Terif

This is a question you have to ask Hubert and the moderators... But according to the last replies the development of SC2 is in progress. SC1 is most probably final and 1.07 the last patch. Here is a thread where most of the current statements about SC2 are collected: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=18;t=003111;p=1

Hi TimHaltiner, SC is only for 2 players. One plays Axis, the other one plays Allies. Its not possible to divide the tasks or so, therefore you can not play with 3 or 4 players the same game simultaneously. What you can do is something like a 4 player tourney. With 4 players you can make 2 games - but not on the same computer. This way you can play against everyone and all players have a game . [ January 31, 2004, 05:30 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

Like all things it depends on the situation... Hqs provide 2 different things for combat units: 1. Supply - can also be delivered by cities 2. HQ Command bonus - each rating point (and each experience point of the HQ too) is equivalent to one strength point of the combat unit. HQ Command has a range of 5 hexes. If you are in the defence, it is better to move your HQs away from the frontline. Supply comes from your str.10 cities, HQs can and should be 5 hexes away from the frontline. Especially in Russia it is better to move them away if your opponent has air supremacy. And if necessary (e.g. your opponent has a high LongRange Lv) you can move them even 7-10 hexes away. You dont need to support your frontline corps with HQ command. It doesnt help much in the defence (it only possibly reduces the damage taken if the defender has experience - which it has not - or if it is entrenched - entrenchment is away after the first attack). But your counterattack forces (armies/tanks) that are positioned behind the front need HQ command. E.g. you can do it this way: 1st line with corps, some hexes behind your armies/tanks and 3-5 hexes behind them your HQs, so they are out of reach of enemy air, even if they have LR Lv 5... Another possibility is to entrench your HQs in mountains or cities. In mountains they are nearly undestructable by enemy air. With full entrenchment in cities they also take no losses (max 1 random point). But if the enemy tries to kill it with massive airstrikes in the city, reduced the entrenchment and moves too much air close to it, then the HQ has to move back. But if you are the attacker, you need your HQs at the frontline. Especially in Russia (or as USA in the France invasion) the conquered cities dont deliver enough supply for your combat units, there you need your HQs. And as the aggressor you should have air supremacy, so your HQs dont have to fear any harm.

Hi Friendly Fire, forcing a carrier to intercept is not that cost effective as intercepting the carrier - at least not at higher tech levels. Both the AF and the intercepting carrier takes 2 damage less in average(naval defense value of the airfleet is only 2, instead of the naval attack value of 4 that it uses when the AF intercepts). Since the carrier is more expensive than the AF, this is better for the carrier. Thats another reason why the AA Bonus is no problem and usually cant be used - to use it, the AF had to force the carrier to intercept, so in the end there is no advantage .

Why should I come back from my cave on my choosen planet ? I have beaten Rambos ass 38 times...no need to do it again at the moment . I prefer to use my time now to train new SC knights for the fight against the dark side . And there are some very promising young warriors...

Carriers have an air attack value of 1, that is correct. But the air defense value is 3, not 1. Therefore with Lv3 Jets(AD:3+3=6 + exp) and higher an airfleet gets usually destroyed if it attacks a full strength carrier directly and gets intercepted by an enemy AF. Bombers have the advantage that they can attack carriers directly with full strength and a higher naval attack value than AFs. The disadvantage is, they are expensive and cant be used for much else than killing ships/carriers. The problem of a carrier is: its strength highly determmines its readiness. So if it is damaged, it fights very bad. It can make only 1-2 combats, then it has to sail back to a port to repair. One of the best and cheapest strategies against carriers: stay out of reach of the enemy air with your AFs, but close enough that you can intercept enemy attacks at your ground units. So if a carrier attacks your units, he gets intercepted and looses in average 3-4 strength points. Since a carrier is more expensive than an AF, both sides loose nearly the same amount of mpp, perhaps the carrier a bit more - depends on the jet Lv. UK has not much mpp, one intercept per turn and all UK mpp for this turn has to be spent for repairs. 2+ intercepts/turn and UK will run out of mpp soon and the carrier menace is over... But if you have enough mpps, or want to surprise the enemy: you can also use bombers...or subs...or GLR+ships...or rockets...etc...

Hi Friendly Fire, the type or nationality of a unit doesnt matter. You can use airfleets, rockets, minor units, everything...best/cheapest are (damaged) corps of course . The only thing you cant use are ships . Partisans appear in mountains, cities and swamps. They do not appear in forests, mines, oilfields or fortresses... i.e. you do not need to garrison Sevastopol cause it is only a fortress and not a city.

Comrade Trapp: How do you defend against mass airfleets in Russia? If all the axis air is in Russia, then go into defensive mode there and attack/invade in the west - there you should have air superiority in this case. In Russia: Stay away with your Hqs from the front. They have a range of 5 hexes. Use it and move them 5 hexes back, so the air cant reach them. Alternatively you can entrench them in cities or forests. Best are mountains, where they are nearly undestructable only with air. BTW: HQ support is only needed for your heavy counterattack forces behind the front - not for your corps defenders -, so you can even move them 7-10 hexes away from the front if necessary...Dont forget, you are the defender at this front, you need HQs only if you want to attack. In the open fields, close to the front, there you are right: then HQs can be hunted down easily by enemy air. But thats the fault of the russian commander, you cant blame the enemy air for this mistake . Use cheap corps to block and delay the enemy. airfleets loose in average 0.33 strength points (=~7-10 mpp depending on the Jet Lv) per attack, even with 4 bars experience !, with less experience they loose much more...so they cant kill your corps for free . And while axis air is in Russia, your western allied air/ground units should be busy killing axis units at the other front... For more details read my ´old´ help thread and the links mentioned there: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=18;t=002198

Here my 2 cents: A pure air strategy is a strategy, but not a good one. Airfleets are important and you need a certain amount of airfleets to achieve breakthroughs and for spotting purposes. Buy not enough air and you will loose, but if you buy too much you will loose against a good opponent too. If your opponent is not so experienced, you can even win with a pure air strategy, but usually you have no chance with it. Airfleets vs ground units is not very mpp efficient. They cost twice as much (with Jets) as an army, do only half the damage ( with experience they improve a bit, but an army is still much better) and are expensive to reinforce. Only if you have plenty of mpps (mistake of your opponent ) and you dont know where to invest them, you can buy more airfleets than necessary . To kill full strength units only with airfleets is not a good idea, except in some rare cases. When my opponent attacks a full strength unit only with air, I am nearly always happy, cause I know he cant use them for better purposes this turn any more . In all my games I have never seen a successful pure air strategy. The best strategy is a good mix of different troops. If you produce too one sided and your opponent recognices this he can use it against you and you will loose. The only nation that has to use a nearly pure air strategy, is UK. They have no chance at the ground, they can use only air to support the invasion later in the game and to battle against Axis between France and Barbarossa. But I have never seen Axis with much more than 10 airfleets, usually they have something around 6-8, they simply cant afford more air, without neglecting their ground forces. And you need enough ground units to win the war. Only at the end, when the war is decided, airfleets increase to 20+ when either Allies are close to Berlin/Rom or axis forces are hunting the last allied survivors...but until then they usually stay at something around 10 vs 10.

Easy solutions are often the right solutions...I also think in the same direction as Blashy. Most probably he didnt unzip the file, or simply put it in a wrong directory - perhaps he wanted to copy it into PBEM but misclicked... Because as far as I know he could see it in SC even if the file would be corrupt, you two had different/incompatible versions, or the file is set read only (other common sources of problems). Another possibility: the file is write only, but I dont think so, I never read this ever happened before...it would be a premiere .

Hi SeaMonkey, Jersey John is right, you can see it for each scenario in the editor if the siberians are already transfered. In Fall Blau (1942) and the (original) campaigns after this date they are transfered and cant be triggered again.

There´s not much to add to Dragonhearts update. It was a really great and enjoyable game . Our transport war was really funny. We both had no cruisers or battleships in the middle Atlantic or Med, so we used our transports to fight against each other, it was seldomly possible to move a transport without a surprise contact with an enemy transport... After some "contacts" my tank transport reached a position west of Tripoli, the next target after Tobruk had been conquered by the african task force. After the landing the tank group was destroyed one turn too early, so the attack at Tripoli failed and Russia decided to retreat to Tobruk and move task force Africa to southern Russia. 1 turn after our last report, the last big naval battle took place around Scapa Flow when UK ships started killing transports there: Axis lost their sub and a carrier, UK lost 2 carrier and a battleship. The last german ship survived some more turns, but the cruiser was destroyed shortly before the fall of England. At the end neither Allies nor Axis had a single ship left, everyone at the bottom of the sea - a very efficient use of the naval units from both sides . After all UK airfleets and 2 carriers were dead, UK sold all research chits from Jets. But it was no problem to finance armies and tanks anyway: UK got 226 mpp/turn (Bergen, Egypt and Iraq provided 120 mpp...). They only had Montgomery to command their units, so they decided to buy tanks and armies instead of corps - USA delivered one corps/turn, the Island was overcrowded anyway...Near the end, UK didnt know where to spend all their mpps, there was no place to build additional ground units, so they even reinforced a battleship and the carrier to make some interception battles and do something useful with the surplus mpps... After UK surrended in June 1945, americans hold Ireland, Bergen, Edinburgh and Scapa Flow + Liberated Portugal once again. They soon had to evacuate from England and 2 HQs and several corps moved via Denmark to Russia to help in the battle for Germany. A lot of armies were transported via Suez and operated north. USA delivered ground units, Russia was responsible for the air war . Russia had to fight for every Hex from Kiev to Berlin. A lot of german armies died in the defence and counterattacks. It was a bloody war with 1-3 interceptions each turn (both sides Lv5 !). 2 out of the 6 russian airfleets were on repair each turn, fortunately they were able to use nearly all mpp for the airfleets... When russian armies reached Warsaw, only one german army and one tank group were still alive from the once proud Wehrmacht. The surviving russian armies were mainly 4 star units now. A quick shift to the south opened the way to Romania and in a surprise attack russian corps broke through and occupied both oilfields - all russian tanks died a long time ago on the way to Berlin . One turn later Romania surrendered in August 1945. It was the beginning of the End. Then it went quickly: Hungary and Bulgaria surrendered in September 1945, Istanbul were taken simultaneously. Russian forces broke through around Warsaw, cut of the entrenched last german tank, destroyed it some turns later and soon reached the outskirts of Berlin. In the meantime russian airforce increased from 6 to 11 airfleets. The russian commander wanted the quick end since it was near 1946 and ordered the air bombardment of Berlin. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible to kill a 4 star entrenched strength 13 italian unit supported by a 4 star HQ...expected losses were somewhere between 3-0 to 5-0 in favour of the defender...Many shot down and burning planes in the fields around Berlin showed the misjudgement of the russian air commander. He was dismissed and shot immediately and replaced by a new commander. The doctrine changed to a "suround the capital" strategy: airfleets killed the units around the capital and units moved into the gaps. It was very bloody and half a dozen corps and armies paid with their lives for this strategy. But fortunately mainly US forces were used as cannon fodder, so russian high command was pleased with the results as it saved russian lives . During the Berlin siege combined US and russian forces achieved a breakthrough in Hungary. The threat of beeing cut off forced most Axis units to withdraw from Yugoslavia and southern Balkan. So Yugoslavia has been liberated in March 1946. Finally the surounding of Berlin was complete - even Hamburg had been captured to attack from the other side - and the final attack at Berlin began: 4 armies + 1 corps attacked from the ground and some airfleets removed the last defenderes from the city: Berlin conquered by Russia in Mid 1946 ! Rom fell some turns later in a firestorm of heavy bombs from something around 20 russian airfleets now... Unconditional surrender of all Axis forces at September 1, 1946. Tech Level + chits: USA: Anti-tank Lv2 (2 chits) UK: LR Lv 1 (1-2 chits) Jets Lv 2 (2-3 chits) Gun Laying Radar Lv 3 (1 chit) Russia: AT Lv 1 (3 chits, sold at lv1 after most enemy tanks were destroyed) Jets Lv 5 (5 chits) LR Lv 3 (4 chits, sold when reaching Germany) Axis made the mistake with the russian readiness, but UK lost some airfleets unnecessarily when Germany moved its airfleets to France... 4 airfleets to have or not to have is also a big difference . Besides this, both sides made only minor mistakes and Dragonheart played very good. Overall, it was an excellent and enjoyable game. I hope our next one will be as much fun as this great one. BTW: it was already the 2nd part of our mirror game (I already had Axis), so you have some time to recover . But its no problem to start a new PanzerLiga game . [ December 01, 2003, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

To answer the original "question": You can read the answers in my strategy guide for new/intermediate players. Sometimes it can be useful to read it for veterans too . It is at the top of the thread: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=18&t=002198#000000 The game you "remember" has to be a long, long time ago when I started playing SC... I cant remember such a game... When readiness increases, it has clear reasons. There is no random event here. In your game you obviously either moved a unit from the border away, or you originally had not the 3 necessary units at the border. I suppose the last possibility, since readiness jumped when Hungary joined/the turn after February 1941. Simply take care, then this cant happen. Even when your minors didnt join (and here one of them just joined) you need the units latest in January 1941 or readiness increases 10% per turn as long as you dont protect your border. The nationality or quality of your guards doesnt matter, you can also use italians or units from your minors. For new players I just updated my strategy guide with the exact positions of the 3 units, but Veterans should already know where they have to be placed...usually you learn it in one of your first Axis games. But perhaps the lesson is: dont drink (a brew) and play - äh drive... ? lol BTW: I like my new nickname "Yoda" [ December 01, 2003, 08:24 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

It is now August 22, 1943: Western allies managed to hold the Bordeaux-Paris-Channel-line for ~6 month. Axis air killed one unit per turn. The US armies slowly but surely died in the counterattacks to reconquer the lost hex(-es) from the last axis turn...at the end only one one US army was left and mainly weak UK corps. Then it was possible for Axis to break the line and throw Allies back from Paris. Time for Dunkirch No.2 . UK scientists helped the axis cause a lot. In an unofficial conference with an axis commander, he assumed they moved to Russia to help them developing Jet technology (Russia went very fast to Lv4) while UK still stuck at Lv2. But british intelligence doesnt believe this story. Rumours say the scientists have been bribed by german agents. Some recent observations back up this horrible suspicion: The british scientists built some heavy bunker for their families during the last year. Nobody knows how they could know what would happen to the allied invasion forces in France and the coming air bombardments on british soil...and where the money to build the bunkers came from... . Fact is, the last UK airfleet (Lv2) has just been destroyed by the superior Lv5 german airfleets. To disguise "operation Turkey" in the east, carriers (couldnt be used in France anyway) and a british task force launched a feint attack on Norway. They liberated Bergen, transports moved to take Oslo. Axis countered with some new built ships and some airfleets so Allies had to retreat after heavy fightings. Unfortunately it was not possible to hide the preparations for the turkey invasion completely...too many transports in the Black Sea and units at the turkish border, so Axis was able to prevent Russia from taking Istanbul. Finally the russian bear striked back and took revenge for the slaughters in the past. They conquered their old enemy Turkey and liberated Iraq + Beirut with their well trained armies and tanks. To help this operation, USA launched simultaneously amphibious operations near Gibraltar. They liberated Portugal and cut of the african colonies from Europe for some turns to reduce supply levels for axis defenders in Iraq. At the moment the last survivors of this task force are hunted down by axis units... Axis started a full scale invasion of the british isles now. Transports at the coast from Scapa Flow to London. Fortunately the allied veterans from the french battlefields defend England and all citizens trust in their ability to throw the invaders out of the country despite the last US army has just been destroyed... Axis forces already took heavy losses - Combined allied ground troops kill 1-2 enemy invaders each turn and hold the landing sites around London free from enemy units. Next turn its time for the Royal navy to join the battle - Scapa Flow is out of reach for the german Luftwaffe - time to get some transport kills . The question is: where will the russian middle east task force go now - 6 HQs, lots of armies, tanks and airfleets are free for new tasks after the complete victory in the middle east ... . [ November 29, 2003, 06:18 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

This is one of the best games with the most fun I played since a long time. Thanks Dragonheart . The Royal Navy suffered heavy losses in the baltic, but only one german cruiser survived and it delayed the french campaign, so it was worth sacrificing some UK ships. At the start of Barbarossa occured near Portugal the last big naval battle in the war: the UK ships were damaged and reduced in numbers, but well trained and superior in tech (Gun Laying Radar Lv 3 ). So after the 2 turn battle the last 3 italian capital ships, a sub, corps-transport and a german airfleet (near Bordeaux) lied at the bottom of the sea or destroyed at the ground. Against Lv 3 GLR the italian navy was toast . Axis cant afford a two front war, they have to decide where to defend and where to attack. First they tried to wage an air war with only half of their AF in France and the other half in Russia. But Axis noticed soon that this is not a good idea, they have to concentrate or they will suffer heavy losses... so all surviving (1 ?) german AF retreated to Russia. Axis positioned all AFs in cities to use the Anti-Air (AA) Bonus. They attacked London port to force UK air to intercept. But its more expensive for the german air, London port does additional 2 points damage. And without air superiority it is not possible for Axis air to force intercepts. Sometimes they tried, but when they did it, they were destroyed immediately in the counterattack next turn. At the moment Axis has air superiority in France, but Allied air retreated, so they cant force them to intercept now too. Consequence: the AA Bonus has no noticable effect. Allies invaded in the west and marched towards Spain and LC while Axis went on a corps hunt in Russia and finally throw them back to the Riga-Smolensk-Sevastopol line. Then Axis shifted all air to the west - after they reached Lv3 vs Lv2 UK Jets - together with some heavy units. So western-allies are in the defensive (2 army/corps lines from Bordeaux (captured) to the channel coast), while Russia is moving west, hunting german armies and tanks now as a revenge for the corps massacres not too long ago (Germany entered Russia with 6 tanks, only 2 survivors at the moment) . The most probable outcome will be a draw. In the Panzerliga, victory conditions are a bit different: if one side survives until 1947 it is a draw, no matter how much of them are left. This is to encourage players to fight till the end and not to give up early. It should be nearly impossible for Axis now to erradicate all allied units until 1947, but Axis have also a good chance to survive. When Axis entered Russia with mostly tanks, all 3 research chits were spent on anti-tank research. Lv1 came a bit late when most enemy tanks were already destroyed but so Russia can sell the chits if necessary. To catch up in Jets Russia invested heavily in Jet-technology (4 chits)and has now the same level as Germany (Lv3). No allied country invested in anti-air. They cant use it anyway. This game shows once again: in a normal game with 2 skilled opponents it is not possible for Axis to be in the offensive at both fronts. They simply dont have enough mpp to do so. This game is very interesting: First heavy battles at both fronts until Axis had to recognize that they cant afford it and had to concentrate on one front. Then both Allies and Axis moved eastward (Allies in France, Axis in Russia). At the moment both sides are moving to the west again, but I am sure this will change again after some time . Summary: A very good game with a very good opponent . [ November 28, 2003, 08:45 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

Zapp: I dont like to do silly battles in the forum and waste my time with them. I am finished with you and this will hopefully be the last post I have to adress to you. Since there is no need to talk to you any more (everything important has been said) and I dont think I will play against you ever again I set you on my ignore list at ICQ (deleting is unfortunately not possible, at least I didnt found such an option..). SC is a game and if I dont like someone I simply dont play him and if possible ignore him. Now you know I will ignore you, so dont expect me to answer to any of your further posts directed to me.

Sometimes it can be helpful to read a hint thread, even if you are no new player any more http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=18;t=002198 BTW: USA and Russia dont care if UK leaves London undefended and Germany only has to move a corps in to take it. Moral of the story: always defend your homeland, if you dont care about your capital, why should your potential allies ? .

Hmm... I nearly never attacked Switzerland (perhaps 2-3 times in all my games..). My main reason is probably a historical/emotional one . But there are also rational reasons why you should not attack Switzerland: - USA/Russia really dont like it if you do it before they are in the war, its simply not worth the readiness increase (you only get some plunder, but nothing else). - When all nations are at war, then Axis usually need their units somewhere else and have no time/opportunity to conquer Switzerland - nevertheless they can if they want to... - But as soon as the western Allies invade France and threaten Germany/Italy, then it will be a boomerang: If Switzerland is Axis, it is a good point for Allies to attack there and to cut of Italy from Germany. When Switzerland is neutral, Axis have a better defence line. But as I said earlier: the main reason why not to attack Switzerland is emotional

At the moment I can only contribute: - Damn research system... - "I dont believe carriers must be destroyed, but I KNOW carriers must be destroyed": Wanted, dead or alive...hmm, better is: only dead... - Last words from a veteran player, after his last UK units got killed by some axis rockets: "Damn Newbie... " [ November 19, 2003, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

At the moment I can only contribute: - Damn research system... - "I dont believe carriers must be destroyed, but I KNOW carriers must be destroyed": Wanted, dead or alive...hmm, better is: only dead... - Last words from a veteran player, after his last UK units got killed by some axis rockets: "Damn Newbie... " [ November 19, 2003, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

I had a similar experience only some days ago: One of my axis airfleets was standing in Africa (near Tripoli): first it intercepted an enemy airfleet, then a bomber from Malta attacked it - so far so good. But then the same axis AF - that had already intercepted in this turn - intercepted the bomber attack on itself. An enemy carrier now intercepted my own AF intercepting the bomber... It was the first time I saw this, but it was quite funny . We never stop learning new things...in life and SC. [ November 19, 2003, 09:13 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

Hi Dragonheart Hmm.. a new dispute could be fun . But its unlikely, at least from my side. In the meantime I only find it funny what happened cause I cant take the persons - and statements - involved serious any more . Port thing: Ports can only see 1 hex, the same as cities. Normal land units can see 2 hexes and often they are placed in a city, so its not the city, but the unit that can see 2 hexes .

Youre welcome, Jersey John. Things like this also happens(-ed) to me . I still have some habbits/tactics from the beginning. In the past I somehow thought it would be good to do it this way, and didnt check it since this time again...but thats the way it goes: you always can learn something new (not only) in SC - especially after 7 patches with a lot of changes .

In the manual is a section with the "terrain values" against the attacks of different kinds of units. Fortresses (4) and cities (2) have a better defence value (doubled !) against tanks than against infantry (2/1). Therefore it is better to attack them with armies and not with tanks. On the other side Oilfields for example have a defence bonus against infantry, so tanks have advantages when attacking there. Where are tanks the most useful ?: In my opinion they are primariliy for breakthroughs and to cut off enemy units. Sometimes they can be useful to defend key positions in Russia, but only very seldomly. A typical use for them is: - armies kill an enemy unit in the frontline - tanks from the second row move through and into the gap - tanks are very good in defence, if the enemy attacks them, the attacking units will be very damaged after the attack and most likely be destroyed in the counterattack - if there are two breakthroughs in the north and south, tanks from both sides move to the middle to meet each other and cut off the enemy front-units. - armies move forward and destroy the cut off units, while tanks hunt down the fleeing ones. - in case there is no real enemy frontline, they can use their speed to move around, cutting of enemy units (killed later by the slower armies) taking some ressources or reaching key positions to hold them until the infantry closes up. [ November 19, 2003, 04:27 AM: Message edited by: Terif ]

I know the things I learned and noticed in my games. I do not know everything and if something has no effect in gameplay I simply dont care and run tests and waste my time with this... Ok, enough time wasted...I have to go back into my current game to play... .