I have decided to work again on my pacific world war 2 game and I had an idea that I really like for managing your fleet.
Each fleet will have a number of action points (10). Action points can be used to move to an adjacent hex, Attack bases or fleet in the same hex, or land troop in the same hex.
I like this mechanic because it allows a fleet to land troops in different bases during it's movement and the player can chose how many turns he want to bombard a base. Does he want to make many quick landings or few strong landings.
The problem is the timing behind the management of fleet versus fleet, because enemy fleets moves too but not at the same time.
Right now, the player who has initiative move all his fleet, then the player that lost initiative move all is fleet. The process is repeated a second time so that the fleet can get back home and then the turn ends.
To have a realistic simulation, I would need that each fleet perform 1 action point at a time, instead of doing all the actions of the same fleet. But with hidden fleet movement this is hard to do. Even with open movement, it is very annoying to manage.
One idea I had to patch things up is that a fleet cannot be target twice, because it will probably move during it's turn, so it artificially create a situation where you would have intercepted a fleet on passage and attacked it.
I am looking for suggestion or similar mechanics that could make fleet movement by action points better. One idea I had is to subdivide the 10 action point into something smaller like 2x5 or 3x3, etc.
Any other Ideas?
Note: I am answering 2 threads at the same time. (BGDF and BGG)
Here is a few additional details. First a picture is worth a thousand words, here is the last mini playtest picture:
http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/uploads/Mainsite/GameIdea/GameIdea2010032...
For more picture and game description, you can look at it's page:
http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/index.php?n=GameIdea.GameIdea201003230835AM
Each fleet is composed of a set of cards where a card is a group of ships according to it's functionality
Support (CV + CVL)
Assault (BB + CA)
Defense (CL + DD)
Cards are turned up side down when damaged (side ways in the picture above)
------------------------------------------------------------------
One problem that I have with fleet VS fleet could be explained by the following example.
Let say fleet US1 is located at midway, then fleet JP1 attacks midway, a fight occurs between both fleet. Then if the US players send fleet US2 to midway to fight the fleet JP1. Another fight occur between both fleet.
The problem with the example above is that each ship in the fleet of JP1 will have fought twice during the turn, while fleet US1 and US2 would only have fought once. So it indirectly double the attack strength of fleet JP1.
This is a problem because the engagements only last one round to reflect the idea that only a portions of the ships got sunk during each battle.
So my idea would have been that engagement on happens at the end, when all the fleets has moved. Which will lead to 1 engagement per turn after the fleets have moved out. Else, I could split the turn as 2x5, so 4 steps per turn, and have engagement at the end of the 3 first steps, because at the end 4th step all fleets must be back at a friendly base.
Splitting the turn gives more flexibility and allows players to react to attacks but makes the management a bit more complex. Since there is hidden movement, it might be required to note the location of a fleet between turns on a sheet of paper if the fleet end it's movement on a sea hex for example. Right now, there is a card for every location on the map, and you place the fleet card under the location.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have looked at comments from both threads and here is my answers.
The problem is that the map is big and has a lot of hex. So it would not be very convenient to note every move, especially with cards. Else, I must need pen and paper to resolve it. Resolving 1 action at a time would be very slow to do, this is why I am searching for alternatives.
The problem is that I don't give 10 action points to each player, but rather 10 action point to each fleet of each player. Action point summarize the movement speed and fuel available to a fleet.
That was my primary idea. Since in the pacific war, the pattern for most battle (like Guadalcanal and Midway) seems to move out, fight, and get back to base to patch things up. In my game, each turn is 3 month and it makes sense that the whole process could take 3 month. The problem with this pattern is that each fleet would be able to capture 1 base per turn.
This is a problem for historic recreation. The Japanese conquered the whole Indonesia in 2 months. That's over 15 bases in 2 months according to my map. So it must be possible to recreate this feat in the most optimal situation.
So my idea of action points for each fleet fit pretty well, you could move from one base to another and make multiple landing and attacks. My game is inspired on the PTO 2 video game where you did that kind of things, capture multiple bases in the same month.
So maybe I could resolve all non fleet battle this way and at then end of the step, all fleet battles are resolved. If fleets cross each other, there might be some opportunity for air strikes, but that is all.
Each card would have a space for a flag.
If the USA flag (for example) appears during and Axis turn the Allied player gets bonus commands... perhaps two. If the Japanese flag appears during an Axis turn the IJN gets two extra commands to use right now. Most cards would have have a blank flag space: nobody gets a bonus.
I like the idea, reminds me of twilight struggle, but like I said above, the action points are for each fleet. I want each fleet to perform it's full movement before the player change fleet, else I would need to keep track of the action points available for each fleet every turn. That is somewhat annoying to manage.
Right now, I do not mind if one player gets complete initiative above the other. Each player will have in average 3 fleet each, which will probably attack different targets. Initiative in my game reflect intelligence and preparation. There is always a side that start the hostilities before the other side. I don't think it will be so much overwhelming.
What is IGO-UGO?
Thanks for the idea so far.