I love how WAR ROOM mechanics are already manifesting into A&A house rule ideas. Great job!
Technology
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That heavy bombers text is 10 years old, when Larry was young and reckless.
The shorter the techs are the better chance at having one tech ruleset endorsed as the standard by the community. -
I think half your arty shooting at 5 is more fair.
Attacker assigning casualties means “take all your artillery off bro” -
Economic Techs
1. War Bonds - During your collect income phase, collect an additional number of IPCs equal to 10% of your National Production Chart level, rounded up.
2. Increased Production - Tank and Fighter costs are reduced by 1 IPC.
3. Improved Shipyards - Naval units cost 1 IPC less.
Naval Techs
4. Anti-Submarine Warfare - Your Cruisers prevent enemy subs from submerging or moving through them at a 1:1 ratio.
5. Battle Cruisers - Cruisers attack at 4 or less, but still defend at 3 or less. Additionally, cruisers may perform offshore bombardment at 3.
6. Armed Transports - Transports defend at 1 or less.
Air Techs
7. Advanced Aviation - Fighters attack and defend at 3 or less.
8. AA Guns - Artillery may target fighters before combat begins, hitting at 1. The number of dice that may be rolled is limited to the number of artillery available or the number of fighters present, whichever is smaller.
9. Aerial Photography - Your artillery can support 2 units instead of 1. (should add, if you have air supremacy).
Land Techs
10. Radio Communications - During combats where friendly forces are also in the contested zone, roll a die. That many friendly artillery may be used to boost your attacking forces on a 1:1 ratio, but may not participate in combat.
11. Chemical Warfare - In one attack this turn, roll a die: 1-4 that many infantry do not roll defensively; 5-6: No effect. If used against you, halve the number of immobilized infantry.
12. Stromtrooper Tactics - When you are the attacker, you may conduct a second round of combat.
Turned Aerial Photography into Advanced/Heavy Artillery, but dependent on air supremacy.
Edited to clarify Aerial Photography.
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I can get behind this list 95%
The only glitch is stormtroopers. Not sure how the mechanics of the game will react to something like that.
We need to discuss the ramifications. -
Yes, I came up with it late last night. The first iteration was allowing some sort of advance into another territory if you overran the first one, but that seemed a bit much. Perhaps a second round with infantry and tanks only?
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Yeah, these aren’t bad. Kind of miss the CP/Entente division of techs, but I sort of lost track of this thread and there’s probably a good reason for how you did it.
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Yeah, these aren’t bad. Kind of miss the CP/Entente division of techs, but I sort of lost track of this thread and there’s probably a good reason for how you did it.
I just sort of did it after being brought round to the 12 tech system, grabbed what I could out of the Allies/CP tech split, added some of my own, and oztea worked to to bring them back to earth.
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After skimming an article on Stormtrooper tactics, how about:
Stormtrooper Tactics: Attacking infantry with artillery support roll at 4 or less.
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“The stormtroopers attacked immediately after the bombardment. In contrast with the standard infantry units used at the beginning of the war, the men were equipped with a wide variety of weapons, not just the standard bolt-action rifle. Wire cutters and explosives engineers created gaps in the barbed wire belts. Grenade throwers, flame throwers, machine gunners, and mortar crews infiltrated enemy positions. Three or four waves of infantry followed. (Koch 506) The attacking troops had no fixed objectives and left pockets of resistance for supporting troops to deal with. (Barnet 290) Success, not failure, was reinforced. The stormtroopers carried with them the first widely used sub-machine gun, the MP-18. The new sub-machine gun was light and easy to handle, and had much greater firepower than a rifle. (Reid 10) Infiltrating troops often advanced beyond artillery range, leaving their flanks vulnerable. Since most artillery was too bulky to be brought forward in the attack, light trench mortars and machine gunners protected the flanks. (Koch 506) The great German offensives were also supported by air power. Seven hundred thirty German planes were massed against 579 Allied planes in Operation Michael. (Toland 26)”
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Armed transports might also get clunky. Mine sweeping, advanced mines, advanced subs, or increased transport capacity could all be alternatives.
Othewise, except storm troops, we may be ready to put a rubber stamp on this.
My gripes with Q-ships and storm troops is that they are pretty big mechanical changes.
A 2nd round of land combat might upset the balance of power too much. It may need to just be an infantry boost.Transports are last casualties, but will be able to shoot.
They aren’t bad ideas, but we don’t know if they will upset game mechanics.
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From what I’ve read, there wasn’t any real anti-mine technology during WWI. According to wikipedia, it took 82 ships 5 months working 24/7 to clear the North Sea Mine Barrage after the war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_mine#Early_20th_century
As to Q ships, perhaps if they are no longer required to be the final casualties?
Increased transport capacity might be the way to go, 3 instead of 2 land units? I think in this game it can be any 2 land units, right? This would clearly favor the allies.
Let me see what wild and fantastic other naval tech I can find.
For Stormtroopers, I’m leaning toward: Attacking infantry with artillery support roll at 4 or less.
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Stormtroopers ( AKA Trench Raiders) should reduce the defensive capabilities at 1:1 basis of infantry to 2.
So 5 trench raiders make it so 5 defending infantry at 3, goto 2.
Also, each nation/faction should have some tech that is different than the others, but the problem is a number of nations didn’t really develop anything new. ( Austrians, Ottomans, Italy). This means perhaps 6 techs by each faction and developed only by that faction would be more realistic.
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How about replacing Armed Transports with:
Wireless Communication - When breaking off a sea battle, attacking ships may retreat to a single adjacent sea zone from which at least 1 of the attacking ships entered battle.
Edited: borrowed the language from the A&A1940 Pacific rulebook, decided to clean it up a bit.
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Wireless Communication - When breaking off a sea battle, attacking ships may retreat to a single adjacent sea zone from which at least 1 of the attacking ships entered battle.
This is not an invention in this war. They used lights and Morse code for communication. On land, due to fixed cables this was a different story.
Smokescreens: If the defender has Cruisers ( since Destroyers are not in this game), he may roll a die before combat in an attempt to retreat and avoid combat. X or less succeeds. I guess naval combat is one round right?
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I don’t think a special rule about retreats is necessarily cool enough for the tech chat.
Who would be happy with “oh boy, I can retreat better!”
We could allow battleships to repair in open water, or fire at 5 on the first roindsExtra transport capacity may be the way to go.
Stormtroopers is still up in the air.
It seems like IL wants special stormtrooper pieces.
Gas attacks already reduce defenses, stormtroops need to modify an existing piece not add a new onethat some people might not have. -
Naval combat is infinite rounds
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Stormtroopers don’t have to be a ‘piece’, you just place a token underneath these ala HBG. Cost would be determined.
Smokescreens were not used in wars before. They are an invention. Besides, war bonds is not tech either…just scraps of paper printed as a promise to pay off when the war is over.
If naval combat is more than one round, smokescreens would save inferior navies. The amount of ships represented in this version is underrepresented…all the more to have a mechanism to reduce the carnage. Heck UK has like one Dreadnought by England WTH? It should have like 3-4 and Germany 2.
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Smokescreens is a better name for it. My thinking was that in sea combat, if Germany calls off an attack, its ships remain in the same sea zone, waiting for the British to hammer them. Smokescreens could allow the Germans or any player, to withdrawal to relative safety, like they did after Jutland. They didn’t just sail around the North Sea hoping not to run into the British again.
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Separate pieces or special markers are for the other game. Techs in A&A don’t add units, they modify existing units.
Edit: A game which, by the way, I am very much looking forward to. :-)
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Here’s the placeholder iteration of the Tech Chart:
E1 - War Bonds - During your collect income phase, collect an additional number of IPCs equal to 10% of your National Production Chart level, rounded up.
E2 - Improved Shipyards - Naval units cost 1 IPC less.
E3 - Increased Production - Tank and Fighter costs are reduced by 1 IPC.
N1 - Smoke Screens - When breaking off a sea battle, attacking ships may retreat to a single adjacent sea zone from which at least 1 of the attacking ships entered battle.
N2 - Battle Cruisers - Cruisers attack at 4 or less, but still defend at 3 or less. Additionally, cruisers may perform offshore bombardment at 3.
N3 - Anti-Sub Warfare - Your Cruisers prevent enemy subs from submerging in combat or moving through them at a 1:1 ratio.
A1 - Anti-Aircraft Guns - Artillery may target fighters before combat begins, hitting at 1, limited to the number of artillery available or the number of fighters present, whichever is smaller.
A2 - Advanced Aviation - Fighters attack and defend at 3 or less.
A3 - Aerial Photography - If you have air supremacy, your artillery can support 2 units instead of one.
L1 - Wireless Communications - During combats where friendly forces are also in the contested zone, roll a die. Up to that many friendly artillery are used to boost your attacking forces on a 1:1 ratio, but may not participate in combat.
L2 - Chemical Warfare - In one attack this turn, roll a die: 1-4 that many infantry do not roll defensively; 5-6: No effect. If used against you, halve the number of immobilized infantry.
L3 - Stormtrooper Tactics - Attacking infantry with artillery support roll at 4 or less.
Changed radio to wireless given the era of the game, but didn’t change the tech.
Renamed proposed naval wireless communication tech to Smokescreens, but its under review.
Stormtrooper Tactics could be replaced with another land tech, but it was these tactics, combined with an increase in the available number of troops, that really broke open the stalemate on the Western Front, so I hate to leave them out.
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