This is a historic issue for us, as we unveil the brand new web site.
So what's the fuss over a web-site you ask? This is no BillBoard on the Internet. It is a fully interactive administaterial feature of our club. What's all that mean anyways?
It means that our poor overworked gov't officials will be relieved of most of their daily burdens of recording, assigning, and calculating results of club games.
So why should you use the new site to get your services, when a simple e-mail works just fine for you?
We won't be handling the starts, finishes, and player pool manually anymore, so visiting the site will be the method of obtaining these services from here on out.
So how do you get to the new site?
www.axisandallies.net/index.html
How safe is the site, and is someone gonna mess up my record?
We have assigned each member a passcode. Most features on the site require this passcode to get them to work properly. Visit the site and have your passcode e-mailed to you, and fill in the member information. We won't give your true identity to anyone without your permission, or allow anyone to give your address to junkmailers. Your record can only be adjusted automatically by the system and by the minister of war.
Here's the complete story on the site, by it's creator micwil@sk.sympatico.ca. He had alot of superb help from manuel and halldor who got the trickier aspects of the site to work. The site is new, and some bugs may have gone undetected in testing, so please inform us if you detect something weird, or find uncompleted or improperly linked areas. We all hope the growing pains will be small and shortlived as we make the transition.
News from the Net
Well, the big event is nearly here. The Grand Opening of our new Association website will be occurring on September 1, 1998. Most of it is now working, and all the important areas are functional. Now on to the good stuff.
Where is the new site, anyway?
http://www.axisandallies.net/index.html
What will change with the new Web Site in Place?
Method of Playing Games in the Association
In the past, members would email the Minister of War to request a game number. At the conclusion of the game, the gamefinish information was to be reported to the Minister of Statistics and Minister of War. A game log would be submitted to the Minister of Game Logs. The new procedure is as follows:
You now have a great deal more control over your membership in the IAAPA. Every member has a member profile which should be updated and verified with correct information as soon as possible. This profile includes:
Whenever you request to be added to the player pool, taken off the player pool, challenge another member to a game, accept a challenge from another member, submit a game finish report, confirm a game finish report or submit a log, you will need to verify your identity to the server. This is accomplished by entering in your Alias and your Pass Code#. Your Player ID# and Pass Code# will also work. By default your alias is the first section of your email address so if your email is rhudson1301@hollywood.la.ca then your alias would be rhudson1301@. You can change your alias by accessing the member services section of the website.
New Cool Stuff You Can Now do on the Website
Instead of just challenging people at random, the new website lets you research your opponent before taking him on. Lets say you are a MSGT, trying to break into the officer ranks, and need to take on one of those challenging officers. The prudent approach would be to look through games that specific officers have played and find one that you think plays a style of game that you are able to effectively challenge. For example, lets say you discover (after looking through several stats pages and a couple game logs) that a particular Captain always buys 4 ICs as Japan and never builds any AA guns to protect those ICs. If you are the type of Allied player that likes to use Strategic Bombing Raids to keep Japan's money and expansion in check, this is the sort of player you would like to challenge. In addition, you can see what your potential opponent typically bids in his games, and whether he is the sort that prefers to play Axis (bids between 12 and 17) or Allies (bids between 22 and 27). To reach this area, click on the Online Stats button. This area will gradually expand so that you can search for any parameter you are interested in ie "I want to see a list of games with Allies building ICs in Sinkiang and India that the Allies won".
Well, there is much much more on the new website, so I will let you explore it at your own leisure. A couple of areas that are still under development include the new virtual trophies for tourney winners (a couple of the older tourneys are already completed), and the Online Stats section. Finally, all areas will be gradually enhanced, as always the site is a work in progress. One of the things we are looking at doing (for a small membership fee) is offerring virtual emails for all Association members (so if your email address changes, you will have a non-changing address that all Association members can use to get a hold of you). The way it will work is that we will simply forward all mail to your current email address (which will change) but the email address people use to send you mail will never have to change (something like the following --- lets say ToddVomit was to quit AOL and join another ISP. His email address would change --- but if he had an Association email address (like ToddVomit@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net), then that would never have to change, we would just change wherever it was pointed).
If you have any questions regarding the site, (or find bugs/errors/problems), please email the following robes:
Chancellor of Internet Engineering (Gaming)
Now onto other business
>From the Law Office...
Greetings Fellow Warriors,
I was fortunate to have received a working beta copy of the new Axis and
Allies CD-ROM. I have played it extensively, and then some. :)
Here is a quick rundown on how my playtest went. Keep in mind that there
were no docs provided so I had to wing it. I will try to keep if brief. :)
The game opens with some really neat video clips of the WWII documentary
variety.
The setup screen gives you choices, namely to play against the computer
or multiplayer via the net.
I only tested the "player against the computer" portion. At this point I
don't know of anyone else who has a working copy to try the multiplayer stuff.
TV's disk didn't work.
After selecting the solo play, one goes to the options screen. There are
the usual game play choices and the rules choices.
I thoroughly reviewed the "3rd Edition" rules, but discovered that there
really aren't any. The game lets you toggle between the "original 2nd
Edition" or the "3rd Edition." The 3rd Edition is really just the second
edition with many, many play options and "balance the game" options. I will
go into details about the available options at a later date, once I've had
enough time to try them all in game play.
Next, you have choices for the 5 countries. You can select any
combination of human or computer players. Once this is done, you go to the
main board. One MAJOR caveat here. There was no way to make a bid placement.
You are stuck with the opening setup.
Now on to the game itself. The graphics are superb. The map was
rendered in great detail and was very visually pleasing. You are presented
with a nicely sized portion of the map. There is also a "world view." This
puts the entire map on the screen, but the scale is so small that you cannot
see any of the pieces, rendering it fairly useless. The map window scrolls
fairly easily by moving the mouse off the border. The units are nicely drawn
and each type is represented with a number designating the quantity in the
stack. Movement of the units is excellent! One simply clicks on a unit and
moves the pointer where you want the piece to go. A number appears next to
the unit indicating the movement points and a blue line highlights the unit's
path. It will not let you make an illegal move (at least from a movement
factor standpoint). You then click a second time and the unit is moved. To
move more of the same unit, simply continue to click and the rest follow. A
"move the whole stack" option would be greatly appreciated, as you can get a
charlie horse in your finger when moving large stacks. Once all of the combat
is declared, battle resolution begins.
The resolution window then pops up. It looks and works really well. The
units appear and fire away. After each round you choose casualties and have
the appropriate retreat/withdraw options. As you select them as casualties a
white cross appears over it. :) When all casualties are selected, they blow
up. Pretty cool, although a bit annoying in large battles when there are many
hits. A fair amount of time is spent waiting for them all to blow up.
A big disappointment was the AI. To be honest it truly sucked. I
realize that the programmers are not of General quality, but some many of the
AI's moves bordered on the retarded. The the UK purchased 3 subs in UK 1 for
placement in the mt UK sea zone. One time the UK built the usual cv/trn on UK
1, but sent no other support ships or the US ftrs. It repeatedly "beefed up"
inner territories where there was no attack threat. Japan just loved to build
subs too. I had pushed the Japanese almost literally off the mainland and the
AI still purchased subs. At one point Japan had 3 trns, 10 subs (they kept
building them even with no Allied Pacific navy at all), and many young men
stranded on the island. Even with no bid, one can consistently Magic 84 the
AI in 3 rounds.
Also, as with any beta release, it was filled with bugs of a programming
and a "rules violation" nature. They were duly noted and forwarded to Mr.
Harris.
I hope to hook up with some multiplayer action soon.
The game was a pleasure to play from a mechanical standpoint. I
personally think it has the potential to truly shine as a platform for
live/net play and to introduce a novice to the mechanics of gameplay.
This is beginning to get a little long so I'll stop here. I'll keep you
posted as new developments arise.
There is a new addition to the Law Office article. I have asked Mitch
(mshih@) to write a monthly piece for the Revue concerning issues of odds,
odds calculators, percentages, what they really mean, etc. I hope you will
find this information as interesting and informative as I did. Thanks again
to Mitch for his time and insight into the world of odds.
By the numbers
There are a large number of computer tools that help estimate
the "odds" for a battle. But what exactly do they tell you?
In most odds calculators, the solution returned is a probabilty
that the attacker wins the battle. This value is nice in that
it's a single value -- it's simple. Unfortunately, this simplicity
comes with a cost of less expressiveness. It's difficult for
a single number to tell the complete story.
Let's consider what this percentage means. It's the probability
that the attacker "wins" the battle. But what does the computer
consider a win? The victory condition used by the computer MUST
match your desired victory conditions for the value to be meaningful.
Unfortunately, the victory conditions used by the computer do
not always match your own.
Here are some examples where odds calculators typically fail:
Handbook Updates
Updates to the Handbook will be distributed in the monthly issue of
the Revue. Only the affected parts will be sent to you so they will be
apparent and easy to read. At all times, a complete copy of the current rules
will be available on the web site.
To assist our internet players, the updates themselves will be
enclosed by << and >>.
UPDATE #1
Under "ERROR CORRECTION":
OLD:
If the error involves a BB support shot, it will be handled as follows:
NEW:
If the error involves a BB support shot, it will be handled as follows:
That's all for now.
Take care.
John
Keeping your record accurate!
Many many times I have sent lists of games to review to the members. I always
get poor response from that, as if you either don't read the list or don't
read the whole newsletter. PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE check to make sure your games
have been properly recorded. I will try it again.......then I will have to
resort to personally e-mailing everyone involved in the mess. If we are to
keep good records for you, we really need your help as we try and catch these
unreported finishes.
TV
ToddVomit
Click here to return to the Periodicals page.
Luckily there is hope :). Next time, I'll review some specific
tools that provide some nice features that will help handle some
of these special cases.
First the very old games:
type number player1 player2 gm
# 1566 MWaster mike.rowland@utoronto.ca Summland
# 1704 Matt Din WPNS16 rjbergma@acs.ucalgary.ca
# 1843 Desrtfox69 Vampire999 wingman@pragma.net
# 1845 gawrylcm@muss.CIS.McMaster.CA NY963605@PACEVM.DAC.PACE.EDU EDUNGI
# 1938 IMBlkWidow Noble Knt eldred@unc.edu
# 1947 JohnHarker GBaok h9617610@hkusua.hku.hk
K 1960 HstryFrk Swimminut Ardennes44
# 1977 SINBAD7 lord_xiang@hotmail.com GenLee53
K 1990 ProistHQ 4mw4@qlink.queensu.ca WJA8L
# 1998 Discfreak MDSoze Lmbaus@wtp.net
more very old games:
type number player1 player2 gm
L 2009 Hookmech Zaje1 LIVE
# 2012 4mw4@qlink.queensu.ca micwil@sk.sympatico.ca ASkale
# 2015 Skapin M2 Hookmech bt427@freenet.toronto.on.ca
T 2079 BrassTacs Noble Knt Hoaty
T 2086 RBurt94553 JimB614 HerbertFox
K 2117 KSchro Alifestime CWFirst
K 2144 gl25@sonic.net Walter_W_HILL@umail.umd.edu ED82072
# 2177 GenLee53 Discfreak Legonuts
# 2189 BAMABORN88 SCago Dovak@geocities.com
# 2212 erasure@ix.netcom.com StaticActs MMcdow1096
T 2323 Davidfv@ KevinW@ FlynILL
T 2342 Smitty4276 Noble Knt Legonuts
T 2345 DWJD Me2572 Tncolonel
T 2346 AARommel EnemyThine NobleKnt
T 2347 mheinz@ mheinz@ Me2572
T 2348 maccari@ maccari@ mheinz@
# 2424 paolov@mbox.queen.it JHenderon Tucker L
# 2463 Gargoyle82 TWillcut JulesMrshn
L 2478 EJuseck Gargoyle82 LIVE
L 2493 KSchro Lodi Law LIVE
# 2545 PtolemyG alm19@cornell.edu tricky@zebra.net
# 2605 LVRebel216 tompetroff@hotmail.com PtolemyG
# 2607 pvcx0404@pmicim.com jhoogervorst@hotmail.com Vosscat40
# 2612 Vin Duch Archerus kesteren@worldonline.nl
# 2627 Reaganite tompetroff@hotmail.com Wolly
L 2657 Gustav Jr MattGould9 LIVE
L 2659 Jacritelli MattGould9 LIVE
L 2660 Gustav Jr MDSoze LIVE
# 2669 SteveLGlow THensch736 paolov@mbox.queen.it
# 2675 kanahuatim@spin.com.mx Gorduz cnty9047@unlvm.unl.edu
# 2683 F16BFALCON KSchro KevinD784
L 2722 JLM3DART Vampire999. LIVE
L 2860 RobyS13 N2com LIVE
L 2896 Luapua BAMABORN88 LIVE
L 2908 eorl@sisna.com Gustav Jr LIVE
L 2910 eorl@sisna.com BAMABORN88 LIVE
L 2916 Gustav Jr WIZPAT LIVE
L 2925 Demon 0O0 MattGould9 LIVE
# 2950 casper.holmberg@studmed.uio.no DamienAT Bawill123
# 2955 tompetroff@hotmail.com MDSoze jd1161@etu.gmc.ulaval.ca
# 2967 JulesC2nd GeoffMstr reddwarf@cobweb.com.au
# 2984 JD MGD SrBuchholz kanahuatim@spin.com.mx
we'll do the 4000's next month I guess:
type number player1 player2 gm
# 3041 SrBuchholz Einswine Tucker L
# 3086 KENN VANCE KSimmo2127 MDSoze
# 3094 LVRebel216 MDSoze maccaule@erols.com
K 3095 ewang000@nimbus.ocis.temple.edu Car Put Archerus
# 3142 ImSpart013 Wormkick jhjenkins@mindspring.com
# 3148 GoodToGo21 LVRebel216 Ares30
L 3153 EJuseck MattGould9 LIVE
L 3185 Wormkick T Servo111 LIVE
L 3195 MDSoze StratGod LIVE
L 3197 Wormkick Stevelglow LIVE
L 3224 EJuseck Kayveydog LIVE
K 3242 J.Kempen@tip.nl jp-quin@webtv.net CplPunshmt
# 3253 Co B 3MD Sinbad7 Stevelglow
# 3283 LordClyde bfsp@prodigy.net pluto@gti.net
K 3325 xxitech@shentel.net javerber@algonet.se MelMan2002
K 3331 dhazard@stratos.net gharkham@c2.telstra-mm.net.au Spitfi7271
L 3342 ElBello1 clr2c@frank.mtsu.edu LIVE
# 3386 DECKTIEDO FSU NO1111 gap@econ.Berkeley.EDU
# 3411 HAWK IIIS Potoreeg st8cj@Bayou.UH.EDU
# 3422 toelzer@cs.bonn.edu jonsmith@pop.erols.com DamienAT
# 3424 toelzer@cs.bonn.edu dutch1@tiac.net TWillcut
# 3433 DECK TIEDO FSUNO1111 ImSpart013
K 3448 dominicd@microtec.net cam-logan@clear.net.nz John168684
# 3453 TC7SCHMOO TSonam Senator409
# 3458 bmuehlmeier@cerner.com GenLee53 mat27@xs4all.nl
K 3465 Vypr005 IDioT15963 TTAutokill
K 3466 cmmcg1@maila.wm.edu MrbigD@brigadoon.com FLATONYC
# 3468 bfsp@prodigy.net dutch1@tiac.net SteveLGlow
# 3475 trublufan@stic.net Smpower GLMMIS
K 3484 Cptchriste Jfullback egreene@dnai.com
# 3506 Quixande HighCmmdr Pejman2000
# 3509 T Servo111 RJones1671 xxitech@shentel.net
L 3521 FlaminSpam Rabid12345 LIVE
K 3541 LukeG@bigpond.com mpenrow@geocities.com Pejman2000
# 3553 bertrand1@prodigy.net DGREYHIG levahl@bellsouth.net
# 3555 Razor1010 BattleCat7 kpfleger@cs.stanford.edu
# 3565 Gorduz bfsp@prodigy.net gl25@sonic.net
K 3566 browlane@sprynet.com scorpion@nastything.com Viper9009
K 3571 Jfullback IDioT15963 jcavanau@rhf.bradley.edu
# 3578 Duke O D TC7SCHMOO cnty9047@unlvm.unl.edu
# 3605 Saretano UlishCJ98.CS32.USAFA@usafa.af.mil miker1@interaccess.com
# 3611 MJDeDora Razor1010 mattmac@uclink4.berkeley.edu
# 3613 MMoranS Joehopkins JohnPin569
# 3616 TWillcut MDSoze kpfleger@cs.stanford.edu
K 3620 marcanthony@bc.sympatico.ca jonathanarmoto@mailexcite.com DYXIEBELLE
K 3628 magus_the_dark@hotmail.com Gotchell@ Cmcneil830
# 3646 micwil@sk.sympatico.ca BattleCat7 JOHNSR@kc.stklaw.com
# 3662 mike@crimewatch.org Legonuts axis-and-allies@home.com
# 3663 micwil@sk.sympatico.ca dragonx099@juno.com RJones1671
# 3672 dbutler@hrzsolutions.com.au avision@dreaming.org Skapin M2
# 3677 rene.dery@ualberta.ca leone@unix.lancs.ac.uk Bavineni
# 3685 Cmcneil830 NewfieB garrettboy@hotmail.com
# 3688 GIJim211 Quixande HighCmmdr
# 3697 BrassTacs Razor1010 pdm.mar@shaw.wave.ca
# 3703 slerch@airmail.net markt@ponyexpress.net Kayveydog
# 3705 alan.mcmahon@ualberta.ca steven508 lettdg@jmu.edu (David G. Lett)
# 3713 CKwasny MRKEFKA313 scorpion@nastything.com
# 3716 Rene.dery@ualberta.ca Marcel.legtenberg@Uk.neceur.com Duke O D
# 3718 clubco@telusplanet.net mattie_c@rocketmail.com Joehopkins
T 3743 JulesC2nd toelzer@ GeoffMstr
T 3752 LVRebel216 Hoaty TOdesto
T 3755 Vosscat40 Potoreeg dbutler@
T 3763 Krazyhouse direland@istar.ca gsx1@netvigator.com
T 3771 Mshih1 bstotts@pcocd2.intel.com CMcneil830
T 3772 LVRebel216 maddas@wi.net TWillcut
T 3774 Vosscat40 jlebrun@uniserve.com DamienAT
T 3778 AnA Gamer NewfieB jd1161@etu.gmc.ulaval.ca
T 3800 Skapin M2 JMC Shogun JLR881
T 3814 commreal@ James67229 BillIde01
T 3818 RBurt94553 leone@unix.lancs.ac.uk Cptchriste
T 3819 DLahue5044 bx095@FreeNet.Buffalo.EDU rjohnson@spencerfane.com
T 3821 Skapin M2 IHazard Havspac
T 3823 GBaok DHelms@nefn.com EnsignStep
T 3825 kanahuatim@spin.com.mx MDSoze DueyTex
T 3828 Legonuts stewarr@ionet.net clr2c@frank.mtsu.edu
T 3830 BrassTacs ALLGOR.Student.Law@student.law.ucla.edu
dennisle@telusplanet.net
T 3831 commreal@totcon.com sailor_moon@cheerful.com mike@crimewatch.org
T 3848 Archerus kolbaj@ abf006@
T 3862 GLMMIS Hirshfeldr BFSP@
T 3871 Archerus Havspac CPullin
T 3872 kesteren@worldonline.nl Skyhwk6 ASkale
T 3873 HighCmmdr TEL INTEL toelzer@xmailer.informatik.uni-bonn.de
T 3875 bingo-volux@usa.net rjohnson@spencerfane.com Spitfi7271
T 3878 Rewstr Tirannas NewfieB
T 3882 Bjbmongo Lowiron GM --> bstotts@pcocd2.intel.com
T 3883 mike@crimewatch.org tacit@kw.igs.net jlebrun@uniserve.com
T 3884 S Korah S BMUEHLMEIER@cerner.com ROrvik
T 3904 alm19@ binkster@ Microwav9
T 3924 mheinz@chani.rhoen.de Yuugal leone@unix.lancs.ac.uk
T 3927 CAT42269 bobbysams@wirural.net DHelms@nefn.com
T 3928 gap@econ.Berkeley.EDU dbutler@hrzsolutions.com.au 1 ulish492@westol.com
T 3930 Me2572 105663.2246@compuserve.com markt@ponyexpress.net
T 3931 cygnus@theriver.com wingman@dsuper.net sohoa
T 3932 Smitty4276 faltman@tidalwave.net topdog@stic.net
T 3938 halldorg@ht.is CMcneil830 MDSoze
T 3939 john.judson@bull.com TWillcut BrassTacs
K 3960 JSTEVENS@eac.cc.az.us kobrien@adam.cheshire.net Saretano
# 3961 kolbaj@BrandonSD.MB.CA clubco@telusplanet.net MMoranS
L 3965 NewfieB Rabid12345 LIVE
L 3968 Lord Jadin DKell4 LIVE
L 3978 CRodri7271 Cmcneil830 LIVE
L 3982 Duke O D AAOB1 LIVE
L 3984 FlaminSpam JulesMrshn LIVE
L 3989 Smitty4276 Duke O D LIVE
L 3993 Summland Yuugal LIVE
L 3994 Summland Yuugal LIVE
L 3997 Summland CRodri7271 LIVE
President of IAAPA