Who believes in some kind of existential 'force' affects DRs?

[von Marwitz]

Now drop the IIFT in favor of the IFT and you'll be alright.

von Marwitz

Fixed that for you.

Haha, touché. You are an evil man!

von Marwitz

 

[von Marwitz]

Was it a precision glass cup?

Exactly my demand for the precision-dice folks: Precision glass cups and precision dice towers! :nod:

von Marwitz

 

[Westy]

Without fail....whenever you say "let's just roll and if you roll low enough we'll look it up and see it it matters"........the roll is always low enough to require looking up the rule.

 

[DWPetros]

there is nothing random or disordered in the universe. we're just not able to see it's 'order'

 

[bendizoid]

Streaks >= 10 are not that infrequent. I have been probably witness to around 20 of them and that's a conservative estimate. There is not only the multiple player turn factor as already mentioned, but also the fact that there are several ROF3 weapons in each scenario played. These high ROF weapons are usually placed in places with good LOS all around, such as high ground, so there are unlikely to completely run out of targets.

(And yes it happened not later than five days ago, i lost 35% of my OB in one fire phase and conceded shortly after).

That was Dave Derensinski who did that

 

[jrv]

there is nothing random or disordered in the universe. we're just not able to see it's 'order'

This isn't so clear. For instance, tossing a die. The die lands with just enough energy that it is balanced precariously on one edge. With the slightest variation of conditions it will tip one way or the other, landing on one of two sides. For most of the range of circumstances it will be possible to predict the results, but there is a very narrow band where you cannot without gathering more information. It may be impossible to gather enough information to predict the outcome in some cases.

JR

 

[Paul M. Weir]

there is nothing random or disordered in the universe. we're just not able to see it's 'order'

Quantum Mechanics (QM) has produced some of the most counter intuitive but accurate explanations and predictions. Bell's theorem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell's_theorem) and the various experimental tests of same have ruled out any "hidden local variables" as being behind QM. So for the moment we must accept at face value the randomness of everything underpinning reality. Though for macroscopic objects the range of likely or almost certain actions or positions might be extremely, extremely narrow, every thing and action in the universe can only be described by having probabilities of being in particular states or positions.

In addition certain combinations of properties for an entity cannot be both determined with absolute accuracy (Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle). Such incompatible pairings are momentum and position or energy and time. Indeed the virtual photons that transmit the electromagnetic force that allow atoms to exist and bond, thus chemistry and our own bodies, can briefly exist as long as the multiplicand of the photon's energy and lifetime is below a certain value (Energy*Time ≤ h/4π, where h is Plancks constant). The energy of the force transmitting photon is borrowed from the vacuum but either so little is borrowed or for such a small time (or some combination) that Fat Tony doesn't notice and send someone round to break your legs.

Every thing in the universe is fundamentally random!

 

[Robin Reeve]

Isn't randomness simply a series of interacting factors that we cannot predict, at our level of knowledge and insight?
We could conclude that all those factors are purely mechanical and impersonal - even though, at some levels, events happen due to our will (but if all causes are impersonal, our own personal thought should be considered as a coincidence and personality a delusion).
Or not.

 

[von Marwitz]

Whatever. Life is still fine without understanding the entire universe. Understanding the whole darn Tome would be a start, though.

von Marwitz

 

[BattleSchool]

Master Po: Will you walk with me, Grasshopper?
Grasshopper: Yes, Master. Master? The man to whom you spoke, Swift-as-Sure? Is he a deluded one?
Po: What is your view?
Grasshopper: He is a zealot, like the rest. I can see he is greatly in need of female company. But he does not partake.
Po: He seeks to satisfy a stronger hunger.
Grasshopper: He values what is worthless. The arrangement of compressed paper squares and the randomness of tiny cubes.
Po: To you, to me, perhaps. Not worthless to him.
Grasshopper: Bits and pieces that serve no higher purpose.
Po: Not to understand a man’s purpose does not make him delusional.

Grasshopper: And what of the acolyte with whom you spoke? Is Vo-Ma not wise? He does not seek to understand the universe, only the teachings of Dhyana master Green-Woo.
Po: Stick with me Grasshopper. Ma is the deluded one.

 

[Robin Reeve]

Well, I have been enjoying my "female company" for past thirty-one years.

 

[volgaG68]

IMO, far too many players place far too much importance on the dice results. Far too many, likewise, place far too little significance on their moves that precipitate those dice rolls. They expect your dice to 'roll the mean' or higher, but expect theirs to 'roll the mean' or lower; anything else is considered a 'dicing' by them.

Here is the most egregious example I can think of..... I once had a big-bore ART Gun that my oppo (a longtime veteran) knew where it was and its CA. He brought two StuGs, one after the other, and parked them right in front of its CA, side by side, in his MPh. No sD usage, no attempt by one to Smoke in the Gun first, nothing. IIRC, one TH was a CH and the other was a '4', with something like a 14TK; both destroyed. He immediately started b**ching and whining about how he couldn't win if I continued to have such 'hot dice'. I told him that the 1,1 and 1,3 TH DRs were immaterial, because anything '9' or less would have hit them. What if I had rolled '9' on my TH? That is above-average and in most cases poor rolls. Same thing on the TK DRs, I rolled something like a '5' and '6' respectively. "Your dice are on fire!" I replied that with a '14' TK, only a Dud wouldn't have destroyed them.

I simply could not convince him that in this series of events the DR were all but immaterial; with the possibility of rolling a '10', '11', or '12' on the TH DRs, and '12's on the TK, as being the only thing that would have had a different outcome. Had I not rated on the first shot, Intensive Fire at the second StuG would have still been a '7' TH, right in the mean. Had that missed, it would have been a '12' TH (!!!) in my ensuing PFPh. Mind you, this was a CVP cap game, and with a s8 on the StuGs, I considered him to have completely and utterly thrown away two prime assets and 12 CVP. I asked why he did not VBM freeze the Gun with the first, or VBM the hex and go for an sD roll, or have one of them Smoke the Gun in first, or crash right into the hex, or approach from outside it's CA, or, or, or.....

His reply? "With dice as hot as yours, it wouldn't have mattered anyway." (!!!!!) To flog the same dead horse, he of course also suggested afterwards that the Germans could probably use a balance of some sort, it was just "too difficult" of an attack they had to make.

From personal experience, I have found his viewpoint to be a sizable minority of ASL players. I've also come to the conclusion that no matter what, a sizable majority of this sizable minority will never be able to be convinced otherwise. They simply can not separate their moves from the dice results. They often use average-poor tactics, and if those tactics fail it is the fault of both players' dice, 'never' the tactics themselves. I'm no ace, believe me, but even I know that if you have a 4-6-7 w/ MMG and I run across open ground in his LOS and Range, an '11' will get a PTC and '10' an NMC; both being 'terrible' DRs on 2d6. For me, the dice throws in a given game have become just short of immaterial to how I wage my attack/defense, they are solely recognized to apply results to my actions. If 90% of my oppo's DRs are '5' or less, I might take notice of them. Otherwise they are only tertiary, coming after my actions and his actions.

 

[Helmseye]

I know its not true but sometimes it 'feels' better to blame the dice rather than my inadequate preparation, attention to detail or reading what the victory conditions are

 

[von Marwitz]

I know its not true but sometimes it 'feels' better to blame the dice rather than my inadequate preparation, attention to detail or reading what the victory conditions are

You may be very right on that one. Another reason against precision dice, because this allows you more "credibly" to do so.

von Marwitz

 

[Philippe D.]

IIRC, one TH was a CH and the other was a '4', with something like a 14TK; both destroyed. He immediately started b**ching and whining about how he couldn't win if I continued to have such 'hot dice'. I told him that the 1,1 and 1,3 TH DRs were immaterial, because anything '9' or less would have hit them. What if I had rolled '9' on my TH? That is above-average and in most cases poor rolls. Same thing on the TK DRs, I rolled something like a '5' and '6' respectively. "Your dice are on fire!" I replied that with a '14' TK, only a Dud wouldn't have destroyed them.

You should have counter-b**ched and whined that you had just wasted four good DRs where a series of average or almost-average rolls was sufficient!

 

[Ganjulama]

I simply could not convince him that in this series of events the DR were all but immaterial

 

[bendizoid]

View attachment 289

Then he goes down in the sewer, lol.

 

[Philippe D.]

You need a Leader for that, right?

If the 4-2-6 were broken, they could hope for a DR2 on Self-Rally, so they'd get a Leader who could take them into the Sewers.

 

[Fort]

And then smoke OBA landed directly on the 4-2-6...

 

[Cult.44]

My atheist mind understands the dice rolls are random events with no interest whatsoever in my thoughts or behavior (nor my opponent's). My pagan heart sees in them portents and ghostly agents striving to punish me or reward me for reasons I can only try to fathom (like maybe I should have worn and blue shirt instead of an orange one).

No matter. I accept the results and move on, cursing the gods when they align to thwart me, congratulating myself for my tactical acumen when things go well.