ason Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 (edited) Hey, I bought this game a couple of days ago and I really like it. The game has the best AI I've ever seen and the complexity vs simplicity is perfect, not too complicated but not too simple. Only thing I dislike is the shape of the "hexes". Are there any benefits of having squares instead of hexagons? Anyway, I'm playing the grand campaign 1938 (not sure of exact name) as axis, and so far it has gone pretty well. Countries I've conquered: Poland,France,Low Countries,Denmark,Yugoslavia,Greece,Egypt,Syria,Iraq,Iran,Sudan - All of which were conquered before the war with Russia. I'm fighting in Ethiopia with the Italians, and I have occupied about half of China with Japan. It is now April 1943 and USSR declared war on Germany in May 1942. So I've been fighting the Soviets for a year now and I was well prepared for the Soviet declaration of war, so I had alot of units stationed on the eastern front. I managed to gain the initiative from the start and began to push east. The problem however is that it is going extremely slow... In all other games I've played(Time of Fury, CeaW etc) I always managed to encircle the soviets, but in this game I find it next to impossible... Having squares instead of hexagons of course doesn't help(probably the reason why it's so hard)... I need 8 units to completely encircle one enemy unit and 8 units is almost an entire "Army Group" ... I'm getting alot of MPP's (about 400-600/turn), sometimes I have more than 100 left at the end of turn.. Here is current situation. It has been like this for maybe 5-6 turns now...(I also captured Baku with my forces in Iran, my goal is to drive towards Stalingrad and link up with my forces in Baku, then take care of Moscow and Leningrad): Surely after 1 year of fighting I should have atleast captured either Leningrad,Moscow or Stalingrad? I'm 100% sure my advance is waaay too slow.. So Basically what I wonder is: 1.What am I doing wrong? What do I need to do to increase the speed of my advance? 2.Should I try to encircle enemies and their cities or just grind my way through them? Encircling them doesn't seem to affect their supply very much and in the end they always seem to reestablish a connection somewhere... 3. Can I research something that lets me buy more inf. divisons for example? I really need more and faster units to be able to keep enemies encircled, but problem is I can't buy more units.. 4. Any other advice ? Thanks in advance! Edited June 13, 2016 by ason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crispy131313 Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 (edited) Hi Ason, The battle with USSR should be priority #1 for Germany. However from the above it sounds as if conquering Egypt,Syria,Iraq,Iran and Sudan was your priority first. I would suggest after the fall of France that you dedicate as many resources as possible for a spring 41' attack on USSR. It is easy to throw your strongest forces at the weaker minor nations, while ignoring the bear in the room (USSR). Doing so will allow USSR too much time to build up (and they will build up). You need to strike them hard and fast and go as deep as possible in 1941, as it will never be easier after that until you feel the tide of war swing ultimately on your side. Concentrate your firepower (Tanks + Bombers) to take major cities. Avoid leaving your best forces in a slug fest in swampy areas, (immediately south of Leningrad is a great example). Encircling enemies can be hard, but it can be done. I should add I haven't played a "vanilla" game for over 2 years, I've modded my campaign so much. But the above advice should be a good start. -- PS - You may want to invest more in Air, D-Day is an air war as much as everything else. You seem ill prepared to defend against constant bombarding from UK/USA. Edited June 20, 2016 by crispy131313 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will95 Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 I can't speak specifically to this campaign as I have only played a small amount of AoD, but there are some pretty broad principles I play by which get me through decently enough; - I prefer to encircle cities (if inhabitants are fortified) rather than just try to blast through on the hop. Attacking while moving carries such big penalties, you'll almost certainly lose troops this way, forcing you to wait a turn anyway to reinforce before you can advance. Total encirclement isn't necessary, just 3-4 units within strike radius at the start of your turn. And this almost goes without saying, but use artillery/air power to reduce fortifications where possible before going in - Play carefully with your armour to minimise losses and build up elite reinforcements by making the most of the easy pickings until the USSR starts fielding armour of it's own. It makes a massive difference to your battle odds - 13 strength panzers are almost unstoppable. - Generally I find advancing quickly to be overrated. If you're taking loads of USSR territory but not killing anything, you're not gaining much until you get to the real objectives i.e. Moscow/Stalingrad/Leningrad (and even then they won't automatically win you the match - I've taken Moscow in early '42 and eventually got pushed out in '44 because until you get the oil, the Russian income is too great). If you're slowly grinding through but coming out on top in every engagement then that's a bigger win imo. In the war of attrition, eventually their army will get smaller and smaller. - From a more meta point of view, I think playing as the Germans in all grand scenarios is pretty tough, but I've had my best successes in campaigns that let me pick the Barbarossa start date. I think, unless you've got a totally unique/wacky plan of action in mind, invasion of the USSR should be done no later than it was historically (and ideally 1-2 months earlier). You let the USSR build up for an extra year and compounded the problem by letting them invade you first (if you invade them, you get to wipe out all the insta-spawn units that appear across the border with 0 supply and virtually zero combat effectiveness; freebies should not be missed!). Your situation looks pretty much what I'd expect, although having Baku is a major plus. Taking the oil there will make a large difference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkizziah Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 hello.... I have been running an AoD tournament the last couple of years. Last time we had 12 players. We have a 'new' modification that we are planning on playing on the next tournament round...starting mid-October 2017. (called "Allies Stronger")... and some of us are playing it now... after a little more play, I will probably be tweaking the victory conditions. If you are interested, I could send the mod file for your review. We will be handicapping play for participants that aren't quite as experienced as our top players... hopefully, with the handicaps play becomes roughly balanced. my direct contact: gkizziah@aol.com Hope you are still playing AoD !! Regards Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts