TripleA

TripleA Gameplay Manual and Rule Book

This wikibook is a manual and rulebook for the popular open-source game platform TripleA. This page is a work in progress.

TripleA Gameplay Manual and RuleBook

What is TripleA

TripleA is a turn based strategy game engine. TripleA games involve various scenarios between world powers depicting on maps of varying size and complexity. Many maps for individual games are historical, being primarily based on relative strength and position of world powers leading up to the Second World War. A minority of games are more fantasy oriented or based on non historical scenarios.

TripleA comes with multiple games and over 100 more games can be downloaded from the user community. Supports single player vs AI, hot-seat, Play by Email, and a hosted online lobby.

TripleA is Free Software, and is released under the GPL.

The latest Stable version is 1.3.2.2

The latest Unstable version is 1.4

How to Install TripleA

TripleA can be downloaded here.

Basic Rules

The Interface

The main menu for Triple A is the first window seen when the program is initiated. In the top left hand corner, TripleA displays the details of the currently loaded game. These include: Game Name; Game Version; Game Round; and File Name of the current game.

Choose Game

This button allows the player to change the existing game (displayed next to Game Name) to another game. This button launches a second window displaying the games available in the left column, along with a brief description of each. Select the desired game by clicking with the left mouse key and hitting OK. Click Cancel to close the window without making any changes to the current game.

Load Saved Game

Hit the Load Saved Game button to return to a previously saved game. Loading a saved game returns a game's territories, forces, turn round, and technologies to the in game saved position. NOTE: Loading a previously saved game does not retain who previously controlled each world power. Selections on who controls each world power must again be made once a game in initiated. This is true both as to human opponents and as to AI opponents.

Saved games typically have the filename extension ".tsvg". Player designated saves can be made using any name that includes the .tsvg filename extension.

TripleA has an automatic autosave and additionally separately saves for each even and odd numbered turn. Respectfully, these are named: autosave.tsvg; autosave_round_even.tsvg; autosave_round_odd.tsvg.

Starting your first Game (using Big World as example)

Click "Start Local Game" on the first menu screen after launching tripleA, then click "Choose Game..." select "Big World:1942" from the game list and click OK. Note there is an options tab that will bring up a menu of options and variations to the game rules (detailed later). Click play and the map should appear.

On the Big World map, the allies are Russia, UK, China and the USA. The axis are Germany, Japan and Italy. Play continues until either one side surrenders or a certain number of victory cities are captured by one side. The number of victory cities is an option, from (in Big World) 14 victory cities for 'projection of power' to 17 victory cities, 'total victory'. The allies start with 12 victory cities while the axis start with 9. Typically an opponent will surrender well before the victory city condition is met.

Game-play proceeds one round at a time, wherein each country has a turn to move. The order of turns is fixed and depends upon the map version, in Big World the turn order is: Russia, Germany, UK, Italy, China, Japan, and then USA. A country's turn is broken up into the following phases:

• (Tech Roll - if the option is enabled)
• Purchase Units
• Combat move
• Non-combat move
• Place units
• Collect income

If you just started the game, you most probably are in Russian Tech Roll. This phase will be explained later, so just press done.

Purchase

Now you just entered "purchase Units" phase.

Each unit you can purchase is in a box. On the top left box of the window, you can see infantry. Below the word Infantry, you can see the symbol used for infantry on the map, on the right of the symbol, you can see "X 3". that means every infantry costs 3 PUs (Production Units). Below the infantry symbol, you can see "1/2/1". Those are the characteristics of infantry: first number is the attack, second is for defense, third is the movement. Below the characteristics, there is a number and two sets of up/down arrows. The number represents the amount of infantry you are purchasing, first set of up/down arrows is used to increase/decrease number of infantry purchased by 1. (Second set of up/down arrows is used to get the number of infantry purchased at maximum or at 0).

Factories are used to place units. aaGun stands for Anti-Aircraft Gun. Your total PUs available are written below the boxes with the units

After selecting the units you want to purchase, you click Done. Then, on the right side of the screen, you have the option of changing your choice, or to press "Done" to get to the next phase.

Combat Move

There are two ways of moving units:

• click on the unit you want to move and then click on the territory you want to move the unit to.
• click on the territory you want to move units from (but not on a particular unit). A window appears where you select units you want to move, click OK, than click on the territory you want to move the units to.

To view another area of the map, you can click on the top/left World map. That brings the enlarged map to the region you clicked to.

Combat only occurs if you move your units in enemy controlled territory so you can also make non-combat moves during combat move phase i.e moves into allied territory.

Combat

Click on the "Battle in (name of territory)" on the right side of the screen. A new window will appear for the combat. On the top of the new window you can see the attacking units (left) and the defending units (right). Units are ordered according to their attacking value. Each attacking artillery enhances the attack of one infantry by one. So you will see infantry attacking at 1 or 2 depending how many artilleries you attack with.

• Dice are rolled for attacking units. (see Low Luck chapter below)
• Defender selects casualties. If all defending units die, then automatically all defending units are selected. Otherwise defender has to click on the bottom bar of the window (or press space), select casualties on the new window(units with lowest defence are selected by default), press Ok.
• Dice are rolled for defending units.
• Attacker selects casualties. (same as for defender)
• Selected casualties are removed for both attacker and defender.
• Attacker have the option of retreating. (if some ground units attacked from sea transports, you can't retreat, or you can only retreat air units).

If attacker has chosen to retreat, a new window appears to select where you want to retreat. All remaining ground units have to be retreated to the same territory. You can retreat to any territory of which at least one ground unit was used in the attack. Press Ok after selecting territory to retreat.

If attacker has chosen not to retreat, dice are rolled again as above.

Low Luck

Low luck is an option that effects how many casualties are inflicted during each round of combat. You cannot change it during a game except by saving and reloading. To turn it on or off, when you start a game, after selecting the map with the "Choose Game ..." button, click on "Game Options" to then turn it on or off in the list of options.

Games are either low luck or dice, dice is typically the default. In a dice game, one die is rolled for every unit in combat to determine if they hit or miss. There is less variability in a low luck game and up to one die is rolled during combat regardless of how many units are attacking or defending.

Low luck calculates the number of casualties by summing the total attack value (or defensive value) and then dividing by six by to find the statistical expected number of hits. One die is then rolled to determine if the reminder is a hit or not. The remainder or lower becomes the number to roll for an extra hit.

For example, if 3 infantry are attacking they have a total attack value of 3. Three divided by six is zero with a remainder of three. Thus, three infantry on attack would roll one die, a one, two, or three would be a hit. As another example, six infantry attacking would get exactly one hit. Since the remainder is zero, no die at all would be rolled. Finally, if eight infantry were attacking three tanks, the infantry would get one hit and a roll hitting on a one or a two. The tanks would also get one hit and also an extra hit if they roll a one, two, or a three. Note, that in the last example each side is guaranteed one hit, and can possibly get two. Contrast this to dice where the infantry could get anywhere from zero to eight hits, and the tanks could also have anywhere from zero to three hits.

Non-Combat Move

Units can be moved also during non-combat moves on some conditions:

• moves must not result in combats; they have to be moved on allied territory
• unit must not have been used for attacking (with the exception of air units)

Note: air units cannot land on newly conquered territories (territories taken this round)

• unit must have remaining moves (if it was used for a non-combat move during "combat moves phase")

Place Units

You can place the units you bought at the beginning of the turn. Units can only be placed on a territory if there's a factory on that territory, and only if you owned the territory at the beginning of the turn. On a territory you cannot place more units than the PU value of that territory. (the number written on the map below the name of the territory). You cannot place units on a factory that was purchased in the same turn.

End Turn and Collect Income

The turn ends and you collect income.

Income is generated by territories: for every territory you control at the end of the turn, the PU (Production Unit) of that territory is added.

With the end of this turn the next country starts its turn.

The Game Board (Game Setup, Territories, and common Territory properties)

Battle Calculator

Battle Calculator is used to calculate odds of a battle. It opens a window with attacking units on the left and defending on the right. Press Calculate Odds to find out chances of winning, mean units left, etc.

There are two ways of starting it:

• while your mouse is on the territory you want to use battle calculator for, press Ctrl+B (while keeping Ctrl pressed, press B)
• on the right of the screen press the word "Territory", than Battle Calculator button

Stats

On the right of the screen, click on word "Stats". Below you will find a table with current states of all countries: PUs, Production, Number of units, Total Unit Value, Victory Conditions( that is an automatic way of finding the winning side: it counts the territories marked by stars (that are considered strategically important) ocupied by that country)

History Battle casualty

At any time you can enter into history mode by going to the top manu "Game"-> "Show history". Game history will be shown on the left. You can click on the "+" on the left of the "Combat" phase; double-click on a particular combat below, than on the "Battle casualty summary" below. On the left side of the screen select "History" if it's not already selected. On the left of the screen you should see the value of the battle casualty. That is the sum of the PU values of defending units minus the sum of the PU values of attacking units.

Edit mode

Edit mode is used to make changes on the game. Such as changing the owner of a territory, adding or removing units. To get to edit mode, from the top menu select Game -> Enable Edit Mode. Than use the menu on the right of the screen to make the edits("edit" submanu on the right has to be selected).

Playing against Artificial Intelligence

When starting a game, (see Starting your first game chapter) before clicking Play you can change the player of any country. On the right of any country, the player is written. "Human" by default. Click on it, and you can select from three levels of AIs.

• E.Z. Fodder (AI) is the weakest AI.
• Moore N. Able (AI) is the best AI.
• Dynamix (AI) is a Land-Only AI that is still in Beta development (it will not move any ships). It can also be customized to "cheat".

Customizing Dynamix AI

Start a game with a Dynamix AI. After starting the game, from the top menu click on Game->Change Dynamix AI Settings. On the top of the new window you can see "AI Cheating". Just select the way you want to allow Dynamix AI to cheat. However, Dynamix AI will not cheat at every turn.

Turn Order and Sequence of Play Overview

The Russians go first, then the Germans.

Basic Units

The rules here are Revised and later from a well known period game. ALWAYS, consult the map you are playing as each map may have different unit rules for the map you are playing.

Example: if you are attacking with an infantry and your dice rolls a 1, that is a hit. If you roll a 2 - 5 on a 1d6 dice roll, than that is a miss. If you are defending and you roll a 1 or 2, that is a hit, if you roll a 3-6, it is a miss.

Infantry - Attack with a roll of 1, Defend with a roll of 2 can only move 1 per turn.

Artillery - Attack with a roll of 2, Defend with a roll of 2 can only move 1 per turn.

        - When paired with an infantry unit, this unit will increase the level of attack of an infantry to 2.

tank - Attack with a roll of 3, Defends with a roll of 3. this unit can move 2 spaces as long as it does not run into an enemy occupied space.

Fighter - Attack with a roll of 3, Defends with a roll of 3. Moves 4 spaces

        - can land on Aircraft Carriers

Bomber - Attack with a roll of 4, Defends with a roll of 4. moves 6 spaces

        - This unit can also Strategically bomb industrial complexes

Submarine - Attack with a roll of 2, Defends with a roll of 2. Moves 2 spaces

        - Submarines shoot before other units, which die without returning fire. Can submerge at any time (including before a battle begins), can move past hostile ships but does not block hostile ships.

Transport - Attack with a roll of 0, Defends with a roll of 0. Moves 2 spaces

        - an carry any one land unit, plus one infantry.  ses Revised Edition cargo rules. No longer has combat value, and chosen as a casualty only if there are no other eligible units.

Destroyer - Attack with a roll of 2, Defends with a roll of 2, Moves 2 spaces

        - Negates all special Submarine abilities.

Cruiser - Attack with a roll of 3, Defends with a roll of 3, Moves 2 spaces

        - Can conduct shore bombardment in amphibious invasions

Aircraft Carrier - Attack with a roll of 1*, Defends with a roll of 2, Moves 2 spaces

        - Can carry two Fighters.

Battleship - Attack with a roll of 4, Defends with a roll of 4, Moves 2 spaces

        - Can conduct shore bombardment during amphibious invasions. In most versions it takes 2 hits to destroy a battleship.

• Consult the map you are playing for the specific rules, the rules here are just basic rules and may differ depending on the map you are playing.

Walk-Through of an example turn on Big World game

Big world is big.

Advanced rules

While in any game, you can click on the top menu at Help->Game notes to see maps creator notes about the map

Larry Harris Tournament Rules (LHTR)

On July 26, 2007 the Larry Harris Tournament Rules version 2.0 were released. LHTR 2.0 are a set off rules for Axis & Allies Revised that are commonly used in tournaments and other game play. The rules were created by Larry Harris, the creator of Axis & Allies and has additionally been worked on by several players and tournament game masters. The objective of the LHTR rules are to clarify existing rules and re-work other rules to help game balance while still maintaining the spirit of the game.

• Axis & Allies House Rules

Game options

Bidding

If one side is considered to be disadvantaged, it can be offered a bid. A bid is represented by some PUs that a country can buy units and place them before the game begins. Some players settle two more rules for bids: only one unit per territory. And you can only place units in a territory you already have units.

Players over the lobby say the bid they need to take the disadvantaged side, and the ones with the lowest bid requirement take it.

Two hit battleship

As the feature title indicates, a battleship would take one hit as damage and the second hit would sink it. If a battleship only takes one hit damage it gets repaired either at the end of the turn or the end of the round. Some games include shipping ports where the damaged ship must reach before getting repaired.

Battleships repair at end of round

If a two-hit battleship only takes one hit damage it gets repaired at the end of the round not at the end of the current turn.

National Objectives

Only available on version 3 maps. If certain conditions (National Objectives) are met, countries can get an added income.(you can see in map's description details about them)

World War IIv3 1941 and World War IIv3 1942 National Objectives.

Germany: Lebensraum-

+5 PUs if Axis control France, NW Europe, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Poland.

+5 PUs if Axis control 3 of Baltic States, East Poland, Ukraine, East Ukrain, and Belorussia.

+5 PUs if Axis control Karelia or Caucasus

Japan: The Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere-

+5 PUs if Axis control Manchuria, Kiangsu, and French Indo China.

+5 PUs if Axis control 4 of Kwangtung, East Indies, Borneo, Philippine Islands, New Guinea and Solomon Islands.

+5 PUs if Axis control 1 of Hawaiian Islands, Australia, or India

Italy: Mare Nostrum-

+5 PUs if Axis control Italy, Balkans, Morocco and Libya AND no enemy surface ships in sea zones 13, 14, or 15.

+5 PUs if Axis control 3 of Egypt, Trans Jordan, France, and Gibraltar

United States: The Arsenal of Democracy-

+5 PUs Allies control W U.S., Central U.S., and E U.S.

+5 PUs if Allies control Philippine Islands.

+5 PUs if Allies control France.

+5 PUs if Allies control 3 of Midway, Wake Island, Hawaiian Islands, and Solomon Islands.

United Kingdom: The British Empire-

+5 PUs if Allies control E Canada, W Canada, Gibraltar, Egypt, Australia and South Africa.

+5 PUs if Allies control any territory originally controlled by Japan.

+5 PUs if Allies control France or the Balkans.

Soviet Union: The Great Patriotic War-

+10 PUs if Allies control 3 of Norway, Finland, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Balkans.

+5 PUs if Soviets control Archangel and no allied forces in Soviet controlled territories.

China: Chinese Resistance & The Flying Tigers

+1 infantry for every two territories controlled by China at the beginning of her turn. These infantry must be place in a territory with less than three Chinese pieces. No Chinese Units, including the Chinese Fighter may leave Chinese territory (except for Kwangtung) (this means no entering sea zones).

Big World 1942 v3 & Big World June 1942 National Objectives

Russians:

+5 if no non-Soviet Allied units on Russian territories

+5 if Allied control 5 in 7 of: Novgorod, Western Russia, Southern Russia, Baltic States, Belorussia, Ukraine, Eastern Poland

+5 if Allies control 4 of: Norway, Finland, Western Poland, Hungary-Romania, Austria-Czechoslovakia, Balkans

Germans

+5 if Axis control all of: France, Western Germany, Eastern Germany, Western Poland, Austria-Czechoslovakia, Hungary-Romania

+5 if Axis control all of: Baltic States, Eastern Poland, Belorussia, Ukraine

+5 if Axis control Leningrad or Stalingrad

British

+5 if Allies control all of: Eastern Canada, Gibraltar, Egypt, Bombay, New South Wales, Southern Africa

+5 if Allies control 1 of: France, Vichy France, Balkans, Macedonia

+5 if Allies control 2 of: New Guinea, French Indo-China, Thai-Malay, Sumatra, Java, Iwo Jima, Northern Japan, Southern Japan, Okinawa

Italians

+5 if no Allied surface ships in Mediteranean and axis control all of: Italy, Sicily, Macedonia, Balkans, Morocco, Algeria, Libya

+5 if Axis control 4 of: Egypt, Syria, France, Vichy France, Gibraltar

Chinese

+5 if Allies control all of: Western Sinkiang, Eastern Sinkiang, Kansu, Szechwan

+5 if Allies control all of: Northern Manchukuo, Chosen, Shantung, Kwangtung

Japanese

+5 if Axis control all of: Northern Manchukuo, Chosen, Shantung, French Indo-China, Thai-Malay

+5 if Axis control 8 in 10 (6 of 10 in June 1942) of: Kwangtung, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, North Philippines, South Philippines, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Okinawa

+5 if Axis control 2 of: Hawaiian Islands, Midway Island, New South Wales, Queensland, Bombay, Calcutta

Americans

+5 if Allies control 5 territories of US main land (excluding Alaska).

+5 if Allies control France and Vichy France

+5 if Allies control all of: Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sicily

+5 if Allies control North and South Philippines

+5 if Allies control 5 of 7 Islands: Hawaiian Islands, Midway Island, Wake, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Guam, New Guinea

Strategic Bombing

Bombers can be used to bomb a factory and diminish owner's income.

Always on AA guns

Always on AA causes Anti-aircraft guns to fire whenever the territory is passed over, even during non combat movement.

Tech Development

This option Enables technological development.

Technology development

Countries can invest money in a chance of improving their technology (every chance costs 5 PUs and it's worth 1/6 chance of getting a new technology. Investing in technology is done during the "Tech Rolls" phase of the turn.

Industrial Technology

Lowers the price of each unit by 1. Lowers price of factories by half.

The revised rules from Wizards of the Coast got rid of this technology because it was considered unbalanced, and replaced it with Combined Bombardment, which allows your destroyers to bombard at an attack of 3. However, there are house rules that keep Industrial Technology and adjust the prices to keep ground units from being too cheap. That makes a total of 7 technologies available for development, but the new technology development system is flexible enough to allow for more than 6.

Unit	Revised Basic Cost	Revised House IT cost
Infantry	3	3
Artillery	4	4
Armour	5	5
Fighter	10	9
Bomber	15	13
Transport	8	7
Submarine	8	7
Carrier	16	14
Destroyer	12	11
Battleship	24	22
AA gun	5	4
Factory	15	13

Heavy bombers

Improves bombers:

• if LHTR is off bombers roll multiple times (usually 2 or 3), just like 3 bombers.(one bomber can hit multiple targets)
• if LHTR is on, bombers roll twice or three times (depending on map/option), the biggest value is chosen and 1 is added. The result is the attack value of the bomber.

Kamikaze Airplanes

If on, then the game attempts to ignore movement rules concerning aircraft. (meaning that you do not need somewhere to land).

Version rules

Different rules apply, depending on the map. Some maps are made with version 2 rules (v2), others v3 or v4. Rule for all versions:

• Subs can sneak attack. That means they can pass an enemy occupied sea zone and attack the next (an enemy destroyer prevents it).

Version 2 rules

Example of map "Big World 1942" is based on v2 rules

• Unlucky technology development dice are lost
• Sea transports defend at 1
• Submarines can submerge after first attacker/defender roll. So an attacking fighter still has a chance of hitting a sub before it is able to submerge. Enemy destroyer stop subs from submerging.

Version 3 rules

Exapmle of map "Big World 1942 v3" is based on v3 rules

• Unlucky technology development dice are rolled again next round until a technology is found.
• Sea transports do not defend. Neither can they be selected as casualties. They are just lost if enemy wins the sea zone. For example a bomber can defeat an infinite amount of unguarded transports.
• Submarines can submerge before any roll. So an attacking fighter has no chance of hitting a submarine, unless a destroyer prevents it from submerging.
• bombers during strategic bombing do not destroy enemy PUs, but it damages the factory. Enemy will have to spend money to repair his factory or else he will be able to place less units in that factory.

Version 4 rules

I believe "World War II v4" is the only map based on v4 rules. Version 4 rules are the same with v3, but the map is different (it's v2 resived map). National Objectives were removed.

Chart view

Rule	Version 1	Version 2	Version 3	Version 4
Tech development rolls every turn until success
Sea transports defend
Submarines can only be attacked with destroyer
Strategic Bombing damages factory instead of destroying PUs directly
National Objectives option available

The following chart shows if fighters can be placed (in place units phase) directly on new/old carriers.(if adjacent territory has factory). Also if fighters from an adjacent territory can be dragged on new carriers. (if you want to drag two fighters on one carrier, both fighters have to be on the same territory.)

Some maps allow the customization of these rules by clicking "game options" after choosing the map and before starting the game.

	Version 1		Version 2		Version 3		Version 4
	New carriers	Old carriers	New carriers	Old carriers	New carriers	Old carriers	New carriers	Old carriers
New fighters
Old fighters		sure		sure	See Note	sure	See Note	sure

Note: The way of placing old fighters on new carriers is different: Fighters have to be moved during combat or non-combat moves phases on the sea zone the carrier will be placed. A note will appear that air in the sea zone can't land. You have to click End Move Phase. Placing the carrier in that sea zone saves the fighters. This is only available for v3 and v4.

In version 2 fighters have to be on one adjacent territory; they will be "dragged" on the carrier.

Play by Mail (PBEM)

After starting tripleA, click on "Start PBEM game". From "Load Saved Game" you can load the saved your partner sent you by mail, or from "Choose Game" select your new game. There are different Dice Servers:

• for the first one you have to enter your email and your partner's at the To and CC fields on top. Then play and at the end of your turn you save and send the saved to your partner by mail. The Dice server will send an email containing the result of every dice rolled to the emails you provided. It might flood your email with such mails.
• the second dice server (the one containing web word in it) just stores the rolled values on the internet, which you can check using the game's unique code (you can find instructions in the fields where the e-mails would have been written for the previous server)

Play on the lobby

After starting TripleA, click on "Find Games Online on the Lobby Server". On the Login Screen you have two options:

• Create Account, using the Create Account button
• login anonymously choose a username that hasn't been taken so far, than switch "Login Anonymously ?" on. You will no longer be required to make an account, but anyone can login with the same username.

On the lobby, on the right side you can see all the users currently online. Some of them have a comment near their username (such as afk=away from keyboard etc) to set a comment near your username, click on "Status" located on the bottom right of the screen. If you have a partner that is online, you can call for his attention by "slapping" him (right-click on their username on the right of the screen and click on slap He will be noted that you slapped him even if he is in a game. Other users will not see the "slapping")

on the bottom left it's a messenger type window. You can post messages there.

On the top left side are listed the current games. At Status you can see if game is in progress or host is waiting for players. To join a game, select a game from the list and click "Join Game" from below the list. You can watch other people's games and learn from them. Rarely games are protected by passwords.

You can host a game by clicking "Host Game". In the "comment" field you can write a comment such as game options or your level of experience on that map to find appropriate partners.

If you can't host, it's most probably because of your router. It can be solved by changing router settings and open a port (port forwarding).

Politeness

Generally players like to win. If you are losing, it is nice to give them satisfaction by not abandoning. Surrendering and telling them they play well is an option.

However, it's nice to surrender when you no longer have any chance of winning and game gets boring.

Credits

The original developer for the TripleA Game Engine is Sean G Bridges.

The current developers are: Mark Christopher Duncan (veqryn), Edwin Van Der Wal, and Frigoref.

Appendices:

This is the Appendix.

Using the UI, Menus and Buttons

Map Skins, Map Details, Export, etc.

Tactical handbook

Pulicat's's tactical handbook.

Advanced/Complex Games:

There's a lot more to learn.

1. Complex Turn Order

This can be messy.

2. Complex Rules for Gameplay, Territories, Players, etc.

Very messy.

3. Complex Unit Abilities

Superpowers.

How to create a map

Only do this if you have too much time.