Well, you could let the Allies choose where to put it. Australia, Brazil, South Africa, or even Archangel could be reasonable choices, although I agree that most players would want it in India.
Well, sure, it could be anywhere, but if you want it to be the most useful, India would be the best
What about requiring that the TT contain either a victory city or be worth at least 2 IPC, but then auto-boosting whatever TT gets the bid IC to 3 IPC (if less)? Does boosting Australia to 3 help make AUS a viable location for the bid factory, or does it simply ensure that Japan gains another point of income? What about Egypt or SA for a hard counter in Africa, or Hawaii for the US? If it is just the ‘2 IPC-ness’ of these outlying territories, I think we could fix that. If they’re simply in a strategically less relevant position (relative to India), not much to be done.
Trying to combine an Argothairian idea (make the periphery more interesting) with a Black Elkian idea (balance the game with one elegant change) with axis’ chicagoism to at least the extent that we could see a viable PTO or KJF.
Adding an IC might not make the periphery interesting… and those ‘pre-conditions’ might be less than elegant… and maybe all it does is expand Japan’s PTO (which hardly wants doing). Who knows?
It could work well. What if…you drop the preconditions? Pick any Allied territory; its new value is 3 IPCs, and it gets an AA gun and factory.
Is there a downside? Is it abusable? The most unrealistic / overpowered choice I can think of is Sudan…but the UK mustered and organized thousands of troops from Yemen, Qatar, Jordan, Kenya, etc. at Port Sudan before sending them north to Cairo and Tobruk.
It could work well. What if…you drop the preconditions? Pick any Allied territory; its new value is 3 IPCs, and it gets an AA gun and factory.
Is there a downside? Is it abusable? The most unrealistic / overpowered choice I can think of is Sudan…but the UK mustered and organized thousands of troops from Yemen, Qatar, Jordan, Kenya, etc. at Port Sudan before sending them north to Cairo and Tobruk.
Don’t automatically make it a 3 IPC TT, just make it +1 to a max value of 3. so a 1 IPC TT like Sudan would only become 2, producing 2 units. This would help control an overpowering Sudan. Although Japan can muster a J2 attack of 4 inf, art, tank, 2 ftr, cruiser on Sudan if they wanted.
For balanced play, try moving Karelia IC to Novosibirsk and the Chinese fighter to a non-frontier territory. I’d add 1 chinese inf to each chinese territory as well and give China the NO they have in AA40G
Said that, I tried this some times and yet allies seem need more aid
@axis_roll to continue this variant discussion, since I just mentioned it in @Argothair’s Balanced Mod thread- where I also took the liberty of naming it- what if when the “Colonial Outpost” (the TT that gets the pre-game boost) is captured, the IC there is destroyed (not captured) and the TT value reverts to OOB?
Colonial Outpost
Instead of a bid, before the start of the game the Allies may designate any Allied territory as the “Colonial Outpost” for that game. Add an Industrial Complex + Anti-Aircraft Artillery to that territory and increase it’s IPC value by +1 (but not over 3) as long as it remains under the control of its original owner. If the “Colonial Outpost” is ever captured by the Axis Powers, the Industrial Complex there is destroyed (not captured) and the value of the territory permanently reverts back to the value printed on the board.
This addition to the rule would accomplish two major things:
Since the Colonial Outpost is designed to replace outright the bid, my thought is that it should never hurt the Allies even if they just drop it to distract the Axis and never build a single unit there. To weaken the variant while keeping the spirit, you could always leave either the boosted IPC value (but still destroy the IC) or let the Axis keep the IC but revert the TT value to make it less valuable to them.
I would personally much rather play a game with a whole new opportunity or angle of attack than get another couple Russian artillery and some British infantry in Egypt… not because it would be fairer but just because it would be more fun.
@vodot Suits me!
Splitting this Colonial Outpost idea out into it’s own thread.
