My $.03 worth (damn inflation)
There are numerous features that have made an appearance in CORE that I feel should be made a part of the game that everyone gets to play.
Large Number of Events- Events are the storytelling tools that allow a player to get into the time period. Not everyone that plays this game is a history expert that knows the history behind those small events which had a larger effect on history.
Large Unit Variety- Everyone likes to build units. One of the problems in the development of CORE has been to make enough different units to keep everyone happy. This has resulted in over 50 different models of armor and more than 10 different models of cruisers. This helps recreate the variety that made the individual armies unique. There should be a larger variety of base unit types. There should also be more options for additional brigades. This is only necessary if the option to make the game brigade based rather than division based isn't selected.
Historical Accuracy- I think that players should be able to use their experience playing HoI to learn more about the time period that they are playing. To do this, you not only need a large number of events, but they have to be historically accurate. Before the game is released, there has to be some process where the events, their descriptions and results are checked for accuracy.
Minor Countries- One of the more interesting parts of the game is playing a really minor country and playing "what if." Some of the best AARs and game descriptions that I have seen were of people playing countries like Luxemburg, Haiti or Cuba. These countries should be just as complete and playable as the major countries. They should have complete cabinets, large pools of potential officers and events.
Extensive Modder Support- One of the things that has let HoI keep my attention for almost two and half years now is the ability to modify the files. This should be kept in any future version of the game. The community of players that has gathered on the forums has continually made the game better. If it is possible, hopefully more of the game mechanics will be open for modification. These tools should be available for the person making events and the people that are more involved in changing AI, tech, unit and provences.
Now with that being said, I think there are some things that can be done with HoI2 that can't be done by modders post-release.
Improve the Command and Control Aspects- The larger unit structure in HoI is not realistic. It would be nice to build larger units out of the base size units. If the base remains a division, allow the creation of corps and armies with each level having individual commanders. This would make for interesting combinations of leaders (offensive corp commander with defensive divsion commanders). This could open up the potential for multi-national forces under a unified command.
Change Command Limits- Armies, Air Forces and Navies all have different command styles, yet they are all handled the same. In reality, a rear admiral can command more than a single ship, but a major general won't usually command more than a single division. Two officers in the same pay grade, but differing levels of control. If you give specific units a command rating (destroyers could be 1, battleships could be 4) an officer could control so many points of units. The higher the rank of the officer, the more points. This would fit nicely with a flexible command structure like is mentioned above.
Realistic Naval Vessel Repair- There should be a point where you have to send a vessel in for repair for it to return to service. As the game works now, the repair of a heavily damaged ship is handled the same as a lightly damaged ship. Lightly damaged ships should be able to stay in port for a period of time and emerge repaired. Heavy damage should require a stay in a shipyard for repair.
Port Size Limits- I realize that this has been mentioned above, but I feel that it deserves to be mentioned again. Major ports should be treated differently than little ports. I like the idea of only certain ports being able to build ships. It would force players to build large ports in stratigic areas which might lack them. Imagine the Soviets being forced to build a shipbuilding port if they want to build ships in the Pacific.
Improved resource simulation- Something needs to be done with that. The way that resources are simulated now result in shortages and unrealistic trades. I also think that there should be more types of resources. Why not aluminum or foodstuffs? Give some of those minor nations something other than coal or steel to trade.
Well, I know that the idea was to pick a single thing which would make HoI even better when the new version is released. So being forced to pick one of my topics from above, I have to say command and control issues need to be improved. Make it easier to build larger commands and modify those commands. MDow
