🎲😢 PRNG dice support group — and ranting

Standard result:

I’m Germany control Caucasus with 4 tanks , 3 men

Russia who has jack attacks with 6 men and 1 artillery. Leaving Moscow with 2 units BTW

Result I’m dead and he loses only 4 infantry.

The dice suck in this game and its always like this. I have to deliberately make overwhelming attacks just to get by

@djensen exactly… the times it happens are the stories you tell over and over. I hope this isn’t like the Germans rolling into Eygpt again (getting destroyed that one time).

I have been thinking. I have been in the software industry for many years, and random is an issue in the computer programming world. It seems trivial, but it isn’t. Computers should be able to do this with ease, but it doesn’t resemble real life, and that is the issue. (https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/can-a-computer-generate-a-truly-random-number/)

I think I have best solution - simulate the rolling of actual 3D dice in a simulated environment where they are “tossed” as a person would roll a die or dice. Then determine which side is up. This would seem like the best solution and one we may all agree on.

Re: 🎲😢 PRNG dice support group — and ranting

Starting to think some people have a dice cheat code

My new and exciting experience came from yesterday, when the following happened over the course of UK, USA and USSR’s turn:

1. UK attacks 1 INF with 1 INF/1 ART (ambhib). Loses and does not kill the INF.
2. USA attacks 1 INF with 2 FTRs. Loses both FTRs and does not kill the INF.
3. USSR attacks 1 INF with 1 INF/1 ART/1 TANK. Loses everything and does not kill the INF.

Was that INF like a Nazi James Bond or something? What gives?

I wish anything relating to dice for 1942.2 online wasn’t attached to that game.

But get this. The AI is really improved! Its so improved that it uses what appears to its own private dice roller, getting hits upon hits and killing everything in sight. When it rolls you immediately see the improvement. This is how they overcome how to program AI it seems. And i at 86% wins thought it was a walk in the park.

Brought to you by the same company that created the dumpster fire known as the Magic The Gathering: Arena card shuffler. They can’t even get a 1d6 to be random, imagine a deck of 60+ cards. :fire:

Its called:

Tragic: The Disbursement

https://imgur.com/a/hkkBNop

Why does this opening attack by the Soviets succeed magnificently almost every time? I have heard time after time that the Axis has an advantage even in the Genco Harris mod, are dice rolls being manipulated on the part of the Allies to offset this? Calculate the loss in in IPC’s of these two territories for Germany and it cost the Soviets 3 infantry? Are you kidding me? I hate the Bomber being moved to the Ukraine. I have modified my defense profile so that Bombers will go before tanks, to try and get some defense rolls but do I move Bomber down even lower, will it make a damn bit of difference?

It’s a bum move. Your not supposed to TAKE Ukraine, only reduce and leave. The 3 tanks get stuck and 18 IPC die. Just kill everything but one German and LEAVE. The losses are not replaceable in the near term. It’s almost as bad as losing the 2 Russian Fighters!

@Brian-Cannon For your defense profile, you should have bombers set to die first. Yeah it sucks losing a 12 IPC unit on the first turn but it only rolls at a 1 on defense. You’re going to lose the territory anyway so you need to maximize your odds of taking more Russians down with you.

Thats good from the Soviet standpoint. They save 3 tanks and Germany loses the Bomber. Oh great

How the “heck” do you lose 9 INF attacking West Russia R1?

Thats easy. Play 1942 Online. Its a typical result

Really get some strange results. There seems to be some tendency towards favourable defensive rolls. My latest painful attack was last night. I found that I had a very strong play of taking a factory with Japan instead of Germany and so I played the somewhat unbalanced attack:

1 tank, 3 fighters and 2 bombers

Against

2 infantry and 1 fighter

I always cringe when attacking only with tanks and fighters, but with the bombers I felt pretty safe. Basically we both lost everything and I couldn’t take the factory with Japan. I still think I am winning that game, but still had to impart the customary abuse to the computer screen.

I don’t remember all the dice rolls because it went for a few rounds, but the first round was I missed everything: four 5s for the tank and fighters and double 6 for the bombers.

I also notice my opponents having crazy bad attacking rolls and consistent better than average defence (for me). Planning to try to find more defensive strategies… but not always possible…

@Daen-Hudspeth I know you listed that suggestion quite a long time ago (to simulate the rolling of dice graphically). I still thought I’d answer it though.

Simulating a die roll graphically requires a known outcome in order for the die face to be represented “up”. There is nothing more random about a GPU (or even the integrated graphics portion in the case of an integrated chip).

The way to generate better random outcomes (or in this case psuedorandom outcomes) without relying on expensive entropy devices is to have a better seed and a better algorithm for generating pRNG based on that seed. Also rotating the seed frequently is necessary (maybe even every dice roll).

There’s definitely seems to be something weird going on which is more pronounced when one obtains some significant advantages on the board. It’s like there’s a kick back to help the embattled forces. I only started actively playing this online A&A a couple of months ago, just before the reset. I was losing my fair share from some bad play and unfamiliarity with this version. I didn’t have this sense of something weird going on nearly as much as I do now, especially in the last few weeks and really bizarre this last week. ‘Coincidentally’ it coincided with me having a good start to season 2 and reaching platinum. Now it feels a bit horrendous to be honest, especially this last week nearly getting in to the top 10. To the point where I am overcompensating (over defending) which can also lead to mistakes. Maybe just finish my current games and call it. The way the rolls come out on these long runs with the heavily numbered combats and then consistent hit/miss combos with the small attacks, not to mention the timing of AA hits… The way it’s often all ‘coordinated’ has this unnatural weirdness. So okay, in real life yes I have ‘missed with everything’ on a decent sized attack (say 10-15 units) and maybe even twice in the same game/day, but here it happens on consecutive rounds of combat, only to be followed by heavy losses for the other smaller battles/bombing runs. I have virtually stopped doing bombing runs now. After all that, next game I’ll have a rare run of rolls, but mostly when it really doesn’t matter. Okay rant over, but yeah I dunno 🤯

Very first battle after I write that and roll 4 1s with 4 at 3 against 1 at 3 lol. Just to rub it in lol.

Nah that’s it. I might finish the current games. Really good job on this version of the game, but for this weirdness with the `roller’. Taking screenshots is a pain, but I did just for the bizarreness.! Just ONE OF MANY. Even more pronounced again this last week. One of them I felt bad because I had made a blunder and missed a sneak attack on Japan. Yet miraculously defended it, even to excess. I know how it feels from the other end and it happens way too much compared to over the board. SOmething is going on where the game tries to balance back out, but the effect is that it often rewards bad play. When defenders roll with just one (3sided?! :face_with_rolling_eyes: ) dice and consistently hit (attackers miss). Again and again. I wish there was some way to see the overall detailed stats of the dice rolls. The in game log is not enough to see definitively.

Anyway, just a game and other things need doing. Thanks for the games to everyone I played :duck:

I did manage to hit infantry on the next round of rolls, but of course took another in return.

AAjoke.png