AA50: Combined arms dig in

Hello ;)

I’ve been seeking around since a while and couldn’t find anything to answer my (basic) question : is there a (balanced) way to use the new units (or at least, their sculpts : tactical bombers and mechanized infantry) in the Anniversary edition?

Thanks!

@vodot said in [AA50 & AA42.2] Fixed Cost Techs + Tech Expansion:

This is a work in progress, but I’m putting it out here for ideas and feedback if anyone is interested in geeking out on something like this.

This is an expanded list of techs with fixed costs (no more die rolls) that would simply come into effect immediately (unless otherwise specified) for the cost shown. Some of these have a cost of 5 IPCs, with the intention of simply enabling what are essentially house rules/new units (Mechanized Infantry, Cheaper Naval units, rudimentary dogfight rules, etc.) while allowing players with no interest/need for them to ‘opt out’ and save the 5 IPCs. I’ll be using this list for my next solo game and will be making adjustments.

Note: The ‘Turkish Pact’ tech is designed for games where the Turkish Straits begin the game closed (via house rule), but also works for games where the straits start open as per OOB rules (in which case, upon the development of ‘Turkish Pact’ they would cease to be a special case of “Always Open” straits and revert to the normal OOB straits rules (closed to units unfriendly to the controller of Turkey).

Fixed_cost_Tech_v2.xls

SIR, THIS IS PURE GOLD! :)

I made an important revision in red which affect the first two posts.

If playing 1942.2 without Airbase but with Tactical Bombers,
here is the condition to get escorted Strategical bombers:

_When StBs attack fighters on SBR air combat, **each get 1 A@1 if there is a Fg unit escorting.

The fighter unit have to be part of the SBR to give the bonus to all StBs attacking the IC.
This single fighter unit get 1A@1 preemptive strike.
The Fg unit can land anywhere else at the end of the turn. No need to return in the same territory.

**Non-escorted StBs group roll: 1A@1 for each StB or interceptor, whichever is less.

The @1 for escorted StB is like the actual OOB.
As it is for each intercepting Fg getting to fire 1D@1.
Is it enough balance and fair for both sides?****_

Tanks are definitely not as good of a buy as they used to be. I think 2 infantry is a much better buy.

@Cmdr:

Most of the dev team were gamers who live in Northern Illinois.  After the rudiments were put in place, we had a month of online gamers testing it from the four major gaming sites that I know of: DAAK, FOE, AAMC and here.  (Note:  DAAK players invited were from personal invites since I lost my PW to the DAAK site, actually, it’s been so long since I’ve been there, I dont even know if it is still online or not.)

I ask WHO they were (online monikers).  How many players as well?  You also didn’t indicate their background (i.e. years experience, AARe experience, etc)  I know most, if not all of the Enhanced players.

I remember right after AAR came out, almost five years ago, playing a game of AAE with tanks that defend on 3. It was horrible, horrible idea. Germany just got too much out of that one. But reduced prices on fighters and carriers didn’t seem to break the game as much. Germany builds lots of fighters, but so do the UK and US. Nobody builds carriers in AAE unless something unusual has happened anyway.

At any rate for both AAE and AAP besides the reduced price on fighters and carriers to match AAR (and 24 VPs for AAP) my group plays with the rules as is. Transports are any land or one tank, tanks defend on 2, etc.
But now with AA50 there’s a lot of change. The problem with wholesale just changing the unit stats is that setups were designed for the original stats.

So I have a few questions:
Do you think fighters that cost 10 and carriers at 16 ruins or damages gameplay in either AAE or AAP? Especially considering escorts for SBRs it might be a concern.

Any consider going through and tweaking the setups for E and P to make them fair for the new unit stats? It might do good to freshen them up a bit. I think if well done it could further enhance the Pacfic especially. Convoy values, of course, are a concern.

What about tweaking setups to Europe to add Italy? Without Sub-Saharan Africa this might be pointless, but maybe the oil money alone would be enough.

@Krieghund:

@Gallo:

@Romulus:

I would say use the LHTR rules for Heavy Bomber…  :-D

which are?

Whether attacking or defending, roll two dice for each bomber and pick the best result.  In an SBR, add one to the resulting number.

thanks  :-)

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?