"Mistake" in the rules?

[Alexander the Biggest]

Dear all,

I'm fairly new to the forum, so forgive me when this topic has been brought up before.

However, I have been playing the game for quite a while, and I think there is an issue with how the rules are implemented when support is cut. Let me give an example:

GERMANY
Munich MOVE Silesia -> Bounced
Berlin SUPPORT Munich to Silesia -> Support cut by 'f bal - ber'
Kiel SUPPORT Berlin to HOLD -> resolved

RUSSIA
Silesia HOLD -> resolved
Baltic Sea MOVE Berlin -> Bounced

The rules say that support is cut when another unit moves to the area of the supporting unit, no matter whether or not the supporting unit receives support itself. I think that in the example above the support of Berlin shouldn't have been cut, because Kiel supported Berlin to hold.

What do you think of this? Is there an explanation of why the rules are as they are? I'm very curious to hear your opinion!

[Chaqa]

"no matter whether or not the supporting unit receives support itself"

Re-read that part. It doesn't matter if Berlin is supported, Baltic tapping Berlin cuts its support.

[pyxxy]

Okay, so I'm going to assume that you think the rules should behave differently? As in literally the game should be changed?

Because the situation you described is the rules working correctly, as intended.

But you're thinking about whether the game should instead treat all support the same way that convoys are treated i.e. unless a unit is displaced, any support that unit gives is not cut?

I'm willing to entertain this thought experiment, but if that's what you're thinking about, it might be worth making a new post with a different title :)

[Chaqa]

I think he or she just misread the rule.

[Deeply_Dippy]

Thanks Alexander.

The 'mistake', if that's the right word, is that you've misunderstood the principle of superior numbers.

The support of Berlin gives it a defensive power of 2 and Berlin's support of Munich gives it an attack power of 2.

If Munich is looking to get into Silesia against another unsupported attack, which you might expect to succeed.

But...

When Baltic taps Berlin, it does so with a power of only 1 so it will not succeed in dislodging Berlin.

However, it does have the effect of sapping Berlin's ability to support Munich, reducing Munich's attack power to just 1.

That isn't enough to prevent the bounce in Silesia.

Hope that makes sense.