Matrix Games Forums

I'm looking to add a section on some common house rules to my Newbie FAQ (and to also clarify some things in my mind).
I do realise they everyone has different views on these things, but want to try build a basic set of common sense rules.

All of these have been cut / pasted from 'looking for opponent' forum then I tried to group common ones together.

Any comments / suggestions / clarifications would be appreciated.

Cheers

Dave


1. TURN 1
No allied CV hunting on turn 1.
Japanese player knows where they are, too easy to find and sink.

2. 4 ENGINE BOMBERS
No 4 E naval bombing below 10,000ft
Too Effective / Not Historical ?

3. POLITICAL POINTS
Permanently Restricted Units must not cross national Borders.
Full PP for transfer of units from restricted HQs
i.e. PP to move out of Kwantung/Manchuko, India & China.
No switching land unit to air HQs etc. to do this cheaply
Full PP to transfer units from restricted HQs to allow movement across borders.
Thai forces can not move out of 3 hexes of their national frontier.
AVG must remain in Burma or China.
Various fixes to correct issues with the PP systems shortcomings.

4. NIGHT AIR ATTACKS
Restrict continuous night attacks or any night attack early in the war (until 1944?)
Not historical?

5. INVASIONS / LAND COMBAT
No sub invasions.
No airdropping 1 squad via airdrop.
Only allow landings/invasions at dots hexes or bases.
No use of portions of parachute units to seize hex's
No unit fragment to cut off retreat, Units blocking retreats must be of realistic size (brigade or above).
Only airdrop a unit on a target if it has at least 40 Prep Points on the target it’s dropped on.
Gamey Tactics ? 

6. STRATEGIC BOMBING
No strategic bombing in or out of China until 4/43
No Chinese City bombing until 1944.
No bombing of Chinese Industry.
Stop unbalancing of China Theatre?

7. NAVAL MOVEMENT
Malacca strait must not be crossed by IJN surface ships until Singapore is in IJA hands.
Workaround for Naval guns shortcomings at Singapore?

8. PT BOATS
All PT in the same hex must be in one TF.
Gamey?

9. ART
Only two independent artillery units may bombard for each division in the hex.
Stops Japanese Death Star Atrillery / Evacuation of all ART from Manchuria?

10.AIR COMBAT
Maximum mission altitude for fighters resticted to band with maximum maneuverability.
Helps with constant 'Dive' when using max altitude

Air Combat
Maximum mission altitude for fighters resticted to band with maximum maneuverability.
I don't use this but sometimes it makes sense.

RESTRICTED UNITS should be prohibited from crossing national borders. This is a necessary rule.

Others are fine, though many shouldn't need to be listed and are common sense (like dropping 2 para squads on a stack to reduce AV)

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

RESTRICTED UNITS should be prohibited from crossing national borders. This is a necessary rule.

Thanks, thats what I meant to say will reword.

ORIGINAL: jomni

Air Combat
Maximum mission altitude for fighters resticted to band with maximum maneuverability.
I don't use this but sometimes it makes sense.

Think this may be force fixed in an upcoming patch to deal with the max altitude sweep / cap / dive etc.

That's a-lot of meatballs...not my cup of tea,

but if you and your opponent agree...

I'm not trying to create a definitive list, just get some input & clarification on various house rules I've seen suggested on the 'looking for players' forum.

Think of it as a smorgasboard that a player new to PBEM can look through and pick a few to suggest to their opponent.

1.My rule is the cap can fly at 26,000 feet Max and sweeps can not go over 25,000 feet Max works well for us helps defender.

2.PBYs no torps until june 42 to stop gamey use of these planes

3.Allied subs that are not at sea Dec 7 cannot go on attack missions until the new year as most were not able to...(if anyone has record and any sinkings by allied subs (1941) on the japanese please share )
4. US and the KB carriers return to port after Dec 7.

OK, here are a few thoughts on some.  I think you know by now I believe in few and play with only one.

1.  If american CV's dont replot on T1, why shouldnt they be targets for KB
2.  Naval attack skill must be trained to be effective in LB's.  there should be no definitive extra hurdle.  
3.  Sub raiding / attacks have historical basis.  There is no reason to remove this.
4.  Attack only at bases...no historical basis for this.
5.  IJN restriction on Malacca straight.  Why would you limit the empire this way?
6.  PT boat 'fragment' TF's.  I get the target here, but disagree there is a need.  Also, Are players not allowed to have mulitple single DD TF's or any other ship type also?
7.  Artillery is a marginal multiplier.  no cutdown is needed
8.  prep points required for para...why?
9.  Uber A2A altitude advantage fix.  No need for this.

Thai forces can not move out of 3 hexes of their national frontier.

 
I wonder why some insist on this when the developers hardcoded the troops to Thailand and didn't the RTA  bail on Imperial forces when the war went south?

The thai only join the japanese to keep the peace Because the thai people were not intrested in the war at all they just want to be left alone....same now days they dont give a Rats Ass..its great that is hard coded.

ORIGINAL: tigercub

The thai only join the japanese to keep the peace Because the thai people were not intrested in the war at all they just want to be left alone....same now days they dont give a Rats Ass..its great that is hard coded.

I will use them to hold a few places like Tavoy, etc on the Andaman sea.

No rules. One day I will play this game w/ no rules. As japan I will probably have to deal w/the indian army at palembang.

ORIGINAL: tigercub

3.Allied subs that are not at sea Dec 7 cannot go on attack missions until the new year as most were not able to...(if anyone has record and any sinkings by allied subs (1941) on the japanese please share )

The first US submarine left Manila on war patrol on Dec 8, 1941. The first left PH on Dec 11. This would be a pretty useless and ahistoric HR.

ORIGINAL: topeverest

OK, here are a few thoughts on some.  I think you know by now I believe in few and play with only one.

1.  If american CV's don't re-plot on T1, why shouldn't they be targets for KB

How about "because the Japanese didn't have a clue where in several million square miles of ocean they were."? You (the player) may know with the advantage of hindsight..., but Nagumo & Co. certainly did not.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: tigercub

3.Allied subs that are not at sea Dec 7 cannot go on attack missions until the new year as most were not able to...(if anyone has record and any sinkings by allied subs (1941) on the japanese please share )

The first US submarine left Manila on war patrol on Dec 8, 1941. The first left PH on Dec 11. This would be a pretty useless and ahistoric HR.

They sent some and only a few but what did they do...zip....with full control in the game you can kill a lot of ships because there are so many japanese ship running around its far from what happend..so we use only the ones as sea, they get they day in the sun...as far as i can find around 30 ships were lost by the japanese to feb 42 all causes.

from were i set its fair....but each to his own.

According to Silent Victory by Clay Blair

7 patrols left PH in December, 7 sinkings were claimed though JANAC only credited 4.
Due to the 20 day trip to japanese waters it was not until 31/12/41 Gudgeon fired on a Freighter.

There were a further 2 patrols at both Midway & Wake for no claims.

Just my comments:

Artillery death star got beat to death with the nerf bat. That rule is unnecessary now.

Aerial Mining: I generally play with a rule limiting this to 1 squadron per turn and not done at all until 1944 since the mission can not be intercepted.

ORIGINAL: bigred

No rules. One day I will play this game w/ no rules. As japan I will probably have to deal w/the indian army at palembang.

probably not, because the Indian Army is mostly restricted so can´t be moved to Palembang without paying the pp, which is how it is supposed. Therefor also the rule about crossing borders with restricted units.

ORIGINAL: tigercub

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: tigercub

3.Allied subs that are not at sea Dec 7 cannot go on attack missions until the new year as most were not able to...(if anyone has record and any sinkings by allied subs (1941) on the japanese please share )

The first US submarine left Manila on war patrol on Dec 8, 1941. The first left PH on Dec 11. This would be a pretty useless and ahistoric HR.

They sent some and only a few but what did they do...zip....with full control in the game you can kill a lot of ships because there are so many japanese ship running around its far from what happend..so we use only the ones as sea, they get they day in the sun...as far as i can find around 30 ships were lost by the japanese to feb 42 all causes.

from were i set its fair....but each to his own.

In all fairness saying "The allied player cannot fight a successful sub war in Dec 1941 cause it didn't happen in real life" would be about on par with a HR that says "The japanese player must allow 4 of his carriers to be sunk by mid 1942, because thats what happened...."

Just my 2c. Obviously Each to their own.