1936 Global Assault

[dankok8]

I'm just playing the Global Assault Historical as Germany in UE 1.1 and I've got to say that this is absolutely amazing!! Great job Dale. I don't think people appreciate how much work it requires to make something like this. It sucks that I don't have a powerful enough computer to have BitterWinter and CombatEffects ON. This scenario is just so well balanced which is a great accomplishment on top of being very historically accurate as well. The AI seems to do a good job attacking as Franco eliminated Azana by 1938 (actually a bit early!) and the Soviets took L'viv and Vilnus 1 turn after declaration on Poland. Japan also did fairly well and captured 2 Chinese cities (Hohhot and Tianjin), but the war has turned into a stalemate. I'm currently (October 1939) about equal in power to France (which is accurate - Germany only won through superior tactics) and dwarfed by the Soviets who have 2.5X my power (which is probably accurate as well since they should have large numbers of units).

I decided to start a new thread to voice some of my minor criticisms (I've made a few comments on an older thread and no one said anything).

Anyways, I did find a few things that annoyed me slightly:
1) Italy is too powerful. I realize this was done for balance reasons (if Italy was weak, it would be too easy to win with France or Britain), but still. I'm Germany and Italy is almost as strong as myself and Japan combined. I know they have slightly inferior units in terms of stats and have a large navy (which is historically accurate as Italy had a large Mediterranean navy), but a huge airforce?!? I think they have something like 2-3X my airforce. I might fix that in WB by one of 3 ways:
a) by taking away some air units from Italy in the beginning
b) decrease their production significantly
c) eliminate their ability to construct Aircraft Factories in some cities.
Tell me what you think...

2) Range of aircraft is too huge. Dale already mentioned that this is because the range must be the same for all 3 maps and Global is very large, but I wish there was a way to fix it.

3) Lack of what-if mode. The what-if mode should in my opinion be a historical mode, but with the option of swaying the neutral nations like Iberia (Spain and Portugal), Turkey, Brazil, Iran, etc, but no the major power of both sides as is possible with Open Mode. Having Britain join Japan against the Americans makes no sense for example. If Iberia could be swayed to the Axis however, then Germany could capture Gibraltar and prevent Britain from operating in the Mediterranean. This can lead Axis to victory in North Africa and in turn allow them to capture the Suez. Likewise, if Turkey joins the Axis and half a million Turks show up at Stalingrad with a million Germans, does the siege succeed? In addition, these neutral nations should be able to change their political system in response to foreign persuasion or if a human nations is playing them. Some people already suggested this so any comments are welcome.

 

[dankok8]

Ok, I played on to April 1940. Great mod!!

I conquered the French in Europe, but taking Strasbourg was no pushover. First I had to establish air superiority and fight off a few French cavalry and infantry that crossed the border. Then I had to sacrifice my Austrian and Czechoslovak comrades (the weak basic infantries) to soften up the French defenders and that's after bombing away the Maginot Line completely with Bf 109's and Stukas. I lost a few Bf's as well fighting the Hawker Hurricanes who were coming from London. Canada unloaded a modest stack behind my lines and sank a few of my submarines. It sucks to kill your countrymen even if it is a game Near the end, I also took out Denmark and haven't yet declared on the Low Countries. I'm playing on Emperor btw.

The Soviets took the Finns out in 1 turn. Maybe too fast - I might try to strengthen the Finns a little bit if I can, but it probably won't work.

Italy is much much stronger (~2X) than me and I've been pumping out a fair amount if units. They started the scenario stronger as well (?) and they Fiat fighters are only slightly weaker than Bf 109's. I don't know, but is this historically accurate even a slightest bit? The Soviets are ~3X stronger and I don't feel good about Barbarossa if Italy doesn't help, but Soviets should be strong.

Tell me what you think about the Italy and maybe Finland problems and how to fix them. I need ideas...

 

[VeteranLurker]

QUick thoughts, based on my attempts to revamp things: give Finland a maginot fortress in Helsinki (not totally accurate, but it sure beats redrawing the global map just to give Finland a one-square buffer between Leningrad and Helsinki). If you're only doing Global, then reduce air range for all fighters across the board.

Dunno about Italy's strength -- my experience is that they build air units at the expense of ground units. Restricting their factories might help, as might raising the cost of air units.

I've toyed with the religion/civics angles you mention (attempting to add an ideological victory condition), but have not learned enough modding to get it to work yet. I fear that it ultimately won't work as you suggest (e.g. England highly-unlikely to ally against the USA but Turkey somewhat-likely to ally against USSR; government changes allowed, but severe consequences for a 'democratic' country like USA to adopt fascism) without much inner-tweaking. The issue is how to prevent the AI from doing something stupid/contrary-to-possible-history without having to script everything and still allowing the AI some leeway.

 

[dankok8]

Due to the nature of the Global Map, Finland only has 2 cities and I would need to give them a huge army (as strong as the major powers) for them to survive the Soviet War. I can give them the Maginots, but won't the Soviet Air Force just bomb the hell out of them? Maybe they would survive for a few turns...

I think Italy should:
#1) start with a weaker army overall (they shouldn't be more powerful than Germany or Japan; they should be a weak link. Their airforce in particular needs to be toned down.
#2) not have the ability to build Aircraft Factories everywhere (I don't know how to implement this).

The What-If Mode is also tough to make. I don't know how to.

Still the best BTS Mod overall. Hands down.

 

[VeteranLurker]

If you want to restrict Italy's ability to build aircraft factories, remove the goods factory from a city.

I've not played Italy much in Global lately to know details, but in general I think they can end up much stronger than Germany -- if both are played by the AI for example, Italy simply has more cities with potential for production/growth. Italy/Germany are better balanced in the Europe scenario, but that doesn't help if you're playing Global. Same for Finland -- I've played Finland in the Europe scenario, and you can really take it to Russia then; in Global, Finland has little hope because they cannot produce much of anything (certainly not compared to USSR's production). Maginot fortifications in Helsinki should at least slow the USSR down a bit, but that's about it.

 

[kiwitt]

..., remove the goods factory from a city.

I did that in my Europe Scenario for all the new cities I added. Limited only to producing Infantry.

 

[kuff-dam]

Due to the nature of the Global Map, Finland only has 2 cities and I would need to give them a huge army (as strong as the major powers) for them to survive the Soviet War. I can give them the Maginots, but won't the Soviet Air Force just bomb the hell out of them? Maybe they would survive for a few turns...

I think Italy should:
#1) start with a weaker army overall (they shouldn't be more powerful than Germany or Japan; they should be a weak link. Their airforce in particular needs to be toned down.
#2) not have the ability to build Aircraft Factories everywhere (I don't know how to implement this).

The What-If Mode is also tough to make. I don't know how to.

Still the best BTS Mod overall. Hands down.

check out my update http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=11924