Fighter Cover Note

[RTGRuss]

Hi Guys,

Victory! has always had a fighter cover issue where FC forces from two nations could respond when a given province and city were under the control of two different nations.   An attack on the city can provoke the response of the FC of the city owner (correct) and the province owner (technically incorrect) because of the way the code is checking ownership (Note:  I'm not 100% sure if it works the other way with an attack on a province).   As many of you know the game code for Victory! is ancient, dating back to the early 90s and my ability to make changes is limited.  I've looked at this particular issue and it is buried too deep in the old code for me to do anything about at this time.

Generally this would not come up very often, just due to odd circumstances, and I could make adjustments to both sides but I believe that some players are starting to use this code issue deliberately so it is likely to come up more often and I can't keeping making adjustments for something that is happening more frequently, etc.   In some cases, if the combined FC turns back an attack for example, there really isn't anything I can do.   There are valid reasons for both nations to cover their forces with FC so I can't simply tell folks not to do it or else.   It is only when they work together that they do something most players don't expect because it isn't in the rules.

Some players, aware of the issue, have gone out of their way to avoid using it and that is always an option, as is done in some games where players agree not to use a certain tactic (air drops, etc.).  That works as long as both sides hold to the agreement.    In this case, I think that the best option going forward is to talk about the issue and make everyone aware of it so that there are no surprises when it is encountered.   

In the grand scheme of things, it actually may not be such a bad thing.   Splitting control of province and city has some drawbacks so it can't be used all the time and getting extra fighters involved from time to time will slow down the offensive juggernaut that tends to be air power in Victory! (waves & waves of bombers that can't really be stopped except maybe through attrition and insufficient AIR production by your enemies).   The 1995 rules change dropped AIR production from 20 to 10 per factory - air power really was king back in those days - but air power is still pretty dominant.   Making the life of bomber crews a little more dangerous may help with balance a bit.

So, spread the word and know going forward that when the province and city of a given location is split between two nations that there is the chance of FC from both jumping in on an air attack.   If you want to have a gentleman's agreement with your enemies not to deliberately use the tactic that's fine of course, if the war is anything goes then we want as many people to be aware of it.  Unfortunately this note will probably increase the frequency it is encountered but if it is going to be used by some anyway then better everyone be on the same page.

Russ

[Falco]

Quite a change to add for running games, even worse for games past the halfway point.

[RTGRuss]

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 7:08 AM, Falco said:

Quite a change to add for running games, even worse for games past the halfway point.

If it was something that I was adding deliberately then it would only be in new games but this was a case of an existing issue that can't be corrected.  As knowledge of it spread it would be used deliberately by more folks and there was only so much correcting I could do when it came up.   If I were able to correct the code to remove the issue I would have done so.   I can't continue to make partial corrections whenever it comes up so it is something that we'll all have to live with for now.  Best that everybody be on the same page, be aware of the issue and when it can occur.  There are some drawbacks to the situation when it comes up as well.

Russ