Some updates to the map.

The above is the start of round 1.

I've been doing some play testing. Play testing is revealing that some of the stuff is working as I'd wanted. That makes me very happy. But it's also revealing a lot of stuff which needs to be corrected. Like, a lot of stuff.

In my test game, Germany pushed east into the Soviet Union. At first there was good German progress. But the USSR starts the game with two or three turns worth of MPs, and it has the largest MP income of anyone in the game. It used that massive stockpile of MPs to buy huge amounts of conscripts. Conscripts cost MPs only. No PUs. This allowed the Soviets to come up with a stack which could stand up to the German onslaught. The Soviets have a good PU income, so they're able to combine non-infantry units with their conscripts.

Something similar happened in China. Good initial progress by Japan. However, China also has access to lots of MPs, and also used that to buy conscripts. China doesn't have a lot of PU income, but what it did have it used to purchase good defensive units like heavy guns. The result was good initial Japanese progress into China, followed by a slowdown due to China's stack getting big.

Germany and Japan used dive bombers to strafe Soviet and Chinese soldiers, respectively. However, dive bombers start the game with a range of only 3. It is necessary to research "extended range" tech to get that range up to 4. At a range of 3, you're only able to hit targets at the very edge of the front. If there was no big stack at the edge of the front, Axis dive bombers could not be used to full effect. The conscripts grew in number, quickly, without being trimmed back very much by dive bombers. Lesson: it might be a very good idea for Germany and Japan to set Piston technology as a primary research priority, at least until they get extended range.

Another problem: Japan does not go to war against the U.S., U.S.S.R., or the U.K. until round 3. In the meantime, Britain built a factory in Singapore, and another in the East Indies. Trenches and heavy guns for those factories. Those things were supposed to be easy money for Japan. Instead they were turning into British bases for its upcoming war against Japan.

Germany and the USSR each built a specialized production center (SPC) on round 3. The Soviet Union had unlocked KV-2 tech, and was looking forward to receiving its one heavy tank per turn. Germany hadn't yet unlocked Panther tech, which meant that Germany's SPC would have produced nothing for at least a little while. A player error on my part for building Germany's SPC too early. But also a GUI problem, because the game should warn you if you're about to build an SPC which won't become useful until later.

Can someone help me readjust the relief tiles to match the new shape of Britain and Ireland?

Here is the old one:

And here is the new one:

@Vendetta said:

@KurtGodel7

I would recommend a name swap for the Advanced Production Centers, since APC is an acronym that every wargame is going to associate with armored personnel carrier.

Special Production Center / SPC should be a pretty easy substitute to avoid the overlap.

Your Europe map looks beautiful, from what I can see. Taiwan and Okinawa are a bit off-putting on the Asia one, they’d look better if they swapped sizes with one another. Okinawa being placed that close to the edge of the sea zone also leaves me wondering whether it should be shifted onto the boundary line instead.

Your combat system ventures far enough from any version of the game I’ve played that I can’t really offer any judgement about it at this point. Hopefully, once you’re far enough along in development, you can share a play by play of a test game as a demonstration.

Good feedback on APCs and Okinawa.

One of the places from which I drew inspiration was Axis and Allies Naval Miniatures. With that game, you use fighters to gain air superiority. Bomber type aircraft to benefit from air superiority. It's normal for units to have multiple hitpoints. The mighty Yamato was given 6 hitpoints. Cruisers, battleships, and dive bombers are unable to hit enemy subs. There was a very good paper-rock-scissors dynamic to that game which I wanted to bring into an Axis and Allies style map.

Step 1: destroyers fire. Enemy subs are taken as casualties first. Only after all subs are dead can surface ships be hit. Enemies killed during this phase do get a casualty shot.

Step 2: Subs fire. Anything hit during this phase does not receive a casualty shot. Only surface ships can be taken as casualty.

Step 3: Surface ships fire, except for destroyers. Enemies killed during this phase receive a casualty shot. Only surface ships can be taken as casualty during this phase.