Bullwinkle58
Posts: 11302
Joined: 2/24/2009 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: crsutton quote:
ORIGINAL: Chickenboy quote:
ORIGINAL: crsutton I will know in the end if I have lost or won. Yes. So will your opponent. Will you each have an objective opinion on your years-long effort or will you be biased by your own personal perspective about whether you 'lost or won'? I suggest that some (many? most? all? ) players would look subjectively favorably on their efforts. In that environment, a neutral arbiter (e.g., VPs / autovictory) is the sensible choice. Well, as long as we are not playing for money. I don't really care if he thinks he won or lost. Actually Viberpol is my long term opponent and in our last campaign he surrendered the day of the Russian activation. He has ships and aircraft left but his supply and fuel pools were drained. He congratulated me on my win. I told him it was a draw because I really did not do anything more than the Allies actually pulled off. He was beat but I did not have any boots on the ground in the HI. Draw in my book. I don't get this argument. If you did what the Allies did, you won because they won. Unconditional surrender (with one condition, but who's quibbling?). If that isn't winning, what is? They never landed on the HI, so you shouldn't need to either, if it's a sim. The VP system and the victory conditions allow the Allies to win in other ways than having to channel everything toward the HI. This to me is a good thing for longevity of the game. And if it IS a sim, as you say, then ignoring the core design can lead to strange things, such as NAGASAKI BEING BOMBED (!!!!), while Japan wastes ships and men plinking at Liberty ships down by Oz. In any reading of the Japanese Empire and culture would this have happened? Such an assault on national honor would have resulted in every single platform and man who could get home, coming home. The design encourages that, if it's respected. When four Liberty ships are 40 VP, and strat bombing can reap thousands in one night, the Japan player ought not to be down by Oz doing anything, sim or game. Being half-pregnant--liking the plinking for 40 VPs because it's a rush to sink something, while still "not playing for an auto-vic"--can lead to bad games. The two opponents are playing different games in fact. The design genius of GG's system is Japan doesn't have to win to win. They just have to not lose. The Allies can't do better than a draw if they don't achieve auto-vic, and they have a timetable than makes pushing and risking mandatory. For an endeavor that takes four years or more that's pretty exciting. Right now, in this game, I feel as if CR and John are playing two different games. Lowpe has posted extensively about how Japan can have a yabba-dabba-do time trying to stymie the Allied timetable, and win. I've learned from reading his posts, as I haven't been in an end-game for about five real time years. Even though Japan gets crushed every day, the design, if it is respected, can provide excellent gaming up to the last day.
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The Moose
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