INDEPENDENCE to all y'all

On adding a hit differential calculator, I think having this additional info in the game would be quite interesting and useful even though I do agree that not all dice luck in the game is equal. Its more information but will sometimes lend itself to a misinterpretation of the actual luck of each player.

I do think though that if there is a way to avoid counting superfluous hits, that would make it more accurate. Some dice luck doesn’t matter to the game  and so shouldn’t be counted. If 6 fighters attack one destroyer the consequences in game terms of a lucky roll of 6 hits is the same as an ‘unlucky’ role of 1 hit or an average roll of 3 hits. It doesn’t actually matter to the outcome of the game but the measure would make it appear significant.

A TUV differential might have other problems, but it would solve this since superfluous hits aren’t going to impact on it.

But I thought another way to do is to take this hit differential counter and modify it when the hits exceed casualties in a combat. That is to say, in combat rounds where the expected number of hits and the actual number of hits both exceed the number of casualties taken, the hit differential of the victor in that combat round doesn’t get counted in the hit differential. This assumes we can break it down by combat round and I’m not sure if that can be done.

If that can’t be done then perhaps in situations where the combat only goes one round, and the expected number of hits exceeds the number of casualties, we could just ignore the hit differential of the winner of that combat. That would at least remove all situations where you send a stack after a lone unit. I think?

Thank You to all Veterans

Also it’s RED Friday so wear a little RED. Remember Everyone Deployed

@Flashman:

Return to Oz was seriously disturbing.

Oh my God… I forgot about that one. Yeah, I have some vague memories of seeing that at my aunt’s house late one night… made absolutely no sense to me. I just recall monkeys on unicycles.

@Cmdr:

As I do every year, I post my favorite Christmas Poem to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

This year, I include a link to YouTube so you can listen to the music that has always accompanied this poem (in my mind at least.): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D-OL-KQOt4

_With medals and badges, awards of all kind
A sober thought came through my mind.
For this house was different, so dark and dreary,
I knew I had found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.

The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
“Santa don’t cry, this life is my choice;
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more,
my life is my God, my country, my Corps.”

So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
And I covered this Soldier from his toes to his head.
And I put on his T-shirt of gray and black,
With an eagle and an Army patch embroidered on back._

A Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan wrote this poem. (Allegedly, from what I have been told, in other words, don’t go b*tch’n and moan’n that some yahoo in Uzbekistan who was constipated on a Monday morning wrote it, I was told it was a Marine in Okinawa, Japan and that’s who I am giving credit too until informed otherwise.)

I had to look it up because the emboldened items are not congruent.  Apparently a Marine wrote it for Leathernecks magazine, and others have come behind and modified it, like this one.  Here’s the original:
Merry Christmas, My Friend

_Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone.

I had come down the chimney, with presents to give
and to see just who in this home did live

As I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures of a far distant land.

With medals and badges, awards of all kind,
a sobering thought soon came to my mind.
For this house was different, unlike any I’d seen.
This was the home of a U.S. Marine.

I’d heard stories about them, I had to see more,
so I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
And there he lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor in his one-bedroom home.

He seemed so gentle, his face so serene,
Not how I pictured a U.S. Marine.
Was this the hero, of whom I’d just read?
Curled up in his poncho, a floor for his bed?

His head was clean-shaven, his weathered face tan.
I soon understood, this was more than a man.
For I realized the families that I saw that night,
owed their lives to these men, who were willing to fight.

Soon around the Nation, the children would play,
And grown-ups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom, each month and all year,
because of Marines like this one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve, in a land far from home.
Just the very thought brought a tear to my eye.
I dropped to my knees and I started to cry.

He must have awoken, for I heard a rough voice,
“Santa, don’t cry, this life is my choice
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more.
My life is my God, my country, my Corps.”

With that he rolled over, drifted off into sleep,
I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.

I watched him for hours, so silent and still.
I noticed he shivered from the cold night’s chill.
So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
and covered this Marine from his toes to his head.
Then I put on his T-shirt of scarlet and gold,
with an eagle, globe and anchor emblazoned so bold.
And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
and for one shining moment, I was Marine Corps deep inside.

I didn’t want to leave him so quiet in the night,
this guardian of honor so willing to fight.
But half asleep he rolled over, and in a voice clean and pure,
said “Carry on, Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all secure.”
One look at my watch and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend, Semper Fi and goodnight._

Credit to Snopes.

Now that is a venn diagram I can appreciate!  It appears inn my haste my terminology was a bit mixed up.

3 Friends who loved golf were on the golf course having a good time.  A storm came in and struck all 3 down with lightning killing them.

In the afterlife all 3 found themselves on a prestine golf course loaded with ducks.  A booming voice announced to them “Your reward for having lived such good lives is that you shall know heaven as being this golf course, the only rule here is that THALL SHALL NOT STEP ON THE DUCKS!”

One of the friends asked “why not”?

DO NOT QUESTION ME! - and suddenly God was gone.

A hundred years pass and the friends have a great time playing golf, but inevitably one accidently steps on a duck.  God Swoops down from the heavens with a hidiously ugly woman who he chains to the man and says “This is how you will spend the rest of eternity”.  And than they are gone.

The two remaining friends look at each other and say “Shit, DON’T STEP ON THE DUCKS!”

Being extra careful they play golf for a 1000 years, but unfortunately one of them does step on a duck.  God swoops down and grabs him up and chains him to a woman x1000 times worse than the first and says to him “this is how you will spend the rest of eternity!”

The last guy is paranoid as hell not to step on a duck.  10,000 years go by and he NEVER steps on a duck.  Still, God comes down and swoops him up.  But this time he chains him to the most drop dead, cum in your pants, hot girl you have ever seen - and than flies away.

Dumbfounded the guy tells the girl 'Wow, I don’t know what I did to deserve this".

She responds “I don’t know about you, but I stepped on a duck”.

Or maybe this one…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFGzGfym-7Y

Thanks. And you weren’t bored?