From: Henrik Johansson Subject: Atlantic Storm: Linear time alternate rule I have developed a simple way to play Atlantic Storm using continuous time. The convoys are played in order from C1 to C40, selecting 20 of them at random. When examining a convoy, a triple dieroll sum of 3 to 10 means that the convoy is selected for play, 11 to 18 that it is not selected and you just proceed to the next and examine it. When one convoy is examined and selected for play, each player takes their turn normally, starting with suit selection. The Force deck is divided in four parts depending on the cards "Year of Sailing" date. The player hand is reduced to 3 cards for 1940 (convoy 1 to 4), 4 cards 1941 (C5-C16), 5 cards C17 to C28 and 6 cards 1943 (convoy 29 to 40). Only the 1940-1943 part of the Force deck is used in 1940. When convoy C5 is examined and perhaps selected, the 1941-1943 deck part is shuffled together with half of the unplayed and discarded 1940-1943 cards, and replaces the draw pile. When the convoy C17 is examined and perhaps selected, half of the 1940-43 and 1941-43 cards are shuffled together with the 1942-43 deck and used. The last deck replacement is done in the same way when 1943 starts. This procedure has three advantages: The simulation aspect of the game is enhanced, you don't have to check your played card against the "Year of Sailing" date since every card on your hand is valid, and it becomes easier to check the North Atlantic/Arctic value since Arctic cards does not appear in 1940 or 1941. Using the simple changes above, the resulting number of selected convoys will vary between 15 and 25. If you want this variation in selected cards to disappear, use the enhanced selection algorithm outlined below: Take a piece of paper with room for 6 columns and 40 rows and a heading row. Name the six columns "2S-E", "40-E", "4(2S-E)/(40-E)", "DR modif", "3d6+modif" and "Yes/No". Write in the four first columns on the first row "0", "40", "0/40" and "0". When examining the convoy C1 for selection, write the sum of the triple die roll in the fifth column, and "Yes" in the 6:th if the sum was 3-10, "No" if 11-18 came up. When examining the next convoy, proceed first through column 1 to 4 to calculate a die roll modifier to apply. It will typically have a value in the range -4 to 4. In the early 1940 game, it will always be 0, but fill in the columns anyway. In the first column add 1 to the value above if the previous examination gave "Yes", subtract 1 if it gave "No". (The column heading stands for "2 times the number already Selected minus the number of previously Examined".) In the 2:nd column, always subtract 1 from the value above (40-E stands for 40 minus the already examined, i e the number not already examined.) In the third column fill in the calculation 4*Col1/Col2, a value like 4/39, -8/33 or -4/7. In the fourth column, round the col3 value to the nearest integer, halves rounded up if bigger than 0, down to the nearest integer if less than 0, -3/7 => 0, -4/7 => -1 for example. In the 5:th column, add the col4 modifier to the die roll. If the modifier is -1 and the unmodified die roll is 11, the examined convoy should be selected since the modified value is in the range 3 to 10. A typical modification calculation can look like this, the middle section is removed: 2S-E 40-E 4(2S-E)/(40-E) DRMODIF 3d6+m yes/no 0 40 0 0 10 YES 1 39 4/39 0 9 YES 2 38 8/38 0 12 NO 1 37 4/37 0 0 6 0/6 0 11 NO -1 5 -4/5 -1 12 NO -2 4 -8/4 -2 9 YES -1 3 -4/3 -1 9 YES 0 2 0/2 0 5 YES 1 1 4/1 4 14 NO The number of YES:es will be 20 in 95% of games played. The YES:es will be distributed equally in time in most cases, extreme cases will appear at random, perhaps no convoys in 1943 at all in 0.5% of the games. Remember to keep the columns in synchronization with the play. When examining convoy 14, the second column should have the value 27, 40 minus 13 already examined. The sum of them should always be 41. The 1:st column will always either increase with 1 or decrease, there can not be larger jumps or continuous values. -- (If responding by e-mail, replace "nospam" with "stockholm"