Wondering if anyone else has thought about the current and future state of England. As a starting point I submit that the UHV lacks for challenge especially compared to England's assets. As a corollary I'd also submit that UHV #2 (AKA Ship Mania) accounts for much of my first point as an outcome of not only what it does or doesn't do well for gameplay but the opportunity cost as well. Therefore, I think The England Game can be easily improved without going far beyond attention to UHV #2. I favor scrapping the concept altogether at this point
without failing to acknowledge that at least in principle it was a good and fitting idea by Leoreth to try. I'd have also thought it kinda cursed to not attach
something navy-related beyond just a UU. If, however, we agreed that English/British naval prowess be more accurately considered as a means rather than an end, then we'd have to agree that UHV #2 presently has it backwards so is therefore lacking in the historicity department. In the gameplay area it's always had more the feel of a chore than a challenge (again no disrespect to Big L!)
With UHV #2 now blank for our purposes, I propose it be used to present an
aspirational challenge to the player. At the very least it would extend the English timeline to the 20th century to better reflect its historical relevance. This alone would necessarily increase the challenge factor mainly vis-a-vis Stability which would now need be maintained longer. Nothing original yet jumps out at me for the particulars of the goal and I confess my mind can't think beyond unimaginative stuff like "make Empire bigger dolla-dolla-bills-yall". Maintaining the England would be a tempting prospect but I've already played past current UHV goals for testing/curiosity purposes and both holding Solid to prevent Canada spawn and annihilating America was comfortably easy. I'm hoping to tap into the latent potential of mostly-unused, underused, or heretofore untried mechanics, situations, outcomes, etc. as a goal condition. For redundancy I'm referring to the structure of goals like "XXX gold by XXX date" "Control XXX by XXX" "Acquire XXX through XXX". I'd petition my fellow DOCsychos to brainstorm a new combination if not a new goal concept entirely. Or an interesting emphasis on an aspect of British history and how it could be implemented. As an example thought perhaps the focus would be on a more concrete representation of Britain as the midwife of the Industrial Revolution and it's role in catapulting ol' Blighty to global preeminence. I can see a place for Manufactured Goods to play a role somewhere as a possibility. Though admittedly this alone wouldn't amount to much more than a reskin of Build 50 ships, implementing required MFG as a relative (think America global GDP share) rather than absolute quantity would maybe help flesh out the concept. How about a darkhorse angle like Britain as a diplomatic power? But, ya know, like different enough from HRE or Russian goals? Something involving government types like No fascists in Europe or Only Monarchies in Europe (
) - yeah I'll admit the historical case might not be that strong (we all know Churchill loved the idea of democracy and totally wouldn't enjoy holding All the Power
).
Final Note: Though I held focus on UHV #2 that isn't to imply that the others are without room for improvement or tweaking. UHV #1 could at least probably be expanded and/or have date changed. UHV #3 is
currently an afterthought but that would be addressed indirectly if the ambition of my post be realized so I'm not inclined to open that discussion yet if ever. Lastly, I felt confident and comfortable to share my thoughts prior to the new map on the
assumption that the factors addressed would be present independent of map changes no matter how comprehensive; for all we know now it could come to pass that the gamestate balance we settle on down the line ends up solving all of the alleged shortcomings of the England game but yous probably also wouldn't think it worth taking into serious consideration either
TLDR; English UHV is too short, too easy, and too drudging. Focusing on UHV #2 would account for most of the desired improvement but other areas are also ripe for reconsideration. Leoreth Rulez.