Norse

ISE Eiffel supports compiling the program for Linux, so it shouldn't be a problem unless there is something else I don't know about. Regardless, since this is possible, will you please compile it for Linux as well? You know it will be good for buisness, as the Linux community will welcome it into the warmth and post it up on all the major Linux sites (meaning more $$$ ching ching!!). Well, it is up to you Hubert, but from the Linux community I just wanted to say pleeeeeeeaaase, or as they say in Germany, bitte! Please spare me any silly "Windows vs Linux" replies to this. Some like Linux others like Windows, period - end of discussion. ~Norse~

Alright, been playing the demo some couple thousand times by now (lol), and tried out some different stuff. I know Im not alone bout this so I'd like to hear more about what your best strategies are, and what you think of this. Yesterday I tried something, think this is my best axis strategy so far. Subwarfare is awesome! I did the standard thing, defeating the Low Countries and France. Placed 3 research units on "advanced subs" and got the subs up to level 3. By the end of the demo I had 6 sub packs in the atlantic, and they wreacked havoc on the UK mpp's. You can easily knock out 20~30 UK mpp's each turn without loosing a single sub this way, maybe more if I didnt keep sending some subs back for repairs and resupply each turn. UK was almost defeated before I invaded by mis-spending the *few* UK MPP's left. With all the subs in the atlantic Im both hurting UK, and protecting myself against any hostile actions from the USA, if they should declare war. That the european defence is as far out as in the atlantic also means that all remaining land units are shipped to the Russian border, and there is enough troops to make an adequate early defence against the ruskis. In the meantime, 3 corps, 3 armies, and 3 tank divisions backed by 2 HQ's and 4 airfleet's are knocking UK out of the war. Subwarfare is definately a way to go! Italy in all of this: I did not bother to get the HQ and the armies and the airfleet to go after Egypt. Because, UK falls anyway, why waste Italian MPP's on brawling with the UK troops then?? Instead I placed a research chit in Industrial Tech, and got an extra sub to wreack havoc on the UK convoys in the med. When UK falls, Italy can send the Italian fleet into the atlantic. Now *THAT* should definately keep the US at bay, the Italians could just whoop up the remaining non-axis minors in Europe. Greece, Irak, and send everything against Russia perhaps in Caucasus. Summary: Axis owns the Atlantic, imagine, 6 german subs at level 3, 2 italian subs, 3 battleships and 1 cruiser. Heh, USA stays out of Europe for a very long time. All other units go against Russia for a maximum preassure, and UK is already out of the war. I think this is the way to go. Good luck allies! Only a miracle can save you now, and no, the winter won't save you this time!! ~Norse~

I remember watching a documentary where some ruski generals were intervjued, they had gone to Berlin and met with the jerry generals and asked: "We are getting reports of a large troop buildup near our Russian border. What are your troops doing there?" The Germans talked among themselves for awhile, then replied: "What troops? We have no troops along your border" A few days later almost 4 million Germans rolled into Russia. That was the coolest documentary of ww2 Ive ever seen

<irony=on> I agree, when a nation declares on someone else then no suprise bonus shall be given. Because, everybody knows what you are up to, like if Germany shuts down some harbours then Sweeden knows it is next (comon isn't that obvious??). And espesically the US knows the invasion is coming even before Germany even begins to think of it, because the US is some kind of super-nation that is given this bonus. <irony=off> The US military was not prepared to go head on against any major Axis power in 1940 or 41, the US military budget at this time was only 2 billion $ (The Times historical Atlas of World War 2). In 1944, the US military budget was way over 90 billion $ and they were very ready for anything anywhere. Germany in 1941 had enough resources to do ANYTHING she wants. The Germans had resources to launch Operation Sea Lion if they really wanted to, but they changed their mind and went after Russia instead. If the Germans wanted to make a suprise attack on the US instead then they could do that. It would cost them alot of resources, but it is not *impossible* to cross the Atlantic ocean with an invasion fleet - the US did this alot of times so my point is already proven. The Germans could hit the US if that was what they wanted to do, but I don't think they would be able to defeat US. A successful invasion, and a successful war is two entirely different things! The "stalingrad" would probably end up beeing in Washington D.C. or something. But still , it is *NOT* impossible for Germany to launch a suprise invasion on the US. Germany had more resources than US at that very point, and they had the time to prepare for it. In 1941, Germany can do whatever she likes, but that is not saying that Germany will be successful at it in the long run. An invasion would work. But in the long run it would most likely be an Axis disaster. Just because it is the "USA" doesn't make an attack impossible. There is no holy God defending that nation more than any other. Fact is, the US military budget was 2 billion $, the German budget was way more. The German military was prepared, the US military wasn't prepared. Period. ~Norse~

Unit stacking? I don't think you grasp the scale of this game. Most other games that allow stacking are playing with units at *smaller* sizes, and "bigger" mapboards. Armies are "already" stacking, but I reckon you never thought about that. Well how fast do you want the panzers to move? 450 MPH? Other games that allow blitzing in breakthru's have turns that last atleast a month at the time. Like third reich... SC is one *week* at the time, soo, how speedy must a tank be to blitz from Berlin to Moscow in one turn? 800 MPH? And that in combat movement too! Wow, watch em tanks fly! And North-Africa, although it saw alot of action, never had more than a few units of this scale slugging it out at once. Ever heard of Rommels Panzer corps? Alright, that's about 1 unit+HQ+fighter, and a couple Italian armies hanging around. If you want more detail then you should have a look at World in Flames. That game took me and my friends only about 25 months to complete, so there ya go. I really do not want SC to be like that! SC is already at it's correct path to glory, keep it up Hubert!

I think this will just complicate things and make no difference to the end result. As it is now, you can make a fighter unit attack a corps, and the enemy will scramble fighters to protect it, so the attacking fighter unit will haveto fight in the air while the "rest" divebombs. No need to change things here, it wouldnt accomplish anything else than overly complicate things IMO.

Erm... "one" blasted corps is anywhere between 1 to 8 (eight) divisions. That is alot of soldiers and equipment my friend, something you will learn when you enter military service. Germany tried to average the size of their corps to 50.000 soldiers, with about as many in support. I know you like the airpower and fancy it a whole lot, but you seem to underestimate the actual military value 1 corps have. 1000 fighters would have, and do have (as represented in the game), a rough time trying to stop a full corps on its own. Remember that the Germans used the 88th cannon for both anti-air and anti-tank, meaning that in this game, a corps can provide a capable opponent against fighters as well as land units.

Rudel, you have some very valid points. Italy indeed must be able to hold its own in a war that keeps dragging on. But what you are saying expects that USSR, UK, and USA are all at war with Germany and Italy (not an unrealistic scenario lol). The longer the game drags on, the harder it will be for the Axis to win due to attrition and that the allies have more production than the axis. Axis is likely to fail in a long defensive war like this. Spain: If Spain is hit, sure it will upset the axis minor allies and piss of USA and USSR, BUT!!! If Gibraltar falls into Axis hands, then the mediterranian sea will be shut off for the allies. This means that Italy is safe, and do NOT need alot of MPP's to stay alive. Italy can be used as another minor ally to fill some German ranks. The naval battles against USA might not even happen then. In the meantime Germany could be given all the capitals, and be a really strong bear, capable of holding UK/USA off while having enough MPP's to overcome the Russians. If Russis falls then, Im sure such a superstrong Germany by now, will be able to fight UK and USA successfully. But you are right indeed, it would be better to fare off so perfectly in this war that Spain and Turkey enters by free will. Perhaps giving Italy a major part in this war (read my post above on that suggestion) could make this happen, and then Gibraltar falls anyway. The full game will show us how quickly Spain joins the war. If Spain doesn't join it, then I think hitting it may well be worth the effort (espesically for Italy's sake).

Ouwie! I wrote this answer too slowly as it was a direct reply to Silvercloud's first reply, didn't notice the other replies :eek: Hmm, that happens I agree, Germany will definately have a really hard time fighting against USSR to the east and UK/USA to the west. Italy is safer down in the medterranian, atleast for awhile. That is why I think Germany must be given all the captured capitals, so Germany can get enough production going to be able to bear the main burden against the allies. I wonder... how can an alternative strategy place Italy in the front seat, and let Italy be the one that wins the war for the Axis? Perhaps Italy could be given France, Yoguslavia and Greece, and then get enough MPP's going to be able to quickly take the middleeast, and from there launch a major attack against USSR into the caucasus. There's alot of MPP's to be taken there, and space runs out for the sovjet player pretty quick if his trying to defend it. Germany will still get the minor allies (and maybe Sweeden, strategy for that is already posted by husky65 )on her side, so Germany would get enough MPP's to take on the building of "Fortress Europe", keeping the UK/USA out of mainland Europe so they're not able to knock the Axis out. In the meantime Italy owns the med and Cacasus. Perhaps Germany could even afford to launch a limited assault against USSR in conjuction with Italy's main thrust down south in the Caucasus, a linkup in Rostov (Germany moves thru south Ukraine after USSR is beaten back by the Italians) would secure even more factories for Germany's effort to keep UK/USA out. Hmm, this would definately put alot of MPP's in the Axis hands, too bad the demo's timeframe isn't long enough to test something like this out fully. Would be interesting to see if it would work. Any ideas?

I like hitting Vichy France prior to hitting Spain as well, gives much more room to send troops thru. With Italy, I play around with this move. First I gather its fleet at the tip of the Italian coast, the next turn I move the fleet to stand in a line from Greece to Libya, and send the Italian army towards Egypt. The AI doesn't seem to "think" at this point, because it sends the carrier and a battleship to bombard the inf, without regard to the Italian fleet's position. The next turn I send in the Italian fleet, and both the UK carrier and battleship are sunk. That leaves the UK fleet with 1 battleship left in Egypt, and 1 in Gibraltar. To take Egypt with the Italians are difficult, but if you let Italy take Yoguslavia and Greece then they should have the MPP's to do it on their own (I don't like giving the Italians any capitals though, still...). Then you can build an Italian HQ and a fighter or bomber unit. Then I move the Italian army to attack the Egyptian Corps from west, and land the HQ right behind it and place the airfleet there as well. I land a secondary army to the east of the Egyptian corps. However I haven't managed to take it yet... I think Italy just simply must call upon Germany to send a couple fighters down there. The Italian fleet can't bombard the Egyptian Corps which makes it really difficult :eek:

Under the same topic, should Germany or Italy take the capitals?? Do you think Germany and Italy should share the enemy capitals and MPP's between them? IMO, Germany should take ALL the capitals, she can then easily get over 400MPP's even without the minor axis nations joining her, which would tip the scale to 500MPP's or more. If Germany keeps the preassure to maximum like this, declaring war on as many as possible, then IMO Germany stands the best chance at winning this war (we'll haveto see when the full game comes out on how this fares). What I do (USSR stance=neutral), is to send off a HQ, a tank division, 2 corps, a cruiser and an army to invade the Baltic states right away. On turn 1 the Lower Countries fall after the 3 fighter units attack, and an army clears out the resistance. NEVER even bother with the Maginot line, the French units there will only hold the line, and only retreats when Paris gets in danger. They don't invade Germany, so just standing clear of them prevents them from hitting your units. A corps or two is enough to defend south-Germany from an early French invasion (which won't go far before he retreats anyway). After the HQ defeats the Baltic States, then I send it down to attack Yoguslavia, and after that I hit Greece, and then I hit Turkey (sadly this is where the demo runs out, but I can see how this army could move thru Turkey and get access to Russian Caucasus and the oil in the middle east, maybe hitting Irak. After France falls, I send the German navy as close to the coast as possible, to get to western-France. There I build a battleship and a carrier, and prepare to invade USA. If I had more time in the demo then I would hit Spain as well, when Gibraltar falls, then the mediterranian front will become an axis stronghold so its well worth it. Well, when the minor axis joins now (or they are attacked and taken anyway), USA have fallen :cool: , and Germany have taken all the capitals, then I belive Axis victory is secured. Germany has by now an ENORMOUS productional might. Of course this kind of agressive strategy would be terribly difficult against a human player, but what wouldn't What do you guys think? What do you do with the Germans? -Norse-

Hubert, your vision on how to simulate the second world war is outstanding!! I downloaded the demo and I can't stop playing it. Look, I would even pay for the beta version, just name the price Anyway, I just wanted to compliment your good work. Now my small comment: Strategic bombing! When you send off a bomber unit(worth 500 MPP's) to do some strategic bombing against a harbor or a major industrial area, then the one's getting hurt the most is yourself. I mean, the bomber takes a couple hits and it will cost about 50MPP's to repair it, while the harbour only takes 2 MPP's or so in damage! (It is even worse to bombard a harbour with a battleship) Well, maybe this is the way you want it to be. Then the idea with strategic bombing is not to knock out the enemy's military production capability (the enemy's ecenomy), but to reduce the level of supply for some units by taking out some harbours. Am I right on this? As far as I know, strategic bombing on the eastern-front were very minimal, with this in mind that would make sence in this game. Strat bombing on the western-front were very heavy, perhaps in this game this would mean that the allies (or the axis) are trying to soften up enemy units by reducing their level of supply, before the real invasion begins. Is this your idea with strategic bombing? Anyway, FANTASTIC game, it is extremely promising and we play your demo in awe and admiration -Norse-