Reply: Twilight Struggle:: Variants:: Re: Making weak events more desirable

by JohnRayJr

simonAOEC wrote:

It seems that some events are almost never worth playing...

Arms Race:
One Small Step:

These two don't fit in this category. Arms Race can be used to win the game, to stave off a Wargames victory, etc. It's simply situational when the points are more valuable than the OPs. Same goes for leap-frogging your opponent on the Space Race.

We Will Bury You:
Flower Power:
Quagmire:

These don't belong anywhere near a list of "weak events." First of all, the significant attribute of WWBY is its auto-loss potential, not its VP. It can create significant headaches for the US player if they draw it. It can be used to push the Soviets over the top of the 20VP threshold early int he midwar. Flower Power is also primarily relevant as a US draw, as its long-term cost depends on the current turn and composition of the discard pile. Both Quagmire and Bear Trap can ruin entire games for either side if the rolls are bad enough. They are not always played for the event, and they can be relatively painless (used to discard a single painful event), but they can also be devastating.

Olyimpic Games:

Perfectly fine as a default headline depending on the other options (or lack of them) in any given draw.

U2 Incident:

U2 Incident is yet another factor in early-midwar Soviet Steamroller victories (making the jump from 18 to 20).

NATO:

For those that are concerned about NATO being a no-cost proposition for the USSR, Special Relationship is already available as a fix.

Nuclear Test Ban:

Highly situational event. Probably good for both sides to have access to a vanilla 4OP card, though.

The Iron Lady:
An Evil Empire:

I agree that these could be better events, but they're mostly about creating slight irritations for the USSR in the late war (death by a thousand cuts).

Summit:
Reagan Bombs Libya:

These two are actually extremely weak events.