Reserve vs Support Defence

[Brasidas]

I've stated before that I play SP as a training tool/sandbox for my MP games. This may be a more or less unique playing style, but it does promote some pre-planning of moves and missions even if it doesn't eliminate the megalomaniacal pausey micromanagement that I tended towards prior to my abstinance from the pause button.

Even for those of us who are willing to press pause to adjust every formation every hour of the game, there's a small, viable feature change that I think is worth making: removing the speed differential between "support defence" and "reserve" missions.

By making these two missions equal, you can reduce the level of clicky micromanagement with no loss of performance - it simply allows you to make policies in absentia. If there's only one province you want those units in that province to move to support, great. Give the units the support defence order. If you want them to respond to any threatened province, give them the reserve order.

Otherwise, we're stuck monitoring the combat screen and hitting pause all the time to attain maximum efficiency. There may be a weak argument in favour of such a situation, but as I say, I believe it to be a weak one. This change should not be difficult to implement, and it does improve the gameplay experience.

 

[ForzaA]

You're probably right in that everyone changes the "reserve" (or even a "none") into a "support defense" on the first sign of REAL trouble... But the difference is intentional; You trade speed in getting to the province for the ability to respond to threats in different provinces... I doubt that's going to change.

 

[Brasidas]

You trade speed in getting to the province for the ability to respond to threats in different provinces...

And yet, what's the difference in application? You hit pause when the combat window pops up, you look at the lay of the ground and possible support assets, and you use a "support defence" mission to get troops there significantly faster than you would by using a "reserve" mission.

In practice, the speed differential is simply a penalty for not pausing every hour, when you could make the same call ahead of time by eyeing up potential threats and pre-planning reinforcement priorities.

The function is great for implementing a defensive plan - being able to differentiate whether a formation should respond to any threat or just a threat to one specific province - but the speed differential is inappropriate in my opinion. I've given it a chance by my playing the game since the EB Games release boondoggle, and that argument still doesn't make sense to me 18 months later.

If everyone does it in actual practice, gameplay should certainly triumph, and the implementation of the change is straightforward. One changed variable, to reduce unnecessary clicks, pauses, and micromanagement that don't add to the playing experience, and the player gains something. Even if it only goes into a Doomsday update, I'd say this change is worthwhile.

There's no convoluted fix, and it doesn't even need serious testing - we're familiar with the effects, as this speed is often the one used in practice anyway.