League General Discussion Thread

STREAMING ON TWITCH TONIGHT:

@Adam514 and I will be playing @mikawagunichi and @avandoo in a live game of WW2 Path to Victory. The game will be streamed in its entirety, with live commentary from Adam and me.

Adam and I are playing Axis with no bid. Mikawagunichi and Avandoo are playing Allies.

Come hang out. Have a snack. Talk some A&A.

Time: 10 pm EST, tonight.

Place: https://www.twitch.tv/dudewithopinions

League stats show 121 BM games finished in the 2021 year so far, vs 40 PtV games. I think the major factor restricting the popularity of PtV is the division of SZ38.

@simon33 I don’t think so. It seems like even the skeptics recognize it as improvement after playing it a couple of times. And I seriously doubt a one-sea zone division would deter someone who is otherwise willing to try a substantially redrawn map.

BM caught on quickly because the game looks and feels identical, in most respects, to G40. This was by design. When we made BM, one of the limitations we placed on the project was that it must have a completely familiar feel for G40 players— to encourage wide acceptance by the community.

PTV, on the other hand, is a bolder departure from G40. As soon as you open it, you know it is a completely different game. That means there is a somewhat higher bar to entry.

That being said, the enthusiasm with which the G40 community has embraced PTV has surpassed my wildest expectations. And the fact that over 10% of league games are now PTV games is highly encouraging.

@regularkid Yeah well 2016 showed 387 G40 games vs 261 BM games in the league, even though BM only came out in May.
2017 showed 110 G40 games vs 294 BM games in the league.

PtV came out in June 2020, to some excitement which seems to have dissipated. But if you just want it the way you say, I guess that will be it.

Just checked again. Its actually 25% of league games. Not too shabby!

There is a bit of a threshold to get going with P2V. Primarily the different map (Russia and China) and land- and carrier-scramble changes the dynamics of the game quite a lot.

I belong to the apparent sceptics regarding the division of z38, but after having played a few games I’m not really opposed to the change anymore. I feel it does make things around the islands more interesting, for both sides.

I believe there’s a more serious issue regarding Japan. It was @Ghostglider who showed me this in a game of ours. Because of the extra scramble-options grabbing first Queensland and then Sydney in the early game is very powerful. The thing is that Japan can quite easily force the hand here, since US isn’t ready for the challenge yet.

This might be a bit of a flaw regarding strategy and balance. I don’t really see how it can be avoided and then there’s a scripted path for japanese superiority, which would be bad for the game.

@simon33 I for one enjoy PtV much more than BM, and for a variety of reasons. A few players I have reached out to, to play PtV, have told me it is the increased complexity of PtV that keeps them playing BM.

@trulpen said in League General Discussion Thread:

There is a bit of a threshold to get going with P2V. Primarily the different map (Russia and China) and land- and carrier-scramble changes the dynamics of the game quite a lot.

I belong to the apparent sceptics regarding the division of z38, but after having played a few games I’m not really opposed to the change anymore. I feel it does make things around the islands more interesting, for both sides.

I believe there’s a more serious issue regarding Japan. It was @Ghostglider who showed me this in a game of ours. Because of the extra scramble-options grabbing first Queensland and then Sydney in the early game is very powerful. The thing is that Japan can quite easily force the hand here, since US isn’t ready for the challenge yet.

This might be a bit of a flaw regarding strategy and balance. I don’t really see how it can be avoided and then there’s a scripted path for japanese superiority, which would be bad for the game.

I don’t think it’s in Japan’s best interest to go for Anzac if it’s appropriately defended, they’d need to trade basically everywhere else to take out Anzac. It’s a bit like Germany always being able to get decent odds on UK if they max it, but it’s a losing move since it leaves them too weak to stand up to Russia.

@adam514 said in League General Discussion Thread:

I don’t think it’s in Japan’s best interest to go for Anzac if it’s appropriately defended, they’d need to trade basically everywhere else to take out Anzac. It’s a bit like Germany always being able to get decent odds on UK if they max it, but it’s a losing move since it leaves them too weak to stand up to Russia.

With “early game” I didn’t actually mean off the bat, but after the DEI has been secured.

I might very well have messed it up, but in the game that was given as reference, I couldn’t see how Australia could be appropriately defended. I did push the fleet there, but had to scurry away. I did have air available for defense and had built land-units, but it wasn’t even close to be able to hold off the japanese.

The main point is that I could not hold both Queensland and Sydney, but had to take priority to the latter. Queensland fell and couldn’t be taken back because of the carrier-scramble. Next turn Sydney was complete toast, which is then further supported by the ab in Queensland.

Admittedly, there was an Axis+12 bid on the table. Anyway, if you have the time, please investigate the aforementioned situation. It’s located here.

@666

I like it more too…

I admit, however, that for those who are not very good already with BM (in fact I am demoralizing by dint of fixing defeats :( ) should limit themselves to the latter

@trulpen said in League General Discussion Thread:

Admittedly, there was an Axis+12 bid on the table. Anyway, if you have the time, please investigate the aforementioned situation. It’s located here.

I have stopped doing the 1inf 1TT buy ANZAC1. I have been going for a 3inf buy, to shore up Sydney. I note that you lost all 3 ANZAC fighters ANZ2 in SZ38 but normally I would take them to E India anyway. The combination of the TT instead of inf buy, the inf that the TT take off and taking the fighters off make Sydney too weak.

You did use some USA planes to hang on until J8, with one exchange of Sydney before that. So at least it hang on for a while. The other issue I would raise here is that USA weren’t very effective in the Pacific, were they focused on the Europe side?

I am not an expert but from what little I have seen I do not think it is necessary to give a BID to the Axis … as I see it often…

@trulpen said in League General Discussion Thread:

@adam514 said in League General Discussion Thread:

I don’t think it’s in Japan’s best interest to go for Anzac if it’s appropriately defended, they’d need to trade basically everywhere else to take out Anzac. It’s a bit like Germany always being able to get decent odds on UK if they max it, but it’s a losing move since it leaves them too weak to stand up to Russia.

With “early game” I didn’t actually mean off the bat, but after the DEI has been secured.

I might very well have messed it up, but in the game that was given as reference, I couldn’t see how Australia could be appropriately defended. I did push the fleet there, but had to scurry away. I did have air available for defense and had built land-units, but it wasn’t even close to be able to hold off the japanese.

The main point is that I could not hold both Queensland and Sydney, but had to take priority to the latter. Queensland fell and couldn’t be taken back because of the carrier-scramble. Next turn Sydney was complete toast, which is then further supported by the ab in Queensland.

Admittedly, there was an Axis+12 bid on the table. Anyway, if you have the time, please investigate the aforementioned situation. It’s located here.

Anzac does need those 3 fighters to defend and counterattack more in PTV than in BM. India also sent away all its airforce, allowing Japan to take the islands with minimal escort while using its fleet to keep the US fleet away. The US also lost more planes than Japan in the Solomon scramble. If you don’t scramble and you have a few reinforcements in Hawaii at the start of turn 4, Japan would not have been able to stack sz55 (Queensland). It does look like Euro-Axis went navy, so maybe you thought your priority was to deal with that.

I guess there’s an easy solution then and I simply screwed up. I’m not a very strong player with the Allies.

@gamerman01 Thanks for all your efforts over the years.

@gamerman01 you have been a sensational moderator, gamerman. Really appreciate the time and work you put into keeping the League going.

@gamerman01 said in League General Discussion Thread:

Guys, I’m thinking about resigning as league moderator and scoreboard operator. I don’t want to leave you in the middle of a year so intend to finish this year out and set up playoffs and everything, but maybe somebody should come alongside me and learn some of the ropes, or maybe you guys have an idea of another direction to take all this.

Contributing to this decision is that I did have my first manic and depressive episodes this year since 2005 (still pretty depressed - trying to get the right meds) but I wanted to get out anyway, since I haven’t found the time to play any league games myself.

I intend to help make a smooth transition if someone else is eager to moderate and score games (maybe a team) - I’d been doing everything with no partner for years now (Although having a partner can mean more work if they have differing ideas than you)

Please think about it - sorry - I guess this day had to come sooner or later. Thanks for understanding

Gamer

gamer, you have been nothing short of amazing all these years, and you’ve put up with sometimes a very tough crowd. we’ll definitely be missing you as moderator, but hopefully we will have you back as a casual player one day once difficulties clear up for you. I will pray for your complete recovery, and please don’t hesitate to message me in here ANY time for anything you need, even if it’s just for a chat because you’re bored or whatever.

@gamerman01

Thank you for yeoman’s service all these many years.

@gamerman01

Hope you get better and thank you for all your efforts.