brian brian
Posts: 3191
Joined: 11/16/2005 Status: offline
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hi folks, somehow my connection timed out in the middle of a reply and when I refreshed I was logged in as guest and then my browser wouldn't load my cookie with my password and when I reset my password the forum software took my name information from my email account, where I accidentally typed my first name twice a long, long time ago and left it that way, and this forum software won't let me re-use the login trees or edit my login name, so I'm on a new name again. this is about the fifth time this has happened to me, I don't mean to change names like this but I can't help what software does. My name is Brian Jarvinen and I am from Michigan, perhaps I know some of you from WiFCon actually. Anyhow, I have never seen the USSR/German use of chits impact US entry as I've never seen anyone try and stuff the border in a dozen+ games of WiF. Most people think it is impossible and/or too scary. When I have tried it it has become moot as the Axis selected a 1942 Barbarossa regardless of what the Russians were doing. The change to unlimited chits with the same probability distribtution would be a definite change in the play of the game. Although the US can't reveal exact chit values, if they draw a lot of 0s and 1s it is quite common for them to suggest to the other Allies to play more aggressively (or more conservatively with high chits). The USSR with probably some face down defensive chits has their own information to make decisions on. With a lot of German offensive chits face-up, everyone can look at those for some more information, particularly the Japanese player. Changing to an infinite pool would change the tempo of the necessary Allied decisions - with a lot of low USE chits, the Allies need to make their decisions on DoWs on Itay or Persia (two most common examples) and perhaps some initial US Entry option decisions, based on the finite pool, i.e. make the decision before the US draws some better chits, which is increasingly likely in a finite pool. With an unlimited pool, a low or high chit could appear at any time and this is a big change to how the system works. It would also have quite an impact on how the Japanese view the face-up offensive entry chits and the chits revealed as entry options are selected. I can see Steve's point about no limit on electronic counters, but the best comparison I've seen above is the idea about the deck of cards. Changing the deck is a definite change to the game. Going back to the 'stuff' question, I started working on those build plans a long time ago in response to the idea that Russia can't survive a full 1941 Barbarossa. I disagree on that, I think it is not a slam-dunk either way, it is nail-biting wargame action. If you don't think Russia can do it it is your choice to deny the option to the Axis, and that is a lot less nail-biting actually. I think that if the Germans don't launch some sort of Balkan campaign concurrent with a French campaign, the probability the Russians can deny it is higher than 75%. (If the Germans go into Yugoslavia and get the Italians to supply the bulk of the garrison they could boost their garrison number quite a bit, at the risk of probably speeding up the progress of the CW campaign against Italy, especially for a CW smart enough to build AMPHs early on). As the Germans draw twice as many chits (and are face-up), their chits should trend more towards the average than the Russians. So the bigger variable is the Russian chits and if they draw a lot of unlucky low ones they will know this by late 1940 and can act accordingly (in 1941 the odds of low chits decrease significantly). Remember that the maximum numbers the Germans can generate are drawn from the Germans putting perhaps 95% of their units and BPs on the eastern front, without losses in 39 & 40, and they still can't match the Russian numbers based on average chits. I also posted that information so the 'stuff' can be a valid Russian AIO choice. Many players have never seen it done, or just house-rule the pact-breaking entry system out of existence, so it could be a good way for the AI to vary the human players WiF experience. It would probably draw some criticism when the AI does it succesfully; many WiF players feel nothing could have prevented Hitler from this decision, but Harry has made this part of the game and it is not even an optional rule.
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