Strategiclayabout
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Posts posted by Strategiclayabout
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@ Ivanov:
- I see you set your soviet fighters to Escort or Ground around Kaluga, do you want to avoid intercept casualties or are there other reasons ?
- Anyway, glad to see more T-34s coming to play with their german friends
. I don't see any in the north, maybe because of the marshes or perhaps it is some kind of maskirovka...- Stupid question: the soviet cavalry unit near Leningrad is cavalry, special forces or both depending on tech level ?
@ Ghost:
- Those strikes against Lugo must be a pain, are all nazi fighters enjoying the sun in the south ? That german bomber seems alone down there.
- Nice panzer concentration near Borisoglebsk, many targets possible, wonder if they will follow the Don southwards...
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@ Big Al:
- Yes it is
:Turn 16.In the North I am beginning to make good progress and expect to be on Leningrad’s doorstep by the middle of October. It is the middle of September currently.
@ Abukede:
- Thanks for the strategic map ! With the situation at Smolensk threatening to degenerate in a complete disaster, the southern flank of Moscow seems open. I also wonder what kind of defense awaits you at Leningrad...
- Interesting diplomatic stunt, do italian chits have the same chance (%) to hit as the Germans have ?
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- Another good thing to say about balance in SoE is that despite many mistakes (multiplayer, both sides not experienced with this campaign) we managed to get somewhere close to historical lines at the start of 1942 (see strategic map below).
- I play Axis in this game so it's only my point of view. I also had soft builds turned off without thinking about it when setting up the game so lack of units will likely be a problem later, not sure if SoE is better played with or without extra troops for unit pools.
Axis mistakes:
- Axis invested too much in tech and not enough in upgrades early.
(especially motorization lvl 1 for corps leading to slower advance in USSR while there was heavy tank lvl 3 in August)
- Axis didn't operate enough units from Poland to France to save MPPs.
(leading to late/botched up Case Yellow)
- Axis didn't focus enough on taking capitals/supply sources.
(attack power was spread too much along the front)
- Axis invested too much in high tech units (panzers stukas) for Barbarossa.
(resulting in a lack of smaller units to plug the holes or capture secondary objectives)
- Axis was too cautious with subs in 1940-early 1941 when UK isn't prepared.
(spending too much time in silent mode)
- Axis plan to take Malta was close to a disaster MPPs wise.
(cost to operate 1HQ, 3 upgraded stuka units, 2 para units)
(however it worked just in time to defend Tripoli and counter-attack in Africa)
- Coming close to Leningrad too late, having Finns entering war only in November !
(If I'm right that's the trigger to activate them, don't remember seeing any advice window for that)
- Axis disbanded a bomber unit with a stupid click.
(didn't want to redo the turn, so we said Hitler stopped th Ural Bombers project
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Allies mistakes:
- Not producing enough units early to get speed bumps ready for Barbarossa.
(June-August 41 was very strange with nearly no enemy in sight)
- Lack of HQ units to support Red Army operations.
(helping over-stretched Germans with crappy supply to still have punch)
- Letting Regia Marina roam free too long in the Med.
(free hands around Malta/Tripoli, get attacked too late when around Creta)
- Difficulties to spot subs in the Atlantic, not exactly sur why.
(even with 12 DDs vs 6 remaining subs after USA war entry in late 1941)
Yes, that's a bulgarian unit near El Alamein
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Oh and I forgot about hotkeys:
"R" not sure about that one
"S" is for displaying Supply
"U" is for displaying units able to Upgrade
"P" to display Partisan tiles
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Soon, Russians' advance will force Hilter to commit suicide in the ruins of Berlin and... ooops sorry, got caught in Tsar's troops wild offensive
. Better not forget we're in 1914 and not 1944 hehe. Thanks for your dual AAR ! -
Hi stormbringer3 ^^ ,
- I hope I'm not too late and someone else will help/correct/confirm because I'm not a tech guy
.- First thing: disable your security software/antivirus before installing, it can save you some trouble.
- If you go for the bundle, WWI base game+WWI base game patch+Breakthrough should be included in the setup.exe, not sure about last patch 1.02 for Breakthrough.
- So from Battlefront site (bottom of the page) it should be (see pic 1 below):
1) install bundle setup exe
2) launch game and license/activate
3) patch game if Breakthrough not at 1.02 (you can see this in the game screen menu right bottom corner, see pic 2 below)
- It's possible the install has two steps, one for base game
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- Otherwise, I don't remember in which order I installed but Battlefront says this (see pic 3 below):
http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_versions&Itemid=221
- So I suppose basic install order from scratch is:
1) install base WWI game
2) license/activate base WWI game
3) patch base WWI game
4) install Breakthrough
5) license/activate Breakthrough
6) patch Breakthrough
- Maybe base WWI game patch was included later in Breakthrough but not sure at all... I think adding a thread with due process on this forum can be a good idea.
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Welcome aboard both of you and thanks for your dual AAR
,Nice to see you wondering what's around the corner hehe. You're making the same mistakes we all made (and will make more
) but it will be fun anyway. Austrians have to do a lot with not much, good luck on that front ! On the other side of the map, Belgians can be a nasty thorn in the side of enemy advance but it's up to you to discover how . -
Even if they are lost for good, no worries x13fox, it happens, you don't have to apologize
. Thanks for the work you put in this AAR ! -
Fourth part about observations on SoE, this time to say what I liked
:- units retreating from combat quite often when taking a beating
- not always starting from 0 supply when taking a town
- using fighters close to frontlines to spot land enemy units (base 4 tiles range)
- chosing between spotting an offensive path with a plane or throwing a mobile corps in the unknown
- having room to maneuver in North Africa
- finding Moscow, Stalingrad and Baku are far far away
- extended french Maginot Line
- not being able to cover the whole front with units or attack everywhere
- having pockets of "unexplored" tiles in the rear as Axis in USSR
- partisans being a real pain in USSR
- the base 8 tiles range of paratroopers
- the base 10 tiles range of amphibious units
- the anti-tank units
- stukas being great against units on open ground, not so much against entrenched ones
- italian Regia Marina having a chance to do something
- the extended pool of GAR units
- U-boats being efficient as long as they have the tech advantage (and a big Atlantic ^^)
- and some other points I can't remember just now
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Third part about observations on SoE, those are just suggestions to spice things a bit for underdogs
:I find french research tech desperately empty with lots of "0" so I gave it some thinking:
- France: should have advanced aircraft lvl 1 at start
(Dewoitine 520 was a good plane, there was just not enough of them ready in May 1940)
- France: should have naval tech 1 at start
(France was already producing "modern" ships but was limited by time and industrial capacity: Richelieu was launched in December 1939 and Jean Bart escaped shipyard in June 1940)
- France: should have level 1 in production at start
(french factories were rising their production with a peak in May-June)
- France: should have 1 chit invested in industry at start
(trying to catch up with late rearmament)
(the points above will give at least some choice to invest more in competitive fighters/ships/HQ or redirect some MPPs towards more pressing needs)
- France: De Gaulle HQ should be level 6, would give a viable choice to invest some MPPs there. And though De Gaulle was no Rommel, he wasn't at Gamelin's level !!!
- Italy: Messe HQ should probably be a 6, better than Graziani for sure
- Italy: USSR expeditionary force event should have a viable "no" choice, actually -400 MPPs over 10 turns is a no brainer (pic 1)
(cost for HQ lvl 5 and 2 corps would be 375+100+100=575 MPPs, so you save 175 MPPs saying "yes" plus quick deployment)
(giving 100-150 free MPPs to Italy for saying "no" could mean extra production of trucks, artillery is redirected to MED front)
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Second part about observations on SoE:
- no increase of german MPPs after conquering Poland ? It is even decreasing (pic 1)
(talking about base MPPs from mine/cities, not plunder, that works well)
- operating costs are nearly punishing, and investing in infrastructure doesn't help much
(more than 60 MPPs for a tac bomber with ground lvl 2, with such a big map it slows operations a lot)
(had to move 1 para and 3 upgraded tac bombers to assist bombers and figthers to take Malta and it was a difficult, costly affair)
- I can understand elite upgraded units cost more to operate but it pushes you to upgrade after operating when it would be more logical to reequip units before deploying them and sometimes there are strange things going on... (pic 2-3)
(2 german corps with inf tech lvl 2 but the one with 1 elite point cost less to operate...)
- then not sure but isn't production tech supposed to decrease upgrade cost ? I can't see that ingame
- paratroopers can prepare for a drop after attacking (not if they drop then attack) in the same turn ?
- paratroopers can drop on rain tile if starting on a clear tile ?
(maybe because the rain tile was just on the edge of the rain zone ?)
- maybe rethink a bit victory conditions for Axis, any failure to take London and there is not much incentive to go for Cairo or Stalingrad (pic 4)
(actually I'm in a situation where there is no way I'll take London but Moscow, Cairo and Stalingrad are in reach)
- USSR mobilization gain when Sealion is launched doesn't look like a good deal for Axis, even with possible diplomacy benefits
(Stalin should be happy to see Germans occupied far away, I don't say mob% should decrease but at least not rise)
(one possible thing would be to increase USSR mob% IF Germany takes London because then Stalin will worry about being next in line)
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Hi Bill ^^ ,
Some things I find strange you can look at (just remember I didn't play SoE much so I may be wrong):
- 0 NM bonus for amphibious transports sunk
(should be the price of the unit, I think ?)
- Finland: finnish units suffer from the "general winter" event in USSR in 1941
(I don't think they should given what happened in the Winter War with USSR)
- air units can fly over neutral territory
(not sure they are supposed to)
- when capturing Liverpool with Germans, convoys arriving in the port behave strangely (pic 1-2)
(CAN-UK and US-UK continue, with an UK naval unit in port, then UK capital moves to Egypt but only CAN-UK is relocated, because US is still neutral ?)
(not sure if any use but I also noticed there are DE numbers in convoy/map display windows: "DE 103 - Canadian Supply Convoys To The UK")
- weather Zone in northern France/Belgium has so much rain/mud it's a pain, especially in summer, it rains more over Lille than over London (pic 3)
(add to that it can rain over London when it isn't over Lille and Sealion becomes very complicated, once I had 2 clear turns from May to August...)
- Germany: the window for operation Mercury should pop at the fall of Greece/conquest of Athens since Crete becomes axis when that happens (pic 4)
(I had it when my first axis unit came near Heraklion, one year after capturing Athens)
- Sometimes, I find carriers very hard to kill, maybe because of their naval defense of 2 (pic 5)
(ok it was rough seas weather but still...)
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Thanks for the great AAR both of you
.Congratulations to Germans for saving their honor and to Entente for the draw despite the losses.
Better strategic analysis award for Happycat and better creative move award for Bill
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Hello Bill
,- I tried SoE and noticed some small bugs coming from SCGC WWII. Hubert adressed them:
1) aerial recon attack
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=104107
In SoE email multiplayer on WWI break 1.02:
I did an aerial recon with the romanian figther near Sevastopol before USSR war entry and attacked the societ cruiser hidden on the target tile.
2) wrong interception range displayed for fighters (yellow circles)
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=104153
In SoE, as example, german fighters show 3 tiles when they have at least 7 tiles range
Nothing big, just wanted to let you know.
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Good progress so far Abukede, I think Russians will soon begin to desert for Disneyland
.One question: any plan to buy the rail gun between the planes and corps ?
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Welcome back !
Looks like Ivans will be at Berlin for Christmas. I bet Stalin isn't pushing for a second front
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12 askari and 13 arty at Ujiji ? Mein Gott, poor Belgians :eek: !
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Thanks for showing naval units Hyazinth ^^ ,
I'm surprised Germans sent a panzer on Black Sea's coast near Crimea, exposing to naval guns with low supply. Any loss of step or morale ? Seems it worked to "break" your Nikolayev line but at least they arn't pushing somewhere else.
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Thanks for all the data Ivanov, nice to see some game tabs while we all wait the release of Ghost
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France also gain some defensive advantage with your changes (Paris is deeper and behind the Seine). It's always good against panzers so we won't mourn the loss of Lyon
.Thanks for the answers Hubert.
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- In the name of all Frenchmen (including my fellow Pocus), thanks Hubert
.The map feels more natural south of Paris that way.
- We are still missing Lyon but it's true there wasn't any battle or major military target there during WWII.
- However that way Vichy keeps being a major crossroads on the Rhône which should be... Lyon
.- Maybe renaming that town "Vichy-Lyon" could do ? There is around 70 miles between them, given the scale of the map, we can pretend Vichy is in the tile west corner while Lyon would be somewhere at the south-east edge (a bit of a stretch there but well...).
Anyway, thanks again for your concern !
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Good luck to both of you, should be a "killing" from turn 1
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Thanks abukede,
- Yes this answers my questions
. I think most questions I may have will answer themselves with turns unfolding. A stupid one though: is there any naval units involved ? Not that I need/want them, just curious about that ^^ . - About the game it looks good (scale, units variety, AI thinking...). One thing though, since it's focused on the eastern front and the map is huge: isn't it lacking more eye-candy locations (can't scroll the map so I'll admit I can get a wrong idea about this
)?- Maybe just a small square in tiles with a name showing when mouse is over that tile. Or maybe something like the tile grid in the menu, where you can hide/show more geographic locations (nobody wants an overcrowded map).
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Hi Hubert and Pocus
,- About the number of players in PBEM multiplayer, isn't it possible to play german-italian units, save the ongoing turn from ingame menu, quit, send .sav by mail to a second person playing japanese units then end turn before repeating with several players for Allies ?
- As long as players on the same side (axis / allies) have the password set at start it should work though the more players, the more delay to complete turns.
*
- Also thanks for Western Europe pic, Hubert but I find some things disturbing in France: Vichy is where Lyon actually is and those two mountain tiles south of Paris seem very close to the capital. Vichy should be to the west between Clermont and Moulins (see map below).
- Haut Folin reaches around 900 meters in Morvan but most of the area is around 400-500m, so hills maybe but mountains ? Especially if you consider you made it flat around the Vosges/southern Maginot where Ballon de Guebwiller goes up to 1400 meters.
- There is probably some gameplay thing behind this, it's just for a Frenchman like me it looks a bit weird
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. I don't see any in the north, maybe because of the marshes or perhaps it is some kind of maskirovka...
:
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,
Official Walkthrough Assault on Communism
in Strategic Command - Assault on Communism
Posted
Yes I'm enjoying the ride abukede, thanks for that and the answers
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Given how soviet forces seemingly desintegrates in the south and how close you are to Leningrad, your strategic choices make sense. If you're lucky, all those nasty Siberians will gather at Moscow where Germans won't be ! Nice to have time to plan your critical upgrades like armor !