New Player Questions (answers appreciated)

[Bamilus]

Hi all,

I'm not technically a new player, but more of a returning player as I bought the game when it came out and dabbled a bit. But I want to return to the game since I have a lot more free time now than I did before when I played. I mainly want to play solitaire and would appreciate if any of you could help with the following questions:

1. What optional rules would you recommend for a first Global War solitaire campaign? These would be optional rules that aren't buggy and you consider essential to the game and aren't super complex. I know there is a thread on this but the last post is from 3+ years ago and I'm not sure what has changed since then.
2. In regards to #1, after I get the basics and a feel for the game, what are the remaining optional rules (even in complex) you would recommend?
3. I know the game had issues with convoys in the past but I believe most of those are fixed. What are any bugs or common work-arounds I should know about in a solo game? I'd just like to keep on the look-out for those.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, thanks a bunch!

[Centuur]

If you have no experience with the board game, I would advise to use the novice optional rules and start with a Barbarossa scenario first. The game has a steep learning curve on which button to press for what, so the less chrome added the best it is and the less units to move around the world means it gets easier to keep this monster in control.

After that, go for a global war with the same novice optional rules and expand from those rules later.

Stay away from unlimited breakdown (there's a nasty bug there).

I would never use construction engineers. I really like the 2D10 table, oil, all divisions, pilots and of course carrier planes. But especially the last one makes the game a lot more difficult with regarding of building strategy (OH. I've forgotten to build a carrier plane and a pilot in time and now my CV is ready and I'm a fool for not attending to those things too. You get the picture). Personally I don't like the Limited Overseas Supply rule but there are others who don't want to play without it.
Night air missions and carpet bombing I also don't use.
The rest: well they add nice chrome to the game.

The convoy system is working a lot better than in the past, but it still has some issues. At the moment, I don't know a work around for the bugs which are currently still in that part of the game. However, there are not a lot of them around anymore...

[Shannon V. OKeets]

There is a sub-forum called WIF School which contains a very long thread for questions from New Players.

You might want to scan through that thread since it answers a lot of frequent questions from new players.

[Bamilus]

Thanks Centuur. Steve, I have it on my to do list to look through that forum. Thanks again for your continued work on this game. I know there's been a lot of things said over the past years but it's truly an accomplishment to create a computer version of WiF and to get it where it is today. Without the computer version I'd be way too scared to try the board game!

[brian brian]

Welcome (back) aboard!

I would also suggest playing the Guadalcanal scenario repeatedly to get the hang of the naval systems, before heading out to deeper waters.

I would say in most games, a majority of the coded optionals are used. I have used so many of them for so long that I would have trouble suggesting which are most important. Most of the AAR threads start with a screen shot of the optionals in use.

Also, lots of questions have been covered in threads that seem to ‘fall off’ the forum, but they are still there. Change the ‘Show Threads From’ rolling menu from the default ‘365 Days’ to ‘All Topics’.

[davidachamberlain]

ORIGINAL: Bamilus

Thanks Centuur. Steve, I have it on my to do list to look through that forum. Thanks again for your continued work on this game. I know there's been a lot of things said over the past years but it's truly an accomplishment to create a computer version of WiF and to get it where it is today. Without the computer version I'd be way too scared to try the board game!

I must agree with the other input.

Before you try Global War, play BOTH Barbarossa (to under land combat) and Guadalcanal (to under naval combat) a few times.

Start with the Novice (for at least 1 game), then try the more advanced selections OR add a few for the tabs you are interested in.

Only go for Global War after you have a good appreciation of each since, especially with Naval combat, without that appreciation, you won't use it effectively and for CW, JP, US, you will effectively limit a very substantial part of the game that makes a huge difference.

If you had played the board game with a group of people previously, you might be able to move on to a solo Global War sooner.

It is not a pre-requisite, but for many of us who were playing the board game long before the computer game came out, it was/is a much easier transition.

Dave

[Courtenay]

One rule I would always use is fractional odds, because it is an optional rule that actually makes the game easier to play.