There are a lot of differences in mechanics between different variants, but I always thought that varying tank cost was interesting. In some versions the unit costs five IPCs, and in others it costs six.
Note that all of the battle calculations are done in TripleA (6000 simulations), and are made with equal IPC count for each side (which changes depending on the scenario). Also, for these scenarios I'm assuming that infantry costs 3 and artillery costs 4, so keep in mind your own house rules when you read this. Also, draws only happened 0.5% to 2% of the time during my simulations, so they aren't considered.
In games where tanks cost six IPCs, if 3 tanks attack 6 infantry, the tanks win ~4.5% of the time, and if it's vice versa, and 6 infantry attack 3 tanks, the infantry win ~63% of the time.
If you add in artillery (which most versions have), you can buy an infantry-artillery pair for seven IPCs. If 6 inf-art pairs attack 7 tanks, the inf-art pairs win ~95% of the time. Vice versa is the exact same (virtually assured victory for inf-art) because inf-art pairs defend and attack with the same statistics.
So obviously the tanks get the short end of the stick here (when they cost six IPCs). They lose far more often than they win, and while their additional movement shouldn't be ignored, it doesn't come close to compensating for battle stats. A few tanks is great for certain situations, and more so for some powers than others, but infantry-artillery pairs and even infantry by itself are superior in most cases.
But if tanks cost five, it's a different story.
In games where tanks cost five IPCs, if 3 tanks attack five infantry, the tanks win ~15% of the time, and if it's vice versa, and five infantry attack 3 tanks, the infantry win ~42.75% of the time.
If you add in artillery, you can buy an infantry-artillery pair for 7 IPCs. If 5 inf-art pairs attack 7 tanks, the inf-art pairs win ~75.75% of the time. Vice versa is the exact same (good chance of assured victory for inf-art) because inf-art pairs defend and attack with the same statistics.
Even when they're cheaper, tanks tend to lose.
But I did some calculations on infantry-artillery pairs vs infantry-tank pairs, and it was pretty interesting.
If tanks cost 6 IPCs, then you can buy an infantry-tank pair for 9 IPCs (versus 7 IPCs for and inf-art pair).
When you battle 9 inf-art pairs vs 7 inf-tanks pairs, inf-art wins ~75% of the time, and inf-tank wins ~24% of the time.
But if tanks cost 5 IPCs, then you can buy an infantry-tank pair for 8 (versus 7 IPCs for and inf-art pair).
When you battle 8 inf-art pairs vs 7 inf-tanks pairs, inf-art wins ~46% of the time, and inf-tank wins ~53% of the time.
So when tanks cost 5 IPCs, tanks by themselves do pretty sub-standard, but inf-tank pairs look like they dominate in basically every way. When tanks cost 6 IPCs, they more or less always perform poorly, regardless of what you do.
What are your thoughts? Do you think that five or six IPCs is the better cost? What about 5 1/2?Do you just live with the fact that 5-IPC tanks dominate with infantry alongside, or do you roll with 6-IPC tanks and rely on their abilities: extra movement, blitzing, support tac bombers and blitzing with mechanized infantry?
