JJColorado

I am playing the 39 campaign on the expansion packet as the Axis. I'm into summer of 43. France is really tough and I took a few losses (a little more sloppy than I would normally play) and it took me until the late summer of 40 to finsih them off. He looked weak in GB and so I created an invasion force and stormed ashore in late 40 early 41. I committed about 90% of my forces in GB and then I get a "warning" that Russia is building up forces along the Eastern front and I need to increase my garrison. I send a single corp (seems like three always worked before in the old game). The very next turn the Russians enter the war. I refused to panic and so I ended up taking GB and slowly sent a battered army against the Russians. They push to one hex of Berlin before I have enough force to counter attack. It was touchy for a while and it seemed like he had endless units (I counted at least 6 armored corps on the board in one turn). But, their inexperience and the computer's constant need to "attack, attack" no matter what saved me in the end. Currently, I'm into summer of 43 with Leningrad taken and at the steps of a heavily fortified Moscow. Meanwhile, the Brits took Africa very easily as I was a little occuped with this huge Russian army knocking on Hitler's front door. The US entered but have been used piecemeal and without "thought". But, its been fun. Things I like: 1. I really like the artillery; it can be used on the offensive and defensive. If used right, a few artillery could really make defensive positions very difficult to take. 2. German garrison appears in Norway automatically to prevent GB from stationing troops offshore. Once Norway surrenders, three partial German corps appear in the North. Nice. 3. I like the AA units, but they can only be used once per turn. So, if 9 bombers bomb the same city, the AA only works the first time. However, you can increase the AA bonus in the city itself which is used each turn. 4. Armor units get two attacks per turn. Can be a good thing (usually is), but also means the armor can take casulties twice. 5. I like the Destroyer build. Nice compromise for the Brits and US. 6. I like the "sack" option where you can replace a HQ leader for a small fee. 7. I like the tactical bombers as well. Things I don't like: 1. Artillery units get way to powerful and are the best overall unit in the game by 42-43. They gain crazy experience because they never take losses (or rarely if you play it right). I have a few artillery corps with 15 points and cause 3 damage each and every time they shoot. They need to cut back on their power some I think. 2. Tactical bombers are also very powerful. 3. Scapa Flow in North GB cannot be taken by the Germans. Remains a Brit port no matter what. Some bug I guess. Overall, I like the choices you must make it turn, overall a good game.

Hi - I just mailed the elicense email support address w/ a license problem that I'm having. How long does it usually take to hear back from that email address? I'm dying to play the game. Thanks

Hi, I saw Terif mention something on the board a week or two ago about diplo-ing the Balkan Axis minors if Vichy and Spain are attacked in 1940. Is there any reason that these countries won't join as normal in this situation? Why would diplo be needed? Thanks

Hi, I've always wondered how to assign units manually to be commanded by an HQ. I know how to set the HQ to manual but can never figure out how to assign a particular unit to be commanded by that HQ. Can someone help? Thanks

Amazingly I think I'm able to answer my own question. I examined the partisan script - which I didn't expect to be able to read - and it appears that you only need to garrison the three cities in Spain. J

Hi - does anyone know off the top of their head how many units are needed to garrison Spain - and what hexes in Spain need to be garrisoned to prevent Partisans? Thx

1) Yes a Sealion in 40 is optimal imo. I think it's standard to start the battle for Egypt very quickly after Sealion launches or even before Sealion as you don't want the Brit capitol to be moved to Egypt then give them time to build up there - you want to be right on them quickly - you don't have long to take them out since US will be coming in and their supply will soon be high in Africa. 2) No particular tech advances are necessary. IW is the most useful I think. 3) No you don't need London on first turn - I've successfully invaded Britain w/o taking London on turn 1 - just be sure to get an HQ or two ashore and safe. Your 3 air units should be bombing London already so it should go down very easily when you do attack it. 4) No you don't need both. The more ships the better but I don't invest in my navy much if at all w/ Germany - you just want your ships to scout and screen - not really to fight. They are there to die instead of your amphibs - not to win. And yes the Kriegsmarine will be devastated in any Sealion. 5) You mentioned the main factors of new patch: I usually keep my Brit bomber as far south as I can and still have it survive - usually N or E of London. It can do heavy damage to anything at sea. If the RN gets well into your amphibs you are gonna lose a lot of troops - and an alert Brit will get his RN into your amphibs - expect losses. Finally I think Sealion is only a good strategy if the CW player is trying to get away w/ not defending England and is instead deploying his navy and army on the periphery in the main (Egypt, Norway, BOA, etc).

if in doubt I tech. It's also good to invest in production tech for any country that will be doing a pre-war buildup: Germany, USSR, USA imo.

Well I have to disagree about HQ's being safe from long range air-hunts. I had a landing in Vichy a few games ago. The Germans operated all 6 air units into the Paris area and proceeded to bomb to death my US HQ in a city, my Brit HQ in a mountain hex, then 2 more HQ's that I landed in the city. I could not keep my HQ's alive even though they were in protecting terrain. The air was able to hunt them down and successfully kill them. Eventually my entire invasion of at least 12 units was killed to the last unit once all HQ's including HQ's that I amphibed in as reinforcements were destroyed.

Someone wrote: --------- "I find air force is too effective against infantry. From my readings, I gather WWII air raids were very effective against armor, artillery (Rockets), and, supply (HQ's), but much less effective against infantry." --------- ANSWER: The game is a high level strategic game. When you bomb a unit you are bombing an entire corp or army. You are not necessarily eliminating the line infantry squads of the unit but rather are reducing the overall combat effectiveness of that corp or army - i.e. you can consider if you like that the "tail" is being bombed - supply, command/control, etc. When a unit is "eliminated" it can usually be rebuilt at reduced cost - this is because it has had its combat effectiveness reduced to the point that it must be rested and refitted (i.e. rebuilt) - it's not representing that you've bombed to death every infantryman in the unit. ----------------- "...My guess the main problem regards the way research increases affect infantry attack. Apparently as your planes get better, all attack strengths increase. This is not realistic. A better fighter was not necessarily a better tactical bomber." ----------------------- ANSWER: As planes get better all attack strengths do not increase. You can verify this by looking at the properties (right-click) of an air unit that has 1 or more air tech added to it. You will see that only air attack and defense values are changed by the tech increase - naval/soft/hard attack values are not modified. -------------------------------- "I guess the same is true of Hard (armor) attack. The deadliest tank killers were older planes like the Stuka fitted with automatic cannons. ...development in Anti Tank weaponry had more to do with Hard Attack for airplanes than anything else." ---------------------------- ANSWER: refer to previous answer - hard attack values are not changed by air tech --------------------------- "Ground attack values for Tactical Air Units should respond to different tech areas than "Advanced Aircraft"..." -------------------------- ANSWER: refer to previous answer - ground attack values are not changed by air tech - there is no way to increase them. There is also no way to increase ground units' defense vs air - so the relationship between air and ground/naval units is unchanged by tech throughout the war - only by experience levels of the units involved, and by terrain.

Usually when a unit is destroyed it can be rebuilt at a reduced cost but occasionally not. I understand that in a general sense if a unit is cut off it can't be rebuilt cheaply but must rather be purchased for full cost. However I've tried pocketing and destroying units and know that for example if I destroy them on the turn they are pocketed then they can still be rebuilt at reduced cost if there is a 10 point city inside the pocket (the city is reduced to 5 on the following turn due to (I assume) being cut off from the capitol). So - can someone describe the necessary conditions to cause an opponent to pay full cost to rebuild a destroyed unit? Also will any city cut off from the capitol be reduced to 50% on the following turn or are there any conditions that will protect a city from this penalty? Thanks for any insight

A friend and I are playing a mirror game of this mod. We started and then stopped because the Germans just seemed unstoppable as has been mentioned on this board. So we made the following changes: Soviets get: 1500 MPP tech chit - IW tech chit - AT Industrial modifier moved from 105% to 110% Industrial Tech increment moved from 20% to 25% Added 2 Siberian air units and 2 Siberian armor units to arrive in Dec 41 Added 1 engineer I'll let the board know how it goes

Some enterprising modder should put this one together - would be fun

It looks interesting - and I read one post that said Axis has a huge advantage - I'm interested in any other thoughts. Thx

Oh - I see how Gib fell - Spain was on Axis side. For some reason when I read the accounts above it gave me the impression that Gib fell _before_ Spain entered.