Technology

Armed transports might also get clunky. Mine sweeping, advanced mines, advanced subs, or increased transport capacity could all be alternatives.

Othewise, except storm troops, we may be ready to put a rubber stamp on this.

My gripes with Q-ships and storm troops is that they are pretty big mechanical changes.
A 2nd round of land combat might upset the balance of power too much. It may need to just be an infantry boost.

Transports are last casualties, but will be able to shoot.

They aren’t bad ideas, but we don’t know if they will upset game mechanics.

From what I’ve read, there wasn’t any real anti-mine technology during WWI. According to wikipedia, it took 82 ships 5 months working 24/7 to clear the North Sea Mine Barrage after the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_mine#Early_20th_century

As to Q ships, perhaps if they are no longer required to be the final casualties?

Increased transport capacity might be the way to go, 3 instead of 2 land units? I think in this game it can be any 2 land units, right? This would clearly favor the allies.

Let me see what wild and fantastic other naval tech I can find.

For Stormtroopers, I’m leaning toward: Attacking infantry with artillery support roll at 4 or less.

Stormtroopers ( AKA Trench Raiders) should reduce the defensive capabilities at 1:1 basis of infantry to 2.

So 5 trench raiders make it so 5 defending infantry at 3, goto 2.

Also, each nation/faction should have some tech that is different than the others, but the problem is a number of nations didn’t really develop anything new. ( Austrians, Ottomans, Italy). This means perhaps 6 techs by each faction and developed only by that faction would be more realistic.

How about replacing Armed Transports with:

Wireless Communication - When breaking off a sea battle, attacking ships may retreat to a single adjacent sea zone from which at least 1 of the attacking ships entered battle.

Edited: borrowed the language from the A&A1940 Pacific rulebook, decided to clean it up a bit.

Wireless Communication - When breaking off a sea battle, attacking ships may retreat to a single adjacent sea zone from which at least 1 of the attacking ships entered battle.

This is not an invention in this war. They used lights and Morse code for communication. On land, due to fixed cables this was a different story.

Smokescreens: If the defender has Cruisers ( since Destroyers are not in this game), he may roll a die before combat in an attempt to retreat and avoid combat. X or less succeeds. I guess naval combat is one round right?

I don’t think a special rule about retreats is necessarily cool enough for the tech chat.

Who would be happy with “oh boy, I can retreat better!”
We could allow battleships to repair in open water, or fire at 5 on the first roinds

Extra transport capacity may be the way to go.

Stormtroopers is still up in the air.
It seems like IL wants special stormtrooper pieces.
Gas attacks already reduce defenses, stormtroops need to modify an existing piece not add a new onethat some people might not have.

Naval combat is infinite rounds

Stormtroopers don’t have to be a ‘piece’, you just place a token underneath these ala HBG. Cost would be determined.

Smokescreens were not used in wars before. They are an invention. Besides, war bonds is not tech either…just scraps of paper printed as a promise to pay off when the war is over.

If naval combat is more than one round, smokescreens would save inferior navies. The amount of ships represented in this version is underrepresented…all the more to have a mechanism to reduce the carnage. Heck UK has like one Dreadnought by England WTH? It should have like 3-4 and Germany 2.

Smokescreens is a better name for it. My thinking was that in sea combat, if Germany calls off an attack, its ships remain in the same sea zone, waiting for the British to hammer them. Smokescreens could allow the Germans or any player, to withdrawal to relative safety, like they did after Jutland. They didn’t just sail around the North Sea hoping not to run into the British again.

Separate pieces or special markers are for the other game. Techs in A&A don’t add units, they modify existing units.

Edit: A game which, by the way, I am very much looking forward to. :-)

Here’s the placeholder iteration of the Tech Chart:

E1 - War Bonds - During your collect income phase, collect an additional number of IPCs equal to 10% of your National Production Chart level, rounded up.

E2 - Improved Shipyards - Naval units cost 1 IPC less.

E3 - Increased Production - Tank and Fighter costs are reduced by 1 IPC.

N1 - Smoke Screens - When breaking off a sea battle, attacking ships may retreat to a single adjacent sea zone from which at least 1 of the attacking ships entered battle.

N2 - Battle Cruisers - Cruisers attack at 4 or less, but still defend at 3 or less. Additionally, cruisers may perform offshore bombardment at 3.

N3 - Anti-Sub Warfare - Your Cruisers prevent enemy subs from submerging in combat or moving through them at a 1:1 ratio.

A1 - Anti-Aircraft Guns - Artillery may target fighters before combat begins, hitting at 1, limited to the number of artillery available or the number of fighters present, whichever is smaller.

A2 - Advanced Aviation - Fighters attack and defend at 3 or less.

A3 - Aerial Photography - If you have air supremacy, your artillery can support 2 units instead of one.

L1 - Wireless Communications - During combats where friendly forces are also in the contested zone, roll a die. Up to that many friendly artillery are used to boost your attacking forces on a 1:1 ratio, but may not participate in combat.

L2 - Chemical Warfare - In one attack this turn, roll a die: 1-4 that many infantry do not roll defensively; 5-6: No effect. If used against you, halve the number of immobilized infantry.

L3 - Stormtrooper Tactics - Attacking infantry with artillery support roll at 4 or less.

Changed radio to wireless given the era of the game, but didn’t change the tech.

Renamed proposed naval wireless communication tech to Smokescreens, but its under review.

Stormtrooper Tactics could be replaced with another land tech, but it was these tactics, combined with an increase in the available number of troops, that really broke open the stalemate on the Western Front, so I hate to leave them out.

But does a special retreat mechanism have enough utility to warrant being a tech?

How often and what powers can even use a tech like this?
With naval combat being so rare is it ever going to be used?

It might be better to have smoke screens just let you ignore the first hit against you in naval combat.
Or rather……get rid of smoke screens all together.
Maybe a tech to help amphibious invasions or something.

I still like a tech that allows transports to hold 3 infantry to reflect how cruise ships were converted into military transports.

I don’t see much naval warfare after the first couple turns unless the CPs want it.

But does a special retreat mechanism have enough utility to warrant being a tech?

War Bonds…

Everyone can use extra IPCs but how often do you go into a combat expecting to get banged up and have to retreat?

Perhaps war bonds could be replaced with something that lets yo mobilize in any original territory worth 3 or more.

The defender is at the mercy of the attacker. Due to limited technology in this day, it was much harder to coordinate orders to pursue the retreating enemy. The smokescreen was used alot in this war because it worked to mask the retreat, like Cavalry did in the age of Napoleon. It was a development in this war.

The Germans perfected a fleet maneuver which they trained for called Gefechtskehrtwendung, which allowed them to turn sharply as a whole fleet and this didn’t require elaborate communication between ships. The Allies didn’t have this training maneuver.

Having limited ships makes losing them even more devastating, so a tech to allow them to retreat would be of benefit.

Like trench raiders, this is specialized training and the result is the ability to retreat.

Possible smokecreen replacement:

Blockade/Commerce Raiding - Instead of engaging in combat, each battleship or cruiser in an uncontested sea zone adjacent to an enemy territory may roll 1 die. For each roll of 1, the enemy power must surrender 1 IPC to the bank.

I know it’s not really a tech, but it’s a way of giving powers a reason to want ships dead.

@Imperious:

The defender is at the mercy of the attacker. Due to limited technology in this day, it was much harder to coordinate orders to pursue the retreating enemy. The smokescreen was used alot in this war because it worked to mask the retreat, like Cavalry did in the age of Napoleon. It was a development in this war.

The Germans perfected a fleet maneuver which they trained for called Gefechtskehrtwendung, which allowed them to turn sharply as a whole fleet and this didn’t require elaborate communication between ships. The Allies didn’t have this training maneuver.

Having limited ships makes losing them even more devastating, so a tech to allow them to retreat would be of benefit.

Like trench raiders, this is specialized training and the result is the ability to retreat.

Don’t forget how we winced when we realized that the damaged Italian dreadnought was going to have to sit in the same sea zone as the Austrians until Italy’s next turn. Smokescreens could help mitigate this.

@wove100:

Blockade/Commerce Raiding - Instead of engaging in combat, each battleship or cruiser in an uncontested sea zone adjacent to an enemy territory may roll 1 die. For each roll of 1, the enemy power must surrender 1 IPC to the bank.

After some thought, I think this is better as a house rule.

Since submarines do not have first strike capability, the obvious replacement for smokescreens (if it needs to be replaced) is:

Super Submarines - During sea combat, submarines fire before all other ships, whether on attack or defense. Casualties from a submarine attack are destroyed before they can return fire.

(Modified to enhance clarity).