krm Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 I dont want to sound as though I'm blowing my own trumpet, but I have had 6 very easy games. The latest was over in 22 Turns, I took 18 pows, knocked out all German vehicles, three with a zook, including the Tiger. 119 casualties to 37, 10 men ok to 158. Score, 6 - 94. (i was playing last defense as US) Axis surrender, Allied total victory. I would attribute this luck to the number of times I've played the scenario, but has anybody else had similar results? The thing is, I know I'm definitely not more than an average player. One thing that keeps making me come back for more is the immense replayability I find. The AI always comes up with something cunning to keep me interested. Another thing I have a question about is artillery. What has everyone experienced gets the best results? I know it depends on the action your hoping for, and therefore different strategies work at different times. But, eg, with the 60mm Mortars, have people found it best to concentrate firepower or disperse it over the battlefield? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 Well krm, Being the attacker in the Last Defence scenario is definitely the hardest side to play which is one reason for the results. The second is that you're a human player and the AI is only an AI. What I mean by that is that the AI IS good enough to beat you if you do something stupid BUT so long as you do most things right you'll win BUT you;ll have a rivetting game even if you keep winning (that's cause the core gameplay is excellent). Concentration question: Concentration GOOD !! Dispersion BAD !! Concentrate your fire and preserve it for late in the game. One of my PBEM opponent made some excellent opening moves which surprised the hell out of me BUT in so doing he has ensured that by turn 10 he'll be down to half strength. He doesn't know it yet but his "extremely effective" turn 1 move has cost him the game (we're in turn 3 or 4 so its not obvious to him yet.) Always keep a little firepower in reserve. A platoon has a LOT more impact when committed to the line on turn 20 when the US units are low on ammo and manpower than if it joined your other 2 platoons in the attack on turn 1. If you know air combat then you'll know the "scissors" maneuvre. Use a scissors-like tactical plan. Disperse your forces on the march to split his defences and then swing them inwards to crush a selected defensive position with speed and overwhelming firepower. Then re-organise and split your forces dynamically into two kampfgruppe again move in different directions and when the time is right shift inwards and pincer the enemy again. It's a little hard to do on maps the size of the ones in this game but it's doable and highly effective. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krm Posted November 3, 1999 Author Share Posted November 3, 1999 Thanks Fionn, Thats what I found (in terms of concentration). E.g I found i got better results when I used both 81mm Mortars and my 105's at the same time, and with a similar area target. The explosive force of all the batteries made an environment that the enemy didn't like. I also found that the reason I took pows was by using a method similar to that which you described using a sort of pincer movement strategy, and one that allows converging en masse at a depleted enemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 The fundamentals work ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 First time playing. I was Germans in Last Defense. My response (which I verbalized to my monitor) was "G** d**n mother f*****g bastards in those G** d**n mother f*****g buildings. How dare you fire at my troops. I'm going to target all my artillery on your a** and blow the s**t out of you." That startled my roommates because that was more swearing than I do in probably six months. It worked, too. (The artillery, not the swearing) So I guess I used the right strategy, but not for the right reasons. Jason Any game that can make you yell at the monitor is a good game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 Unless it is because it is crashing, which would be a bad game Krm, Fionn is correct. If you are a good player, and have decent luck (doesn't have to be totally good), then you have a fairly good chance ot winning in a given scenario. Against the AI your odds of victory are slightly higher. As you say, the AI does some surprising things (better than any I have ever played), but it still lacks human level intelligence. Always will ANother thing is that each time you play from the same side in a scenario you greatly increase your chances of winning, simply because you have had prior experience. So that factors in too. Have you played the other scenario yet? Played any other sides? Just curious. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krm Posted November 4, 1999 Author Share Posted November 4, 1999 I think I've probably played about 12 games in total with a fairly equal distribution over sides and scenarios. As you say, replaying a scenario is going to give you the upper hand over any AI, so I would think my luck has been attributable to this, and perhaps better unit placement than my first game (which I got creamed in by the way!) I still have trouble keeping my armour alive as Germans in Last Defense though, which is great because it means I play over and over again One thing I loved in Riesberg was watching a Sherman plonk down smoke and reverse out of the firing line when my 88 opened up. A couple of minutes later, he went full speed across the kill zone, right into another one,hehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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