The setup is meant to be balanced around dice. Collect income before the rounds. V3 sub, air, and carrier rules. May '42 setup. No building new factories and no using captured ones. The Axis starts with extra factories in Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Taiwan to compensate for this. No China. No Japanese-Soviet front. No tech. No national objectives. Ships move at 3 (though I'm thinking about making only transports move at 3). Fighters can scramble to nearby sea zones from anywhere. They can escort or intercept bombing missions. Fighters also have a +1 attack bonus against surface ships (yeah, they are supposed to be that good). Britain and the USA can't land on Soviet territory that hasn't been taken by the Axis. Factories have their own AA guns. Standard infantry costs 6 IPCs with 1/2/1 stats, whereas they are replaced by "conscripts" for the Soviets and Japan, which cost 4 IPCs with 0/1/1 stats. Factories can be bombed up to their territory value. Capture 2 enemy capitals to win. Germany is twice as strong as the Soviets income-wise; Germany + Italy is stronger than the Soviets + British; and the US is twice as strong as Japan. The setup is far from being finished, unfortunately.

@KurtGodel7 Do you have the full tech trees written up yet or are they still work in progress?

@Cernel said:

@KurtGodel7 said:

@Cernel said:

@KurtGodel7 said:

Also, some planes were harder to shoot down than others, and this is reflected in me giving some airplanes more hitpoints than others.

I guess your are not doing it, but it would be good if you split the heavy bombers available since start game at least into two different units, one mainly representing the Avro Lancaster and the other one mainly representing the B-17 (and the B-24 too if you don't want to split in 3) (I'm not talking about other future/tech ones like the B-29). The B-17 should have more hit-points and more defensive power than the Avro Lancaster, but the Avro Lancaster should have a slightly bigger bombing power (not much). This can be balanced by making the Avro Lancaster cheaper (whether or not this is the case) or just letting the United States have an advantage in heavy bombers over Britain.

The initial strategic bomber is the same for all nations. The final version is different for each. (This includes America Pacific vs. America Atlantic.)

America Pacific's final strategic bomber is the Liberator. America Atlantic's is the Flying Fortress. And Britain's is the Avro Lancaster. Of the three, the Avro Lancaster has the hardest hitting power, due to the "Tall Boy and Grand Slam" tech. Uniquely among the three, it can benefit from Window tech, which adds -1 to the interception value of enemy air. The Flying Fortress has the most ability to defend itself against interception. The Liberator has a longer range than a Flying Fortress. Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union each also get their own final version of strategic bombers, though their final versions are below those of the U.K. and U.S. Japan's version is a little better than Germany's version or the Soviet Union's version.

Wait. I saw that you had the "Superfortress" as "Strategic Bombers" tech. That would be the B-29. How is the "Flying Fortress" the final strategic bomber? That is the B-17, right?

Ok for the Avro Lancaster and the B-24 I guess, but the B-17 in mid-to-late 1941 should be already available for purchase. I mean, I certainly agree with the United States starting with zero of them (since they were very few before Pearl Harbour) but with the ability to purchase them (unless maybe you have a progressive tech and the B-17 is like at 95% development completion or something).

I guess you are taking into account the possibility of USA Pacific sending B-24 to fight in Atlantic, right? They have been quite important in the Mid-Atlantic gap and very important in bombing Germany.

Some thoughts on this.

For America Pacific, the final strategic bombing tech is the Superfortress. A Superfortress is a special unit: an SPC produces one every two turns. For normal bombers--i.e., those which can be purchased with PUs--the final bomber is the Liberator for America Pacific and the Flying Fortress for America Atlantic.

Some of my techs have anachronistic names. Japan needs to research "Kate" tech, even though it already had Kates as of June 1941. The U.S.S.R. needs to research "KV-2" tech, even though it had KV-2s in June 1941. I hate wasting opportunities to give players tech to research. In any case, and in answer to your question, both halves of America are able to build strategic bombers at the start of the game. But those strategic bombers don't get upgraded into Flying Fortresses or Liberators until the U.S. has researched tech. Another anachronism, granted.

About bombers, a cool new feature would be allowing for bombers to travel longer distances at the expense of lowering their bombing/attack power. Just an idea.