Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: gmsitton

All those ports you bomb, you just gotta fix later

Are you flying Bomber Command at 14k Ft on purpose?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin

Joc check out some of the plugins by pyrochild. There are some cool effects that you can add.

You are doing much better than me with VP's it looks like

quote:

ORIGINAL: meklore61

What might appear to be a gap there in Amsterdam, is probably the worst spot to pick. Interception between those two concentrations would probably hurt.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Good aar as always, sheep boy.

I don't see a point to bombing targets in France at this stage. I bet you are using 2E bombers and other planes that could be useful in the Med. Just my two cents.

If you are itching to bomb something with 9AF, why not some of the fuel in France? You get points for that.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Rather than penalise the Allied player for not wiping out the UBoat factories award them points for making the attacks.\
Thereby its an incentive rather than a penalty.

I also think the UBoat threat in this period was some 6 mths past its peak, and any penalty/reward should be much smaller.

Maybe also consider a VP cost for moving Allied LCU & Air units between theatres and for the Axis to move units frm the East Front.

PS I havent seen VWeapon sites in the Pas de Calais, are they on map or hypothetical only??

quote:

ORIGINAL: meklore61

I agree with most of your assessment. VP's kill the WA's incentive to attack and since the WA's can't pull ahistorical divisions from the Pacific, the EF Box unbalances the game. WA's get no extra forces to invade with, and can't pull 15 divisions, of your choice, from another front (As it is I have to pull divisions from England and air groups to use in Italy).

I understand the reason for the vp system, but the allies should get some vp's for axis casualties. I'm sure the axis families were just as upset their loved ones are getting killed, just like allied families. Axis can make senseless attacks and get a vp from it, and then rotate those weak units back. They should have some sort of vp loss so this doesn't become standard practice. I've played several games to the end, and I've never got anything but a draw, and I allegedly know what I'm doing. Even getting bombing points when you enter Germany, and take cities won't get you positive vp's. I would have to stop attacking everywhere for several turns to build up vp's to attack. No way you can get to Berlin on time, and even with the ef box pulled from, it's Feb. '45, and the Russian's just took Warsaw, and have not pressed my opponent once.

I love the game, but being WA is very frustrating, and vp's are very hard to get after Jan. 44. Flak also seems to be way more effective than was the case, and I'm not abusing my air strikes, but my aircraft pools are all dry for recon planes, and several other models. I fly around flak, fly with escorts, and baby my crews and my losses seem a bit excessive. I have no saves as all my games are server games atm. I just hope we can start a new dialogue about the vp system, the air war, and the Ef box. I don't want to lose the ef box, but it's hurting the game more than helping it, but it's still a good idea.

As it is, there doesn't seem to be a way to win against a player of equal or better skill.

quote:

ORIGINAL: carlkay58

A few notes from my experience as play tester and beyond:

1. Most of us, especially me, use the air forces heavier than historically. It was unusual for the strategic bombers to fly more than one mission per week during 1943. There were also several weeks where not a single mission was flown as tactics and targets were re-thought because of heavy losses.

quote:

ORIGINAL: carlkay58
2. The VP system is in flux. This will not be fixed into place until after there is more input from player experience. Now that the game is released, there is a lot more data on the VPs and they can be adjusted over time. The first priority to fix are program bugs but the designers are keeping track of the VPs and experiences.

quote:

ORIGINAL: carlkay58
3. I was one of the first people to play Pelton so he was still formulating his tactics while we played. We are now at turn 47 or so and I can see the changes in his tactics as we go. However I don't know if the tactics he is using will hold up in the long run. He ran the LW into the ground pushing back my Italian mainland invasion - one which I made a lot of mistakes doing too. You can check out my AAR for my evaluation of the situation. I am getting ready to invade northern France and we shall see if he will be able to use the LW in the same way or not. I don't think so but we will see.

quote:

ORIGINAL: carlkay58
4. I have never had problems keeping the UBoat penalties low. I admit, as said above, that my one game against a human (Pelton) took place before he had formulated his plans, but the majority of the UBoat targets can be taken out on Turn 1 BEFORE the Axis can change things around. You can check out my AAR as to how I did that or feel free to ask me. It is possible that a human player could make it more costly after the first turn, but I still think that the Allies can still do things about it. Pelton cannot currently contest me over Germany in our game because of the LW losses in the Med and currently I destroy more LW planes in air to air than I lose. He is also only flying about 5% of the sorties I do.

quote:

ORIGINAL: carlkay58
5. The B26's used in the 9th USAAF are in the midst of a model change in the 43 campaign and there is a two month period where there are no replacements. Using the 9th USAAF during that period will run the numbers of bombers down without replacements. So don't fly that AF during that time. Do not be afraid to have your air forces sit and recover - it goes against a wargamer's grain but sometimes patience is needed.

quote:

ORIGINAL: meklore61

I agree with most of your assessment. VP's kill the WA's incentive to attack and since the WA's can't pull ahistorical divisions from the Pacific, the EF Box unbalances the game. WA's get no extra forces to invade with, and can't pull 15 divisions, of your choice, from another front (As it is I have to pull divisions from England and air groups to use in Italy).

I understand the reason for the vp system, but the allies should get some vp's for axis casualties. I'm sure the axis families were just as upset their loved ones are getting killed, just like allied families. Axis can make senseless attacks and get a vp from it, and then rotate those weak units back. They should have some sort of vp loss so this doesn't become standard practice. I've played several games to the end, and I've never got anything but a draw, and I allegedly know what I'm doing. Even getting bombing points when you enter Germany, and take cities won't get you positive vp's. I would have to stop attacking everywhere for several turns to build up vp's to attack. No way you can get to Berlin on time, and even with the ef box pulled from, it's Feb. '45, and the Russian's just took Warsaw, and have not pressed my opponent once.

I love the game, but being WA is very frustrating, and vp's are very hard to get after Jan. 44. Flak also seems to be way more effective than was the case, and I'm not abusing my air strikes, but my aircraft pools are all dry for recon planes, and several other models. I fly around flak, fly with escorts, and baby my crews and my losses seem a bit excessive. I have no saves as all my games are server games atm. I just hope we can start a new dialogue about the vp system, the air war, and the Ef box. I don't want to lose the ef box, but it's hurting the game more than helping it, but it's still a good idea.

As it is, there doesn't seem to be a way to win against a player of equal or better skill.