Strategiclayabout

Hi again , - I agree and another point I forgot is that not capturing Paris prevents the capital from being transfered to Bordeaux which ruins a bit historical flavour. - One solution would be to tie the Vichy event to french NM instead of Paris capture. Once french NM falls below some critical point (say 50) the Vichy will fire or have a high probability to each turn. - That would bring several interesting twists to the game: 1) french players would have to be a bit more cautious with french navy as losing ships could lead to a quick NM fall 2) it will make it more interesting for UK to send units in France to delay the NM fall 3) Paris will still be a major factor in the campaign but not decisive as if most of french army and territory are out Vichy will kick in. * - Otherwise an event could also be created leaving the choice to the french player when Germans are adjacent to Paris at the end of an allied turn: "Would you like to declare Paris an open city ?" YES = big fall of french NM morale (say 25%) (whatever happened before, France should be well below the above 50% Vichy trigger with that) NO = well you'll have to fight to the end huhu * - To help a bit if it happens again in your games maybe you can consider leaving the french units in North Africa there to entrench and delay Italians (the tunisian pop unit and the Algiers one). - Another possibility is to send one british division down there to help. Even if Vichy is declared and your unit is interned you won't lose much as long as it is in good supply 5 or above (buy back at half-price). - Or you can just use the french tank to attack Tripoli with some UK help hahaha ^^ !

Hi again ^^ , - Then about your second question for warships: 1) surface ships can attack units, ressources or units on ressources 2) they will target ressources first in the last situation unless its value is at 0 3) you still have a random chance to hit an unit on a ressource tile - You can see the difference below where the chinese unit is in a city (ressource tile) and the polish unit is on an a clear terrain tile (pic 1&2 below). - The japanese ship combat windows shows two yellow numbers at the bottom center: RA=2 (Ressource Attack value of the ship) ND=1 (Naval Defense value of target) For the german cruiser it is: RA=0 because there is no ressource to attack (though its base Ressource Attack value is 1) ND=0 because a clear terrain tile has no protection against naval bombardment * - The white numbers Atkr=1 : Dfdr=1 at the top of the combat window are also a bit different as they show the possible outcome. The japanese ship has 1/1 and the german one 0/0 first. Those are the points/steps each side (attacker and defender) will probably lose. So it's 1 ressource point/MPP for the chinese target against 1 step for the japanese battleship. - The last white number to the right of these odds: (0 10%) is the probability the japanese ship will hit the chinese unit on the ressource tile. 0 is the number of steps the unit can lose 10% is the probability the unit will be hit and lose steps (given the cost of ship steps it's better to avoid attacking ressource tiles with unupgraded units especially early in the game) * - So how to attack for surface ships: 1) have a ship already adjacent to an enemy unit or move one to be adjacent (left click a naval unit to select it and left click again on the tile where you want to go) 2) move the mouse pointer over your target and left click again on it to fire (you should see a red circle appearing when doing so as in the pics below) (however if you mouse-click before firing your ship will just end its turn) - One last thing: I put the german cruiser in port to attack the polish unit so you can see how it works but it's a bad idea otherwise. Ships can be attacked by land units in ports and are VERY vulnerable to that kind of attacks ^^ . *

Hi Cfant , Welcome around and to answer your first question about how to declare war: * 1) go to the Maps menu on the upper right of your screen (pic 1 below) (the button just above the research one looking like a bottle) 2) click on war map at the bottom left of your screen (pic 2 below) 3) click on the country that will declare war at the bottom of the screen (pic 3 below) (Germany should already be selected by default) 4) click on the country you want to declare war to (pic 3 below) (click with the mouse on the map somewhere outside flags to have a better wiew) 5) click on declare war at the bottom right of your screen (pic 3 below) * And you're at war ^^ ! *

COMMENTS Guderian's amended counterattack plan. * * - Though the soviet move around Brest-Litovsk now seems obvious I never actually considered it because of my own plans to withdraw AGC anyway. Looks like Stavka hoped to bag the whole of Manstein's forces in one go as well as retreating AGN maybe with a following move on Koenigsberg. The other reason I discarded it was because of supply constraints in the area: unless the Reds control the fortress they would have dangerously exposed and overextended logistical lines. - Of course that made our first offensive draft irrelevant and changes had to me made. You can see below the main idea given what we grasped from the evolving situation. The previous northern pincer with 4th panzer army is more or less disbanded being stripped of all its heavy equipment and only remains as a hollow shell to fool soviet intelligence. Every available vehicle will go to 1st and 2nd panzer army for a concentrated strike at the weakest point right in the middle of enemy lines. - 2nd army will fall back around Bialystock and try to divert forces from our critical Festung. 17th army will remain as it is keeping guard on the bug and providing infantry reserves to support panzers. 16th army will be reinforced to full strength while shifting south to cover the flank of our offensive. It will replace 1st panzer army around Radom and in front of Jaroslaw. Most of our mobile forces will be concealed in the woods south and west of Siedlce as well as troops railroaded from the north. - That said we will still go for a giant encirclement though the primary objective will be to cut supply of advancing Soviets by taking Lublin. That would leave no less than 1 HQ, 3 tank groups and 3 armies stranded in the open with nowhere to hide or run. Such a heavy blow to Stalin would clearly change the whole situation in the East to our advantage. However we're still short on time as planned reinforcements will arrive one turn late and Soviets won't let the striking window open for long... * Casualties over a month since the Kessel battle. * * - Here you can see that over five turns or a month of heavy fighting german losses in units are surprisingly low being nearly at soviet level. More infantry and HQs out but most of them in good supply while Stavka lost many specialized units with 1:3 ratio for planes and 1:2 for tanks. The gap is still increasing but +3 at 49 to 40 isn't much of concern though the total count of 93 to 121 units on land or a 3:4 ratio isn't that great either. - The MPPs overview shows clearly we managed to slow down the bleeding on our turns without a single one above 400 and only two russian ones above 1,000. Overall casualties were also halved from 12,035 to 6,299 but we failed to keep Stalin losing strength after a good start of 2,968 MPPs lost to 4,491 over 3 turns. The last two was more of a mutual butchery than anything else with no difference at all despite clever maneuvering (ahem...). - All in all OKH succeeded in trading ground for time as the MPPs gap increased a bit in our favor from +1,099 to +1,557. Sadly that's nowhere near enough to truly hurt the Red Bear as we're just keeping him in check as it is. That's why the planned operation in Poland is decisive as Ostheer probably won't have any other chance in such "good" conditions nor the means to exploit it fully. Well enough numbers and more drawings with ingame MPPs screens below. - I think everyone can spot the pattern here : p ? After Bagration starting shock it was always the same with german offensives scoring early victories before ending because of unsustainable casualties. On the other side and safe for a peak thanks to Guderian's "Das Schlag" Soviets were able to replace most of their losses in August. Since start they were able to invest twice more MPPs in units than us with nearly 100% efficiency (8,058 for 8,970 produced against 3,805 for 5,877). - Then it's a 1:5 ratio for Germany between investments in units and overall losses while Russians stand at 1:2,5. Anyone understands why Hitler's in trouble : D ? Once again that explains why we can't let the chance slip out in Poland. If that works we'll have a shot at defending Warsaw and aiming for a draw. If it fails our glorious Führer will have a shot at his own head... * So brace yourselves for new heights of carnage in CH11: Guderian Strikes Back (19-24 August 1944) *

CARPATHIA & ROMANIA * - Once again very quiet all along the front safe for an expected soviet counterattack to recapture the ground lost last turn. Our heroic 26 corps fought well facing masses of enemy units (27, 52 & 53 armies, 62G, 30 & 85div) with rocket artillery support but had to retreat to avoid destruction. - Thus the Ivans retook the northern half of the valley leading to Bucharest but were stopped again by our fortifications held by 1rgt/45div. A regiment of Bulgarians also distinguished itself by repelling a flanking attempt through the ridges on the eastern side losing 40% of its men. *

POLAND & HUNGARY * - So in Poland our kind offer to grab an empty Siedlce (60 army) electing to push north instead. The Reserve tank group easily destroyed our weak screening force (340div) exposing Bialystok airfields. With 1 ukrainian tank following closely behind and 7G cav raiding Harpe's HQ OKH can be sure it is no diversion and AGC is the target. - Further south attacks in Hungary (18 army) are weakening despite artillery support and the Reds didn't move forward from Jaroslaw. There are mostly divisions holding the front in that area leading german intelligence to believe enemy offensive capacity there is spent. Furthermore most of our deployment and preparations south of Warsaw remained hidden. - It is clear for Guderian and Model there is no way to stick to the initial counterstrike plan. 4th panzer army can barely hold Brest-Litovsk already and taking the Ivans head on with its meager forces (5LW, 22, 52, 131 & 214div) is out of question. The northern pincer starting line is in shambles and won't be stabilized anytime soon leaving no ther choice than to trash it. * - To avoid a disaster 2nd panzer army is shifted northwards and ordered to reoccupy Siedlce. It was supposed to show just enough activity to relieve pressure on Brest-Litovsk and AGC but 48Pz unexpectedly sent 60 army fleeing. It seems the probing attacks completely surprised the Reds as they panicked very quickly... - After examining what was left behind on the battlefield it becomes clear enemy reserves are exhausted and supply is scarce. Further evidence is displayed when a risky aerial recon mission by the Luftwaffe revealed an empty Lublin barely guarded. Looks like there is nearly nothing between Radom and soviet primary logistical center ! - More scouting by 4LW AT recently arrived from Postavy by rail confirmed the only in the whole area was the 12 tank group. A new plan is drawing itself as data and reports keep pouring in telling a bewildered german high command they might have a chance for a decisive strike after all if they have the time to seize it that is... *

Hi Ludi1867 , - It's true it seems a bit gamey but there are ways around though the main problem is UK can't send much support in North Africa in that case because all allied foreign units there will be "interned" when Germans take Paris. - On the other hand not taking Paris cost MPPs to Hitler and delay his preparations for Barbarossa. With those "extra" MPPs (hey, Paris' still worth 20 MPPs ^^) France can transfer surviving metropolitan units (especially the tank if still alive) to North Africa and "force" a Vichy by delaying Axis capture of Algiers. - However it's true a bit more randomness in the Vichy event to add some uncertainty could be interesting.

Quit a good spot overall, congratulations to the team ^^ !

Usually I consider first turn "tricks" as some kind of historical Axis "initiative". That said I prefer not to use them and furthermore I usually play (as Axis) like I don't know where starting hidden enemy units are .

Hi CATS2010 , - The thing is ships/subs raiders won't lose supply unless they actually raid convoy lanes (1 supply lost per turn). You can think they get supply from special tankers like this one: http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10926 But over time thry will need to go back to port to repair damage from combat/rough seas and refuel at 100%. - That's why having a string of friendly ports is important (spanish ports are precious for South Atlantic raiding or italian ones for Indian Ocean). Supply doesn't drop when raiding enemy convoy lanes in supply range (S key blue numbers on sea tiles) of friendly ports. However you still need to enter the port proper to get back full supply. I hope it helps !

- With winter coming and a shortened front in good defensive terrain in the West, CP will have some breathing room to upgrade and reinforce but their MPPs base is shrinking. - The Gallipolli move had great results including romanian war entry, well done ! They have a numerous army for a minor so unless you take them by surprise they are a pain for CP. Lack of infantry 2 is killing Turks. - Now how long Russia will hold before the revolution chain reaction take them out of the war ? Germans will have to concentrate the killing on France to have a chance...

Thanks for the details Bill, - Nice to have more understanding of the late events . WWI truly is a great game with a lot underneath, it has a diplomatic side WWII doesn't have (much) ! * - Game: uh oh the fall of Gallipolli was the start of a chain reaction it seems... With Turks still at infantry 1 it's another meat grinder in the making. - In the West the lack of unit to rotate and upgrade frontline troops is hurting you badly. Seeing Luxembourg mines at 8 supply 24 MPPs just in the no man's land must be a torture . - The good thing is prussian and austrian NM stopped to fall while France is going down but there is still a 30 points difference ! You probably won't delay offensive in Belgium ever again... - Russia is at 30 something, will it crumble quickly enough to ensure a final showdown in the West ? I hope so !

Glad to hear that, thanks for the fix Hubert .

Strategiclayabout (Axis) - Amadeus (Allies) : April 1941 Pacestick (Axis) - Strategiclayabout (Allies) : game started

Hi Hubert , Thanks for the answers, mail sent with a zipped .sav of the last Axis turn. (second mail sent with turn password, sorry for that)

Hi , I've added the events text from the manual to help discuss things: DE 619 - Germany: Send Lenin to Russia? - Event fires: Automatically on or after the 1st August 1914 when Berlin is in Central Powers hands, Germany is aligned with the Central Powers and fully mobilized, Russia is aligned with the Entente and fully mobilized but with her National Morale having fallen below 25%. - Cost of accepting: 25MPPs. - Yes: Lenin is sent to Russia where his Bolsheviks will agitate for peace. The effect of this will be to lower Russian National Morale and once this is below 10% the Bolsheviks will stage a coup. With the Bolsheviks in power Russian National Morale will continue to decline, but Bolshevik attitudes opposing the war will spread first to Central Powers units in Russia and then into the rest of Europe. This will ultimately lower German and Austro-Hungarian National Morale. - No: The Bolshevik agitation for peace in Russia will still occur but it will have less effect on Russian National Morale. In the event that Russia’s National Morale falls below 1% then she will surrender and many new countries will form as the Tsar’s Empire collapses. Germany with gain Russian Poland and all the Central Powers will receive a boost to their National Morale. * Sending Lenin and then accepting the Treaty is mostly if you need eastern troops to the West quickly. If you can't achieve victory with those reinforcements maybe it's better to say no and take what you can from Russia (MPPs / NM) but maybe Entente will force that choice for you. * DE 620 - Germany: Sign The Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Russia? - Event fires: Automatically on or after the 1st August 1914 when Berlin is in Central Powers hands, Germany is aligned with the Central Powers and fully mobilized, Russia is aligned with the Entente and fully mobilized but having undergone a Bolshevik Revolution after Lenin was sent to Russia in DE 619 and with her National Morale having fallen below 10%. - Cost of accepting: Germany receives 300MPPs. - Yes: Russia withdraws from the war and Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and the Ukraine will all become independent neutral states. - No: Russia will stay in the war until its National Morale has fallen below 1% - Note: Bolshevik agitation will continue to affect German and Austro-Hungarian unit morale irrespective of the decision made here. * Not sure but it looks like the neutrals will still form when Russia collapses even if you say no. It's just a matter of immediate profit vs squeezing more MPPs / NM from Russia. * DE 622 - Germany: Send von der Goltz to Finland? - Event fires: After the First Russian Revolution when Germany is aligned with the Central Powers and fully mobilized, Finland is aligned with the Entente but not fully mobilized, and Berlin is under German control. - Cost of accepting: 75 MPPs. - Yes: Finland will swing towards the Central Powers to represent a White victory there, and this will create a convoy to Germany. - No: Finland will swing towards the Entente to represent the weakening of White forces there. * Here the key I think is Finland can be neutral depending on your decisions before. In that case it seems you won't be able to get the convoy ? * On the other hand you also have those events to think about that will help Germany: * DE 624 - Germany: Spend MPPs to Boost our National Morale? - Event fires: Whenever German National Morale falls below 50%. - Cost of accepting: 25MPPs a turn. - Yes: German National Morale will receive a boost of 50 points a turn. - No: Nothing, apart from being presented with a similar opportunity should National Morale fall to 25%. * DE 625 - Germany: Grain Supplies From The Ukraine - Event fires: Automatically when Berlin is in Central Powers hands, Germany is aligned with the Central Powers and fully mobilized, and the Ukraine is aligned with the Central Powers but not fully mobilized. - Germany receives 50 MPPs per turn representing food supplies from the Ukraine, and 100 National Morale points. - Note that these MPPs will automatically cease if the Ukraine joins the Central Powers, because Germany would automatically benefit from the Ukrainian economy anyway, or if the Ukraine swings to the Entente. * - About Romania I think the event means you're presented with a chance to collapse the country and squeeze NM/MPPs out of it when Russia can't support it anymore. - So it probably won't be available since you'll benefit from captured romanian ressources after conquering it ! * DE 629 - Germany: Sign the Treaty of Bucharest? - Event fires: When Austria-Hungary is in the war, Russia has withdrawn from the war, and Romania is in the war on the Entente side. - Cost of accepting: Nothing. - Yes: Romania will leave the war. Germany will receive 20 MPPs and 50 National Morale points per turn, providing Romania remains neutral and Austria-Hungary is still in the war. Bulgaria will receive some Romanian territory. - No: Romania will remain in the war and will need to be conquered.

Then back to my question: Allies dow on neutral Denmark and capture it then Germany liberates the country. What is Copenhagen max possible supply for Germans (5, 8 or 10 ^^ ) ?

Hi , - Was playing a ladder game and Amadeus captured a neutral Denmark with UK before Germans liberated it. The problem is I have supply stuck at 5 and 10 MPPs for Copenhagen (city) while the port is at 10. - So I wonder it if isn't supposed to be 10 supply and 20 MPPs since Denmark is an axis allied country (appears in my axis production window ? - Didn't have time to check other minors but maybe some have the same problem ? Thanks for reading !

- Yep that's why I said "base" turn length, sorry if it wasn't clear. 14 days turn is for the grand campaign but depending on the one you chose it can change. Wake 1941 lasts 10 turns but only 1 "actual" day (December 23 1941) ^^ . - It should be 2 hexes for artillery/rocket artillery (so they are able to fire over friendly units). Rail guns would have a range of 3 hexes and rockets (V-1/2 things) range increases with tech.

Hi lhugues41 , - If I remember well you can't attack a revealed unit with a plane and spot surrounding tiles at the same time. If a german fighter attacks a french unit in front of Paris, you won't be able to see what's in the city or around the tile you attacked. If there is no (revealed) unit in the tile you target you should be able to spot surrounding tiles. - Spotting range should work as follow: * 2 tiles around your plane base tile (increases with long range tech) * 1 tile around your flight path and tile target (if no revealed unit on it) - For AoC/AoD there are differences, can't remember everything but: * you can spot surrounding tiles even when you attack a revealed unit * fighters have a longer spotting range in AoC - So you'll have to change your aerial gameplay ! That said you should wait for a SC guy to have an expert answer .

Hi SteveV , - As I see it Gold is the improvement of the base game while AoD and AoC are nearly distinct games with their own set of campaigns. So you should get to play 3 different things. - Gold has a smaller map and turns are quicker to play. Gameplay is also different as Gold don't have ZoC while the two others have. Better wait for some SC guy to have a definite answer though.

Hi SteveV , - From what I see ingame base turn length is still 14 days. You should be able to check it in the demo as the date is displayed ingame (September 3 then 17 and so on). - Yes there is an option to have Nato Counters. You only have to untick the 3D units box in the game settings.

Hi CSS , From what you say it looks like your british HQ has only 5 steps out of 10 ? As 5 steps = 5 supply, you'd need at least 8 steps to get 6 supply two tiles away. (and your HQ can't rise from 5 steps to 10 steps in one turn because of that) But if your HQ is at full strength I don't know what's going on... Hope it helps !

Strategiclayabout (Axis) - Amadeus (Allies) game entering 1940. Pacestick (Axis) - Strategiclayabout (Allies) we agreed to start 29th December .

- Seems you can just delay in the East while crushing everything in your way in the West. Germans need infantry lvl2 quickly to make a stand or they'll have to transfer troops from Russia. - I think sending those 3 prussian corps in the ME is a dangerous move as they're badly needed in the West. Better give ground at the end of the world than in front of the Reich industrial heartland ! - That said one can wonder how long the Tsar will keep his people obedient after suffering defeat upon defeat. Whise nerves will tank first ? The NM chicken race is on more than ever hehe !