AARHE: Phase 3: Revised NA's

Indications from the latest Q&A would seem to confirm that A&Aonline won’t have a lot in the way of set up adjustment, at least in early access. So I’m suggesting this rule as the only thing I can think of right now to reset the playbalance in a way that will actually work with the game we get.

I still don’t know what sort of patterns would ultimately develop on balance, but at least it is a way to get something new going for a 1942.2 that strictly uses the boxed starting set up.

I imagine this only works for PvP, so not sure how they will handle solo play vs the AI.

I’d rather have cheaper, defenseless transport planes myself.

I think that’s totally reasonable, Midnight_Reaper. You could introduce cheaper air transports into this roster without breaking anything important. My preference is for more expensive air transports because the extra price thematically represents (a) the up-front cost of developing the technology and tactics (nobody has to spend money on researching paratroopers for this roster), and (b) the relatively limited supply of air transport available during World War II. There’s a fun little article below about how most of the American Air Force’s transports were either hastily converted civilian planes, or wooden gliders manufactured in piano factories. If the Americans had to make do with makeshift equipment, you can only imagine what the Italians were using.

https://amcmuseum.org/history/world-war-ii-transport-and-troop-carrier/

Strategically, air transports provide a much deeper threat into enemy territory that requires a much larger garrison. E.g. if you put an assault boat in the English Channel, it threatens Normandy, Holland, Norway, Hanover, and Denmark. If you put an air transport in London, it threatens all of those plus Paris, Marseilles, Gibraltar, Morocco, Milan, Berlin, Poland, Finland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. It’s not that I expect anyone to fly many air transports into a battle to use as fodder; it’s just that spending 12 bucks on one air transport can force your opponent to spend more than 12 bucks on extra defending infantry.

In terms of rules simplicity, I have tried to eliminate the concept of the “defenseless unit” from my unit roster. I find automatic combat losses to be something of a downer, and I’d rather use that spot in the rulebook for a more interesting rule.

All of that said, again, this is mostly personal preference – if you want a $9 defenseless air transport with 4 movement, that’s almost certainly fine.

Example Prototypes

 Advanced Artillery

 Rockets

 Heavy Tanks

 Increased Factory Production
1 stack - Minor
2 stacks - Advanced Minor (Technology - Increased Factory Production)
3 stacks - Major
4 stacks - Adcanced Major (Technology - Increased Factory Production)

 War Bonds

 Improved Mechanized Infantry

 Super Submarines

 Jet Fighters

 Improved Shipyards

 Radar

 Long-Range Aircraft

 Heavy Bombers

German mechs on the move…  :-D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPnINKwWUiY

Political Rules

British Government in Exile- In the event that London is captured by the Axis, the Canadian government will function independently with Ottawa as its capital beginning on their next turn, allowing them to continue to collect IPC’s and purchase units. If London is liberated, the Canadian government will return to the control of the British Empire. A Canadian Roundel will be placed on the IPC chart at 7 (assuming all of Canada is under Allied control). Canada functions the same as any other country.
Relinquish Command- This option is for mixed military’s in the same territory only. The smaller of the two forces may relinquish thier force’s command over to thier larger counterparts, it takes an entire turn for the new commander to take full command ie… anzac hands over control of his units in Egypt to the British commander, the british commander takes control of the anzac units two turns following the change,on the first turn he takes command, on the second turn he can issue orders. For this to work the recieving force has to have at least one more unit than the giving force.
Technology Capture- When a territory is captured the occupying force may make a single tech roll for every technology the captured country had. You roll for each individual tech at a time. (See occupying a territory rule)
Occupying a Victory City- A victory city is not considered occupied unless there is at least 12 IPC’s worth of units in the conquered territory for the conquered players turn following the takeover. If there are insuficiant troops in said territory than the conquered player can still place troops in said territory if there is a opperational IC. (placing these units follow the same rules as placing ships in a hostile sea zone ie… the conquerer decides whether to fight or flee on thier next turn.) If there are sufficiant troops than territories IPC’s are switched over.
Strict Neutral Convertion- You can try to have a strict neutral sway your way by rolling a 6 on a 1D6 and a cost of 5 IPC’s per IPC that country generates. This happens after the purchase unit phase and before the conduct combat phase. Tell all players which country(s) you wish to try to sway to your side, you have to have at least 1 infantry unit capable of landing in said country(s) on the combat movement phase on the same turn as a negotiator, this unit only moves into the country if you are successful in swaying it to your side. If successful claim the countries infantry and IPC output.
Attacking a Strict Neutral- If you attack a strict neutral all remaining strict neutrals in that block become Pro(your enemy).
BLOCKS

South America                Europe                                                Middle East
Venezuela- 2ipc’s, 2inf                Sweden- 3ipc’s, 6inf                              Turkey- 2ipc’s, 8inf
Argentina- 2ipc’s, 4inf                  Switzerland- 2inf                                    Saudi Arabia- 2ipc’s, 2inf
Chile- 2ipc’s, 2inf                        Portugal-1ipc’s, 2inf                              Afganistan- 2inf
Equador                                      Spain- 2ipc’s, 6inf                                 
Peru                                                                                                              Africa
Bolivia                                              Asia                                              Angola- 1ipc’s, 2inf
Paraguay                                  Olgiy- 2inf                                                  Mozambique- 1ipc’s, 2inf
Uruguay                                      Dzauhan- 1inf                                            Rio-De-Oro
Columbia                                    Ulaanbaatar- 1inf                                        Portugese Guinea
                                                      Byant Uhaa- 1inf                                        Sierra Leone
                                                    Tsagaan Olom                                            Liberia

If the Soviet Union- is at war with Axis powers on only one map, it is still under the restrictions of being a neutral power. In other words, war with Japan lifts those restrictions from the USSR on the Pacific map only, and war with Germany and/or Italy lifts those restrictions on the Europe map only.
IPC income from West India (2) now goes to Calcutta.
IPC income from British Columbia now goes to London.
Note: With these income changes United Kingdom Pacific now makes 17 IPCs and United Kingdom now makes 28 IPCs
The United States may declare war on the Axis if London and/or any territory in North America is captured by an Axis power.

I got to say that the introduction of the National Objectives concept, was a stroke of genius imho.
Now, the game, through the NO Bonus Incentives, push the players towards their historical aims.

Anyhow, as with any setup, I think that even with the NO setup, AA50 might go stale over time.
Also, not ALL historical strategies are being encouraged by the OOB NOs. What about the German Sub strat, for example? It is not shown in any NOs at least.

Therefore, I thought of the Variable NO concept. It runs like this :

We create a list of, say, 5-10 NO’s per Nation (not possible to create even THAT many for a nation like China, for example). Before the game starts, every nation rolls randomly to see what NO’s they get.

1 NO: China
2 NO’s each: Italy and Soviet Union
3 NO’s each: Germany, Japan, UK and US

I like the thought of China having their own NO/NOs, but of course, they could be incorporated into the US one.

What’s your thought? Or maybe you got some NO’s of your own?

My bad… I forgot the 4x rule.  That clears up a lot.

I want to make a short game where germany has all the techs and the allies have to kill them both before time runs out… or the allies lose.