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Author Topic: Questions on solitaire problems  (Read 7779 times)

judgedredd

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on: January 23, 2021, 08:33:20 AM
During reading the rules for OST, I wondered how I would deal with something like mines.

The player would secretly record where a minefield was and reveal it when an enemy unit entered the hex.

For solitaire that's obviously not possible.

I thought perhaps I could roll a die...either every time or when I wanted to...and on a roll of 6 the minefield shows up and I would reveal the minefield.

I'm not sure if that's a good way to implement it...but it was the first thing that came into my head.

So...throwing this out there to all you gamers...how would you deal with OBA or hidden minefields or other hidden items?

Do any of you have a way of dealing with these solitaire problems in two player games?



bayonetbrant

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Reply #1 on: January 23, 2021, 08:42:57 AM
One way to do it is what you described - random chance until there's been X number of them revealed, then no more after that.
you can tweak that slightly to weight the odds
-----  after a certain number of consecutive 'misses' you start increasing the odds of a 'hit'
or
-----  after one is revealed, the odds of an adjacent hex having mines increases


Another way is to scramble a bunch of counters face down, some w/ mines and some not, and either put them on the map, or put them on a list of map hexes that could be mined, and reveal them as you go.
The advantage to that one is that you know the right quantity of mines will be out there (ie, the enemy used all of them) instead of the random die-roll that might leave some mines unused

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bbmike

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Reply #2 on: January 23, 2021, 08:51:15 AM
Brant is on the right path to solo enlightenment. When a unit enters an area where the enemy might have placed a mine you would roll to see if a mine was there (based on the number of mines). As mines are discovered, the percent chance would change. Blank chits and mine chits on the board is another way.

I really need to start talking more about 'how to' solo play on my channel.  8)

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judgedredd

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Reply #3 on: January 23, 2021, 09:04:02 AM
Cool. Thanks for your thoughts.

Mike...what's your channel?



bbmike

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Reply #4 on: January 23, 2021, 09:14:28 AM

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
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Barthheart

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Reply #5 on: January 23, 2021, 01:27:28 PM
If you were playing someone else you'd have a good guess at where the mines were likely to be.
Multiply the number of mines available by 2, or 3x or whatever I use 2x,  and chose that many likely hexes the could have mines.
Place any kind of marker there.
When you move a unit(s) into a markered hex, roll a die.
50% chance there is a mine there, if you used 2x the mines, 33% if you used 3x etc.

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judgedredd

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Reply #6 on: January 23, 2021, 01:39:50 PM
 :bigthumb:



judgedredd

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Reply #7 on: January 30, 2021, 05:50:40 AM
I have another solitaire question...I'd be interested in people's thoughts.

I've came across a slight dilemma with OST - I'd be interested in other people's perceptions or ideas.

The Americans got 8 impulse points and the Germans got 4. In terms of victory, the German's are behind in casualties though they have 2 of the 3 victory points.

They decided to roll against an officer and a squad. It was 2 impulse points to use...but as a group (officer, 1 squad+LMG and 1 1/2 squad+BAR) they were rolling at +5 (9 attack v 4 defence)...that's a great column to roll on. They would also get a +1 on the die roll for having an officer with them. They rolled a double 1 - fell off my chair!!

Anyway - point was, they used 2 of their 4 impulse points. The US went and then the Germans tried the same attack (with a slightly better result!)...but their impulse points are all gone.

Now - sorry for the story - but here's the dilemma...I now know the Germans are out of impulse points and I could move a US squad to take one of the victory points which have no German units on it. I know I can do this risk free...but the point is, IRL the US wouldn't know how safe it was...there are two squads about 4 hexes away from the US unit and the VP and if they had impulse points left, the Germans would be able to shoot...so as the US I wouldn't necessarily make such a move.

Point is - I'm not even thinking about it. It's not an issue. I know I can just saunter across open ground and take the victory hex...but I shouldn't be able to do that risk free.

I was thinking about a house rule where, if there's LoS then I could (just once) do a die roll for a snap fire. Maybe on a 3 or above - to keep it close and actually make the US (me) double think the risk. And it would do - because I know the Germans need casualties and moving recklessly like this could give them one or 2 points...maybe even 3 if the officer is killed also.

Currently there's no risk.

What do ya'll think? House rules really aren't bad - just wondering if this seemed like an appropriate one to put in place?

It would only be done once on that US unit's movement and only if the Germans were out of impulse points (of course the same applies if the boot's on the other foot).

I just don't think the US, knowing the Germans are down there, that they should be able to run across open terrain to grab a victory point



judgedredd

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Reply #8 on: January 30, 2021, 06:07:54 AM
Well - I did implement it and I didn't move them - so it worked  :2funny:



bayonetbrant

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Reply #9 on: January 30, 2021, 07:18:19 AM
Well - I did implement it and I didn't move them - so it worked  :2funny:

I'm so glad we could contribute to your eventual solution by doing absolutely nothing to answer your original question  :biggrin:

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judgedredd

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Reply #10 on: January 30, 2021, 07:24:09 AM
lol - thank you one and all.

I've just remembered though that OST actually has a mechanism that fits the bill. It's Intensive Fire which can be used by a unit that is in a status of USED. So actually no die roll needed in OST - just use Intensive Fire...and -1 on the unit's FP



Barthheart

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Reply #11 on: January 30, 2021, 08:00:49 AM
But running out of Impulse points in part of the game mechanics of not letting you do everything all the time.

Think of it as the Germans are so focused on that one fight that they are ignoring the other part of the battle field. They don't actually notice you saunter over and take the VP OR the ones that do see you don't get orders to fire at you. Time continuum thing. everything is happening at the same time during a turn.
It's the same in LnLT that if you've fired you can get rushed and not be able to fire again.

As for Intensive Fire, you still need an impulse point to use it. It just lets you fire one extra time at the cost of becoming shaken.

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judgedredd

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Reply #12 on: January 30, 2021, 08:14:38 AM
Ah yes...of course you do.

I take your point. I do then have to think as the Germans if I want to keep the impulse point. I just took the view as I'm playing both sides that I was cheating allowing the Americans to do it - but it was because the Germans wanted to attack the US unit (and had to a second time due to a terrible roll on a fantastic CRT column)...protect the VP or attack

It wasn't going to affect the outcome anyway.

See - it's always handy having a second opinion on potential house rules.  :applause:



Barthheart

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Reply #13 on: January 30, 2021, 08:27:28 AM
House rules are fine. It's your game after all so play it your way. Especially solo, who's gonna complain? :bigthumb:

Me, I almost always play without house rules. Especially the first few play throughs to make sure I understand what the game is trying to tell me about the battle.
After that, I sometimes add or subtract rules that I think interfere with the game as I see it. I also try to read up on what others are changing. Most of the time all I read is fundamental changes as people are trying to make the game what it was never meant to be.

But again, you paid the money, it's your toy now. Never let anyone tell you how to have fun with it.  ;)

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SherylB

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Reply #14 on: February 14, 2023, 07:50:11 AM
< - - - - -  SPAMMER, same IP as Kevin662
« Last Edit: March 16, 2023, 03:10:38 PM by bayonetbrant »