TaoJah

Yes, I play the Chinese pure defensive. Defend the mountains east of Phatow, defend the mountains South of Yulr, defend the fortifications south of Wuhan, defend Changsha, defend Kweilin, defend, defend, defend. The engineers help alot: make fortresses between Changshe & Kweiling and Japan will never get through. The only thing that I don't defend is Nanking. Maybe it's possible to keep it, but it would take the engineers, some armies and a HQ, which makes Changshe & Kweiling vulnerable. I am not sure it's worth it. Well, use about 10 Russian troops (all you special forces, 3 tanks and some armies) and go attack Japan... that's what I did: while the Chinese were defending against the bulk of Japanese forces, the Russians took Manchuria, Peking & Seoul, then landed in Japan with tanks to take Tokyo... and Japan surrendered. Make sure you take your special forces with you, they defend terribly against Germany, but they are great attackers!

Hi! Yes, it's hard. You got to focus fire: you got to attack it with 4 things every turn, for several turns, else you can't dig it out... What I do in the mediteranian is this... - repair the Italian Bomber to the max - after you take Netherlands, operate a German HQ and the three German bombers to the South of Italy - bomb Malta till it's down - have one Italian corps ready in Amphibious ready within reach - take Malta Once you did that, France should have fallen already (it takes 6-7 turns to bomb Malta to 0). Then you transport the German HQ to Africa and move 2 German armies, a German tank and 2 German corpses to Africa, to take Alexander & Cairo. Use that German force to go to Syria and once you are at war with Russia, use them to take Turkey and attack Russia from the south. You could use them to take Iran too, but I never do that: it takes 3-4 turns and it's not really worth it, I think. I also take Spain & Gibraltar after France. When you got Egypt & Gibraltar, the entire mediteranian is 100% save, so you can use all those troops to attack Russia!

You're right, I'm an idiot: I saw "decisive" victory but didn't check if it was Allied or Axis. Odd that Allies can't get a decisive: I hold the entire world in the palm of my hand, so it's as decisive as decisive gets! Anyway, no biggie, just odd.

Hi! I just finished my Allied game, and I got all the cities that were mentioned in the victory conditions for a decisive victory. But it only gave a major victiry instead I even replayed part of it, because I didn't have Manilli, but even now that I have it, it won't give me decisive. Did anyone ever had a decisive victory yet?

Ah, so that is how research works now, thanks. That explains the extreem randomness of the system, something I am not fond of, but at least I now know why it's so unpredictable! Anyway, almost done with my Axis game against the Allied AI, no real new remarks, except... - the AI seems to like defending cities with airplanes (Paris had an iarplane in it, for example). - Japan needs some sort of boost in China, they AI never even got close to throwing China westwards. Japan seems to be very aggresive in the South pacific, but are lacking in China. They defend Tokyo well, though Other than that, fun all around!

Thanks for the answers and explications! I didn't know about the silent mode of submarines, so that's good to know indeed. About Helsinki and Leningrad, I didn't keep my save game, but I'm pretty sure they were both at 5, I kept USSR a long time. I'll recheck with my next game (when I hold both with Russia, playing Allies now). See if you got a save game and check it? That Russia is not splitting properly is a pity, but no real big deal to me. As long as you can railroad out of Russia with the Germans, it doesn't really matter that some cities are Japanese. And I didn't knew about Oporto, hehe. I always called it Porto because of the drink But I see now that Unesco (it's city centre is protected heritage) calls it Oporto too. Yes, that's how I keep track, I add the percentages and check the next turn. But I get breakthroughs when I can't have 45% yet. . But... much more important... I'm pretty sure that there is something really wrong with research, where research goes too slow. You almost always have to get to 100% to get an advancement for some researches. It's statistical very, very, VERY improbably to 'miss' the odds when you got 48% chance to get something and miss, then miss again at 54%, miss again at 60, again at 66, again at 72, again at 78, again at 84, again at 90, again at 96 nad only get it when it hits 100+. I don't know if you know alot about statistics, but the odds of missing all those rolls is 1-48/100 * 1-54/100 * 1-60/100 * 1-66/100 * 1-72/100 * 1-78/100 * 1-84/100 * 1-90/100 * 1-96/100, or 1 in 779,720. And this happens often... for the Italians, for example, I needed to get to 90 to get infantry 1 and to 100 to get to infantry 2 in my first game, to 75 and 90 in my second game and to 105 and 105 in my third game. That is simply not possible without another factor playing, those odds are impossible. Anyway... it's not game breaking, just annoying that I don't know what's going on, hehe. Now, if you excuse me, I have some Germans troops on my Russian soil to fight!

I just finished my first full game with the 1939 scenario against the AI on max difficulty settings and would like to share some questions, remarks and mention some (minor) bugs. Assault on Democracy is a great, great game, one that I will enjoy for many, many evenings the coming months. It is virtual bugfree, it has the perfect balance between in-debt mechanics & playability and has a very, very high replay value. But, obviously, there are some remarks and questions, so here it goes... . . Questions. . . 1. When exactly does the US & Russia declares war to Japan? You can play a long time with both the US and Russia on 100% versus Japan with both countires at war with Germany, but without USA or USSR declaring war against Japan. . 2. When can research succeed, exactly? The notes say that there is a treshold of 45, but... I keep the research % in a spreadhseet, with the 5%, 4%, 3%, 2% and 1% increases nicely added per chit, with the cumulative points in a column. That way, I know how long stuff takes to get to 100% and what is best to pick. But... I received Tank 1 with Germany after only 4 turns of 2 chits in one game, so when I only got 40% cumulated (4 x 5%x2). And I needed 22 turns with one chit in Industrial to get to level 1 with Japan (22 x 5% = 110%). . 3. Do some researches have a higher treshold than 45 for some countries? I re-started the game twice and in all three games Mobility takes a long time for both Japan and Italy. The same for Infantry for the Italians and submarines for Japan. . 4. When exactly can you repair your troops to 6, 8, 10, 11... ? Do you need supply to be at a certain level? Which level? Do you need to be attached to a HQ to get elite reinfircements? I can't figure out the rule, so I always have to try the Reinforce button, click MAX and see how high it will go. . 5. What technology do I need to upgrade a port for spotting? I see that Allied ports have spotting (1)+2, but my ports can't be upgraded for spotting, only for anti-air. . 6. How much does the quality of the AI goes down when I select 'Quick Logic'? I always want to play on maxed difficulty but the AI turns take a long time (even with 'Show combat animations' turned off) and I want to speed up the game. . 7. Under which conditions does Finland enter the war when I come close to Leningrad? The script says that Finland joins when I come close, but those stubborn Fins don't join me... Do I need to be near Leningrad at a certain date or so? Is it only a 50/50 percentage? I could invade Finland, but I need those 5 troops for partisan control in the USSR. . 8. What exactly causes partisan activity in China? Even when I covered ALL partisan spots, ALL of them, I still get a pop-up about resistance in China, centered on Peking. It's enough to have a troop NEXT to the partisan spot, right? I mean, the troop does not have to stand on top of it? I am very, very careful when conquering China, very careful not to leave any partisan spots open, EVER, but I still get the pop-ups. . 9. Does the terrain where the ATTACKER stands, matters to see how much damage the DEFENDER gets? This is something new that I noticed... When I move my German tank next to a Russian army in a city, I get 1-4 damage odds when the tank moves to a forest spot. But... when the tank moves to a Marsh spot, it shows 1-2. The same tank, the same army, no river... I can't figure out why it does that. IT has nothing to do with roads: one forest tile has a road, one forest tile does not, but the tank gives 1-4 on both forest tiles. And one marsh tile has a road, one marsh tile has no road, but they both give 1-2. It's not just for attacking Tanks, it also does that for attacking Paratroopers, Armies and Corpses. . . Remarks. . . a) It seems odd to me that Production only gives a 5% bonus and Industrial a 25%. That's a big difference, up to the point where Industrial is pretty much useless compared to Production, or am I missing something? They both do the same, essentially. One gives more MPP to spend on the purchase & repair of your troops, the other one makes your troops purchases & repairs cost less. Aside from money for research and diplomacy, they essentially do the same. One just does it 20% better than the other. Japan could use more garrisons after China surrenders. I can't cover all the partisan spots in China with garrisons, even when I take the 4 extra garrisons. The same for Germany after Russia surrenders. Maybe both countries should get a number of Axis garrisons once they surrender or so. c) There seems to be no seperate manual for AoD, when you click on manual, the GC manual opens. d) Maybe add a feature where HQs that were set to 'Manual' or 'Assist' take control of their original units again when they come back in the HQ range (after control was lost when they went out of HQ range). e) The Italian garrisons in Adua & Kismayo seems to have been giving super powers, they can hold off 3 UK corpses each, sometimes even 3 UK corpses and airsupport. f) Maybe add some sort of extra visual field in the research screen that shows how many research chits you can buy in a category. For example, you can only buy 2 chits in German anti-tank research, but that doesn't show anywhere until you try to buy your third. g) Maybe add a 'Next' shortcut key, instead of only the mouse-operated button. It would help alot to go through the units. h) The 'Next' button disapears when the selected troop is a transporter in a port. h) When engineers are digging a fortification, maybe don't show them in the 'Next' sequence. You can't put them to 'sleep' because then you loose track, but it's not useful to show them when they are building. i) Maybe add a visial difference in the purchase screen between the units that you can afford and the units that you can't. j) 200% for upgrades on minors is a bit high, in my opinion. It takes 120 MPP (120!) to upgrade a Roumanian army with +2 infantry and +1 mobility. That's a bit high. k) Maybe add a % on the War map that shows the % readiness that the USSR and USA will gain when you DOw on a country. I got the values from the editor, written out on a piece of paper, but it would be nice to have them in-game too. l) It's odd that there is no railroad between Lulea (Finland and Oulu (Finland). It makes it impossibible to operate out of Sweden or Norway. l) There isn't alot of visual difference between Special Forces and Corpses nor between Divisions and Garrisons. Maybe add some sort of graphic option where a Garrison shows one man, a Division two, a Corps three, a Special Force four and an Army five or so. Now I got to hover my mouse over them all the time. If anyone has a mod for this, it would be greatly appreciated! m) Maybe remove the randomness in research or lower it a bit. Or add an option to remove the randomness. It makes a HUGE difference when you can attack USSR with +1 tanks (like in my first game) or with +3 tanks (like in my second). It seems a bit unfair. n) Malta disrupts northern Africa even when you bomb the port to 0 and the readiness of the Coastal Gun is less than 10%, which is kinda odd. o) Maybe ports should give should some sort of protection to submarines too. p) Maybe, if there is budget and time and willingness, make an option to only play Germany & Italy in the 1939 scenario and let the AI handle Japan. I appreciate the world map, but turns take alot of time now. q) Nothing new, it's the same as in the old games, but the green of the Italians is pretty close to the green of the Americans, so sometimes it's hard to see who's who. r) Maybe add some sort of feature where partisan activity in a spot disapears after x turns of occupation. s) Maybe check how the AI calculates things and optimise the coding techniques. I think the AI takes about the same time per unit then it did 10 years ago on my much, much slower computer. I understand that this isn't easy, but the AI turns take a long time in the later turns of the 1939 scenario. t) When you turn off the messages on the human turn and a country then surrenders to you, you don't get a message saying how much you plunder, which is ok. But maybe instead of adding the plunder MPP to your total before you get the MPP popup, it would be nice to see them in that MPP popup. The goal of turning off messages is to have less messages, but plunder MPP is kinda important, so it would be nice to see them anyway. v) When you enter Russia with German troops, the red tiles turn grey, as expected. But when you then move Italian troops on the tiles that were colored grey, the tiles turn green, from the Italians. This is kinda annoying, cause it turns the whole map in some sort of red/green/grey color book. I would personally prefer it that tiles stayed grey once the Axis occupy them, Germany was the main force afer all. v) It's a bit odd that the railroads in Burma (Br) is not connected to any other railroads, not to the Indian one or to the Thai one or to the Chines one. w) I don't know if it's intended, but when you build fortifications on the spots where the coastal guns come in France (and you pay to get the coastal guns), the coastal guns stand on the fortification, making them impossible for the AI to kill. The AIs D-Day failed miserably, partly because of that. x) When Germany takes all of western Russia, the capital move to Novosibirsk. Then Japan only has to take that city and Russia surrenders, with Japan getting all the MPPs from the surrendering. That's not really fair, Germany did almost all the work. z) When the game ended with a desive victory in 1944, I turned off Fog Of War to see what the AI had left from troops. - The USA had 75 land troops just standing there in west USA. It didn't do anything with those, it never set foot in Japan or China or even the Philippines. Maybe because I invaded Pearl Harbor and kept it occupied with armies? Or because I landed an army in Seattle in 1943? - There were 15 airplanes in the UK, but virtually no land troops left after D-Day. IT was pretty easy to take London, he had an artillary in London and no troops at all east or south of London. . . Minor bugs. . . i. When moving troops in Ansi, the text says 'Yurmen destroyed'. ii. When you capture Chungkin, you get a message that the Chines capital moves to Langchow. When you capture Langchow, you get a message that the Chines capital moves to Urumchi. But... when you then loose Langchow back to the Chinese and then capture Urumchi, does the capital moves back to Langchow? I didn't get a message for it, and I conquered pretty much everything else in China but China won't surrender, even after 5 turns (then I restarted the game). Either the capital moves and you should get a message. Or the capital doesn't move and they should surrender. iii. The city of Porto is labeled as 'Oporto' instead of just 'Porto'. iv. When you got alot of new units to place (I had more than 8 in one turn, because I left some older ones waiting), the NEW UNIT window comes up at the start of your turn and than the game crashes to desktop. v. When I am typing in Notepad (I typed these notes in notepad before posting them) and I move my cursor around in Notepad with the up, down, left, right arrow, the AoD map behind the notepad moves too, despite Notepad having 'focus'. vi. When you take Norway and Sweden with the Germans... and Finland joins you... and then you take Leningrad... the captals in those three countries (Oslo, Stockholm & Helsinki) don't get supply up to 10, despite the fact that they are linked to Berlin with railroads that are all in German hands. This bug does not exist in the South. When Bulgary and Hungary join the Axis, together with Iraq & Syria and than you conquer Egypt and Turkey, the main cities in Africa and in the middle east get upgraded higher than 5. vii. The railroad between Leningrad and Helsinki is broken, you can't operate between them. viii. Sometimes, the screen turns white for a while during the AI turn. It builds back up, bit by bit, starting with the name of the turn-part (like 'Combat I...) until it's all visable again. ix. The US submarines that attack Japan in 1942-1943 seem to have stealth capacities, they can go straight through Japanese submarines (and vica versa, the Japanese submarines go through the Americans). x. When Russia surrenders and you split it with Japan, a small area north of Leningrad and some western cities go to Japan (Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas, Wilno, Brest-Litovsk and Lwow). xi. Sometimes the game stays 'on top' of other applications and it's impossible to do anything else: you got to quit the game to fix it.

Thanks for the answers! So... - always keep 1 unit in Warshaw and in Koningsberg - don't have 8, 9 or 10 units 0, 1 or 2 hexes around Warshaw - don't have 8, 9 or 10 units 0, 1 or 2 hexes around Koningsberg. Kinda odd that 11 or more units are okay, hehe. And apperently, [2, 2] does not mean 'minimum distance 2, maximum distance 2', but 'minimum distance 0, maximum distance 2'. That makes sense game-wise, but it's just odd to put [2, 2] in the files and not [0,2]. But okay, no biggie, I guess there were technical reasons for it. Good to know!

Same here, that turn, the naval reorganisation took a long time for me too. But some other turns also take long, more specifically the Combat I and Combat J turns. Nothing like the naval reorganisation turn at the Pearl Harbor date, but still. Sorry, I don't have a save game!

When you capture Chungkin, you get a message that the Chines capital moves to Langchow. When you capture Langchow, you get a message that the Chines capital moves to Urumchi. Once you got all three of those cities (and keep them, the Chines shouldn't take any of those 3 back), they will surrender in 1-2-3 turns. I usually take Chungkin with one team and use another team to take Langchow & Urumchi. I think you can even take Langchow before you take Chungkin, the capital moves directly to Urumchi then. . For Russia, I don't think you got to take Leningrad to make them surrender, the capital moves from Moscow to Stalingrad. And then to... euh... not sure... but I think somewhere far east. That being said, taking Leningrad is a good decision. Once you get Finland to join you (or invade it), your mines & cities in Norway & Sweden are conected to Germany and go up to 10! Plus, it's a city that is easy to defend and can act as a stronghold against the Russians. . By the way... it's also smart to DOW Turkey and take it, immediatly after USSR & USA declared war. Because, if you got Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and all of east Africa gets connected to Germany too, which gives you extra MPPs too! . Also, you might consider to take Spain & Gibraltar once USA & USSR DOW. on Germany (not sooner, it will bump up their activation alot). And ofcourse, make sure you get Egypt. Because... once you got Gibraltar & Egypt, the allies can't get to North Africa and Italy is safe!

Hi! I got a question regarding the 4 Russian activation events on the border with Germany... I do not fully understand these events... I copied their text below, so you don't have to look them up in the editor! Event #1. Warsaw/Konigsberg Garrisons in 1940 (USSR->Allies) Event #2. Warsaw/Konigsberg Garrisons in 1941 (USSR->Allies) Question 1. Are Event #1 and Event #2 cumulative in 1941? If I abandon either one of these cities in 1941, do I get the 2-3% activation from 1) PLUS the 3-5% from 2? This is a rather theoretic question, I never abandon them, but inquiring minds want to know! . Event #3. Soviet Border Garrisons in 1941 (USSR->Allies) Question 2. Do I understand this correct when I say that this event #3 only triggers when you got 0 units in a 5-hex radius around Warshaw? So, if I got one unit in Warshaw and one in Koningsburg, this does NOT trigger? That's a very odd, because we already have an event that triggers when you abandon Warshaw. Is this their intended purpose? Or... do I need one unit EXACTLY 5 hexes away from Warshaw? It says [5,5] for the min, max range, so it's not clear where I need the units... . Event #4. Axis Build Up For War With The USSR (USSR->Allies) Question 3. What does the [2,2] means? a) Does this event triggers when I got one unit in Warshaw and 7 units next to Warshaw? Does this event triggers when I got one unit in Warshaw and exactly 7 units that are exactly 2 hexes away from Warshaw? c) Does this event triggers when I got one unit in Warshaw, exactly 3 adjacent to Warshaw and exactly 4 units that are 2 hexes away from Warshaw? d) Does this event triggers when I have 8 units exactly 2 hexes away from Warshaw? If , c) or d) is 'yes', then someone should change the text in the event (it says ''8-10 units in or adjacent''), cause 2 hexes away is NOT adjacent, no it is not! . Question 4. Are the units cumulative with Warshaw & Insterburg? So, if I got 4 units 'around' Warshaw plus another 4 units 'around' Insterburg (whatever 'around' means), does this event triggers? . The reason why I ask this, is because I was playing nice with Russia, putting my units far away and all of a sudden, BOOM, they go from 86% to 102%, decalre war and attack my poor, innocent German soldiers! Germany had 8 troops exactly two hexes from Warshaw, so maybe that triggered it. . ; Axis abandon Soviet frontier positions resulting in a ; 2-3% increase in USSR mobilization towards Allies { #NAME= Warsaw/Konigsberg Garrisons in 1940 (USSR->Allies) #POPUP= #IMAGE= #SOUND= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #AI= 0 #GV= 1[1,100] #LINK= 0[0] #LEVEL= 0 #COUNTRY_ID= 4 #TRIGGER= 75 #DATE= 1940/01/01 ; 2-3% mobilization increase towards Allies #MOBILIZATION= [2,3] [2] ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Germany politically aligned with Axis and not surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 6 [1] [100] [0] ; Axis abandon Warsaw OR #CONDITION_POSITION= 185,70 [0,0] [0,0] [1] [0] ; Axis abandon Konigsberg #CONDITION_POSITION= 183,66 [0,0] [0,0] [1] [0] } ; Axis abandon Soviet frontier positions resulting in a ; 3-5% increase in USSR mobilization towards Allies { #NAME= Warsaw/Konigsberg Garrisons in 1941 (USSR->Allies) #POPUP= #IMAGE= #SOUND= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #AI= 0 #GV= 1[1,100] #LINK= 0[0] #LEVEL= 0 #COUNTRY_ID= 4 #TRIGGER= 75 #DATE= 1941/01/01 ; 3-5% mobilization increase towards Allies #MOBILIZATION= [3,5] [2] ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Germany politically aligned with Axis and not surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 6 [1] [100] [0] ; Axis abandon Warsaw OR #CONDITION_POSITION= 185,70 [0,0] [0,0] [1] [0] ; Axis abandon Konigsberg #CONDITION_POSITION= 183,66 [0,0] [0,0] [1] [0] } ; Axis have limited Soviet border positions resulting in a ; 3-7% increase in USSR mobilization towards Allies { #NAME= Soviet Border Garrisons in 1941 (USSR->Allies) #POPUP= #IMAGE= #SOUND= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #AI= 0 #GV= 1[1,100] #LINK= 0[0] #LEVEL= 0 #COUNTRY_ID= 4 #TRIGGER= 75 #DATE= 1941/01/01 ; 3-7% mobilization increase towards Allies #MOBILIZATION= [3,7] [2] ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Germany politically aligned with Axis and not surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 6 [1] [100] [0] ; Axis have no units in or adjacent to Warsaw and Konigsberg #CONDITION_POSITION= 185,70 [5,5] [0,0] [1] [0] } ; Axis have too many Soviet frontier positions resulting in a ; 5-10% increase in USSR mobilization towards Allies { #NAME= Axis Build Up For War With The USSR (USSR->Allies) #POPUP= #IMAGE= #SOUND= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #AI= 0 #GV= 1[1,100] #LINK= 0[0] #LEVEL= 0 #COUNTRY_ID= 4 #TRIGGER= 50 #DATE= 1940/06/01 ; 5-10% mobilization increase towards Allies #MOBILIZATION= [5,10] [2] ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Germany politically aligned with Axis and not surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 6 [1] [100] [0] ; Axis have 8-10 units in or adjacent Insterburg OR ; Axis have 8-10 units in or adjacent Warsaw #CONDITION_POSITION= 185,67 [2,2] [8,10] [1] [0] #CONDITION_POSITION= 185,70 [2,2] [8,10] [1] [0]

I would love to play this tournament too, but I fear that time will be an issue. A game takes a loooong time, with many turns and even if you only play 1 game, it will still take 4 full games to know the winner (5 even, now that there are more that 16 players). One game will take several weeks, even when playing two turns per day. Four games will take months I don't plan months ahead in my life, I don't even know what I will have for breakfast tomorrow!

Very good review for new SC players, indeed! Solid game and very fun, again!! Their remarks for the fleet losses are kinda odd, I didn't see that at all. I tried 4 games now to do a Sealion and it never even REMOTELY works. Ofcourse, this is on the highest difficulty settings, maybe they didn't set it that high. Also, I do find it kinda odd that they pay so much attention to the different other scenarios, I always thought that everyone only played the long one, but apparently not!

I don't know yet if the Japanese can help the Germand by keeping the USSR busy: I was trying this out, but I installed the patch so I had to restart from zero I took the Chinese cities east of the mountains and kept a minimal Japanese defence force on the mountain paths (plus garrisons & divisions to prevent partisans). that way, the Chinese can't cross the mountains. Then I used all the rest of the Japanese forces to go north and attack the USSR And there were ALOT of Japanese: I bought ALL Japanese land troops and research, ignoring any naval and air, totally ignoring the USA threath. That was going okay, but... then I installed the patch and had to quit. So, I don't know if attacking the USSR with Japan helps the Germand alot. Somehow I doubt it, the russians didn't put up much of a fight in the east, they just gave up the cities without alot of units to defend them. . Now, in my new game, I do it differently, I am focussing 100% on eliminating the Chinese with Japan: I go to their second and third capital ASAP (not an easy task with those mountains and pesky supply problems). I figure that a strong Japan will help the Germans too, by keeping the USA busy. But I don't know yet if that theory will work, I'm not far yet. We're all newbs at the moment, isn't it exciting !!! Another thing I want to try is attacking the UK with Japan, in Africa. I got the impression that the UK puts ALOT of effort in Addis Abeba. I held it pretty long pre-patch, with my Italian corps, HQ, 3 airplanes and the Italian special force there (with +2 infantry research on them). The UK puts ALOt of troops in it, planes, armies, carriers... Like ALOT ! Maybe if I land there with some Japanese troops, it will help, I donno yet.

Hi! As veteran SC player, I bought AoD (it is as good as I expected, great job there, again!!!) and have some questions... Normally, I would try to find the answers out myself by playing the game half a dozen times, but because turns take so long now, I don't want to spend days only to find out I made a mistake at the start, so here it goes... All answers are welcome, even if it is to only one of the questions! 1. Does anyone has a map of all the partisan spots? I keep units in all the old SC places, but they still pop up. 2. Can you ever Operate German units to Japan or Japanese to German? 3. What exactly is the effect of keeping eastern Poland? I get a popup about angry Stalin and war-readiness of USSR goes up a little bit, but are there other effects than that one-time increase? 4. I was heading to Alexandria with my Italian forces, through the desert lands, when all of a sudden Syria came Axis and I could just land troops behind the UK. Will that always happen, will Syria and Iraq always come to the Axis? 5. Amphibious transport are insanely expensive now. Do people still take Sweden, Norway with these new costs? And with what, with amphibious or paratroopers only and then transport or how? 6. The same with Spain in 1941 (without attacking Vichy) and northern Africa (in 1942), is it viable to invade these with the high amphibious prices? 7. Is research slower than before? I understand why it is nerfed in numbers (only 2 infantry, only 3 chits of research at once...) but is the % per turn lower than it used to be? 8. In the long run... how many ships do you need to buy to keep the USA off the Japanese islands (so that you don't need ground units to defend the Japanese islands from the USA)? Is that even a viable startegy or will you always have to defend them at one point? 9. If you take the first Chinese capital and cities west of the moutains, will the Chinese ever recover and make a counter attack in 1944 or so? 10. How heavily involved does Russia get in Japan, if I don't attack the Russian cities near China? Will Russia leave Japan alone? 11. After taking Port De France and all that gold (woot!), would it be a good idea to put that troop on amphibious tranport and go take some cities in central America? If so, where is it best to go? 12. And more in general... what's the consensus about Vichy France now? Do you allow France to surrender and form Vichy France after you take Paris or do you think it's best to keep fighting the French? I don't know the world map well yet, but it seems to me that the French get alot of stuff everywhere when you let Vichy form.

Thanks for the AAR. In the first turns in Russia, I thought you were going really slow. I usually blitzkrieg there straight to Moscow and set up defence there. This is only possibly because I usually have maxed infantry technology (infantry, anti-tank and mobility, which cost a fortune). But I think you decided instead to put alot of resources in naval units and air, no?

Yeah, FOW is the most fun for me too. Not just at sea. One could argue that several great battles were decided because the of FOW: Waterloo, for example, where the Brits used fake troops north of their line to dissuate the old guard from charging through the line, the fake federal banners in the cival war, which made the confederates reset their troops all wrong and even D-Day where the Germans didn't had a clue what was comming. FOW is a must-do!

It would indeed be very nice to be able to set Japan on AI. I just tried the Demo and the main reason why I have doubts to buy the game, is that that I got to play the Japanese too

The disadvantage when you take Norway, is that it is VERY easy for the allies to sneak in a corps in one of the coastal cities. So, you got to defend them. And not just with garrisons, probable with divisions, divisions that you can't use anywhere else. Yes, it is easy to take Norway. But you pay alot to keep those MPPs throughout the game. I don't think that in the long run, Norway is worth it.

Hi! Does anyone has a (readable) list somewhere of the different things that makes the US and USSR war activation go up? I remember stuff like 'keep 2 soldiers at the USSR border in 1940' and such, but I can't seem to find a full list anywhere

Pfffft... Americans don't know anything about fries. Despite the fact that they are called French Fries, they are actually Belgium. The French just got better PR, that's all. And yes, you can do it without grease. But that's... well... that's just WRONG ! Fries go into a fries-pan, filled with grease, pre-heated at 200 degress and then fried for 10 minutes. Not 9, not 11, no, EXACT ten. If the phone rings after 9 minutes 45 seconds, let it ring. If one of your kids starts to cry after 9 minutes and 50 seconds, tell it to wait. If the doorbel goes after 9 minutes 55 seconds, shout "making fries". They'll understand ! Fries without grease... Shame on you !!!

Personally, I don't agree on the historical point of view. If you play that way, Germany loses, never even gets to Moscow. You might as well watch a documentary then !

Yes, in real life luck plays a factor too. And yes, Terif is so much better then us that he always wins. But with two more-or-less equal players, you know who will win at the end of 1940 due to luck in research and diplo : a hit in those are just too important. And that's just not fun. Well, at least for me it isn't, so...

Yes, in real life luck plays a factor too. And yes, Terif is so much better then us that he always wins. But with two more-or-less equal players, you know who will win at the end of 1940 due to luck in research and diplo : a hit in those are just too important. And that's just not fun. Well, at least for me it isn't, so...

I on the other hand won't buy it, unless the luck factor gets fixed : it's no fun to play a strategic game where you already know the outcome after 40 turns because of either good or bad luck.