Currently, strategic victory in Aces High is determined exclusively by the percentage of bases owned. Although this is a tried and true concept dating back to the days of Air Warrior, it also has its limitations, and tends to funnel game play in predictable ways, thus limiting opportunities for a wider range of experiences within the MA.
Under the current setup, there is very little reason to attack anything other than a frontline base. One rarely sees deep penetration missions featuring bombers at altitude with escorts, and the primary reason is that there is no point (other than roleplay). Indeed, whereas half the reason of paying for an airforce is to be able to strike behind enemy lines, in Aces High, such a thing is seen as "wasteful" or "useless." A game about WW2 air battles seems to require a special event to see a massed, escorted bomber raid. I place blame on the game's emphasis on airfields as the primary objective.
I propose that the airfields be realigned as secondary objectives in that suppressing or taking them will help a country complete their new primary objectives: the destruction of enemy infrastructure, industry, and logistics systems.
Whereas now one country must possess a certain percentage of airfields to "win," under my system, a country must destroy a certain percentage of targets (initially) deep within enemy territory. Capturing airfields will still be useful, as they will reduce flight times to said targets, while suppressing airfields will have the effect of hogtying defenders. Further, airfields could be one type of target too. They would just have a smaller mathematical effect on the outcome (the exact math would depend on total targets and airfields naturally, but something along the lines of 1/20th of an industrial targets value, which in turn might be 1/20th of the total victory threshold).
To win, a certain "victory threshold" must be reached, and this is based on the percentage of targets destroyed. This would propel deeper-ranged targets to a level of prominence, and encourage the sort of tactics necessary to successfully reach and attack them (higher level approach, escorts, screens, teamwork, tactics, and strategy).
An attack on an industrial, infrastructure, or logistic target will have two purposes. The first is to contribute towards the total threshold needed to secure victory (each target would be worth a percentage of the total destruction needed). The second would be to make attacking successive targets easier. Here are two first-draft examples:
Ammunition PlantA successful attack on an ammunition plant would cause flak batteries to fire less high. At game's start, a nation's flak would fire in 4 zones: 0-7.5k, 7.5-15k, 15-22.5k, and 22.5-30k. At game's start, each nation has four ammunition plants. When each is destroyed, a layer of flak is taken away (so the first destroyed ammo plant would make flying over 22.5k safe from flak, the second would clear the zone of 15k+).
Divisional H.Q.'sAn attack on a division H.Q. (troops) would decrease the amount of troops needed to capture a base. At game's start, each base would require 4 C-47 loads to capture, and each nation would have 4 Divisional H.Q. buildings. For each H.Q. destroyed, one less C-47 would be required.
Please note that these are just rough examples. The specifics can change however one sees fit. The point is to give there two purposes to attacking a deeper target: inching closer to the victory threshold, and making successive attacks easier.
Now, suppose a target is destroyed. Can it be rebuilt? Yes, via a simple A to B to C logistics system.
A--Origin: Cities and factories send out supplies to marshaling yards. If the city or factory has previously been damaged by raids, it sends out supplies less quickly.
B--Marshalling Yards: decides where to send supply trains to rebuild damaged infrastructure (this could even be player-controlled, as with CV's). Will load trains and send them on to their destination. If the marshalling yards are damaged, trains will be dispatched less quickly.
C--Destination: The ammunition factory, divisional H.Q., city, factory, etc. that has been damaged/destroyed and is in need of supply.
In the meanwhile, these trains are destructible and can be targeted by player aircraft.
Ordinance and fuel restrictions
as they currently exist in game (I do NOT advocate "punishing" players more so than already happens) could be tied in to this system as well. I think ENY should remain numbers based.
I believe that such a strategic system would give Aces High much more depth while remaining simple enough to learn quickly. It would add to the game, without taking away anything from it. No one would be forced to play a certain way, either. Furballers could remain content in the MA fighting each other between airfields as always, while strategy gurus could get together and plan truly decisive raids. Historical types would get to relive the pages of all the books they've read about WW2 air combat, while quick action seekers would still be able to take off and quickly find a fight at a nearby airfield.
I think that shifting the primary objectives away from the front line would make this game much more diverse and fun.
Well, that's it in a nutshell. Tear it to shreds
Edited because for some reason " is replaced with a '?' when transferring from Word...
