Slitherine

CWIF	MWIF
Option Page	Option Number and Name	WIF FE Rules Reference
NA	Not App.	1. African & Scandinavian maps	2.1.1, 2.1.4, 2.4.2
Yes	Add. Units	2. Divisions	                2.2, 2.3.1, 9.5, 11.4.5, 11.14, 11.15, 11.16.1, 11.16.5, 22.4.1
Yes	Add. Units	3. Artillery    	                2.2, 2.3.1, 11.2, 11.5.9, 11.5.10, 11.8, 11.9, 11.11.2, 11.16.4, 11.16.5, 16.1, 16.3, 22.4.2
NA	Not App.	4. Pacific & Asian map ZOCs 	2.2
Yes	Add. Units	5. Fortifications	                2.3.1, 4.2, 11.16.1, 22.4.9
Yes	Add. Units	6. Supply units	                2.3.1, 2.4.2, 11.11.2, 11.12, 22.4.10
Yes	Add. Units	7. Engineers	                2.3.1, 11.11.2, 22.2, 22.4.1
Yes	Air Rules	8. Flying boats 	                2.3.1, 8.2.9
Yes	Standard	9. Ships In Flames units	2.3.1, 4.1.4, 4.2, 11.3, 11.5.8, 13.3.2, 13.5.1, 13.6.1, 13.6.5, 14.4.1, 22.4.7
Yes	Add. Units	10. Territorials	                11.16.5, 2.4.2, 4.2, 17.3, 18.1, 19.4, 22.4.5
Yes	Supply	11. Limited overseas supply	2.4.2, 22.4.11
Yes	Supply	12. Limited supply across straits 	2.4.2, 11.10, 13.6.1
Yes	Supply	13. HQ supply and support	2.4.3, 11.16.3
Yes	Add. Units	14. Synthetic oil plants	4.2, 13.5.1, 22.4.11
Yes	Other	15. Off-city reinforcement 	4.2
No	Other	16. Recruitment limits 	4.2
Yes	Land Rules	17. HQ movement 	                11.11.2
Yes	Naval Rules 18. Bottomed ships 	                11.2
Yes	Naval Rules 19. In the presence of the enemy    11.4.2
No	Land Rules	20. Surprised ZOCs 	                2.2
No	No	21. Task forces (hidden)	11.4.3
No	Air Rules	22. Bounce combat 	                14.3.3
Partial	Add. Units	23. V-weapons and Atomic bombs  11.7.1, 11.8
Partial	Add. Units	24. Frogmen	                22.4.3
Yes	Naval Rules 25. SCS transport	                11.4.5, 11.14
Yes	Naval Rules 26. Amphibious rules 	11.13, 11.14, 22.4.12
Yes	Naval Rules 27. Optional CV searching	11.5.5
Yes	Add. Units	28. Pilots	                                4.2, 11.2, 11.5.8, 11.5.11, 13.6.5, 13.6.7, 13.7.1, 14.6, 19.1, 22.4.19
No	Prod. Rules 29. Food in Flames 	                13.6.1
Yes	Prod. Rules 30. Factory construction and destruction 11.7, 13.6.8, 22.2, 22.4.11
Yes	Prod. Rules 31. Saving build points and resources     11.7, 13.1, 13.3.2, 13.5.1, 13.6.3, 13.6.8
Yes	Air Rules	32. Carpet bombing 	                11.8, 14.6
Yes	Air Rules	33. Tank busters 	                11.9, 11.16.4
Yes	Land Rules	34. Motorized movement rates 	11.11.2
Yes	Air Rules	35. Bomber (& no paradrop) ATRs  11.12, 11.15, 11.18.1
Yes	Air Rules	36. Large ATRs	                11.12, 11.18.1, 11.18.4
Yes	Land Rules	37. Railway movement bonus 	11.11.2
Yes	Naval Rules 38. Defensive shore bombardment  11.16.2, 15.1
No	Land Rules	39. Blitz Bonus 	                11.16.1, 11.16.5
Yes	Other	40. Chinese attack weakness	11.16.5
Yes 	Other 	41. Fractional odds 	                11.16.5
Yes	Other	42. Allied combat friction 	11.16.5
Yes	Land Rules	43. 2D10 Land CRT 	                11.16.6
Yes	Air Rules	44. Extended aircraft rebasing 	11.17
Yes	Supply Rules 45. Variable reorganization costs 13.6.3
Yes 	Add. Units	46. Partisans 	                13.1, 13.7.4
Yes	Supply Rules 47. Isolated reorganization limits  13.5
Yes	Prod. Rules 48. Oil	                                5, 13.5.1, 21
No	Prod. Rules 49. Hitler’s War ()	                13.3.2
No	Other	50. USSR-Japan compulsory peace  13.7.3
No	Air Rules	51. En-route aircraft interception 	14.2.1
Yes 	Air Rules	52. Night missions 	                14.2.1, 14.2.3, 22.4.2
Yes	Air Rules	53. Twin-engined fighters 	14.3.2
Yes	Air Rules	54. Fighter-bombers 	                14.3.2
Yes	Air Rules	55. Outclassed fighters 	14.3.2
Yes	Add. Units	56. Carrier planes	4.2, 11.2, 11.5.2, 11.5.8, 11.5.11, 11.18.4, 13.5.1, 13.6.5, 14.3.2, 14.4,  14.4.1, 14.8, 16.2
No	Air Rules	57. Limited aircraft interception 	14.2.1
No	Air Rules	58. Internment 	                14.6.4, 19.1
Partial	Air Rules	59. Flying bombs	                14.6, 14.7
Partial	Air Rules	60. Kamikazes 	                14.6, 14.8
Yes	Add. Units	61. Offensive Chits 	                16, (16.1 - 16.5)
No	Other	62. The Ukraine 	                19.12
No	Other	63. Intelligence 	                22.1
No	Other	64. Japanese command conflict 	22.3
Yes	Add. Units	65. Ski troops	                22.4.1
Yes	Add. Units	66. The Queens	                22.4.4
Mostly	Add. Units	67. City Based Volunteers	4.1.2, 22.4.8
Yes	Add. Units	68. Siberians	                22.4.7
Partial	Add. Units	69. Naval supply units	                22.4.13
Partial	Add. Units	70. Guards Banner Armies	22.4.14
No	Add. Units	71. Chinese Warlords	                22.4.15
No	Add. Units	72. Partisan HQs	                22.4.16
Partial	No	73. Heavy Weapons Units	22.4.17
Partial	No	74. Air Cav	                22.4.18
No	Add. Units	75. Cruisers in Flames	13.5.1, 22.4.6
No	Add. Units	76. Convoys in Flames	19.4, 22.4.19

quote:

ORIGINAL: stretch

Those new Microsoft fonts are cleartype. I installed IE7 beta2 on my machine, it enabled cleartype, and my head about exploded looking at my LCD. Everything was blurry and terrible looking. If I have to enable cleartype to use those new fonts, I won't be doing it.

quote:

ORIGINAL: wfzimmerman

quote:

ORIGINAL: stretch

Those new Microsoft fonts are cleartype. I installed IE7 beta2 on my machine, it enabled cleartype, and my head about exploded looking at my LCD. Everything was blurry and terrible looking. If I have to enable cleartype to use those new fonts, I won't be doing it.

Whoa, let's not get hung up on the question of which fonts are best. I personally think the font used in the screenshot (Verdana?) looks a bit dated and clunky. But my point is that some thought should be given to selecting a font that looks contemporary now and will still look good three to five years from now.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Now to the real purpose behind me posting all these screen shots.

I have expanded on CWIF's single Default setting for optional rules. If you look at the light blue panel in the lower right you will see 3 different buttons available for the player to select: Novice, Experienced, and Personal. I intend for the game to ship with preconfigured settings for the first 2.

• 41. Fractional odds (It lessens the endless counting for optimal odds so adding this rule actually makes playing easier. Mind, I teach math for a living so I can count odds easily enough and quite enjoy doing so but I still do not think its good for the game overall. Obviously the game can help with the counting but in the planning/decision phase its still part of process).
  
• 61. Offensive Chits (its so core to the game that it cannot be left out - in particular with none of the optional units to soak up production).

• 16. Recruitment limits
  
• 22. Bounce combat
  
• 43. 2D10 Land CRT
  
• 49. Hitler’s War
  
• 63. Intelligence
  
• 64. Japanese command conflict
  
• 75. Cruisers in Flames
  
• 76. Convoys in Flames
  
• Fog of war (Other),
  
• Limited view of opponent’s production (Prod. Rules)

quote:


Excellent point about free setup. How about calling them Alternative Scenario Setup and Alternative Game Length, with hints that explain what each means with another sentence or two?

quote:

ORIGINAL: wfzimmerman

Whoa, let's not get hung up on the question of which fonts are best. I personally think the font used in the screenshot (Verdana?) looks a bit dated and clunky. But my point is that some thought should be given to selecting a font that looks contemporary now and will still look good three to five years from now.

quote:

ORIGINAL: wfzimmerman

steve,

I have a few thoughts on this crucial screen. My overall impression is that it is pretty busy and there are a lot of decisions to be made for which novice players have very little context. A few thoughts.

1) I think it is essential that you lavish as much attention on the visual design of the UI as you have on the map. It should look like a very contemporary Windows XP interface that takes its cues from things like Firefox, IE7, Office 12, and Vista. Right now it still has a 90s DOS TTY feel. Specifically, I think you need to use fewer, subtler colors that match (as opposed to the current teal/maroon/sky blue, which is a fashion disaster ;-) and a modern font (see e.g. this article) about the fonts MSFT is releasing with Office 12).

2) I suggest you add a numbering scheme that makes it clear what decisions the user has to make and in what order. In other words, make this more wizardlike. I realize that strictly speaking this need not be a wizard b/c most of these decisions can be made in parallel, but I think the clarity gains are worth it. I question whether mode of play should be in the center or whether it should be #1 at left.

3) Some mouseover tips would help the user make decisions in the scenario. The first time I saw CWIF 0.771 I automatically selected "Free setup." I did not realize that this took me out of RAW and out of the WIF mainstream. That should be made clear. "Extended game" may also not be as clear as we think.

4) The options pages are a big challenge. I heartily endorse the idea of having default novice and experienced sets of options, I only wish groups would use them...

5) It is important to add metadata to the options list? I would suggest at minimum a) hyperlinks from each option to the RAW/RAC b) mouseover summary of rule c) whom it favors (Axis/Allies) (I think Harry Rowland did a semi-official table to that effect in a past issue of LIne of Communications).

Cheers,

Fred

quote:

ORIGINAL: JanSorensen

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Now to the real purpose behind me posting all these screen shots.

I have expanded on CWIF's single Default setting for optional rules. If you look at the light blue panel in the lower right you will see 3 different buttons available for the player to select: Novice, Experienced, and Personal. I intend for the game to ship with preconfigured settings for the first 2.

Apart from agreeing that the screens are visually very ugly I would like to take a swing at this one.

Novice
I do not think the novice should be presented with too many optional rules. It adds extra exceptions to remember, it adds more units to handle, and it makes the game take longer to play.

I suggest that only these two rules are included:

• 41. Fractional odds (It lessens the endless counting for optimal odds so adding this rule actually makes playing easier. Mind, I teach math for a living so I can count odds easily enough and quite enjoy doing so but I still do not think its good for the game overall).
  
• 61. Offensive Chits (its so core to the game that it cannot be left out - in particular with none of the optional units to soak up production).

Experienced
This is much harder. Some rules add lots of counters and complexity but are somewhat neutral concerning play balance. Other rules strictly favor or penalize one side. So, I will just post my personal suggestion without too much explanation simply because its mostly a matter of taste and very little about logic and reason.

All optional rules except:

• 16. Recruitment limits
  
• 22. Bounce combat
  
• 43. 2D10 Land CRT
  
• 49. Hitler’s War
  
• 63. Intelligence
  
• 64. Japanese command conflict
  
• 75. Cruisers in Flames
  
• 76. Convoys in Flames

quote:


What I would like your help on is deciding which options should be set for novices and which for experienced players.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp

Another remark :
You missed the Supply Rules Tab screen shot in your screenshots.

quote:

CWIF optional rules that are not in WIF FE but will be kept in MWIF 1:
(...)
Scrap units - play testers requested this be optional to simplify play (Prod. Rules),

quote:

(...)
Facility repair - separated from Option #7 at request of play testers (Other).

quote:

CWIF optional rules that were discontinued in WIF FE and will not be included in MWIF
(...)
Territorial conquest (Other Rules).

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp

Just a quick remark :
Your option screens seem to miss the Guard Banner Armies.
They should be in the Additionnal Units tab.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp

Also, I've found out things about the below :

quote:

CWIF optional rules that are not in WIF FE but will be kept in MWIF 1:
(...)
1 - Scrap units - play testers requested this be optional to simplify play (Prod. Rules),

I've already asked, and you already answered, but it is a long time ago and I do not remember what was said.
Anyway, Scrapping never was, and is not, an optional rule in WiF FE.

quote:

(...)
2 - Facility repair - separated from Option #7 at request of play testers (Other).

It should be written in the name of this option that it is the second half of the Engineer rule here. It should be called : "Engineer Repairs". I think that all WiF players would understand that.

quote:

CWIF optional rules that were discontinued in WIF FE and will not be included in MWIF
(...)
3 - Territorial conquest (Other Rules).

Some weeks (months ?) ago, I was asking you what this option was. You couldn't answer because you did not know, but I've found it in the old rulebooks. Let me talk about this a little

This was an option in the rule before RAW7 (August 2004), but it is now not an option any more, it is part of RAW (in 13.7.1, under the Territories heading).
It was Option 49 and it said :
"You also conquer a territory if you control every port and coastal city in every sea area the territory has a coastal hex in."

I repeat, it was option 49, now it is included in the RAW, so it must be included in MWiF.
Only the words "Option 49" are removed from the rulebook.

I think that Chris told you that it was dropped because I sent him a list of the rule modifications that happened between RAW6 and RAW7, and this one was no longer an option, it was RAW.