Cygnus
05-23-2005, 10:15 PM
There's really no other area of the boards I could post this but, I found a pretty nice open source version of Axis and Allies. Here's the site. (http://triplea.sourceforge.net/)
For those of you who don't know, Axis and Allies, is a war board game produced by Avalon Hill (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/welcome)which is the same company which prints Diplomacy. The similarities basically end there between the two games.
Diplomacy is based around a pre-WW1 world. It's units are mainly geo-political (I mean one fleet can't control Axis and Allies on the other) and battles do not rely on chance but rather skill and cunning. There are no formal alliances and only one winner.
Axis and Allies occurs in the midst of World War Two, with the Axis powers at their height. There are a veriaty of units each with different attack values and costs. Dice is used to determine combat damage, so some luck is added, but some units are more powerful and thus have a better chance of scoring a hit. In the standard game their are two alliances the Axis powers of Germany and Japan, who have the strongest militaries but weaker economic power. On the other hand the alliances have the reasources but not the military might. Thus the Axis are racing to expand their empires as fast as possible before the Allies can use their superior economic strength to overwhelm their enemies. On the other hand the allies must struggle to defend their realms until their newly built men turn the tide.
Thus economics plays a much greater role in A&A. Some territories provide more income than others. You use this money in turn to then buy a variety of land, sea and air units, units are then placed in existing Industrial complexes. You can purchase new I.C. but they're pretty expensive and you can't build on them in the first turn you place them on the board thus they can also be a risky investment.
Each power also has different styles of play, also in the order of play per turn:
Soviet Union is in the middle of an invasion by Germany and usually produces hordes of infantry to slowly push back the Nazi invasion. Japan is always a threat on your Far Eastern territories.
Germany is always the center of attention. With the strongest army on the board it's going to be doing to be doing most of the offencive fighting at the beginning. But Germany is also surrounded by the three Allies: the UK, the US and the USSR. Sooner of later you'll face their combined might and you need the reasources of the Middle East, Africa and Russia if you want to resist them.
United Kingdom has a large diverse empire spread all over the globe. It's fleets surround Nazi Germany and your naval presence in the Pacific is strong but they won't protect you for long since your Axis rivals know that this is your greatest strength. Soon you'll be trying to defend isolated parts of your empire such as Egypt, India and Australia all the while trying to build up a force to land in Norway or France.
Japan is at it's height in the Pacific and also has the most options of attack. Your fleets are the most powerful in the world and your armies are poised to strike your enemies on land. But you must continue to expand otherwise you will never have the economic power to challenge the United States.
United States, far away from the action, usually only begins the game seeing his forces in China and his carriers in the Pacifc destroyed at the very beginning but he has the economic power to build up a force to take on the Axis. Choose wisely which Axis nation you will focus on because dividing your resources equally against both might cause you to have too little an impact against their power.
Victory cities also play a key role, for whoever controls the victory cities wins the game. The Allies start each with two: Leningrad and Moscow for the USSR, London and India for the UK and Washington and LA for the US. The Axis each start with three: Berlin, Rome and Paris for Germany and Tokyo, Manila and Shanghai for Japan.
Control of these cities gives you the game.
Now the open source version does not have any computer opponents but over the next few days I'm sure we could set up a few multiplayer matches between Diplo rounds. :D
So go ahead and tinker with the game, try to play around with it. Also, again, here's the Avalon Hill link if you missed it! (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/welcome)
For those of you who don't know, Axis and Allies, is a war board game produced by Avalon Hill (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/welcome)which is the same company which prints Diplomacy. The similarities basically end there between the two games.
Diplomacy is based around a pre-WW1 world. It's units are mainly geo-political (I mean one fleet can't control Axis and Allies on the other) and battles do not rely on chance but rather skill and cunning. There are no formal alliances and only one winner.
Axis and Allies occurs in the midst of World War Two, with the Axis powers at their height. There are a veriaty of units each with different attack values and costs. Dice is used to determine combat damage, so some luck is added, but some units are more powerful and thus have a better chance of scoring a hit. In the standard game their are two alliances the Axis powers of Germany and Japan, who have the strongest militaries but weaker economic power. On the other hand the alliances have the reasources but not the military might. Thus the Axis are racing to expand their empires as fast as possible before the Allies can use their superior economic strength to overwhelm their enemies. On the other hand the allies must struggle to defend their realms until their newly built men turn the tide.
Thus economics plays a much greater role in A&A. Some territories provide more income than others. You use this money in turn to then buy a variety of land, sea and air units, units are then placed in existing Industrial complexes. You can purchase new I.C. but they're pretty expensive and you can't build on them in the first turn you place them on the board thus they can also be a risky investment.
Each power also has different styles of play, also in the order of play per turn:
Soviet Union is in the middle of an invasion by Germany and usually produces hordes of infantry to slowly push back the Nazi invasion. Japan is always a threat on your Far Eastern territories.
Germany is always the center of attention. With the strongest army on the board it's going to be doing to be doing most of the offencive fighting at the beginning. But Germany is also surrounded by the three Allies: the UK, the US and the USSR. Sooner of later you'll face their combined might and you need the reasources of the Middle East, Africa and Russia if you want to resist them.
United Kingdom has a large diverse empire spread all over the globe. It's fleets surround Nazi Germany and your naval presence in the Pacific is strong but they won't protect you for long since your Axis rivals know that this is your greatest strength. Soon you'll be trying to defend isolated parts of your empire such as Egypt, India and Australia all the while trying to build up a force to land in Norway or France.
Japan is at it's height in the Pacific and also has the most options of attack. Your fleets are the most powerful in the world and your armies are poised to strike your enemies on land. But you must continue to expand otherwise you will never have the economic power to challenge the United States.
United States, far away from the action, usually only begins the game seeing his forces in China and his carriers in the Pacifc destroyed at the very beginning but he has the economic power to build up a force to take on the Axis. Choose wisely which Axis nation you will focus on because dividing your resources equally against both might cause you to have too little an impact against their power.
Victory cities also play a key role, for whoever controls the victory cities wins the game. The Allies start each with two: Leningrad and Moscow for the USSR, London and India for the UK and Washington and LA for the US. The Axis each start with three: Berlin, Rome and Paris for Germany and Tokyo, Manila and Shanghai for Japan.
Control of these cities gives you the game.
Now the open source version does not have any computer opponents but over the next few days I'm sure we could set up a few multiplayer matches between Diplo rounds. :D
So go ahead and tinker with the game, try to play around with it. Also, again, here's the Avalon Hill link if you missed it! (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/welcome)