Have default optional rules changed?

[Strela]

All,

Firstly, thanks for scaring me with the commentary re Default Optional rules and the defaults being different to prior.

Glad to see it is working as intended.

Please let me comment on some of the thoughts in this thread.

I know there is vocal minority that want many of the optional rules folded into the normal rules and less choices to be made.

Please understand that this is not planned to happen for the following reasons;

• We are supporting in some cases games that were released 20+ years ago. We do not want to break games that were designed with particular rules or nuances at that time. We also do not have the resources or time to go back and test them with the '2020 recommended' rule set.
  
• John Tiller for that reason has tended to make a call on when a rule is 'benign' and won't break existing games and include it in the game engine, or it is a risk and it is included as an optional rule.
  
• We have included mods and other scenario as a service to the community. We have also ensured that where the mod designer has a different series of recommended rules, that there is a document laying that out and explaining the rationale. If this becomes too hard, we will start to remove mods as we don't need the angst being voiced in this thread.
  
• We admit there have been some missteps with the use of optional rules (Japan '45 for example), but that will be tested and corrected.
  
• As game designers, we are trying to reflect some more esoteric situations and that is resulting in some rules like 'Enhanced Patrolling' which allows us to reflect the resistance movements in Scheldt '44. Something that you rarely see in other games. Both the PzC team and Ed Williams is driving this and we are unapologetic for wanting to cover off situations many of you have rarely played before.
  

I could go on, but we are not planning to materially impact prior designers work and have great respect for the tools they had at the time. Where we think some great enhancements can be made we have included modified versions of scenarios such as the Prucha series in France '40, but that doesn't mean that we dump the original scenarios.


When in doubt and discussing what rules to use, revert to the recommended defaults. The scenarios were tested with those rules. If it is a mod, please peruse the mod designers recommended rules and use those. That should resolve most discussions when deciding on rules. The sticky thread here is also a great way to understand what each optional rule does if you want to 'rule lawyer' an alternative set.

Thanks,

David