What kind of diplomatic play will be in the game?

Ron

Really don't have any diplomatic play in the game planned so far.  There is a list of optional rules chosen when the scenario is selected that allow some countries to be included or not included in operations.  Some examples are:

1. No 1930 Russian purges

2. No 1939 Russian vs Poland

3. No German invasion of Russia

4. USA Neutral with Lend Lease

5. USA Neutral without Lend Lease

6. Spain Joins the Axis

7. Turkey Joins the Axis

8. USA Focus on the Pacific

I am always open to good ideas for game play, but reserve the right to final decision.  What do you suggest?  Are there additional optional rules the community would like to see included?

Thanks,

Ron

I think another option could be Yugoslavia joins Axis.   I am just throwing this out to get some ideas going, what about in the campaign game to have control of capitol cities as having a diplomatic event.  Like  if the  Germans control Paris, maybe Hungary would have a die roll chance of joining the Axis.  Or like if Germany conquered Alexandria or Seuz, to have a die roll affecting Turkey joining the Axis.

I have an idea!  What if conquering a country and also taking its capitol, and also conquering some geographic areas such as Malta, Gibraltar and such were worth diplomatic points.  The players, Axis, Allied, Communist could put forth the earned diplomatic points to sway a country toward its side.  For example, conquering Belgium might be worth, say, 5 points.  Germany could then apply them to Spain and with a die roll maybe move it on a chart kept by the computer toward the Axis side.  Maybe make a chart that has several degrees of favoring a side and so many diplomatic points would be worth a point and a die roll.

Hi  Ron

No Update for a while, any news?

Drew

Thanks, Drewblack, for reminding me.  Sometimes I get so focused that I forget to post WWII-Europe status.

I have been focused entirely on getting the terrain array sufficiently done in order to work supply rules and implementation.  After that, then we begin with Playtest #1.

The terrain array is complete from columns 56 to 140, and 200 to 279.  Columns 0 to 55 can wait, and columns 280 to 434 can wait. So, 60 columns to go.  This basically covers the same area as AGW, plus extends far enough east to cover all of the battles except the Stalingrad area.  I will need to wait until the maps are completed in those areas before proceeding with the terrain array.  I complete about 10-15 columns per week, so I am only a few weeks away from finishing the area I need.  Add 3 weeks for supply rules and implementation, and you can predict Playtest #1 start time.

Thanks,

Ron

Thanks for the heads up Ron.. Keep on it.

Drew

Completed up to column 170 this weekend.  Thirty columns to go!

Ron

This is a great idea!  I love all the Schwerpunkt games thus far.  I hope you can continue to refine the interface so that it uses more in the way of a "standard" Windows interface, in order to make it more intuitive.  AGW was a big step forward from RGW in terms of ease-of-use, but I'd encourage you to look at something like "War in the East" for some hints on how to refine it even further.

Better yet, make it for the iPad3.  I just can't believe there is only *one* real wargame (Battle Academy) for what is quite obviously the *best* device ever for playing them.  Or maybe the Google Nexus 7 - that's a seriously hot platform right now.

I tell you, whoever is first out of the gate with a serious, hex-based "classic" wargame on a tablet is gonna make some real money. 

Sorry - I'm all over the place tonight.  Too much coffee at work today 

In the campaign game, diplomacy of some sort is necessary, to handle the minor allies.  For instance, when and how do Romania, Bulgaria, etc., join or not join the Axis? 

One alternative is to simply make minor entry historical.  Another would be to make it historical, but dependent upon previous player actions: for instance, Romania would never become Axis, if the Germans failed to take France. 

In AGW, the players simply have to agree on some entry date for those minor countries, when playing the campaign game.

Originally Posted By gwgardner (1 AUG 2012 11:00am)
Another would be to make it historical, but dependent upon previous player actions: for instance, Romania would never become Axis, if the Germans failed to take France.

Some events should depend from others and not all should depends from players action but should have some uncertainty (but along historical guidelines), so the game could be more interesting to play.

Hi  Ron

Its time agian, where we up to??? any new screen shots this time.

Thanks

Drew

Thanks for the reminder, drewblack.  Progress on WWII Europe:

1. Completed entering metadata on hexes in columns 56 through 279 (AGW map area).  Entered metadata on columns 0 through 56 for places where the maps are complete.  Began moving east.  Columns 279 through 348 (mainly Russia) have maps completed, so I want to do them before proceeding with a Playtest #1.

2. Continuing to write supply rules, and plan to ship them to the playtesters this month for comments.  Playtest group will be coming online very soon.  At first, Q&A.  Then Playtest #1 with real code, scenarios and comments.

3. KC's semester has completed, and she plans to work on the map area of Spain and Morocco (columns 0 through 56).  If time permits before next semester, she plans to work on the rest of Russia.

4. Fixed various bugs found in internal playtests, and made various refinements.

5. Nine battles completed, and several more in various stages of completion.

No showstoppers, only the time needed to complete the build of the maps, terrain array and battles.

Ron

Status for WWII-Europe going into the weekend:

1. Completed the lead in screen for the game.  I have nicknamed it "The Leaders", or "Facebook 1935".  :-)

2. Setup framework and approach for lead-in screen number 2.  "The Equipment".

3. Currently working on lead-in screen number 3, the battles.  Give the players a quick description of each battle and allows selection. "The Battles"

4. Continuing to develop the terrain array.  Completed column 283 marching east to column 348.

5. KC is making very good progress (between semesters) on Spain and Portugal maps, then will head east to complete the rest of Russia and the Middle East.

6.  And most importantly: We have setup the playtesters group, and have began review and comment on selected topics.  The first one is on supply rules.

Really like the lead-in screens.  They are no longer just a graphic, but give additioanl information and allow selection.

Really like the playtest group.  Wide variety of opinions, geographically dispersed (thank you Internet),  and wide variety of experience.  They are very good.

Ron

I have thinking about diplomacy and I didn't find a perfect solution.

Main problem is that the game has a lot of stand-alone scenarios, where Ron approach to select diplomacy options before fits quite well, but also has minor campaings (1, 9, 26, 33, 42, 52, 57, 64,  72, 81, 88, 95, basically the same as stand-alone scenarios, but biggers), big campaigns (100, 101, 102, where more detailed diplomacy would be welcomed) and a monster campaing (103, where different diplomacy approach is desirable).

However I don't think that implementing different kinds of diplomacy would be easy in this game. 

There are too many variables for different scenarios. For instance, take Scenario 60, To the Caucasus. Well, this is a stand-alone scenario and if we can choose the Turkey joins Axis (or allies) without any problem. Any decission will affect the game from Turn 1, but this is ok. Is just an additional option for a stand-alone scenario. However for the big and monster campaings could have a richer diplomacy game. 

Here are my 2 cents if it is possible to change diplomacy only for 100, 101, 102 & 103 scenarios):

- Surrender. A country surrender if some key cities are take at the same time and a good porcentage of troops are destroyed (maybe 60%?). This goes beyond the Surrender on loss of capital in AGW. Better to make it difficult than just go in masse for one city. Troops from this nacionality in other areas are not affected, like french or british units in Africa.

    - Poland: Warsaw, Brest, Cracow.

    - France: All Paris hexes, Lyon, Marseille, Brest.

    - Yugoslavia: Belgrade, Zagreb, Skopje.

    - Greece: Athens, Salonica, Trikkala.

    - Bulgaria: Sofiya, Plovdiv, Varna.

    - Hungary: Budapest, Pecs, Debrecen. 

    - England: All London hexes, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Belfast.

    - Netherlands: Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam.

    - Belgium: Bruxelles, Antwerp, Liége + Luxembourg.

    - Denmark: Kobenhavn, Aalborg, Odense.

    - Norway: Oslo, Trondheim, Narvik.

    - Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia.

    - Turkey: Ankara, Istambul,  Izmir.

    - Portugal: Lisboa, Porto.

    - Romania: Bucharest, Ploesti, Iasi.

    - Finland: Helsinki,  Viipuri, Lappeenranta.

    - Italy: Rome, Napoli, Messina.

    - Germany: All Berlin hexes, Hamburg, Konisberg, all Vienna hexes, Köln, Dusseldorf, Munich, Frankfurt.

    - USSR: All Moskva hexes, Leningrad, Minsk, Kiev, Kharkov, Sebastopol, Odessa, Rostov, Stalingrad, Novgorod, Tblisi, Baku, Voronezh, Yaroshvl, Gorki, Murmansk, Archangel, Riga.

    - Lybia: Tripoli, Bengasi, Tobruk. 

    - Egypt:  Cairo, Alexandria, Suez.

    - Tunisia: Tunis, Bizerte, Mareth.

    - Algeria: Algers, Oran, Bône. 

    - Palestine: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa.

    - Lebanon: Beirut, Tyre, Latakia.

    - Syria: Damascus, Aleppo, Homs. 

    - Irak: ?? I don't know if it could be in the game, or at least some portions of Irak. 

The idea is to make really difficult the conquest of USSR, Germany or England. The cities above are just an example. About advanced politics:

    - Spain joins axis if: France is conquered, Malta is conquered, Egypt is conquered. Also if 50% (aprox) of the Royal Navy is sunk. One of the spanish demands to enter in the war was the assurance that Canary Islands could be defended against England. Losing the Mediterranean plus 50% of the fleet should be enough to accomplish that. Also it was to be activated before December 1941 (before US activation).

     - Turkey joins axis if: Libya is still axis, plus Cyprus, Egypt, Palestina, Lebanon and Syria are in axis hands. Also a time limit shoud be enough. Maybe January 1943?

     - Turkey joins allies if: Libya is taken by allies. There is no presence of axis units neither in Libya nor Middle East. Crimea is in soviet hands. Now, another option could be to make a starting limit date (not before January 1943). 

     - Irak (that's the real one). If Libya (including Tobruk) is in axis hands Irak will be active by April 1941.

The goal is making the mediterranean attractive to axis as a possible second front in USSR. Otherwise DAK units could be more useful in Barbarossa. 

 Of course there are more "if", mainly in the Balkans, but they are related to Italy. Italy shoud be active only when (if) France is conquered. It will activate then Greece and Yugoslavia as allies.

However, as I previously said, that advanced politics should be applied for the 10X scenarios. I don't know it there is a way to implement that options for only some scenarios. This game, as RGW, AGW or MDE, is not just 1 game. You have a lot of games and it won't be easy to apply some options to some scenaios. 

Time for current status for development of the WWII-Europe wargame.

1. Completed 50% of the lead in screen number 2 ("The Equipment").  It shows the major tanks, artillery and planes, with a graphic and information about each.  

2. Completed all cities for columns 0 through 270.  

3. Continuing to develop the terrain array, pushing steadily to the East.

4. Developed new "Hot Key and User Interface" graphic that can be displayed from the Command Panel.

5. Fixed bug on High Level map scrolling, and display of cities and supply paths on the high level maps.

6. KC completed Spain and Northwest Africa map graphics, and has moved on to the Stalingrad area. After this segment, she will have completed all of the map area where battles occurred.

7. Minor improvements and bug fixes.

8.  This weekend, I plan to make a decision on when to start Playtest #1 (PT#1).  I believe there is enough of a wargame here to start now, but want to ponder this for a while.  I could wait until Thanskgiving, and have more of the game ready for playtesting.

Ron