I’m sure none of us have even play AA50 yet (obviously since its not out yet) but as far as any “variants” that you are talking about, yes I have played similar things but most times I don’t think it is as fun as the “historical” set up.
Most people that play “everyman for himself” types of games like you are talking about make the mistake of not changing the geopolitics of the world and play it with the historical geopolitics which just screws up the game…in my opinion…instead of making it more fun or different.
If you are going to try something like those two ideas, make sure to rework more of the game than just “alliances” it makes for a much better game of what I like to call…“Ultimate Risk”…risk with A&A pieces.
The geopolitics are imperative to those types of games, because everyone should know that “he who makes the most IPC controls the world”, so if everyone starts the game with the same amount of IPC those types of changes make the game a lot more “balanced”.
Just my opinion, personally I still prefer the “historical” setup 99.99% of the time.
Google tripleA and download the latest game, they have a “4 if by sea” and a “6 player free for all” that are kind of fun but the geopolitics are kind of screwed up in them…just my opinion.
If you want to talk more about those ideas, personal message me I will gladly talk to you more about them since they are kind of “off topic” for this thread.