cmbdiesel wrote:Swifte wrote:I think you've misunderstood the game entirely.
Please do enlighten me....
Possibly you enjoy losing 20-1 on a critical attack?
Or losing games that you should have won as a result of superior tactics and strategy due to bizarre 'dice' ?
Really would like to hear a cognizant argument for the element of luck which plays such a strong role on this site.
It's quite simply this: Risk is a dice game. The unpredictability of the dice is what keeps people interested. The game doesn't have the strategic depth to make it interesting on any other level. Without the unpredictability of the dice, it's a super-simple numbers game, and the result of a game could be easily calculated on turn 1, making there be no point in playing it out.
Just to give you a simple example. If we're playing on the Classic map, and I drop 3 of the 4 terts on Australia, while your terts are evenly distributed, I will win. I have 9 troops there, you have 3. There is nothing you can do to change the outcome. Yes, you can work towards a bonus somewhere else, but I will have Australia on turn one, and the extra troops will allow me to frustrate your plans anywhere else. The game has been decided on turn one, and there's really no reason to play it out.
Okay, so you say, let's go to the next level, and equalize the drops. We start with the same number of terts on every continent. In that case, whoever goes first will win. The first person to go will start eliminating the terts of the other (starting with those in the easiest bonus regions) and sooner or later will end up with enough of an advantage so start dropping more troops and magnifying his lead. The other may start doing the same, but will never catch up. Again, the game has been decided on turn one, and there's really no reason to play it out.
Okay, so you say, the Classic map is for babies. Let's use more complex maps. So the calculations get more complex, but the end result is the same. If you have unequal drops, the person who is closer to an easy bonus will win. If you have equalized drops, the person who goes first will win.
No matter how you dress it up, without dice the game is decided on turn one. It simply lacks the strategic depth for anything else. You don't have terrain bonuses or different kinds of troops with unique advantages. One troop is one troop and that's all there is to it.
Even with fair dice, the game is decided on turn one. The inherent unpredictability of the dice is the only thing that allows you to hope for a positive outcome when you have an obviously inferior drop. As much as we hate the dice, they are the only thing in the game that makes it more than tic-tac-toe.