Posts made by spectre_04

I love Alpha 3, thanks so much for the hard work.

Just some feedback,

I love the new AA rules.  As well as the strengthening of Germany and calming of Japan.

Bear in mind between my friend and I, he is the stronger player, he played axis against me as allies both times and always attacks J1 on all Allies except Russia.  We played with a house rule that Japan or Russia gives 12 IPC bonus to the enemy when they attack each other.  We never play a game where japan attacks on a later turn, so just accept this as a critique in the event that Japan begins fighting and Germany waits till GR2 to attack the Soviets.

After game 1 we had UK invaded by GR turn 2, London fell, game over.
The second game I played much better as the allies in both Africa, the middle east and the pacific holding india till turn 4.
At this point though, I really feel that assuming the axis strike fast, the  allies don’t get enough bonuses/and or income for our style of play.  The US having only minor factories really slows you down and England can do little other than build inf to defend London.  at turn 4 Germany is at the gates of Moscow with 18 tanks and japan has gobbled up most of its land it needs and is ready to defend and receiving 55-10 ipc per turn making it a really tough win for the allies.

Again, I will continue using this setup because I love it, and will incorporate strategy, but I would perhaps like to balance it out with an additional bonus for the UK, for India especially, and for the Soviets and Americans.  I think that the Americans could get a bonus for having a land unit in the Solomon, or maybe new guinea, and maybe a +5 for Hawaii.  Thoughts?

First off, I really like the Charts, My buddy and I have played 2 turns of the game so far.  Before I start raising questions about the gameplay of a 1 on 1 game, are there any threads already on here for discussion of the Alpha +2 setup?

Thanks for all the hard work!

Discovered that an All Naval build for Russia (provided that they aren’t at war yet) is a great deterrent to sea lion.

I still think an infantry/armor build, and moving the Canadian forces to the home islands is the better deterrent to Sea lion.  I also try and reinforce Gibraltar as fast as I can and pull the fleets back.  I don’t enjoy playing so defensively, believe me, but The Luftwaffe will smash your fleet if you don’t get it somewhere safe (like Newfoundland) and build it up first(that is if Germany is going for Sea Lion Strategy).  This is especially hard if they (GER) builds heavily on subs and airpower.  I think it is actually better for the German player to hit the Soviets and not get involved int he pipe dream that is sea lion.

Well Van, you can always declare war on the USA on Germany1 and Italy1 to give em more cash!!!

I have thought about the Turkey idea, but I still haven’t had a chance to pull it off.

Van Trump, had an interesting time reading about your game.
However:

Germany upgraded Berlin IC to major AND had the money to buy 23 inf (10 in London,

How were you able to buy 10 INF in London?  Did you upgrade to a Major IC in London, because when you take a major IC, it immediately becomes a minor IC as stated in the rulebook.

OK Clyde,

Because waiting, especially in the east, totally ruins you as Japan, that’s why.  You guys are way too scared of the US’s money, so scared.  Why don’t you play like you got a pair.  I still think that if you pussyfoot around in Asia to have this all precious sealion strategy pan out, your gonna end up getting clobbered after the Brits, ANZAC and US can reposition and build up in the Pacific.  Just my opinion.  I always take Hong Kong on turn 1, so only Japan would ever place an IC there if I was playing.

Also, your right about the shore bombard rule, I checked the rulebook.  However, didn’t it used to be allowed?  As long as the Battleship didn’t participate in the sea combat, couldn’t it still bombard?? or was I playing it wrong the whole time??

ALRIGHT,  One more time  :?

How does this sealion strategy that you are all so in love with affect your situation in the east???  What happens with Japan if you wait till turn 3 to attack everybody???

This is about Axis and Allies GLOBAL isn’t it???

The DD is killed by my Carrier and aircraft that accompany the battleship.

It sounds like a viable strategy,

If you were my ally as Germany, and I was Italy (or Japan) and you told me you were going to do this, I wouldn’t be like “that’s stupid”.

That being said, I think you NEED to build a carrier or I agree, your fleet is gonna get toasted.  Also, you mention subs as “Naval Defense”??  Subs suck at defense.  They can be fodder, but much better when they are fodder in an attack instead of defense.  They can’t fire back at air units, which is going to be the biggest threat to your German navy.  Therefore, destroyers would be a better investment for two dollars more.

I also think the counter strategy would be for the Russians to wall off the north of Moscow and give you the Northern territories but at the same time threaten your southern flank.  That Southern Flank is what I would worry about because every dollar you spend on another transport or destroyer in the Baltic (and you’ll need plenty), that’s several men and tanks you won’t have in the Southern/Balkans front.

In addition to hitting you in the south with Russia, I would probably hit Norway and Finland with the US and UK and try and knock out your flank.  So in that case, you could rush troops from the mainland to Scandinavia to defend it or counter attack, but only if your fleet still survives.

I have had good luck building a factory in Norway as Germany and building lots of tanks there.  It gives you more options in both defense and attack against Russia and USA (who you definitely don’t want coming into Norway and building a factory of their own).  It also does this without sacrificing so many IPC’s on naval units.  Germany isn’t really a naval power in this game, and although I do think that building a CV on G1 is almost a gimme buy, other than that, it is risky to build heavy in the sea as Germany.

It does leave Turkey open,
But I usually do it simultaneously with an assault on Spain via the sea and Gibraltar, and an attack on Sweden via the sea and or Norway which I hope to have captured by then.

This does leave Turkey, and so far I haven’t had enough forces (especially soviet) to take Turkey down, but I think its more than a fair trade at that point.
I know this is off topic, but I think that after the 4th or 5th turns, the Allies have a much better shot at gobbling up the neutrals than the axis do, so why not get that extra money?

yep, battleship shore bombardment.  It’s a bitch move, they always take it back, and your fleet gets stranded down there, but it does get you 10 extra bucks and slows down ANZAC significantly. 
I don’t always do it, but if I go all out I usually do.

Again folks,
I wanna ask if anybody has any comments on how Sealion strategy (waiting to attack until J3) affects things for Japan in the Pacific???

I would say that the US makes “JUST” enough.  Sure they could make more, or make less.  
that’s the interesting thing about the United States income.  They aren’t ever directly threatened on the homefront by invasion (assuming Forest Gump isn’t playing the US).  So if the game needs tweaking, then I think its easily done by adjusting the USA’s IPC income.  That being said, don’t you guys think Larry and the game testers already did that a bit and when they decided on the current number they felt pretty confidant in it??
If your playing a very new axis player, then you could subtract 15 or 20 IPC’s from the US, or at least for the first few rounds of battle.  If the allied player is the newbie and the axis the stronger player, give the US 120 IPC’s per turn and see what they can do with them.

It’s important that money is not everything in this game.  It’s far more important what you do with those IPC’s than how many you have.

Also, Why hasn’t anybody commented on how easy it is for USA to gobble up an extra 6 bucks in South America???

I don’t see any advantage to the Axis waiting to attack on J3, even in the global game.  I also usually only play 1 on 1 games so upsetting another player isn’t often an issue for me, and even so, my object is to win the game, not do whats best for just my country, but to ensure my entire SIDE has a collective victory.

That being said, I am not saying your strategy is bad, I’m just saying it isn’t what I would do.  I think that the advantages gained by a J1 attack, including an attack on Sydney (mind you this is with the standard setup), far outweighs any threat that might be posed by the US getting their income bonus.  This isn’t a FACT, it’s just my opinion.  So if you were playing me, I am just saying that you wouldn’t even get a chance to put an IC in Hong Kong unless you got some insanely luck dice rolls on J1.

Here is a new unit I cooked up for the fun of it.  Please let me know what you think,

Seaplane/Flying boat
Move:5, +1 with port or airbase (does not compound)
Attack: 1 vs all but naval units, 2 vs Naval units, 3 vs subs when accompanied by destroyer.
Defense: 1
Cost: 11

Special features:
*Landing abilities: Can land on any friendly land territory as per normal rules for air units.  Can additionally land on any naval territory adjacent to allied port facilities.  Also, can land 1 Seaplane per cruiser, same rules apply as carriers with tacs and fighters.  This reflects the small scout aircraft as well as the tender ships that refueled the big flying boats far out at sea.
*Sub Hunter:  This air unit does not need a destroyer to accompany it in an attack on submarines.  If the sea unit is not hit in the first round of combat, the submarine can submerge (logically).  If a destroyer is present, see attack bonus below.
*Attack Bonuses:  These air units were used to support the fleet, search for enemy ships and submarines in offensive and defensive rolls.  The Seaplane/Flying boat increases the submarines attack roll (this includes sneak attack) from a 2 to a 3 (if Super subs, then it allows the sub to sneak attack regardless of the presence of a destroyer).  This works just like artillery and infantry on a 1/1 ratio.  In addition to this the Seaplane/flying boat also can increase any dice rolled by a Naval unit by 1, ONLY if the hit can be taken against another naval unit.  This would not apply to land or air units or shore bombardment. 
Example,
1.  you are attacking a battleship, carrier, fighter, and a cruiser carrying a flying boat with 2 destroyers and 2 flying boats and a sub. 
2.  Your first attack roll would be: DD X2 @ 2+1 & 2+1 {because of attack bonus for two flying boats}, FB X2 (flying Boat) @ 2 & 2 {because you are attacking sea units with them} , and SS at 3 {because of attack bonus}.
The defense rolls (assuming the hit would be take against the Battleships first hit) would be:  FB @ 1, CV @ 3 {Because of FB attack bonus}, CA @ 3, FTR @ 4 and BB @ 4.

If sea units are all destroyed on one side, then the Flying boat no longer gives any bonus to the Naval units friendly to it.

Allied Flying boats can land on Allied Cruisers, at allied ports, or allied territories. 
Allied Flying boats cannot land on Carriers.

Remember also, again I feel like a broken record, to really pull of Sea Lion, you don’t want to provoke the US.  That means no J1 attack on anybody but China, major setback for Japan, and major threatening British fleet off of India.  Is it worth it??

Carrier buy on Germany 1 is a great move though, probably going to become a gimme move.

Very true, those fighters are very needed in Defense, as they are stronger in that regard.

Also, I did once have a sucessfull Dunkirk evacuation of my French Fighter from the French battle.  I am pretty sure its a house rule, but the way we usually play is that if there are no attacking air units, then the defending air unit can retreat to a safe territory within its range if it survives the first round of combat.

Of course it did, and my opponent forgot to throw a Stuka at France, so the Dewontine came in very useful for a possible sealion defense and also to land on a carrier later on as a defender.

LHoffman,

I see your point.  I would build up and brace for a German attack.  I am just saying that if the Germans bought transports the first round instead of a destroyer and sub, I would probably hit it.  It’s like you said, all about calculated risk.  I have played this game for 10 plus years and I have lost a lot of games, but I think the bolder I have been (within logic and reason) the better my gambles have paid off.

I agree with you though, good points.

@Clyde

you would build it on UK1, why wouldnt you have time? I dont really think Japan would attack any earlier then turn 3, unless it wants the other axis power players to beat him up

Uhhhh, did you ever play PAC 1940 by itself???  Its completely disadvantageous for Japan to wait to attack, they are set up to deal a serious blow to America in the Philippines and the UK, especially their battleship and transports, in the first round, not to mention capturing Hong Kong, making it impossible for the brits to even take it back, let alone build a factory there.  If you are not attacking on J1 and winning games as Japan, you must be playing against Forest Gump.