DICTATOR ToT - DEVELOPMENT THREAD!

[techumseh]

Quebec should be Montreal, the largest Canadian city at that time.

[curtsibling]

Originally posted by techumseh
Curt, what are you using impassible terrain for?

My original idea for it was to stop tanks and APCs rolling around in the mountains...

Originally posted by techumseh
Quebec should be Montreal, the largest Canadian city at that time.

Noted, but do you have any suggestions about the problems mentioned above?

[Leonidas]

Please forgive this intrusion

I think the "Pocket Battleships" or "Battlecruisers" were faster than BBs, but had slightly less armour and smaller caliber main guns than most BBs.

For example, BCs or pocket battleships such as the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had 11" main guns.

However, battleships such as the HMS Prince of Wales and USS Arizona had 14" guns.

Most other BBs had 15" (HMS Renown; Richelieu) and 16" (HMS Nelson; USS Washington) main guns.

German pocket battleships were never intended to fight the heavier, better gunned BBs. Instead, they were used as fast, well-armed, commerce raiders...

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/scharnhorst.htm

Cheers!

[Eivind IV]

As they will probably fight in Europe alongside the brits anyway, give them to the British civ.

[Broken_Erika]

battlecruisers started as a way to build a dreadnought that used a cruiser hull, the pocket battleships was germany's attempt to build capitol ships that were within the tonnage limit imposed by the treaty of versailles
the pocket battleships kind of look like old pre-dreadnought battleships,
the dreadnoughts and later battleships were a way of saying "look i can waste vasts amount of money on something that isn't really useful when you think about it but hey, it looks cool and i have the money and resources"

[techumseh]

Originally posted by curtsibling


My original idea for it was to stop tanks and APCs rolling around in the mountains...



Noted, but do you have any suggestions about the problems mentioned above?

Well, one possibility is to use one terrain as an impassible border.

The other is to use a moveunit command to move wandering units away from the border areas. For example, several maprect areas on the US side could be established to move any invading Canadian units (one of my favorite fantasies, btw ) back across the border. Ditto for the Americans. Combined with a few strategically placed static units, and you should be able to secure the "longest undefended border in the world".

[AGRICOLA]

Here's an April '42 screen shot from my second test (all civs active) of the US-Canada problem.

The three Allied Inf in the New York- Richmond - Pittsburgh area started the scen in New Brunswick. The Armored Car and 2 Arty units north of Lake Superior are on their way the US midwest.

Not shown are 4 Mexican units which have reached San Diego and Austin.

In neither test did I see any loaded transports leave for Europe or elsewhere.

[AGRICOLA]

This is the US midwest in August '43 in my first test with only 3 civs. North of Lake Superior, most of the Inf are heading for Toronto while the Arty and Armored Cars are heading for the US.

[techumseh]

"Pocket Battleships" were technically not battleships at all, but upgunned heavy cruisers. Erika is right, they were built to avoid certain provisions of the Versailles Treaty. They had deisel engines and mounted 6 11" guns in two turrets. Like battlecruisers, they were intended to outrun what they could not fight.

The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were actual battlecruisers, mounting 6 11" guns in three turrets. They were no match for real battleships, the Scharnhorst being blown up by a single salvo from the Duke of York.

Battlecruisers could mount guns as big as a battleship. The Hood mounted 8 15" guns, the same as the Bismarck, and was actually bigger. When it came to a battle, the sacrifice of armor for speed proved fatal for the Hood.

The Bismarck was not really more powerfully armed compared to other modern battleships of the time (8 15" guns vs. 10 14" for the King George class or 9 16" for American battleships launched in the same period. It was very well armored though, and you might want to increase it's DF or give it an extra hit when doing the rules. I hope this helps.

[Leonidas]

I guess it depends on what country does the classification.

According to my source (Bishop):

The British rated the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as battle cruisers, but Germany had planned to build them as "Pocket Battleships". They were planned as fast, but lightly armed battleships (11" guns) (Bishop, The Complete Encyclopedia of Weapons of WWII, p.481).

So there is often an interchange between calling them BCs and battleships.

Curt is correct to call them battleships.

Still, whatever name they go by, these German ships were no match for Allied BBs (11" guns vs 15 and 16" guns).

http://www.kbismarck.com/scharnhorst.html

[:) Smiley]

Transocean logistics seems to be above the AI's head.

I'd just make them British.

[techumseh]

Ahh, but the caption immediately below says "Scharnhorst and her sister ship were designed to accept 380 mm (15-in) guns, but wartime conditions prevented this."

In any event, they don't fit any generally accepted definition of "battleship". They were battlecruisers - and weak ones at that.

[Broken_Erika]

Originally posted by techumseh
Ahh, but the caption immediately below says "Scharnhorst and her sister ship were designed to accept 380 mm (15-in) guns, but wartime conditions prevented this."

In any event, they don't fit any generally accepted definition of "battleship". They were battlecruisers - and weak ones at that.

they pretty much were undergunned battlecruisers with good armor,

[AGRICOLA]

Originally posted by curtsibling

Originally posted by AGRICOLA
Sorry, but the US does not appear to be ready for meaningful playtesting.

Is this based on the RR and the neighbours?

To some extent both, but mainly for the neighbours. However, I must have been at 95% asleep when I wrote that. I'm simply going to use the cheat mode to create as many US Inf as are needed to seal the Candian border from Vancouver to the Atlantic. I may also change a few mountain squares to hills to fix the RR problem, but only if it becomes a major nuisance.

The Mexicans can probably be handled by existing US units and their ZOC's.

Is this alright by you? Any special things to look out for? That is, beside the barrage of 11, 14, 15 and 16 inch shells which have made this thread a decidedly unhealthy place for us landlubbers?

[curtsibling]

Originally posted by AGRICOLA

To some extent both, but mainly for the neighbours. However, I must have been at 95% asleep when I wrote that. I'm simply going to use the cheat mode to create as many US Inf as are needed to seal the Candian border from Vancouver to the Atlantic. I may also change a few mountain squares to hills to fix the RR problem, but only if it becomes a major nuisance.

The Mexicans can probably be handled by existing US units and their ZOC's.

I will address the American RR problems for sure in
the next update, same goes for the Urals and Alps.

Another radical solution is to make infantry immobile,
and give the USA the GIs from the start, leaving the
infantry as border garrisons...This would also stop
the barb infantry surge in China and the Balkans...

Originally posted by AGRICOLA Is this alright by you? Any special things to look out for? That is, beside the barrage of 11, 14, 15 and 16 inch shells which have made this thread a decidedly unhealthy place for us landlubbers?

The naval advice is invaluable!