Karhu

Indeed, a peaceful Christmas and New Year to you all.

Hearts of Iron. WW2 strategy game on a grand scale, just now hitting the shops in Scandinavia and North America. Apparently has some things to still be sorted out, but potentially a scorcher. BTW, 82ndReady, talking of sigs: I've seen wills shorter than your sig!

Maybe with SC2, eh?

That'll do very nicely. Kiitos vaan... BTW, thanks for all the work you've put into the scenarios. They're definitely extending the replayability of SC SP for me.

It is indeed a small world - would you like to send me the royalties directly, or make a contribution to charity? I would suggest the Finnish Veterans' Association. . Otherwise, we'll just settle for an acknowledgement.

BTW, Carl von M., I see you've borrowed my sig from the HOI forum. No sweat, it's the highest form of praise and all that...

Fair enough: it's a grand scenario, which I'm enjoying in any event. (The Finns are having a great time sweeping through Siberia )

Thanks, hans micael - I always thought operating was just for within a certain landmass, ie you couldn't operate overseas, that's what transporting is for. Just goes to show, you learn something new... BTW, I'm playing the 1964 scenario, and the jets are there at the start.

Ok, I know this is a silly question, but just how is it done? I have level 5 jets in the US, with level 5 long range, and there just doesn't seem to be a way. Wherever I place the jets in the US or Canada they don't seem to be able to reach Europe, and I can't transport them. Do I have to invade Portugal, or what?

It seems to me that SC and HOI complement each other very well: there's absolutely no reason why the success of one should harm the other. After all, most people interested in WW2 strategic gaming are going to find something for them in both games. I also came to SC via an earlier recommendation on the HOI forum, and have been enjoying the game greatly since and recommending it in turn.

Martinov, tested the scenario through again on expert/+2, this time as the Allies. It played very well, and was evenly balanced for a long time. Germany cleaned up Poland and France very efficiently, and took Denmark (but not Norway or Sweden). No Sealion was attempted, despite clear advantage in numbers and quality (but see note on bombers below). The subs withdrew into the North Sea (!) where they were destroyed. Italy joined as France fell. One interesting thing about air power. The Axis had air fleet superiority until the very end of the war in June 44, when Germany and Italy surrendered on the same day. I was never able to catch up with their initial advantage, but the British bombers were great! They did a wonderful job on Antwerp and Brest, in effect preventing a Sealion even if the AI had wanted to do one. They were also excellent right through the invasion of Europe, being tough enough to stand up to Axis interceptions. It was fun to have units like this that I would never normally buy, but that now had a chance to show what they could do. All in all it seems the scenario is well-balanced and has an even more historical feel to it than the original 39 campaign. Well done again.

Martinov, I don't remember exactly when Italy joined the war, but AFAIR it was after the fall of France. Italy actually did very well in the game, taking most of the Balkans, Iraq, Turkey and Southern Russia. The US has never attempted an invasion after a successful Sealion in any of my SP games as the Axis. Is this a set feature of the AI in SC, because it's a real shame if it is.

Martinov, many thanks for the great campaign. Have just played it through as Axis on expert/+2 and had a lot of fun. France put up more of a fight than usual, and after a quick Sealion the Soviets had me pushed right back to the Oder - I had little or no answer to their powerful infantry, and I thought the game was up. However, I was saved by two things: 1) as my armies gained in experience and my tech crept up, I was able to gradually push the Red Army back and eventually overwhelmed them. They didn't seem to invest in tech at all. 2) apart from one brief outing early on the US never even attempted an invasion of Europe, even though they had amassed some 5500 MMPs by the end of the game. For most of the war I was stretched quite thin in the west, and an invasion could have really hurt. Am now having another go as the Allies. Thanks again and well done! Edit: spelling (sigh) [ November 04, 2002, 11:27 AM: Message edited by: Karhu ]

Glad to hear you say that - I couldn't work out for the life of me what on earth rockets as they are in the game are supposed to be good for.

Thanks for the quick reply, Panzer Cmdr!

Good morning all! I'm actually here on Zeres's recommendation. He suggested SC on the Hearts of Iron forum as an alternative while HOI is pending, and I have to say I'm very glad he did - full marks to Hubert on a splendid game, and Zeres I owe you a beer if ever you're in The Hague. I ordered SC on the basis of one run through of the demo, and have been playing it solidly since while waiting for SC proper to arrive. A couple of initial questions (please forgive me if they are all cleared up by the game itself or by the patch): 1. How do I assign units to HQs? Do they attach themselves, or is there some way I can choose which units the new general commands? 2. I can't for the life of me get the tech window to kick start. I thought perhaps this was disabled for the demo, but I saw in one post here that someone seems to have invested in tech in the demo too. 3. What's with isolated, cut off units replenishing themselves to full strengh each turn? I had Bergen surrounded by the British with all sorts of stuff but couldn't wear the lone army there down as long as the demo lasted. Ditto Cairo as the Italians. Much of the combat mechanics of the game seem to be based on the same principles as Panzer General, but even that game would not allow isolated, surrounded units to build themselves back up to full strength willy nilly. 4. If you can move then fire, how come you can't fire then move? It makes wearing down those lone armies even more difficult. Please don't understand any of the above as a criticism. I am throughly enjoying experimenting with the demo, and am looking forward to whiling away many happy hours with the game itself.