benkarl

Ok. Well, if its a question of the total number of hexes, are there enough hexes on the west side of the map that taking two rows there would let us add one to the bottom? That would solve two complaints. It would make the african campaigns more feasable. If we redesign America and Canada as we would have to, we could make them two hexes wide like north Africa is now. That would help appease those who say its too easy to invade the US/Canada by creating the same problem people have going after Alexandria right now.

I know map size is supposed to be a limitation. Why not take a row or two of hexes off the top of the map and put it on the bottom? The only place I can think of taht this would cause any real problems is Finland and one row off of there wouldn't hurt as much as it would help N. Africa, IMO.

That could be dangerous. In my latest game, I was axis and the Brits had a corps stationed in Marsailles. When I took Paris and Vichy France was created, the unit surrendered. I'd hate to see that happen to a battleship in a port.

In my latest game, I discovered a problem with The French in their various incarnations. In 1940, I held against the Germans for a while, but they eventually shattered the line near Brussles and I knew that it was only a matter of time before France fell. I decided to do something that probably seems "gamey" and pulled as much of the French army out as possible over the next three turns while a French and a British corps delayed the fall of Paris. The rest of the Army I pulled out and landed in England. I came out with a corps, a HQ, the air fleet, a tank and three armies. (Yeah, it seems like a lot but the Germans had the plunder from Poland, Denmark and the Low Countries not to mention a lucky fight in Poland with little casualties. I faced an overwhelming force that these units were not going to stop). Anyway, long story short, Germany gets into a war with Russia, the US enters the war and I prepare my D-Day to take pressure off Russia. Eventually, a combined force of British, Americans and French land in France and Italy (I did a landing in Italy one turn earlier to draw off forces once and then force the AI to shift again when I showed up off Europe). We fight, we liberate Paris and, thus, France. Problem 1: Now, all "Free French" units stay that way and capture territory for England, not France. Shouldn't they revert to French units. We fight a few turns and I decide to take Vichy France back to give France some MPPs. Problem 2: Vichy France does not surrender. I wiped out both fleets and both corps (leaving only the one in Palestine). One capital was captured by Americans and the other by "Free" French on the same turn. They never switch their capital and never surrender. I note during all this that vichy france was in "British" colors, not French blue. I also found out that if I build fresh French units, they capture land for France. I resorted to putting a real French corps with the French army to capture capitals. I still couldn't get Vichy France to surrender though, even with a real french unit in both capital cities. I did manage to capture Romania for France with such a unit though. I wonder whats going on? [ August 24, 2002, 06:31 PM: Message edited by: benkarl ]

I took Berlin and Rome with the French in 1941 last night with normal, +0 settings. I started by invading the low countries while Germany was busy with Poland and used the plunder for an HQ. Meanwhile, I had moved the Algerian Corps to Marsilles (sp?) to block the Italians. The Syrian corps along with the alexandrian corps were moved to sicily to land when Italy declared war. I moved the French navy to malta along with the British Egyptian and Gibralter squadrons to destroy the Italian navy when Italy declared war. When the war with Italy started (very quickly), there was a bloody naval battle that wiped out the Italian navy over several turns. I landed on Sicily, but the Germans had put a corps there to prevent me from taking the town. After the naval battle, I turned the Malta air fleet, the British carrier and a battleship loose on the corps and took it out in a couple of turns so that France could occupy Sicily. I then put the brits near the toe of Italy (since you can walk across the straits with units in this game) and used air/battleships to pound anything coming down the toe to retake Sicily. The rest of the Mediterranian navy went to various Italian ports to bombard garrisons and use up their MPPs. In Europe, the Royal Navy moved quickly to find and destroy the two U-Boats in the N. Atlantic. Then they moved off the coast of the low countries to support France. The Canadian army and corps came across the Atlantic and disembarked to support France. At this point, France had and HQ and a solid line of units holding the front at Brussles, but only because of the Canadians and stripping Paris of its defenders. There were some turns spent carefully fighting a holding action with limited offensives. Mostly, I held and reinforced units that were getting pounded by the Germans, occasionally rotating one out so another could take its place. That took most of the French MPPs. Sometimes, I was able to draw in German units to hexes where three or four units could pound on it and sometimes an air unit or two could finish it before it was reinforced. The Luftwaffe made all of this very bloody as did the lack of a HQ for the Canadians and some of the French. Still, I was slowly able to pare down the German army in this way. I got a break when the Rodney (Brit battleship) spotted the German Bock HQ on the north sea coast where two battleships could hit him. I hit him with both ships and carrier based air, but he didn't die. He didn't pull out like I'd hoped either and another effort the next turn killed him. Similarly, Runstead was exposed near the Maginot line and a bold thrust by some of the Maginot armies (with forts held by corps and my HQ) knocked him down and eliminated him over a few turns, though I nearly lost an army several times. I have no idea why the AI didn't pull the HQs out. By this point, the Brits had put together a 'BEF' of Montgomery's HQ, a Tank unit and an Army which were sent to relieve the beleagured Canadians. (who were often knocked down to 1 to 3 points each round by German attacks.) They landed in Brussles and took the place of the Canadians. Meanwhile, the French had hoarded enough MPPs for a Tank unit. An offensive began. With the loss of the German HQs and the arrival of the allied tank units, the Panzer armies were doomed. The infantry had gotten slaughtered trying to attack them and it very nearly cost the front, but the tank armies were able to fight them more evenly and knock them down to a size where the infantry armies and air forces could finish them without too severe losses. This broke the front and the Canadians rotated into the Maginot line along with the French Corps that was already there so the French armies and HQ could take the offensive. Once the line began to advance, the Luftwaffe retreated and allied air could finally be brought to bear at full strenght. It was all over at that point. Individual strong points in the cities were pounded and destroyed, French armies raced to Berlin and, after a brief battle, occupied it. Another turn of mopping up and Germany surrendered. After that, Italy didn't stand a chance. The French and Brits moved south and flooded the peninsula. In April of 1941, as the French were marching into Venice, the Russians declared war on the Axis and the Finns declared war on the allies a turn later. I don't know what was up with that. A few turns later, Rome was occupied by French armies and the beleaguered French and British forces on Sicily were finally relieved.

Well, I didn't look until after Russia surrendered at that point it would have just been a matter of rushing stuff into place to fight him and with the plunder from taking Russia it wouldn't have been tough. At that point his window for a big surprise that would really hurt was gone. Even before I looked I had a naval screen there to allow me to prepare for landings if they had come but they never did. I suspect the fact that the AI only had two battleships kept it from attacking even though most of the transports would have gotten through anyway. I just finished that game. The US never did anything. I turned my forces around, conquered all the minor powers who never joined a side and then took the US. I did it by taking Canada first to base air fleets out (max range and max jet technology so they were pretty potent). His air put up a bit of a fight but once they were gone, he never tried to rebuild. I started pumping carriers out, which share the jet and range technology, and basically chipped away at him until I got troops ashore and took Washington. He launched a couple of attacks on weak units and shuffled troops around/built new units to fill the holes I made if he could. Usually I made a hole and moved something in to keep him from reoccupying it. He just sat there and tried to wait out my attacks, but I kept bringing in carriers and chipping away at units until I eventually got Wshington. Ironically, it was September of 1945 when the US surrendered.

My first game with the real program, normal difficulty, fog of war on. I start as Axis in 1939. I roll over Poland and reverse my forces to grab Denmark and invade Norway. I take Denmark and have positioned an invasion fleet off Norway waiting only for the Luftwaffe to get into position when it happens. "France declares was on the Low Countries". What...? Its around January, IIRC, and they promptly anhiliate the garrison in Brussles and start pouring through in a reverse of the traditional German plan of attack as the Low Countries surrender to the French aggressors. The US is evidently mad because their chance of entering the war is now -5%. As the defender of the Low Countries neutrality, I divert the Luftwaffe south to help throw back the French offensive. I hadn't spent my Polish loot yet and had some saved, so I set Rommel in place with some hastily raised armies to hold them off while I bring as much force as I can to bear. After a couple of turns, Rommel turns a hurried defense into a strong offense and the French are crushed. No sign of the BEF. I thought it very strange to see this happen. I delayed my invasion of Norway to see if perhaps this would tilt them in my favor, but it didn't happen so I invaded anyway. Another strange thing happened. I went ahead with sealion and got lucky. I used subs for bait to draw some of the RN away from the beaches and sacrificed a cruiser to screen the invasion fleet and got ashore almost intact. I had some casualties but nothing serious. What was spectacularly lucky was that my landing forces came ashore next to Bomber Command, the Free French Air Force, and Montgomeries HQ. I had already taken out Fighter Command and another HQ during the 'Battle of Britain' phase. My armies wiped all three out on the landing turn with the help of the Luftwaffe. London fell next. Then I rolled over the rest of the british forces. It's a lot easier when they have no air cover or HQs. About the time I'm closing on their new capitol, first the Soviets and the Americans go to war with me. I rush Rommel east to organize a hasty defense around what little I can scrape up and he manages to hold at the cost of pretty much all my MPPs for a few turns. Meanwhile, I'm bracing for American forces in Western Europe, but they never come. In a couple more turns I finish the new British capitol off, but they don't surrender. I figure I have to take the third town, but don't actually get to. The next turn I wipe out some of their remaining units and position myself for the attack on the third town, but don't take it. They surrender at the end of the turn. That's odd. I took their capital but they don't surrender and they don't make a new capitol? I'm assuming that they surrendered next turn because I took out a large chunk of their remaining forces (a tank unit and a corps, IIRC, leaving them two corps)... Third odd thing: Now that England has fallen, Gibralter is open and the RN is nowhere to be seen. I rush the Italian Navy into the Atlantic to face the expected American onslaught along with the remnants of the Kriegsmarine. I spend some of the English loot on a sub, part on a tank corps for Rommel and part moving the Luftwaffe east. Rommel fights back with the help of the Luftwaffe and, by the time I've put the Sealion forces on transports back to the mainland, has crushed their offensive. By the time they've operated in, I have a breakthrough in the south. I move the Spanish Army back to Spain to help defend against the Americans. I move the Italian Army into the Balkains to deal with Yugoslavia and, later, partisains. No Americans. By this time, I've got three battleships, a cruiser, a carrier and three subs screening against an attack. No Americans. Over the next two years, I fight a touch and go campaign with the Russians. Damn partisans! I finally bring enough forces to bear to form up a reasonably solid front and drive towars moscow with the bulk while Rommel sweeps the south towards Stalingrad. I take Moscow. No Americans. I take their capital in the Urals. No Americans. Rommel takes Stalingrad as their third and final capital. STILL No Americans. By this time, It's 1943 and I've been watching them gain and spend MPPs for two years. That's more or less where I stopped to go to bed (at 4am) last night. I did break down and look at what the Americans were doing. I saved my game and turned off Fog of War before shutting down for the night. (Sorry if you think the less of me, but I was dying to know.) The ENTIRE US is covered with Armies, with the exception of three HQs and an air wing. Canada plays host to two more US air wings. There are two Battleships. One of the air wings had the look of a jet. There hadn't been so much as a probe from the US to test my strength. If they had sent those armies even a turn ago I'd be screwed because I have a light screen in the west while everything else is in Eastern Russia. What is the AI thinking? I suspect it's a guaranteed win. With the rest of the map, I can outproduce him. It's mainly a factor of whittling down all those armies. I'll have to move most of my forces east and launch an invasion of Canada. Perhaps I'll let Rommel have that one. I'll need to establish naval superiority and then perhaps I can base the Luftwaffe there to pound the Americans. Or perhaps I need to research long range aircraft and build bombers. I guess I'll see...

Sounds as if Rockets can be really useful in the real game, but not the demo due to the time limit.

Has anyone found any use for these? As an experiment, I've bought some a couple of times during the Battle of France, but they seemed pretty ineffectual. I shot at the maginot line some, but it didn't seem to do much damage and there wasn't enough range to hit England except if you sat at one spot on the French coast and then you could hit one hex of England. So, what do you do with rockets? Ben

Hi, I've been playing the demo (the old one and the gold demo once it came out) for a few weeks and lurking here. Mostly, I've been trying to master sealion so I'll be able to focus on russia once I have the full version (ordered about as soon as the order page came up). something occurred to me though. Why do I have to capture Paris? As I recall, in the actual war the French declared Paris an open city and the war was basically over by the time the German army got there. It would seem that breaching the defenses along the Belgian border and flanking the Maginot line was enough. It seems with a couple of stubborn French units in and around Paris I'm delayed a couple of turns until I can maneuver sufficient forces to surround the city and be able to knock out the corps defending in one turn (else it gets reinforced back to full strength) and still move one unit into the city. This didn't used to be much of a problem until air units got less effective with the gold demo. Taking Paris, and thus France, throws the whole schedule off. Once I've redeployed for Sealion, landed and bottled the Brits up at Manchester for the final blow, the Americans and Russians decide to butt in and the demo ends. I really need to be redeployed for the Russians, at least. Ben