Sorry for the newb'esque question. Smoke SA takes effect immediately. Does anyone mod this rule to take effect before surface attack by either side, regardless of who has initiative ?
Does anyone mod to smoke to be activated at end of surface movement, such that it can conceal against initial air attack ?
I haven't done either of those mods. Having smoke take effect immediately is such a core mechanic tied to initiative that I have a hard time seeing most people going along with it. I am personally in the camp that agrees with RB that winning initiative should require the winner to go second. It works well in this game. There needs to be some "out of your control" elements in the game IMO. That also makes smoke a very interesting game mechanic. I haven't thought about activating smoke to affect the first air attack. If you stay in smoke, or move into it on the next turn you can get the benefit against air of course. One problem with allowing smoke at the end of the sea movement phase is that it would be out-of-sync with the attack phase. That would require "system memory" (tokens or something) to remember that you can't use your attacks when the surface attack phase comes up. I personally have very little "system memory" so those kinds of mods usually just mess me up because I forget to use them.
Have you ever played with squalls? Our game club loves them. They are also "out of our control", but they frequently make the game more "interesting."
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Awesome answer to my question, and has given me more to think about ! DefinitelY will work in squalls again, have before and its a lot of fun.
I always assumed that initiative winner had choice, but generally chooses to go second. Smoke may definitely put me in the RB camp on this.
I was caught flat footed when a player brought lots of British smoking DD's to battle (and I was supposed to be game referee). Just had not seen such a wall of smoke tactic before - was hugely effective.
Awesome answer to my question, and has given me more to think about ! DefinitelY will work in squalls again, have before and its a lot of fun.
I always assumed that initiative winner had choice, but generally chooses to go second. Smoke may definitely put me in the RB camp on this.
I was caught flat footed when a player brought lots of British smoking DD's to battle (and I was supposed to be game referee). Just had not seen such a wall of smoke tactic before - was hugely effective.
Thanks for reply Weedsrock2, much appreciated.
You are welcome.
One of the tactics if you are going to use a "smoker fleet" is to make sure you don't put any initiative boosters (flag, flotilla SAs, etc) in your build. With smokers you WANT to lose initiative so you go second. It's still a wildcard, but try to optimize it as best you can.
A lot of people don't realize that winning initiative requires you to go second in this game. (Page 4 of the rulebook). Most games let the winner choose, including the land game. Initiative has a big effect on aircraft placement as well with SAs (like Seaplane Detachments) that work with initiative at least indirectly.
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