Tank Purchases R.I.P.

In Pacific40 I don’t buy as many tanks as I used to in Anniversary.  Sometimes it leads to slow predictable land battles.

Still I mix them in.  In the older versions usually slower games favor the allies if for no other reason than the US has more turns to get her transports in gear.  This favors tanks.

In situations where production is limited by Industrial Complex capacity Tanks are more important also.  If you only have 3 units you can build and NEED something to come out of South Africa to help hold the continent then here come the tanks.  They’ll be able to move up quicker and when the territory is more important than the dollars spent tanks are favored.

Heck, in the old game I remember building an infantry and two $12 fighters to defend India!

You can run battle sims with a pencil and paper if you have the time.

But aside from that, I’d say 6 IPC tanks are worth a try. If Larry playtested it at all, he obviously still saw them used at some capacity. When you need quick firepower two or more spaces away and the front can’t wait for infantry, tanks will be a good buy. When you need soaks for them after winning that battle, the mechs will be great. Mech/Tank will now just be the Cadillac alternative to INF/ART, for nations like Germany because the time advantage is worth the extra money.

I think that a mech/tank germ will be no weaker for the changes than a straight tank germ used to be, because although tanks cost six now, they’ll almost always have available 4 IPC soaks.

I think Germany needs more infantry on the western front and more tanks on the eastern. That is very general and not to be taken out of context like just infantry or just tanks.

Mostly tanks or mostly infantry.

The only way to overcome defense at 2 is to buy units that attack at three, because units that attack at two take too long to make a final decision in the battle. Otherwise your just causing dead zones and replaying old battles and not making any headway.

And the only way to get this in battle and still fair better is to make hit and run attacks, where your exchanging infantry ( except you exchange less of your than the defender)

This is then only way to defeat Russia. Therefore, you will be spending more of the IPC on tank purchases in order to gain this advantage somewhere on the map.

MarkVIII beat me to a point that no one had made before him, but it’s very significant in the whole “tanks/cruisers/battleships” or whatever expensive unit are inferior to cheap unit discussions.

Limited production capacity.  If you’re maxing out a complex, you’re going to want to buy better units since you have a production constraint.  Are you going to build 3 mech at your forward minor complex?  Are you really never going to buy tanks?

Allweeneed, you apparently aren’t clear on the rules of blitzing.  You’re going to need more than one tank to blitz territories and attack.  Like you said, you don’t want to attack 2 spaces away and be losing tanks as your first casualties.  That’s where you use mechanized infantry with tanks.  You can bring 1 mech infantry with each tank into a battle after blitzing.  If you don’t buy tanks, but just read their eulogies, your front lines will always be slowed down to advancing one territory per turn, and the defender will see you coming from a long way off and be able to prepare.  Also, the other weakness of your favored infantry/artillery/mech infantry supported by air strat is the AA gun.  Your opponents will buy and position more of them if you’re coming with more air and more infantry/mech infantry.  And if they develop radar, then you’re really in a world of hurt.

The tank purchase will not rest in peace.  But at last, it will become less common.  However, the increased rarity is not only due to the 6 IPC price tag, it’s also in large part due to the introduction of a new ground unit that can move 2 spaces.

I think anytime someone declares they will never buy a certain unit, they are just showing that they don’t understand the utility of that unit.

Every A&A unit has a unique advantage/characteristic and therefore each unit is ideal for certain situations, and merit purchase in certain circumstances.

First off, tanks were always scarce on the Pacific side of the board because of the island hopping thing, and they are especially scarce in 1940 because of the fact that you can’t go into Russia, so there is almost no reason to use tanks since the largest open area of land is China where they can produce anywhere.  In Europe where you have production facilities and much more contiguous land area, tanks have always ruled.  Tanks will still rule the battle for the Eastern Front, however, their numbers will be fewer because of the mechanized infantry.

I think the major issue with this analysis is strictly comparing tanks ONLY vs. mech ONLY.  In reality the real use is going to be a combination of mech with tanks, which is precisely all the more reason that tanks need to cost 6 now, because now we have a unit that can move two spaces AND blitz when paired with tanks, besides all the tank’s other abilities, so mech actually make the extra cost necessary.  Tanks have been made more valuable in these 1940 versions, which means they need to cost more.

If tanks still cost 5 IPCs with the introduction of mech at 4 IPCs, you could buy a mech and a tank with the same 9 IPCs you could purchase 3 infantry with:

3 infantry vs. 1 infantry
Win: 90%  Lose: 8.3%  Both Dead: 1.7%

1 mech, 1 tank vs. 1 infantry
Win: 89.7%  Lose: 5.1%  Both Dead: 5.1%

With this setup, you have just about the same chance of winning, plus a decent chance of still destroying your opponent even if you die too, but the real kicker is that you can move BOTH these units 2 spaces at a time!  Increasing it 1 IPC keeps infantry from dying to the mech-tank combo, but doesn’t kill tanks either, as I’ll explain why next.

Forget that you can buy mech at a 3:2 ratio to tanks, you also have to look at the fact that you can still buy tanks at a 5:3 ratio to fighters, even with the cost increased to 6!  5:3 is a bigger ratio difference than 3:2 (you can get 1.7 tanks for every 1 fighter, while you can only get 1.5 mech for every 1 tank), so if you’re going to be buying fighters to combine with your mech instead of tanks, you’re going to end up on the short end of the stick, especially when you factor in AA guns as gamerman mentioned before.  Tanks still hit on 3 when attacking, just like fighters, but cost a lot less and provides immediate defensive support to your frontline mech that planes can’t.  This can be especially dangerous to an opponent if they leave a blitz path open, and while you say this is rare, that is the case in previous editions because of tanks.  Tanks force your opponent to close holes and defend territories they otherwise wouldn’t have to.  So tanks are still going to be necessary as the only unit that can threaten a blitz and a unit that can capture territories on its own and then defend them, which fighters can’t do.

You can compare mech to tanks straight up all you want, mech obviously win; but most players are not going to be buying ONLY mech instead of tanks, just like buying ONLY infantry (just because the math says they’re the best on defense) or ONLY tanks (just because the math says they give you the most punch and movement per IPC) in previous versions wasn’t the best idea either.  Neither are fighters dead because tanks have a better ratio, because they are still the most versatile unit.  You have to consider the big picture and not just compare mech to tanks, but combinations of the two to other units, especially your mech-fighter combos to mech-tank combos.  Your numbers are correct, but your focus was just too narrow.

The rumors of the death of the tank have been greatly exaggerated.  Hopefully this math helps you see that. :-)

Thank you SAS and Gamerman  8-)

Oh my goodness, I don’t know why it took me this long to think of this:

Another constraint, besides production capacity, is transports.  You have a limited number of transports, that can carry a limited number of units.  You’re going to want tanks for transporting, because they are the best ground unit that you can transport on your limited slots.  Also, as I pointed out before, when you’re wanting to take control of a territory and are willing to lose planes to take it, you’re going to want the best ground unit possible, the tank, to be firing every round until the end.

So you see now from all the replies on this thread, that there are so many reasons to purchase tanks at 6 IPCs that you really shouldn’t worry that tanks will become extinct.

So we can change this thread from mourning over the loss of the tank, to celebrating how much tanks rock! :mrgreen:

I think we’ll need a new poem, allweneedislove.  Do you think you could get us a celebratory poem? :wink:

Allweneed is the only one making sense in this thread. I agree with him wholeheartedly: compared to mechs, armor is overpriced. I’ll buy my armour now as I would fighters: only when it’s absolutely necessary (to blitz or to get attacking power to the front fast). Any other case, mechs are a better buy.

transport argument: put 1 inf 1 rtl in it, and you’ll save yourself 2 bucks for the same attacking power as 1 inf 1 arm.

3 inf vs 1 inf and 1 arm 1 rtl vs 1 inf: turn it the other way around. I bet the infs are better on defense, which is also worth an ipc.

every unit has it’s specific situation: true, but the specific situations for tanks become slim, to say the least. It used to be a cool unit, making up about 1/3 of your land force (inf being 1/2). Now it’ll be more like 1/10. That’s not close to the ideal 1/4 (4 land units).

@HolKann:

Allweneed is the only one making sense in this thread. I agree with him wholeheartedly: compared to mechs, armor is overpriced. I’ll buy my armour as I would fighters now: only when it’s absolutely necessary (to blitz or to get attacking power to the front fast). Any other case, mechs are a better buy.

transport argument: put 1 inf 1 rtl in it, and you’ll save yourself 2 bucks for the same attacking power as 1 inf 1 arm.

Inf, tank has more skew: the first hit takes out a 1 instead of 2

@calvinhobbesliker:

Inf, tank has more skew: the first hit takes out a 1 instead of 2

Are you arguing this tiny advantage is worth 2 ipc’s? More like 0.2 if you ask me. So okay, you’ll win “only” 1.8 by using inf+rtl in transport instead of inf+arm.

@HolKann:

@calvinhobbesliker:

Inf, tank has more skew: the first hit takes out a 1 instead of 2

Are you arguing this tiny advantage is worth 2 ipc’s? More like 0.2 if you ask me. So okay, you’ll win “only” 1.8 by using inf+rtl in transport instead of inf+arm.

However, artillery can’t move 2 spaces.

In a landing, the 2 space thing isn’t too big of a deal. The best thing about landing tanks is that they can better hold the land you’ve captured.

@xzorn:

In a landing, the 2 space thing isn’t too big of a deal. The best thing about landing tanks is that they can better hold the land you’ve captured.

In later turns, they still move 2

I must say I am following this thread with much interest and both sides are opening my mind to whole new ways of thinking.  While I have a tendency to agree with those that believe that the time of the tank is not yet over I’ll be very interested to see how the game plays out under both types of play.  I believe it will be most important in the German/Russian battles.

@HolKann:

@calvinhobbesliker:

Inf, tank has more skew: the first hit takes out a 1 instead of 2

Are you arguing this tiny advantage is worth 2 ipc’s? More like 0.2 if you ask me. So okay, you’ll win “only” 1.8 by using inf+rtl in transport instead of inf+arm.

Even though I’m an admitted noob to some aspects of this game its been my experience that this whole game hangs on small margins like this.

@calvinhobbesliker:

@xzorn:

In a landing, the 2 space thing isn’t too big of a deal. The best thing about landing tanks is that they can better hold the land you’ve captured.

In later turns, they still move 2

Owkey, why not put in a mech then if moving 2 is important? Wait, I know the answer: mechs attack at 1. So why not an rtl? Because they don’t move 2. So why not a mech? etc. etc. Am I the only one who sees the walking in circles here?

As I said, ONLY if moving 2 is important AND you’re severely lacking attack force, an arm is worth its 6 ipc’s. Anyone who argues with this point?

If you agree on this, I say a good general will have a steady supply of rtls/air to generate attacking force, and mechs to generate mobility. It’s just so much cheaper. The rare occasions you’d want to blitz or move 2 and attack @ 3, but you can’t because you didn’t buy (enough) tanks, are more than made up for by the extra rtl/mech you’re saving every time you don’t by 2 tanks.

@Bruda_Iz:

Even though I’m an admitted noob to some aspects of this game its been my experience that this whole game hangs on small margins like this.

What’s the small margin? The fact you save more than half an infantry? Or the fact you have a minimally better skew at some distant battle? Don’t count on small margins when the big ones aren’t mastered… Remember, hits > pips > skew, in that order and no other.

Germany or japan don’t need transports to defeat Russia. This is not relevant for how the other nations need to play to win. For them they use other means to win and for Germany and Japan to win this means defeating Russia and tanks are the way to do it. At 6 IPC this may not be the case, but the solution will still be tanks because its the only cost effective unit that is ranked higher than the 2 on defense and you need more 3’s to win the battle of 2’s. Of course planes have a say, but the tank will do the dirty work in this regard.

The discussion regarding the tank glitch at 5 IPC shows fully that tanks ruled. Now its more subdued but still used even at 6 IPC.

@Imperious:

The discussion regarding the tank glitch at 5 IPC shows fully that tanks ruled. Now its more subdued but still used even at 6 IPC.

Tanks at 6 would be perfect if mech was at 5. I hope there won’t be a mech/air or mech/rtl glitch… For instance, G1 all out rtl, G2+ all out mech. Or G1+ always half of the buy mech, other half varies between air/inf/rtl. Good luck trying it out ;)

I think I know what hits are… but what are pips and skews?

@HolKann:

@Bruda_Iz:

Even though I’m an admitted noob to some aspects of this game its been my experience that this whole game hangs on small margins like this.

What’s the small margin? The fact you save more than half an infantry? Or the fact you have a minimally better skew at some distant battle? Don’t count on small margins when the big ones aren’t mastered… Remember, hits > pips > skew, in that order and no other.