To attack or defend : First impressions

[Sombra]

Is it just me or is it much more worthwhile to attack in SC2 then to defend? It seems to me right now that the defender has a huge disadvantage right now compared to SC1:

- Readiness bonus

- More tiles to be attacked from

- Units can move after attack

What I don´t like right now about it is that defenders take much more casulties then the attackers. (I think SC1 was better in this respect) You were abel to defend witha few units against a superior force. I think the same approach in sC2 will lead to your doom.

Its really hard to form defense lines or hold a position because if you stand still you will lose your units. Even fully entrenched units in a town will be easily removed in 1 turn if the attacker moves in with enough forces. "No need" to cut of supply first of the defender or soften up the defense. What I noticed so far is: There is no point to try to defend/delay with only a few units. You need enough units to counterattack or no you should not defend at all. At least these are first impressions.

My actual defense doctrine is though: Active defense or counter attack when possible. Try to concentrate troops in strategic key areas.

[ April 18, 2006, 02:02 AM: Message edited by: Sombra ]

[hellraiser]

SomeBismarck -> you are teh 133t genius!!!

'Try to concentrate troops in strategic key areas' -> this is a gem, I really like how it sounds ...

Now seriously -> Attacking is the only way to obtain victory, right?

The tile system greatly favours the attacker indeed - you can see it as the ability of the attacker to focus on a specific area/troop and amass a huge firepower to kill it off.

IRL, usually attackers enjoyed local superiority in places picked as attacking targets not over the whole front obviously. Think that attackers have the initiative, they decide where to strike and when to strike and with what firepower they do it.

Defending is possible when you force the attacker to push thru low supply areas. Moreover you can augment some key cities' surrounding tiles or selected strategic spots with some fortifications.

But defending without attacking is futile so my feeling is that in Russia you need to carefully alternate defending with attacking and luring axis into low supply areas - things that i did not do well so far.

Defence of France is very historical imho. France falls May-june or maybe if you have super screwed weather or very bad rolls july-august. May - June is common though.

The current game system would make it impossible for Axis to win if the french campaign ends in December or something

[pzgndr]

The intent was to distinguish between a deliberate attack where attackers are already in position versus a hasty attack where attackers move to contact. In this sense the readiness bonus creates that effect. But perhaps 25% is too much; maybe 10% would be better? We need to continue watching this and determine if a change is warranted. It's still early after game release and folks are still learning new strategies and counter-strategies.

The readiness bonus is something that could be added to the Editor as an adjustable parameter. It may be that the attacker has too much advantage, but should have a slight advantage so we don't want to over-compensate.

[ April 18, 2006, 11:14 AM: Message edited by: pzgndr ]