Assault rule changes

[borsook79]

ORIGINAL: 1925frank

I finally downloaded and installed 1.04, and I reviewed the article by Jason and Wyatt on how the new assaults work. 

I remember in the old Talonsoft manuals, an author recommended you'd probably be better off with two assaults at 2-to-1 odds than one assault at 4-to-1 odds.  I think that'd be even truer with the new assault rules than with the old assault rules. 

If I understand correctly, 25 percent of the time the assault result will be completely independent of the odds.  Fifteen percent of the time the attacker has a chance of winning regardless of the odds, and ten percent of the time the defender has a chance of winning regardless of the odds.  If this is true, then an attacker takes a risk of putting all his eggs in one basket, because in 1 out of 4 instances, the superiority of the assaulting force is irrelevant.  The assaulting force is probably better off making a couple assaults at lower odds or perhaps even multiple assaults at unfavorable odds.

I've read posts where players have tried desperation assaults and won much to their surprise, and I've read posts where players have been thoroughly frustrated because there was no conceivable way the assault should have failed. The above would explain both.

But is this really a good idea? Should there be a chance to win the assault no matter what? I am not really sure whether this makes sense... esp at such a high chance.