What a game!

[David Clark]

Wow. I'm really enjoying this one - I'm playing the 1939 scenario, and I'm up to Sept 1942 - the Germans are smacking me around like crazy. I'm pushed back to the last couple of cities in front of the Urals, and I'm holding on to the Suez by my fingernails. To make matters worse, I can't stop those U-boats! Infuriating!

I have a few questions so far - if anyone could spare a few minutes.

1. What's the best way to fight the battle of the atlantic? I've put 5 chits into ASW for the US and the UK, but my ASW is still at 0 - I can't upgrade any of my destroyers, even in port. The subs are slaughtering my subhunters.

2. I tried to invade vichy syria from Jordan, but apparently I have to declare war on the place, which irritates the Turks. Shouldn't I already be at war with all Vichy territories?

3. How can I transport aircraft across the sea? The 'Transport' option never appears for them, even when they're adjacent to a port, and 'Operate' won't get them over there.

4. I've maxed out all my lend lease, but I'm still getting massively outproduced by the Germans. They have thousands of points of MPPs worth of aircraft in the air, and they dominate me in quality and quantity. I've now lost most of Russia. Is there some way to move my factories back to the Urals before they're captured? How many MPPs should I be getting at this point?

Thanks for your time, and thanks to BF for such a great game - I was up till 2am playing this morning. One More Turn!

[John DiFool the 2nd]

I know what you mean-I just got done playing the AI at Expert/+0 Experience AI bonus, and got bled to death/stretched to the breaking point by late 1943 by a huge Anglo American invasion, endless waves of Russian troops who keep coming back no matter how many of them I kill, and a bunch of partisans running around like crazy monkeys. I haven't had enough MPPs to buy any new units for more than a year, and with luck would be able to force a draw by the end date. I normally wipe the map with the AI but somehow the designers/beta testers have seriously beefed it up over vanilla SC2.

1. Read the other threads here on the naval war, but it just seems like you've been horribly unlucky with tech.

2. The triggers for Vichy activation aren't as strong as they need to be-a beta tester made a mod of the default map so that declarations of war have much more severe consequences.

3. You have to operate them-note that minor country planes CANNOT be transported in this manner (which includes several bomber units in Iceland and Newfoundland which are intended for maritime patrols).

4. Alas factories cannot be manually relocated (there's some scripts which do this automatically). I wish I had your problem (see above).

[Hubert Cater]

Glad to hear you guys are enjoying the game and that the improvements have been this noticeable

John, good to hear that the AI is giving you a challenge at the Expert level as it has been greatly improved in making use of those extra MPPs.

David, sounds like some of the additional Axis OFFENSIVE script suggestions I included from Edwin P. have given you a run for your money in Russia!

Happy gaming

[n0kn0k]

Good to hear I'm not the only one having fun against the AI

I suggest starting with the lowest settings.

Don't rush yourself with fleets, keep them together and hunt the subs

As for the russians, dig in, hold the line, and attack when you're ready.

[SeaMonkey]

Don't hunt subs unless you are only one tech level behind. If Uboats are at advanced 2 then wait till your at ASW 1.

Get LR for your carriers, these are the sub spotters. Spot them and then surround them(w/DDs) without being adjacent, they can spot one tile.

Hopefully when they move they'll run into you and you get surprise bonus, in other words be passive until you've caught up in ASW tech.

You can force their movement by putting a TF next to them, but you'll likely get attacked and lose substantial strength. I'd advise using a DD in this capacity and only on last resort.

Remember you can expand your MPP usage by researching IT and PT.

Hang in there...you'll figure it out.

[Lars]

Originally posted by John DiFool the 2nd:

and a bunch of partisans running around like crazy monkeys.

It doesn't get any better after they surrender!

Why, oh why, can't these people just go to the work camps quietly?

[Edwin P.]

1. For the battle of the Atlantic I usually research ASW and Long Range and withdraw the carrier near Alexandria back to the UK.

Carriers at Long Range 2 are a great tool for spotting submaines so the destroyers can close in for the kill.

Also, taking Ireland; after the USA enters the war, provides a forward airbase that can help you spot enemy subs.

4. Industrial Tech really helps the Americans to boost their production. Level 5 Industrial means that the USA is a production powerhouse.

[asgard]

Originally posted by David Clark:

Wow. I'm really enjoying this one - I'm playing the 1939 scenario, and I'm up to Sept 1942 - the Germans are smacking me around like crazy. I'm pushed back to the last couple of cities in front of the Urals, and I'm holding on to the Suez by my fingernails. To make matters worse, I can't stop those U-boats! Infuriating!

I have a few questions so far - if anyone could spare a few minutes.

1. What's the best way to fight the battle of the atlantic? I've put 5 chits into ASW for the US and the UK, but my ASW is still at 0 - I can't upgrade any of my destroyers, even in port. The subs are slaughtering my subhunters.

2. I tried to invade vichy syria from Jordan, but apparently I have to declare war on the place, which irritates the Turks. Shouldn't I already be at war with all Vichy territories?

3. How can I transport aircraft across the sea? The 'Transport' option never appears for them, even when they're adjacent to a port, and 'Operate' won't get them over there.

4. I've maxed out all my lend lease, but I'm still getting massively outproduced by the Germans. They have thousands of points of MPPs worth of aircraft in the air, and they dominate me in quality and quantity. I've now lost most of Russia. Is there some way to move my factories back to the Urals before they're captured? How many MPPs should I be getting at this point?

Thanks for your time, and thanks to BF for such a great game - I was up till 2am playing this morning. One More Turn!

lol My first time was a similar experience I got real pissed. But I developed strategies quickly for a 2nd game.

1) Battle for atlantic, use US peace time to develop intelligennce and anti-sub techs. Also fight smart with the British navy. I was able to discourage AI from the atlantic war by destroying most of its subs before US entered the war.

2) Never tried it. The game is pretty rigged when playing against AI, the scripts are against you.

3) You can relocate planes by operating them.

4) Germany produces alot of planes because they receive alot of free units from the scripts in 41 and 42, so the AI buys a whole bunch of tactical bombers. Ural factories activate after the kharkov mines fall or when axis approach moscow, something along those lines activates it.

I have a question for Hubert. In one of my games I held France until July or August 41. The Axis didnt even invade jugoslavia and greece. I think soviets joined the allies and the eastern front was open. Why did russia join so fast? Sure makes the game harder but I did eveything right and not gain any advantage?

Second the German advance was slow(they still had units coming from France ) and I only engaged them when it was safe. By March 42 leningrad-smolenks-odesa was the front line. AS germans are advancing twards the kharkov mines in spring 42 Turkey joins???? Why would Turkey be so suecidel? Thats very irrational. Ofcourse it made the game harder as I had to send 2-3 untis to seal the turkish border. Anyhow by august 42 the axis were on retreat. This was expert 0 experience.

ps are all the scripts avaliabe to chose when playing mulitplayer?

[xwormwood]

Turkey might have been convinced through diplo chits?

[Scook]

Originally posted by David Clark:

I have a few questions so far - if anyone could spare a few minutes.

1. What's the best way to fight the battle of the atlantic? I've put 5 chits into ASW for the US and the UK, but my ASW is still at 0 - I can't upgrade any of my destroyers, even in port. The subs are slaughtering my subhunters.

2. I tried to invade vichy syria from Jordan, but apparently I have to declare war on the place, which irritates the Turks. Shouldn't I already be at war with all Vichy territories?

3. How can I transport aircraft across the sea? The 'Transport' option never appears for them, even when they're adjacent to a port, and 'Operate' won't get them over there.

4. I've maxed out all my lend lease, but I'm still getting massively outproduced by the Germans. They have thousands of points of MPPs worth of aircraft in the air, and they dominate me in quality and quantity. I've now lost most of Russia. Is there some way to move my factories back to the Urals before they're captured? How many MPPs should I be getting at this point?

My thoughts:

#1 I only put 1 or 2 chits in anything and go for more random number generator hit across the board. You are having bad luck, plus, I think Intelligence still affects rolls. I havent looked it up, as I am waiting for my manual to be mailed still (hint hint).

#2 Each Vichy territory is treated as a seperate entity, and there are 4 of them. It's the best way the game engine can handle it, and although kinda artificial works decently well. Syria has problems when anyone declares war on it. Read the scripts for exact percentages of when something will pop up.

#3 You have to operate aircraft. With that said, some aircraft cannot be operated to some places. The Canadian bomber has to stay there for coastal patrol. I am not positive if it is because minor AC cannont be operated or if it because its supposed to stay there. Also, you can only operate to a city that is strength 5 or above.

#4 You cannot move factories. If you notice in the beginning, the factory and mines in the Urals are 0 production. Once the trigger occurs they each go up 1 point per turn. This is to simulate the factories moving east. For production, the USA and USSR both greatly benefit from investing in Indutrial Technology, as this will only affect production in your home territory, and both countries have a lot of it. Production Technology makes things cheaper, so everyone benefits from that.

I do find that the AI gets benefits in more units, as Britain does in the desert, etc. It makes it tougher for humans to beat the computer.