Strategies

[Arngrim]

I'm curious about what favourite strategies you (we) use.

Personally, I'm pretty conservative, and haven't really found any viable axis strategies, except for seelöwe/Barbarossa, but that feels more like a choice than a strategy.

I read on the forum about the LC gambit (wich is very doable in WiF as well), and started playing around with ideas. The most horrifying one was downright cheating! Simply DoW Italy just as they are about to enter the war, and before that transport two units to the emty cities, and Italy is crippled! :eek:

I won't use that one anymore, since I tried it combined with a LC gambit, and Russia had just made it to the outskirts of Berlin when a Canadian army captured Hitler. No US presence in that Campaign!

But have you guys found any cool angles/themes/strategies?

Especially for the Axis, since I feel that even thay are more challenging to play (or should be) They are a bit straightforward in their options...

[Cantum Americus]

I just achieved victory in an SC campaign by using the Axis with the only strategy I think will work- staying the hell out of Russia.

Rather than waste my troops in that meat grinder, I (after conquering all mainland European countries except Switzerland) built up a large German contingent (read "highly developed tanks") to defend the Atlantic Wall, along France and down through Spain (After I conquered it) to defend against any Allied amphibious landings. I strengthened the line with lots of air fleets to defend against the inevitable allied airstrikes, and was in the process of adding rocket contingents to fend off Naval strikes when the allies sued for peace. After I took Gibralter, I fed some Italian units I had stashed in Germany as reinforcements across the border in Algeria.

On the south side, I relied heavily on my Italian allies for support, using a large supply of tank groups to run almost unopposed (after I'd beaten Malta into submission) through Afika, linking up with my tansplanted Italian forces making their way from Germany. After that, I headed East, concentrating my resources on building up Battleships to eliminate any allied naval units in the Mediteranian Sea. I was heading for Iraq when the allies sued for peace.

A few notes:

1) Don't get greedy. Take only what you need. I made a mistake by trying to take neutral Norway, and the Allied navies cut off my expeditionary force, isolated my tanks, and wiped them off the map. Then, to add insult to injury, the allies dumped air bases on the newly-allied Norway, and beat on my MPPs in Northern Germany the rest of the war.

2) Avoid the Bear. If you get too aggressive, Russia jumps into the fight, and the game becomes infinetly harder. When the game is early, the lower European countries (Bulgaria, Romania, etc) join the Axis side. Use those forces to take the surrounding areas, but avoid dropping large numbers of German/Italian troops into the area. Also, I stopped short of invading Greece and Turkey, leaving them both neutral. Greece, because I didn't want to give the allies a mediterranian port, even temporarily. Turkey, because it's too close to Russia for comfort. As I mentioned, I was intending to take Iraq, simply because the oil fields are too tempting to pass up. Iraq is a calculated risk.

3) Seize Gibraltar, then Plug the whole. If you're trying to isolate the Mediterranian area, make sure you seize Gibralter, then dump naval and air units into and around the strait. The idea being that, if you can plug the strait, and keep the allies from getting out (or in), you can isolate and destroy any allied naval resistence. And, once the navy is gone, the entire southern half of the map is yours to play with.

By this point, the allies should sue for peace.

[Comrade Trapp]

Do a search, this topic has been discussed about 1000 times, you should come up with alot of good information.

What you guys need to understand is that your strategy will depend on what your opponent does.

For example, say your playing as Axis, and "Player X" is playing as Allies.

"Player X" may decide to chew your ass every chance he gets.

He may make a number of landings with only a few corps, forcing you to commit a certain amount of ground and air units to try and destroy them only to have they have transported back to safety. He may decide to do this when your in the middle of invading a minor, forcing you to disengage units from invasion forces to counter the landings.

Your don't even have to be in the middle of a fight, the point is to waste your time, you can't invade a minor while your busy fighting him. And before you know it:

"USSR Prepares for War"

You see my point? Its hard to begin a game and say, "this is what I'm going to do". Because chances are, your entire strategy may have to change within the first year of the war.

You want good strategies? Play any of the veteran players on this forum, everyone does diffrent things, you'll soon learn the do's and dont's.

Posted by Cantum Americus:

By this point, the allies should sue for peace.

:confused:

[Wehrmacht]

quote:

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Posted by Cantum Americus:

By this point, the allies should sue for peace.

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I am really confused by this as well.

Do you mean the AI sues for peace?! I didn't know it can do this as well.

Or did yo mean that your human opponent sues for peace?

[Comrade Trapp]

I am assuming he means the human player suing for peace.

[Wehrmacht]

Yes, I thought it too. But who idiot would surrender when USSR isn't yet in war and whole axis army is positioned in the coasts?

[Cantum Americus]

To clarify, I wasn't suggesting a definitive strategy, just relaying one I used to win a particular game....

And, strangely enough, the AI opened up peace negotiations, and my game stopped. To be honest, it surprsied me that it happened, since the allies were still in posession of large air and naval forces, and still controlled Britain, US, etc. And, as was pointed out, the USSR had not joined the fray. I was actually in the middle of a strategic advance when it happened.

So, my question now is this: Have I hit a bug in the game?? Or, having only had the game a bit more than a week, have I simply missed something?? I'd expect it'd be the latter, so perhaps one of you could clarify for me.

[Arngrim]

Trapp:

I did not ask what I should do in a specific situation. I did not ask to be patronised either.

I _did_ ask for costructive strategic ideas, and frankly: if the best one you have is to keep your opponent on his/her toes and to search the forum, then I am amazed that you even bothered to post in this thread.

[Friendly Fire]

never seen it before, AI sues for peace without USSR entering, and the UK still active? WEIRD!

Arngrim, Trapp is just saying that there are lots of previous posts on strategy, well worth reading. He points out that when playing a human opponent you do not have total control over your strategy, you must react to what your opponent does, and most of us have given up playing the stupid AI.

The "leave the USSR alone" approach is silly against a human opponent - if you won't take the war to the USSR then the USSR will come to you. Now, if you can take all the minors and build a strong defense in the East, then you won't lose but instead you snatched a draw from the jaws of victory!

[ April 11, 2004, 04:28 PM: Message edited by: Friendly Fire ]

[Cantum Americus]

Yep.....Here's the rundown from the Intelligence report:

Thanks to my buildup of Italian tanks, I hold a large edge in land forces (approx. double). However, allies hold a decent edge in air power (approx 10 units), and, from what I can see, have extensive (8) units heading around the horn to trip me up, although I have no idea whether they're naval or transport units. It is also of note that, up until the last few turns, the allies also held the naval edge as well.

Losses are 37 allied (27,4,6), 26 Axis (15,2,9).

The computer tells me the game is over, and will not allow me to move units, research, buy units, etc. It still allows me to save the game, which is what I did.

Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Iraq, and Russia are currently neutral, although, as I mentioned, in another turn Iraq would not have been.

Any ideas???

As for the idea that staying out of Russia is a dumb idea against a human opponent, I agree. Human opponents will inevitably use Russia's strengths in its favor. However, in a historically based game, if Germany doesn't go, then there's a good chance Russia stays out of it.

[Feldtrompeter]

Hi Cantum

Could you provid the date when the AI sued for peace?

Was the UDSSR set to "neutral", "random" or "historical"?

Feldtrompeter

[kurt88]

Hey Arngrim,

Relax, have a beer,unbutton that tight trousers...

Comrade is giving you a good hint. I admit he's sometimes a bit harsh with new guys but this time he was not unfriendly. We have been playing this damn game for way too long and have discussed every strategy a thousand times over and over.

Here's a link to the strategy guide, very usefull stuff.

And if you wanna get to know some real strategies play some other players, we got a PBEM league for which you can register here

Welcome to the SC forum, a hell of a forum !

Now where is Dragon when you need him !?

[Comrade Trapp]

Originally posted by Arngrim:

Trapp:

I did not ask what I should do in a specific situation. I did not ask to be patronised either.

I _did_ ask for costructive strategic ideas, and frankly: if the best one you have is to keep your opponent on his/her toes and to search the forum, then I am amazed that you even bothered to post in this thread.

Friendly Fire and Kurt

Thanks for explaining to Arngrim that I was not patronizing him or being unfriendly to him.

If I had to do it, I wouldn't have been as ah..... "diplomatic" as you were.

Arngrim

Strategies: Allied

Strategies: German

Here are just two examples from doing a search on "Strategies". As you can see, theres alot of good information here.

Just giving you fair warning, you make a unprovoked smartass comment like that again, me and you will be having some problems.

As for this incident, forgotten.

Comrade Trapp

[ April 11, 2004, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: Comrade Trapp ]

[Cantum Americus]

Hmmmm....says Russia is tagged as "neutral"....now, thinking about that: That would keep Russia neutral, so long as I didn't attack, now, wouldn't it??

Which would explain why Russia never got involved, and why the AI sued for peace without Russia involved, correct??

If that's true, would random mark them for a shot at teaming with Germany??

[Comrade Trapp]

Which would explain why Russia never got involved, and why the AI sued for peace without Russia involved, correct??

Personally, in the year and a half I've been on this forum and playing this game, I have never seen or heard of the Allies suing for peace.

That would be a question to ask Hubert, but I doubt it's possible. Are you sure the game didn't just end in 1947 when its supposed to, with a Axis victory?

If that's true, would random mark them for a shot at teaming with Germany??

No, the Soviets will never go Axis.

What random means is that the USSR's war readiness will slowly increase until they finally enter the war on the Allied side wether the Axis likes it or not. The more minors the Axis invade, the faster Soviet readiness increases (along with the US).

Also, you have to keep the German-Soviet border garrisoned with a certain number of troops as time progresses, or Soviet war readiness will increase something like 10% per turn (I could be wrong on the percentage). The more you play the game, the more you'll eventually understand what triggers Soviet war readiness to increase.