Moscow '42 Files Update (as at Jan 23rd, 2013)

[Strela]

ComradeP,

Firstly I appreciate your commentary. It's obvious that you've looked closely at the mechanics and pulled out the areas that are causing ahistorical results.

As you quite rightly mention, it's more historical in the shorter scenarios where the vagaries of time do not skew the results.

As a designer (and I mention this in the design notes) there are two limiting factors. The first is history itself - what was available and when. The second is the mechanics you have to simulate various events in the actual game system. I know you have done some work with Matrix Games so you are aware of what I am talking about. One example of these mechanics are the replacement/reinforcement routines in Panzer Campaigns. We have three possibilities for strength recovery, the existing one via the OB, the %age as per the PDT file or no replacements. None of them can give the exact result we want for Moscow '42, but they do a pretty good job for every other game in the series.

Why don't they in Moscow '42? Because we created one of the longest scenarios in one of the most extreme environments. Because of the time line, units technically should get no replacements for the first month to six weeks and a trickle after that, but there is no mechanic to represent that. It can be handled ok in the shorter scenarios, but it is a compromise in the larger ones. That said there are alternatives - what if the frozen penalty was upped against the German's? Those extra men are now just as inefficient as the ones already there when it's cold? What if supply sources are reduced again to make most units out of ammo? There are different ways to hobble a side or boost the other.

The challenge is testing in depth a monster like the Moscow '42 winter campaign. I can tell you its not possible. The normal way we test is to create the overall campaign then break it into smaller parts and test those to ensure that it works and then take any learnings & adjustments back into the larger game and hope it all holds together. The fact is that at 576 turns, after turn one you're into hypothetical territory. The players bias (you used the example of moving extra resources to Kalinin as an example) change the flow of the game and no designer can cover off all the permutations.

Now all of that said, if there are glaring issues that can be fixed they will be fixed. Just look at Kharkov '43 where we issued the Alternative versions of the larger campaigns to fix some of the issues that were identified by the community. I am happy to do the same for Moscow '42 but look for consistent feedback from members of the community - preferably playing head to head as that is where the most exploits and issues are found.

So my commitment to you is that I'll look at doing at alternate version of the Winter Campaign after I have canvassed further opinions from the community BUT it will have to wait another couple of months while I finish my current project.

David