PBEM play balance

[robdam]

I fair fine against the AI as either the Axis or Allies, but when I play against a human opponent, (PBEM), I have a much more difficult time as the Axis in the 1939 game. Am I alone on this? Am I that bad of a general? What can I /we do to adjust the balance to make this a more enjoyable PBEM game? Should I try a different scenario where the Axis forces are more established? :mad:

[rleete]

1939 against a human is a tough one. Unless you get off to a good start, or get luck with the research, it's an uphill battle. Try a different campaign, or negotiate some of the settings with your opponent.

[Gunslingr3]

Some more specifics about what 'went wrong' in your campaign would help. I'm curious myself whether it's an issue of play balance in the scenario, or if your strategy ran headlong into a good strategy. Can you tell us what happened?

Gunslinger

[blackbellamy]

the french ai is passive

human french + british can drive into germany from first turn

[Straha]

In danger of making everyone yawn: I was always saying that over time SC became more and more adjusted to fit the needs of an Axis human vs Allies AI game. No wonder that playbalance with respect to PBEMs got affected. My advise would be that either the more experienced player takes the Axis, or that the Axis player gets +1 experience by default.

Straha

[Rediroc]

I noticed that too while playing a hotseat vs my 16 yr old brother. The allies can keep the Germans out of Norway, and the French can usually hold out past '40. The only way I found to break the French line is with like 4-5 axis Luftflotte, but that takes precious resources away from research.

When that mess is cleared up, Russia is either a nightmare or just plain impossible. All he has to do is hold out long enough with France and crank out Russian tank units when they enter, and he is nearly unstoppable.

[Gunslingr3]

the french ai is passive

human french + british can drive into germany from first turn

They could, but doesn't that put them in a bad position? I've had the allies attack the German border (both by just coming across the Maginot and by invading the Low Countries. Both times I was able to throw them back because they were astride the river hexes and in poor position to defend. The Poles can be eliminated in two turns, three if things go badly. Then they take that plunder and experience and turn on the French. If the French and British are attacking from the word go then they are repairing, and not building many more units. Have you tried this (allied storming of Germany) against yourself to see how quickly you could defeat it? When the AI came at me it let me conquer France faster than I normally would have and provided me with extra turns of research after the plunder.

Gunslinger

[John DiFool]

Originally posted by Rediroc:

I noticed that too while playing a hotseat vs my 16 yr old brother. The allies can keep the Germans out of Norway, and the French can usually hold out past '40. The only way I found to break the French line is with like 4-5 axis Luftflotte, but that takes precious resources away from research.

When that mess is cleared up, Russia is either a nightmare or just plain impossible. All he has to do is hold out long enough with France and crank out Russian tank units when they enter, and he is nearly unstoppable.

Not surprising actually. We have the hindsight

now to examine the various errors that the Allies

made in the early part of the war (a time when

the Wehrmacht kept hitting all the right notes),

and can take appropriate action. If we had the

capability of going back and rearranging the

French position, and changing some doctrine, it

is highly doubtful that the Germans would win

another 6-week victory, hence all the various

rules that we have seen from 3R through SC which

hobble the French position (to give the Jerries

a fighting chance).

Later on, when that state of affairs flip-flops,

I'm not sure what the Germans could have done

differently that would have saved their bacon.

They were caught in a war of attrition between

2-4 fronts (3rd=Italy 4th=the air war), and even

the best strategies likely wouldn't have worked

well enough to turn the tide back in their

favor.

I contend that the crucial

decisions which lost Germany the war were made in

the 1939-41 time period: failure to gear up the

economy for war production, dismissal of

promising tech leads ("The war was already all

but won") like jets and electrosubs, inability to

focus on the logistical side of things during

planning (which came up and bit them in the rear

during Barbarossa), and Hitler's refusal to

delegate responsibility out of paranoia, which

meant he was overwhelmed by all the tasks that

he took on. Later on, it was too late to do much

(tho folks like Speer did their damndest).

John DiFool

[Jollyguy]

I have not had trouble playing 39 Axis. I'm looking for opponents, so I'm going to e-mail a few of you that said you found 39 tough, and see if you can make me eat my words.