[Scharnhorst1943]

as mission builders know....vehicle convoys can be made to travel anywhere...no need for roads....even going through the 'woods' texture without any trouble...and even across rivers (as if they were shallow fords) without too much editing in notepad

Sorry, but as someone exptrememly versed in DCG and how it operates, there is an imperative need for roads.

Let me explain - For those who play offline campaign, the campaign has nothing to do with the air war. The campaign is advance ENTIRELY by the ground war. Anything any air unit does is calculated into how it affects the GROUND WAR. If fighters destroy lots of bombers, then the chances are less likely that bombers destroy tanks. If chances are less likely of tanks being destroyed than tanks chances of tanks advancing farther improve ... I emphasise, the ONLY way to advance a campaign is through the ground war. Now when PF came out, it had the same idea as Forgotten Battles. They changed nothing. So even though the islands may still be small, the same european style tank assault is the only way to advance a campaign.

Now on to a per mission basis. The way it works is that all units go toward the front. They act like lemmings jumping over a cliff. So every mission, the tank column will advance to the next closest location to the front lines. The only way to move front lines in this game (Europe, Pacific or anywhere) is through tank columns. That is that, there is no way around it.

This is why it is imperative that you make roads. As it stands now, your island maps (as Magnifacent and Beautiful and Incredible as they are) are covered in trees. The tanks will move under the canopy just fine. But here is the delema - The player will be assigned missions to destroy these ground units. How the hell is the player going to find, let alone destroy tank columns under tree canopy? This makes armor practically invincible. It is like trying to fight a cloaked Romulan Battlecruiser in an Avenger ... You NEED to put roads if you want your map to be of any practical value to campaign designers, historical or not.

Secondly, it is boring and dull to play as the Japanese and ALWAYS get airstart missions for the whole damn war. Again, not historically accurate, but it is nice to give the Japanese player the option to take off and land on the map. So again, clear an area where campaign designers can put a runway in, or build one into your map so that the other side can do this too.

Just my 2 cents.