@ncscswitch:
Darth, your analysis is correct, but lacks one bit of info…
At the start, the Allies have the economic lead, thus they can SBR to the max and STILL have income to use to counter the intial Axis moves.
Switch, your info is correct, but lacks one bit of analysis - the allied economic lead is a bit of an illusion since the Allies have to spend so much on navy the first few rounds.
So you throw out 1 Inf to retake a territory so that you might be able to build 1 more inf the next round?
(And Jennifer, maybe think of “loose” as rhyming with “noose” “goose” and “moose” and “caboose” - the word you want is “lose / losing”)
The Revised rules say that both sides’ subs in opening fire simultaneously. But it also says to roll the attacking sub first.
So does the defending sub still get to fire if the attacking sub hits and the defending sub is chosen as the casualty?
Well then post over in the “Theory v. Experience” game topic. I didn’t think this dance card would fill up so fast…
Whipped, eh? well my wife has been starting to resent washing dishes while I am hunched over my laptop scheming the demise of DarthMaximus. Much like I recall your GF tidying your kitchen last weekend while we had our sortie at your house… She probably wouldn’t be as jolly about it after 5 nights in a row…
We’ll have to rename this game from “Theory v. Experience” to Winnipeg takes on THE WORLD! Bwuahahahaha! :evil: But this is for the other thread, before I get moderated again :-o
I’ve been building primarily Inf with 1 or 2 tanks each round on avg. Rushing headlong for Mos got me solidly into Caucasus but Mos is too fortified to crack, and US/UK are starting to land serious units in Norway / Karelia / E. Europe so Germany will have to concentrate on the homefront.
Fortunately the IC in Caucasus (and Jap ICs in India and FIC) mean the supply line is less vital. Also, Japan just recaptured 8 IPCs of land in Africa for the Axis.
I think a rush for Moscow is a risky strategy no matter what, but esp. without extra income from Africa. If you can get Caucasus though and Japan is already nearby that’s decent.
It’s nice though to have Japan in Novo and Anglo E on J6… But a few more Inf would have been good.
Well if I’ve learned one thing it is not to put all my eggs into one basket - eg. build as if I will take Mos. on G7 and if that fails have nothing else left behind it. That’s crazy. But for maximum punch it’s nice to have everything arrive at once. There must be a compromise.
This game has been sucking way too much of my time. I have to slow down, maybe every other day a move. Oh so painful to see my delusion of swift and crushing victory evaporating into mist…
Every time I post in this thread it increases my post count, so therefore I think each post is on topic in this thread :lol:
Jennifer, my wife will kill me if I start a second game before finishing my current one. If you are interested in my 2x2 challenge though to start in January you can have a spot in that. I’ll continue this over in the “seeking opponents” forum. We’ll call it “Experience v. Theory”
Yeah, I can hear a big sucking sound between Germany and Caucasus. I think I can hold Caucasus especially with the IC and Japan nearby, but my ability to send reinforcements is severely hampered by the need to protect against landings in WE and Ger.
On the bright side, Japan is now poised to restore Germany’s Africa income and add some to her own.
I feel pretty stupid - prior to R6 it seemed inevitable to me that Mos would fall in G7 or J7. My Japan builds were also oriented toward a quick rush to Moscow and thus not many Inf are on the way.
Even if I take Moscow the Allies can probably re-take. We’ll see…
I’ll have to shift strategy swiftly I think.
Jennifer - it appears to me that you base your strategy entirely on a subjective perception of what you have experienced, while refusing to listen to solid mathematical proof that should guide strategy. Eg. you are convinced that certain dice rollers are biased for certain types of units, in the face of experimental rolls that demonstrate there is no bias. You are convinced that SBRs are a great weapon despite irrefutable math about how the must work out over time. And now you are convinced that defending Inf don’t hit as often as the math says they should.
I don’t get it. But I’d love to play you sometime and test my theory against your experience…
I’m looking for a 2 on 2 PBEM game using TripleA with the new features that tonez is working on for playing by forum. Starting in January.
sounds great guys. send me an archive anytime. rempel c/o gmail.com
Well here’s the status of my current game where I was out of Africa (as Axis) after G2. I added up all the land and air units that have tactical value - basically I just excluded any units sitting where they will not be able to get into combat within 2 or 3 rounds. Basically that means units in WUSA, WCan, pacific islands and Australia.
At the end of J4, the Allies have 69 such land/air units worth a total of 296 IPCs. The Axis have 104 units worth $479.
Note that this excludes navies, if that were factored in the totals might be closer. But as the Axis, the more IPCs that are floating in the water the better.
The difference is 35 units worth 183 IPCs, despite the Allies having Africa and altogether higher production every round.
This gap is explained by two things:
#1 is basic to the game and cannot be avoided. #2 Has occurred partly because of bad dice, but also because I have been playing very precisely since my disastrous G1 turn. Basically, I avoid any attacks that have a significant chance of a bad result for me, and am trying to position my units so as to deny the Allies the ability to attack me in situations where battle losses will be heavier on my side. The dice have helped though.
IMO battle losses are much more important than IPC production. Screw Africa. Play a tight game where it counts (Europe and Asia), and don’t lose units and keep building more.
So I don’t get it NPB :? - what’s your approach - east or west with the Med. Fleet?
Here’s what I did: I used the sub together with 3 or 4 air units to take out the UK battleship above Algeria. That worked well, I’d do it again because that sub is likely toast anyway, this gets some use out of it.
The Ger Battleship I sent head to head against the UK Destroyer. I killed the destroyer, but on the next turn my battleship was scrap when the India fleet came through the Suez. Didn’t really like that, but it gave Japan free reign in the Atlantic.
The TRN I used to shuttle two extra units from Southern Europe to help retake the Ukraine. That was a very bad idea. It left my attack on Anglo-Egypt underpowered, which did not go well. Also, I left all my shiny expensive tanks in Ukraine, where they were vulnerable to counterattack by Russia. They were only saved by some bad dice by Russia.
However, as I’ve said above, this game I’m not really missing Africa - Germany is pressing hard on Russia and keeping the UK/US at bay. But this is not a typical game I think - the dice have been somewhat in my favour almost every round.
Well I’m approaching tankhood - let’s see if I can finish demolishing DarthMaximus in our PBEM game before that point (about to play J4 and start rapping gently on Russia’s back door)
I can see that personal experience and theory would seem to be two different things esp. with SBRs - most of the time they are not shot down and it seems like gravy. But when it does get hit - poof - that’s 15 IPCs. If you get lucky for a few rounds I can see that it would be easy/tempting to ignore the math that says on the whole SBRs only net 0.4 IPC gains against the enemy.
It’s a gamble pretty much like russian roulette - most of the time it pays off (you’re safe) but when it doesn’t, it’s bad. Still, that 0.4 is in the positive range so if there’s nothing else for a bomber to do, why not? And, since it is close to an even exchange, it makes sense especially if you already have more IPCs than the other - equal exchanges between unequal players always favour the stronger side. And I suppose if it’s your free initial bomber you’re not really losing any IPCs you’ve invested. That’s about all there is to say (except for opportunity cost)
Well if Germany is out of Africa by G2 or G3 then really you are talking about a few IPCs for a few rounds. I don’t think it’s reasonable to say that the game turns on that. It’s the same effect as losing one more Inf than expected for the first couple rounds - which may happen if your other continental battles in G1 and G2 are deprived of some additional units thus allowing the Russians to fight back longer and kill a few more Inf.
I am inclined to agree with your analysis of killing Allied units whenever possible though. For instance in the game between Darth and my self he now has 4 Inf 2 Art in Karelia (UK/US). That’s a dPunch of 12, which means likely to kill 2 attacking units in the first round of combat (which is all I want to allow.) If I can strafe and kill perhaps 4 or 5 of those units while losing two myself, that’s a nice gain for Germany whether the units are UK/US or Russian.
But also this turn I can re-take Ukraine with 10 Inf and a few Armor for good measure, and on J4 land up to six Jap. ftrs there, so I’d say Germany has done fairly well now without any African income AND while wasting the bid in Libya.
Well I’m glad that for once on these forums my answer is accepted as definitive. If only sound reasoning would prevail in the political threads…
Back on Japan ICs - I just built a 2nd (well, 3rd I guess) IC in India on J3 - the first was in Manchuria on J1.
The India IC is defended by 6 Inf 6 Ftr, so it’s safe (except from SBRs - doh!) Some more Art and Inf are just behind in FIC and Armor built in India can strike Caucasus next round. I did this because I was able to build 5 Arm in addition anyway, and any more units would have been on Japan start of J4, which would only reach Russia J6 at the earliest. The new IC will produce units that will have effect defensively already after J4 and will be able to attack in J5.
I think I should have built the first one in FIC, given that on UK1 the UK retreated from India. Oh well.