Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: P.Hausser
Reinf. +/- 60 days opt. is On

60 days is a very long time when you're talking about the opening few months of the war. A lot happens in those days. Getting a major LCU sixty days early is going to have quite a potential impact.

In my game the Japs are at the gates of Singapore and 7th Armoured isn't even on the map yet...

ORIGINAL: Terminus

The issue is that AE is a commercial product, so we can't just put stuff in there, like we do all the time in forum posts.

Good excuse to defend AFB aspect of this game! So, you refuse to balance the game with proper pics?! [X(]

[8|]

ORIGINAL: Terminus
[8|]

AMEN! [:(]

You can still get alternats screens at Spooky's, and I blv they will work with AE ??(Termie, am I right?)...

As for the pics providing more game balance, I know somebody was being tongue in cheek.

Besides, what has history to do with "game balance"[:'(]

[8|]

i worry that some of the post here were not sarcastic.... stop giving the internet passport folks ammo.... you know who you are

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

ORIGINAL: Terminus

The issue is that AE is a commercial product, so we can't just put stuff in there, like we do all the time in forum posts.

Good excuse to defend AFB aspect of this game! So, you refuse to balance the game with proper pics?! [X(]

I believe what Termy was trying to convey was... since there are very few high quality FREE Japanese photos available, whose use would not infringe on copyright laws...the business decision was made to utilize what FREE photos were available, so that the end cost of the product would not be increased.

Now if you like you can certainly use graphics software and your own photos to modify the screens to your hearts content.

Ya'll might try scen006 (shameless plug). It's got some nice Japanese pics in it. Almost brand new. Only played by a little old lady from Deaf Smith County, TX, on alternate Fridays at the local church Bingo and AE social. She likes the Japanese pics. Says the flag reminds her of what her husband's eyeballs looked like after a night out with his buddies down to the Legion Hall.

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

I actually had the same reaction than you when I saw the loading screen the first time. And I still dislike the new intro when compared to the WitP one (I'd like to swap them in fact) for the same reasons, artistically too. But I have way too few time in my hands to come on the forum start to annoy the devs about the photos they chose to include in the loading menus and lecture them about it, thanks. I mean, why don't you play or do new loading screens instead? [;)]

Actually I can't figure out for the life of me why anyone should give a rat's ass. I click through all that crap anyway to get to the game. Just how many times viewing the Introduction does it continue to give one a woody?

To me, any game of the period that allows for Japan to have a significant chance to "win" in military or geopolitical terms is too biased for me to spend 10 cents on.  The fact is that Japan had virtually NO chance for a military victory, and I would argue a political victory (e.g., negotiated end to the war) was almost nil and depended exclusively on Germany having more than historical success in the European Theatre.  If Europe progresses hitorically in the game, then, to me, Japan should be toast, perhaps almost 100% of the time.
 
So, how do the developers "balance" the game?  Through the victory conditions.  To "win" the game, as opposed to "winning" the war, the Allied player should be required to outperform the historical commanders.  So, too, the Japanese player.  If the game ends up close to what actually happened, then it's a draw.  I think the developers might have been a little too generous with victory to the Allied side (at least against the AI), and I play the Allied side almost exclusively.  From what I read, playing against another person opens up entirely new possibilities for game "victory."
 
I also think there's too much interest in "winning" the game.  Perhaps this is just my perspective, since I play against the AI to explore historical possibilites and to learn more about the period.  I like WITP an AE because they ARE so close to being simulations.  The play seems to be quite good, especially with AE.  I think so many have played WITP so long that they've "figured out" all the developers' secrets and can beat the AI like a drum.  I know I did.  The same will happen with AE, I assure you.  But, if winning is not the most important goal, but inquiry using AE as a vehicle is, then the game can live forever, well, almost.  I quit playing board games against other people, because I encountered the fanatical opponent far too often.  You know, the guy who would read every nuance in the rules and found a "gamey" way to do all kinds of (to me at least) historically silly things, just to get a game advantage.  I remember playing a Barbarossa game of some sort against a guy who "won" the game, but had decimated his own forces in doing so (I was playing the Germans).  He almost got voilent when I said "Well, you won the game, but the Germans won the war."  He had no interest in worrying about the historicity of his play style.  Winning is all he was interested in.  And, as we all know, the degree of historicity depends exclusively on the sophistication of the modelling in the game.  Thos old board games had a lot of systems that were poor models of reality.
 
So, I guess the bottom line is that if AE was not designed to almost guarantee total Allied dominance by the end of the game, wouldn't it be less credible as a simulation?  Shouldn't JFBs be trying to keep the Allies out of PI, or invade India (and not get thrown out), or completely take China, or take PH, or Australia, or any myriad things that the real men from Nippon did not do?  To me, regardless of what the game rule says, that would be a Japanese "victory" in game terms.
 

ORIGINAL: oldman45

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109

Or a more neutral one so none of the fanboys can be upset.....LargeSlowTarget's island girls!

I would happily vote for that!!

I second that motion !

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

ORIGINAL: Terminus

The issue is that AE is a commercial product, so we can't just put stuff in there, like we do all the time in forum posts.

Good excuse to defend AFB aspect of this game! So, you refuse to balance the game with proper pics?! [X(]

Yeah, maybe they could patch it to show US soldiers being force-marched after Bataan fell, or POW's being beheaded by Japanese guards, or young men trying to fly their planes into carriers with just a few hours' training, or Japanese soldiers brutalizing Chinese civilians.

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

Yeah, maybe they could patch it to show US soldiers being force-marched after Bataan fell, or POW's being beheaded by Japanese guards, or young men trying to fly their planes into carriers with just a few hours' training, or Japanese soldiers brutalizing Chinese civilians.

Not helpful.

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

ORIGINAL: Terminus

The issue is that AE is a commercial product, so we can't just put stuff in there, like we do all the time in forum posts.

Good excuse to defend AFB aspect of this game! So, you refuse to balance the game with proper pics?! [X(]

The pictures used for the opening screens are basic .bmp files. If you do not like them, make your own to fit your own tastes. Or, if you are severly graphically challenged (like I am), if you make a civil request to some of the graphic experts here, I'm sure you can find someone that will help you.

Or, as others have said, go to http://mathubert.free.fr/ and look under ART. There are some great Japanese themed art work/loading screens that were made for WITP that I'm sure will still work for AE.

Well, don't know what to say, guys. [:-] Obviously many of you are in no mood for jokes today... So, I'll request more visually balanced game in a few days when you calm down.... [8|]

Hey lookey! The little green button works as designed! Thanks, Matrix for putting this in the forums for us!

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

Yeah, maybe they could patch it to show US soldiers being force-marched after Bataan fell, or POW's being beheaded by Japanese guards, or young men trying to fly their planes into carriers with just a few hours' training, or Japanese soldiers brutalizing Chinese civilians.

Brilliant [8|] What a fantastic, and well balanced, input.

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Hey lookey! The little green button works as designed! Thanks, Matrix for putting this in the forums for us!

Yep! I add a new one to my GB list about every day. Fortunately, you have an unlimited number since the world will never run out of idiots.

Well, maybe limiting the speed of the Allied reaction would be the way to go, simply adding 25th + 26th+ 23rd (Americal) division to (R) Commands.  The Player would still have them in the field faster then historical.. he just would not have them during January 1942!

I'd personally like to know who exactly thought that this stupid thread was worth resurrecting...