How could naval combat look like?

[hecxau]

I know the developers haven’t planned to add naval combat, but maybe they will in the future. I am really excited about this game in general and that’s why I have been thinking of a way to improve it, and that includes naval combat. I figured out a way to introduce it without substantially changing the mechanics and logics of the game. I intend to give here a complete explanation of my suggestion for naval combat, although I will also give some comments and alternatives to what I am suggesting.

First of all, naval combat should take place in a special battlefield. It should be like a copy of the standard battlefield, but for naval combat, where the general logics of combat apply for naval units considering they are more like artillery, and from where naval bombardment to the ground is possible. That means that, when playing, what we see would be different: standard battlefield on the left of the screen and naval battlefield on the right. However, naval combat shouldn’t be obligatory, so that depends on what the players choose and the scenarios or missions (when campaings and scenarios are added). The maritime battlefield has, of course, its own units, as well as no ground or air unit can be placed in the sea area. There are, following the same logics of simplified unit categories, four type of ships: destroyers, cruisers, carriers and submarines. Actually, this could even be more simplified between battleships (in general, not real dreadnought ships), carriers and submarines. I think that this second option is actually the best, in order not to make it complicated and because the differences between combat ships just depend on the cost and the abilities. In any case, every card is a specific historical ship, like the Bismarck or the Enterprise.

The maritime area has the following characteristics: every player has an own support line, which we will call “convoy line” in order to be distinguished from the normal support line, and an own front line, which will be called “spike line”. Four cards can be placed in every of these lines (not 5 like in ground combat because I find it too many, but that’s just an impression). Naval combat is allowed from both lines, but sea-ground combat, which we will call “bombardment”, is only from the spike line allowed. Just to make it clear, with the introduction of the maritime battlefield we will have in this game three types of combat: ground combat just like now, naval combat in the sea are between naval units, and sea-ground combat or ground-sea combat between some ships, air units and artillery. Let’s see each of these two new combat types.

A) Naval combat: it follows the normal combat rules but between ships. That means: ships attack each other: one attacks and the other gives counterfire. But there are the following rules according to the type of unit, because, just like infantry or fighters, for example, ships are different: battleships are the normal units and can do everything. Submarines cannot bombard (cannot attack ground units) and receive no counterfire except from other submarines. Carriers cannot bombard either. On the other side, these units should also be differently characteristed. In the case of battleships, the cost and abilities or passive effect are meant to differentiate between destroyers and real battleships. That’s obvious, actually. So, a destroyer is cheaper and can have a boost when attacking submarines, and a battleship or a cruiser is more expensive and can have a boost when bombarding or attacking a destroyer. Submarines could be characterised by smokescreen, for exemple, and carriers boost air units or, what is better, bring air units to combat.

B) Sea-Ground/Ground-Sea combat (bombardment). As said before, bombardement is in general termes only possible from the spike line and to the spike line. Bombardment works like artilley attack. That is, ships bombard any unit on the ground battlefield without receiving counterfire or the HQ. On the contrary, not every ground unit can attack ships: just artillery and planes. But there are the following special rules:

-Artillery can bombard both battleships and carriers, even if these last ones cannot perfom bombardment.
-Aircraft can attack all three types of ships anywhere on the sea area, so they are not limited to the spike line.
-Bombers also receive counterfire from battleships and carriers (just like from fighters), but not from submarines.


So, until here I have explained the rules for naval combat. I think it does correspond to the normal mechanics of the game. However, there is one more think I have been thinking about that can also be introduced in order to make the new combat types more balanced, which is certainly a difference from the actual rules but it doesn’t modify completely the logics of combat either. Anyway, I am not sure if it could be useful. So, the point is that, as ships can attack both naval units and ground/air units, they could have 2 strenght values: bombardement strenght and attack strenght. This idea could actually also be applied to air units, but this would modify the current game rules and it is maybe not completely necessary.
Speaking of air units, they could be more important now with naval combat. But regarding the current structure of the battlefield where air units are placed in the support line too and considering that they are going to be more numerous because of the carriers, I have realised that the current distribution may not be suitable. And here we have the first problem. How do we place on the board aircrafts? Well I figured out a way to do it. But let me also say before that I am suggesting this accepting the current way air combat works. It is not realistic, I think, and it doesn’t seem to be “special” for air units, just like naval combat is (or at least I think it is in my proposal); despite this it doesn’t completely dislike me. Well, I think the solution is just to make the support line bigger, divided in two sub-support lines: the one currently existing where only ground units are deployed and another one where 5 planes can be deployed.

I can myself too critise this solution, although it seems to be adequate and harmonic with the game. There is certainly a little problem: it seems not logic that aircrafts deployed by carriers (if they do deploy planes, I suppose there is not obligatory, maybe carriers could also have abilities like heal all air units, or search for a specific air unit in your deck, or give +1 +1 to all fighters or whatever) go to the standard support line where ground units can attack them. Then, thinking about it, the only solution I find to this problem is that aircrafts could also be deployed in the convoy line. But there is here a little problem too: it would make air combat more complicated: are planes in the naval map also allowed to attack ground units? And can artillery attack planes in the sea, just it bombards planes in the normal battlefield? Well, in my opinion, resolving the problemes that placing aircrafts in the convoy line arise brings me to only one solution, which is changing air combat rules, which can be certainly complicated and maybe not desired by all players, and that’s why I thought that the best is to maintain the actual distribution with just a bigger support line. If you are curious to know how air combat could look like if it is to be changed, well it can give a quick answer: I would place a specific deployment stripe for air units affecting the whole map (ground and sea areas) and I would make air combat be more air combat, just like naval combat is naval combat.


I have explained already naval combat, how it could look like in my opinion. But I can’t now just stop writing, because there are a couple of related problems that naval combat may arise, which I would like to mention too, because they bring me to make a couple of suggestion about adapting a bit the mechanics of the game. Well, what are these problems? I think that naval combat allows more game possibilities, more interesting combinations. This can only be so, and should be so, if we certainly have the possibility to play cards, so that all three type of combat (as said, ground combat, naval combat and sea bombardment) can be good experienced and can be useful. And then, thinking about it, I realised that we may not have enough kredits or enough cards to try to control both fronts (the standard battlefield and the naval battlefield) in a way it is agile. So, what we eventullay want to avoid is not having enough units of all types and not having enough kredits. Again, it is just the first impression of what this idea could cause and I am saying it knowing how the game now works: you can fins yourself with a card in the game which, if you operate it, doesn’t allow you to play other interesting cards or is not useful during the whole game. Obvioulsy the point is not to play all the cards, it is certainly important to think strategically too and to feel sometimes some “privations”, but I also think that we should try to make a flexible game and that action possibilities can be certainly performed. So my concern is that naval combat makes the game wider, but this could actually mean limited action possibilities if we do not rebalence the Kredit system and the cards or units obtention.

And then, finally, here my little suggestions to do it:

-First of all, as the game is now wider with naval combat, so should be the deck, too. I think the number of cards shouldn’t be inconditionally 40. Maybe it’s better to just allow players to have decks between for example 40 and 50 cards.
-In order to have more action possibilities, maybe players could start the game with 3 kredits instead of 1. This is maybe one of the main changes. It is a little change, but I think it can have a great effect in terms of interesting games and having complex battles.
-There could be more orders too, or unit abilities, to make the player gain extra kredits. I think, though, that 12 as maximal kredits is OK.
-We could also think of having options to reduce the kredit cost of the cards, but I believe this option should be more exceptional than gaining more kredits.
-In order to make it easier to have possibilities to play units in both fronts and to think strategically, we need to widen also our range of eventual tactical options (it is, orders and units to play). There is a double way to do it: a) getting cards; b) getting units. So, for the first option, I would suggest to have more orders and/or unit abilities that make the player draw cards as well as searching for specific cards in his deck. For the second option, it is necessary to have more orders and/or unit abilities that allow to deploy units or directly add new units. The option b) shouln’t be abused of, but there is no problem to often draw cards (and placing others at the bottom of the deck), so that it allows the player to think of a strategy. Anyway, this should be obviously different depending on the nation.


And that’s it, that is how I envision naval combat. Maybe it’s just a dream, but I wanted to share it and, by doing so, try to give the developers the idea of introducing it. What do you think? How should naval combat look like in your opinion?

[xKilroyx]

Yes this would be Kool