Upgrades, Training, Tension Decay (some Qs on mechanics)

[Federkiel]

Hello all,

over the course of time, most game mechanics have been touched but i feel that some of them still remain mysterious as they have either not been adressed directly or covered enough to really understand what is going on...

Upgrades
In the WWWs we have seen the upgrade bar which somehow reflects something as the name goes. However, what items or equipment become upgraded? As i see it, it could be virtually everything - and i assume it is not. Thus, what exactly is being subject to the process? Equipment of individual soldiers? Artillery pieces? Tanks? Planes? Just variants within one type (and level, say Panzer IV) of equipment?

Ship production
Also, how does the production of ships work? Can one start a 1922 type BB, research 1936 type and then switch the running production of a '22 BB into a '36 one (without having to start production from zero)? IIRC some dev said something like that but it was vague to say the least.

Land unit training
We saw land units being pressed into service prematurely, them being weak as butter. As Daniel showed in the WWWs, it seems better (more efficient) to have them trained thouroughly before placing them on the map. However, shouldn't be there some benefit for training them onmap (compensating equipment attrition for the growth of land XP)?

Decay of world tension
In all WWWs we saw world tension skyrocket as hell (seeming unbalanced but partly being a result of silly gameplay). However, some events (results of foci and AI actions) seem pretty unbalanced and even in the Japan WWW with no serious blunders, the Allies would be years ahead in their war preparation effort (foci and US war entry). What is the rate of world tension decay? I have not seen any visible decay at all until now... and i believe that the preservation of peace should at least be possible in theory. As of yet, it seems not only railroaded but also going way too fast.

Expeditionary forces
As of yet, it seems that only land divs can be used as expeditonaries. However, in the Spanish civil war (and the Sino-Japanese war) air force volunteers with their own equipment (Condor Legion, Flying Tigers) were the main element of foreign intervention, not the land forces in their own right. Is that in the game now or not? I strongly believe it should...

 

[Vidkjaer]

Hello all,

over the course of time, most game mechanics have been touched but i feel that some of them still remain mysterious as they have either not been adressed directly or covered enough to really understand what is going on...

Upgrades
In the WWWs we have seen the upgrade bar which somehow reflects something as the name goes. However, what items or equipment become upgraded? As i see it, it could be virtually everything - and i assume it is not. Thus, what exactly is being subject to the process? Equipment of individual soldiers? Artillery pieces? Tanks? Planes? Just variants within one type (and level, say Panzer IV) of equipment?

If you are producing weapon II and have divisions equiped with Weapon I, upgrading is Weapon II distributed to these divisions. The point is you can set priorities for your equipment how it is distributed. Upgrades, new troops, lendlease and so on.

Ship production
Also, how does the production of ships work? Can one start a 1922 type BB, research 1936 type and then switch the running production of a '22 BB into a '36 one (without having to start production from zero)? IIRC some dev said something like that but it was vague to say the least.

You should be able to that. However you will loose some of the production.

Land unit training
We saw land units being pressed into service prematurely, them being weak as butter. As Daniel showed in the WWWs, it seems better (more efficient) to have them trained thouroughly before placing them on the map. However, shouldn't be there some benefit for training them onmap (compensating equipment attrition for the growth of land XP)?

On map training can take the training level one step higher than "recruitment school" can.

Expeditionary forces
As of yet, it seems that only land divs can be used as expeditonaries. However, in the Spanish civil war (and the Sino-Japanese war) air force volunteers with their own equipment (Condor Legion, Flying Tigers) were the main element of foreign intervention, not the land forces in their own right. Is that in the game now or not? I strongly believe it should...

Planes cannot be volunteered, but you can lendlease them to Spain.

 

[kalauer]

Upgrades
In the WWWs we have seen the upgrade bar which somehow reflects something as the name goes. However, what items or equipment become upgraded? As i see it, it could be virtually everything - and i assume it is not. Thus, what exactly is being subject to the process? Equipment of individual soldiers? Artillery pieces? Tanks? Planes? Just variants within one type (and level, say Panzer IV) of equipment?...

Panzers and planes can not be upgraded to a later Research. You would have to produce them manually and send them to your troops. To my understanding, ART will be upgraded. basically, when you can make variants of it, it will not be uppgraded automatically. So what is upgraded is stuff that only has a generic production Slot.

Ship production
Also, how does the production of ships work? Can one start a 1922 type BB, research 1936 type and then switch the running production of a '22 BB into a '36 one (without having to start production from zero)? IIRC some dev said something like that but it was vague to say the least.

I think you can not take Progress from older ships to newer ones. This would mean that you slowly cook a pre-war BB and take this over to a 1945 Version. Does not make sense to me. And as Efficiency does not apply to ships, one should always finish started ships.

Land unit training
We saw land units being pressed into service prematurely, them being weak as butter. As Daniel showed in the WWWs, it seems better (more efficient) to have them trained thouroughly before placing them on the map. However, shouldn't be there some benefit for training them onmap (compensating equipment attrition for the growth of land XP)?

Plus, when you Train the divisions on the map, you have them ready if you Need them. I would, related to this, suggest that newly deployed divisions should have 0 ORG. If that is not the case, on-map Training really only has the Advantage of one more Tier of experience (which might be achieved in battle, too; but that is also a balancing issue).

Decay of world tension
In all WWWs we saw world tension skyrocket as hell (seeming unbalanced but partly being a result of silly gameplay). However, some events (results of foci and AI actions) seem pretty unbalanced and even in the Japan WWW with no serious blunders, the Allies would be years ahead in their war preparation effort (foci and US war entry). What is the rate of world tension decay? I have not seen any visible decay at all until now... and i believe that the preservation of peace should at least be possible in theory. As of yet, it seems not only railroaded but also going way too fast.

I firmly believe WT is one of the last Thing to Balance, and it definitely has to be worked on. The decay seems to be 0.5%/month (taken from WWW2 between 24:03 and 29:15). But that was months ago...
Ahistoric actions will yield ahistoric results. So Japan annexing China 1938 or a minor going on a rampage will activate Democracies early. There is a huge thread about this and the potential issues it creates : https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/gaming-world-tension-as-the-ussr.922107/

Expeditionary forces
As of yet, it seems that only land divs can be used as expeditonaries. However, in the Spanish civil war (and the Sino-Japanese war) air force volunteers with their own equipment (Condor Legion, Flying Tigers) were the main element of foreign intervention, not the land forces in their own right. Is that in the game now or not? I strongly believe it should...

I guess since planes do not gain experience and work on an abstracted Level (air regions), the incentive to send them would be low anyhow. Expeditionary land combat seems much more rewarding. However, this is not historical accurate, as you pointed out.

 

[Nicolas I]

I guess since planes do not gain experience and work on an abstracted Level (air regions), the incentive to send them would be low anyhow. Expeditionary land combat seems much more rewarding. However, this is not historical accurate, as you pointed out.

You are quite right except that aerial combat produces Aces. So there's a lost opportunity to get some Air Aces.

 

[Vidkjaer]

You are quite right except that aerial combat produces Aces. So there's a lost opportunity to get some Air Aces.

And airforce experience from lendlease planes...