Soviet Victory

Russian tanks are great if Germany decides to swing down towards the Middle East instead of a straight march to Moscow. They are not going prevent the stackwalk any better than artillery except perhaps if the calculations show that the extra firepower will slow down a critical step like Rostov or Belarus. Hence it could be good to build the tanks on turns 3 or 4, depending on the German DoW. No need for them on Round 1.

The Triplea java-based game has an option for “Honorable Victory” here either side wins if it has attained a certain amount of VC’s by end of a round. The Default I believe is 14. The games I’ve played against the (so-called) “Hard-AI” have all been won on this rule. The Axis have clearly lost at this point and I don’t have to go the extra hours necessary to achieve the OOB Victory Conditions. I’d suggest this added rule as it doesn’t change any of the other gameplay.

@Navymule:

If there are 241 IPC’s worth of territories (before NO’s), that would mean the Allies would be earning well over 200 IPC’s a turn.  No way the Axis could recover from that deficit.  That would mean another 50-70 IPC’s worth of NO’s as well.

I wouldn’t think the Axis could recover, either, but I also wouldn’t say it’s impossible. The Allies begin the game with a 175-66 IPC advantage, but seem to lose more than half the time. Why does this happen?

The short answer is that the Axis victory conditions are easier to achieve, in part because Axis income is concentrated in Germany and Japan. This allows the two main aggressors to develop strategy, purchase units needed to implement that strategy and get them to the front rapidly. Put another way, in the hands of an experienced player, the Axis have a very efficient military-industrial complex.

On the other hand, the Allied IPC advantage, at least for the first 5-6 turns, is negated by the dispersal of those IPCs to every corner of the globe…and the Allies’ powerhouse must cross two oceans to join the fight. Until the US is fully engaged in battle, the Allied IPC advantage is virtually nonexistent.

I could talk/write at length on the economics of G40, but I’ll jump to the key question: If the goal is to improve game balance by creating a new victory condition, wherein the Allies win if the number of Axis-controlled Victory Cities falls below X and the combined IPC value of Axis-controlled territories falls below Y, what are X and Y? In other words, what is the Axis’ “point of no return?”

Don’t hide:  plenty of players are willing to play online with TripleA.  I used to be a horrible player a couple years ago, and now I am just a mediocre player.  I am glad that so many people were willing to school me on proper gameplay tactics.

Thanks for the review.  Never hurts to be on the winning side.  So I hear…. :|

I think it’s still 8–you need Paris, the 3 Red cities, and Cario IIRC.

My gaming group instituted a house rule on the Soviet NO.  The Soviet Union can get the IPCs for any Neutral territory on the European Mainland ONLY if the Axis powers occupied that territory first.  In other words, they would have to take it from Germany or Italy.

We did this because we didn’t like the idea of the Soviets simply walking into someplace like pro-Allied Greece and getting 4 free infantry, 2 IPCs for the territory and the NO on top of it.  Also, we didn’t like the idea that the Soviets could attack a strict Neutral, like Turkey or Sweeden, and get an NO bonus for it while turning all other strict Neutrals pro-Axis, which could make things harder on US and UK.

Perhaps they didn’t have electric blankets…

Or maybe they just didn’t rate the Japanese fleet as a threat.  But anyway, it’d be nice to have the option.