League General Discussion Thread

Words of wisdom, thanks majik

Just to make sure you know - you have 3 points for your game with trulpen because he is tier E - your current PPG always reflects the current standing of all your past opponents, so it doesn’t matter if you played someone when they were a 3 if they later rose to their true abilities, you get credit for that. In fact, you don’t have any scores less than 3 because you haven’t lost to anyone below a tier E this year.

----Announcement—

I’ve been pretty much away for awhile, just moderating the league and not playing games, until the past week. Now I’m playing a league game again and updating rankings daily.

I just want to remind everyone that the league rules totally allow variants of the OOB game - please see quoted rules below. A new variant is being released (not 100% finalized yet, but is available to all) called “Path to Victory” by Regularkid, Adam514, et al. I just want to assure everyone that you are free to play this version in league play. Thread for the game is here https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/35324/ww2-path-to-victory-feedback-thread

“4 - Game & rules - The default rules are the published G40 2nd edition rules, Regular Dice (also known as ADS or Actual Dice Server), No Technology, and Bidding to determine sides.
…
4a The default game rules may be modified by agreement of both players. Low Luck or Tech, with or without Tech Tokens, is allowed if you and your opponent agree prior to bidding. Balanced mod (see stickied League section thread for Balanced Mod rules) or any other ruleset using G40 is likewise allowed if agreed by players”

The map, especially Russia and Asia and the Pacific, is substantially changed from the OOB game board map, so for most of us, I don’t think switching back and forth between the games would be easy. (Besides the map, enough other improvements, changes, that I think most will want to focus on playing one or the other) I have not play tested the new game yet, I just found out about it today, but after looking at it for a few minutes, it definitely has my recommendation. I’m not encouraging everyone to switch over or everyone to stay with Balanced Mod original map - I don’t care if half the league is playing one and half the previous. But I suspect the new Path to Victory version will quickly become the rage.

I’m just saying obviously, check it out because it’s likely to become very popular. And I advise you decide when you’re going to make the switch, and make it completely at that time, based on my A&A game playing experience. Enjoy! I know I’m looking forward to an improved and new, exciting experience!!

When we have a new version come along that becomes very popular, we have to address what version will be played in the playoffs. As in the past, I think the sound policy is to make the version that was most widely accepted at the beginning of the league year (1/1/20) the default version in the playoffs. That is, a totally different version may still be played in any playoff game if both players agree, but one player absolutely has the right to refuse, and demand the default version, no questions asked. That way everyone can count on being guaranteed to be able to play the default, and not some new-fangled version they’ve never seen.

Edited - I mis-spoke there. The technical default has been and will continue to be OOB 1940 because it’s the base-line game that is common to everyone including newcomers to our league. In practice, the vast majority of playoff games are played in the most popular mod of the game during the year, but if a playoff contender is most comfortable with OOB 1940 he can insist on it in the playoffs. However, if that same player had never played a single OOB 1940 game in league play that year and still completed 8 games and qualified for the playoff, I would not let him insist on playing OOB against somebody because clearly he is comfortable with mods, having qualified with 8 games not playing OOB at all.

Ugh, actually the league rules state that OOB 2nd edition rules are the default. Pretty sure everybody was playing BM3 or whatever you call it, at the beginning of this year, so I doubt we will have anyone in the playoffs insisting on the archaic OOB rules, but I guess they could. If everybody in the top 8 has basically been playing the same version the first half of the year, though, I imagine that’s the “practical default”

Anyway, get out there and try that new game - you’ll love it, I can tell!

I guess it might be better said this way:

Hierarchy of versions for the playoffs is:

1. OOB
2. BM
3. Path to Victory

Based purely on date of introduction (earlier introduced, more wide familiarity)

Yes, the official league (and playoff) version is first OOB, so that players coming to the league are not forced to learn and adapt to BM3.

I’m glad you asked, because I think I said the wrong thing before about the beginning of the year thing - I’ll need to edit that. EDIT MODE!
OOB will still be the official default in 2021 because the physical 1940 game that is widely available to the public is the most popular A&A physical game that is available for purchase by the public. So technically, a player could insist on the OOB version in the playoff, however, if that same player had never actually played anyone OOB during the regular season, then it wouldn’t be right (and would not be allowed) to spring it on an opponent to try and gain an advantage. The reason OOB 1940 is default is to not force new players to the league to change to a different ruleset, or in the case of path to victory, a whole new map. Practically speaking though, every year everyone generally plays the latest and greatest mod of the game that almost everyone in the league has been playing.

So I will not allow an unsportsmanlike “surprise” demand on an opponent to play a version that’s foreign to him. But if a player had been playing OOB (the default) in the league at least a couple or few games during the year, and insisted on OOB in the playoffs, that would have to be honored.