Really Enjoying the Game

[paulderynck]

It would only be the right thing to do for you to ship your new ones to that other player. [:-]

[Joseignacio]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

Knowing the rules is one thing. Getting the right strategy and tactics another. Sure, I know how to defend properly and how to attack, using the available terrain. The air force, well, let's just say I can make good use of it. However, the fleet? I still don't get it. There's something there which I don't seem to understand.

A good admiral knows when to fight and when not to fight. Now, that's a very difficult decision for me to make, since I don't seem to be able to get to estimate the combat losses in advance. The outcome of a naval battle is always a gamble, even with a far superior force in a sea area you can get trashed by the opponent by rolling a bad die compared to the opponent having all the luck in the world...

So I put in some more research in the major naval battles of the war. And there it is: most of those battles were lost or won due to being lucky or not. Tactics simply have nothing to do with it. You get found by the enemy? You might be in trouble if your planes are sitting on deck of your carrier at that moment, being refueled. The Hood blown out of the seas? Lucky shot. The sea battles at Guadalcanal: a continuing story of being lucky or unlucky. And than there was the battle at Leyte Gulf (I think it was there), where the Japanese admiral thought he was up to some fleet carriers, but only had a couple of escort carriers against him. If he had attacked, those US marines would have been slaughtered in the transports. And so it goes on, and on, and on.

Now, being somewhat of a cautious man where it comes around to accepting losses on my forces, depending on lucky dice is one of the things I'm not really happy about. You know, I like to be in control. At sea in World in Flames, there is no way you are in control of things happening. That's historically right, of course, but I still think I'm not a good admiral at all (I would even say a lousy one).

Or were all admirals in WW II lousy ones and was the major part of being an admiral that you need to be lucky? I don't know...

As an experienced English player, I am experienced in sea battles and sea support, which as mentioned is necessary to be a good admiral but not necessarily enough.

That said, it's very true that naval battles depend more on luck, like in Hofgeismar (I think you were around that time) when I (UK) made 10 searches in 10 impulses of the Italian fleet and fail the 10 of them but he found me most of his. Although I had advantage in planes and Ships, he was able to put some bombers each time along the battle, which is not strange, but then used the surprise to select targets and increase damage. Since my rolls were 7 to 10 and his were mostly 1s, with some 2 (he needed to, to find me because he was on level 1 or 2 all the time, to be able to get land based fighters' support, ..). I was on level 3 and he had a convoy for supply purposes, so I hit with a 4 (that I never got). One of the worsts losing streaks I have had.

This costed me 4 carriers, several more ships, paralyzing the Libyan UK offensive because IT units were supplied, ..., with few losses on his part. It was not stupid on my part because we needed to take Tripoli to surrender Italy and he was pretty weak already at the desert, I was attacking in superiority at sea and was at a higher box, however...

Yes, sh*t happens. But if you are experienced or intuitive, or better, both, you can do things. Like putting one of your own convoys so he can more easily find you even with a worse roll (questionable tactic, but still...) or much better, if t he occasion is worth it, spend O points at port to get a number of re-rolls (yours or opponents).

But if you don't know you can spend O points (or O Chits) for this, it will never occur to you. This is what I mean about knowledge, you need it to be a good player, although is not the only thing you need to have.

Of course there are moments when you need to see when it's better to leave the combat but, in my case for example, at first I always thought that all my planes should have to fight till the end of the air combat. Now I know I can leave that air combat after the first round, take my losses and no unit needs to leave the sea (acceptable if they don't include sunk ships, for example or even with one sunk carrier if you are facing the whole American fleet and you've been unlucky).

This can be considered a good tactic, but you cannot know it unless you know the rules that allow you to. Rules don't make you a good admiral, but you cannot be the best admiral you can be without knowing the rules.

[WIF_Killzone]

Why is it experienced English Players all seem to know the rules for evacuating troops on transports. I guess that's the first thing learned early on in a game [:D]

ORIGINAL: Joseignacio

ORIGINAL: Centuur

Knowing the rules is one thing. Getting the right strategy and tactics another. Sure, I know how to defend properly and how to attack, using the available terrain. The air force, well, let's just say I can make good use of it. However, the fleet? I still don't get it. There's something there which I don't seem to understand.

A good admiral knows when to fight and when not to fight. Now, that's a very difficult decision for me to make, since I don't seem to be able to get to estimate the combat losses in advance. The outcome of a naval battle is always a gamble, even with a far superior force in a sea area you can get trashed by the opponent by rolling a bad die compared to the opponent having all the luck in the world...

So I put in some more research in the major naval battles of the war. And there it is: most of those battles were lost or won due to being lucky or not. Tactics simply have nothing to do with it. You get found by the enemy? You might be in trouble if your planes are sitting on deck of your carrier at that moment, being refueled. The Hood blown out of the seas? Lucky shot. The sea battles at Guadalcanal: a continuing story of being lucky or unlucky. And than there was the battle at Leyte Gulf (I think it was there), where the Japanese admiral thought he was up to some fleet carriers, but only had a couple of escort carriers against him. If he had attacked, those US marines would have been slaughtered in the transports. And so it goes on, and on, and on.

Now, being somewhat of a cautious man where it comes around to accepting losses on my forces, depending on lucky dice is one of the things I'm not really happy about. You know, I like to be in control. At sea in World in Flames, there is no way you are in control of things happening. That's historically right, of course, but I still think I'm not a good admiral at all (I would even say a lousy one).

Or were all admirals in WW II lousy ones and was the major part of being an admiral that you need to be lucky? I don't know...

As an experienced English player, I am experienced in sea battles and sea support, which as mentioned is necessary to be a good admiral but not necessarily enough.

That said, it's very true that naval battles depend more on luck, like in Hofgeismar (I think you were around that time) when I (UK) made 10 searches in 10 impulses of the Italian fleet and fail the 10 of them but he found me most of his. Although I had advantage in planes and Ships, he was able to put some bombers each time along the battle, which is not strange, but then used the surprise to select targets and increase damage. Since my rolls were 7 to 10 and his were mostly 1s, with some 2 (he needed to, to find me because he was on level 1 or 2 all the time, to be able to get land based fighters' support, ..). I was on level 3 and he had a convoy for supply purposes, so I hit with a 4 (that I never got). One of the worsts losing streaks I have had.

This costed me 4 carriers, several more ships, paralyzing the Libyan UK offensive because IT units were supplied, ..., with few losses on his part. It was not stupid on my part because we needed to take Tripoli to surrender Italy and he was pretty weak already at the desert, I was attacking in superiority at sea and was at a higher box, however...

Yes, sh*t happens. But if you are experienced or intuitive, or better, both, you can do things. Like putting one of your own convoys so he can more easily find you even with a worse roll (questionable tactic, but still...) or much better, if t he occasion is worth it, spend O points at port to get a number of re-rolls (yours or opponents).

But if you don't know you can spend O points (or O Chits) for this, it will never occur to you. This is what I mean about knowledge, you need it to be a good player, although is not the only thing you need to have.

Of course there are moments when you need to see when it's better to leave the combat but, in my case for example, at first I always thought that all my planes should have to fight till the end of the air combat. Now I know I can leave that air combat after the first round, take my losses and no unit needs to leave the sea (acceptable if they don't include sunk ships, for example or even with one sunk carrier if you are facing the whole American fleet and you've been unlucky).

This can be considered a good tactic, but you cannot know it unless you know the rules that allow you to. Rules don't make you a good admiral, but you cannot be the best admiral you can be without knowing the rules.

[tacfire]

I have been enjoying the game very much so far.

I have hit a bug here or there like all the rest, but nothing game-breaking so far - the key is to resave frequently and reload.
Right now I am in the middle of a solitaire global war campaign - playing with almost all the optional rules enabled.

I am new to the game system so it has taken me many months to get to this point but I am really starting to appreciate the subtleties of all the rules, and how they interact with each other.

The Naval system really took me a long time to get a grasp on, but I am starting to get an understanding of it as well.
But I think the game will take years to truely master.

Thank you for developing the game and keep up the good work!

This game will be a masterpiece someday when all the options are implemented and there will be a working AI.

[Missouri_Rebel]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

It would only be the right thing to do for you to ship your new ones to that other player. [:-]

If you want to pay for the shipping to Indonesia I think it was I'd have no problem with that.

[WIF_Killzone]

Maybe we need some sort of bidding system for a chance to play Bo. Better yet when netplay stabilizes, we all play him.

Who's first on your list Bo?

ORIGINAL: WarHunter

ORIGINAL: WIF_Killzone

Haven't posted in a while but thought I'd drop by and give some kudos.

I'm really enjoying the game and play constantly when time allows (which is a couple of hours every day). The game is super stable for me, I haven't had issues (except my own game play) in months.

Watching the bug fixes and uploading patches when I feel like it as many of the bug fixes simply don't effect me. I still save games frequently, but now its to protect me from myself, aka dumb moves instead of worried about fatal errors.

Like the new approach to bug fixes as obviously an internal assessment indicates fatal issues don't need the attention they once did.

Right now I'm in November December 1944 (decline and fall) and Italy is still in the war, in fact I haven't yet invaded Italy, my bad. In the west I haven't Paris yet (although it will fall this turn). I played Germany quite defensively, probably only attacked less than half a dozen times. Nevertheless they are crumbling.

In the East Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Poland have been liberated. In the west, Germany-Bremen has been invaded in strength, Belgium and Netherlands taken, and the line breached. Germany is down to 20 build points, probably 15 at end of turn.

In the pacific, same story, japan has many 6 and some 7 fighters, many navs, China is running rampant though. The US now has to find a way to kill all that land air, without losing all their cv's in the process, retake Philippines, destroy Truk (dam those interior lines) and basically penetrate a good D.

Anyways, back to game play, Berlin by July! Italy by September! Japan, hmmm.

If you like it now.
Wait til you have NetPlay.

But you cant have Bo.[:-]
I get him first for a NetPlay game.

Just the thought of breaking in Bo to his first Mano el Mano MWiF.

Well, the anticipation is quite a thrill.

I may need a tissue.
or 2. [:'(]

[bo]

ORIGINAL: WIF_Killzone

Maybe we need some sort of bidding system for a chance to play Bo. Better yet when netplay stabilizes, we all play him.

Who's first on your list Bo?

ORIGINAL: WarHunter

ORIGINAL: WIF_Killzone

Haven't posted in a while but thought I'd drop by and give some kudos.

I'm really enjoying the game and play constantly when time allows (which is a couple of hours every day). The game is super stable for me, I haven't had issues (except my own game play) in months.

Watching the bug fixes and uploading patches when I feel like it as many of the bug fixes simply don't effect me. I still save games frequently, but now its to protect me from myself, aka dumb moves instead of worried about fatal errors.

Like the new approach to bug fixes as obviously an internal assessment indicates fatal issues don't need the attention they once did.

Right now I'm in November December 1944 (decline and fall) and Italy is still in the war, in fact I haven't yet invaded Italy, my bad. In the west I haven't Paris yet (although it will fall this turn). I played Germany quite defensively, probably only attacked less than half a dozen times. Nevertheless they are crumbling.

In the East Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Poland have been liberated. In the west, Germany-Bremen has been invaded in strength, Belgium and Netherlands taken, and the line breached. Germany is down to 20 build points, probably 15 at end of turn.

In the pacific, same story, japan has many 6 and some 7 fighters, many navs, China is running rampant though. The US now has to find a way to kill all that land air, without losing all their cv's in the process, retake Philippines, destroy Truk (dam those interior lines) and basically penetrate a good D.

Anyways, back to game play, Berlin by July! Italy by September! Japan, hmmm.

If you like it now.
Wait til you have NetPlay.

But you cant have Bo.[:-]
I get him first for a NetPlay game.

Just the thought of breaking in Bo to his first Mano el Mano MWiF.

Well, the anticipation is quite a thrill.

I may need a tissue.
or 2. [:'(]

A poor AI [:D]

Bo

[WarHunter]

ORIGINAL: bo
A poor AI [:D]
Bo

By the time a poor AI is in your hands. You will have fought across the entire world with WIF_Killzone, Joseignacio, Centuur and me. I suggest stocking up on some beer, beans and BS so we can entertain each other in the manly pursuit of virtual combat.

[Joseignacio]

ORIGINAL: WarHunter

ORIGINAL: bo
A poor AI [:D]
Bo

By the time a poor AI is in your hands. You will have fought across the entire world with WIF_Killzone, Joseignacio, Centuur and me. I suggest stocking up on some beer, beans and BS so we can entertain each other in the manly pursuit of virtual combat.

Hahahaha

Beer and beans.. dangerous mix.

[CanInf]

I used to play the old board game a LOT. But this game is sooooo much better!!! I am having a blast with a hot seat game! The interface isn't 100 per cent intuitive, then again moving stacks of tiny pieces of cardboard around wasn't much fun either! and it's great never ever to have a rules dispute! Ohh God they were awful. Setup in an hour! wow! it would take us one entire day! had a few glitches, but not many, and the latest patch seemed to do the job for a crash that happened several times using oil to fop units back. Thanks for bringing this game back to life. I am certain, it will only get better over time, and maybe even expand to the 1936 timeframe... agh but that's years away!

[Walker84]

I have been neglecting WIF since I started another WITP-AE campaign before Christmas (you can check out my AAR on the other forum). Anyway, I strayed back over here to see what was cooking - and found out that I had been missing out on the cool new khaki CW counters!

So I have loaded up a new game and found that they work out great. I don't plan on changing my avatar just yet though. My new game is going to be a bit of a sandbox to reacquaint myself with the rules and strategies. Have caught up with a few of the recent AARs as well and I'm looking forward to advancing beyond the end of 1940 this time round. Gort just arrived in France (- in Khaki).