Dictator 2 Multiplayer Gold! Out Now!

[curtsibling]

@jasev,

Feel free to post the scenario on the site now!

[jasev]

Thank you, I'll do it tomorrow

[Iron Chancellor]

Curt-
Is an open season version in the works?

[curtsibling]

@Iron Chancellor,

Yep!
I will try and get that out of the door very soon!

[Leon Marrick]

The post originally made here has been edited because it critiqued a obsolete version of Dictators 2, since replaced with something much, much better. I congratulate everyone involved in what appears to be a totally reworked game.

Only a small number of critiques remain outstanding:
- The people icons and the icons for food, shields, and trade are somewhat hard for me to read.
- The pictures for special resources are difficult to spot (very small), and that for farming is badly out of place.
- Special resources sometimes have odd values. For example, Paper Mills negate the food producton in a forest grid and Refinery special industry squares are pretty weak. Their values for movement and defence seem sometimes to have been forgotten. For example, both Gold and Iron grant +200% defence while mountains have dropped to +150%.
- Artillery without ignore walls?
- The Japanese are getting a little too cute with Val dive bombers in China.
- The road movement value of 2 is fairly low for a game with such a large map and month-long turns. Combat ship movement of 5 also seems lowish. If the Wonders that improve ship movement were to be given to Pacific powers and/or far-flung Britain, that might be a good thing.


-----------------------------------------------

Original (mis-directed) post below:

Played a little game of Dictators 2 (ToT) as the Axis.

May 1940. Conquered France.
June 1940. Conquered England.
October 1940. My empire includes everything between Morocco, Aden, Tehran, Helsinki, and Iceland. I also have 15 units around my city of Montreal.

Comments:
- Virtually every common German unit is overpowered, with the possible exception of He-111 bombers. Stukas, Waffen SS, and Panzer III/IVs are absurd. Also, the Axis should have have transports that move 9 grids per turn. Most German-specific units (exceptions being Wehrmacht and Panzergrenadiers) are underpriced.
- Letting the Axis have a wonder that makes any unit veteran is probably a mistake. The Germans did have some fine units, early and late, but after a few years being bled in Russia they also had a lot of cobbled-together ones. And everyone knows about the Fascist-era Italians...
- The food or trade some hexes produce is insane. Especially since the game lets you build Superhighways immediately, and lets you research engineers, trade units, and double-irrigation. And lets you (eventually) convert any terrain to oil fields (!). Some other terrain types, like ocean and forest, took a hit. This makes some cities overly important, and others (especially those with lots of sea nearby) near-worthless.
- Political borders are out of date, especially in Africa and Asia. For example, India was a vital part of the British Empire in 1940, Italy held (and was losing) Ethiopia and Somalia, the US held all the Philippines, and so on.
- Economies are often strong where in reality they were weak, and vice versa. For example, much of Europe appears as an uninteresting expanse of grasslands, while Ethiopia is made out to be a powerhouse.
- Unit strengths, especially their hitpoints and firepower, are unbalanced. Many tanks ignore city walls. Infantry usually die instantly when attacked. Snipers move 9 grids per turn. Units can paradrop as much as a thousand miles, He-111s can fly across the Atlantic. Destroyers cost more than subs, which they lose against when attacking.
- Terrain is treated oddly. The Russian border is a line of hills, presumably for their +50% defence. But this area actually had forests in reality, which in this scenario give a +150% bonus. Ships possibly move too quickly for European battles, and certainly move too slowly for Pacific ones.
- I assure you that Adolf Hitler did not have a spotless reputation.
- In ToT, I find it difficult to read the new graphics for shields and arrows.
- The map should lose the top 25 and the bottom 50 rows. I believe that there are utilities to do this.
- The Russians need a combination road and railroad from the Urals to Vladivostok. They should not be able to transport units through the Arctic.

[curtsibling]

@Leon Marrick,

Hmmm.... This thread is for Dictator for MGE.

D2 ToT has not got the benefits of the experience of my more recent scenarios.

Many aspects of it do need some editing...

I was planning to make Dictator III for ToT, but I might scrap the idea, seeing as no-one plays Test of Time....

I suggest you try the Scenario on this thread. (assuming you have MGE)
It is a far better WW2 experience...

[Kaptain Ken]

Curt,

Please do make Dictator III for TOT. Some of us do play TOT scenarios because of the superior design features. I have had a lot of fun with all of your TOT scenarios and miss tne larger number of unit choices that exists in TOT. Thanks for all of your hard work.

[conmcb25]

Originally posted by Kaptain Ken
Curt,

Please do make Dictator III for TOT. Some of us do play TOT scenarios because of the superior design features. I have had a lot of fun with all of your TOT scenarios and miss tne larger number of unit choices that exists in TOT. Thanks for all of your hard work.

Maybe if there were more scenarios more people would play. I purchased a copy thru Ebay about 2 months ago but haven't even loaded it because I haven't had a need to. And you can get copies at Ebay pretty cheap. Less than $10.00 USA. And there are pof course other ways to get ToT, That I wont discuss here.

[techumseh]

There are a couple of ToT scenarios on my site, and they're not bad, if I do say so myself. http://www.tecumseh.150m.com/ There are other good scenarios for ToT around. Many are at the Cradle of Civilization site: http://coc.apolyton.net

Sorry for the threadjack.

[curtsibling]

@Ken!
@conmcb25!
Thanks, fellas!

@techumseh, No sweat, sir!

It is true, these links should be on the favourites of all ToT owners...

OK,
I might consider Dictator III, once I get Soviet Steel and D2MGE-Open season done...

The design potential of ToT is really brilliant!

[Pablostuka]

Sorry, Curt, but what's exactly the "Open Season"?

[curtsibling]

Hi, Pablostuka!

It is an altered version of the standard D2MGE scenario, with all diplomatic and research options open.

It is more suited to PBEM and 'what-if' SP games!

I plan to have it ready by next week!

[Pablostuka]

Ok, buddy!

PS: Luc needs to talk to you...check your PMs

[deViv]

I realise my post may get lost here, as the latest entry here was in April, but here's one small suggestion I'd like to make for a patch or any WWII scenario including Japan.

It seems that nobody thinks about the Japanese War Flag. I do not know much about it, but AFAIR, when Japan was in war, they changed their normal flag (the red sun on a white field) into the war equivalent, which is basically the same, but where the sun has red rays as well.

Maybe something to use? (If I knew how to upload a pic here, I'd show you an example).

[deViv]

Meanwhile I found out how to attach pictures as well , so here it is: