Well, making strong statements is a fun way to get a discussion going. Why not.
marquo wrote: 1. No way of really knowing what settings your opponent is using.
2. No way of preventing changes in the settings once the game is underway.
As I understand it, the only settings that matter are the ones the hosting player sets. The non-hosting player has to trust the hosting player. For that matter, the hosting player could in theory load up their opponent's moves, watch what they do, and then make their own moves with that knowledge. I doubt anyone does that, its just silly. If you really care, use a third party as the host.
3. No way of preventing endless reloads - sorry, but it has to be said.
Again, you mean by the hosting player? I suppose it is a philosophical question: why would anybody cheat on a game unless some external reason, like money is on the line.
4. No way of preventing one's opponent from using the slider to allow unlimited recruitment of new units as opposed to the historical setting.
That would affect both players, I believe.
5. No way of preventing an all East approach; and no house rule can really stop this because players can always haggle over what is too much and what is too little.
What prevents an all-anything approach at the strategic level is the advantage of the defense. If one side sends everything East, the other side sends 3/4 of their force East where it will stalemate or lose slowly and then with the remaining 1/4 of force cleans up the rest of the map against no opposition.
It is true that if you are going to try to overwhelm your opponent in one theatre, you want to do it by surprise if possible, so for a brief while one side could arrange to have crushing superiority. Arguably this is exactly what happened historically at Shiloh, or the transfer of Longstreet's corps to the Army of Tenessee before Chickamauga. To some extent you have to play conservatively, and never put yourself in a position where a sudden accession to the enemy's force in a theatre will be fatal.
... fielding Virginia's entire contribution to the war in the first year...
I'm not sure what problem you are trying to address. Even if there was a requirement that you had to recruit all over, nothing prevents a player from moving all their force to one spot. The difference between recruiting in VA and recruiting in AL and railing to VA is a couple turns of transport. Even on the South's crappy rail net, that is not much of a restriction.
1. The manual is in desperate need of updating or the WIKI needs work; either will do. I am amazed at the pearls that experienced players like Ace always seem to know which are otherwise not documented.
Amen to that. I do worry sometimes that CW2 has a whiff of gameplay theatre: stuff that you spend a lot of effort on that you think matters, and then when things happen you selectively perceive support for your hypothesis that they matter, but perhaps actually we are deluding ourselves. More transparency on exactly how the game mechanics work would be very helpful to combat that suspicion.
