Flames and Steel (official thread)
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Berlin should not be closer to Krakow than Warsaw is. Either Silesia should be split, or Neumark and West Prussia should be merged.
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That extra bit that’s on the east end of Hungary in your latest version is Ruthenia, which would actually be a good area to carve out as a separate 1 value province (it looks big enough on that map to be viable as one).
It was part of Czechoslovakia before the war, given to Hungary when Czechoslovakia was partitioned, and then annexed by the Soviets after the war - now a part of Ukraine today.
Budapest should probably just be Hungary since it’s a one province country on your map like Austria or Switzerland.
Berlin should not be closer to Krakow than Warsaw is. Either Silesia should be split, or Neumark and West Prussia should be merged.
Upper Silesia (east) and Lower Silesia (west) are the natural divisions if you decide to split Silesia.
One more aspect to think about is color palette. The gray on the Pripet Marshes space looks pretty close to Germany’s territory color, it will probably stand out more easily if it’s darkened to a charcoal or ashy gray.
Italy in light gray and Germany in darker also don’t have a whole lot of contrast with each other. If you make Italy’s territories a light mauve (something like #ddc2cb), it might help them stand out a bit, since Germany’s gray has a bit of a blue tint.
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That extra bit that’s on the east end of Hungary in your latest version is Ruthenia, which would actually be a good area to carve out as a separate 1 value province (it looks big enough on that map to be viable as one).
It was part of Czechoslovakia before the war, given to Hungary when Czechoslovakia was partitioned, and then annexed by the Soviets after the war - now a part of Ukraine today.
Budapest should probably just be Hungary since it’s a one province country on your map like Austria or Switzerland.
Berlin should not be closer to Krakow than Warsaw is. Either Silesia should be split, or Neumark and West Prussia should be merged.
Upper Silesia (east) and Lower Silesia (west) are the natural divisions if you decide to split Silesia.
One more aspect to think about is color palette. The gray on the Pripet Marshes space looks pretty close to Germany’s territory color, it will probably stand out more easily if it’s darkened to a charcoal or ashy gray.
Italy in light gray and Germany in darker also don’t have a whole lot of contrast with each other. If you make Italy’s territories a light mauve (something like #ddc2cb), it might help them stand out a bit, since Germany’s gray has a bit of a blue tint.
This is good feedback. I'm at 83% of my weekly usage limit even though I'm only about halfway through my usage week. I may need to wait a few days to address the issues you've raised.
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Below is an introduction to this map.
Air Units
At the beginning of the game round, all bombers move. A bomber is a dive bomber, torpedo bomber, medium bomber, strategic bomber, Superfortress, or flying wing. Everyone moves their bombers during this phase. There is a limit of 4 bombers per territory. However, there is no bomber limit for naval battles.The next step is for fighters to move. Fighters consist of fighters, heavy fighters, advanced fighters, early jets, and jets. There is a limit of four fighters per territory. However, there is no fighter limit for naval battles. Also, there is no fighter limit for you to defend your factories against strategic bombing raids. If you're sending bombers to attack a land or naval target you can send fighters to escort. But if you're sending bombers to do a strategic bombing raid fighters cannot escort. Also, you can use fighters to defend your own armies and ships from someone else's bombers.
The next step is the dogfight. This lasts two combat rounds. Only fighters participate. They fire at their dogfight values. Destroyed units are removed from play.
After that there is the interception. Any fighters which survived the dogfight fire at enemy bombers, using their interception values. Enemy bombers fire back using their air defense values. Destroyed units are removed from play. Damaged bombers are aborted.
After this, aa guns fire. Each aa gun gets one shot only regardless of how many aircraft there are. An aa gun fires on a two.
Then, bombers attack. Three types of raids here:
- Strategic bombing raids. A medium bomber, strategic bomber, Superfortress, or flying wing does a fixed amount of PU damage to the nation whose factory is getting bombed.
- Land strafing. Normally this would be dive bombers doing this. Dive bombers get a bonus when attacking land targets. The land targets don't get to fire back, except for aa guns.
- Naval attacks. Any bombers which weren't aborted or destroyed during the interception get to attack. Torpedo bombers get a bonus for this type of attack. (Except American torpedo bombers, which need to research a cure for their faulty torpedoes to get the bonus.) Any ship damaged or destroyed by the attack gets to fire back at the bombers. This lasts two combat rounds.
At the end of each game round, air units can use their remaining range to "fly home." If a plane is over a good landing spot already it is not required to fly home. A good landing spot is either an aircraft carrier or a territory you owned at the start of your turn.
Sticky hits
Once a unit takes a single point of damage, additional hits are automatically applied to that unit until it dies, or until combat ends. Injured units heal at the end of the game round. Thus, a unit damaged during an air attack can be finished off with land or naval combat. Because of sticky hits, it is normal for units to have multiple hitpoints. For example: transports have 0 hitpoints, destroyers and subs have one hitpoint, cruisers have two hitpoints, battleships have five hitpoints, and the mighty Yamato has eight hitpoints.Naval Combat
Naval combat has three phases.- Destroyers fire. Hits are automatically applied to enemy subs first, and only then to enemy surface ships. Units destroyed in this phase do get casualty shots.
- Subs fire. Hits are only applied to enemy surface ships. Units killed in this phase do not get casualty shots.
- Non-destroyer surface ships fire. Hits are applied to enemy surface ships. Destroyed units get casualty shots.
A battleship provides support to one unit, and a Yamato battleship provides support to two units. Destroyers and cruisers can receive support. Support is provided/received on both offense and defense. It is received by destroyers first, and only then by cruisers. If a destroyer or cruiser is supported, it receives +1 to attack or to defense.
Research
Each nation except China has 1 - 3 research centers. Totals are as follows:
Germany: 3
USSR: 2
Japan: 2
Britain: 2
Italy: 1
America Pacific: 2
America Atlantic: 2For each research center you choose an area of primary focus and an area of secondary focus. These cannot overlap. For example, Britain has two research centers, and so will choose four different research categories. It cannot have all four choices be the same thing. Each research center will always get one breakthrough per turn. There is a 40% chance of this breakthrough being in its primary focus, a 20% chance of it being in its secondary focus, and a 40% chance of it being chosen at random.
Each breakthrough creates a bright yellow star. You will notice that individual techs start off with dull grey stars. Each research advance replaces one dull grey star with a bright yellow star. Once you've replaced all the dull grey stars with bright yellow stars you get the tech. For example, America Atlantic needs three bright yellow stars to unlock the Pershing tank tech.
Special Production Centers (SPCs)
This game has advanced units. Advanced units cannot be purchased with PUs. Instead, they can only be created with SPCs. An SPC creates one free advanced unit every two turns. (Once every four turns for Superfortresses.) Most of your units will be normal: you used PUs to purchase these. But some will be advanced units, created by your SPCs.Before you are allowed to build any SPCs, you must research Advanced tech. Advanced 1 lets you have one SPC, Advanced 2 lets you have two SPCs, and so forth. Each nation has a hard cap for how many SPCs it can have. These are below:
Germany: 5
USSR: 3
Japan: 3
Britain: 2
Italy: 0
China: 0
America Pacific: 2
America Atlantic: 3It is not enough to research advanced tech or build SPCs. You must also research the tech for at least one advanced unit type. Below is a list of the advanced unit types available for each nation:
Germany: Panther, King Tiger, jet, flying wing, fleet carrier, Type XXI U-boat
USSR: Heavy tank, early jet, jet, fleet carrier
Japan: early jet, jet, fleet carrier
Britain: Heavy tank, jet, fleet carrier
America Pacific: heavy tank, jet, fleet carrier, Superfortress
America Atlantic: heavy tank, jet, fleet carrierJets can land only on fleet carriers. Not on normal carriers.
Manpower Points (MPs)
There are two resource types: PUs or production units. And MPs, or manpower points. PUs represent industrial output, MPs represent men available to serve in an army. Some territories produce both PU income and MP income. A territory produces MP income only for its original owner, but provides PU income for anyone who owns it.Below is a list of infantry-type units:
Conscript. Cost: 0 PUs, 1 MP. Attack 0, defend 1, move 1. China, USSR, and Italy only.
Colonial Militia. Just like a conscript. Britain only. Britain cannot build. But it can receive for free in India each turn with "Raj" tech.
Infantry. Cost 1 PU and 1 MP. Attack 1, defend 2, move 1. All nations except China.
Marine. Cost: 2 PUs and 1 MP. Attack 2, defend 2, move 1. America Pacific only.
Sturmtruppen. Cost: 3 PUs and 1 MP. Attack 2, defend 3, move 1. Germany only.
Mobile infantry. Cost: 3 PUs and 1 MP. Attack 1, defend 2, move 2.
Mechanized infantry. Cost 5 PUs and 1 MP. Attack 2, defend 2, move 3.All infantry type units can receive support on offense and defense.
Tanks
Light tank. Cost 5. Attack 2, defend 1. Move 2. Can blitz.
Tank. Cost 8. Attack/defend on a 3. Move 2. Two hitpoints.
Heavy tank/Panther. Advanced unit. Attack/defend on a 4. Move 2. Four hitpoints.
King Tiger. Advanced unit. Attack/defend on a 4 + 4. Move 2. Six hitpoints.Heavy tanks, Panthers, and King Tigers provide support on both offense and defense. A heavy tank or Panther supports one infantry-type unit. A King Tiger supports two infantry-type units.
The "Speer's Industrialization" tech causes Germany to receive a free Panther every other turn at each of its SPCs. Therefore a German SPC is about twice as valuable as a non-German one. Late game Allied income is expected to be large, so this may be needed for game balance.
Italy and Japan start the game with the ability to build light tanks only. Researching tanks tech allows them to build medium tanks. A two hit tank sounds great. But after you think about sticky hits, a 1 hitpoint light tank for 5 PUs isn't much worse than a 2 hitpoint tank for 8 PUs. Especially considering the light tank gives you more offensive firepower for the money than the medium tank.
Diplomatic Situation
East Indies
At the start of the game, the United States is at peace. Japan is not at war with anyone either, except for China and the neutrals. The Dutch own most of the East Indies. But the Dutch do not get a turn, so that income is wasted as far as the Allies are concerned. Japan is allowed to invade the East Indies starting on round 3. To the extent Japan conquers the East Indies the money goes to Japan. But if the Allies take it back, ownership reverts to the Dutch. Which means the money goes to no one.America at Peace
While at peace, America has a very limited income. Also, its turn consists of build units and place units. No opportunity to move anything. That means the fleet at Pearl Harbor gets hit on J3.Nerfed American Income
Everyone is at war for the start of round 3. At the end of America Pacific's third turn it collects 70% of the income it should have. That goes up to 80% for turn 4, 90% for turn 5, and 100% for turn 6. America Atlantic's income nerf is worse. 30% for round 3, 40% for round 4, and so on, until it works its way up to 100%.Movement restrictions
Non-Chinese Allied units cannot enter Chinese soil. Non-Soviet Allied units cannot enter Soviet soil. If a non-Soviet Ally takes an originally Soviet territory from the Axis, that territory becomes Soviet. The non-Soviet Allied units present there are sold for cash at the end of the Soviet player's turn. If the Soviet Union takes an originally Chinese territory from the Axis, that territory becomes Soviet. But if Britain or the U.S. take an originally Chinese territory from the Axis, that territory becomes Chinese. Some of the non-Chinese units are sold to create a Chinese garrison, the rest are sold for cash for China.Lend-Lease
Britain and the U.S. are able to purchase munitions. It takes 4 PUs to purchase one munitions. These can be sent to the USSR or to China. At the end of the Soviet or Chinese player's turn, any munitions present on their soil are converted to cash. Munitions can also be used to shift income between America Pacific and America Atlantic. However, each half of America can only absorb two munitions per turn. (Upgradable to four per turn through tech.)Own Nation Carriers and Transports
Nations cannot use each other's transports or carriers. No British troops on an American transport, for example. Nations cannot share strategic bombing raids. For example, if there are British planes bombing the factory in Hamburg, there cannot be America Atlantic planes bombing that same factory on that same turn.Capitals
China does not have a capital. Later in the game it automatically receives a free tech, which causes it to get free conscripts on Chungking. China only receives those conscripts on turns it owns Chungking.For all other nations, capitals work as follows. The first time you lose your capital, you hand over all your cash to the nation which conquered it. But that is a one-time deal only. After that, the capital is treated as an ordinary territory. Your nation is allowed to collect income and spend income without regard to whether it owns its capital or not. If a nation does not own its own capital, then it is at -1 research center for each turn of non-capital ownership. Also, propaganda techs create free infantry or conscripts on a nation's capital. A nation misses out on these free units for each turn it does not own its capital.
Chinese Unit Placement
China may place up to two conscripts on any territory it owned at the start of its turn. Units which cost PUs, such as heavy guns, can only be built on Chinese factories. If China places both conscripts and non-conscript units on a territory with a factory, the first two conscripts placed do not count against the factory's unit placement limit. -
Claude's take on this:
Posen --> Wartheland
Agree. That’s exactly Reichsgau Wartheland in 1941. It also matches “West Prussia” (Danzig–West Prussia), which already uses the 1941 German name.
Bohemia --> Bohemia/Moravia
Agree. It’s the Protectorate.
Vienna--> Austria
Already done in draft 100.
Silesia--> Lower Silesia
Disagree. German Upper Silesia is in it, so “Lower” would be wrong. Keep Silesia.
Neumark --> southern Pomerania
Disagree. Schneidemühl did become Pomeranian in 1938, but Landsberg and Frankfurt an der Oder were Brandenburg. Landsberg was the Neumark’s chief town. If a change is wanted, “Grenzmark” fits the Schneidemühl half better. Pomerania then needs no “northern”.
Wurttemberg --> Baden
Disagree. “Baden” would drop Stuttgart. The accurate name, Baden-Württemberg, dates from 1952. Keep Wurttemberg.
Hesse --> Rhineland
Disagree, mildly. It’s a mix, but Cologne, the heart of the Rhineland, is in our Ruhr territory. “Rhineland” would mislead, so keep Hesse.
Ruhr --> Westphalia
Either works. Ruhr is the name players know, and it covers Cologne. Westphalia is more “provincial” in style but excludes Cologne. I’d keep Ruhr.
I actually disagree with everything Claude disagreed here except on Baden or Württemberg, as that could go either way. (I've only a slight preference for the former, mostly based on the fact that I assume the territory comprises Alsace too.)
I didn't like the name Bohemia/Moravia. Where possible I'd prefer for a territory to have one name instead of two.
Bohemia - Moravia are not two names: it's one name. The territory itself was called "Bohemia and Moravia" (in German). Do you mean that you want only one word? If only one word, of course "Bohemia" is (by far) the most important one of the two, but it would not be a good name.
It's like calling the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" as just "Britain". You can do that, but it is not a good name because it is as if you are excluding Northern Ireland.
Alternatively, you can split the territory in two west-east and call the western one Bohemia and the eastern one Moravia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravia -
Berlin should not be closer to Krakow than Warsaw is. Either Silesia should be split, or Neumark and West Prussia should be merged.
Upper Silesia (east) and Lower Silesia (west) are the natural divisions if you decide to split Silesia.
Yes, but currently Upper Silesia is practically split almost in half betwen the Silesia and the Krakow territories (or at least looks like to me). Connections wise, it is more like as if it is part of Krakow because the actual Upper Silesia bordered Slovakia.
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@Cernel The amount of real estate that a name takes up on the map also matters. If the name is too long and ends up bleeding over into neighboring territories or having to be shrunk to a barely readable font size, the result ends up looking ugly.
Bohemia works as a shorthand that was in common use for Bohemia-Moravia. There’s no problem with doing that - notice we’re not obliged to refer to the UK player as “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” in all contexts.
Hesse actually looks out of place now as Germany’s western border territory - the real state of Hesse doesn’t touch Belgium or France at all. Either Rhineland or Westphalia would be more appropriate for that.
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The start of round 5 for a recent test game.
Germany built a ton of transports on G1, and conquered Leningrad on G2. After that, however, the northern portion of Germany's eastern front somewhat stalled. Note the massive Soviet unit placement capacity on Archangel and Gorky.
This is the southern portion of Germany's eastern front. It is tempted to unite the Kiev and Vitebsk stacks in Gomel. While the German offensive might stall before Moscow, at least the Germans can add some land before that happens.
Over in the west, the British have been invading France. Germany probably under-spent on that front early game, but is trying to make up for it now.
Germany may have messed up its western front. America Atlantic is starting to behave as you'd expect America in NWO to behave. To push back against that, the Germans should not have neutral farmed Switzerland on G1. Instead they should have gone to Spain earlier, in an effort to prevent the Allies from taking root there.
The east Mediterranean. The British weren't paying enough attention, and the Italians won a crushing victory in the Western Desert. Italy should be in good shape on that front, at least for now. However, problems are starting to appear in the west.
China! China has been a major thorn in Japan's side. Japan has been going south. China has responded by going south as well, and exerting major pressure on Japan. Japan had built a factory + trenches for Tonkin. China took Tonkin with a couple of heavy guns left at the end of the fight. Instead of retaking Tonkin immediately, Japan shipped to Kwangsi, to destroy a large Chinese army there. China responded by building units + trenches for Tonkin. Japan took Tonkin anyway, but it was tough. Due to an error on Japan's part, China destroyed a Japanese army in Western Hunan. China is getting pushed back overall, but it's been tough work for Japan.
The Japanese fleet that destroyed the American fleet at Pearl. 8 torpedo bombers attacked during the air phase, and the rest of the Japanese fleet moved in during Japan's turn to finish off the American fleet.
America Pacific's fleet. It is licking its wounds after its defeat at Pearl. It has also started neutral farming.
Technology
Germany hopes to have SPCs producing Panther tanks, ideally with Speer's Industrialization adding more tanks. It's made some progress towards achieving this, but has yet to unlock Panther tank tech.The Soviet Union would love to have SPCs producing KV-1 tanks. But even more than that, it would love to unlock better recruitment tech. (Of which the Soviet Union has by far the best in the game.) Also it's been having unit placement problems due to too many conscripts and anti-tank guns. Recruitment is the primary focus for a Soviet research center, while tanks tech and advanced are areas of secondary focus. Its other primary focus I think is Innovation, because Industry tech would solve its unit placement problems.
Japan has two research centers. One of them has a primary focus on Japan tech, because that is a good way of increasing its late game income. Already Japan tech has yielded Long Lance torpedoes. It could also envision itself having SPCs, producing fleet carriers. Therefore carriers tech and advanced are among Japan's research goals. It also (accidentally!) got industry tech. That adds +2 to a factory's unit placement capacity, so long as the underlying territory is worth at least 2. That tech has solved Japan's unit placement problems.
Britain also got industry tech, but unlike Japan this was done on purpose. This gives Britain the ability to place more units on India and Africa, should it wish to push harder against Japan or Italy. The extra unit placement capacity is also useful for its war against Germany.
Italy. With just one research center Italy doesn't have much of a research strategy. Its goal is to get free units or resources. With that in mind, it chose innovation as its primary focus and recruitment as its secondary focus. It has yet to unlock any free resource techs, but it is certainly looking forward to doing so.
America Pacific. America Pacific is proud to have already discovered fleet carrier tech. In addition it has discovered advanced 1, allowing it to build one SPC. Receiving a free fleet carrier every other turn will help it in its war against Japan. It is also focusing on USA tech, because that is a good source of added income. Due to making piston air a priority, it received SBD Dauntless tech. At least for now, its dive bombers are better at naval combat than its torpedo bombers.
America Atlantic. Also focusing on USA tech to add to its income. It could envision itself with some SPCs creating Pershing heavy tanks. America Atlantic is the most income nerfed nation in the game. After very minimal income for rounds 1 - 2, it collects 30% of its true income on round 3, 40% on round 4, and so forth. Late game it will be an economic powerhouse. It is planning on using this economic strength in Spain, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. It could envision itself eventually conquering Rome.
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The end of the game. Round 7. The Soviet Union destroys the German army at Dnepropetrovsk. 76 conscripts to soak up hits, plus 42 anti-tank guns to provide some firepower while soaking up more hits, plus some tanks and artillery to enhance the offensive firepower.
I may need to make some tweaks to help balance this. However, Germany did put up a better fight on the northern part of its eastern front than it did in the southern portion.
The Asian mainland, round 7. Japan would love to just crush China but thus far has been unable to do so. Japan would also like to start pushing Britain out of India, but that hasn't happened thus far. Britain just got Raj tech, which means three free colonial militia for India each turn.
Japan has conquered the Philippines and part of the East Indies. It finally took Hong Kong. Singapore is proving a disturbingly tough nut to crack.
Neutral farming for America Pacific. Also it has been building up its fleet to be able to challenge the IJN. Japan hasn't kept pace with the naval builds, because it's been preoccupied with mainland Asia and the East Indies.
The Soviet Union has been one of Japan's problems. Vladivosok is worth 7. The Soviets recently started placing 9 units a turn there due to industry tech. Japan does not want that war, because it's one war too many.
End of the game tech: Germany had just gotten Speer's Industrialization. It was making good progress with advanced tech. But all that was hollow without Panther tank tech (which it did not yet have). Japan was making good progress with its Japan techs, but the Japan techs it really wanted--the income increasing ones--would not kick in until later in the game. Italy was unlucky with its tech rolls, with nearly everything chosen at random. Britain had made good use of tech (industry tech), the Soviet Union had gotten conscription 1 tech (1 free conscript a turn per factory, so long as the underlying territory is originally Soviet and worth at least 9). Possibly the most successful for tech was America Pacific. It had discovered fleet carrier, it had an SPC, and it had extended range for piston tech. (Allowing its fighters, heavy fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers to have a range of 4.)
Conclusion: I could have played better with both sides. No question there. That said, I believe the map is unbalanced in favor of the Allies. Germany got distracted from its eastern front too quickly. Japan could maybe use a couple extra transports with which to start the game. Britain can exert too much pressure too quickly in France, and it's difficult for Germany to counter that due to Britain's advantage in local unit placement capacity. Italy had some success, but it didn't look as if that success was going to turn into anything decisive. America Atlantic's income grows over time--I think it hits full income on round 10--so it was going to be able to put more and more economic pressure on Italy.
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