and maybe a few CL's) while a light fleet is 2+ cruisers plus DD's (and small CLs). CVs are basically 150-200 aircraft worth of carrier aircraft (can't remember which). We may have given the British an advantage in carriers becuase 1) their carriers did a lot with a few aircraft 2) thier navy deserved a little boost since we couldn't have Italian fleets that were weaker than German fleets. There's obviously some play balance adjustments in what we did (I made several changes in tech levels and number of ships before the game ever got to you based on my having played the game off and on for a year). I went along with the recent suggestion to reduce heavy fleets to non-ASW platforms because I liked the idea of differentiating the BB fleets from the smaller fleets, and because it did seem silly to have heavy fleets running around killing subs. It feels better to make the light fleets, carrier fleets and aircraft do the offensive sub killing. I think it brings the right feel to the game.
AIR COMBAT QUESTIONS
- Wondering if Joel can provide some insight into air combat in WaW. I would love to see WaW give aircraft the ability to engage other aircraft separate from ground forces, and allow aircraft the ability to provide a combat air patrol over naval or ground forces in a neighboring territory.
They can do both. Aircraft can bomb airfields (engaging only enemy air), bomb ports, bomb infrastructure, or do a general attack against ground units. You can also put planes on patrol over any territory they can reach (unless enemy air is already there, in which case you have to fight them).
The game is much more flexible this way than A&A. You can put the Italian fleet in the Med and cover them with patrolling aircraft (if you want to use your airpower there), giving them a much better chance of long term survival. You can put Heavy bombers on patrol over transports, helping to protect them against subs. Lots more options in this game than A&A. We also let you research the range of each plane type up. In 1940 fighters have a range of 1, so the German fighters can't cover England. The Tac Air has to use it's own intrinsic fighters.
- We can use heavy bombers to drop air units.....what about using them to transport a limited amount of supplies (maybe 3 - 5)?
You can carry 5 capacity, so you can carry 5 supplies or an infantry unit by air if you want to. Just tested it and it seems to work. Can't carry other ground units and I seem to recall the rule was set up to allow transport of 5 supplies or an infantry unit.
PRODUCTION, RESEARCH, RESOURCES, SUPPLY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
- Are there any production delays for different units or do all units become available the turn they are built?
All units take time to build, from 1 turn for supply, 2 turns for infantry, 10 for a Carrier or Heavy Fleet.
- Is the upgrade achieved through research retroactive to existing units already built?
Yes, the refit cost is built into the research cost.
- Is the research model linear or...?
Reasearch already costs more as you go up. There is a "world standard" for every stat. Once you go over this standard, research costs begin to go up substantially. This makes it easy for those starting behind the curve to catch up, but those pushing the envelope will pay more for it.
- Does Germany receives resources from neutral USSR? As I know before Barbarossa started, Germany received lots of resources from Soviet based on non aggression pact.
It does.
- In the same vein, does Germany receive resources, iron ore, from neutral Sweden?
It does.
- I noticed Afganistan has no rail graphics and heard mention that there are no resources. Does this mean that it can not be used as a staging area for attacks elsewhere? Is there no in game means of creating an infrastructure in such similar areas? It would seem logical that given an investment of resources, supplies, etc. and the availability of an engineering contingent that creation of a staging base to launch attacks from is not unfeasable, given the length of the scenario.
Bridge over river Kwai is one thing, building complete railway infrastructure in one of the most remote countries of the world, during the WW2, is another. I don't think even the US, mightiest country in WW2, could have properly "railway-ized" any of the backward areas that don't have rail infrastructure at the beginning of the game in the given timeframe.
I can't recall anything like that occuring during WW2... Building a single bridge (like Kwai) or repairing some track somewhere in Russia (and keeping it usable) were major engineering feats even for major powers, making anything beyond that possible in this game would turn it into bad "parallel universe" Science Fiction IMO.
- Can Germany develop jet aircraft early on, so that full production is available by say 1943 or so? How is this modeled?
You don't see jet plane as "jet plane". You can imagine, though, that any very advanced fighter (say, speed=3, air vs air attack=6 or 7) in German inventory is Me-262, if you like, and if you pour significant effort into research, you'll have your "Me-262s" much earlier than historic.
- What aboput supply?
There are 3 variations of supply rules that can be selected when starting a game of GGWAW
1. Simple Supply - Supply needs to be produced, but it is magically consumed by any unit that needs supply anywhere on the map.
2. Advanced Supply + Auto Supply - Supply needs to be produced but there must be an unbroken chain of Transports (at sea) and Rail (on land) from the supply unit (usually at the Factories) to the unit that needs the supply for the supply to be consumed.
3. Advanced Supply + NO Auto Supply - Supply needs to be produced and Supply must be moved manually via unbroken chain of Transports (at sea) and Rail (on land) to the region that contains the unit that needs the supply.
- What are consequences of unit being out of supply?
Without supply a unit cannot move (and attack).
- One quick question on Rail. When you capture an area do you capture the rail also? Is/can the rail be destroyed?
When you capture an area all infrastucture (Rail, Resource, Factory) are damaged to level 2. At level 2 damage an infrastructure is useless, at level 1 damage it is 1/2 as effective, and at level 0 damage it is at full effectiveness.
- It takes 5 supply to repair each infrastructure unit 1 level.
- Infrastructure can be bombed by air units.
- You can never "destroy" infrastructure.
- You can not build Rail and Resources.
- You can build Factories (and move them too!)
- What is the difference between a normal unit and a damaged one?
Normal units are what you see on the board - damaged units are sent back to the production quey & will be repaired in a season or two.
- Can units be defered? (ie. dont spend the 1 production point this turn) Can units be accelerated? (ie. spend maybe 3 or 4 production points to advance it two turns instead of one, this is especially historical for capital ships). Can units be voluntarily scrapped?
Yes, units can be put on hold on the production track. Also, units can be voluntarily scrapped (you get back 1/2 of the resources spent to date). No acceleration is possible.
To disband a unit in production, just left click on it on the production track during the production phase. To freeze production of a unit, right click on the unit. To restart the production, right click on the unit that is frozen (the number is in red when frozen).
- Can factories be moved?
Yes, factories may only move to other areas with the same nationality as the factory. (This will mostly be used when playing Soviet Union.)
- Transporting resources and transport "chains"
Resources must link via rail/transports at sea to the factory where they will be used. So you need to put a transport at sea in the Med to collect the resources. A difficult issue is putting a transport in the Western Med to collect Sardinia as it is easily attacked by the Allies. Resources can be stored to twice the resource centers (I think) so you only need to put a transport out there every other turn to collect your resources.
The reason for the transport chain idea is that major operations required a logistics chain be maintained. People didn't sail fleets thousands of miles to invade enemy territory and not have it backed up by constant transport communication. That's one of the things I didn't like about A&A. This makes it much more difficult to pull off those long range invasions.
PART 2: STRATEGY TIPS
TO BE POSTED LATER (when the game is published)
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