Scrambling - Too strong?

[Variable]

These sound like great house rules! I think for most, it wouldn't drastically change gameplay. But it would help prevent super stacks and keep things looking a bit more historical, if you're into that. I will use these.

[oztea]

Why not something alot simpler to implement
0 Damage (fully operational) - RAW Normal Ammount of planes (this prevents placing a limit on scrabling from Japan to the adjacent seazone, limiting them to 6 seems foolish because they usualy have more planes and more need to scramble late game) (Perhaps 6 Max scramble for islands WITHOUT a Factory)
1 Damage - 5 Planes
2 Damage - 4 Planes
3 Damage - 3 Planes
4 Damage - 2 Planes
5 Damage - 1 Plane
6 Damage - 0 Planes

[Gamerman01]

On a side note, air force should be able to be scrambled to defend against transports attempting an amphibious assault.

Check the rules again.  I believe you can.

[Gamerman01]

Yes, scrambling is too strong.  Yes, there should be a limit to number of ground units and air units that can be stationed on postage stamp islands.

I saw someone else's game where the allies had built an airbase on Java and had about 10 fighters there.  I don't think it's always as simple as just "going around them".  That move pretty much guaranteed this player that Japan would be out about 9 IPC's per turn and could never take that island without very great difficulty.  This kind of a move should not be possible.

When I did my very first J1 and double checked the scramble rules, I was amazed.  Why should an attacker have to have enough force at sea to have a high percentage chance against all island fighters, and also have to have enough force against all the same fighters on the defending island?  It just doesn't make sense.  Fair for both sides, though.

[Battling Maxo]

Yes, scrambling is too strong.  Yes, there should be a limit to number of ground units and air units that can be stationed on postage stamp islands.

I saw someone else's game where the allies had built an airbase on Java and had about 10 fighters there.  I don't think it's always as simple as just "going around them".  That move pretty much guaranteed this player that Japan would be out about 9 IPC's per turn and could never take that island without very great difficulty.  This kind of a move should not be possible.

When I did my very first J1 and double checked the scramble rules, I was amazed.  Why should an attacker have to have enough force at sea to have a high percentage chance against all island fighters, and also have to have enough force against all the same fighters on the defending island?  It just doesn't make sense.  Fair for both sides, though.

Sounds like my game...scrambling option is ridiculous and should be limited to 2-3 aircraft for islands. Also why can't costal territories scramble?

[Gamerman01]

Sounds like my game...scrambling option is ridiculous and should be limited to 2-3 aircraft for islands. Also why can't costal territories scramble?

Yep, that was you!  Why don't you tell everyone how ridiculous the airbase rule is OOB and how your opponent successfully exploited the rule.

And yes, if Japan can scramble, why can't California and Australia?  Makes no sense.

[Battling Maxo]

Yep, that was you!  Why don't you tell everyone how ridiculous the airbase rule is OOB and how your opponent successfully exploited the rule.

And yes, if Japan can scramble, why can't California and Australia?  Makes no sense.

I'm not doing such a shabby job of exploiting the rules  considering what I have in the Carolines and the Philippines

[Gamerman01]

I'm not doing such a shabby job of exploiting the rules  considering what I have in the Carolines and the Philippines

Well, at least these rules give us lots of opportunities to say "impregnable fortress", which is a fun thing to say. 

[Bizarro Tag]

The only thing better than an inpregnable fortress is an inpregnable woman.

[VZSTAL]

One thing I can't understand is why some people devote so much time to finding holes in the game that THEY believe are unfair and complaining about them.  Just try playing the game and enjoying a different version of A&A than before.  Put yourself in the designers' place.  It is impossible to please everyone and you can't just keep producing games with the same rules everytime.  I'm not saying that this game is flawless, but maybe more time spent trying to find a suitable strategy to combat scrambling would be more constructive.

[robbie358]

I do think it is a bit overpowered, but it doesn't break the game or anything.

I was playing as the US two weeks ago and my opponent decided on a J3 attack that went into Hawaii hard.
After a few turns of me making sure my coast was protected he took most of his navy down to Australia leaving 2 inf and about 6 fighters in Hawaii.

I had built a few bombers and in order to retake Hawaii I had to put my whole navy there and invaded with 3 inf 2 art & 1tank, but because of his scramble ability I had to split my bombers between attacking the land and sea zones.  I put one too many bombers into the land and not enough in the sea, he scrambled his fighters and killed my whole navy except the transports which I retreated.

now just the threat of scramble alone made my split my forces, and though we eventually won that game, it sucked to lose my whole damn navy because of it.

[Battling Maxo]

Not quite sure I follow...if your surface ships were wiped out how could all the trannies retreat unless the last hit was applied to your last surface ship

[Gamerman01]

Maxo -
He didn't say all of his transports survived - he just said he retreated remaining transports.

Transports are not always all killed.  Say he was down to 3 transports and a bomber, and he took two hits.  He would lose the bomber and 1 loaded transport if that happened, and could retreat the other 2 loaded transports.

[Battling Maxo]

Maxo -
He didn't say all of his transports survived - he just said he retreated remaining transports.

Transports are not always all killed.  Say he was down to 3 transports and a bomber, and he took two hits.  He would lose the bomber and 1 loaded transport if that happened, and could retreat the other 2 loaded transports.

I understand that. I just wasn't sure from the post if all or some of the trannies retreated.

[oztea]

what ive always had in mind as to why planes cant scramble from coastal territories is the distance from the airbase to any point on the coast is MUCH farther than on an island

A plane on an island at a central base can get to any point on its coast faster than a plane could get to any point on a coast while on land

This may sound strange, but to me it makes sense. Less area for your fighters to fly, and more ability for them to condese on a central location where the battle is happening


The Green represents area an airbase and its units could be patroling, yellow represents the area they need to be patroling because friendly naval units are likeley there, red represents where scrabling cant occur due to fuel concerns and the fact that friendly vessels likely stick close to shore