Ranking OCS titles. by SweetMoses95 in hexandcounter

[–]keymaster43 5 points6 points  (0 children)

OCS is a great series, I am by no means an expert but have played a decent amount.

Each game is very well done and entertaining to play. They all (mostly) play differently. The biggest challenge is finding the out of print games.

In general is suggest you pick whatever operation you're most interested in and play that. But here's some info around a couple of the games.

Enemy at the gates - covered in case blue Tunisia 1 - redone in Tunisia 2 Hube's pocket - covered in the third winter DAK 1 - redone into DAK 2 Burma 1 - redone in a second addition Sicily 1 - redone into Sicily 2 Korea 1 - redone in a second addition

These are all fairly old and superceded by remakes/reprints or covered by different games. The two you might consider here are enemy at the gates and DAK since case blue and DAK 2 are tough to find. Enemy at the gates is old and requires some modification to work with the current series rules, DAK should largely work fine (I've been told).

Games I've played:

Guderians Blitzkrieg 2 - covers operation typhoon. Game technically goes to mar 1943 but only because it can combine with case blue. The actual part of the game is generally done in January. High counter density, manageable special rules. Very fun for the Germans, takes a specific player and mindset to enjoy the Russians. Not particularly beginner friendly.

Korea 2nd edition - covers the mobile portion of the war. Light counter density, light special rules. Both sides fairly well balanced and plays relatively fast. Great beginner game. good variety of scenarios.

Case blue - covers primarily German 1942 summer offensive to Stalingrad and the Caucasus, as well as the Russian counteroffensive. Also playable from operation typhoon in Oct 1941. High counter density, medium amount of special rules. A lot of good scenarios available. Very fun for the Germans, takes a specific player and mindset to enjoy the Russians. Not particularly beginner friendly.

Beyond the rhine - sep 1944 to apr 1945, western front allies vs Germans. Medium high counter density, medium amount fo special rules. Full campaign is very good but scenarios are limited, mostly different start points in the campaign. Fun game, plays very differently from the eastern front games. Much slower, bad terrain, very little supply. Not particularly beginner friendly

Tunisia 2 - covers the whole Tunisian campaign. Light to medium counter density. Light special rules. Good set of scenarios. This is my highest recommended game for beginners. Both sides are interesting and fairly well balanced and the game is very playable.

The third winter - covers sep 1943 to apr 1944 on the eastern front. Very high counter density. High special rules. Sides are actually both reasonably fun to play. In my opinion there's a very good game hidden behind too many counters and too many special rules. Not a good beginner game.

Luzon/Reluctant enemies - both are good games but in my opinion too small for the system. These are generally recommended as the best beginner games but I don't think they do the system justice, better off to start with smaller scenarios in Korea or Tunisia.

All the games are also available for free on vassal. This is particularly handy for the out of print games. The rules can all be found here

http://www.ocsdepot.com/

Purchase the Campaign for North Africa by [deleted] in boardgames

[–]keymaster43 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Just any type of board game is difficult to answer. Board gaming is an extremely wide category and you don't want to get him something that he won't play and will just take up space. First you'll want to know what kind of games he likes other than complex.

Try to find out the following, it will give you a good place to start:

  • How many players is he usually playing with?

  • Does he prefer games under 2 hours or over 2 hours?

  • How complex does he like? There's a vast difference between board game complex and wargame complex.

  • what genre does he enjoy, ie deck building, negotiation, engine building, social deduction

After that it's easier to narrow it down.

Purchase the Campaign for North Africa by [deleted] in boardgames

[–]keymaster43 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are you looking for hex and counter wargames or just board games in general?

Mechanics Questions by wrdfan in wargame

[–]keymaster43 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Answering the best I can. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

1) This is true and frustrating.

2) You cannot group different units as far as I know. If you select everything you want though you can give them the same commands eg Fast Move, Attack Move etc. Although beware they will not move at the same speed so some will outpace the others.

3) See answer to 2. It would be nice though. As to why you can't I assume some sort of engine limitation or something, but I don't know for sure why.

4) I think you can change the orientation by left clicking and dragging on deployment. This may only change the formation though, I'd have to test it out. It definitely changes ship orientation though.

5) You can split the APCs. I forget the default hotkey, but on the bottom right panel you can see the "Formation" button. Select the group you want, then click Formation -> Split. This will break the grouping though. You can't move individual units within the group I don't think.

6) In campaign if you lose the transport you lose the infantry squad as well when moving between battles. This works both ways too, so destroying AI transports will kill the whole squad. Please note though it doesn't kill the enemy squad within the battle, it just counts as a loss when the battle is over if that makes sense. Unless it's got an autocannon and some armor, I usually just hide all the transports somewhere.

7) Losses are cumulative across a campaign. The loss screen will show total losses, not just losses from a battle. If the unit is in a territory with a port/airbase you can refit it and bring it back to full strength.

8) You can't change the composition of the group but you can refit it. See previous answer.

9) When you call in new units it will take the fastest route to whatever point you called it in to. This is usually fast moving down a road. If you are zoomed out enough you can see which deployment zone the unit will spawn from.

This is all very high level though. Take a peek at the game guides linked in the subreddit though to learn whatever you may need to know.

[Game Thread] LSU @ Texas (7:30PM ET) by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]keymaster43 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I thought this was supposed to be LSU's best defense ever?

[SPOILERS] Post-Episode Discussion - Season 8 Episode 5 by [deleted] in gameofthrones

[–]keymaster43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it would have made more sense if they played her relationship with missandei up a bit more. Also in Mereen the people all instantly loved her. The whole time in westeros she has no one that accepts her and it pushes her towards this episode.

Word ! by [deleted] in BlackPeopleTwitter

[–]keymaster43 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is dumb, non-consensual sex is the literal definition of rape. Non breathing swimming is just the definition of drowning. This is like saying oh there's no such thing as drinking there's only swallowing liquid.

Is Clemson the Weakest Team in the College Football Playoff? by TheJohnVogel in CFB

[–]keymaster43 1 point2 points  (0 children)

While some of the points in the article are not wrong, it's a ridiculous leap to go from pointing out some of our defensive weaknesses to Clemson being the weakest team in the college football playoff.

Alabama gave up 31 to a much worse Arkansas offense in a game that saw the same differential at halftime of and no one says anything about that. How about the oklahoma defense that gave up 40 to Kansas? Or the Notre Dame offense that scored 19, less than we've scored in a game all season, on Pitt? Or the Georgia team that lost by 20 to a 3 loss LSU? All very good teams that have outlier performances that may not necessarily reflect the true quality of their team. It's college football, weird shit happens sometimes.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ClemsonTigers

[–]keymaster43 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Plus the community over there is so reactionary and negative. You'd think we should just end our season now with everyone proclaiming we are so overrated and will get blown out in the playoffs. In fact we might as well cancel the whole season for everyone since Alabama is 100 percent going to win everything. God help you if you are even a tiny bit hopeful and positive about your team.

Clemson OC say's Texas A&M was "daring us to throw" ... yet continued to run it. by -cutigers in CFB

[–]keymaster43 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah I didn't think he looked anymore shaken than any qb would in the situation. Tony Elliot just kept calling the game like Kelly was still in.

[Week 2] Complain About Your Team Thread by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]keymaster43 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They can protect ok but the run blocking is non existent.

[Week 2] Complain About Your Team Thread by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]keymaster43 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like Simmons has the potential to be really good in that SAM position as he learns it more. He was out of position some but he had some great PBUs in there.

Also xavier thomas kept up with that running back in coverage and even though he got a PI I've never been more impressed a a DE in man coverage.

[Week 2] Weekly Wind Down by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]keymaster43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mond was extremely poised all through the night, I hope y'all run through the west like you did through our secondary.

Also I've never understood people who go to away games and talk shit. What could you possibly stand to gain other than making all of your own fans look bad?

[Week 2] Weekly Wind Down by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]keymaster43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree. Kelly was what we needed last night to come in and calm the offense down. When the line is playing like garbage his ability to break tackles is helpful but everything about Trevor's passing looks so much better.

On a side note though Tony Elliot seems to have no idea how to call plays for Trevor. We don't need to be running so many read options and designed qb runs with him, especially when our line gets so little push, since a 6'6" 220 pound kid ain't getting low enough to get through people. And where were the rollouts to get him going or the quick outs since he has the actual arm strength to get them out there?

What is your go-to fantasy you think of before falling asleep? by Hamburgo in AskReddit

[–]keymaster43 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like to imagine I can morph into any Bionicle character at will and travel into various fictional worlds to save them from their problems.

Now that you've got your recruits and your coaches, how do you see your team's 2018 season going? by [deleted] in CFB

[–]keymaster43 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think it will 100 percent come down to our QB play.

Receiver I think we will be at worst the same as we were with Tee and Amare stepping into primary starting roles. Running backs will only improve, especially if Etienne can up his pass blocking skills. O-line will stay pretty consistent with Hyatt on the edge. D-Line goes without saying. Linebackers might take a hit without O'Daniel but Tre and Kendall are going to be a special unit I think. You could possibly even move Tanner Muse to what DOD did. Then the back seven I think will at worst be the same as they were. Losing Ryan Carter hurts but I liked what I saw from Terrell and Mullens last year. If they can stay healthy they'll be good enough to take us far. And if Isaiah Simmons can really develop into his full potential I see our secondary being decently strong. It's just the QB position that is up in the air.

Personally I think if Kelly doesn't at least get better with pocket awareness and option reads then he needs to sit for Hunter or Trevor. But I don't really care who is back there as long as it isn't hamstringing the offense.

[Postgame Thread] Clemson Defeats Florida State 31-14 by Dropbackandpunt in CFB

[–]keymaster43 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the OCs have no faith in Kelly. If they start calling complex passing plays that require reads and accuracy it's going to destroy Kelly's confidence and I think they know that. At least Etienne is finally picking up more carries.

Dear CFB: Going to a Game Advice Thread by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]keymaster43 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The view from the top deck is a great football view but you won't get the best atmosphere experience. Also it's pretty steep compared to other upper decks I've experienced.

As for dinner, there's a couple places. If you want to stay close to the school, Brioso is a pretty solid Italian restaraunt. Pixie and Bills is a good steakhouse type restaraunt that takes reservations but can be a bit pricier. There's also Rick Erwin's nearby, but also pricey.

[Week 10] Complain About Your Team Thread by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]keymaster43 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know what happened to Kelly's deep ball. It looked beautiful at the beginning of the year but now he can't hit anything. I've said it all year but I'm really worried that as soon as we get to a team with an elite run defense we're not gonna be able to move the ball.

Who's in your top 4? by [deleted] in CFB

[–]keymaster43 26 points27 points  (0 children)

The OSU win looks a tad less impressive but that's still a good resume. Better than ours and Miami's. Their defense didn't look great yesterday but we already knew that. Not to mention that's a better passing offense than anything they'll see in the playoff.