America at War

@theROCmonster:

The only problem with your list Young Grasshopper is that 55% of the time you are getting someone “bad”. The only good numbers are 2-4 and 9-12. The US needs ships/planes early-mid game only, so 55% of the time you get a ground unit on your roll that doesn’t really do anything until too late in the game to matter. That is why I wanted to try and limit the possibility of US getting a ground unit as their roll.

If you said truth.
IMO, Instead of 1-3x Infantry, this can become 2 Submarines.
Or 1 TP and 1 Submarine.
Or 2 TPs.

I’m thinking about USA Libertyship mass production here.

@Young:

My group doesn’t feel that it’s necessary to hand the US an aircraft carrier or battleship at any time during the game, and I agreed… here’s our new list.

American Wartime Production

During each “Purchase New Units” phase in which they are at war, the United States may roll 1 die on chart #1 to receive a free unit.

Chart #1

1 = Artillery
2 = Tank
3 = Submarine
4 = Transport
5 = Destroyer
6 = Roll on chart #2

Chart #2

1 = 3X Infantry
2 = Fighter
3 = Tactical Bomber
4 = Cruiser
5 = Strategic Bomber
6 = Facility

I agree. I’d never play with my proposed rules because giving America a free BB and the other big one on my list is probably too much. I like your idea of getting a free unit, but the problem is the only valuable units America can get are ships and planes, and their IPC cost is too much to just hand them out for free. That is why I liked your idea of giving US war bonds tech when at war. Much smoother system overall, and fairer. This current system almost feels like how tech is right now, and why no one competitive plays with tech. When you miss with tech it is a huge loss, but when you hit it is a massive gain. If you roll an infantry, art, mech, tank it feels like missing with a tech roll. When you get a ship/plane it feels amazing. The problem with tech, and this as well, is that when you are rolling good on your tech/chart it almost wins you the game if two players are of roughly the same skill level, whereas if you are rolling bad not hitting tech or the right unit on the chart consistently just looses you the game regardless of skill.

@Young:

Perhaps this is more consistent with your perception…

America at War

From game round 3-9, the United States will receive a free unit according to the list below.

Round 3 = Submarine
Round 4 = Transport
Round 5 = Destroyer
Round 6 = Fighter
Round 7 = Tac bomber
Round 8 = Cruiser
Round 9 = Strategic Bomber

I’d add a round 1 and 2.

Round 1 = 1 Infantry
Round 2 = 2 Infantry

YG is on to something overall here I think.Thus does add more variety and excitement to playing the USA. This doesn’t feel like the tech rule, in that the USA isn’t expending any resources to gain a free unit. In regards to the USA receiving units for free that may be to powerful, I believe that chance should exist, because the arsenal of democracy churned out a lot of hardware during that war. Like your said YG, the USA does start a bit behind the 8 ball.

I wonder if the USA could have a NO where each turn they’re at war, they get an IPC bonus that incrementally rises in each sequential  turn, sort of showing the industry ramping up. Like, maybe in increments of 5? Maybe this helps to deter J1 attack? And maybe it caps out at a certain number, or instead of 5, may increments of 3 or 4? I also wonder if this might put the pressure on the axis to quickly achieve victory as soon as they can.

@Young:

I think I have a better idea…

America at War

During each “Purchase New Units” phase in which they are at war, the United States may roll 1 die on the chart below to receive a free unit. A unit may not be taken if already claimed in a previous round, instead the US player must continue rolling for a unit that has not yet been received.

1 = Submarine
2 = Transport
3 = Destroyer
4 = Fighter
5 = Tactical bomber
6 = Strategic Bomber

I like the rotation principle.
What about a 10 IPCs Fighter as bottom gift instead?
1- Can be 2 Submarines (12 IPCs)
2- 2 Transports (14 IPCs)
3- 1 Submarine and 1 Destroyer (14 IPCs)
4, 5, 6 stay as they are.

If you find it is too much money, you can give up this special NO:
“- 5 IPCs if the United States are at war with the Axis powers (in additional to oob national objectives)”

Once all ships are given, you can reset the whole table for round 9 to 14.

YG, what happens after all units have been rolled for, does it just restart over, or is that bonus expended? Like, on turn 7 after a J1 attack for instance.