Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Jul/Aug 1941
Impulse: What the hell is going on phase

As we're in the latter half of 1941, and as this is all pretty much new territory for me I thought I would take a few minutes to try and understand what all this declaring war with/on the US is all about....

Hopefully this will be of interest to anyone still reading this thread - and who is either a total newbie to the game or, is like me and has difficulty remembering anything from one minute to the next. Obviously this post is not written to invite comment that assists me/AllenK, but I do invite anyone to comment on points I make that are total and utter sloblocks.

First things first. I would invite AllenK (and Mayhemizer and Orm if they are reading) to confirm what is considered acceptable behaviour in terms of looking at the various US entry actions/option/pools. I think it is acknowledged that with the best will in the world, the way MWIF PBEM is set up, it is impossible for the Axis player to never see where the US entry is at. For example, there will be actions taken that involves the Axis player moving chits to/from the Entry Pools - that can't be helped. But I assume that there is a gentlemen's agreement that we don't actively seek any information from these pools unless the game demands it?

Secondly, I want to understand where the Allies are in terms of being able to declare war on the Japanese. With the unfriendly act of embargoing oil, I have to assume that the US are close to being able to declare war. So how close?

Firstly I take a look at the 'It's War Chart' and I can't read 'It's War' without bringing this gem to mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3BO6GP9NMY

But back to Matrix World In Flames.....

So this is the chart in question.



I will now look at RAC and see what this says.

ATTEMPTING TO DECLARE WAR
Announce your attempt to declare war on a major power. Then, on the “It’s War” table, cross index your entry level against that major power with your tension level against it to find the war number. Now, roll a die: If it is less than or equal to the war number, your declaration has succeeded.

So from looking at this it would appear the US are unable to declare war on Japan at present. I don't know what the tension situation is but assume (from the Oil Embargo) that the US is on the 31-34 column. The modifiers (outlined in green) suggest that I really need to worry when a) AllenK moves the fleet to Pearl and b) the War Appropriations Bill is passed. These two together add 5 to the dice roll, and with the -1 for China, this makes a +4 modifier. So even if a 1 is thrown I am okay. So the moral of this story is to now start paying attention to what AllenK does with entry options!

Two questions that comes to mind from looking at the 'It's War' chart;

1. Why is tension better (for US Entry) the higher up the US Entry track the Allies are, but not so handy lower down?

2. What is the light colour in the Tension Row 24-31 meant to denote?

quote:

ORIGINAL: brian brian

Also note that after “Move Fleet to Pearl” is picked, the USA needs 4 impulses PLUS an end-of-turn Return-to-Base phase to actually use the better die roll modifier for a DOW attempt against Japan.

Or some combination of < 4 impulses + an e-o-t R-T-B phase + more active impulses including deliberate Return-to-Base naval moves.

Just picking the option is not enough & a fully neutral USA can only move 3 ships per impulse. If the USA is at war with Germany or Italy, it would still need two impulses to complete moving the Fleet to Pearl before they can reduce the Japanese DOW modifier.

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805