• Customizer

    I’ve heard that Europe 1940 out-of-the-box is not balanced, and some people even say it is broken.

    So, which side is it tilted towards (who always wins) ?

    And what is the main reason behind this?

    What specific strategies are used by the winning side that make this game unbalanced?

    thx

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    It’s pro-Axis via sealion as I recall.

    And a contributing factor is the fact that you can’t scramble from most airbases.

    On the flip side there is also the ridiculous notion that if the US can capture Norway, they can build a Major industrial complex there, and dump their entire income on Germany.


  • @Gargantua:

    It’s pro-Axis via sealion as I recall.

    And a contributing factor is the fact that you can’t scramble from most airbases.

    On the flip side there is also the ridiculous notion that if the US can capture Norway, they can build a Major industrial complex there, and dump their entire income on Germany.

    Yes to both of these.  Once I figured this out, my friends couldn’t take me until I filled them in on it :)  I’m currently using Alpha 3 rules but knocked the US wartime bonus to 20 IPCs instead of 30.  So far it’s been pretty balanced but I know they are still finalizing rules for it so take that for what you want.

  • Customizer

    i wonder if a couple extra french infantry in the UK capital would fix Sea Lion?
    i mean, all we need is extra defense, that can not be used for offense.  since multinational transporting is a headache, and the units would attack during the french turn separate from any uk units, they would be useless for anything other than defensive rolls during Sea Lion.

    I’m just curious is there was a few small balance tweaks that could be made without adopting any new rules…


  • @Veqryn:

    i wonder if a couple extra french infantry in the UK capital would fix Sea Lion?
    i mean, all we need is extra defense, that can not be used for offense.  since multinational transporting is a headache, and the units would attack during the french turn separate from any uk units, they would be useless for anything other than defensive rolls during Sea Lion.

    I’m just curious is there was a few small balance tweaks that could be made without adopting any new rules…

    The new rules make for a better game in that scrambling can actually happen on the Europe board.  Otherwise, the only locations on the EU board that can scramble are…  well, the mediterannean islands, Madagascar and the west indies…  kinda silly.  And considering that the alpha rules (probably in the most recent form, one hopes) will be the final 2nd edition print rules, might as well embrace them now.

    There’s also the issue that in the OOB setup the UK could ALWAYS cripple the Italian navy, and the alpha setups tried to at least make Italy slightly more likely to have a navy at the start of their turn.


  • I agree SeaLion was too easy OOB.
    We recently started a Europe alpha 3 tournament in our local club.  Here is my experiences after 3 games.

    In Alpha 3 the UK can still cripple the Italian navy (only the sub, destroyer, cruiser, transport stack survives) - However this means removing fighters from London, and a 95+% SeaLion if Germany plays  correctly. Also if Germany protects it’s transports they can stack enough in UK for the US to ever take it back.
    To survive the UK needs to pull its Mediterranean fleet back to London, to try to block, and use the planes in London.
    We tried calculating the Alpha3 SeaLion with the LowLuck rules. Germany will always be able to take London, but will only have 1 tank, 2 bombers  (+ 2 tac on carrier). This means that if the US has purchased correctly (we are still considering what this entails) , and Russia is in position to hit Germany in R3, the game could still be won by the Allied.


  • Wait, how do you Sealion cause I took france, bought all transports 1st and 2nd turn and then hit them with everything I had 3rd turn and I lost terribly and had to instantly concede the game.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    Without having watched your game,

    any of the following could have happend.

    1. You didn’t attack with enough
    2. You didn’t actually buy ALL transports
    3. you lost too many planes in other battles
    4. You lost too many units in other battles
    5. you didn’t kill enough of the UK’s units, and they were able to return a number of fighters to france
    6. you didn’t kill enough of the uk ships to stop them from bringing up reinforcements from the med/canada


  • If you didn’t take France G1, there’s the problem.

    1. It limits the # of units you can send to Sealion and makes France herself a harder battle.
    2. It lowers the # of transports you build G2.

  • '16 '15 '10

    It’s early days but I’m thinking Allies are arguably still in the game if they can hold London until G4.

    Has anyone seen the Allies win if Germany successfully Sea Lions UK on G3?  Because with the OOB rules, Germany seems to have an excellent chance of doing so.

    Very fun game.  I hope there are other viable Axis strats besides Sea Lion.


  • @Gargantua:

    Without having watched your game,

    any of the following could have happend.

    1. You didn’t attack with enough
    2. You didn’t actually buy ALL transports
    3. you lost too many planes in other battles
    4. You lost too many units in other battles
    5. you didn’t kill enough of the UK’s units, and they were able to return a number of fighters to france
    6. you didn’t kill enough of the uk ships to stop them from bringing up reinforcements from the med/canada

    i think thats a yes to 3 and 6. that was one game where my planes got destroyed over the atlantic and a UK BB survived. How many ships can Germany reliable destroy of the UK’s cause it seems that its real easy for the Luftwaffe to spread itself thin and get annihilated


  • Since you’re using OOB, I’d go as far as saying all of them. I don’t have the OOB board with me, but send the Baltic Fleet to hit the 2 cruisers it can. While it’s not perfect odds and you may only end up with a vulnerable damaged BB, that’s a battle you SHOULD win. 2 subs to 106, 2 to 109, and split the other fleet/airforce between 110 and 111. Should be enough.

  • Customizer

    Well, I’ve got Europe 1940 out-of-the-box (OOB) working for TripleA now.
    http://tripleadev.1671093.n2.nabble.com/World-War-II-Europe-1940-tp7283373p7283373.html

    It is still going to be a while til I get Alpha +3.14159265 working,

    so until then, I’ve released a “Balanced” version of OOB Europe

    It has these changes:
    The goal of the mod is to balance out a Sea Lion attack by Germany, without affecting other Axis strategies.
    Changes:
    1. Two French infantry added to London.
    2. The Italian fleet combined off Sea Zone 97
    3. One Italian Tank moved from Northern to Southern Italy.

    Reasons for these changes:
    1. We want to make a Sea Lion attack more costly, so we need to add defense to London.  However, if we add British units, then the UK can use those units for attacks and stuff.  The solution is to add French units, since the French have no transports, no airforce, and only attack at 1, and multinational transportation requires 2 turns and is a pain to do.  So basically, those French units are stuck in London for the entire game, defending against Sea Lion only, which is our goal.
    2. The UK can destroy Italy’s bigger fleet with 93% chance on round one, even before the Italian turn.  By combining, we are giving the Italian player a chance for some fun, and also forcing the UK to decide where it wants its air and naval force, giving them not much else to do except defend London.
    3. We do not want UK gambling on a round 1 attack on Italy’s capital, now that the fleet is moved.  So we move the tank back a space.  Since it has 2 movement, it can still reach where ever it wanted to go (France/Yugo/Africa).

    could be something to enjoy while waiting for alpha to work….
    (you need at least TripleA version 1.5 to play it)

  • TripleA '12

    Thanks Veqryn, I’m looking forward to trying this out later today.  :-)


  • @Veqryn:

    l

    Alpha +3.14159265

    What? :-o
    lol :lol:

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