Serbia '14

[Volcano Man]

Did historical Chetnik units have the capability to disrupt, in any terrain, on and off road, Central Powers movement? Day and night? In the presence of large numbers of Central Powers infantry battalions?  I have no reason to believe that they did, but that's precisely what they can do in the game. That's why I feel they're overpowered. They're not guerrilla units. Within their radius they work more like highly effective air interdiction, minus the casualties inflicted.

I'm also basing my experience on, thus far, two nearly halfway completed 1st Invasion games and a 1/3 completed 4th Invasion game. That's hardly purely theoretical speculation.

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In general, it would also help if you'd take feedback a bit more seriously.

I did take it seriously (as I do all feedback), and it was rejected. Not all feedback is acted on; I tried to explain that I do not agree with your point of view here, and why. At least I am trying to go into great detail to explain the "why", instead of just saying "no". If I didn't take the feedback seriously then I wouldn't explain anything.

Its also not that its "theoretical speculation", its that I have already thought this subject through during development, and you may play a scenario several times and sometimes make a heavy handed judgement (and in my opinion, I feel that I have more experience with the behavior in S14). There are limitations in what can be represented in these games. There is only so much I can do, and I went back and forth a hundred times with different representations. In the end I went with what we have, and all the scenarios were play tested with this behavior in place. So, it is literally from years of testing and experimenting, and deciding on what is best for what can be represented.

Yes, the rules don't work in every situation (as you clearly point out), but that is the nature of wargaming, right? It works both ways. The Chetniks can disrupt through front lines, and in all weather, at all time of day, but then again, patrols can suppress them just as effectively, and in the same situations. I am at the mercy of the game engine. I can make suggestions to John about how partisans and deceptions work (and I have), but that is as far as I can go.  From this point I view the "issues" and being acceptable, because there are certainly things that happened in real life that also cannot be represented in the game, and so it comes out in a wash in my view.

The Chetniks were mentioned time and time again in historical texts, they were not just a nuisance, and so I feel they are well represented here. And if a user is piling all their Chetniks into a given area, then they will be neglecting other areas they could cover, so it comes at a cost.

That is all I really have to say on that particular subject. I may reduce the number of Chetnik units in the 1915 campaign at some point, (like by removing 4 or 8 of them - which are perfectly valid changes) but I just don't want to do that yet without more time and observations as I am worried that it would be a knee jerk reaction at this point in time. That may change of course, since everything is evolving, but sorry, I don't view it as being justified at this time.