If the AI will really work as advertised, even single player campaigns will be very tough.
You guys at Paradox are making the game I have always dreamed about. If I knew where your office were I'd bring you a case of beer, or red bull if you prefer, whatever you prefer.
I'm serious.
HoI3 will blow away everything previously programmed if it holds up to what is being presented in these dev diaries.
I do have a few wishes though, concerning Air Combat.
- Moving air combat. As suggested in another thread, fighters follow bombers that they are attacking instead of halting their movement. Fighters vs fighters should also be moving fights, with the side at a disadvantage seeking to disengage towards their home base(s). Air combat should never be possible outside of either side's combat radius. All of the above is quite obvious if you are programming a moving air combat system but I thought I'd put it in for clarity.
- Smaller fighter units. Historically the smallest unit deployed was a Gruppe (for the Luftwaffe). So a Geschwader could have I. Gruppe deployed in Brest, II. Gruppe in La Spezia and III. Gruppe in Königsberg. It would make air defense easier as a whole Geschwader is a very big unit and expensive to build. A Gruppe would be ~50 fighters, compared to the ~150 of a Geschwader. 50 fighters can make a big impact and inflict heavy losses even on a 200 4-engine bomber raid, if they use appropriate tactics and have the speed and firepower required. The bottom line is, in HoI2 the Geshwader sized fighter unit was too expensive to build in the quantities required to effectively defend your airspace. You do not need 150 fighters operating together to inflict casualties on a 400 bomber formation. 50 fighters yes, that is a sensible number, but you can have 3 or 5 or 8 groups of 50 fighters (read Gruppen) operating independently against the same bomber formation and that will have a much greater effect than having all fighters bunched up into a "Big Wing", as some famous british officer said once upon a time.
Take my word for it, I know a bit or two about air combat. If in doubt you are very welcome to download and view the movies from the link in my signature.