I’m a new A&A player and I wonder about the tech rolling. Is it worth the risk? What country shall/shall not take the risk? Can it really turn the tide of the war?
Thanks in advance for all your help
Never tech roll unless you Japan. You only want to do this when Japan is a monster, and Germany has been defeat (and hopefully the Russians, too). Unlocking Industrial Tech or Heavy Bombers can tip the scales in Japan’s favor.
I like to take a shot at tech if I see somewhere on the board where a certain tech will give me an advantage over my opponent in the here and now…
For example,
UK has about a 50/50 odds attack on Egypt held by a combined Japanese/German force. Getting those axis forces out of there will go a long way in securing an allied victory. I look at the board and I see that two fighters that are 4 spaces away in Novosibirsk will no longer be out of range if I am able to roll long range aircraft shifting the odds to the allies favor. And if I were to roll for heavy bombers my new advanced bomber would shift the battle into my favor as well. So I look at my income and decide whether I can afford one or two tech rolls(I rarely can afford more than this.) to try to swing an important battle in my favor.
@NewNewbie:
I’m a new A&A player and I wonder about the tech rolling. Is it worth the risk? What country shall/shall not take the risk? Can it really turn the tide of the war?
Thanks in advance for all your help
It’s probably not worth the risk unless you are deep into a stalemated game. The most common countries that go for it are Japan and the US. Most of the techs can be useful to the right country, but there are only two that can actually turn the tide of the war - Industrial Technology and Heavy Bombers. In fact, Heavy Bombers is close to an automatic win - there are a lot of custom rules to tone it down. And the other four are almost insignificant!
Many people play with a house rule of ‘no tech’ because of all this, but there are a lot of neat ‘custom tech’ rules that make the use of tech much better.
Well Super Subs and rockets aren’t that bad…
But IT and HB will win you the game almost every time. I like IT because for the price of 30 IPCs, I can get 15 inf instead of 10 inf. Very good. :)
@NewNewbie:
In fact, Heavy Bombers is close to an automatic win - there are a lot of custom rules to tone it down. And the other four are almost insignificant!
Thanks for your replies!
Where can I find rules about how to tone Heavy Bombers down?
@Newnewbie:
@NewNewbie:
In fact, Heavy Bombers is close to an automatic win - there are a lot of custom rules to tone it down. And the other four are almost insignificant!
Thanks for your replies!
Where can I find rules about how to tone Heavy Bombers down?
One house rule is to limit the heavy bomber to 2 dices instead of 3. Don’t remember were I first saw that rule though.
Rune
If you have 5 ipc you don’t need right away I think you should tech in some situations. If you are Britain or the US and you have bought enough inf/arm to fill your transports and have 5 ipc left then think about doing a tech roll.
Rune
Early in the game, pre T20, I find teching only used as a last resort. If Germany looks like its about to be overun, I’ll go full tech with Japan. If Moscow is captured by turn 10, I might try to Tech with US.
However, I will never spend more than 10 IPCs per turn on Tech rolls. Not worth more in my opinion.
If anyone gets IT, or Heavy Bombers, the game is won for them unless they are really close to complete death. 2 IPC infantry, 4 IPC tanks, damn thats good.
Tech is important, mainly in longer games.
When you do get IT, it becomes more of a race to see if you can capitalize on your gains (if the # of IPCs you save from the units you buy exceeds the amount of IPCs invested in tech rolls). I’ve seen a lot of times where the player unlocking IT spent more money trying to unlock it then he made back.
This sounds risky and crazy but it works, When playing UK, on the first turn spend all $30 on dice and hope for some 6’s and then roll one more 6 for heavy bombers. Spend all you money every turn to get HEAVY BOMBERS! It might even take 4 turns to get it but it’s worth it. After that all you buy are Bombers and do economic bombing runs on Germany. This will surely stop Germany in its tracks!! I had 5 bombers at 3 dice each and was wiping Germanys $$$ out, and by that time they were getting $50 at the end of each round. Now if your lucky you will get 6’s right off the bat and then some more 6’s for heavy bombers and then Germany’s economic stance it flat before the 4th round.
DON’T Tech Roll with UK. The problem is that if you do unlock Heavy Bombers, you still have to buy the bombers. And looking at UK’s economy (esp. if the Axis know what they’re doing), you’re not going to make good on your investment. I would much rather then my IPCs in building back a navy and shipping men to Russia. I’ll let USA worry about Tech Rolls later on.
ya let the rich guy(US) do it
when we were playing hardcore [every weekday after school for a year or so] we got up to 48 techs but then slimmed it down to 30… we used these bonus cards we got out of a magazine and would draw every couple of turns… most of the cards were techs, either for one nation or all members of a team… our craziest tech was ‘hand of god’ which allowed one to change a single die roll per full game turn [cccp-usa] to any value one desired… instant techs…
another variant we played involved building research complexes which gave you one attempt per turn per complex but you had to pay a maintence fee on them… that was usually used when we were paying maintainence for all units…
in regular game play i almost never go for them… i can’t remember the last time i did… maybe i’ll do it against emugod just for the hell of it… i seem to be rolling a lot of sixes this game…
most of what sud typed rings true… subs and jets suck. just get rid of 'em. replace them with something more interesting like artillery or paratroopers or any of so many more useful things…
also, we usually made IT give a 20% discount rather than a simple 1 ipc discount but didn’t apply it to infantry…
we also experimented with 2 dice HB and reload costs for HB [usually 5 ipc]…
our craziest tech was ‘hand of god’ which allowed one to change a single die roll per full game turn [cccp-usa] to any value one desired
Hahahahaha :lol: I like this. You should also have a “Holy Hand Grenade”
most of what sud typed rings true… subs and jets suck. just get rid of 'em. replace them with something more interesting like artillery or paratroopers or any of so many more useful things…
also, we usually made IT give a 20% discount rather than a simple 1 ipc discount but didn’t apply it to infantry…
we also experimented with 2 dice HB and reload costs for HB [usually 5 ipc]…
I like it. But what did you use for Artillery? AA-guns? :)
when i was even younger i used to play with little plastic soldiers… and i’d use their machine gunners [the actual guns were much too big]… i’d also use the other soldiers to represent paratroopers and marines and such…
of course now we can just use the more appropriately sized artillery peices that come with a&a:e/p…
little plastic soldiers
Heh, I remember back in the day of plastic soldiers and the “flame thrower.” Those were good times… except when the A&A board almost caught on fire! :P
I just happened to be bored, so i made some additional rules for weapons
development, maybe you like them, maybe you don’t ;).
Game setup:
Clarify research possibilities before the game starts:
1. Which technologies?
2. Special, more expensive techs?
3. Random tech or chosen tech?
4. Predetermined techs?
5. IPC Cost?
1. Technologies.
Players can make a selection of technologies at the start of the game. Over- or underpowered techs can be left out, interesting new ones can be added. It would be wise to limit the number of technologies in order to keep the game from becoming too complicated. Here are a few examples of technologies that could be added to the traditional ones (ofcourse these can be left out as well):
Marines.
Cruisers.
Destroyers.
Escorts (all trans in SZ defend on a 2) :o
Mobile infantry (move on a 2).
Paratroopers.
Heavy tanks (attack on a 4, defend on a 3).
Anti-tank guns (artillery units fire an extra round (like AA), 1 is a hit against an enemy tank)
Bulldozers (planes can land in newly captured territories) :D
Heavy artillery (artillery units attack on a 3).
Large transports (carry 1 or 2 additional units).
Long range subs (subs move 3 or 4).
Nukes.
Mines.
Trenches.
Gas and gasmaskes.
Home guards.
For all these technologies units from AAP, AAE or WAW are excellent to use or any other objects available. As you can see making up a few techs takes only about 5 mins and can add great variety to the game. Be sure to limit the number of techs available though!
Also possible to make unique technologies:
Russia: Russian guards, partizans.
Germany: Tiger tanks, Waffen SS, Missiles, Volkssturm.
UK: Home guard, Radar, RAF.
Japan: Kamikaze.
US: Marines.
2. Special techs.
There might be some technologies which are overpowered (heavy bombers, industrial technology, nukes, etc.). To incorporate them into the system (especially when playing with chosen techs (see below)), you will need to make special rules for them. This can be done by altering the IPC cost of development (when players indicate they are researching nukes, they must pay additional IPC’s for a die roll). An other way is by making these techs worth 3 ‘normal’ techs, so that 3 succesful hits are needed to get the special tech.
3. Random and chosen techs.
Many players do not risk weapon development because chances are high
they will not roll a 1 or end up with some worthless technology. Therefor
it might be better to let the player choose which technology he wants
(probably more realistic as well). Ofcourse a mix between the two is possible as well: 3 IPC for a ‘random’ roll, 6 IPC to choose a tech after a succesful die.
4. Predetermined techs.
Technologies can be given to players before the game starts in order to
compensate for any difference in skill level or for a more historically
accurate picture of the war.
5. IPC Cost of Research.
In the standard game the IPC cost of a research die ammounts for 5 IPC.
This ammount can be altered to your own liking, suggested is 3 to 6 IPC’s.
It all depends offcourse on the decisions made in the previous 4 steps.
When playing with technologies that give only minor bonuses the IPC value of research dice should ofcourse be less than normal, etc.
Greensleeves, your a pretty regular poster here. Would you mind registering? Its relatively simple, heres a link:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/profile.php?mode=register&sid=6e2e3d50e0fcf11152445752f2c3a4e3
It will only take 2 minutes out of your time. Also, if you remember your password, your old Username should still work.
i am registered :D
i dont have cookies enabled i think, so everytime i visit the boards i am not logged in. I usually just view messages without posting anything so there is no need to login, but when i do want to reply i would have to login first, then go back to the thread, id rather post as anonymous. I don’t think someone would want to imposter me anyway ;)
Ill try to post as much with this name though, might be easier…
