beta settings
i still don't know who and how new games are started, but why not kiil 2 birds with 1 stone allow gamemakers to choose from possible beta mods
eg
allow troops to station off of carriers
allow trading cities
modified abilities
mod tech trees
16X speed games
etc

list of mods
these are possible propositions, eg i think it'd be cool to have many different mods to games, and many combinations can be tested
although it could be problematic if the game becomes too ununified players will constantly be confused never get over the learning hump
i think the learning curve could be shortened with easier interface, and wiki's etc though

tech tree
currently everything is linear, you research

require healing to upgrade
eg in real life when you research new tech the old tech doesn't magically upgrade until you work on it and switch out parts etc
make it so obsolete units have to go to hospital, airport, harbor etc to get upgraded from

make it so units have building dependant healing,
eg planes heal at airports, troops at hospitals, ships at harbors, hybrid units need both, you could just use the same criteria requirement for mobilizing, eg naval marines need army base and harbor, so they need both to heal, etc


advanced commands
unit prioritization
keep x number garrison

supply chains
you could say you want all cities garrisoned with at least 1 ground unit to fight insurgence
then when you want a unit instead of picking a unit to move, you pick a unit you want, and you pull from available,
eg you click on a location and click a menu saying you want a national guard or mobile infantry at that location, and hit go, then the system moves all units necessary to get requested unit there as fast as possible while keeping other priorities in check
eg there's an extra unit 10 cities north, it could go all the way to final location, or it could go to nearest substitute spot, and tag team till you get a unit where you want,

i get that that could be extemely buggy, but it could lead to some cool stuff if it eventually works
eg
ocean patrols
fast supply lines
algorithmic orders
(scout with air support, bomb with heavies, take ground with troops, send units to this location for healing if under x health, )

i'm assuming this kind of stuff is used for the AI's

players could use it to help their own gameplay and players could be copied to make better AI's

also could eventually help to allow players to run much bigger faster armies, maps dozens to hundreds times bigger or many times faster 64x, 500x, etc
a whole month in a few hours, etc

the game is fun as is, but i think algos can be fun also, like commanding real troops, where you have to give complex commands and understand how they will be carried out

much increased air troops ability
in real life soldiers can jump out of anything pretty much,
i get that it could really mess with mechanics if you allowed airdrops with radius of bombers, but it seems more realistic and could be tested in beta groups or something

allow increased airdrop range, with tech
allow increased ground speed after airdrop with tech (air drop dirtbikes or jeeps,) maybe as deployable gear that needs to be delivered and equiped

allow air drop of more units with tech, (bigger planes can deliver tanks, etc)

engineer units
have units that make improvements like airstrips, local industry, airports, arms industry
engineers can build improvements
or you can pay locals

or you could have to negotiate with locals on hiring costs,
eg if moral is low cost go up
if population is low building time goes up

engineer units are used to supplement


also you could give a build factor ability to all units,
eg
national guard could have 1x
corvet has 5x
carrier has 10x

one time use, "ammo"

there are units/items that have one time use but must be built,
it would be intereting to have abilities that can only be "recharged" in certain ways

eg
missiles,
soldiers, aircraft, and ships could have 1-50 high power ranged attacks, that must be recharged, for soldiers you could airdrop supplies, for aircraft at airport, ships at harbors of qualified level,
these could be like missiles in game,
or at much reduced cost,
or as part of daily upkeep
eg while some missiles cost as much as small countries, many are dirt cheap


other rechargable items

buildings
bridges
airstrips
fortification
field hospital

transport
jeeps could be airproped to speed up troop movement, these could
last forever,
or have to be abandoned at rough terrain (mountains, rivers, etc), it could be fun to have gear that is stealable, there's very little commandeering in the game, but in real life, that's how many armies survived throughout history, and turned the tide of battle, taking the enemies resources and turning them against them, and the inverse recognizing the vulnerability of assets and destroying them before they can be taken, eg burning crops, busting bunkers, factories, airstrips, etc
or wear out eg speed boost for 1000 miles etc

rations/supplies
this one probably goes against the whole "it's not a logisitics game" but an army needs to be fed, (gas, food, repairs, ammo, medicine, laundry, etc) units could start with a range distance,
eg tank has 250 miles range in gas, after that you need to supply with transport or aquire in field, raid gas stations,
eg soldier has 1 day supply
there could be more transport and resuply units, eg trucks, boats, planes, etc,
units could have various movement speeds with diiferent pack loads, eg a soldier with 7 days rations move slower than 6 hour rations, planes with heavy loads need longer runways, etc
aquiring resources in field could be improved with tech,
eg train soldiers in language field resupply +20%
spies could campaign to get soldiers better reputation with locals, +5%/day max 50%
methods could be developed to repurpose in field,
eg soldiers trained on local flora&fauna, +20% resuply food
soldiers could train on enemy weapons systems, allow resupply or aquisition of enemy gear
eg soldiers can steal guns ammo, tank, jeeps, etc, and use proficiently +ressuply (ammo, speed, etc)
and equipment could be modified to more compatably resupply,
eg mod vehicles to run on anything from diesel to kerosene, to veg oil
mod or develop aircraft to land in smaller airstrips, boats in smaller ports




it could be fun to have gear that is stealable, there's very little commandeering in the game, but in real life, that's how many armies survived throughout history, and turned the tide of battle, taking the enemies resources and turning them against them,
and the inverse recognizing the vulnerability of assets and destroying them before they can be taken, eg burning crops, busting bunkers, factories, airstrips, ships, planes, etc