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Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: optional rules (8/25/2006 10:25:00 PM)
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Here's your daily dose of optional rules.
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[45][Oil Rules][RAW 48 s. 13.5.1]
This optional rule simulates the important role that oil played during WW II. Be warned that adding this optional rule increases the complexity of the game quite a bit. The mechanics are much easier with the program doing the record keeping (than doing them by hand playing over the board) but the more dramatic increase in complexity is created by the impact the oil rules have on tactical, operational, and even strategic planning, and execution of those plans. In practical terms, the oil rules change how units are reorganized, from passive to active, with some unit types requiring oil resources.
Passive units that are not oil dependent are reorganized to active as normal during the final reorganization step. Those that are oil dependent have additional restrictions placed upon whether they can be reorganized at that time. Specifically, during the final reorganization step oil resources must be spent to reorganize oil dependent units.
All naval and air units are oil dependent and it costs 0.2 or 0.1 oil points to reorganize each unit, depending on unit type and which optional rules are in effect. Land based units are only oil dependent if they are motorized, mechanized, or armor. In general, corps/army sized units cost 0.2 oil points to reorganize and divisions cost 0.1. Notable exceptions are HQ units with HQ-I costing 0.4 and HQ-A costing 0.6 oil points. If you have a question about any specific unit, the oil point cost to reorganize it is part of the general information about the unit, along with the build points needed for building it and the time it takes for the unit to be built.
For a unit to use oil for reorganizing, the oil must belong to the unit’s controlling major power. Even oil controlled by co-operating major powers can't help. However, Communist and Nationalist Chinese can use each other's oil. Chinese controlled oil resources may reorganize passive US units in China if they can trace a supply path (of unlimited length) back to Stilwell. You do not have to transport the oil anywhere. But you must be able to trace a path from the unit to the oil resource. This path is exactly like a basic supply path (including via overseas) except that it can be of any length.
The total oil needed for all the units you choose to reorganize, rounded to the nearest whole number, is the minimum amount of oil resources (whether from the current turn or saved) that you must spend. This means that you can reorganize 2 units that cost 0.2 oil points each for free (because 0.4 rounds to zero). However, if units costing a total of 0.5 or more oil points to reorganize trace a path to the same oil resource, you must spend that resource. This may mean that you will have to spend more oil resources than the minimum amount.
For example, assume you have only 2 oil resources and 6 oil dependent unit to reorganize (at 0.2 oil points per unit). You will have to spend at least a minimum of 1 oil resource because 6 * 0.2 = 1.2, which rounds to 1. And you will only have to spend that minimum if 4 or 5 of the units can trace a path to the same resource. But suppose that 3 units can only trace to 1 of the resources and the other 3 can only trace to the second resource. In that case, you would have to spend both resources to reorganize all 6 units.
If a supply unit was expended to make an HQ a primary supply source during the turn, then during final reorganization, that HQ may reorganize oil dependent units (even itself) as if it were 1 oil resource.
When sending resources to another player, you must also commit how many of the resources are oil.
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[46][Hitler’s War][RAW 49 s. 13.3.2]
This optional rule enhances the effect of lend lease to the USSR and changes how the USSR production multiple is calculated. It increases the benefit the USSR gets from lend lease while removing any special benefit for holding onto certain major cities in the USSR.
Once the USA chooses US Entry Option #30, Lend Lease to the USSR, and until Germany and the Soviet Union are at war, the Soviets pick an extra marker during the entry marker step of each turn. After looking at the marker, they can treat it as a normal marker (offensively or defensively) or stack it face down on any of their useable factory stacks. Once placed the marker may never be moved even if the hex becomes controlled by another major power.
During their first production step the USSR is at war with Germany, all entry markers so placed are converted into saved build points, immediately available for production or to be saved for future turns. If not playing with the optional rule for Saving Build Points, then these extra build points must be spent immediately and any excess after production are lost.
Instead of gaining an increase in their production multiple for holding Kiev, Minsk, Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad, the USSR gains +0.25 while Germany and the USSR are at war with each other. The production multiple increase for other major powers when an enemy units is in their home country also disappears completely, except for China, which receives a permanent +0.25 increase.
To be very clear on this, when using this option, major powers no longer receive a bonus for an in supply enemy unit in their home country, and the USSR no longer receives any bonuses based on the cities they control.
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[47][USSR Japan Compulsory Peace][RAW 50 s. 13.7.3]
This optional rule reflects the willingness both the USSR and Japan had for remaining at peace with each other during WW II. Though they had been fighting a mostly unreported little war along the Manchurian border for some time prior to Germany’s invasion of Poland, they both felt a lot of pressure on other fronts: Germany for the USSR and the USA for Japan. Agreeing to peace with each other was in both of their self-interests.
If Japan controls Vladivostok during the first war between Japan and the USSR, the Japanese player must agree to a peace if the Soviet player wants one. Similarly, if the USSR controls 3 or more resources that were Japanese controlled at the start of the war, the Soviet player must agree to a peace if the Japanese player wants one.
In either case, the new Russo-Japanese border is established by the hexes each controls at the time of the compulsory peace. Any pocket of non-coastal hexes wholly surrounded by hexes controlled by the other major power becomes controlled by the major power whose hexes surround them.
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[48][Enroute Interception][RAW 51 s. 14.2.1]
This optional rule enable fighters to intercept bombers along the path from the bomber’s starting hex/base to its target hex/destination. In this section to word bombers is being used to encompass air transport units as well. Like many of the optional rules it adds some realism at the expense of additional complexity. The program simplifies the mechanics of implementing this rule.
Instead of only being able to intercept a bomber at its target hex, this option lets you intercept it along the way. The player flying the bombers first announces the target hex for the air mission. If the opponent wants to intercept the bombers en-route, the first player moves the bomber up to 4 movement points (i.e. 1, 2, 3 or 4) - to a “way station”. He then move it up to another 4 points to a second way station, and keeps repeating this until the bomber reaches the target hex. The bombers can only be intercepted at the way stations or the target destination.
The player moving the bombers can fly escorting fighters to each way station. His opponent can then fly interceptors to the way station. And, as usual, the player moving the bombers can flying additional fighters ( i.e., his interceptors) to the way station. Then a normal air-to-air combat is fought at the way station.
After the air-to-air combat, surviving bombers can continue on to the next way station. Surviving escorting fighters can continue on with them but only if their range is sufficient to reach that station. Escorting fighters that don't continue, and all intercepting fighters (for both sides), must return to base. Bombers don't need to continue - they can choose to return to base after each combat.
After the mission is over all air units return to base normally; there are no way stations on the way back.
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[49][Night Missions][RAW 52 s. 22.4.2]
This optional rule enables players to designate air missions as night air missions, which was a frequent occurrence during WW II. A few air units are especially capable of performing night missions while most suffer a handicap when flying night missions.
When an aircraft or carrier plane flies a mission, the player can designate that it is flying a night mission. The default is a day mission. Some aircraft can fly a day mission while others fly a night mission into the same hex in the same step. Note that naval air combats and port attacks are always day missions.
Air-to-air combat can only occur between opposing aircraft if they are both flying at night or both flying during the day. So, there can be two separate air-to-air combats in the same hex - one for the day mission and one for the night.
The tactical and strategic factors of aircraft flying night missions is cut in half. Fighters other than the front fighter contribute nothing to their side's air-to-air strength during night missions unless they are night fighters. During air-to-air combat at night, all aircraft except night fighters (those aircraft with a black circle around its air-to-air rating) achieve one result less than normal. Thus an AX result becomes a DX, a DX becomes an AA, an AA becomes a DA and so on. A DC result is unaffected.
The missions are resolved after both day and night air-to-air combats are concluded. When both day and night ground support or strategic bombardment missions are flown against the same hex, their values are totaled. Any land unit air transported, or paradropped, at night becomes disorganized after landing, though paradropping units must still fight any required combat normally.
If enemy aircraft fly both day and night missions to the same hex in the same step, you choose which of your aircraft flying CAP there will fight which mission. This decision is not made until after all aircraft have flown to the hex.
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