Research tree unit level
There is never really enough time or resources to research a variety of units and so players usually just invest in one type of inf unit / armored unit which are always motorized infantry and MBT's because of how good they are in every situation. This doesn't allow players to be more tactical and use a variety of different unit types and even if they tried they would get crushed by players who have only have one type of unit but is much more advanced. I feel like there should be changes to the research tree which would allow players to more easily research multiple unit types by removing the advanced/modern unit upgrades as well as changing some other upgrades . It would look something like this:
There would still be some of the smaller upgrades to research for each type of unit but will only improves its useability instead of improving its general combat/ health stats, such as mortar upgrade for motorized inf, engine upgrade that will only improve the speed of the unit, NBC protection, woodland warfare taring, air defense that will only improve defense stats against air units, etc.. Because these upgrade will not improve general stats to the unit and won't advance it to the next level they would be made cheaper. These upgrades will not be in-between the unit types in the tech tree so that you won't have to research them before you can research a new infantry type.
The tech trees will differ for each unit category (i.e. towed artillery unlocking mobile artillery, armored fighting vehicle unlocking amphibious combat vehicle).
There would be a new feature, training level which when researched will improve the attack/defense, health stats and level of all the units as well as all types in the category (i.e. support, armored, helicopters) . This however would be researched not with rare materials but with a new type of resource called experience, there will be experience for each different unit category . This resource would be gained through making units do things like combat which will offer the most experience but experience can also be earned through occupying provinces/cities, moving, patrolling or even not doing anything (stationary in the province/city center-point) but this will only produce small amounts of experience. Each unit will produce experience and will be a part of the corresponding experience resource category (i.e. support, armored, helicopters). Some units will produce slightly more doing certain things compared to other units due to them being less likely to see combat/occupying cities such as mobile radar/ AWACS since they will never usually be used in combat or any air/armored units as they cannot occupy territory. This is so that experienced gained will be more balanced for all unit category's.
Province army base, air base and harbors
Cities seem to be the only place of importance and are always the place for enemies to attack making wars seem less strategic due to the very limited amount of places to occupy that have actual significance. Which is why there could be some changes on how resource are gathered, where units are mobilized and also new types of province constructions.
I feel like it would make more sense for army bases to be built and units to be mobilized in provinces rather than cities. Army bases could be a province construction where units will be mobilized wherever the army base is located, the army base will be linked to the city which will construct it however, and will be able to build units depending on what buildings the city it is linked to has i.e. arms industries, recruitment office, etc... This could also be done for airbases and harbors. When selecting a city and selecting to construct an army/air base or harbor you'll be asked to choose which province you want it to be built in. If the army/air base or harbor is occupied by enemy forces it will be unable to mobilize the corresponding type of unit even if the city is not occupied. If the city is occupied, air/army bases and harbors will be unable to mobilize. However there could be a way in which army/air bases and harbors would be linked to multiple cities so that they could still mobilize incase a city that it is linked to gets occupied. This change would make it so that airfields and airbases swap places where airfields act like airbases in which they are built in cities but cannot be upgraded. There would be an option however where army/air bases and harbors could be built in the city. There would also be an option to build air fields in provinces like usual. The change would make it more realistic since military bases are not located in cities and are in more secluded places.
Province resource
Resources seem to be quite vulnerable as they are mainly produced in cities and the occupation of any homeland city can have massive effects. This is why I think it would be nice if cities are not the main producers of resources and instead provinces would be, where they would produce much more resources. Local industries will have their resource production speed reduced like arms industries to balance out the increased production of the provinces resources. Province resources will also be much more common and can have varying quality, most producing small amounts but some producing possibly 3 times as more. This will allow for better strategic conquest because provinces now serve as the main component for resource production and will significantly improve their importance. Because of this cities resource production will be changed so that now it will increase one type of the total resources produced by provinces (i.e. supplies, components, fuel) by a small percentage which can be increased by building and upgrading arms industries. Manpower and money will still be produced they same way.
Supply Routes
Supply routes would allow for more tactical situation where units would need to stay supplied through a supply route which would be an unobstructed line through occupied provinces as well as ocean routes to any of the homeland or annexed cities acting as the source. The line can be severed by enemy forces occupying territory that was part of your supply route or having naval/ground units blockade the route. There could be supply hubs which can be built in provinces that increase the distance of supply routes from cities and they could create air supply routes that are linked to the cities which can only be obstructed by patrolling enemy fighters. If a units supply route is obstructed it will start losing hit points and DEF/ATK stats until the route is fixed.
New province construction ideas
There could be new types of constructions to build in provinces such as SAM sites, radar installations, theater defense systems which would have the same effect as the unit version but will be immobile, they would also need to be supplied through supply routes and will be inactive if the route is obstructed . Minefields could also be something that can be constructed along certain routes in provinces which deal damage to units moving across it including your own and allies.
Unit sub-classes
Sub-classes for units, mainly infantry types. For example, anti-tank motorized inf which deal more damage to hard units but slightly less to soft targets, heavy ATGM motorized inf which deal significant damage to armor units when defending against them with the downside of small hard ATK stats and some reductions to soft ATK/DEF stats. Heavy machine gun airborne infantry which deal more damage to soft targets when defending but less when attacking. These will allow players to create more advanced units and allow infantry to be better at combatting hard units as well as expanding their useability.
There is never really enough time or resources to research a variety of units and so players usually just invest in one type of inf unit / armored unit which are always motorized infantry and MBT's because of how good they are in every situation. This doesn't allow players to be more tactical and use a variety of different unit types and even if they tried they would get crushed by players who have only have one type of unit but is much more advanced. I feel like there should be changes to the research tree which would allow players to more easily research multiple unit types by removing the advanced/modern unit upgrades as well as changing some other upgrades . It would look something like this:
| | → | Airborne Infantry | → | | | ||||
| | | | → | Special Forces | |||||
Motorized infantry | → | | | → | Naval Infantry | → | | | ||
| | → | Mechanized Infantry | ||||||
| | → | National Guard |
Infantry Training | lv1 | lv2 | lv3 | lv4 | lv5 | lv6 |
There would still be some of the smaller upgrades to research for each type of unit but will only improves its useability instead of improving its general combat/ health stats, such as mortar upgrade for motorized inf, engine upgrade that will only improve the speed of the unit, NBC protection, woodland warfare taring, air defense that will only improve defense stats against air units, etc.. Because these upgrade will not improve general stats to the unit and won't advance it to the next level they would be made cheaper. These upgrades will not be in-between the unit types in the tech tree so that you won't have to research them before you can research a new infantry type.
The tech trees will differ for each unit category (i.e. towed artillery unlocking mobile artillery, armored fighting vehicle unlocking amphibious combat vehicle).
There would be a new feature, training level which when researched will improve the attack/defense, health stats and level of all the units as well as all types in the category (i.e. support, armored, helicopters) . This however would be researched not with rare materials but with a new type of resource called experience, there will be experience for each different unit category . This resource would be gained through making units do things like combat which will offer the most experience but experience can also be earned through occupying provinces/cities, moving, patrolling or even not doing anything (stationary in the province/city center-point) but this will only produce small amounts of experience. Each unit will produce experience and will be a part of the corresponding experience resource category (i.e. support, armored, helicopters). Some units will produce slightly more doing certain things compared to other units due to them being less likely to see combat/occupying cities such as mobile radar/ AWACS since they will never usually be used in combat or any air/armored units as they cannot occupy territory. This is so that experienced gained will be more balanced for all unit category's.
Province army base, air base and harbors
Cities seem to be the only place of importance and are always the place for enemies to attack making wars seem less strategic due to the very limited amount of places to occupy that have actual significance. Which is why there could be some changes on how resource are gathered, where units are mobilized and also new types of province constructions.
I feel like it would make more sense for army bases to be built and units to be mobilized in provinces rather than cities. Army bases could be a province construction where units will be mobilized wherever the army base is located, the army base will be linked to the city which will construct it however, and will be able to build units depending on what buildings the city it is linked to has i.e. arms industries, recruitment office, etc... This could also be done for airbases and harbors. When selecting a city and selecting to construct an army/air base or harbor you'll be asked to choose which province you want it to be built in. If the army/air base or harbor is occupied by enemy forces it will be unable to mobilize the corresponding type of unit even if the city is not occupied. If the city is occupied, air/army bases and harbors will be unable to mobilize. However there could be a way in which army/air bases and harbors would be linked to multiple cities so that they could still mobilize incase a city that it is linked to gets occupied. This change would make it so that airfields and airbases swap places where airfields act like airbases in which they are built in cities but cannot be upgraded. There would be an option however where army/air bases and harbors could be built in the city. There would also be an option to build air fields in provinces like usual. The change would make it more realistic since military bases are not located in cities and are in more secluded places.
Province resource
Resources seem to be quite vulnerable as they are mainly produced in cities and the occupation of any homeland city can have massive effects. This is why I think it would be nice if cities are not the main producers of resources and instead provinces would be, where they would produce much more resources. Local industries will have their resource production speed reduced like arms industries to balance out the increased production of the provinces resources. Province resources will also be much more common and can have varying quality, most producing small amounts but some producing possibly 3 times as more. This will allow for better strategic conquest because provinces now serve as the main component for resource production and will significantly improve their importance. Because of this cities resource production will be changed so that now it will increase one type of the total resources produced by provinces (i.e. supplies, components, fuel) by a small percentage which can be increased by building and upgrading arms industries. Manpower and money will still be produced they same way.
Supply Routes
Supply routes would allow for more tactical situation where units would need to stay supplied through a supply route which would be an unobstructed line through occupied provinces as well as ocean routes to any of the homeland or annexed cities acting as the source. The line can be severed by enemy forces occupying territory that was part of your supply route or having naval/ground units blockade the route. There could be supply hubs which can be built in provinces that increase the distance of supply routes from cities and they could create air supply routes that are linked to the cities which can only be obstructed by patrolling enemy fighters. If a units supply route is obstructed it will start losing hit points and DEF/ATK stats until the route is fixed.
New province construction ideas
There could be new types of constructions to build in provinces such as SAM sites, radar installations, theater defense systems which would have the same effect as the unit version but will be immobile, they would also need to be supplied through supply routes and will be inactive if the route is obstructed . Minefields could also be something that can be constructed along certain routes in provinces which deal damage to units moving across it including your own and allies.
Unit sub-classes
Sub-classes for units, mainly infantry types. For example, anti-tank motorized inf which deal more damage to hard units but slightly less to soft targets, heavy ATGM motorized inf which deal significant damage to armor units when defending against them with the downside of small hard ATK stats and some reductions to soft ATK/DEF stats. Heavy machine gun airborne infantry which deal more damage to soft targets when defending but less when attacking. These will allow players to create more advanced units and allow infantry to be better at combatting hard units as well as expanding their useability.