Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegyrius
I think that's a feature rather than a bug. If the Pact forces are sitting on the main food supply, then they have a mechanism for controlling the surviving civilian population (and/or Austrian puppet government). The same situation also makes all the other factions devote too much effort to self-sustainment to really be effective threats to local Soviet power. Which makes a perfect situation for PCs to stumble into...
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Perhaps. I'm trying, but I don't think I see what you do. I'm still going to finish what I started, though. I'm just finding that the geography issues are making the area much less sandboxy than I originally imagined it. It was that wide-open feeling- in terms of the relative chaos of the region and the potential players present there- that attracted me to Austria. Unfortunately, its geography is really squeezing the freedom out of the country. For example, in mountainous central Austria, geography can railroad PCs since, in many cases, their choices will be limited to heading up the valley or heading down the valley. Put a marauder force in there at either end and it seems even more like a two-way track. I hope I'm making sense.
I've been writing up the factions with the notion that a group of PCs puttering around in Austria could realistically expect to run into each and every one of them but, the more I look at Austria's topography, that just seems unrealistic, and it's disappointing.
On the other hand, scaling back the forces that each faction can support (due to limited agricultural output in most parts of Austria) might make it a little easier for the PCs to really have a lasting impact on the region (i.e. it would be easier, relatively speaking, for a PC party to destroy a marauder force of 100 than it would one ten times larger).