G40 vs AA50 discussion (from League players)

[gamerman01]

How about those technologies in AA50, though!?
If you were to play with them in G40 you would need to house rule it to tokens, no? G40 has so many decisions to make, almost no one wants to complicate it with technology possibilities thrown in the mix (again, maybe great for casual).

So back to the topic at hand, comparing AA50 to G40, is AA50 not the king when it comes to tech?

[trulpen]

@gamerman01 said in G40 vs AA50 discussion (from League players):

How about those technologies in AA50, though!?
If you were to play with them in G40 you would need to house rule it to tokens, no? G40 has so many decisions to make, almost no one wants to complicate it with technology possibilities thrown in the mix (again, maybe great for casual).

So back to the topic at hand, comparing AA50 to G40, is AA50 not the king when it comes to tech?

Oh, I would love to get tech into G40, but don’t feel a token system is enough accomplished/dynamic/balanced.

[gamerman01]

There wasn’t an official rule against complexes on islands for
AA50 as I recall. We used to modify it with that in the later days, but I think it first became official in P40…

[gamerman01]

Several posts about balance of G40 and naturally resulting trash talk and challenges moved to
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/39399/g40-and-g40-balanced-mod-balance-discussions-and-derivative-player-challenges?_=1666803731814

(topic 39399 in G40 forum)

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@gamerman01

I never played Anniversary. I will say I play the technology rules as is, no tokens.

[gamerman01]

Interesting - how much do you buy, and with who and what kind of situations? Just throw 5 in once in awhile to see what happens?

I have to remind myself that G40 is 10 years old so Anniversary is becoming more of an…

extinct exotic exceptional ex post facto
game

It’s on triple A, I recommend at least looking at it

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@gamerman01

I usually research a lot depending on the situation. Usually like it at the start of the game. Just depends how I feel at the moment.

Haven’t figured out how to use TripleA yet. Too much of a hassle.

[simon33]

@gamerman01 what is so special about AA50 technology vs G40? Just looked at the rule and it seems almost identical except for Paratroopers being carried on bombers, long range aircraft being +2, stronger heavy bombers and mech inf being different (probably more beneficial). Ok, I guess that is a bit of a list there. You can easily house rule the tokens part of it.

Perhaps it just played better because if you lost a game because of tech at least it wasn’t such a time sink.

If there is serious interest I could (I expect) retrofit some or all of the above into the Parisian Rebalance.

[gamerman01]

Hey Simon, I like your thoughts there.

I think the big difference is the AA50 map is much smaller than G40 so the tech effect is much stronger. Like long range aircraft can get much farther across the world in AA50. It’s 4 spaces from Moscow to Berlin, so with 6 spaces you can go to the other capital and half way back.

Paratroopers would also be a bit unequal between the two because of the huge difference in map size - both games are 3 spaces.

I had to look this up, but increased production was +2 for any complex on 3 value or more, so 3’s could build 5 units. In G40, minors get increased to 4.

You make a great point - the technologies are pretty comparable over all. I think the reason technology never got traction with all the league players is because G40 already has so many decisions and much more complexity than any Axis and Allies that have gone before. Playing with technologies in G40 requires a lot more mental capacity, if not playing casually, because above all the other considerations that you’re weighing on a huge turn, you have to think about what if he got such and such a technology this turn and like you said, huge difference in the # of hours of time commitment in a particular game, between these 2 versions.

So objection sustained! I should try a game with tech! And like you said, house rule the tech tokens for G40, for sure.

[simon33]

A couple of things I never liked about tech are
(a) paratroopers - don’t like the being carried on a bomber and don’t like the G40 magical flying infantry. Why isn’t there an air transport like in some maps, and why is it a tech at all? Didn’t basically all nations have it at the start of the war? Never heard of USSR paratroops but doesn’t mean they didn’t or couldn’t have had them.
(b) don’t like the implementation of Anniversary rockets in Triple-A where you can’t have multiple rockets targeting the same territory. That isn’t in the original rules although it is in the FAQ. I think there may be a map option for this but it isn’t editable.
© don’t like Kreighund’s decision in G40 that rockets are resolved before strat bombing decisions on which target in a given territory is attacked, which can vary the strat bombing decisions.

Tech in G40 can cause some really frustrating outcomes such as if your opponent rolls long range aircraft which suddenly puts more planes in range of territories you thought were safe. Urgh! But the same thing applied in Anniversary. Not sure how reasonable it is to need to consider this risk.

Anniversary didn’t have air battles before strat bombing quite right. Nor did v5. I find BM the best even though I don’t love the automatic inbuilt AA. Seems there is no ideal solution to this one.

wrt heavy bombers I think I like the Anniversary idea better but it is certainly the strongest of all techs and I can see why it was further nerfed in G40. Maybe it would be better if it was a hit on a 6 or less (auto hit) and max 1 dice damage for heavy bombers? I find G40 heavy bombers a bit weak really, although they are a notable improvement for strat bombing.

Also, Jet fighters are a bit weak. Maybe +1 for attack and defence.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on tech.

[trulpen]

The option that researched tech gets active the coming turn would solve the crazy surprise element, although gamerman doesn’t seem to like that option.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@simon33

I belive the “flying infantry” is meant to represent a hypothetical air transport.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@simon33

Heavy bombers are as good as auto hits.

[simon33]

@superbattleshipyamato said in G40 vs AA50 discussion (from League players):

@simon33

Heavy bombers are as good as auto hits.

To the degree that 8 chances in 9 equals 9 in 9. Strat bombing only gets maximum 11 in 36.

[pacifiersboard]

@simon33

I somehow think that paratroopers back then used cargo gliders?

[simon33]

@pacifiersboard They used both DC-3s (aka C-47s) and gliders for heavier units.