Oh good! I swear I was looking everywhere for that cheaper boats thread, but I kept searching ships rather than “boats” lol. Hang around this place long enough, and you’ll find a ton of solid HR proposals. They’ve just been buried under the avalanche of time hehe. I got about 20 pages deep into this section, and my eyes started glossing over. I probably missed an ace thread or two.
I’m interested in the land bases, and proposals there like military outposts for just inf, or rail bases, and also the 3 tiered factory scheme in g40. Trying to locate the earliest discussions, or the most recent. But most of those systems require additional materials.
Still just keeping with rules, another HR type worth mentioning is more about production restriction. I don’t know, maybe I just make one up as an example, to describe what I’m talking about haha.
Factories only at VCs:
1942.2
Rule: All Victory Cities get a starting factory. Only VCs on the map get a starting factory. The factory unit is removed from the purchase roster.
Purpose: to anchor the fighting around these territories and underscore the importance of the VC.
This is another one I recall from AA50, or maybe Larry Boards, but which could potentially work in 1942.2. It would be a dramatic shift for the production spread (introducing France, Kiangsu, Philippines, and Hawaii into the mix), so probably needs to be attended by another rule or large bid for balance. But it would result in a major incentive for Germany to stay oriented towards the west, possibly with a strong naval game. Might work with an American Zero turn order (full turn?). Anyway the basic idea is that you have a set number of select factories in the game, and no more, then adjust the balance from there. Something similar might work for G40. I believe some of YGs rules call for factories that cannot be purchased, or restored to full capacity once captured. That recalls to mind another production restriction concept which I feel certain has been mentioned before. The idea of factories that can be permanently removed from the board, like auto-destroyed upon capture. This is a bit like scorched earth, but more extreme. Something basic would be along the lines of…
Factory destruction:
1942.2
Rule: when an IC is taken by the enemy it is automatically destroyed.
Purpose: prevents the quick turn-around of production from a captured enemy territory. Now the conqueror must build the factory anew if they want to exploit it. Slows down the Axis, since it means that territories like Karelia, Caucasus, and Moscow don’t provide an immediate production boon when conquered.
Requires more money from the Axis if they want to hold the center. Similarly it opens up alternative territories as candidates for new production, with less fear that they will be used by the enemy. Rules like this one in a game such as 1942.2 would seem to recommend a cheaper factory unit at 12, but that could just be me. Again something like this might work in G40 as well. I’m sure its been discussed endlessly somewhere.
:-D
Oh one more before I forget about it again.
Standard Playing Cards (52 deck) income bonus:
for 1942.2
Rule: Players use a standard deck of cards, and draw during the collect income phase for a bonus in ipcs.
Aces high =15, Jack =11, Queen=12, King=13
All numbered cards (deuce-ten):
Diamond =7, Clubs = 8, Hearts = 9, Spades =10
Joker =20
Purpose: to introduce more cash, and randomize each game round by purchase. Every nation has more average income per round, but Allies have more draws over all, so their economic advantage is built in as the game proceeds (at least until Axis can destroy one of them).
More units in play at the outset, potentially prolongs the endgame, or encourages early resolution, depending on the luck of the draw in a given turn. For a more wild swing you can assign the bonus to numbered cards by their printed value rather than by suit. But I like the way it works with the floor at 7 ipcs, just for overall economic parity. Cursed diamonds hehe! But even those are a whole lot better than nothing. Another method is to split the deck into Black and Red suits and give one pile to each side Axis or Allies with Joker. Facecards at the values above. For all numbered cards: minor suit (diamonds/clubs) =9 ipcs, major suit (hearts, aces) =10 ipcs. This is slightly higher income, but also ensures both sides have an equal chance at drawing the same number of facecards.
IPCs here could be assigned different values for the cards too, depending on player preference. Deuces Wild, Crazy 8s, whatever. But the basic idea is that your group assigns an ipc value to the cards in a standard deck, and then draw against each other for a bonus each turn. Similarly you can use a scheme like the above to award bonus units rather than cash, if that seems more interesting.
:-D
Those are a bit long winded. Still trying to summarize, since the og post is eluding me, but we can trim it down later with internal links.
