Cheers for all the responses to questions Steelvolt - top-notch communication and always interesting to read
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It'd depend a fair bit on how the encirclement code is set up, but I like the point
@seattle makes here - Germany did very well early because both the Polish and French armies were encircled far more easily than expected. Some kind of AI malus for detecting encirclements could potentially go well. Might work even better if linked to doctrine/combat experience? Just thoughts, as always could be rubbish.
IIRC mods usually give the player an incentive to pick an event/decision like "Barbarossa" or "Pearl Harbour".
For instance, why would the Japanese player ever attack the US? Three possible gameplay-solutions:
1. Force him by firing the event with no choice to reject it. --> poor game design
2. At one point let the US auto-join the Allies and dow Japan --> poor game design
3. Give the Japanese player an incentive like "surprise bonus: for the next 6 months gain bonus xyz while the US gets malus abc" --> the player has an interesting choice to make which can go both ways
As for Barbarossa:
Why would the German player start the war with Russia via NF, event, decision? Why not simply dow Russia precisely when the player wants to?
1. The NF/event/decision could be the only possible way to dow Russia --> questionable game design
2. The NF/event/decision provides the player an incentive to go that route. Some examples of previous mods: 6 months bonus to movement, logistics and combat abilities while the Soviets get a malus. Some events fire like "surprise air attacks with random number of Soviet planes destroyed on the ground" (historical and makes perfect sense, think also of Israel's wars).
I'm a huge fan of choices and no railroading. Choices however (save for house rules) only work as intended when you give the player incentives to pick options that are not favourable without the incentives. From then on it's only a balancing act, one that can be gradually improved via customer feedback.
@SteelVolt
Anything planned in that direction? All those popular mods from HoI1-4 can't be completely wrong.