@Dylan:
It’s also unclear whether Japan declared war on the US or Britain first, or if the UK moved into china before Japan declared war, in which case all three could not declare war at the same time: The US would not be able to declare war until combat move of fourth turn or Japan attacked them. The US can’t just up and decide to get in the war.
It was after turn 3
if japan did not declare war by turn 3 it is a case of bad japanese strategy and not a miracle or good strategy.
this game is very fun. MUCH better than d-day. i have not played bulge so can not comment.
i find it as good as the global games, and a different play experience.
i think the game is very fun, but have not played it enough to use the extra rules.
good idea variable.
i think you should adjust your cost to 3. they move the same as fighters, have the same land attack as fighters. the only difference is they have one less air attack, but one more sea attack. because air attack is conducted before sea attack you could argue that the tactical bomber is slightly less powerful than the fighter.
hi manno,
there is a wonderful program called triplea. it allows for players to play online together. there is classic, revised, aa50, spring42, and other games aswell. aa50 is called WWII V3 for copyright reasons. it is a free shareware program that can be downloaded at http://triplea.sourceforge.net/mywiki
happy gaming
bumped so players can look at setup while discussing strategy.
@WILD:
I wonder if simply repositioning the UK navy to India would give you what you want. At least the UK would have some options. I have always disliked the fact that the UK can lose a BB rd #1 no matter what AA game you play.
thanks for the good idea bill. i will edit the lead post to incorporate this idea. personally i think this might tip the balance to a j2 dow as the big prize in a j1 dow is the uk transports and the bb protector. but would like to get others to critique your idea aswell as it might turn out to be what makes the j1 dow occur just as often as a j2 dow.
@WILD:
I also think that a J1 attack may be less likely in the global game, as the UK will be able to counter/reinforce from Africa/Mid East. Plus Jap could get overwhelmed if it takes on to many enemies, as Russia could turn on them as well.
i agree. however, pacific40 is its own great game and deserves to be optimized.
Simple, just make it a rule that Japan can only declare war from turn 2 on.
robbie, thanks for the reply!
unfortunatly there seems to be some miscommunication. i am not looking at balancing the game, that can be done with a bid.
the designers of the game have introduced a great mechanic whereby dow at different rounds produce very different playouts.
i would like to balance a j1 dow with a j2 dow, to allow the full variability in playouts this game deserves.
I just never do a J1 attack when I play Japan. I play to have fun not to win. A J1 attack makes sure the allies have no possibility to respond, let alone get UK the much-needed IPC boost from taking Sumatra and Java. Also, Australia can be attacked from the Carolines on turn 1 to make sure they can’t interfere either. USA doesn’t even get to place any of it’s wartime units until the end of turn 2 so it’s just not any fun to be the Allies. It’s still easy as hell to win with Japan on a J2 attack, but it takes awhile longer and there are more pieces on the board.
so you have seen what most of us have seen, that a j1 dow is far superior. it looks like you have decided that to make the game more balanced you do not play with a j1 dow. i have done the same in the past. it did make the game more balanced but removed a very fun decision of when to declare war and all the variability of that decision.
Why shouldn’t planes be able to move over the Sahara? I don’t see how a desert would block flight, as it does in all the other AA games. Same goes for the Himalayas.
in past aaa games the designers said that it was done for game play reasons. so they did not have to have a matrix for which unit types can move across which terrain type territory. it is easier for the gamer just to remember that a group of territories is unpassable to all units.
i think the designers did a good job of making it simple enough to remember most rules. i would not want to have desert, mountain, marsh, forrest, urban, and etc… territories that all allow different units different movement characteristics.
While a bid (x ipcs extra to start) has been used in other games for a long time, there is no real world equivalent to this.
first off thank you for your reply!
actually either of these ideas can be used with a bid. i would recommend using a bid to both pick sides and balance the game.
i think you might have missed the intent of the topic. what i am trying to find out is what will balance a j1 to a j2 dow to bring back the variability in playout. it is a great mechanic that this game uses where the playout for a j1 dow will be very different from a j2 dow. the problem is after many games it is proven that a j1 dow is far more effective than a j2 dow. we then lose out on the varied playouts.
I like to think of the '40 games as “Historically based simulations” versus the other A&A games being “Historically flavored strategy games”. I think the balance you are looking for should come from Allied ingenuity and not a simple pay out. We will find a strat, just haven’t come up with it yet. I’ve seen a lot of good ideas though.
if i understand you correctly you are saying you do not like either idea. and ontop of that you might be arguing for no changes to the game. this is fine, i understand not everyone will be critiquing my ideas or adding their own. however, myself and others have found after countless games that j1 dow is far more powerful than a j2 dow. i would like to correct this for my games to have more variability.
idea number 1 seems to be more congruent with current rules but only gives usa a boost and does not offer flexibility in the amount of ipcs.(ie after some playtesting it might be that an additional 40ipc always leads to a j2 dow while 30ipc to the usa would result in an even number of j1 and j2 dows)
idea number 2 seems to be a little more divergent but offers more variability with more powers.
i prefer idea number 2. it also offers more flexibility in getting the right amount of ipcs to even the timing of a dow. as my initial 5ipc might turn out to be too high or too low with playtesting. aswell the rule could be expanded to a j2 dow would get the allies 2ipcs each, a j3 dow 1ipc each, and a j4 dow 0ipc.
one of the better ideas in this game is to have japan(j) decide when it is going to proceed with a Declaration of War(dow). This would allow for more variability as a j1 compared to a j2, 3, or 4 dow would have very different playouts.
unfortunately after many games a j1 dow has been proved to be much better play than a j2, 3, or 4 dow.
i would like to find a way to balance a j1 vs a j2 dow. i have come up with two ideas and would like to get input on these ideas and new ideas from others who have come to the realization that a j1 is not balanced with a j2 dow.
1. have usa collect their at war national objective ipcs immediately upon a j1 dow. then usa can use the ipcs in it’s first purchase unit phase
2. on a j1 dow each allied power gets xipcs added to their existing ipcs as j declares war. this means the allies can spend the ipcs on their first turn. my first thought is x=5.
3. reposition uk navy in sz37(off of malaya) to sz39(off of india). this means j can not attack it in a j1 dow.(this is wild bills idea)
@Brain:
Who were the previous winners?
Serghis Khan, won the third Tournament of Champions. i forget who won the first two. i will find out and report back to you soon.
@Brain:
Where are you getting your lime green pieces?
from revised edition.
i too use the lime green for china fighter and artillery. the colour is very similar to chinese units.
Hello all,
the 4th “Tournament of Champions” is taking registrations now.
it is played with triplea free gaming system and uses play by email. however in the past many games have been played real time online if both opponents can meet up.
to join go to http://www.tripleawarclub.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=220&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0
this is for the revised edition. i know its out of date but it will have the highest level of competition judging by the players that have already signed up.
Hello all,
the 4th “Tournament of Champions” is taking registrations now.
it is played with triplea free gaming system and uses play by email. however in the past many games have been played real time online if both opponents can meet up.
to join go to http://www.tripleawarclub.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=220&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0
this is for the revised edition. i know its out of date but it will have the highest level of competition judging by the players that have already signed up.
@i:
hey wouldnt there be a naval base in halifax
quebec is getting an ic and the naval base. so the mouth of the saint lawrence has access to the atlantic.
nova scotia might me a part of the quebec territory, but if it is not there is no need to have 2 territories side by side, both with naval bases.
i really like the uk objective, but wish they would have put a caveat in there. germany could sneak a sub into a far flung location and still deny the objective.
i guess germany’s objective means that the ussr can not declare war untill germany has first(limitation is probably lifted on round 3 like usa)
at first i thought russias objective was extremely powerful, but then remembered that the game starts in 1940, so there will not be many original g territories and they will be very far away from ussr.
i am still a little confused as i thought that destroyers negated all of the subs special abilities.
does the “Does not block enemy movement” from the rulebook not count as one of subs special abilities?
Destroyers don’t cancel all sub unit characteristics. Treat Hostile Sea Zones as Friendly, Surprise Strike, Submersible and Cannot Be Hit by Air Units are cancelled, but On Station, Does Not Block Enemy Movement and Cannot Hit Air Units are unaffected.
thanks for the easy to understand explanation kreighund.
very quick with the response aswell
Subs NEVER block movement, combat or noncombat.
thanks for the reply kcdzim.
i am still a little confused as i thought that destroyers negated all of the subs special abilities.
does the “Does not block enemy movement” from the rulebook not count as one of subs special abilities?