@KurtGodel7 I'm reviewing your unit chart , I'd already noticed the Light Tank is a complete trash unit, and on closer examination, I think the standard Medium Tank is as well.

Light Tank attacks or defends against a standard Infantry at the exact same stats while costing five times more. If I played Italy or Japan, I would never, ever buy these. It is the most useless unit in your entire set. Light tanks should not be a very efficient unit, but they should not be a complete waste of money.

The Medium Tank is not much better. Priced at 8 PU, you could buy 8 x Mobile Infantry for the same price as 3 tanks. 3 tanks trying to attack 8 mobile infantry get slaughtered - they lose that fight 95% of the time. And when they're attacking, even completely unsupported at a value of 1 each, 8 mobile infantry will still beat 3 tanks around half the time.

The Light Tank is badly understatted, and both tanks are badly overpriced.

But even those mobile infantry are a terrible buy compared to your standard infantry, at 3 times the PU cost. In A&A, you can buy 3 Mechanized for the price of 4 Infantry. You lose 25% of your efficiency in buying combat power in exchange for double speed. Here you buy 1 Mobile for for the price of 3 Infantry - you lose 67% of your combat power instead for that extra movement point. With mechanized, it's a 1:5 ratio, which is awful even with their boosted speed and attack stats. Sturmtruppen? Lousy as well, triple the price for 1 extra attack point.

I don't think I'd buy anything but infantry, artillery, and planes, unless there's something I'm missing here that's balancing all of this (are tanks also firing multiple shots per round?). Infantry costing only 1 PU just destroys the efficiency of all these other land units.

@KurtGodel7 I think having all Colonial Vichy France turning Allied if Germany or Italy attacks any part of it would make more sense too (as opposed to letting itself getting farmed remaining neutral).

Of course, historically French North Africa joined the Allies after some time of being invaded by them - and fighting back (but also Germany had invaded Tunisia meanwhile).

@Cernel said:

@KurtGodel7 said:

Anyone can attack Vichy French territory at any time, with no diplomatic repercussions whatever.

Pointing out that whatever rule for Vichy France is going to be not very realistic or very complex or both (so please nobody comes at me for not being "fully realistic"), I think it would be somewhat more realistic that there are no diplomatic repercussions for the Allies and the Japanese, whereas the Germans and the Italians attacking any part of Vichy France would cause all Vichy France to activate as a full fledged Allied power.

I also think that income giving can be simplified to Vichy France giving all its European production to Germany and nothing of the rest. There were some important shipments from North Africa, but, as a matter of agreements, losing any part of the empire would not have lowered the agreed payments due to Germany.

This game starts in June 1941, on the eve of Barbarossa. You could point out that as of that date, southern France was part of Vichy France. Germany annexed southern France in November 1942, as a response to Operation Torch. I decided to be a bit anachronistic here, and just treated all of France as already annexed as of the start of the game. For this map, "Vichy France" refers only to colonies controlled by the Vichy French as of June 1941.

In real life, the Vichy French colonies had provided Germany with resources and food. Vichy French Indochina had likewise supplied Japan with needed goods. That is why Vichy French colonies provide partial income to either Germany or Japan. Well, at least until those colonies get neutral farmed.

It can also be something less than its entire European production: I don't have much knowledge about how much the Germans were making in "real" terms after capturing the Free Zone as compared to before or whether or not they would have gotten more if they just conquered all European France instead of leaving French civil control and agreeing on a constant payment. Considering that the payments were reduced at some point (already happened if I understand the game starts right at the start of Barbarossa), it would make sense that Vichy France gives something less than its total European production (so long as this does not induce Germany to attack the Free Zone too early).