I'm still working my way through my first proper game of this, having started 9 months ago. It's table 247751046 -- a 3-player Wide Open Main Event.
It's good fun and the BGA implementation is rock-solid but it does seem that the highly interactive sequence of play is not well-suited to turn-based online play. For example, I'm the Western Allies and currently bombing the Ruhr with the Eighth Air Force . This is like playing a game of B-17 as the formation sets off across the channel to be repeatedly intercepted by the Luftwaffe, hex by hex. This bombing raid might take days to resolve in real time as we're playing asynchronously without a time limit and so it just depends how quickly each side gets to it.
The RAF does this more sneakily, dodging round Switzerland to bomb Munich. But later this month, the Fifteenth Air Force arrives and the amount of contested strategic bombing will escalate. And I suppose that the options will increase when jets appear.
The situation with the UK in the Med is similar -- a lot of cat-and-mouse interception of supply convoys. I can see that these decisions are important but I wonder whether more might be done to streamline or automate some of this. For example, a fighter unit might have an option to auto-intercept anything in range that seems weaker.
I can cope with this as it is but wouldn't like to play more than one game at a time in this way, as it would be difficult to keep track of what's happening. How do other players handle these issues, please?
If Salvatore Vasta and Lunalol plan to work on a Pacific theatre equivalent, they should please think about designing it for BGA direct, rather than paper-based components. By designing specifically for the computer interface, you could have hidden-intelligence and more appropriate mechanics for the numerous air and naval bases, submarine patrols, strategic bombing and so forth.
Andrew
It's good fun and the BGA implementation is rock-solid but it does seem that the highly interactive sequence of play is not well-suited to turn-based online play. For example, I'm the Western Allies and currently bombing the Ruhr with the Eighth Air Force . This is like playing a game of B-17 as the formation sets off across the channel to be repeatedly intercepted by the Luftwaffe, hex by hex. This bombing raid might take days to resolve in real time as we're playing asynchronously without a time limit and so it just depends how quickly each side gets to it.
The RAF does this more sneakily, dodging round Switzerland to bomb Munich. But later this month, the Fifteenth Air Force arrives and the amount of contested strategic bombing will escalate. And I suppose that the options will increase when jets appear.
The situation with the UK in the Med is similar -- a lot of cat-and-mouse interception of supply convoys. I can see that these decisions are important but I wonder whether more might be done to streamline or automate some of this. For example, a fighter unit might have an option to auto-intercept anything in range that seems weaker.
I can cope with this as it is but wouldn't like to play more than one game at a time in this way, as it would be difficult to keep track of what's happening. How do other players handle these issues, please?
If Salvatore Vasta and Lunalol plan to work on a Pacific theatre equivalent, they should please think about designing it for BGA direct, rather than paper-based components. By designing specifically for the computer interface, you could have hidden-intelligence and more appropriate mechanics for the numerous air and naval bases, submarine patrols, strategic bombing and so forth.
Andrew
