Best posts made by The_Good_Captain

@RogerCooper said in "East & West" by Imp Games - Discussion:

@The_Good_Captain said in "East & West" by Imp Games - Discussion:

@RogerCooper I forgot there even was an option for AI in TripleA. I think you’re doing the lords work just to make the TripleA align with the rules. WELL DONE @RogerCooper

This is going be more inspired by East & West than a port of East & West. The complex tech & espionage rules can’t be done in TripleA. I am just randomly giving out tech & neutrals through events.

The major neutrals are also an issue. I think that it works better to make them distinct powers rather than awarding their units & territories to the major powers. Having China as Russian ally and OAS as Western ally seems natural. The problem is that whoever gets the Arab League wins. My probable solution is to give the Arab League to the Eastern alliance and suggest playing the West with an income bonus.

I have a request then. Can you make the random tech and neutrals being handed out through random events an optional rule? Or just leave it out? In this way, we can use the EDIT mode and layer them in using an independent dice roller.

Same with the Major Neutrals. Edit mode to the rescue is A-okay with me.

@VictoryFirst said in L25 Classic VictoryFirst (Axis) vs. The_Good_Captain (Allies):

@The_Good_Captain

Thought I was up here but the British are up! Hope everything is OK my friend.

oh man I missed this - thanks for the heads up. Ill get on this today

@barnee thanks barnee

@victoryfirst

There is no reason that should be happening that I can see. I am running version 2.5.22294. I went ahead and reinstalled TripleA just to be sure so…try again?

If it doesn’t work, can you confirm what version you are running?

Game History

Round: 15

    Puchase Units - Ottomans
        Ottomans buy 7 infantry; Remaining resources: 0 PUs; 

    Combat Move - Ottomans
        3 units repaired.

    Combat Move - Ottomans
        1 infantry moved from Arabia to Mesopotamia
        1 artillery and 3 infantry moved from Syrian Desert to Mesopotamia
        1 infantry moved from Ankara to Mesopotamia
        6 infantry moved from Smyrna to Syrian Desert
        2 tanks moved from Mesopotamia to Syrian Desert
        1 infantry moved from Constantinople to Ankara
        2 artilleries and 3 infantry moved from Constantinople to Smyrna

    Place Units - Ottomans
        7 infantry placed in Constantinople

    Turn Complete - Ottomans
        Ottomans collect 21 PUs; end with 21 PUs

O15 2.5.22294.tsvg

@The-Janus said in "East & West" by Imp Games - Discussion:

I think you need to ask the question, “why would NATO buy a nuke?” because you’ve always based the entire cost/benefit analysis on how many infantry a nuke costs. Why would NATO spend 20 IPCs to kill 10 IPCs of infantry? Even with the upgraded nuke, it’s still only a break-even proposition for NATO.

Great point. You don’t even need to buy a nuke as NATO while the USSR has to blow holes in its economy to build the two needed to make something you might call a difference in the naval war.

@Ragnell804 response to the problem of being the Soviets is to both buy a spy with the pregame IPC and dump the rest into going whole hog on Italy AND Germany round 1 and essentially banking the game on a coin flip.

That’s the most interesting answer I’ve seen to (again) what I feel strongly is a significant imbalance.

@VictoryFirst your turn this time, I’m 100% sure - haha (no rush)

@barnee sometimes I hear that the onboard version provided by TripleA of 1914 doesn’t work. So I recommend downloading this version of 1914: https://www.mediafire.com/file/6l8ni5rzkruakro/world_war_i_1914.zip/file

Instructions for download/use: You have to move the unzipped map to the downloadedMaps folder in the folder where you installed Triplea. Reboot the game and look for 1914.

@victoryfirst

the Germans attacked in Munich and scored 25 hits - how do you want them allocated?

@The-Janus said in "East & West" by Imp Games - Discussion:

You’re trying to do the “crying poor” argument as the USSR, and it doesn’t wash because I’ve already laid the numbers out.

I think games played and demonstrated is the acid test for this type of discussion. I don’t typically go down these rabbit holes but I will here because there is something missing that is very clear to me so…

You’re not entirely wrong, you just don’t have all the information or a hugely critical component is left out: the total unit value of each sides armies/airforces on the board. You appear to be assuming they’re equal after the Russian opener. They’re not.

Most TripleA players will know what board TUV is. After a stock opener as the Soviets the TUV is usually 102 IPC in favor of NATO with land/air alone - to say nothing of the navy. This is an imbalance that is not made up for by the 40 or so IPC “transport tax” that NATO ends up paying in the early game.

Worse, while the Russians claw their way up to parity with NATO in the opening turns in a manner similar to what you describe, they’re all the while further suffering a TUV tax for all the neutrals they’re forced to attack further deepening the TUV divide. I don’t see you address this anywhere. Total Unit Value (TUV) is a very common tool used on TripleA to measure overall performance/balance. That’s why I mention it.

If I play seven games as NATO, I might lose one. My mind can be changed if I lost two out of seven games (I think I’ve lost as NATO…once in the last two years having played 7 or 8 games in that time - and that was that crazy game @Ragnell804 and I played).

Further, I’ve never seen a game of E&W stagnate. I think I’ve had one or two go up to turn 7 or 8? I would say one of this game’s strengths is that it doesn’t go on forever like so many other AnA game titles - perhaps I’m misinterpreting your use of the word though.

@VictoryFirst all good - take you’re time. I’m always here as you know - haha

you’re welcome ;)

https://www.mediafire.com/file/6l8ni5rzkruakro/world_war_i_1914.zip/file

@victoryfirst

I keep a scrap book of “extreme moments in Axis and Allies history” in which I record the most massive dice swings I’ve seen in the last three years of playing and that German attack into Munich is in 2nd place by the statistics. I thought it might have edged into first but it did not. I feel like you should take a screen shot of that or at least save that turn’s game file. That was a rare combination.

@The-Janus

…and for anyone that reads down this far. I have nothing but respect for @The-Janus because he is an actual player of AnA. He’s the only reason I even knew about or play this wonderful version of the game.

And as you pointed out offline, I agree with you 100% - the meta for this game is not written in stone yet. What I am saying is from the dozen or so games I’ve played against two different opponents. My standard is to try to log at least 30 complete games against at least five or six different opponents to have that completely fleshed out.

I speak only from what I feel are ‘early strong indications’. But my experience with AnA: Europe has shown me that you can have someone come along who thinks differently and rock the boat (if not tip it over) with regards to strategy. In that version, it wasn’t until about 20 or so games in when it became apparent that threatening Sealion in basically every game appears to be more competitive than not doing it.

This was not at all apparent or intuitive until someone put their money where there mouth was and demonstrated it. That is an example of the ‘early meta’ being altered in a significant if not critical way.

I love the game but have an unequaled respect for the players. Everything here is said with kindness and an embracing of the adage “i could be wrong”. If I could put “imo” at the beginning and end of every sentence, I would. Text is a difficult format to express thoughts of this gravity imo. There is no mic drop. I’ll converse - just not so much the large essays bc it takes away from game time for me.

@squirecam said in Anniversary Errata Optional Rule: Escorts and Interceptors:

@gen-manstein

The largest problem with any AA game has been the bombers. Classic was simply luck. Buy bombers. Get heavy bomber tech as usa and you cant lose.

I’ve heard of this strategy, but in my many, many recent games against a variety of opponents, many on this forum, I have never seen anyone actually do this. Furthermore, I don’t feel the statistics bear this out as a game breaking strategy.

You would have thought people had learned by now. But nope. AA50 again required the optional rule. At least it was in the rulebook and Gencon adopted it for tournaments almost immediately.

Technically, its not in the rule book. It’s in the errata but this is hair splitting, of course.

I feel that classic and global did the best job with regards to SBR rules.

@SuperbattleshipYamato The rule as written is enough to make a cat laugh. Like the Chekov’s gun analogy, I believe that a rule that (basically) never presents itself to be exercised should not be in the game. My preference would be to just delete the rule and end it there. The scope and “Risk-like” simplicity of this game does not demand unrestricted submarine warfare imo. Further, one could argue the opening damage the CP navies inflict on the Entente is a representation of the damage the U-boat war had on them as an aggregate.

With that said, if a game designer demanded that I do something to improve it with the least amount of change to the rule as written, I would expand the sea zones to include basically all of the Atlantic and allow the German player to discriminate between attacking British/American IPC. In other words, the German player should be able to roll against the UK on their collect income phase and later decide NOT to do so on the USA collect income phase (and not risk bringing them into the war early).

@victoryfirst I’ll post this for reference (page 16). Submarines are so different between different versions of axis and allies and are just complicated in general. I like to tell other players, “If you think you understand submarines, you don’t understand submarines.” hah!

*also, sorry about not posting the AH turn. I forgot to paste the game turn summary for AH before I copied over it with Germany. No big deal though. You can see the game history to see what moved where, etc.

Two week until the Axis and Allies Tournament at Strategicon in LA! Register here: https://www.strategicon.net/ Here is a video with more info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMF6n9C79nU&t=56s

@krieghund thank you for your service ;)

@victoryfirst thanks for writing this. It’s helpful to understand the other side.

For the CP, I cannot tell if it is better to capture all the Russian territories or to create the Revolution. It was nice having all that money but so expensive to protect against the British in India. With the Revolution, I would not have had to defend Sevastopol AND Mesopotamia. It’s not clear to me what is better at this point.

YES, I would love to play another. I will get AH1 out shortly and good game my friend! =)

Come and fight! A tournament for Guadalcanal will be held at the Strategicon gaming convention on February 17th in Los Angeles. All skill levels welcome. This tournament is sponsored by Historical Board Gaming and axisandallies.org. It will be well attended with seasoned players of the game so come get good with friendly opponents who not only play but teach best practices. You will leave a better player and lean to crush your friends before Renegade re-releases it. Here is the link: https://www.strategicon.net/#

Please share this post with anyone you know who may be interested!