hellraiser

That remains to be seen. Indeed the allies survived a very critical period, but I wouldn't be so sure about the outcome, since IR is one one the most inventive and resourceful players around. We both did a lot of mistakes this game, strategical and tactical as well. I can only hope that the allied side is more forgiving

Hmmm both sides seem to have valid arguments about this issue. IMHO, I would leave the Med option open for the Allies but only allow the transports either to land the turn they arrive or wait for the next turn. Popping near Alexandria and sailing to Tobruk for example, is not right. I mean you land and fight, you don't start scouting for empty cities in an 100% hostile sea. Why should be this option left open? Because, in the first place, as Yoda said, it cannot be accomplished by a small or even 'normal' task force if Axis keep some garrisons. It requiers a huge effort thus providing some sense of comfort for the the axis in other places, like France for example. We have to remember that the key cities are Berlin, Munich and Rome which are not directly threatened as an invasion of France do. African theater is marginal, important but still marginal - losing Africa doesn't mean the end for Axis by any means. In 1.04, as Yoda demonstrated it in our games, if Allies really want Africa, they will get it because if the Axis player defends it heavily, he does it at the expense of the russian campaign - these kind of side actions like an allied med campaign aim to force the Axis player to react thus Russia can have the desired breather to regroup and crush axis from the east. For Axis, the main problem is Russia - if Russia is beaten, the rest is just a walk in the park, Africa or no Africa. Obviously, one of the allied player's aim is to force Axis into a war of attrition, wasting his cash on operating, rebasing, and fighting irrelevant battles. If a war of attrition is achieved, the Axis has already lost.

We didn't talk about writing an AAR, but this game surely deserves one and ... I feel like writing today Ok...1939, the evil nazi regime throws the world into abyss by invading Poland...almost an allout attack, apparently with no clear intention of attacking in west from turn 2. In the face of the might of the german wehrmacht, the poles retreat towards the capital, counterattacking lightly axis' spearheads. French armies remain deployed near the LC border as no immediate threat was detected - FAF disbanded, cash use to reinforce ground units. The next turn, Denmark falls to the germans; RN, french fleet en route towards Norway (french ships even managed to reduce a german cruiser near Kiel to 4). Poland keeps fighting on. Because of Allied commander's laziness (didn't bother to move the ships farther initially) , germans blocked the passage between Denmark and Norway using corps transports. Bad weather prevents the allied fleet from sinking stuff there so Axis capture Norway; in return uk commandoes manage to snatch the western norwegian town only. Big blunder for the allies, but stuff happens ... Things are rather quiet until spring 40 - no diplomatic hits for either of the sides...despite 6 allied chits in Iraq... As we will see, this was the beggining of one of the worst bad luck streak in a very long time ... Axis war machine starts rolling - LC falls easily. Several battles in France, where french armour was used for counterattacking instead of entrenching in the city (HQ was there) - one german army met its fate, several other units damaged but eventually France surrenders in july 40. Absolutely no diplo/tech hits for the allies so far. In a daring move, british troops coming from Egypt, captured Vichy Algeria, assisted by a sizeable RN taskforce (all 3 carriers, several battleships and cruisers). In response, axis capture Tunisia the very next turn. Meanwhile, Brest fell due to heavy air bombardments (presence of german bomber as well) - usual RN counter around Brest managed only to damage a unit. Bomber was deployed to Brest and started hitting Liverpool port to deny the convoys. As support, german jet 2/LR 1 fighters. Iraq finally got over 30%, chits were reinvested in USA. Seeing previously the bomber in France and suspecting a Sealion, the british built the full complement of corps and placed them all around UK to protect the landing sites and protect London. Indeed germans tried a feint supported by the Kriegsmarine coming from Kiel but things remained relatively calm. Absolutely no techs for the allies so far , despite thousands of MPPs invested. Russia started building loads of corps ... Meanwhile, Axis liberated Algeria (left empty by the allies who retreated all the way back to Casablanca). No diplo hits on Spain by Axis so far which made me think IR had blocked USA - the one and only diplo allied hit on USA was in late 1941, together with some Axis hits on Spain. German bomber started hitting Liverpool, first taking some damage but scoring huge hits on the port (upgraded at AA 1) - first signs of enemy fortifications near Brest prompted the RN to take swift actions, bombarding troops stationed in the area - some Luftflottes took severe damage but that was it - allies did not posses the technology to drive away the bombers form the country's skies - German long range interceptors provided escorts and soon the RAF was forced to stay silent, due to massive damages. UK was on her way to bankruptcy - fortunately, the defence of the isle was in place, all the heavy troops arrived thus an invasion was almost impossbile for Axis. In late '40, Axis started sending troops to capture Egypt - it fell easily, the minor troops provided only a nuissance to germans panzers. In August 41, operation Barbarossa started. Russia's techs were IW2 and AT 1 - nothing more. Incredible, after researching even with 4 chits/tech. Allies dowed Iran, prompting Iraq to join the next turn. Despite the tech disadvantage, red troops - several armies, AF, 2 tanks, HQ entered Iran/Iraq. IR operated AFs, tanks, HQ, corps, italian air and armies to protect Baghdad. In central Russia, axis' advance was pretty slow with so many units diverted to other roles in other parts of the world. This time, russia even protected Riga as a delaying action. Leningrad was protected by a nearby fortification as well and red corps were deployed from Leningrad to the mountains near Moscow. Southern approach (Kharkow-mines) were protected as well by some fortifications and corps. At this stage, I didn't fear Axis in Russia at all despite my lack of techs and even made plans that, once motorization and some more infantry techs arrived to conduct some offensive actions as well. Overly optimistic as it took Russia till the end of 42/beggining of 43 to achieve the said techs... In the last days of 1941, America joined the battle - american techs were better (iw3 AT2) and at least they get their damn motors by default... All armies/corps bought, 1 xtra HQ as well. Americans began sailing to Casablanca. In Iraq - very heavy battles as germans defended the area very aggressively, attacking even over the river - the russians, despite losing a couple of armies, managed to inflict in return enough pain - german tank killed, italian army as well, german corps as well. In April 42, the siberians arrived, just in time to support the Iraqi offensive and to help the defence of Kharkow area, chosen by Axis as their main attack direction. In summer 42, Axis managed nevertheless to capture the area after a series of heavy battles in which several units of both sides died. Russians retreated near Rostow/Stalingrad - heavily fortified area in the meantime. Meanwhile, the US troops captured Algiers (left undefended by Axis) and started the african liberation campaign. Seeing this, and the possibility to be trapped in Africa, Axis abandoned Iraq, losing an italian AF and the Baghdad garrison (tank) in the process. Iran was also captured by russians, killing an italian corps inside. This was during the summer-autumn of 42. After these actions, Russia finally realized the benefits of the internal combustion engine - yipii!!! Motor +1. IW3 and AT 2 as well. So finally, at the beggining of '43, Russia could fight on more or less equal terms with Axis. 2 chits were immediately invested in heavy tanks but until we saved (winter '43) not a single hit, despite totalling 3 chits in HT (default chit as well) In the Med, after an unfortunate attempt by Axis forces to defend Tunisia (they lost an army, corps and tank) the US forces went as far as Alexandria, linking up with the red troops coming from Amman. Baghdad was left to the Axis after the italian corps was removed from inside, because we don't want to liberate this country and reactivate the convoy - useless since german bomber is keeping the liverpool port under 5 UK got LR2, jet 1 and HB 1 so far and the uk bomber resides in Malta acting as a spotter. 1943 will be remembered as the bloodiest year of the war. In central Russia germans captured Rostow and prepared a full scale assault of Moscow. A lot of russian troops as well as AF and 2 HQs were operated near Moscow for the upcoming battle. Troops near Stalingrad were reinforced and upgraded, troops from mid east were transferred to both Stalingrad and Moscow regions. One front will defend (Moscow) the other one will attack (Stalingrad). In the meantime, allied operations in the Med were quite succesful - the italian navy (upgraded to GLR 1) is all but wiped out, only the sub is active but blocked near Tobruk. Greece was liberated by US forces but allies lose Casablanca to an italian raider who disembarked the same turn i removed a corps for other duties - another US unit was 1 turn away from landing there. As a side note, Gibraltar is still allied controlled since Spain never joined - blocked at 79% or so. Meanwhile axis took switzerland (vicky france, yugo and greece were captured during 1942). In late 43, UK forces landed in Norway in the western city (partisan activity thus assumed unnocupied by axis) and a powerful task force liberated Norway and Denmark, sinking a german battleship and a cruiser and trapping 2 other german cruisers (a sub was destroyed during 42 in a norwegian port by UK carriers). Kiel also was captured. These actions were performed during the most heaviest fightings in Russia: In summer 1943, the germans launched their anticipated offensive to capture Moscow - Russians counterratacked fiercely, disregarding the losses since the battle was considered crucial by the allied commander. A huge number of units were lost by both sides but Moscow itself was not threatened enough, being protected as well by a fort nearby. Meanwhile, Russian forces starting from Stalingrad area delivered a crippling blow to the southern german flank, recapturing Rostow and killing several german units. Germans hit the advancing forces and retreated near Kharkow mines only to be caught by the remaining red units and destroyed - several armies were killed. Kharkow and the mines were liberated and this happened during the last german push near Moscow, where a lot of red units were killed. In return, the apparently countless hordes of russians counterattacked near Moscow, killed von Bock, damaged an air fleet, some other ground units killed as well and forced the germans to operate away. German now hide in the fortifications near Smolensk (built by italian engineer), cut off Leningrad and they also hold the mountains near Moscow. Red troops are on the river near Kharkow, both sides lick their wounds and wait for the next year (it is winter 43 now). Very interesting game, frankly I wanted to give up or throw the PC out of the window because the level of frustration for me in this game was way above the limits. The diplo/tech bad luck combo was sinister. Not that IR had a huge luck (he doesn't have out of the whack techs) , but my luck was absolutely terrible. MPP wise, allies retain the upperhand, Russia being close to 400 (no IT at all), America almost 300 (she sends aid to Russia) - despite 4 chits in IT since 1940, only IT lvl 1 (why am I not surprised ) for them and UK producing just enough for paying for reinforcements and funding aphib operations. Around 700+ combined income. To be continued... [ October 27, 2006, 04:07 AM: Message edited by: hellraiser ]

WoW ! You're my hero! Can I touch you?

Exactly

he meant ICQ there is a sticky in the forum, containing a lot of ICQ numbers of SC players

I tend to disagree here a little bit The superiority of a doctrine over another and exceptional training can lead to surprising results against a very rich and numerous enemy Germany could have won the war or at least find herself in a very good position at the end of it. My opinion... I don't want to elaborate on this because it would take time and it's quite a well known debate subject

But also the Axis player thinks and prioritizes differently than the historical leaders, right? Anyway, balance is essential and so far, 1.04 seems pretty well balanced.

Jolly, they may have landed in cape horn...but in '42? and it would have taken them like half year at least to get to N Africa...meanwhile, axis would have had enough time to react... In SC2 it is possible to defend Egypt against a 'normal' attack but not against the combined allied fleet and 70% of their land units. It is just overkill, since Axis needs way too many turns to transfer troops down there. OTOH, even if Axis lose Africa, it shouldn't be the end - think that Africa is marginal, the allied objectives lay on Europe's mainland - Berlin, Rome, Munich - and these cities are not so easy to take. I know it is annoying since you invested time and cash to get africa but apparently in this game , Axis can't hold everything - they simply cannot. I found that hard to accept myself but the more I play the Axis side, the more it becomes more obvious. For example this last game, I surrendered not because Allies took Africa but because of my failure to exploit the last minor success in Russia - this success was achieved with too many casualties and it was a period when MPPs started to matter - in an attrition war, germany is doomed by default. The only valid Axis doctrine so far (i would say optimal, some of you may say cookie cutter )is applied with succes by Terif - the concentrated firepower in places at Axis' choice (this is also a RL valid military concept). I.e. keeping the initiative. This is crucial as axis because even the game manual states clearly that germans should expect to be severely outproduced throughout the war, their tools being obviously not the cash. I had games against Terif where I tried to defend more places than actually I could - very big mistake since Axis do not have the manpower to do that. Instead of keeping the pressure high where it mattered (russia for example) I chose to operate and fight sometimes on 2-4 fronts. Exactly what my opponent wanted - only this way, allies can have the desired breather and build up to win it all. Indeed a protracted war can lead to beautiful and full of actions games but you shouldn't expect to win as Axis these kind of games against professional opposition. Only against less experienced players it may work. If allied MPP advantage becomes too great, and they are not hit hard enough so as to lose heaps of units and resources, Axis may win only if the Allied player chooses badly the places to fight or recklessly attacks without consideration for losses.

"How did the Allies get in the med?" errr..via the suez loop? "You know that if you have just one ship (a corps in a transport for example) next to the TWO red arrows near Cairo and no Allied ships can use the Cape of Good hope." No, I didn't know that. I had a corps in a transport but i think it was not near the red arrows. Later edit: I just tested what you said - even if you have a transport adjacent to the red arrows near Cairo or even have 2 of them sitting directly on the arrows, the Allies can still use the loop - they would just pop nearby or if there is no room, flood directly the Med, near alexandra or wherever they find valid tiles. [ October 23, 2006, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: hellraiser ]

This time, with me as Axis (still not very experienced at playing them) the game turned out to be very interesting with a lot and I mean A LOT of action in the freakiest spots on the map. Well, here we go: Axis did the common LC/Denmark turn 2 opening with Poland surrendering in turn 4 (since i am quite tired now, I maybe miss one or another detail but Yoda has promised to correct things tommorrow) The blue frogs tried to be cocky, performed limited counters but in vain - Axis got France in the normal timeframe - may 40 (i think lol) Meanwhile, the evil imperialistic british empire paid a visit to the king of Norway, explaining him using four letter words that the ore shipments to Germany must stop and be redirected to the isle. From his bunker, the fuehrer (yeah, that would be me, thank you very much) promised a swift reaction once France has been taught proper manners. Said and done, immediately after the fall of France, the next 2 objectives were Brest and Sweden. Brest fell easily, 3 AFs softening up the corps inside and army+corps killing it off. The usual retaliation by the RN deployed around Brest only managed to reduce the strength points of my troops a little bit. Since Yoda usually kills something around Brest, using air and the carriers and this time, there was no sign of carriers around Brest, a thought crossed my mind: Yoda is up to no good in other parts of the map - usually it would be Algeria...so, italian troops embarked and set sail towards Algiers, for a preemptive strike. Well, Mussolini's intuition paid off, and the next turn after I got Algiers, carriers appeared out of nowhere and started bombing Casablanca but, luckily, they couldn't bomb the city out of order and an italian unit was promptly operated inside the next turn. As it will be revealed later, this only delayed things in Africa ... Meanwhile, Sweden fell in 1 turn , attacked by 2 german armies, paratrooper, 2 german corps and the capitol was conquered by the italians. Since Yoda has a very annoying habit of capturing the swedish mines and port in the north, a german amphib corps landed there - but no sign of uk raiders - Yoda knows I know this and did it before so he didn't bothered this time. British troops were driven from Norway in a few turns, after the BEF army chickened out and fled Oslo. Next objective - Egypt, left undefended by the british; pretty easy task performed by 2 german armies, 1 german corps, 1 italian corps and the Supermarina. Oh yeah, Tunisia entered the civilized world thanks to the italians as well. Franco joined quite late, but the capture of Gibraltar was delayed because usually 3/4 of the RN is down there hoping to pick off a unit or two. German air , 1 corps , 1 HQ were opped to Spain, Italian HQ and air opped in Morrocco, the italian navy redeployed near Algiers/Spanish coast. The ideea of such a huge mpp cost for operating was to heavily bomb Gibraltar port with air so the RN can't draw much supply, making things easier for the italian ships - the plan worked very well, allies lost 5 ships and Axis only one cruiser (Yoda, correct me if i am wrong) - italians were quite battered but still alive and retreated to the Med shortly after the raid. Meanwhile, USA joined but their ships were too late to participate in the naval battle. In the mean time, preparations for Barbarossa were underway - germany bought all corps, 2 extra HQs. Techs were ok, Axis had IW 3, AT 2 HT1 at the beggining of Barby vs Russia's IW2 AT2 HT2. Knowing Yoda's habit to DOW several minors pre Barbarossa, Axis dow-ed Syria hoping to bring Iraq in but it didn't happen so Iraq and Iran were Dowed by the Allies one turn before Barby. Anticipating a possible russian invasion of Iraq, Axis maintained a very powerful force in mid east comprising 2 german armies, 2 corps, 1 HQ, all 3 Luftflottes + italian HQ, 2 armies, 1 corps, 1 air. Barbarossa began in august, if I remember right), german troops capturing quickly the border towns and Kiew. Switzerland and Vichy were dowed as well. The thing that i had anticipated, happened indeed: russian troops (a very powerful force, several armies, corps, armour, HQ) crossed the border into Iraq and Iran, capturing the iraqi oilfield. the second time Yoda does this against me so this time i was prepared - some armies/corps were killed by the axis counterstrike in Iraq and the remnants of the communists retreated back to the mountains were axis troops couldn't harm them due to low supply they get and high supply and entrenchment the reds get. Axis lost a coouple of corps as well. Defending so heavily the mid east was also the beggining of the end for Axis... In Russia, the advance was pretty slow, Yoda fortified a tile near Leningrad and some tiles south of Kharkow to cover the resources. Being so heavily involved in Iraq, germans lacked the proper punch in Russia, at least until their armoured units came out of the queue (spring 42). Leningrad and the forests nearby as well as Moscow and the mountians nearby were covered by entrenched red corps; Kharkow and the mines were covered by corps as well, since all the red heavy units were busy in Iraq. Thus, Finland joined and was not threatened. In west, a very suspicious calm ... only airraids against the mines and Kiel, quite costly I assume since the flak defence was at lvl 2. Anti air dont work against fighters and Yoda started using fighters to attack a mine which had no unit on top of it. What were the allies doing? Where they will chose to strike? A horrible thought started to take shape in the Fuehrer's mind ... The spring of '42 was the signal of the anticipated german offensive in Russia - direction south. In a crushing blow, the germans using massed armour, infantry and only 2 minor AFs, overran the defence on the Dnepr, the fortifications that Yoda built (5-6 fortified tiles) proving to be not enough. Kharkow, mines and shortly after, Sevastopol were taken. Germans called off the offensive for reinforcing and getting supply. Meanwhile, in Iraq, Russians reinforced their units and captured Tehran. It was pretty obvious that Iraq is too much for them but they still remained in the area in heavy numbers... so that horrendous thought came again in the Fuehrer's mind...Bingo!!! the western allies will strike in the Med to trap the axis troops there!!! Thus, the german High Command ordered the troops to retreat from Iraq, to Syria and Egypt. Some landing tiles around Suez were blocked in anticipation of the allied task force. The very next turn I operated away the troops from Iraq, the Fuehrer's worst fears came to life!!! A huge armada, consisting of 75% of the allied vessels as well as countless amphib transports popped in the Med! But despite some landing tiles blocked, as well as the narrow land passage linking Amman with Egypt blocked as well, allied transports popped near Alexandria! Damn, and the city of Alexandria had an italian fighter inside which was killed instantly! Transports making their way in the med despite of axis troops holding the passage is kinda gay, but I had to find a solution to retreat the troops or face total annihillation. This was accomplished by sacrificing 3 german ground troops which managed to open the land connection again to the western parts of Africa. Preparations for the battle of Moscow were underway, and Axis could not defend Africa. They just retreated all the way back to Morrocco, where it is almost impossbile to be killed due to low supply the attacking force gets from Algiers. So the allies just took one city after another, invaded Greece and took Albania. In response, Axis Dowed and captured Yugoslavia and retook Albania. Italian armour was deployed to Rome, spanish armour to Sicily, some italian infantry covered the rest of the italian cities. In autumn 42, Axis began an offensive to capture Moscow which led to a crippling battle for both sides but the Russians managed to hold the positions. Axis lost a lot of troops and more others were severely damaged. With winter coming, the battered germans retreated back to Kiew-Minsk, abandoned Kharkow, set up the defence on the Dnepr and redeployed in the area some more armour and infantry which was coming out of the queue, foreseeing a vital battle around Dnepr -Kharkow - Smolensk in spring-summer 43. In the Med, the situation was almost out of control, with allied ships ruling the sealanes, and danger of amphib operations looming. Hating to just watch how the allies get everything there, Axis prepared a naval counterstrike with the almost intact italian navy, spanish crusiers and the whole kriegsmarine who managed to sail unspotted to the Med. Unfortunately i forgot to move 2 subs for 1 turn and Bismarck for 2 which was kinda lame from my part As a side note, the italian sub got trapped in a port and destruoyed by carriers but not before inflicting some pain to an US cruiser. The summer of '43 saw the greatest battles in east as well as in the med. Starting from Kiew area, german troops moved forward, destroying some troops near smolensk and others defending the western part of Dnepr. 2 red corps defending the river bend near kiew were encircled. Corps were moved forward to protect the weakened armour used in the offensive. the russian response was swift, managing to kill some of the advancing troops but leaving themselves pretty exposed for the next stage of the offensive. Next turn, some fresh armoured units and infantry from the rear, attacked and annihilated the red spearheads, retaking Kharkow with a str 2 tank and encircling other units east of smolensk and east of mines/sevastopol. A HQ near the mines got his butt kicked down to 5 by a gerry corps since the encircled troops don't lose all combat ability the very next turn, they were able to inflict some pain in return and even take again Kharkow!!! Next turn, the germans threw everything into the battle, destroyed the majority of the red troops in the area, retaking again Kharkow! While this huge battle was in progress, Russia attacked and conquered Finland. The victorious red troops from Finland got redeployed to Moscow area, and every available corps was operated by Yoda to cover other cities in the area, exposed to danger (corps from leningrad got replaced by a partisan unit, a sign that indeed russia was not in her best shape) But this huge offensive and marginal succes in east was the Axis' swan song... In the Med, the allies were on rampage - landings in Sicily, Gibraltar (left open due to lack of manpower), Portugal captured, and the Axis' fleet getting pulverized by RN/US fleet/allied air + storms + bad moves from my part. In a daring move, allies landed some corps and HQ in Denmark and captured Hamburg. It was impossible at this stage to cover all the cities and with Germany making approx 380 mpps/turn, it wasn't possible anymore to continue the war. Most likely Russia's queue was full in contrast to Axis this time. Like in history, Axis was drawn in an attrition war, with a lot of side actions superbly orchestrated by Yoda. Indeed Axis cannot afford too many battlegrounds at one time - they really need to pick a spot and strike with overwhelming force to break the balance and force the Allies to react to their offensive actions. It is now very clear for me that the best Axis' asset in SC2 is the INITIATIVE - the rest are just tools. All in all, a very nice game, a lot of wild actions, a lot of blood spilled, a lot of experience collected by me. GG Yoda & maybe Hellraiser [ October 23, 2006, 03:58 PM: Message edited by: hellraiser ]

Since all of you punks never let me play Axis, now I am playing against Yoda and unravel the misteries of playing the grey side As the Allies, I challenge everyone, without fear...well everyone xcept the green guy, who, to be honest, is a biatch But his time will come

Nope, in fact I didn't care to spot them - I knew Yoda is up to no good lying in ambush near Kiew. I foresaw a counterstrike aimed at my spearheads and kept a sizeable force near Kharkow for a counter-counterstrike. But they failed me, and thus failed the people of ussr dream to get the world rid of nazism I guess I put too much faith in my reserve force - I deliberately chose this as a turning point - and indeed it was Had my tactic paid off, his axis would have suffered a very serious setback. Game was pretty wild indeed, but apparently I still have to grasp some things before I become fully competitive

i think the reduction of US readiness is more. 15%, but I can be wrong, and lazy to check the scripts - Yoda where are you when we need you? Taking Benelux, Norway and Ireland is MEGALOMANIA lol!!! First of all, taking Norway will eat up 2 units (army and corps). Taking Benelux would make sense if you could hold the ground, which you cannot. You cannot because almost every player now hits LC / Denmark in turn 2 so you probably won't have the chance for a LC gambit. And even if the axis player waits until spring, I wouldn't do it - getting USA earlier in the game outweighs clearly any minor gain I may have from capturing Benelux. Think that the cash goes to France, which is pretty much useless. Plus, germans ammass a huge firepower on a very narrow front, they have a non-river tile to hit from. Maybe this way you can inflict some losses to Axis, but in the long run I don't think it is a wise decision. If the germans wait until spring, maybe there are some other interesting moves to do as the allies Like, if Axis had 1-2 diplo hits on Spain, DOW Portugal, capture it, the next turn Spain joins in response to allied aggression on Portugal and you may be able to knock Spain off while Gerry is still busy capturing Paris. Gerry will miss a lot of garrisons later on, they will have problems with minors RO/HU, but you must be careful and build some corps to prevent a SL There are other options in the mid game for a more aggressive allied gameplay - Tunisia, Algeria (after France is gone) - allied dow on these 2 do not affect majors' readiness. Norway is a must but done in turn 4. Even the mid east has freebies - Syria and Iraq (dowed while France still fights) only upsets some minors. But since you can't hold Egypt usually, the only thing you get is a small plunder and a few turns of convoys - in a way it is a present for Axis.

If germany motor tech is 1 by default, USA's motor tech should be 2 by default...at least lol There is a popular misconception regarding the super motorized Wehrmacht. The truth is, a lot, and I mean A LOT, of german units used horses or walked on foot. Indeed, they had motorized units, but no way near the values the german super motor myth assume. On the contrary, the US army's motorization level was higher than any of the WW2 participants. Germany could only dream to achieve the level of mobility of the US forces, and even if they achieved that, they had no gas to get'em rolling Indeed for game balance purposes, it may be better to leave USA at lvl 1 motor, since the distance from Brest to Germany is quite small

it may be possible, technically, but practically would be a huge mistake - you get quite a drop in US readiness and, let's be honest, the Rhine in sc2 ain't the rhine we used to have in sc1. Germans will kill everything, rhine or no rhine

...in supply >= 5 when destroyed

If I remember right, the ideea behind discounted rebuilds is that you never lose completely a unit. I mean , ok, the XXX division/army/whatever was 'destroyed' but as an effective fighting force, not all the men were killed or something. So, you rebuild the said unit around a core, consisiting some guys who managed to escape total annihillation. Actually, it is only the manpower replacement which is discounted, you still have to pay full cost for any upgrade you may want to endow the rebuilt unit. Also, the experience of the 'destroyed' unit is lost, which simulates green troops filling the ranks.

yes

Obviously Tao's tips are for playing the AI. As of 1.04, the Sealion against a human player is a very risky endeavour. After the fall of France, most of the players keep a british corps in Brest and it will take several turns to get it - so SL should start from Kiel/LC area. Problem is, the RAF bomber can spot things around, RN can intervene because amphib range of germans is only 4 tiles, a RN BB will sit in the Chatham port to prevent for several turns the german troops from landing regular transports after the fall of London. And, OFC, allied players usually build several corps for island defence. It may work if the allied player used too many troops in different areas of the map and you suspect the island defence to be thin. And always together with Egypt - the ideea is to knock off UK not just get the british isle. Anyway, very unlikely to happen - I did it once in v 1.04 against a human opponent (indeed i planned this from turn 1, built even an extra para) who played a bit aggro in other parts of the map, so I suspected the island defence to be thin. Very unlikely I could repeat the SL - usually good players fall for a trick only once

SC1 needed 7 patches to be stable and balanced, well at least with a help of an appropriate bidding system. SC2 is at 1.04 and HC is doing a good job correcting a lot of bugs and doing some nice balancing. 1.04 is already VERY playable, with both sides having good chances at winning the war, the versions to come will most probably bring more balance and eliminate some remaining bugs. A lot of players inform HC about various issues, submitting savegames, etc so the community helps a lot here. Let's just not transform this thread in a 'omfg t3h sc2 su>< @ss' because it is not the case. oh! yeah, Yoda should have tested this one, indeed ... but nobody listens to Rambo these days

@Rambo -> dude don't be an @ss now You can't blame Yoda for exploiting the morale stuff - 1 month ago, it was Yoda himself who raised the discussion about this thing. In my games vs him when I play allies, I never fall for that morale crap - i just dow them minors so the effect is reduced. Well, I mean I fall for that, because I recklessly counterattack when he has 150% morale or so, but hey, this is me, patience ain't my virtue

It is no joke. Sad but true. If the Allies do not DOW several countries before Barbarossa, it usually means game over. Due to morale skyrocketing to 400 even 500 + values, a german army has 10-0 vs a entrenched 4 corps for example. Attacking over rivers with super morale works wonders. In a phrase - Allies die. There are other rules prone to exploitative gameplay as well. Of course if there are no house rules to deny possibly exploitative moves, they are perfect legit and we have to go with them. Some examples: 1. Not capturing certain tiles which trigger certain events/resources even if they are clearly in your offensive's way -> you simply avoid them till later when the effect is severely diminished. Alexandria, Smolensk for example. This is debatable since Allies are at most times in advantage, financially speaking, so the Axis player, logically, tries to keep the mpp balance until he can break it in his favour. Now, for example, we usually see tactics of defending heavily the Kharkow - mines area (easily defended than northern parts of ussr, and leaving empty Smolensk, since the fall of Smolensk would bring Allies the Urals industry event, hence more cash. Obviously the Axis player will avoid capturing Smolensk until later, when he develops a full thrust aimed at capturing Moscow and the northern cities, so the Ural event's effect is offset by the loss of so many red cities. In this case, both players exploit this trigger. Alexandria would be avoided, if left empty by the allied player, for several turns, until the fall of Cairo, to delay the readiness increase of majors. Terif said to me that the triggers are just fine how they are now, it helps keeping some sort of cash balance. I don't disagree with that, but seeing 1 red city empty, surrounded by grey hexes, was clearly not what Adolf wanted back in '40 Indeed if you trigger the Urals too early, or modify the trigger for a range trigger it throws the cash balance out of whack in allies' favour, so I guess we have to live with this tactic for balance purposes. Second example: the existance of too many freebies, especially for the allied side. During the quiet period, UK can DOW at least 4-5 minors without a single hiccup from the major powers. Some of them bear local consequences like upsetting other minors only and/or bear strategical risks because of the vulnerability of that portion of the map. I think any DOW should make some waves in majors' foreign departments, even if it is for 1-2% drop in readiness.

= reply to the original question: allies won because they managed to drag germany into an attrition war for which the german war machine and german economy was not designed and not prepared. Maybe with a better leadership, Germany could have won a war, but doubtful a World War. War on 2 fronts was their first and most important mistake - the attrition war was already beggining. A lot of ppl advised AH against this, but luckily for the 'free' world, one of their best allies was AH himself Rarely in the history of mankind you can find such boldness, genius and sheer stupidity like AH packed back then.

Play Yoda