💥 1941 Global Command Decision - Official Thread

[TheDog]

@johnnycat
More on canNotTarget

In the next release I have improved the tool tips and they now have entries like these.

For Bunkers & Inf-Conscript see red text

.
For Fighters

.
For Bombers

.
For V1 & V2

.
.
For Code Raiders the tooltips.properties file supports one line HTML so the following works

<br> <b> <p style="color:blue;">* Can only Attack surface sea units</p> </b>
<br> <b> <p style="color:red;">* Cannot target sea units</p> </b>

[TheDog]

@JohnnyCat

WHAT IS INTENDED HERE?
To me, the "nuke" is either "caught on the ground" or is flying overhead.
But neither case makes sense.
If caught on the ground then why is the unit not destroyed?
If up in the air then why doesn't the Japanese take the territory?

I agree neither makes sense.
Will do some testing, but time is short.
(Could be one for @wc_sumpton )

[TheDog]

@johnnycat said in 1941 Global Command Decision - Official Thread:

PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS
The force in Adelaide would naturally like to move into Sydney, but the game does not allow any of the forces to move there, EXCEPT THE ARMOR units.
WHY IS THIS?

Adelaide is a contested area, so only move 2+ units can move.

.

INTERESTNIGLY those locked troops CAN load onto transports...

Now that is interesting, dont think that is intended, so it could be an exploit of the rules.
I have never tried it.
(Could be one for @wc_sumpton )

[wc_sumpton]

@johnnycat said in 1941 Global Command Decision - Official Thread:

WHAT IS INTENDED HERE?
To me, the "nuke" is either "caught on the ground" or is flying overhead.
But neither case makes sense.
If caught on the ground then why is the unit not destroyed?
If up in the air then why doesn't the Japanese take the territory?
I have to think players will get all excited about finally being able to catch this thing only to then be frustrated by the game just not making any sense in this particular case.
What am I missing? Or is this a bug in the logic ?

None of the pictured units can hit the altera-high nuclear bomber.
-- Added by edit --
The next picture shows the American's turn. Adelaide is still considered contested, Pacific-Allies owned. Japan has scrambled a fighter and defeated the nuclear bomber while also losing the fighter. Because this was Americas turn, Japan cannot take control of Adelaide until the end of their turn. As a side note, because the Japanese fighter was scrambled into this battle, if they were to survive this air battle and because there is no land battle, it would have been returned back to its original territory, Sydney, since 062 Sea Zone dose not connect to Adelaide.
-- End edit --

@johnnycat said in 1941 Global Command Decision - Official Thread:

The force in Adelaide would naturally like to move into Sydney, but the game does not allow any of the forces to move there, EXCEPT THE ARMOR units.

Adelaide is contested (Pacific-Allies owned). In GCD contested territories cannot be captured until the end of the conquering players turn, this is to avoid a known bug. Ground units cannot disengage from an embattled territory, even if no enemy units are present and enter into another battle. They must first move into an allied owned territory. The armor unit can first move into Melbourne-Victoria then into battle at Sydney. Loading into a transport would not be considered entering into an embattled territory, if Japan had one in 061 Sea Zone the ground unit could load and move into 062 Sea Zone and unload to do battle in Sydney. If there were enough transport, and all the units left Adelaide, or these units moved to Japanese owned Melbourne-Victoria, leaving Adelaide vacant, then Pacific-Allies would regain control of Adelaide.

Cheers...

[Black_Elk]

How's it going gang! Sorry I haven't been around much, or at all lately. Summer IRL, you know how it goes.

I largely agree with Johnnycat that aircraft are particularly confusing and it can be quite difficult to parse when they're going to make a difference in a given battle. I mentioned the issue with defending bombers a while back, especially when paired with bunkers, leading to wonky stuff with contested TTs. I like the idea of units receiving a bonus to attack power or an opening strike shot as a way of conveying the idea of "targeting" by unit types, but what I think is confusing is the idea where some units simply can't hit other units at all, or only when paired with other different attacking units.

Suppression is a novel concept, since there's really nothing like that going on in A&A, it's bound to be unfamiliar as a tactical approach here. For unit targeting, where a defending unit cannot be hit unless the attacker has some type of combined arms, the only real analog for that in A&A is the submarines/destroyers dynamic (eg aircraft can't hit subs unless a destroyer is present.) Or how only destroyers can neutralize the opening strike of subs or prevent the sub from diving etc. All the other combined arms stuff in A&A is handled via a bonus to attack power when units are paired 1:1. So for example when Tactical Bombers are paired with certain other units they get a +1 to their attack value. That is pretty complex in itself for A&A, but it's not as if deciding Not to bring the tank along is going to suddenly make it so the Tac Bomber can't hit at all.

I think it's problematic to have basic fodder units (Infantry) or basic blocker units (Bunkers) that can't be hit under some circumstances. For example the idea that fighter aircraft can't hit infantry units on the ground seems weird to me. Or that bunkers couldn't include Anti Air installations, to avoid these situations where units are just shooting past each other. Or where forces can easily stalemate the opponent by exploiting certain unit types that have this targeting feature to make themselves unhittable. In general I think if the Fast AI is using something in a way that doesn't really work, then that unit should probably be changed. Like if the AI is sending Strategic bombers to attack ships, even though those units can't target ships, then the Strategic Bombers should probably be changed so that what the AI is doing with them makes more sense. Similarly if the AI is attacking places that it shouldn't, for historical sweep, say USSR always attacking Turkey on their first turn, then that stuff should also be adjusted.

For me neutrality isn't a particularly interesting concept for A&A games. It's hard to model what the War should look like if suddenly Spain or Turkey or whoever joins team Axis or team Allies, because one player decided to go all ham with a neutral crush attack plan. In A&A they've changed how this stuff works across different editions of the game several times, and it's just never very satisfying to me. I like a very basic neutral scheme, where all neutrals are either Impassible (totally out of play and used to create chokepoints for the map geometry) or else attackable neutral with standing armies as a deterrent. I think given the way this game works, those attackable neutrals could easily add hit points to the standing army over time, +1 inf per round or whatever, so that it becomes harder to attack them the longer the game goes on. I think the open/closed border thing for neutrals or having that timed out by game round is sorta unnecessary most of the time.

For example, if the desire is to have USA in control of Brazil by round 3. I would just make them attackable neutral with no standing armies and allow the USA player/AI to take the territories via regular conquest on the opening turn, rather than a scripted thing where Brazil joins the Allies at some set game round. Perhaps coming as a surprise to anyone who wasn't aware of the scale up would occur until after it happens. For a territory like Venezuela, which never joined WW2 as a belligerent, I would just make it impassible so it's not a distraction for the player/AI or TUV calcs there for the AI especially. If we really want to keep all the options on the table, them making them attackable neutral with a large army and a low TT value is maybe much the same, except that the AI isn't then going to try and slog it out while they can, in this case for 3 rounds, but then be locked off that option. Probably with a bunch of units out of position that might otherwise be in North Africa or Guadalcanal, or somewhere that the fighting was actually cracking off in 1941/2. For me that stuff is more important. That the AI computer player will hit the right beats for the timeline/start date, and not get bogged down doing stuff that's just patently alternative history. The version of WW2 where Germany decided to invade Catalonia, or where the USSR decided to invade Eastern Turkey, Japan decided to somehow attack into Afghanistan or whatever.

There are lots of "What Ifs" that might be explored, but I think some work better than others for maintaining the WW2 vibe. For example, the "What if... Japan had invaded Australia" or "What if... Germany had invaded England" those feel different to me than 'what if Spain' was conquered by Axis, or 'what if Sweden' was conquered by Allies. We've also seen how this works in Classic A&A, like 'what if Japan had invaded the Soviet Union', which was almost the premise of A&A Classic just going by the usual play patterns that emerged. To me that stuff is ok, but not as cool as just having a campaign in the Central Pacific or the Med that sorta looks like the actual War, with the right feel and right story beats/timing.

What I mean also is that, if the computer player is constantly doing certain things that seem off, or reliably missing their marks, then that would recommend adjusting the starting forces. If Japan is just always going after Midway on their first turn say. Not really a thing that happened, so we might add a couple more defending US units to Midway, such that AI Japan goes after Wake consistently instead. Stuff like that. I think the divergence should happen in round 2, but for round 1 basically hitting the beats their for the opener.

In terms of overall game balance, I'd say Japan is the most problematic because they spread their fleet thin and end up hitting their maintenance limits too quickly to really get over the hump. When the Fast AI is facing down itself it manages alright, but against modest pressure from the Human they just buckle. It's probably because they don't have an option to fleet screen using Aircraft the way they might in A&A, again because this targeting stuff. In v5 for example, even if the IJN is completely destroyed, the Japanese player can still function by using Bombers and Fighters to sweep fleets that get too close, or which don't have enough carrier power. Here that doesn't work, because the units are capped by unit type (at 10 say), but there are more naval unit types for hitpoints than there are aircraft unit types at the cap. So heavy advantage to the naval defender compared to the would be attacker that's trying to just use aircraft for that. I'm not really sure what the best solution would be, cause the production limitations are also a factor. There's only a couple sea zones capable of producing warships, many more spots capable or producing aircraft, but there are still limits on what can be brought into the fight because of the Unit Caps per Territory or SZ by type. It's also possible for defenders to coordinate and co-locate with teammates, whereas the attacker has to go in solo. At the high end (operating near the cap) you end up with a pretty hardcore advantage to the defender and that's before stuff like terrain is factored in. I mean just going by the types of units that each faction can field. If Allies have an extra unit type, say an early fighter or whatever, but Japan doesn't have a matching unit to face it down, then at least at the cap limits there's still a lot of asymmetry there.

For my part the most confusing unit for the asymmetry remains the bunker, especially the bunker at x2. They defeat my mental math completely, and make it so that any time a battle involves bunkers I'm completely reliant on the battle calc to have any sense of the odds. It's just hard to ballbark. They function well as a randomizer I think, but I'm not sure it's worth the cost in potential player confusion. An example mentioned earlier is the Anhwei battle, where Japan is going to get their ass handed to them more times than not. It's because the tile is forested, and has defenders dug in behind the double bunker.

Here's a J1 to J5 from the other day showing one approach, where I just basically bypassed it and then mopped up two rounds later, after Szech was destroyed.

2024-9-1-1941-Global-Command-Decision J5.tsvg

You can see this wonky sorta rush on India as a riff on Classic. It's better than a Classic JTDTM with Japan just flattening China and then USSR, but kinda similar for the end around like just trying to sail towards the middle of the map by Suez and picking up the India factories along the way. Anzac is maybe more formidable as a result, but that doesn't really matter. Like once Japan is in this position the game is more or less over, and Axis have already won, regardless of what USA is trying to do with their destroyers. Quick double back to lock off the appoaches, since the USN has a similar issue to the IJN, where they just break down and spam transports but don't consolidate their fleet around the Carrier backbones. By the time stuff like Kamis or Nukes come online, the game has been decided for several rounds probably and the player is sorta going through the motions to time a VC kill.

I like the concept of bonus units or bonus income, or less maintenance for the AI as a way to offset it's deficiencies, but right now they're pretty uneven. The drops are predictable like a round in advance if reading the notes and such, but I'm not sure it's enough to keep things a tight race if the player is already ascendant. On the ground the swings can be heavier, mainly with the Eastern Front like wipes and then counter wipes where huge stacks maybe get nailed on the random, but I think we're it needs help is more the naval/air game, like for nations that need to cross the water to get where they need to.

Anyhow, rambles. I ate a lot of BBQ yesterday, so go figure! lol

I look forward to checking out any manuals that might be forthcoming. I think that would help for sure! Good work gang!

[Black_Elk]

Another random aside, just trying to find analogies from billiards again for some reason.

I think in a PvP or A&A standard scenario the ideal would be a game like 8 Ball, where everything from the break on is going to make a pretty big difference. What I mean though is that there should always be a way for the player to lose, even towards the endgame, even if they are doing very well and have built up a commanding lead, like the 8 Ball threat. For a similar thing set up as a solo vs the Fast AI I think we need something a bit more like 9 ball. Where it's possible not just for the player to goof and lose, but also for the computer to still win and do so convincingly at the very end. In Ball you can always come back as the underdog, which is always going to be the situation for the computer. I think it would be cool for PvP too though, just to have a game that works a bit more like that. Usually tech is the mechanism for these sorts of wild antics at the end, but I think there might also be room for staged in events or encounters, where the computer just gets a shit ton of extra material to work with. If they aren't purchasing properly, maybe just direct unit spawns similar the way things work for say USA if controlled by the computer, where they just get a pocket fleet or a gang or aircraft or something similar.

Or just generally, trying to find ways so that the game can still feel tight, even in 1945. Maybe there's a German winter offensive, and they get a gang of tanks for that if FastAI, or on the flip like where USA has to invade Japan but then Japan gets more ground attack units to bolster the conscripts. If the computer gets juiced in predictable ways I think that's fine, when the scenario is conceived as basically a solo sorta thing that has added stuff on top of a baseline that's maybe more PvP oriented, with balanced forces at a 50/50 for players of equal skill. Computer Bid doesn't really work, cause it's over reliant on purchasing logic from Revised v2. Some units the computer just won't use properly, like most Transports where it will strand floaters, or air transports which it won't use to actually transport ground etc.

The stuff it uses reasonably well like armor and tow units, or units that can move off the rail, those I think are better for bonuses. Ships again I think have got to be the hardest, because the Fast AI just does oddball things with them. Maybe with cruisers staged in and Elites already loaded? Stacked carriers are good. Sometimes the fast AI gets enough DDs in the water they will almost picket, but they never really back it up with the big fleet moves to secure a coastal production zone or factory foothold near the front. As the player to me that's the most intuitive, just go nail the enemy factories right. But the Fast AI doesn't really gun for them with same verve hehe. Bigger bonuses to the AI progressively I think would be cool, more frequently by round or steady drip so they become more formidable that way. Maybe some sort of inverse bonus to the side that controls fewer VCs. Sorta counter intuitive for a PvP frame, but I think would make sense for something like this. I imagine basically the Mongol Invasion approach from Total War games, where there's a capstone of that sort.

I'd go Alien invasion like Roswell sci-fi, but that's a bit more fantastical than this scenario. I think for something like this just larger conventional armies with the better tech, maybe more generals/HQs in later rounds. Same thing you got going on now, just with more I guess? Highball it somehow maybe, with a steeper increase towards the end for the Fast AI hostiles.

[JohnnyCat]

@thedog OK so the AI using bombers to target ships is just an artifact we live with... Roger that

[JohnnyCat]

@wc_sumpton OK. thanks for explain that. I will have some work cut out for me to explain this in the updated manual but your explanation is vital so thanks

[JohnnyCat]

@black_elk said in 1941 Global Command Decision - Official Thread:

For my part the most confusing unit for the asymmetry remains the bunker, especially the bunker at x2. They defeat my mental math completely, and make it so that any time a battle involves bunkers I'm completely reliant on the battle calc to have any sense of the odds. It's just hard to ballbark.

AWESOME !!!! Thanks for your update. And YEA those bunker rules are not intuitive !!! Lol

Well Everyone, I think I can continue now without any huge knowledge gaps as was the case with me over the past few months of learning this game.

When is the release date and/or when can I get a copy of the updated tooltips so that I can expand the regular manual and build this new concise manual prototype using the most updated game?

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN for being so helpful to me and helping me understand this truly great game... ah, I mean "map"

I'm trying my best to make a manual that everyone can understand...

Speaking of which, you all continue to speak in game-code, hahaha, so when you say things like the "CanNotTarget got fixed" I tend to lose focus because I just want to know or have some game-installed guardrails/descriptions that state clearly INF cannot target ships... Ships cannot move on land... and basic rules like that. But nonetheless all your comments are certainly helping me to explain this better to newbies (which is what my updated manual work is really about).

And finally, whichever of you wrote up the part about how the USSR restricted movement of allies into their territory did a SPLENDID job of explaining how the UK, in particular, needs to be cautious to avoid getting forces locked inside the USSR.

So kudos for that because it seems like I will need to provide a few such explanations... such as why when the Gross Deutschland (i.e. a Giant armored column) encounters a lone fighter (which appears to be on the ground) in fact the territory does NOT get taken for a turn and the figher gets away.

Or even more extreme, when that nuke is "CAUGHT ON THE GROUND" (I know it's up in the stratosphere according to you guys, but just like me earlier I doubt newbies will see it that way) and the entire armored division gets wiped out, haha. But now that I have your version of that in my head I will explain that better to newbies...

I hope you see what I mean by intuitive game play. In virtually every other game when land units encounter a lone air unit the land units will win, the territory will get taken and maybe the air unit will escape but maybe not.

But with your explanations I should be able to make a few additional examples and cautions just like your note about the UK units entering Soviet territory.

Cheers

[JohnnyCat]

@thedog said in 1941 Global Command Decision - Official Thread:

As Japan does not have Blitzkrieg (all the extra +1 Atk with paired units like Fighters giving +1 to Bomber-Tac)

Now this is my fault for more or less deliberately not paying attention to too many of this game's details, but I did not even consider "Blitzkrieg / Non-Blitzkrieg countries." I don't even know what that means.

I used to play extremely complex games including the "easier" ones such as Russian Campaign, Third Reich, etc. so I certainly am used to complexity, but lately I have let the ease of these Triple-A games lull myself into a more lazy approach...

And I'm guessing that a large proportion of gamers that pick up this game ARE NOT super nerd/geek types that are comfortable reading 30 pages of manual so I want to do what I can re these manuals to make the game easier to pick up.

So that's background on why I want to add to the manual and such.

But back to your point, I still don't even know why you even mentioned this point about Blitzkrieg...

So what are you trying to say? Why does Japan not have whatever this is?

Are you speaking about the commanders and armor units being able to transport one additional unit each?

Or are you referring to the "blitzkrieg" that allows armor units to move through a tile to another (assuming terrain features do not inhibit that)?

And while you are at it, please tell me what you mean by "(all the extra +1 Atk with paired units like Fighters giving +1 to Bomber-Tac) "

As I have said, I recently came to understand that the meat of this game is actually centered in those details, but I have found it VERY difficult to get a grasp on all those details. Heck I did not even know about terrain features for like a year because none of the other TripleA games I played have that.

So I keep trying to itemize all these little details that I am sure you guys just know like the back of your hand.

So just to summarize what I am asking:

1. What is Blitzkrieg or Non-Blitzkrieg units? What features do they have or not have?

2. What does this mean -->. "(all the extra +1 Atk with paired units like Fighters giving +1 to Bomber-Tac) "

3. Do units gain some "pairing advantage?" I know of only one and that is that one artillery, I think, raises the attack of one infantry by one. Please tell me ALL the pairings that you know of. I don't expect too many right?

4. And I still am not sure just how those commanders work in this regard but I assume it is similar to artillery? So also please tell me what pairings those commanders provide?

5. Do naval units have any pairing advantages ?

6. And what OTHER DETAILS SIMILAR TO THIS in this game should I know about that likely gets overlooked by the LAZY GAMERS such as myself?

--

You guys often say things like "attack on a 3" and I often have difficulty following because I have very different expectations. MY PURPOSE here is to compile ALL the various bonus/detriment details that clearly are critical and must be known in order to play this game effectively.

So please spell things out for a three year old so that I can compile all I need to help everyone starting this game master as quickly and easily as possible

Danke

[JohnnyCat]

@thedog THANK YOU THANK YOU for improving the tooltips.

I had NO IDEA that fighters could not target infantry...

So the fighters shown in this image are essentially useless in terms of the units shown, right? Of course, the tac-bombers are very useful.

Def NOT intuitive... but I can put all that with the Bombers not being able to target naval and make it work...

[TheDog]

@johnnycat
Just in the middle of uploading v180, so a very quick answer.

Blitzkrieg
Remember this page details Blitzkrieg in 1941 GCD terms
Germany+3 others gets +1 attack for Fighters, Armor & Bomber-Tac paired
Japan+3 others do not

[JohnnyCat]

@thedog Got it. That term "Blitzkrieg" is not what I would expect for these pairing bonuses as the term typically means (in my exp) the aforementioned ability of armor units to blitz through multiple tiles

[TheDog]

@johnnycat

1. Blitzkrieg is the +1 Attack bonus for pairing, (note not for Defence) a bit like Artillery in A&A
2. Non-Blitzkrieg are the nations & units that cannot Blitzkrieg
3. The pairing are on UNIT SUPPORTS page, there are 4 of them, each has the word (Blitzkrieg) in brackets
4. As #2
5. HQs are not pairings they can give +1 up to 10 units Attack & Defence, detailed in the tool tip and and UNIT SUPPORTS page
6. No, naval units do not have any pairing advantages, only being with/stacked HQ-Fleet, HQ-Submarine & HQ-Air
7. Terrain, but that is on screen on the status bar

.

Why does Japan not have whatever this is?

A design choice, its xml coded that they dont have Blitzkrieg, simulating their style of warfare. As it was not as sophisticated as the western nations.

.

Are you speaking about the commanders and armor units being able to transport one additional unit each?

No, thats called isLandTransport or isLandTransportable or without the 'is'. I talk in these terms so xml coders know exactly what I mean

.

Or are you referring to the "blitzkrieg" that allows armor units to move through a tile to another (assuming terrain features do not inhibit that)?

No, thats Blitz or canBlitz

.

You guys often say things like "attack on a 3"

Attack on the 3, in A&A & TripleA means roll a D6 and on 1-3 hit/success 4-6 miss, can be written as Atk:3 or A3

[JohnnyCat]

@thedog Just to be clear :

one tac-bomber and 1 inf-trained (or inf motor, anti tank, inf elite) combine and the tac bomber gets a +1 to its attack?

1 armor and 1 inf motor (or tac bomber) combine and give the armor a +1 to attack?

[TheDog]

@johnnycat

one tac-bomber and 1 inf-trained (or inf motor, anti tank, inf elite) combine and the tac bomber gets a +1 to its attack?

No, the Bomber-Tac gives +1 Attack support to only one of these
Inf-Trained, Inf-Elite, Inf-Motorized, Anti-Tank, not Inf-Conscript
They can only be paired once.

.

1 armor and 1 inf motor (or tac bomber) combine and give the armor a +1 to attack?

No, the Armor gives +1 Attack support to only one of these
Bomber-Tac or Inf-Motorized
They can only be paired once.

[Black_Elk]

I also think Blitzkrieg is a potentially confusing term, and prefer Combined Arms to describe these relationships. To me Blitzkrieg is a very particular kind of (German) military doctrine, which uses combined arms and a strategy of continuous advance, likely with units on hella meth to get the job done quicky and on no sleep. Sure the other belligerents saw the advantages of lightning war over the slog of the previous world war, and adapted, but I think it has quintessentially German connotations. Such that Americans or British troops having a Blitzkrieg ability seems kinda off. 'Blitz' on the other hand is a more general purpose term, like even in American Football we have such a thing as a Blitz, where the defenders all rush the line to try and sack the Quarterback. Or adding the definite article "The Blitz" I just think of civilians holed up in the Underground, waiting for the air raid sirens to stop. It's a bit of a mixed bag for a term hehe, but in A&A "Blitz" is a technical descriptor for a particular kind of attack movement, specifically for the tanks which move across 2 spaces.

For the thing about Fighter aircraft not being able to hit infantry unless there are combined arms in the mix, this makes a certain sense. Like I can imagine well trained Infantry units scattering and heading for the tree lines, but also, every WW2 movie I've ever seen has that shot with a Fighter flying low to strafe a column of Infantry units. Like that shot is in ever flick pretty much. For my part I think if one wanted to include this idea that infantry would have an easier time hiding than say a heavy ass tank that weighs several tons and can't hit the floor like soldiers might, that this could maybe be achieved by focusing only on Elites. In other words Conscripts and reg Infantry could be killed by the fighters, but the Elites are maybe dodging under the treelines - the columns all camouflaged up with nets and decoys. Like you'd still end up with some weird stalemate situations there probably, but it wouldn't make the primary fodder unit for most nations un-hittable by the primary air unit. For me that's more of a practical mechanical consideration, since right now I struggle to justify air purchases over other units which provide a more reliable hitpoint, or more consistent attack/defense power.

There are niche instances where it makes sense to buy fighters, say if the territory is already at the cap, or where you can overwhelm a player that doesn't have sufficient production capacity to spam fodder units. For example Japan can smoke China pretty easily with massed air provided they use their Air HQ as well for the bonus, using a tactic I call the Air Blitz (another kind to the whole use of Blitz for everything hehe) but basically that's a situation where naked Air keep attack to kill ground that are unlikley/unable to hit back, which is something that can be done to pretty good effect here, though again it's a bit asymmetrical by Nation.

For combined arms with the Tactical Bombers, one issue there for pairing multiple unit types is whether/how the player can determine which unit will actually get assigned the bonus. For example in A&A all the units effected just Hit at 3s so it's easy to see how a bonus to one or the other might not really matter if multiple unit types are capable of receiving the bonus. But if some units have targeting, or have different hits at values, then it's a consideration. Like it might make more sense to assign the bonus to an Anti Tank unit with a chance to hit at a higher value, or with an opening strike type action, as opposed to say some other unit type that can't do that stuff. I think for order of battle type things it'd difficult because the battle screen moves so quickly and it's hard to tell which units are being effected by other units.

Also when each nation has different unit types available, having all these very specific targeting actions means that players not only have to be familiar with their own unit roster, but also all the opponents unit rosters, in order to fully appreciate what's going on. So for example if Allies have one type of ship the Destroyer, but Japan has a supped up version of the same, the player needs to understand how both work before they can make a considered attack plan. That information is hard to parse in advance, or from tables. It's even hard to tell from fighting actual battles if you're only seeing one side of the equation. The player really almost needs to have a purchase menu and go through the motions with each nation to grasp what's going on in it's totality.

One possibility would be to show a complete purchase screen that shows all available unit types (including tech advance stuff, or stuff specific to only certain nations) but to have the units blanked out if not available. So for example if there is such a thing as a super sub on the board, that the player can quickly see the TUV attack/defense or bring it into the calc and get the quick read. But then the purchase screen would basically just be the unit notes all over again, and probably too much information. If the idea is for the player to control an entire team, it's more likely that they'll see the little differences, but if they only control a single nation, you could get the same sorta thing for teammates, where the player just doesn't really know what makes one ship type different for some nations. HQs are like this in the opening rounds of the game. If you are playing as a power that has them you can see what's going on, if not, it can be very confusing to understand how they work. I learn by using the stuff, so the only way to really figure it out was to just keep playing different Nations until it started to click, but it's hard to cross ref or use the experience of one player nation to inform how stuff is going to work for another. For examaple switching from Germany or Japan which have HQs on their first turn, to USSR or USA which don't have them. Probably the HQs need like a whole page in the manual just to themselves. My shorthand is basically without HQs I'm probably going to lose whatever battle, so a lot of the early game is just delaying/stalling tactics till them come online. Or if Axis to race early and make the most of them before Allies catch up. A Nation like Anzac isn't even really functional until they get their roster expansion, so it's also hard to compare the larger nations on either team to the smaller ones on team Allies.

For manual drafting advice, I'd say M3 off the factories and M3 in the water for Cruisers and Destroyers would be worth highlighting. It took me a long time just to figure out why I was able to move some units so far, and others not far enough hehe. The terrain for M2 units basically. I still think it's hard to parse movement changes like that, and think it would be somewhat simpler if terrain didn't effect movement at all, but only attack/def power. Right now a lot of terrain features feel too similar in terms their effects to me. Forest and Mountain and Urban I guess, since those are the most common and the descriptions have very a similar read. I think Urban to me suggests that it would be easier to move armored units rather than more difficult, but I also just have a hard time envisioning such huge regions as particularly urban. Like I guess if everything is all bombed out and bridges and roads are destroyed it makes sense that it's hard to get around, say Stalingrad where everyone is fighting in rubble, but then I also think of it more like the roads still being in alright repair. Or where there are population centers capable of rebuilding the stuff and roads that don't flood out or freeze for half the year. Or some desert stretch where sand grinds the gears. For me movement adjustments are the most challenging to get the head around, because often I can't really tell until I try to move something that the movement won't work. Trying to parse the unit caps is similar, but there's more give there at 10 units, where a terrain -1 movement might be more of a surprise, and all or nothing for maneuvering stacks with the tank tow. That said, I think the movement stuff from Rail is the single best thing this game has going, since that stuff really changes the emergent playpatterns and the ability for players/AI to clap back across a pretty good distance, in ways that keep me on my toes. The m3 movement I think creates a nice push/pull dynamic, and makes logistics just foggy enough that I'm always second guessing whether I can actually hold vs enemy counter attacks on the follow up turn. I love that stuff!

Anyway, just more rambles, not sure how useful my impressions are really, cause I've been at a while so I'm probably too familiar to see the forest from the tress for some stuff, but I can remember having some issues with the learning curve in those areas.

Nice work all! Keep it hummin'

ps. here's another solo start to J3. Similar thrust but going after the Pacific Allies instead of the Brits in India. I just bought a couple extra minor factories to shore things up and set big wall down in the south Pacific with the fleet. Felt pretty solid. I had like one big TUV trade vs China but I think they're about spent now. Brits gave me some trouble and almost took Bangkok after we whiffed in Lower Burma, but all and all pretty smooth sailing. Flexing against the Allies with the Japanese fleet I'm not sure there's anything Anzac or USA could do to threaten an approach, or an attack that wouldn't have them getting wiped by a secondary fleet, so they just sorta break and run away.

2024-9-4-1941-Global-Command-Decision J3.tsvg

[TheDog]

@black_elk
As always some good insights, I will digest and post, maybe at the weekend.

Re: Post about better AI.
Ebbe and I have been working on a new version of Shogun Advanced, its almost ready. It has Get Impending Winner routine, this is where the isAI is used to change the political relationship of neutral Clans to War to try/Get Impending Winner.

For GCD I think I have given the AI a lot of help already, with free Industries & units, and programmed placements, but I will look again.

[TheDog]

Latest version v180 ready for download.

WARNING: This version is NOT compatible with your old saved games, so finish them before upgrading.

In TripleA
Click Download Maps Button
Click Installed tab
Click 1941 Global Command Decision
Click Remove Button
Click Yes button to remove
Click Ok button (Successfully removed)
Click Close (To force the map list to refresh)
Click Download Maps Button
Find & Click 1941 Global Command Decision
Click Install button
Enjoy!

v180
Thanks Cernel for the HQ icon changes & renaming suggestions.

• Swapped Gemany HQ-Army Manstein, was Rommel. (thanks Black Elk). Rommel icon is in 1941_global_command_decision\map\units\Germany\NotUsed
• Swapped Italy HQ-Army icon Bastico, was Roatta (thanks Black Elk)
• Swapped Italy HQ-Fleet icon Angelo Iachino
• Swapped Italy HQ-Air icon Rino Corso Fougier (BW with AI colorized)
  .
• Renamed Chernihiv to Chernigov
• Renamed Kyiv to Kiev
• Renamed Prinsk to Pinsk
• Renamed Prypriat to Prypiat
  .
• Tool Tips now includes canNotTarget (thanks to johnnycat) Some are now color coded to aid the player
• Manual update politics sheet (thanks to johnnycat)
  .

---

Link to 1st post that has;

• Google Drive download link
• Latest TripleA version
• Latest 1941 GCD manual

https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/3326/1941-global-command-decision-official-thread

[Black_Elk]

First run for the new one. I did Japan again and took it half a dozen rounds.

Similar to the last game we went for the quick crush on Chunking and then tried for the easy pickups vs the Dutch islands. I opted to gun for Hawaii as well this time, just to get ahead of things. The Chinese had a nice counter attack going since we had to give up ground to swing heavy vs the south, but eventually we yo yo'd them into a trap along the coast to destroy their HQs with the amphib and air support. I did the Impala swing to snap up Ceylon and get on India. We doubled back of Hawaii the same round to start putting the heat on New Guinea. Still holding steady at 20 VCs, but I think Axis are about to round the corner. FastAI Germany just held Moscow through the round. I thought we might take the Win at Sydney but then Pacific Allies clapped back a bit and sank my pocket fleet. Will probably have to be Cairo or Baghdad instead for the VC kill.

Fun campaign for a sprawler hehe

2024-9-5-1941-Global-Command-Decision J6.tsvg