Shannon V. OKeets
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Joined: 5/19/2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: cccbss
Anyone can tell me ?
Well, you asked.
From the Players Manual:
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10.0 Rules as Coded (RAC)
10.1 Introduction to Rules as Coded
Rules as Coded is a separate PDF file since the complete document is 150+ pages long. It is faithful to the Australian Design Group’s World in Flames Final Edition Rules Booklet, commonly known as Rules as Written (RAW). Following in that tradition, the title for that document is Rules as Coded (RAC). It contains changes that reflect the transition of World in Flames (WIF) from paper maps and cardboard counters to a computer screen, with keyboard and mouse. Yet, 98% of the text is directly from RAW. The changes to RAW can be divided into cosmetic, essential, clarifying, and deviations.
10.2 Cosmetic Changes from Rules as Written
Cosmetic changes were made to improve legibility. RAW was laid out in a compressed black and white format so it could be printed on as few pages as possible. In that, it succeeded admirably, requiring only 64 pages. Since RAC is a PDF file and likely to be read using a computer screen, color and extensive white space have been used to improve clarity. These changes are required to show text on a computer screen, and have the benefit of making printed copies more legible. Of course the down side is that the number of pages in RAC is almost triple the number in RAW.
Color is used frequently. First, it separates optional rules using a dark red color. Second, it separates examples, using an italicized dark blue. Third, it’s used for points of emphasis - a bold, italicized green. Fourth, a bold blue is used for major section headings and to identify terms that are being defined. Fifth, clarifications are shown using an italicized red. Lastly, deviations from RAW are shown in an italicized purple. Happily, the conversion of the figures from black and white to color adds glitz, while giving accurate pictures of how the map and units appear on the screen.
10.3 Essential Changes from Rules as Written
Essential changes are few and obvious. There are no paper maps to lay out on a table, nor are there cardboard counters that have to be sorted into groups. Units are not turned over during play. Instead, they have colored indicators around their edges to indicate changes in status. So, rather than ‘face-up’ and ‘face-down’, the words ‘organized’ and ‘disorganized’ are used in RAC. Continuing in that vein, “rolling dice” is replaced by computer generated “random numbers”. Other references to paper elements of the board games, such as the production circle, initiative track, etc. are replaced by references to the informational forms the player can call up and examine whenever he likes.
I also placed the conversion of the multiple paper maps using different scales into a single unified global map as an essential change, [but that’s just me being a programmer]. This resulted in references to off-map boxes and communication lines disappearing. Similarly, special rule sections pertaining to different maps were excised.
10.4 Clarifying Changes from Rules as Written
One of the challenges of converting World in Flames (WIF) to Matrix Games’ World in Flames (MWIF) was to make the rules absolutely air tight. Rendering rules into software doesn’t permit the luxury of ambiguity. The code will always function precisely the same way, without the advantage (?) of having humans interpret/adjudicate during game play. To achieve this goal, Harry Rowland, from Australian Design Group, answered hundreds of questions that had been raised by experienced WIF players.
10.5 Deviations from Rules as Written
Though few in number, there are places where RAC distinctly deviates from RAW. The use of the unified world map is far and away the most important. Most other deviations are handled as optional rules. Still, there are some places where I decided to make changes to exploit the capability of the computer. For instance, the computer can generate an infinite number of generic counters, so there is no counter-imposed limit on the number of partisan units. Nor are the US Entry chits drawn from a finite chit pool, but rather from an infinite pool according to a statistical distribution.
The decision making for converting RAW to RAC involved dozens of people and for the most part was based on group consensus. Although, of course, I had the final say, so all errors are mine.
Here is a complete list of the Deviations in RAC:
1.2 Scale
Units
MWIF permits an unlimited number of: partisans, fortifications, factories, and infantry-type divisional units. The last is an optional rule which has important restrictions.
1.3 Markers
You are not limited by the number of generic units in the game except for synthetic oil plants. This includes unlimited: pilots and offensive, US entry, and neutrality pact chits.
2.1.2 Sea areas
The hexside northeast of Amsterdam is a canal hexside but it can not be used for naval movement.
2.3.1 Stacking Limits
Any and all hexsides of a land hex can be fortified, but only one fortification per hexside.
2.4.2 Tracing supply
While the USSR player always moves and makes other decisions for the Communist Chinese units, the USSR and Communist Chinese do not cooperate. In particular, they do not provide supply to each other.
2.5 Control
Initial hex control
To determine start lines for a scenario, use the toggle switch for turning on flags. Every hex will then display a flag indicating which major power controls the hex. At the start of a game, your major power controls all hexes within its home country borders, except any hexes flagged as belonging to the enemy. Again, if you are not sure who controls what, the flags indicating hex control should be toggled on. There are many changes to the non-European parts of the world. For example, North Borneo has been split into 3 separate territories, all of which are controlled by the Commonwealth in 1939: Sarawak, British North Borneo, and Brunei.
Changing control
Starting communist Chinese cities, when playing with the optional rule for additional Chinese cities, are: Lanchow, Sian, Yennan, Sining, Tianshui, Ningsia, and Tungkwan.
9.2 How to declare war
The player is given the opportunity for making some special decisions during the DOW on Minors subphase: Finland Borderlands and Bessarabia claims by the USSR, Close the Burma Road by Japan, Add Polish units by the Commonwealth and Add Interned Units. The DOW on Majors subphase is when a player can announce he is breaking a neutrality pact. The US Entry Options Occupy Greenland Iceland and Occupy Northern Ireland by the US are implemented as soon as they are chosen: in the end-of-turn US Entry phase.
9.4 US entry
Attempting to Declare war
Other players are informed of the die roll and whether it succeeded or not. When a DOW succeeds, the other players are told what the sum of the chit values are in all 4 pools. No other information is provided.
9.5 Neutrality pacts
Effect of neutrality pacts
Once a pact is broken, both major powers remove the entry markers they have placed on their common border from the game.
11.4.2 Moving naval units
Movement through the Panama Canal by naval units is not permitted if any of the 3 hexes that border the Panama Canal are controlled by an enemy major power. Naval units in the port of Colon, which is in one of the hexes that borders the Panama Canal, can only move directly into the Carribean Sea. They may never move directly into the Gulf of Panama. Nor may units in the Gulf of Panama ever move directly into the port of Colon.
11.5.2 Initiating a combat
The initiating side is the phasing side during Naval Combat by the Phasing Side, and the non-phasing side during Naval Combat by Non-phasing Side. During naval interception combats the initiating side is the side which intercepted the naval units entering the sea area.
11.5.8 Surface naval combat
Naval units that abort during a naval combat round are placed in a queue to be moved later. At the end of the naval combat (i.e., when no further combat in the sea area occurs) units in the naval combat abort queue abort in the order that they entered the queue: first in, first out. Note that naval combat in a sea area is fought to quiescence before any naval units abort. The abort queue can contain units from naval combats in different sea areas. Regardless of how or when naval units entered the abort queue, they are processed in chronological order. Once the abort queue is empty, the game returns to the point in the sequence of play where the original naval combat occurred. Damaged naval units that successfully abort to a friendly port are only moved to the Repair Pool after all units in the abort queue are processed.
11.5.10 Submarine combat
For each submarine combat, add up the non-SUB side’s ASW factors:
• The number of ASW factors for convoys is measured to 0.5.
11.7 Strategic bombardment
Damaged factories are shown as black stacks.
11.10 Rail movement
Factories
For the USSR, an additional restriction applies. Either both the enemy in-supply land unit and the moving factory’s city of origin are in European USSR or they both are in Siberia (eastern USSR). Similarly, either the destroyed factory and the moving factory’s city of origin are both in European USSR or both in Siberia. The destination for the moving factory can be anywhere in the USSR. Here the European USSR and Siberia are defined by the demarcation line running north-south, three hexes to the east of Stalingrad.
Limits
The number of hexes the unit traverses determines the number of rail moves it expends as shown in the following table:
Hex Distance Land or Aircraft Unit Factory Unit
1 - 60 hexes 1 rail move 2 rail moves
61 - 120 hexes 2 rail moves 3 rail moves
121 + hexes 3 rail moves 4 rail moves
11.11.1 How to move land units
MWIF is more lenient in how you move land units. For instance, you can Undo moves fairly freely. However, if you overrun a unit, then you will not be able to undo any previous moves. Note that in order to continue moving the units that perform an overrun, they have to be immediately reselected after the consequences of the overrun are effected.
11.16.5 Resolving attacks
Choosing combat tables
If units from different major powers (on the deciding side) might take the losses, the major power with the most units involved in the combat chooses.
Retreats
If a unit can be safely retreated, then the attacker has to do so. This is overrides and replaces the clarification that “The attacker may choose a path of #4 priority hexes that results in a retreating unit being destroyed due to overstacking, even if an alternative path of #4 priority hexes exists that lets the units survive.”
13.1 Partisans
Getting partisans
There is no die roll to select a row on the partisan table. Instead, each country has a probability of partisans appearing as a value in the data for the country. The probability of partisans appearing in each country is the same as in the table. However, a separate random number is generated for each country and tested against the probability of partisans appearing in that country. The result is that partisans might appear in more than 8 countries.
Setting up partisans
Set up partisans that are drawn randomly from a fixed distribution that is redefined annually. They are drawn simultaneously for all major powers and set up simultaneously. After all partisans have been placed, the effects upon any overrun hexes are implemented one hex at a time.
Countries
There are 3 additional ‘red’ countries in MWIF: Iraq, Persia, and Saudi Arabia.
13.2 Entry markers
The statistical distributions used to randomly draw entry markers are changed at the start of each year. Each year the distribution of the markers completely changes.
Year Value Count
1939 0 50
1 910
2 751
3 636
4 630
5 40 Average = 7040/3017 = 2.333444
1940 0 10
1 191
2 67
3 62
4 33
5 2 Average = 653/365 = 1.789041
1941 0 3
1 205
2 246
3 226
4 190
5 45
6 5 Average = 2390/920 = 2.597826
1942 0 10
1 200
2 1050
3 1823
4 1050
5 764
6 200 Average = 16989/5097 = 3.333137
1943+ 0 0
1 900
2 2023
3 1390
4 900
5 600
6 300 Average = 17516/6113 = 2.865369
13.3.1 US Entry markers
The US entry markers drawn have no effect on the markers drawn for neutrality pacts.
13.3.2 US entry options
Other players are informed how many chits were needed. The US player decides exactly how many are reported if a range of possibilities exists.
7 Occupy Greenland & Iceland - The US Entry Options Occupy Greenland Iceland and Occupy Northern Ireland by the US are implemented as soon as they are chosen: in the end-of-turn US Entry phase.
13.5.1 Oil
MWIF does not implement the rule modifications in this section associated with WIF FE optional rule #30. That is: +1 is added to strategic bombing die rolls due to unbothered bombers, and there are limits on how much oil can be stored in a hex.
13.6.5 Building units
When units are randomly drawn, you do not see the actual units selected until after all your production decisions are final.
13.6.8 Saving Build Points
MWIF does not implement the rule modifications in this section associated with WIF FE optional rule #30. That is: +1 is added to strategic bombing die rolls due to unbothered bombers, and there are limits on how much oil can be stored in a hex.
13.6.9 Force pools
Rather than make this decision for each unit when it is destroyed, a new Scrap Destroyed phase has been added immediately before production. In that phase each major power decides which of its units that were destroyed during the turn are to be scrapped, and which are to be returned to the force pool.
13.7.1 Conquest - Complete Conquest
MWIF contains the Faeroes Islands in the Faeroes Gap sea area (owned by Denmark). WIF FE does not contain these islands on any of its maps. Historically, when Denmark was conquered, these were occupied by the Commonwealth, which is what happens in MWIF - provided they have not been occupied by the Axis.
13.7.3 Mutual peace
The area ceded by the USSR is everything east and south of hex row 46 and hex column 155, inclusive, plus the 3 ports Okhotsk, Magadan, and Petropavlovsk.
14.2.1 Fighters
Combat air patrol (CAP)
CAP may only be flown for hexes where an enemy attack is possible. For example, you may not fly CAP during the port attack phase over an empty port.
14.4 Carrier air units
If carrier air units are flying from a land hex, they can only fly air rebase missions.
17. Vichy France
17.2 Determine control
• All Axis controlled hexes in Vichy controlled minor countries and territories immediately revert (see 13.7.5) to Vichy French control.
• Axis controlled hexes in Free French controlled minor countries and territories remain under Axis control.
• All Allied controlled hexes in Free French controlled minor countries and territories immediately revert to Free French control.
• All Allied controlled hexes in Vichy French controlled minor countries and territories may now be immediately reverted to Vichy control. Vichy France is hostile to all Allied major powers that do not immediately revert all such hexes to Vichy control.
• Finally all Vichy controlled minor countries France has gained controlled of since the start of the game immediately become controlled by an Axis major power nominated by the major power that installed Vichy France. The minor country is conquered if it aligned to France and aligned if it was conquered by France. If more than one minor country is available to be allocated they may be allocated to different major powers.]
Example: Heinz declares war on the Netherlands in May/Jun 1940. The Allies align the Netherlands to France. By the end of the turn the Netherlands is incompletely conquered. Pierre nominates the Netherlands East Indies as the new home country of the Netherlands. During the same turn France declares war on, and completely conquers, Greece. In Jul/Aug 1940 German troops occupy Paris and Heinz installs Vichy France. All French BBs and CVs are in Metropolitan French ports. Pierre rolls for each administrative group on the Free French Chart.
The Netherlands is rolled for on the “All other minors** & territories” row (as the original home country capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, is located on the West European map). Pierre rolls an 8, just not enough to sway the Netherlands to join the Free French. As the Netherlands was aligned to France after the start of the game then after all rolls on the Free French Chart Heinz gives the (what would otherwise be Vichy) Netherlands (including the Netherlands East Indies) to Japan as a conquered minor country. Greece is affected by the same roll as the Netherlands and Heinz allocates Greece to Germany as an aligned minor country.
22.4.1 Divisions
Ski troop divisions
The benefit of ski troops tracing supply through enemy ZOCs in snow or blizzard but not through hexes occupied by enemy land units does not apply to the portion of the supply path that is overseas. For example, if a ski unit traces a supply path from itself to a port, and then overseas to a second port, and from the second port to a primary supply source, this benefit of tracing supply through enemy ZOCs only applies to the first portion of the supply path: from the unit to the first port.
22.4.7 Siberians
Siberia is defined as that part of the USSR which is east of the north-south demarcation line running 3 hexes east of Stalingrad.
22.4.9 Fortification units
The gearing limits for fortifications is +3 per turn. For example, if you built 2 fortification hexsides in the previous turn, you could build up to 5 in the current turn. All six hexsides can be fortified, but, regardless of type, only one fortification is permitted per hexside.
22.4.12 Amphibious Units
In WIF FE AMPH units are just expensive TRS when not using Amphibious option. In MWIF AMPHs are actually converted to TRS by reducing first cycle cost by -1 and reducing the time it takes to build them to 3 + 3.
22.4.15 Chinese Warlords
Warlord units are treated like any other unit for all purposes except that no Warlord unit may move nor advance after combat more than 6 hexes from its home city. They can attack from that 6th hex to a hex where they could not move to, but could not advance after combat.
When their home city is conquered Warlord units are removed from the map and placed in the force pool of the major power that controls their hex; they may then be rebuilt as usual.
22.4.17 Heavy weapons units
Not part of MWIF product 1.
22.4.18 Air Cav
Not part of MWIF product 1.
29 All Scenario Setups
Communist Chinese units can only set up within 9 hexes of a Communist Chinese controlled city, but not in a Nationalist Chinese controlled city.
_____________________________
Steve
Perfection is an elusive goal.
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