Research question

In case anyone is interested, I’ve also been working on some naval supply rules and like Narvik I settled on a naval movement/combat radius of 2 or 3 sea zones from friendly naval bases. Submarines and transports get a range of 5, since they operated at slower speeds which provided better endurance and range.

To go along with that I also am working on rules for oilers that would extend the range of naval units; right now I’m thinking that each oiler gives an additional 1-2 range. This would allow you to combine one or more oilers and a naval base into a long supply chain to your fleet, like the US and UK did in the Pacific. This also allows for interesting side-rules like German secret raiders who can act as oilers to supply the commerce raiding warships, or submarine oilers (the “Milchcow”).

If a fleet is suddenly rendered out of supply, either due to loss of oilers or naval bases, I say that they are not allowed to initiate combat, must retreat immediately if attacked (not sure yet if I’m happy with this), and must non-combat move towards the nearest friendly naval base on their turn until they are back in supply.

I have not yet been able to test any of these rules to verify they are fair and fun, but it seems like they should generally work.

Most WWII-era ships had a designed range of about 10,000 nmi at 10 to 15 knots (typical cruising speed). Bumping up to combat speed drastically reduced that range, down to about 2,500 nmi. I’ve done lots of calculations and in Global War 1936 each sea zone on the map is about 1000 nmi wide, so reducing the combat radius of ships to 2-3 sea zones from a naval base is actually fairly accurate if you assume a fleet at sea is doing a mix of cruising speed and combat speed and either being supplied by a local oiler at the naval base, or maybe the fleet is running back and forth between port and their assigned sea zone each turn. Then each oiler unit would represent a collection of oilers and supply ships able to carry supplies further out to sea.

@Gargantua:

So if it doesn’t use a first strike ability… it can’t be hit?  wtf.

Pretty Much, it makes sense for game balance, but not so much for realism.

Ya we know.

i like the convoy zone optional rule, however i believe there should be a qualification that the axis still only gain the income on an actual roll of a 1.  this would represent the fact that subs can’t steal cargo, their sole goal was to destroy merchant ships not seize them.

Yes

Have to build on next turn. Newly built naval units may only be placed in sea zone with a Naval Base and IC that were there at beginning of turn.

I may make a rule change where italy can be attacked by the allies immediately after the turn germany takes paris or is at war with russia.  This may keep italy at bay enough for the allies at the start of the game.  This needs to be play tested.

Hey Tigerman, I just played my first game yesterday.  I really enjoyed it and I want to say thank you for developing a great game.  It is an awesome advanced-level axis & allies that should keep even the best players challenged for years to come.

I was playing as USSR and our side won!  I Just wanted to give you a few first impressions as newbie player feedback for your interest:

I really like some of the mechanics of the game that give you more options (e.g. mechs towing artillery; paratroopers, fortresses)

There are a couple of oddities about the map that I don’t like (e.g. Australia and Cairo are far more vulnerable than in the Global 1940 map; only 1 move from USA to Normandy).  Seem to me not enough sea zones in a few areas.

Axis have a lot of advantages (e.g. blitzkrieg, sneak attack, banzai, all kinds of special units) and the allies don’t seem to have much going for them.  It feels very weighted toward the axis side.

Not all of the powers are equal difficulty to handle.  Each has strengths and weaknesses, but overall I would say the guy who plays UK has a much more difficult job than others do.  Just managing all those economies looks very hard.

Germany gets $5 tanks so they can build just tanks and slaughter Russia early. Meanwhile if Russia rolls poorly for income the first few rounds they might not have much to fight back with. Maybe Russia getting $2 infantry could balance that, or more expensive German tanks.  In Global 1940 Germany has to use all 5 kinds of ground units effectively (inf, art, mech, tank, AA) and coordinate air support for combined arms.  In Global War 1939 if Germany can kill Russia just building tanks (less efficient than mech/art combos), then that tells you Russia is too weak.  Another bump might be to give Russia fortresses in Moscow and Stalingrad as well as Leningrad.

South Africa as a separate economy means it is a very small economy.  It can’t do much to help defend or liberate Cairo.  It should be part of the UK economy or at least UK should be able to mobilize more units there (mobile ones).

USSR needs a minor IC either in Stalingrad or Baku and they can’t afford to build one.  If they one in that area they might be able to send some mobile units down to Cairo.

Again, thanks for all your hard work on this game.