Bluestew

I'm a fan of minor randomness as it adds flavor but TOTAL randomness is one of my pet peeves. I want to be mostly in control of my destiny, not spread prostrate in front of an RNG. I understand there are an equally large number of gamers who love total randomness but for me, it just shouldn't be the deciding force in a strategy game. Yes, this information was the best "smack upside my noggin" tidbit I've gotten so far. I did fail to change modes for the aircraft and they work much better now when I equip them for the mission at hand. This tidbit doesn't resolve the convoy wrecking issue though. My issue is that I have to hunt for the subs and sacrifice at least one if not more ships to heavy damage to locate the position of the raiders. Even then, with subs, I generally fail to sink the dang things as they dive away before being destroyed and have to be "located again" by sacrificing another ship. So basically 50% of more of the Royal navy has to be used to hunt down a single sub unit with a poor chance of success and almost guaranteed fleet damage. Meanwhile the enemy is launching new subs and tearing up the other convoy routes. Unless I'm missing an easier way to manage the damage, IMO this is one of the poorer design decisions for the game. I'm not against the convoys being attacked, just the method that was chosen. Staggering level of frustrating micromanagement. So again, if someone has a strategy for dealing with convoy raiders that is less involved, I'm all ears. The entire convoy system could be abstracted as the Axis feed new subs into the battle and the Allies feed more escorts. Based on tech and units fed into the grinder, the convoys deliver X percentage of their cargo. Only with surface raiders would I deviate and have the actual units hunt each other for battle. I'm a vet of the original SC, so I understand the HQ/supply deal. I just haven't played any since the original and that was a looong time ago. Let us use Stalingrad as the example since Leningrad was never entirely cut off. The Germans were cutoff and entirely surrounded there. While they received enough supplies to remain alive, their military capability continued to to degrade with each passing day. In SC land, they can be attacked for months and months and just reinforce back to the same strength they had originally. My issue with this is that sometimes it requires a large number of units to kill that surrounded unit. Units that often can't be spared from the front lines. For example in my first game I was a victim of the square corner attack and a German armored unit zipped through and took a supply source. I easily cut them off with some corps but corps have a horrendous chance of killing good enemy armor. If I pulled a single army or tank unit off the front, I risk a major collapse. So unless I get REALLY lucky in my attacks, that tank unit is never going to be dislodged until my situation at the front changed. This is what I take major issue with. It isn't remotely believable and really gets under my skin. Captured enemy cities that cannot trace supply back home should not provide supply, or at least reinforcing a unit should be prohibited in that situation. Where would they be getting new tanks, soldiers and ammunition from? I'm sure you've heard all this before but didn't want to or couldn't change your game engine for some reason. I remember in the original SC, if a super experienced german tank unit at 14 strength got cutoff, it could cause a road block of epic proportions. I understand the roads in China but I take exception to the fact that the Japanese can zip into a square from a non-road direction, while I can be adjacent to the dang square for years and am never permitted to enter. I'm guessing that this is due to motorization but in a horrendous infrastructure area, motorization is a detriment, not a helpful thing. Infrastructure should work both ways and trucks/tanks shouldn't be treated as hovercraft. If I can't march an army there in a year, you sure as heck shouldn't be able to drive a mechanized unit through it. I'm guessing that my tac bombers weren't effective because I didn't choose the mode properly? Regardless of that, I still feel that tac air is far too effective in this game. Speaking as an old soldier, units didn't cease to exist because they were bombed. You still had to send in the ground troops. Morale, effectiveness, defenses and combat capabilities can be seriously compromised but tac air is just not going to eliminate units of the size in this game. So rather than carry on a lengthy debate, wouldn't it be better to err on the side of reality and merely nerf tac air a bit? I've seen a couple other comments on this forum saying pretty much the same. I've not seen a drastic change in the Germans during the Soviet winter. They still attack somewhat effectively, just not as potently. The Soviet units are also apparently nerfed during that weather. I view it as a slight breather period but the enemy action is still hot. Regarding the Allied/USSR lend lease, note my comments concerning the convoy issues and my lack of success in handling it. BTW, I appreciate the comments and the opportunity to banter back and forth as your time permits.

I see lots of forum threads but very little describing strategies or helpful tidbits for the newbs. I've been playing the game for a few hours in each of the last 3 days. I'm playing straight up (no exp for either side) and as the allies. First some observations. 1. The UK is research dead in my game. I have the max research spending (650) going. It is early 1943 and although I've had 2 chits in naval combat and ASW for well over 2 years and at least 1 from almost the start of the game, I've yet to obtain a level on either. I've achieved L1 infantry, L1 advanced aircraft and L1 industry, thats been it for the UK despite 650 investment for YEARS. Meanwhile the USA has happily researched up to L3 naval combat and L1 ASW in less time. Why aren't they sharing technology with the commonwealth nations? There are other research problems I'm experiencing, such as the USSR not being able to get a single advance in AT tech despite having a chit in there for the entire game. After 12-16 months, shouldn't an advance just be granted to avoid issues like this? 2. Convoys. Referencing the above, maybe I'm missing something but I can't do a dang thing about the Axis wrecking the UK convoys except get my destroyers beat to heck. I'm using hunter packs of 5-6 DD's so when I find a sub I can attack it. My scenario usually goes like this. Enemy Contact! Sub nails my DD for 5-6 I return maybe 1-2 hits. I bring my other DD's in. I either blunder into another adjacent SS or the sub dives. When this occurs anywhere close to Europe, Germany sorties their navy in support and I always end up on the losing end because my navy is inferior. Also why are UK carrier planes so useless again the German navy? I usually lose 3 air strength and don't even damage the enemy ship. Yes I know the UK doesn't have naval combat upgraded carrier planes (not my fault) but they should be able to freaking damage enemy ships without losing 1/3 of their complement of aircraft. Now the Japanese carriers can sink a ship in a single run...bizarre. I find the convoy system massively frustrating and essentially futile. Why can't I protect the convoys with my DD's rather than dispersing my navy to hunt the fricking subs all over the Atlantic and rest of the world? I don't see what I'm being forced to do as anything remotely similar to using a convoy system. Someone have advice other than research the two techs I've found impossible to obtain? 3. Squares on the map. Wow these really suck. I've played games with squares before but the corners were disabled for attacking/moving. I understand I'm just getting used to the game and will eventually adjust to them. Having a visual front line only to have a mobile enemy unit slice through and wreak havoc in my rear is quite annoying. Enough on this. 4. Italians in east africa. How in the bloody hell can you get rid of these guys as the allies? Their supply is restricted, I've blockaded their port, reduced it to zero. I've sent tanks, planes, infantry, a carrier and HQ support but I cannot fricking get rid of these Italians. They are holed up in an interior city but I can't damage anything enough to kill. I did wipe out the German corp but I can't dislodge the Italians or destroy their damn fighters. The Italians with restricted supply and a destroyed port happily reinforce their units again and again via some magic supply fairy. Other than the tank unit, I'm using multiple infantry corps for attacking. I can't get any armies down there because of the above sub/convoy situation. Operational movement is not an option. Some advice here would be much appreciated. Along this line. If an enemy captures a city but is then cut off and surrounded, they shouldn't be able to keep reinforcing their unit, especially motorized/mech units. For example an armored unit or motorized SF unit ZIP through a corner and take a rear area city/resource in enemy territory. That unit when cut off for many turns should not be able to hold out forever AND keep reinforcing their unit. Absurd. Now if they are in their own country, I don't have a problem with this but in enemy lands, it should not occur. The troops in Stalingrad didn't last forever let alone reinforce their military strength. 5. Movement. I find the restrictions on moving to be majorly annoying. I understand infrastructure issues but why can't units move through each other? In many cases, one would have to make a hole in their line to bring in a new unit because of the clumping required by the "square" map system. Apparently rotating/replacing units is only possible when a unit is destroyed in many cases. I find the inability to move through friendly units to be one of the more frustrating aspects in the game. In China I had multiple units adjacent to a square and could never move there (I kept trying) but several turns later the Japanese moved in and then shot the gap on my line. Now if I can't get into that square from multiple adjacent squares, how the heck can the Japanese waltz into and through through it? 6. Tac Air. It is far too strong IMO, at least for the enemy. I use it and can't even damage a freaking corp or HQ but the enemy can devastate my units with it. The USSR can't build/field many air units and the AI is liberally smashing the defending units. In my game on the Russian front, I've held the German rapid advance but they keep inching along because of air power. The Japanese continue to pummel the Chinese and you KNOW the Chinese can't afford multiple air units. I've heard about a pending patch, please tone down the Tactical Air. Now I don't mean to be all negative. I like the game enough that I don't intend to give up on it, but at the moment, the frustrations are starting to overtake enjoyment.

Like a previous poster, I don't like hi-jacking this thread but didn't want to create a new one. I purchased the game via download about 1 day before the server was hacked. I did an install and used the online license option. Since that first day, my game as ceased to work properly. Once I start a new game, I cannot change any game setting options and if I accept the options as shown, the game freezes once it has loaded. Does the online license intall have anything to do with this? Does the game have to locate the server to permit it to run? Everything else on the computer is working fine. Help please. I didn't see a support forum or I'd have posted there.