Scorched Earth

The function is already there, and completely automatic >> with each conquest buildings will partially damaged / destructed, even if a province has been conquered without a fight.

More destruction would be neither authentic nor good, because it would (it must) cost the player energy (resources), which he can / should use much better.

In a war of about equally strong opponents, the conquest of provinces / buildings will be compensated over time anyway - and if one player is or becomes the stronger opponent, producing scorched earth will not (and has never) save the loser as well.

Moreover if buildings were never conquered, there would probably be a general shortage of resources on the maps, or the maps would be even more protracted, because much more would have to be built all in all.

Also:

Restrisiko wrote:

Even an industrial complex level 1 is not comparable with just a single building / a small factory, but already corresponds to at least one industrial area or whole district with many different production and processing factories, and of course at higher levels with a correspondingly larger expansion.

To destroy all "buildings" in an enemy province, either several strategic bombers over a longer time or equal a few dozen rockets are required.

So, if someone really want to be able to free an own province (completely) from buildings at the push of a button, he would at least have to invest the equivalent for the explosive power of the necessary bombs or warheads (the proportionally resources).

But if one still have the resources needed to do so, it would be unwise to apply them to destroy own buildings the enemy probably do not need anyway (because: how else has he managed it to threaten / conquer that province?). Better to use this resources for wapons against the enemy units instead.

That means, if an enemy is already strong enough that he can invade provinces with "good" buildings, it's maybe more harm for yourself than for your enemy when you're wasting ressources for blasting your own buildings.

So it's actually a brilliant protection mechanism for Noobs, that they can not scrap their own provinces.

Would be inclined to disagree.

I'd assume that the current function, damaging/destruction of buildings when conquered, is the result of the fighting between either the armies in the area or the civilians against the foreign army, not of the government purposefully destroying it so the enemy gets nothing of use from the conquest.

I'd also argue that it would be both authentic and beneficial. You seem to believe a necessity for the loss of significant resources when destroying a building, but I don't think that is reasonable, since the burning of your own territory has a downside in of itself, the lost production of resources/ability to produce troops there. Presumably, if implemented, it would only take a little oil (oil for fire, could take maybe an hour for the building to destroy or diminish in HP) and an ample amount morale to destroy something, since it would be unreasonable to make the resources required for destroying it equal to the resources required for the enemy to destroy it, as it is their own territory, there would be lesser struggle, and it has its own consequence.

As for it being beneficial, I could present numerous examples not only throughout history but in the game that scorched earth tactics were used to a benefit to the defender. One in-game example is as follows: My friend is playing Morocco. He succeeds in conquering all of Africa and some of the Middle East, and landed in Italy following significant loss of Italian territory from the Canadians, who now own France (and all of North America). In prepping for war against the Canadians he moved most of his troops to his hold in Italy, as it bordered the Canadians in France. To his surprise, the Canadians started the war by hammering Morocco mainland with nukes and rockets, and followed up with a large scale invasion of Africa. Canadian troops are now surging through Morocco with little resistance, his only troops in Africa being far away from the frontline, returning from the ME. Ideally, he would be able to retreat to a manageable position and burn all of the buildings in the cities leading up to that position so Canada has little to no production in Africa, and cannot easily replenish his troops on the frontline. Yet, because this is not an option, Canada is capturing level 2 infrastructure and mid level industrial complexes, allowing the production of decent units, and aiding in further pushing.

That is an example of how it would work in practice, and theoretically, if someone has a surplus in supplies, particularly oil, they can not only spend it on making troops and weapons to fight, but also on destroying, through scorched earth, the enemies ability to produce units. The whole idea is to make a resource shortage and halt their advance, so I don't see that being an issue.

Anyways, input is good, but I've had multiple situations where it would have been useful for me and think it would still be cool to see implemented

Just going to add my two cents to this thread, I don't know if this is a dead thread or whatever, but I found it, and I like the idea.

Personally, I always like to try to take a province with a Naval Base or an Airfield in my initial invasions. Mainly so that I can start flying in air units, and getting my troops docked in the Naval Bases. If the enemy were to realize this, and start destroying Airfields, then my entire plan would be foiled, well, most of it at least. Same with Naval bases, if the enemy were to destroy the Naval bases, then my plan would be hindered. I honestly like that, I don't mind my invasions being set back (In CoW at least, in HoI it makes me really mad) because it offers a new challenge. Having my enemy do a scorched earth policy would be very fun and challenging, or at the very least, an interesting concept.

Remember the Soviet Union? Germany had no supplies to take cos the Russians destroyed their lands, which became a key factor in the Russian victory since Germans have not enough supplies to last for the winter. If it wasn't for the scorched earth policy, Russia could easily be game over.

It's easy to run out of food during an invasion especially because you acquire a lot of damaged Barracks'. You need lots of food to repair them, and you CANNOT SHUT OFF damaged Barracks'.

The whole shutting off barracks to save food is a hassle. I think that barracks' should not consume food when they are not producing. Alternatively, perhaps they don't consume food if no units are stationed in the region. It seems wholly unnecessary and micro-gamey to have to turn barracks' on and off to conserve food (same with Ports and oil).

Uh, I think damaged barracks has no food consumption and they actually still give you a boost in manpower.

Tibbles wrote:

It's easy to run out of food during an invasion especially because you acquire a lot of damaged Barracks'. You need lots of food to repair them, and you CANNOT SHUT OFF damaged Barracks'.

This is true on the mobile client ... that a greater than level 1 damaged barracks (or naval base) can not be turned off. Not sure about the app, I don't use it. But you can shut off damaged barracks on the desktop client. You can switch back and forth between mobile and desktop client in the game settings.

Link to thread on disabling damaged barracks

Little Racoon wrote:

Uh, I think damaged barracks has no food consumption and they actually still give you a boost in manpower.

And the same is true of incomplete L1 naval bases. Incomplete L2 and L3 barracks and naval bases will incrementally increase the production of manpower and resources, respectively, in the provinces where they are located, but they will only incur the higher production costs in resources (i.e., food and oil, respectively), when L1, L2 and L3 facilities are 100% complete.

Incomplete infrastructure and industrial complexes will also incrementally increase resource production, but, of course, there is no resource production cost associated with them when they are completed.

Back to the scorched earth idea. As I learned it in history, the Soviets burned their crops to deny the Germans food. They dismantled whole factories and moved them east into the Ural Mountains. What they could not move was destroyed.

This game cold mimic that by dismantling Industrial complexes in 1/4 the time to build them, at 1/4 the cost in cash, and move them for a fee in goods, cash, and oil. Rebuilding in a new province would cost less than starting from scratch and take less time as the machines are already made and just need a building to put them into. The province being vacated would leave behind a factory with 5/20 HP left or none at all.

As for Infrastructure, this would be harder to move since we are talking about railroads, highways, bridges, food courts, gas stations, etc, but easier to destroy, costing 1/10-1/4 the cash to build, 200-500 goods per level, and 200-500 oil per level.