Peck,

Remember that the AA guns are targeting the attackers most powerful units ‘exclusively’, and each one now has a 50% chance of making one hit.  The fact that they ‘may’ be taken as causualties means that you now have a choice, much as an attacker must decide in the last rounds of attack to take aircraft as causualties if occupation is to occur.

I’m not even conviced that China (being as it had essentially no ‘industry’ during this period of history) should even be allowed to ‘carry-over’ IPC’s from turn to turn.

In China’s case, the IPC’s earned cannot represent a build-up of manufacturing capacity but merely the ‘opportunity’ to marshal more manpower…which should not have a carry-over to allow a build up.

The same argument could be made for the other powers; however, for the industrialized nations (ie:  all other powers) IPC’s carried over could represent a stockpiling of the needs of industry (steel, aluminium, oil/coal, etc.) for quick and easy use at a later date (the next turn).

Any thoughts?

Keredex,

Excellent job with these aids…really helpful when we need to record and verify a take-down and re-set-up at a later date.  I don’t have access to a large format printer and really appreciate the 8 1/2" X 11" option.

One question, will you be correcting the starting IPC values for UK Europe and Pacific in this format?

Thanks again.

In later life, Churchill’s health was fading and his doctor asked what he drank in a typical day; he replied:
      “Vodka and water in the morning, gin and water at lunch, rye and water with supper, and scotch and water all evening.”

His doctor suggested he cut down on his drinking (for health reasons), so he obliged; he cut out the water!

With only a few Global Alpha +2 games played, we have found that the balance is very close…such that after 10 turns we’ve still had no clear advantage overall; Japan can get EMENSE, but still have very little impact on the Western side of the map, Italy can ‘control’ all of Africa, but still not be able to match-up with US earnings, etc.

What is interesting (in our group anyway) is that the balance leads to longer games and thus less chance that the original players can continue playing past 8 or 10 turns.  Not a problem if you can store the game (or record it) and come back to it, but often re-gathering may not be possible.

Typical human duality:  we crave balance and a good challenge (for both sides), but are frustrated by the result of the balance (much longer games).

Hey guys,

Edfactor is bang-on with the mathematics here.

What you end up with is essentially a ‘probability tree’ with a double-branching for each unit being rolled, since each unit can only either hit or miss; hence two options or what is known as binomial probability.

These are relatively simple to figure out if all the units are attacking at the same probability (have the same attack value).  Since we are looking at mixed units, n of them, you could end up with some very large numbers of brances to have to add-up.

For example, if you have 10 units attacking, then you could have 210=1024 probability branches to add up…this volume of calculation is best done by some electronic processor; allowing your brain to worry about interpreting the odds and adjusting your strategy as required.

I’m sure many out there can suggest countless different options in terms of apps (PC or other format).

AtroAtt,

One simple way is to multiply the number of hits you wish to get (in the first round), n, by 6; then ensure that your total sum of all attacking units adds up to at least that.

eg:  You wish to get 4 hits in a round, 4 * 6 = 24…so make sure that you have a total of 24 (or more) attack strength.  In this case, say we had 6 infantry, 2 Art., 4 tanks, and 2 fighters and one bomber available; 4@1, 4@2, 4@3 totals exaclty 24 and would be ‘enough’ according to the odds (but since this is probability and not for-sure-ability you would probably bring in some aircraft).

The main problem with this simple method is that you need to re-calculate each round of combat and you do not have the ability to reinforce mid-battle should your first round completely blank-out.

I hope this helps.

Another general naval tip in the Pacific (due to its great size) is to ‘pepper’ the ocean with individual destroyers (posibly paired with subs).  They block seas zones, cause your opponents considerable worry, and can also be available to ‘converge’ during a battle (more so than infantry on land due to their mv of 2) to give extra firepower and soak up extra hits…often without your opponent realizing this aspect.

For my Pacific (Europe/Global soon too) I used some velcro.  A local craft store sells self-stick rolls that are 2" wide (and 25’ long!).

I cut the ‘hooks’ side down the middle (so there are 2 1" wide strips - leave the loops side 2" wide though) and I stuck three strips (about 10" long each to allow for the folds) on the back of each adjoining edge of the map.

I left plastic backing on the loops side and now I simply press the board pieces into place (like you used to do with floor mats in gym class).  The map is held together (both side-to-side and up/down) until you WANT it to come apart!