OK, sea convoys are pretty much fine enough...they get to do a little damage, they're kinda slow, but they get you there.
But, ground convoys are just too blasted slow, as are Railroad guns. Sure, there should be penalties in the mountains and sure, there a truck pulling an airplane on a trailer probably isn't going to go flying down the highway (pardon the pun). But let's face it, some units are just too slow on the ground. Even waaaaaaaay back in 1939, the trucks that would move military war materiel could drive more than ten miles per hour ... unless the equipment was being pulled by donkey.
Surely, it would be more realistic to have both Militia and grounded aircraft convoys keep pace a little closer to Infantry? Maybe they don't know to crawl along quite as fast as infantry, but have you ever tried to tell a militiaman from Texas that he's only going to walk when he could at least run...or that he can't hitch a ride on the back of a pickup truck?
And the mountains penalty is just too blasted slow for many units. The Heavy Tank is pretty slow, OK, that makes sense. But it's treads and powerful engine pretty much means there's not much reason to justify slowing it down much further just because it's got to go uphill for a while to get over a mountain pass. And has it not occurred to anybody that it will basically make up for that slow speed on the other side when it's going downhill?
Then, there is the dreaded Railroad Gun. Has anybody ever bothered to point out that it's only supposed to travel on...gasp!..Rails?!? In fact, it makes a whole lot more sense that the Railroad Gun -- if anything -- should be moving along very fast. But it should also be made to only work in provinces where there's a level 3 infrastructure to represent the spread of a solid railroad system (hint hint hint!). In fact, it makes sense that Railroad guns should require level 3 infrastructure in the same province where an Industrial Complex builds them.
Now, the higher level infrastructure does a fair job of representing faster unit passages, but not enough for the higher level infrastructure. It makes sense to go a little faster with improved roads, but level 2 and 3 represent a much more costly investment and a significant increase in road mechanics and rail. Frankly, the level 2 infrastructure should probably make all ground units travel a full 50% faster and level 3 should make them travel 100% faster...and this would not need to be cumulative with Railroad guns.
Or, perhaps, to simulate actually RIDING on the rail cars, maybe level 3 Infrastructure could allow all ground units and convoys to move at the same very fast speed since, logically, no train is going to pass each other and if jeeps are going to ride in the back of a train at 60 MPH, then so too should Militia. But, to make this a bit more realistic, maybe there should be an embarkation and disembarkation time associated with riding a train. Maybe too, this effect should only speed up unit movements from province to province that is safely behind your front lines AND that you pre-choose a destination such that units are vulnerable and not able to fight (like convoys) en route...so, faster, but vulnerable.
Yeah, maybe THAT's the solution to this particular issue. There are several interesting ideas here. I hope lots of people will contribute with ideas of their own and help me flesh out all these ideas until we can come up with something of a proposal for the dev team to consider. But, remember, whatever the idea, it probably shouldn't be too complex or else it will likely get discarded, out-of-hand. Admittedly, some of my ideas might qualify as a little too complex, so this is why I invite good criticism.
But, ground convoys are just too blasted slow, as are Railroad guns. Sure, there should be penalties in the mountains and sure, there a truck pulling an airplane on a trailer probably isn't going to go flying down the highway (pardon the pun). But let's face it, some units are just too slow on the ground. Even waaaaaaaay back in 1939, the trucks that would move military war materiel could drive more than ten miles per hour ... unless the equipment was being pulled by donkey.
Surely, it would be more realistic to have both Militia and grounded aircraft convoys keep pace a little closer to Infantry? Maybe they don't know to crawl along quite as fast as infantry, but have you ever tried to tell a militiaman from Texas that he's only going to walk when he could at least run...or that he can't hitch a ride on the back of a pickup truck?
And the mountains penalty is just too blasted slow for many units. The Heavy Tank is pretty slow, OK, that makes sense. But it's treads and powerful engine pretty much means there's not much reason to justify slowing it down much further just because it's got to go uphill for a while to get over a mountain pass. And has it not occurred to anybody that it will basically make up for that slow speed on the other side when it's going downhill?
Then, there is the dreaded Railroad Gun. Has anybody ever bothered to point out that it's only supposed to travel on...gasp!..Rails?!? In fact, it makes a whole lot more sense that the Railroad Gun -- if anything -- should be moving along very fast. But it should also be made to only work in provinces where there's a level 3 infrastructure to represent the spread of a solid railroad system (hint hint hint!). In fact, it makes sense that Railroad guns should require level 3 infrastructure in the same province where an Industrial Complex builds them.
Now, the higher level infrastructure does a fair job of representing faster unit passages, but not enough for the higher level infrastructure. It makes sense to go a little faster with improved roads, but level 2 and 3 represent a much more costly investment and a significant increase in road mechanics and rail. Frankly, the level 2 infrastructure should probably make all ground units travel a full 50% faster and level 3 should make them travel 100% faster...and this would not need to be cumulative with Railroad guns.
Or, perhaps, to simulate actually RIDING on the rail cars, maybe level 3 Infrastructure could allow all ground units and convoys to move at the same very fast speed since, logically, no train is going to pass each other and if jeeps are going to ride in the back of a train at 60 MPH, then so too should Militia. But, to make this a bit more realistic, maybe there should be an embarkation and disembarkation time associated with riding a train. Maybe too, this effect should only speed up unit movements from province to province that is safely behind your front lines AND that you pre-choose a destination such that units are vulnerable and not able to fight (like convoys) en route...so, faster, but vulnerable.
Yeah, maybe THAT's the solution to this particular issue. There are several interesting ideas here. I hope lots of people will contribute with ideas of their own and help me flesh out all these ideas until we can come up with something of a proposal for the dev team to consider. But, remember, whatever the idea, it probably shouldn't be too complex or else it will likely get discarded, out-of-hand. Admittedly, some of my ideas might qualify as a little too complex, so this is why I invite good criticism.
The saying, "beating them into submission until payday", is just golden...pun intended.
R.I.P. Snickers
