Flames and Steel (official thread)
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Flames and Steel is a completely different approach to a WWII map. My goals were to give the map strategic depth and simplicity. It's easy to do one or the other of these things, very difficult to do both!
Air Combat
There is an air combat phase at the beginning of each game round.- Each side moves their aircraft
- A dogfight occurs, with aircraft firing at their dogfight values
- Surface attacks and strategic bombing raids occur
Types of Aircraft
Air superiority. These include fighters, advanced fighters, and jets. Aircraft of this type can only destroy enemy aircraft. Never land or naval targets. But in this role they excel. These are your main defense against enemy bombing attacks.
Dive bombers. These planes are excellent at destroying land targets, and are normal at destroying enemy surface ships. If you gain air superiority, you can use your dive bombers to do serious damage to an enemy army.
Torpedo bombers. These planes are excellent at destroying enemy surface ships, and are normal at destroying enemy land targets or subs. Gain control of the skies, and you can use your torpedo bombers to sink enemy ships and subs.
Medium bombers. These planes are a jack of all trades, master of none. They are normal at attacking enemy land units, surface ships, or subs. They do 2 PUs of damage when strategically bombing. They allow you to strike targets beyond the range of your torpedo bombers or dive bombers.
Strategic bombers. These planes do 5 PUs of damage when strategically bombing. This is their primary intended purpose. If an enemy lacks sufficient fighter protection, you can use your strategic bombers to impose real economic damage.The map is not finished yet, but here are some pictures.
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Below is a photo of the map. I've given two photos per nation for the major participants, one photo per nation for minor participants.
One of Japan's photos went to Yamamoto. The other went to Tadamichi Kuribayashi.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Who on Earth was Yamamoto?
Just kidding.
In 1914, the French believed they could beat the Germans with superior French fighting spirit, élan. The epitome of élan was the bayonet charge. The French learned the hard way why it was a bad idea to charge machine gun posts with bayonets.
Japan didn't participate in European trench warfare. It didn't gain the institutional knowledge the European and North American nations had gained during WWI. A Japanese banzai charge in 1942 had a lot in common with a French élan bayonet attack in 1914. Consequently, the U.S. Army achieved favorable exchange rates in its battles against Japan.
Tadamichi Kuribayashi broke with Japan's old tactics. If a Japanese-held island was being invaded, Kuribayashi would not contest it at the water's edge. He forbade banzai charges or suicide attacks. His men dug an extensive tunnel network and defended in depth. Iwo Jima was the only major Pacific land battle in which U.S. casualties exceeded those of Japan. Kuribayashi represents Japan's army, just as Yamamoto represents Japan's navy.
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Research system
Most nations have between 1 - 3 research centers. For each research center, you select an area of primary and secondary focus. Each turn, every research center achieves a breakthrough. There is a 40% chance of it being in the center's primary focus, a 20% chance of it being in the research center's secondary focus, and a 40% chance of the advance being chosen at random, from among the tech categories you have not yet completed.
Technologies are associated with dull grey stars. Each time you get an advance, a dull grey star becomes a bright yellow star. Once you replace the last dull grey star with a bright yellow star, you unlock the tech. New techs are unlocked at the end of your turn.
In this example, Britain's first research centre has a primary focus of piston aircraft, and a secondary focus of surface ships. Its second research centre has a primary focus of jets and a secondary focus of tanks.
This is Britain's first turn. Note that even before it's done any research, it already has one star towards jet tech, and two stars towards radar. These represent Britain's technological achievements in those areas as of June 1941. Also, jets are special units. (More on that later.) Jets do not replace piston aircraft. Late game, expect to have lots of piston aircraft with some jets mixed in. Piston aircraft research is a good choice for Britain.
Research results are now in. Center 1 got a star towards extended range. Fighters, dive bombers and torpedo bombers start off with a range of 3. But once you get extended range, that increases to 4. Britain's research center 2 got a random tech advance: one star towards industry. Industry tech adds +2 to the unit placement capacity of your factories. The underlying territory must be worth at least 2 to qualify for the bonus.
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Sticky Hits
Sticky hits are a deliberate nerf to units with multiple hitpoints. Once a unit has taken one hit, additional hits are automatically assigned to that unit until it is dead, or until combat ends.
My goal was to make units with multiple hitpoints more common. Hence the need for the nerf.
Light tank: 1 hitpoint
Tank: 2 hitpoints
Heavy tank or Panther: 4 hitpoints
King Tiger: 6 hitpointsFighter: 2 hitpoints
Dive bomber: 2 hitpoints
Torpedo bomber: 2 hitpoints
Medium bomber: 2 hitpoints
Strategic bomber: 3 hitpoints
Advanced fighter: 3 hitpoints
Early jet: 3 hitpoints
Jet: 5 hitpoints
Superfortress: 5 hitpoints, does 13 PUs of damage for strategic bombing
Flying wing: 7 hitpoints, does 6 PUs of damage for strategic bombing -
Special Units
Special units cannot be purchased with PUs. Each Advanced Production Center (APC) you own produces one special unit a turn. You must research tech to be able to build APCs in the first place. Also, you must research the tech for the units you would like to build.In the above lists, heavy tanks, Panthers, King Tigers, early jets, jets, Superfortresses, and flying wings are all special units. Superfortresses and flying wings take 2 turns to build.
Whose tank tech tree is the best? That all depends on what you want. If your focus is on building tanks with PUs, Britain's tank tech is probably the best. Its Comet tank tech adds +1 to the attack and defense of British tanks. (A Comet was rather similar to a Firefly.) If your focus is on special unit tanks, Germany's King Tiger tech allows you to build the best special unit tank in the game. With the right tech, each German APC can produce a free Panther each turn in addition to its normal production. Expect late game German armies to have their share of Panthers, and the occasional King Tiger. The Soviet player has access to good tank tech. He or she can research the ability to buy tanks at reduced cost. The IS-2 tech gives an upgrade to Soviet heavy tanks. Japan is the odd man out. At the start of the game it can build light tanks only (no medium tanks). It can research tank tech to let it buy normal tanks. But no heavy tanks for Japan.
As if to make up for this, Japan's Yamato battleships are the most expensive and the most powerful in the game. A Yamato battleship gives you more bang for the buck than a normal battleship would.
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