Over the Reich - McMonkey vs. JPetroski

[JPetroski]

Yes. You should send your aircrew on holiday. Perhaps send Rommel home to see his wife. All is quiet; all is well!

 

[McMonkey]

Axis Turn 37

A formation of Halifax bombers is intercepted and destroyed west of the Rhine. Four shot down.

 

[JPetroski]

Allies Turn 38

-Port at Rostock attacked but not destroyed
-Wilhelmshaven bombed successfully
-Factory at St. Nazaire attacked but not destroyed – 1x B-24 lost to flak
-Factory at Paris attacked but not destroyed
-Factory at Munich bombed and destroyed

 

[McMonkey]

Axis Turn 38

Three Halifax shot down over Wilhelmshaven. Three B24 shot down over Munich. One B24 shot down north of Paris. One B24 and one P47 Thunderbolt shot down over St Nazaire.

This game is hotting up nicely!

 

[JPetroski]

Allies Turn 39

-Port at Rostock is finished off by B-24 liberators
-Factory at St. Nazaire destroyed by B-24 liberators
-Factory at Brest destroyed by B-24 liberators for the cost of 1 bomber to flak

 

[McMonkey]

Axis Turn 39

Two B24s shot down over Brest, one over St. Nazaire & one over Rostock. The Allies get Bomber Increment Great reward for me shooting down all those aircraft. Not

 

[JPetroski]

That doesn't mean that I get a bomber; it is keeping track of another mechanism designed to force me to fight you where I can't reach you with fighters. I'll edit it out though (I left it in by accident) so that you don't get angst

 

[JPetroski]

Allies Turn 40
-Fuel refinery at Paris destroyed
-Factory at Rouen destroyed
-Factory at Paris destroyed, 1x B-24 lost to flak
-Jever AFB attacked by Lancasters – several fighters (I believe 4 of which at least one is a Ju88 of some type) destroyed on ground and a few more damaged
-88mm attacked by fighter bombers near Paris but not destroyed
-Events fix uploaded (simply removes your angst).

Don't kill yourself trying to play quickly as I won't be able to play again for about 10 hours.

 

[McMonkey]

I think I saw in the read me that Bomber Increment opens up the research branch for escort fighters. That was the reason for my feigned dismay. In reality, it's just more targets for me to shoot down!

 

[JPetroski]

I think I saw in the read me that Bomber Increment opens up the research branch for escort fighters. That was the reason for my feigned dismay. In reality, it's just more targets for me to shoot down!

Yes, it does do that. Although I'll take a free hand over the Reich if you prefer not to shoot them down!

 

[McMonkey]

Axis Turn 40

Well, that's what the military calls a target rich environment!

North of Paris and Rouen eight B24s, four P47s and two P38s shot down for the loss of one Me109.

East of Nantes one B24 shot down.

Between Rottum & Jever airbases in Northern Germany the RAF loses three Lancasters & two Halifax bombers. The Flak batteries are put on high alert and civilians run for the air-raid shelters - we're expecting rain!

 

[JPetroski]

Allies Turn 41
-2/3 dams in Ruhr destroyed
-Schiphol and Deeleen bombed to no effect
-Aircraft factory NE of Holland bombed but not destroyed
-Major air battle near Paris. 6x Fw190 destroyed for loss of 1x P-47
-Cormeilles and Beaumont AF strafed and bombed – 3.7cm Flak destroyed at Beaumont
-U-Boat sunk in convoy zone

 

[McMonkey]

The text popup about the Ruhr dams said something about Construction crews being created to repair damage and trains being diverted. I'm not sure how this whole Historical event mechanism works. Am I meant to do something specific with the Construction teams? Also, how long does the Historic Target stay there for? Do I need to protect my last remaining Dam for the remainder of the game or is there a time limit? This is one part of the ReadMe I've not fully understood.

Also, should there be some kind of popup for the German player to alert them that the Historic Targets are active? I was unaware of either of the Ruhr Dams or Hamburg even being targets until they were under attack/destroyed! Presumably you must have received a notification for the Allied side to know these targets were activated.

While I'm pointing out minor flaws I've noticed that some of the unit costs in the ReadMe are out of date and also the Fw190A8 doesn't have Rockets listed as a secondary weapon.

 

[JPetroski]

The text popup about the Ruhr dams said something about Construction crews being created to repair damage and trains being diverted. I'm not sure how this whole Historical event mechanism works. Am I meant to do something specific with the Construction teams? Also, how long does the Historic Target stay there for? Do I need to protect my last remaining Dam for the remainder of the game or is there a time limit? This is one part of the ReadMe I've not fully understood.

-You don't have to do anything with the Construction teams - they're just diverted from whatever you were doing with them, if you even had any.
-As for the trains, some that were going to be created for you automatically will be deleted next turn.
-All historic targets with the exception of Berlin generally hang around for 1-8 turns, so you don't have to defend them indefinitely but you want to defend them while they are active.
-I can add to the appendix of historic targets the time length the targets will be there.

Also, should there be some kind of popup for the German player to alert them that the Historic Targets are active? I was unaware of either of the Ruhr Dams or Hamburg even being targets until they were under attack/destroyed! Presumably you must have received a notification for the Allied side to know these targets were activated

-I don't think the Germans should get a text box warning. Did the Germans know that a low-level attack was coming that would target precisely certain dams? Or would they necessarily know which of several cities on course the Allies were to hit? Frankly, given my stupid decision to only have 2 civs and not save a spare "utility civ," the Civ2 game mechanism gives you a very good warning system with your defense minister, anyway. I do wish that I had put some text on the map for the Ruhr dams but found that trying to add that after the cloud system was implemented crashed the game, so it's not there. I might add a text box at the beginning of the game to warn players about this (I mean, they're not even on in-game rivers so I can completely understand why you wouldn't know they are there!!! On the other hand, they're right next to presumably the most heavily defended area on the map).

While I'm pointing out minor flaws I've noticed that some of the unit costs in the ReadMe are out of date and also the Fw190A8 doesn't have Rockets listed as a secondary weapon.

-Good catch. I'll fix this for another release.

 

[McMonkey]

Got it. These engineers were already mine, just relocated. I assumed the one I noticed was missing had been destroyed by Jabos!

I get that the city targets don't need a warning, but with the Dams I did not know where they were & wasn't looking to see if a Historical Target unit had showed up in the Defence Ministers report so I was blissfully unaware that they even existed. I get what you're saying about not wanting to tip off the Axis. Perhaps you could put some kind of visual marking on the map (if you have anything spare) to indicate the locations the dams may be created on. That way the axis player can keep an eye on them. It just doesn't seem right as it is currently IMHO.

 

[McMonkey]

Axis Turn 41

Over the Ruhr three Lancasters and three Halifax bombers are shot down with another one seriously damaged. Puzzlingly when attacking the last Lancaster I got a message that there was defensive fire from that aircraft and two Halifaxes. Despite an extensive search of the area I could not locate these two phantom bombers (presuming the defensive fire range is two squares). One Halifax is shot down by Flak over Holland.

South of Paris two B24s are shot down by Flak & Fw190s and one P38 over Paris falls to Flak fire.

 

[JPetroski]

I'll try to find some solution to it before the next release. I'm not sure if it's possible to reset clouds again so I can add text to the map, as that would be the preferred option over using another unit that just as likely might not be seen (you were shooting down planes a few hexes away from those units - depending on monitor size I would think they might be visible?)

 

[JPetroski]

Allies Turn 42

Big activity turn as the largest Allied raid to date reaches Northern Germany unmolested.

-RAF bombers redeploy to the Ruhr as the dams are encircled and can’t be reached.
-Urban area near Dortmund destroyed
-Urban area near Essen destroyed
-Port at Hamburg destroyed
-Refinery at Luebeck destroyed
-Port at Kiel destroyed
-Fuel refinery at Kiel destroyed
-Fuel refinery near Amsterdam destroyed
-Cormeilles emptied of defenders
-Bodilis AFB attacked

-Through all of this several B-17 take heavy damage and also several Luftwaffe fighters are observed to be destroyed by friendly flak as they seem to fly into the flak belts to attack the bombers.

 

[McMonkey]

A map label would be ideal. Just as an indicator where the Dams may pop up and a reminder to the player to be vigilant. After all, the dams would have been heavily protected by Flak during the war.

It might be a good idea to put in a few lines warning the players that aircraft can be hit by their own Flak units if they are too close. I cannot recall seeing anything about this in the ReadMe and I've just double checked the Flak section and it doesn't seem to mention it there (apologies if it is located elsewhere & I just overlooked it!).

 

[JPetroski]

Yes.... That is a pretty egregious oversight by me that I'll have to correct. I could have sworn that I included text on that but it seems you are right. I was wondering if you missed that which is why I've mentioned it a few times in this thread and now I can see that you havent missed anything at all, the dolt of a designer screwed up!!!

Anyway you can attack with your fighters near your flak but you don't want to park them next to flak to end a turn as they can be hit by the reaction.