Can't recall if I brought it up before, but this is an idea I've been kicking around for a while... I actually posted a couple book length threads on the subject at the A&Aorg website and over at the Larry Boards, but no one ever really replied. Alas. In any case, I think the concept is fairly simple and was wondering whether you guys think its viable? It's basically intended as an alternative to pre-placement bidding, and to provide a basic gameplay element in determining "who plays who" for a given match. The whole goal here is to use variability and starting income adjustment, as a different method to achieving overall game "balance" by de-emphasizing scripted first round battles, and instead emphasizing first round purchases. The shift here is in large part psychological, because its really addressing the perception of imbalance/or disadvantage at the outset (e.g. that the game is "broken" absent a bid to balance the game), by just going with an approach that makes prognosticating about balance before the match begins too variable to even bother with. So instead players just play based on the conditions out of round 1, instead of grumbling about the starting unit set-up and such. If all that makes sense. Anyhow...
Basic idea is this:
Before the match begins, there is a single roll to determine the turn order sequence for the game.
After the turn order sequence is determined, an ascending bonus to starting income is used to achieve balance by sides, with the player-nations going later in the sequence receiving larger bonuses to compensate.
*Options for a restricted opening (non-combat/purchase) during the first round, on boards where that makes sense for balance.
So just using AA50 1941 as an example... (it works well since its a six nation board, with an alternating turn sequence.) The Standard Sequence OOB, goes:
Germany, Russia, Japan, Britain, Italy, China/USA.
Here we keep the same fixed order, but introduce variation by determining where the sequence starts.
Roll 1d6
1 = Germany, Russia, Japan, Britain, Italy, China/USA
2 = Russia, Japan, Britain, Italy, China/USA, Germany
3 = Japan, Britain, Italy, China/USA, Germany, Russia
4 = Britain, Italy, China/USA, Germany, Russia, Japan
5 = Italy, China/USA, Germany, Russia, Japan, Britain
6 = China/USA, Germany, Russia, Japan, Britain, Italy
Yet another option, to further increase variation, would be a second roll or coin flip to determine whether the turn order sequence is standard or reversed. So for example...
Roll 1-3: Standard sequence
Roll 4-6: Reverse sequence
Imagine we start a new match of AA50 1941. The first roll to establish the sequence for this match is a 4, British start. The second roll is also a 4, meaning the selected sequence is reversed (i.e. the turn order goes backwards).
Now instead of... Britain, Italy, China/USA, Germany, Russia, Japan.
You would have... Britain, Japan, Russia, Germany, China/USA, Italy
Its the same start position for the sequence, but the sequence itself goes backwards. You could do the same for any of the 6 possible start positions for AA50. For other boards things work much the same, you just use re-rolls, or 2d6 with rerolls, or different sided dice to accommodate maps with different numbers of player-nations/or player-nation blocks.
When I do this on the actual board for AA50 I put all the game roundels in a circle 1-6, so its basically rolling to determine who begins the sequence, and then again to determine whether that sequence progresses clockwise or counter-clockwise. After the sequence for the match is determined I arrange the roundels in a straight line for easy reference for that match. The second part of the system is starting income adjustment, and the specific adjustments will differ depending on the gamemap, but the core concept works (at least in principle) for most standard A&A boards. Essentially the idea is to take the major TUV swings/losses out of the first round, and put them into the midgame, which is accomplished by upping the starting cash for everyone, apportioned based on where the nation falls in the sequence for that game.
I'm curious whether something like this might be feasible in TripleA? I mean like within a single gamefile, instead of having to create a dozen xmls and doing all the preliminary rolling/set-up outside the game. Also just curious if anyone thinks the idea has merit? Since I've received so little feedback on the idea over the years, despite thinking its pretty awesome to myself hehe
