Hey, i'm new here :) got a question or two

[Night]

Hi, first off i wanna say i LOVE this game, it's pretty much exactly what i've been looking for in a strat. game for a long time.

1 question i have though, What exactly does War in Siberia do? I am pretty dumb i guess i can't figure it out, although i will admit a never played it where i tried to figure it out, but i couldn't find anything in the guide or FAQ unless i missed it.

And 2nd, is there any other fan made scenario's or mods besides the two on that other post that modified the 39 and 40 starts?

Thanks a lot guys

[Bullwinkle]

Welcome to the club.

War in Siberia simulates an attack by Japan on the USSR in which the Russians would have to post troops on the Manchurian border.

So if you enable War In Siberia, you would handicap the Russians. In reality they kept forces there until late 1941 when their spy in Tokyo (Sorberg(sp)) told Stalin that Japan had no intentions against the Soviet Union. Stalin finally believed someone and brought those forces back just in time to save Moscow.

As for the custom scenarios, read through the history of postings here and you will find several.

[Bullwinkle]

Welcome to the club.

War in Siberia simulates an attack by Japan on the USSR in which the Russians would have to post troops on the Manchurian border.

So if you enable War In Siberia, you would handicap the Russians. In reality they kept forces there until late 1941 when their spy in Tokyo (Sorberg(sp)) told Stalin that Japan had no intentions against the Soviet Union. Stalin finally believed someone and brought those forces back just in time to save Moscow.

As for the custom scenarios, read through the history of postings here and you will find several.

[Fubarno]

If you choose 'no war in Siberia', you are choosing a historical setting that gave assurance to to the USSR that Japan would not attack in the far east. The practical effect is it allowed Stalin to pull some crack troops guarding the east to defend against the Germans.

In game terms, when any German units get too close to Moscow, these reinforcemets will appear. I believe you get a tank corp, a air corp, a couple army's and a couple infantry corp plus some HQ,s.

If you choose war in Siberia 'on' it would be ahistorical and represent a ground war in the far east that denies these reinforcements to the battle against the Germans.

For some other SC stuff including graphic mods and user created campaigns go to www.ww2n.com/schq

[Night]

oh ok thanks a lot. I know about that part of history in real life but just couldn't figure it out in game.

[Konstantin V. Kotelnikov]

Of course in the game if you can keep the Axis forces from getting past a Riga-Minsk-Kiev-Odessa line those wonderful siberian troops will not show up.

When the fascists get to a Leningrad-Smolensk-Kharkov-Rostov line and east of it they show up. Numbers depend on what difficulty you are playing on.

Too bad we don't get the Russian winter.

[Steve C]

Hey, Me too, Night. Now this is the game I've been waiting for !! Just got it and I haven't enjoyed any strategy game so much since the first Panzer General.

RTS (pick any of 'em) - The frenzied mouse clicking and resource micro-management drives me nuts.

Uncommon Valor - Nice game, maybe I'll dig into it someday, but a bit overwhelming at first glance.

Hearts of Iron - Thought this might be the game, but the combat is way, way too abstract. All that detail and when you get to the actual fighting, the game stinks.

Okay, enough preamble. Question for you old hands.

Playing the Axis for the first time, in the 1939, it appears to me there are three possible strategies after France falls:

1) Invade England as soon as you have assembled the forces.

2) Take over Denmark and Norway, defend France / Low Countries with minimal forces and get ready to attack Russia with everybody else. Let the Italians shift for themselves

3) Mediterranean strategy: Hold the line elsewhere and drive hard to take out Alexandria and grap the Middle Eastern oil. This is what I tried but wasted time trying to take out Malta first. I think I should've just bypassed it.

Which strategy seems best or is there a better one ?

[ January 23, 2003, 08:25 PM: Message edited by: Steve C ]

[Bullwinkle]

It is generally agreed upon that the Mediterranian is a waste of time for all concerned.

I play solely against the computer and this is the strategy I use.

Take out - in this order - Poland, Denmark, Low Countries, France.

At this point I don't try to take the UK - it is difficult and I don't want my resources eaten up by the British before the Russians attack. So I head east and get ready to take out Yugoslavia.

Meanwhile I have my Italians take out the British fleets in the Med and then create 5 corps & an HQ to attack Iraq when the time is right and then come up the Caucauses to get the Russian oil fields from the rear.

By the time Russia attacks, I have ~2-4,000 MPPs - enough to deal with Russia and enough to hold off the Allies in France until Russia is finished.

My current settings are Expert +1, only scorched earth and free french on.

[Shaka of Carthage]

Steve C,

While I don't consider myself one of the SC "oldtimers", I have never been shy giving my opinion.

The beauty of SC is in the "what ifs". After France falls, per your question, you asked about your choices.... of course these are my opinions.

Invade England: It depends on the losses you have inflicted or plan to inflict on England. The British navy is not weak, and should be something that you have to neutralize before you attempt the invasion. Some like to transport Infantry Corps as sacrifical lambs shielding the true assault units. Thought being that the Corps get sunk while you get your other units ashore. I don't like this option, since it is wasteful of units. I prefer the following... take Poland and Denmark by turn two. Send ALL of your air units to Denmark (some already there during the invasion of Denmark). Then, when you DOW on Norway (turn 2, no later than 3), since your Baltic fleet is screening the Corps transporting to Norway, you have a strategic option available to you. You can attempt to draw the British fleet into the range of your air, by offering up some of your Baltic fleet. You only have a couple of turns to do this... and the targets you are after are the British carriers... forget the other stuff for now (unless they can be sunk, since they are weakend by attacks on your ships). If a double gambit is taking place, or you are just lucky, the British ships are coming after you or Norway. Btw, other than the ships, you should not be losing any units. Now... things get interesting. DOW the Low Countries, which you should be able to take in one turn (you have been moving those units from Poland to the Western Front haven't you?). Then when you go after France, your air units should go into the Low Countries so you can take out the British Air. Eliminating the British Air is tricky, but it boils down to using multiple air units against ONE of the British Air units. If you have been real lucky, you can even take some of your Baltic ships against British air on the coast... which will usually draw the British ships out... allowing your air to try to sink them. Bottom line is that you have to remove his units, but don't lose yours. When France falls, you should be able to get a couple of units initially to land against London... you need min of two, with three or four being better. Good use of some Research chits, usually Long range air and/or Jets doesn't hurt, and makes it much easier if you are lucky in the Research department. Spend on the IT later... MPPs are scarce as it is, and we are not buying units yet, but we sure are replacing losses. As you can see, alot of things have to go your way and even if you get your units (including a HQ) ashore, it is still not over.

Don't invade England: Depends on how you want to handle the British air assaults... since he will go after your ports (hence you can't resupply your subs in Atlantic), and eventually your cities. Depends on your character, if you can handle getting bombed, then intially the bomb losses are not too bad. But if Britan gets high tech level in strategic bombers, it will hurt badly. Especially when the Americans start bombing. You can counter with air or with investing in anti-air. And you have to make sure your coastline is defended against invasion, either thru a "corp" defensive line, or a point defense with mobile reserve, or combinations. Again, your choice.

The way I see it, if the British make some mistakes and you get lucky (especially if they Dutch Gambit you), invade England. Beware of invading England, but not getting it to fall fast enough and having the Russian Bear invade you. Otherwise, get your units to the Eastern Front, where the real war is.

Italians: Proper use of them is key in my opinion. Italy should leave France alone, and get itself over to Yugo and invade it with the help of some German units. Let Italy capture Yugo. Then go after Greece. Again, let Italy capture Greece. Taking out Greece is best done by two amphib units (armies) and a couple or three air units (German). It is possible to capture Greece overland, but you have to understand how the Mountain hexes effect your supply line, and of course, there are those Greek units in the mountains. Why is Italy key? Its ground units. Specifically, the Armies. Research anti-tank weapons, and if you can, IT. Thats it. They buy Armies... and after thier initial use, ship them off to the eastern front. Corps are not bad either, but better off as garrisons. Italian units with anti-tank three or four, with some experience points, are worth there weight in gold. German MPP is better spent on Armor or Air. You will need to purchase some German infantry as well, but for every competent Italian infantry army you have, there is one less German one you need. Italian Armor... when you can, purchase one. But let it stay in Yugo and hunt down partisans.

Mediterran: This is a tough one. I've long been an advocate of letting Rommel take the Med path to Russia. Problem is, that in SC, this is not easy. Italian fleet doesn't match up very well against the British Med fleet. And you can't afford to send alot of expensive German units to North Africa. Conversly, this is where a skillful player can surprise his opponent (at least in theory, since I have never been successful). So, take your Afrika Corp (ie German Inf Corp), and Italian Army (ie Italian Army or Corp or two Corps), possibly an Air unit, and give it a whirl. But don't be surprised that after you have finally beaten your way to Alexandria, take the Suez Canal and are ready to roll into Iraq, the Red Army will be sitting there waiting to smash you. Taking out Vichy France does solve some of the supply and operational movement problems, but is something you have to plan for initially, not as an afterthought.

Malta: Tough nut to crack. You can try to overwhelm it with air units and the entire Italian navy, but unless you have some high tech level air units and you get some lucky shots in by the navy, won't work. I usually let it hit me in Sicily or North Africa and go with the flow. Of course, all of this changes if you are invading England.

Good Luck.

Barry

[Steve C]

Wow. :eek: Great post, Barry. I can see already that there is more to this than what meets the eye. This is far from the beer & pretzels affair it might seem to be when you first view the map and kick a little bootie early in Poland. Things get interesting very quickly.

One more n00b question: what is the Dutch Gambit ?

Been checking some of the other threads here and am impressed by the literacy and thoughtfulness of the community. I look forward to some human competition, once I learn against the AI. This game rocks ! :cool:

[Night]

Yeah this game can get VERY intense not for the light wargamer.

Nice post barry, but i alway's prefered (and have won with) A more conventional strat. In a nutshell, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Low countries, France, Vichy France. For i last i obviously just take the first capital, then invade using Italian Amphip and possibly some overland Unit's in north africa, Supported by the Italian fleet. It works for me always, and taking out Vichy France early is alway's good. I usally leave the rest of north africa, save the english fleet in the med, alone. Malta is not worth the effor it takes, and there is little room on the map to surround or manuever toward the east of north africa, and the AI usally doesn't do much from there.

Now here is were the real tough fighting comes in. Russia. Prepare a LOT for this one, since I feel it is simply the most important front in the entire war. Rommel and any other top HQ you can afford or wish to get should be placed on this front, with ALOT of armor, the opening attack should smash everything you can and just push push push. Support by most of germany's air power and a good amount of Italian Army units, where i agree with Barry the Italian infantry is very important. Watchout for those Siberian reenforcments but for the most part just push hard and fast, but be careful not to lose units, don't overextend unit's just to do a little more damage, the russian's like to beef up on ton's or corps and can easily overwhelm a cut off Armor unit, and you cannot afford this.

On the english/american front, a few air unit's to slow the tide of bombing is ok, but don't fuss over it. Even with brest and it's port totally bombed out, I have been able to keep up with and surpass russian production. In fact in one of my games, the western allies actually Invaded europe in 42, as i was beating the russin's far back. At first i was worried, because obviously i would be fighting to ground fronts, but soon found out that my HQ along with Italian corps and 1 or 2 German armor unit's beat the living HELL outta british and american forces. I was very surprised by this, and found that if you can just contain them and not let them take the mines or more then 1 city/port nothing should be effected much. The air power and navy are a problem, so watch your unit's near the coast. Eventually I overpowered russia and turned on the western allies, Now with few ground unit's left due to the meat grinder they landed into and refused to give up in france.

I'm still learning but i've been able to win a lot with a basic format. Of course i feel when you are the axis, Preserving your unit's is very key. A lot of losses in ethier front will whind up with the allies in berlin.

[Shaka of Carthage]

Dutch Gambit: That is when France, frustrated by the Low Countries inability to realize that Germany cannot be ignored, declares war against the Low Countries (which forces them to join the Axis). In SC terms, it is done to deny the Germans the plunder from capturing the Low Countries.

America, outraged that a democracy would break its treaty with another democracy, decides it can no longer trust the French (SC terms = US readiness drops), causing the French Government to resign. Resulting confusion as a new French goverment takes over becomes the "raison d'etre" for why France falls to Germany. (SC terms = France still gets wooped by the Germans).

Night: Don't forget that a human Allied player will eventually realize they have the largest aircraft carrier in the world in Great Britain. Aircraft and Aircraft R&D are critical to the US. Tech 4 or Tech 5 Strategic Bombers are something to see.

[JerseyJohn]

Shaka

I don't think the reaction is that involved. Really it's just a reduction in American/Soviet willingness to enter the war. The French Government normally resigns between Breakfast and Lunch and is nothing to be alarmed about.

In one of my few IP games, I was the Axis and my opponent invaded not just the Low Countries but Greece as well. I was hoping he'd add Bulgaria and Norway to the list to see if the U. S. could be pushed into joining the Axis!

Even if there wasn't plunder for the Allies, invading the Low Countries makes sense in order to establish a defensive line west of the Rhine in Belgium. The Germans should break through anyway, but it adds a lot of time to the process.

There are numerous Forums dealing with things like placing the minimum garrison in Poland to keep the USSR from entering. If you put too many along the Soviet border it has the same effect as placing too few. Also, Konigsburg and Warsaw should be garrisoned.

[ January 24, 2003, 02:01 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]