Waitin' on 1.04: Suez Discussion

[lettowvorbeck]

While waiting for v1.04 to appear, I thought it would be fun to discuss various strategies.

One that I've always wondered about, was how difficult it is to maintain a British presence east of the Suez in the early period of the war. It can be done against the AI, but I don't know how it works against a human opponent. In my lone PBEM game, I immediately withdrew behind the Suez, thinking my artillery would allow me to re-cross. It was nuts to that as I didn't get Level 1 until 1917 (bad luck) and never did get a chance to cross against heavily fortified and upgraded Turks.

Of course, with v1.04 the Caucasus front might loosen up a bit and I think there was talk about additional British options in Mesopotamia. This would force the Turks to deploy more forces in those places for defense.

[xwormwood]

In my games against a human opponent i never immediatly withdrew.

Often enough you can press the turks if you send reinforcements towards egypt (like the ones where you get asked about in Decision Events).

If the turks advance, than they have bad supply and combat values.

And they leave open cities up north, where you can sting into.

So i guess an immediate retreat should be avoided.

But thats me, what do i know.

[Glabro]

No, it's the brits who are on the offensive from the go in Egypt always.

[lettowvorbeck]

Interesting. Thanks. I'll have to check the reinforcement schedule. From my AI games, I always had the impression that there was a brief window for a Turkish offensive, even if the TE player chooses all the Middle East reinforcement DE options.