Posts made by Ruanek

If the game ever seems to be going towards an inevitable conclusion (for several consecutive turns) we often just call it there unless it can be completely won in only a few turns.

All orange territories without the Chinese symbol on them are considered original Japanese territories and can have major ICs on them.

Edit: that does not include Manchuria, so it can only have a minor IC.

@Cmdr:

@Ruanek:

@450thMSAF:

I think france should go before germany therefore be givin a stand

The point is that France doesn’t have a chance.  They’re not supposed to.

What are you saying exactly?  France shouldn’t have a chance at what?  Attacking Italy even after Germany has gone and “skipped” them?  Or they shouldn’t have a chance because Italy should play as if France was moving right after them and before Germany?

The post I was responding to said that France should go before Germany in the turn order to give them a better chance at surviving.  It didn’t relate to the OP.

I already gave my opinion on the OP in a previous post.:)

@450thMSAF:

I think france should go before germany therefore be givin a stand

The point is that France doesn’t have a chance.  They’re not supposed to.

You should use the Alpha + .2 rules/setup.  The OOB situation is much worse.

Are you using the Alpha + .2 setup?  Which side are you playing?  What happens that makes you lose (e.g. Japan dying, UK dying, etc.)?

Really it’s more about how many aircraft the enemy has.  If, for example, you’re playing Russia and Germany is attacking you with the Luftwaffe moved in to join the attack, it could easily be worth 5 (or 6?) IPCs to destroy around a sixth of their planes (statistically speaking, anyway) before they even attack the points you choose to reinforce (such as Ukraine, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Moscow).  If you really need to hold an island against the massive Japanese air force, an AA gun could be worth it there (especially given the huge numbers of Japanese aircraft).  They don’t cost much, and if the enemy attacks with at least 4 aircraft you’re likely to destroy more than you lost in terms of IPCs.

The Axis player shouldn’t have assumed the French couldn’t make combat movements.  However, I don’t see anything wrong with letting them redo that move (within reason) because of the mistake.

@Cmdr:

It would almost certainly ensure that Russia falls before America can save it.

You’re making some assumptions about when the USA would be able to enter the war.  You could easily say that the more powerful Germany gets (e.g. the more of the USSR it takes) the sooner the USA can enter the war to stop the German menace.

@JimmyHat:

Because then the players for Russia and US are having booger picking contests while they wait 5 rounds to actually get to play.

Remember, lots of people play this game multiplayer, not 2 plyr.

Actually, I almost never play this game 2-player.:)

I meant harm to game balance, not personal preference.  (I personally would be ok with not being able to attack for the first few turns (like it already is) to show historical accuracy.)

Ok, so where’s the harm to the game if the USA and the USSR don’t have the ability to enter the war so early?

@Cmdr:

I have already attempted to talk Larry into changing the DOW rules for Russia so that if England falls and/or Germany drops below a certain threshold of Infantry then Russia can declare war prior to Round 4.  He didn’t seem to want to comment on it.  Honestly, I highly doubt Stalin was honorable enough to see Germany draw down most (if not virtually all) their troops to take out London and NOT take advantage of the situation with an invasion of his own.

America already can declare war the instant England falls.

Except we all know how prepared the USSR was for war when Germany actually did attack.  They had orders to hold fire.  Stalin certainly wasn’t honorable, but he wasn’t stupid enough to attack a country powerful enough to take out Britain.  It just makes no sense that he would declare war in that scenario.

@Cmdr:

Yes, but a good strategy is to leave England under-defended so Germany attacks it on round 2, thus, USA declares war on Round 2.  If you stack right, you might even have the equipment to liberate it on Round 3.

And there’s no historical basis for that at all.  Realistically the USSR and the USA didn’t want to join the war, especially as early as they did.  And allowing them to declare war so early takes away some interesting possibilities from the Axis, while now at least they always have to go for things in a certain order, etc.

@knp7765:

Stalin had expansionist plans of his own.  He needed to build up his armed forces first, thanks a lot to his own paranoid purges of the army.  That was part of the reason Molotov and Ribbentrop signed the non-aggression pact, so Russia could continure building up it’s armed forces and getting them more modernized.  The pace also allowed Russia to take the Eastern half of Poland, annex the Baltic States and even extend her sphere of influence into parts of Eastern Europe without German involvement.
So, if Russia builds up enough force along the German border, and Germany leaves itself too weak there, I think it’s entirely possible that Russia could have been the one to initiate hostilities by advancing into Eastern Europe.  Remember, one of Russia’s goals was to create a buffer of foreign territories to further protect Russia itself from invasion.

Yeah, that was certainly possible, but I don’t think it was going to happen in 1941 or even 1942 regardless of the German military presence on the border.  The German military was leagues ahead of the Soviet one at the time (as exemplified by the disaster that was the Winter War) and in a secret speech to the Politburo Stalin explained the pact as a way to let the two sides weaken each other and give the USSR 10 years of peace and preparation.

Why is it that the USA and the USSR can choose to enter the war fairly early in the game?  In reality both of them entered the war because they were attacked, not because they chose to fight against Germany.

The USA could perhaps have entered without Pearl Harbor, because by that point they were already sending a lot of material and the stuff to Britain and were involved a bit in the war in the Atlantic (the first US casualties in WWII were before Pearl Harbor, in the Atlantic).  But the general population was still a bit isolationist and it could be argued that they wouldn’t have entered until a lot later without the surprise attack.  If London did fall, I don’t see how that would prompt the USA to enter the war, because at that point they would have essentially been alone against Germany (collaboration with the USSR was difficult due to them being in opposite sides of Europe).

From a gameplay perspective, allowing the USA to declare war so early severely limits Japan’s options by forcing an early confrontation.

The USSR almost definitely would have stayed out of the war entirely without Barbarossa, so I don’t see why they can declare war so early (though this isn’t as much of an issue as the USA because the German player needs to attack Russia early). But having such an early limit gives the German player a timetable that isn’t realistic for them to have to follow.

Germany can sink the starting British fleet fairly easily, so building a navy to beat that isn’t necessary.  And ships are simply too expensive for Germany to attempt to beat a US Atlantic navy while going for Russia. It could be viable if Moscow falls, though.  Even subs, though, don’t work too well if the US builds a couple of destroyers.

A common buy for Germany turn 1 is an aircraft carrier and two transports (though some people substitute other naval ships instead of the transports).  You have to sink all of the British fleet in the Atlantic with your air force.  Turn 2 build as many transports as you can and move land units into position.  Turn 3 attack London.

I haven’t actually tried it myself, though.  This is just how I theorized it.

@clintbeastwood:

If the United States spends every dime in the pacific killing Japan there’s absolutely no reason Germany shouldn’t get to Moscow…  With no support from the Americans the British actually have trouble containing Italy.  Moscow, Cairo, Leningrad, and Stalingrad equals axis win…

Turn 6 Russia can easily have 60+ infantry in Moscow, making it pretty difficult for Germany to take it before American support arrives in a few more turns.

The only things the British could send to Paris are fighters and whatever units they still have in Normandy.  Honestly, I think they’re better off in London.  Paris will wall anyway, but you could possibly scare Germany into not wanting to attack London.

I think the only time anything can retreat separately is with an amphibious invasion.

If you only have attacking subs and planes, the subs could submerge (assuming no enemy destroyer) but the planes would have to wait one round before retreating.

In my opinion it just isn’t worth it when you have so little of a chance of getting technology that you could really use.