AA-fire/casualty selection issues in Revised (and other versions)
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During the combat move phase, if an airplane flies over an aa the die is rolled immediately instead of during the resolve combat phase, as it should. Thsi could, for example, influence the remaining combat moves, which is why combat is conducted all at once...
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@louisxivxiv Yeah, this is a known issue since forever, but good that you remarked it, as I don't think it is being currently tracked. It feels more like an issue than a feature request to me, and I would open it in GitHub, but I'll let the developers decide.
https://github.com/triplea-game/triplea/issues
It is also relevant for all those games having move-then-buy (NWO etc.). -
Actually, this is not true. Per page 12 of Revised rulebooks, under Phase 3: Combat Move, it states:
"Antiaircraft Guns: Antiaircraft
guns can never move in this phase;
they can make noncombat moves
only. However, they can make a
special attack in this phase only.
Whenever an air unit moves into
a hostile territory containing an
antiaircraft gun, the gun gets a
chance to shoot it down."It clearly states it is a special attack IN THIS PHASE, meaning the Combat Move phase. So, triplea is programmed correctly for this rule.
-bayder
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@bayder
The wording of the clause you quoted is a bit irritating, indeed.
Actually (almost) every unit acting during Combat Move Phase attacks during Combat Move Phase. However the battle (or strike or fire) is resolved during Conduct Combat Phase, as usual.
Here the AA-gun gets its strike due to an aircraft movement during the attacker's Combat Move Phase and fires during Opening Fire:Page 15:
"Step 2: Conduct Opening Fire
Certain units can fire before all
others. Only these specially
designated units may fire in this
step. There is no return fire
during this step. ...Antiaircraft Guns
If the defender has an antiaircraft
gun present and the attacker has
air units in the attack, then the
antiaircraft gun fires during this
step.Page 25:
"Shoot Down Air Units: Antiaircraft guns can shoot down attacking air units. Whenever an air unit enters a territory containing an enemy antiaircraft gun, the antiaircraft gun fires during the Opening Fire step of combat. ... "So @LouisXIVXIV and @Cernel are correct. -
@panther What you pasted is describing an AA gun in the territory that is being attacked. The discussion is about AA shots on flyovers during Combat Move phase. This is clearly, and specifically defined on the excerpt from page 12 that I posted. I agree, most firing is done in the Conduct Combat phase, but not AA for flyovers, which is why the rulebook called it out very specifically as an exception for happening IN THIS PHASE (being Combat Move). If the rules wanted the AA flyover firing to happen in Conduct Combat, it would state that instead. Not sure how this isn't clear...
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@bayder This has been clarified in Revised LHTR, page 9/10:
"Antiaircraft Guns
Antiaircraft guns can never move in this phase; they can move only in the noncombat movement
phase. AA guns are principally defensive weapons. Your air units moving to attack in this phase
may activate the defender's AA guns.
In the combat move phase, whenever an air unit moves over or into a hostile territory containing
an antiaircraft gun, it means that the antiaircraft gun will get a chance to shoot it down during the
conduct combat phase." -
@panther Agree, in LHTR they work that way. Not in Revised.
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The real issue is what you guys have touched on already...
Lets for arguments sake say both versions are potentially correct...
The real questions are...
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How (if at all) could the engine be made to track any and all fly-overs during the Combat movement phase in order to resolve them in the Combat phase.
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How do make these options settable for different games with different rules while maintaining backwards compatibility.
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@panther While we all agree that this bug report is correct for LHTR, I believe here it is necessary to find (or make!) a clarification about Revised proper, and personally I have to say I might have been confused with LHTR (but I'm really unsure and I defer to you), also since Revised proper has the shots during Non Combat too (removed in LHTR).
I want also to point out that, either ways, TripleA is even more bugged than this, as it allows you to make part of your movement (either Combat or Non Combat) to fly over an AA Gun, then decide where to go and what to do (bombing/attacking), after having taken out the flyover casualties.
For example, move from territory 1 to territory 3 with a bunch of bombers, flying over territory 2 with an AA gun in it, resolve the combat, then do whatever you want for the remaining 3 movements of the surviving bombers.
I think this is illegal (if you can confirm, @Panther), as, in any possible cases, you are supposed to define the full movement of the bombers (as well as what they are going to do) before resolving anything (so, practically, we still have at least a bug for Revised proper too).Anyway, even tho my recollections are blurred, and I cannot find anything anywhere about this at the moment, this matter is old, and it would be really good to be fully clarified and fixed (by some developers) otherwise we keep going on with this matter that keeps resurfacing and it is annoying, also since overtime the old discussions are forgotten/lost, and better we take advantage having @Panther with us while we can.
@redrum @lafayette @RoiEX @ssoloff -
@louisxivxiv Also, now it's a bit late for me to say so, but you should have specified if this report is about Revised basic or Revised LHTR or both (both are Revised).
In any case, I'm moving this to Bug Reports, now.
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@Cernel / @Hepps I agree with all you posted. Revised proper definitely has the AA shots in Combat Move and Noncombat Move phases, whereas LHTR does not. And the whole issue of doing all moves first...yea, that's been an issue. Another example is that if there is an enemy territory with an AA only, you can send in a ground troop to change the color of the territory and hence the ownership of the AA, then fly planes over without an AA shot. This is illegal, the color change should happen in Conduct Combat. There is also the game bug about AA possession...which is an entirely different thread...
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@bayder said in AA revised minor bug:
@panther Agree, in LHTR they work that way. Not in Revised.
Agreed ... now. I have been under the impression that LHTR just clarifies the AA-related stuff that is contradictory in the (OOB-) rulebook. Meanwhie I have taken the time to dig deeply in the history of axisandallies.org and I have found a 9 years old thread, that serves as clarification for Revised proper (that you @Cernel asked for above). While this primarily addresses AA-fire during NCM, it appears to be valid for our issue, too.
Please see
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=15221.0As we can see there, the rulebook itself does not really help out - but there must have been an insert called "Revised Orders" (I don't have that) that gives the basis for Krieghund's clarification.
All in all @Hepps has put it in a nutshell.
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@cernel said in AA revised minor bug:
I want also to point out that, either ways, TripleA is even more bugged than this, as it allows you to make part of your movement (either Combat or Non Combat) to fly over an AA Gun, then decide where to go and what to do (bombing/attacking), after having taken out the flyover casualties.
For example, move from territory 1 to territory 3 with a bunch of bombers, flying over territory 2 with an AA gun in it, resolve the combat, then do whatever you want for the remaining 3 movements of the surviving bombers.
I think this is illegal (if you can confirm, @Panther), as, in any possible cases, you are supposed to define the full movement of the bombers (as well as what they are going to do) before resolving anything (so, practically, we still have at least a bug for Revised proper too).At least LHTR clearly state:
"In the combat move phase, whenever an air unit moves over or into a hostile territory containing
an antiaircraft gun, it means that the antiaircraft gun will get a chance to shoot it down during the
conduct combat phase.
The air unit’s controller plots its path using the numbered punch out markers (the first space is 1,
the second 2, and so on). Whenever an air unit encounters enemy antiaircraft guns, it means that
you will need to resolve combat in that space, starting with the first antiaircraft gun encountered."That indicates that the movement (plan) must be completed before any fire is resolved.
That's the "spirit" of all (combat-) movement rules, anyway, IMHO. -
@panther I think this would be an easy fix. Just whenever a plane gets targeted by AA flyover, it should be unable to move anymore during the same phase. But we need a developer to implement it.
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@panther I think where the rulebook blows itself up is that if you read it correctly, then you would have to resolve the NCM flyovers during the opening fire step of combat, which is simply impossible, since you are already past that point when you are in NCM.
Basically you/we would be correct if Revised OOB wouldn't have the shots in NCM too, but it does, so I believe it needs to be clarified. Maybe asking krieghund?
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The Krieghund thread confirms AA fire happens outside of Conduct Combat, specifically in Combat Move and Noncombat Move during flyovers. As long as this stays the same for Revised proper, I'm happy. Changing it for LHTR probably makes sense as it's defined.
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So it would be possible to support both sets of rules in TripleA but most likely would require a significant amount of coding effort to have LHTR work in the manner where it tracks all the flyovers and then rolls them during resolve combat phase. My general feeling on this is most players play standard revised not LHTR so this has minimal impact. Which leads me to most likely prioritize it fairly low.
Now on the side note of having to make your full movement in one go when flying over AA rather than in steps, that is something that could be more easily added. And I believe if that was addressed then the engine fully complies with standard revised rules (not including LHTR).
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@bayder I believe what Krieghund said and what it is apparent it is that it is impossible to know the truth based on the rulebook wording only, as it is self-contradictory.
It is contradictory in the moment it says "Antiaircraft guns can never move in this phase; they can make noncombat moves only. However, they can make a special attack in this phase only. Whenever an air unit moves into a hostile territory containing an antiaircraft gun, the gun gets a chance to shoot it down.", since there it was referring to the Combat Move phase, and we know that Combat Move and Non Combat Move are two different phases, while, then, it states that AA guns fire "Whenever an air unit enters a territory containing an enemy antiaircraft gun", thus in Non Combat Move too (which is undeniably confirmed as intended by the "Revised Orders" insert), which means it is not true that they can make a special attack when in Combat Move only, as the quoted text is clearly saying (since it says "in this phase only").
The full quote that seems to say that the AA flyover is to be resolved during the Combat Move phase is this one:
Antiaircraft Guns: Antiaircraft guns can never move in this phase; they can make noncombat moves only. However, they can make a special attack in this phase only. Whenever an air unit moves into a hostile territory containing an antiaircraft gun, the gun gets a chance to shoot it down.
The air unit’s controller plots its path using the numbered punchout markers to indicate each space in which combat may occur (the first space is 1, the second 2, and so on). Whenever an air unit encounters enemy antiaircraft guns, resolve combat separately in each space along its path, starting with the first.
Every time an antiaircraft gun in a territory is overflown by air units, it shoots once at each air unit that enters. (Only one antiaircraft gun per territory can fire, however.) If the gun misses, the air unit may continue its move.
Resolve all combats involving a given air unit or group of air units before moving onto the next.Which seems to affirm that the combat is resolved and the casualties are removed, but, even if so, since it says "before moving onto the next", not "before moving the next", you can interpreter this as that you first need to make and finalize all your moves (simultaneous movement principle), then you will resolve the flyovers for each air unit or group of air units, that factually would mean the current behaviour is bugged, as you should make all your combat moves before, then resolving all the fly overs attacks (thus not being able to decide any moves based on flyover rolls).
And, moreover, this is contradictory with this quote, that is specifically in the "Aircraft Guns" dedicated section:
Shoot Down Air Units: Antiaircraft guns can shoot down attacking air units. Whenever an air unit enters a territory containing an enemy antiaircraft gun, the antiaircraft gun fires during the opening fire step of combat. Roll one die for each attacking air unit (but only one antiaircraft gun in a territory can fire, even if they are controlled by different powers). For every roll of 1, one attacking air unit is destroyed.
There is absolutely no way that "Whenever an air unit enters a territory containing an enemy antiaircraft gun" can be intrepreted as referring only to entering the territory in which you are going to do combat; it is clearly saying that this apply to all cases in which you enter a territory with an enemy antiaircraft gun, Combat Move and Non Combat Move alike, and, then, it says that the the antiaircraft gun fires during the opening fire step of combat (in all these cases).
However, this cannot possibly make sense, either, since, in this case (whenever) you also enter territories containing an enemy antiaircraft gun during Non Combat Move, and, at this point, you are already past all the opening fire steps of combat (and you could be just moving the air in non combat only, without attacking anything).
So, basically, this is one of these cases that you need someone with authority to come and tell you what's what.
In case of Revised LHTR, there is no doubt that this bug report is fully valid and correct, as we have the clarification.
In case of Revised OOB I very vaguely remember (and I'm not sure) that you should do and finalize all your moves, then resolve all the fly overs (thus not being able to do moves on the same phase based on their outcome), but, sadly, I currently cannot find anything about it, so I think here there is a fairly high chance that I might be just mixing Revised OOB with Revised LHTR, or whatever.
At the end, we can keep reading are re-reading the (very contradictory and unclear) rulebook for years, but the only way to solve this is having an official clarification (or errata!) from someone who can decide upon it, and I don't believe that we can take LHTR clarifications as valid for Revised OOB and, moreover, that clarification would fail covering the fact that in Revised OOB you have flyovers during Non Combat Move too (clearly that clarification was tailored for LHTR, where you don't have any flyover during Non Combat Move).
As I see it, until clarified, it can go a number of ways, the number being greater than 2. If nobody clarifies, I guess the owners of the software project will have to decide.
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I think the section of the manual that bayder cites is ambiguous. No one contests that the aa firing precedes the remaining combat; for example you can't do a combat over here, then fire an aa flyover, then a combat over there... all the aas fire before the remaining combat. However, when precisely in the combat movement phase should the firing take place? At the moment you chart a path into a hostile aa? After you have charted the entire path of your plane? Or after you have made all of your moves? Any of those scenarios would take place is the combat movement phase.
However, there is another line in the manual that reads "Complete all combat moves before resolving any combat (An exception is an amphibious assault, in which sea combat must be handled before land combat.)" and another that says "All combat takes place at the same time, but each affected territory or sea zone is resolved separately. The attacker decides the order. No new units may enter as reinforcements once combat has begun. These directives answer the first question in spirit and substance imo, and the LHTR being consistent with this I is supportive.
On the subject of Non-combat aa firing, there is a line that says " Retreating air units are subject to fire from enemy antiaircraft
guns in any territories they move over.", however aa is not mentioned in the air units section of non combat move. My interpretation of this is that only retreating NC moves see aa, but not otherwise. Even though I've always played with firing in NC, I think a careful reading of the rules isn't so clear - after all, if you take what bayder quoted very seriously, it's the wrong phase for a special firing move.
