Date:	1995-07-17
		From:	John
		Subject:	Alexander Ideas

I have been watching the PBS series "Battlefield" about World War II. Although relentlessly dry, it's a goldmine for war game designers. I feel inspired to toss out a few ideas. I confess that I can't begin to remember if we've talked about any of these before...

• Allow bombers to exchange some of their bombs for extra fuel (extra range).
• We had planned to allow radar sites on land. How about on a ship? For extra days of construction perhaps we could add radar capability to a carrier? A battleship? A destroyer? All of the above?
• In my current mood I favor the increased use of radar as a force in battle. Therefore it seems worthwhile to resurrect the idea of a stealth bomber (and stealth fighter?).
• A minor but interesting wrinkle could be added by allowing for more flexible repair times. This inspired by the story of the Yorktown which limped home after the Battle of Coral Sea with an estimated repair time of three months. Miraculously, the 1500 man round-the-clock repair crew sent her to sea in only three days where she played an important role in the Battle of Midway. We could replace fixed repair times with randomly fluctuating repair times or, perhaps even better, allow players to channel a city's production into dramatically improved repair times. Thus, if a damaged piece was brought into a city, an option to speed repair could be added to the menu of production options: army, fighter, ... , repair crew.
• Another player discussed in the documentary was the amphibious seaplane, mostly used for reconnaissance and sea rescues. I'm not too enamored with this idea, but it might be worth kicking around if you see any potential in it.

Yours in haste,

Field Marshall Epicurious J.