1942.2 More starting Factories at select 1 ipc/production territories

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    The idea is to introduce anchor points for the fighting, all across the game board. Each nation gets 2 additional production slots, with starting factories in the following 1 ipc value territories…

    Russia: Archangel and Yakut
    Germany: Algeria and Finland
    UK: Eastern Australia and Rhodesia.
    Japan: Malaya and New Guinea
    USA: Hawaii and Szechwan

    Edited to reflect the feedback in subsequent posts

    Other candidates for additional 1 ipc factory expansions that I considered might be places like…
    Novosibirsk or Evenki, Trans Jordan, New Zealand or Western Canada, West Indies or Central America.

    But I think the pairs listed above make the most sense. These starting Facilities are meant to be prestige targets, encouraging players to fight over a broader swath of the gamemap, rather than just in the one dimensional thrust. The suggested territories are all contestable and distributed over a pretty decent stretch of the globe. Axis will have more targets on their attack routes, but Allies will also have an early logistics boost, with a few extra slots at the front.

    The orientation of the factories in the Pacific is meant to draw more Axis activity towards Australia and Hawaii and the South Pacific islands. The factory in Algeria allows for another med build location, giving Germany more options there initially, but can also be snatched up by USA for Torch. Allies have a slot in Africa to help hold the center south, but this is also possible for Axis to steal. Allies have a blocker factory up north to help cover Russia in Archangel, and a slot in Yakut for the defensive line up north, but these can likewise be taken by Axis. Szech has an expanded defensive role as well, and becomes a true anchor for China desirable to both sides. Finland can be an especially useful target territory for both Axis and Allies, it gives Germany another build slot up north, but can also be taken by UK or USA, and then supported out of Norway. Most of these 1 IPC territories could go either way, depending on whether Axis or Allies are in the ascendance, but the fact that they’re spread around, means that each Nation needs to dedicate more resources to the conflict around the globe. So basically there’s more pressure to manage your starting resources, since you have more target territories to defend. I think this production spread would work while perhaps producing a better balance by sides.

    These factories are a gameplay novelty meant to add some new spice to the OOB game. Their value for production at 1 is not too outsized, and I think there are strong gameplay and fairly reasonable historical justifications for having them at those locations. At least it would create more back and forth.
    :-D

    Any thoughts?


  • New Guinea is a 1 IPC territory ?

    Anyway, I would love to see a new Battleship mobilized outside New Guinea every turn. Or a Bomber


  • I like the idea it gives you more strategies and it makes certain fronts becomes more important like north africa because let’s say UK and the US had took over north africa and now with those ICs they can start building to invade italy. It also makes the south pacfic  to have more and bigger battles than what it usually has.

  • 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16

    I like it very much! My only concern is that Trans-Jordan cannot be saved from a casual German assault on G1 – at setup, it starts with only 1 British infantry defending it. I think attacking Trans-Jordan G1 is already a good strategy, and now it would become mandatory. Even if (as the Germans) you don’t want your battleship to end up in SZ 16, you could still just send the undefended transport with an infantry and artillery.

    The Allies wind up trying to defend Egypt, Trans-Jordan, and India on B1/B2 with only a single transport in the region and no starting tanks – seems too difficult. I would prefer to put the Trans-Jordan factory in either Rhodesia or French Equatorial Africa.

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    Seems like a legit point, my thought was that it would put a little more pressure on the German opening, making the standard sz14 opening a bit more risky (if G elects to ignore the canal then UK can make a play for the med, if they go for it, that leaves Gibraltar open.) If Allies don’t want to trade the middle east, then Russia can defend Trans with the tank and 1 fighter (that can still attack W. Russia and make the landing). But to do that and secure Trans then the Soviets have to be involved. This would produce a 50/50 on the G1 attack, but it also means sacrificing a transport, or else risking the loss of the Battleship to a UK airstrike. So there is a definite risk there for both sides.

    But somewhere in Sub Sahara Africa would work too. I think if doing that then Rhodesia would probably be the most fun, since it gives a spawn point in sz 33 and a target for G or J to gun for.

    I think I will edit to Rhodesia, just to keep things straight forward. This would also be cool for a fighter spawn in sz 33, if UK wants to keep their carrier instead of sending it into an attack. Or as a tank slot, for a sz33 transport or to race up to Egypt in 1 move. If Axis take Rhodesia then it’s a bit easier for them to hold the southern section of Africa. It might also make a factory expansion in SA more attractive for either side, since they’d already have 1 production slot in place (similar to the way Finland makes an IC in Norway a bit more attractive.

    Good call man I dig it, Rhodesia it will be. Edited above :)

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