Help: German Expansion and Russian Front

[Liam]

Hey, Folks. Yes, I'm asking for some tips. I haven't had that much of an opportunity to destroy friends and foes yet.

I find that the Germans face so me serious issues. First of all:

Germans are real poor in comparison with the Allies by the end of '41 and beginning of '42. If you build a Land Army you've gotta win in this timeframe. Though the issue is that Russian Technology becomes much much too uber for you to counter. You have to then invest both in Tech and in an Army....however You will never get as much tech as the Reds recieve.

I have tried to invade via Iran into the Caucasus Mnts, however I find that supply is low and any decent Red can counter. It's difficult to break the front with the Reds after Siberians transfer and you will find you're pushed back and crushed by this point if the Red Player has invested properly in Tech.

I usually get really close to Moscow, Leningrad and around Rostov in the South.....That's about it, the German's almost need a gamble to win, like SuperSubs or something the Allies actually don't have or haven't forecasted. That or Heavy Tanks.

In two games I've invested heavily in diplomacy with Spain attempt to free up N.Africa and MidEast and neither attempt has worked after 2 and half years of war

So am I just unlucky or could some point out my flaws. I try to spread my chits over AW, HT, and Production and IT techs... Usually leave Norway and Aim toward the MidEast, try not to piss of the Majors too early am I playing too conservatively?

[Edwin P.]

I find that it really helps to use diplomacy to bring the Axis minors on board ASP for both the extra MPPs and garrison units. Normally it takes only one or 2 chits in each minor nation to speed things up.

[Blashy]

Spain helps ALOT, but you probably had smart opponents that maxed out Spain as well to block you.

A rarely used unit on the Russian front by Germans, a couple of Bombers for tactical use, a city at 0 has worse supply than you and can't operate troops .

Your goal as in WW2, cut off Caucausus.

IW level 3, AT 2-3, HTs, Production and IT are you biggest concerns. A lot of people go nuts on Jet tech, remember that Jet Tech only increases your ability vs. other planes, it has nothing to do with attacking ground units. So if you intend to use planes to attack ground units and keep them on the Russian front, you can get away with no tech in this area.

And USE minor Allies or Italy to prevent Partisans, you only have the summer to keep pushing if Partisans disrupt your supply, you loose effectiveness AND MPPs and can't operate troops to the front.

Egypt, again a bomber striking Alexandria and its port will hurt 0 supply, 3 AFs and 2 Tanks from Germany along with 2-3 Italian units at a methodical pace will get the job done.

[Liam]

Interesting. I am pretty decent in taking Egypt. I even inflict heavy damage and invest along most lines, I think some of my misfortune is luck. I haven't yet thought of using a Bomber for Germany, perhaps a good idea. Though putting in full chits for Germany and Italy into Spain and getting to 84% readiness and sitting there for 60-80 turns is a bit disturbing. That is tying up a lot of cash. I get Germany maxed out near 450 MPPs... I am because of investing in Diplomacy and investing in HT-AW-Production-IT weak on my Military...to take Russia in a first Winter. This game seems heavily favored toward the Allies, they can gamble, they can choose many options, there only real fear is Losing UK or Russia.. Seems UK is much easier to kill. Perhaps I need to knockout the Island instead of trying to fight it out longterm?

My Average game now is this investment:

all the tanks in the build queue.

all the corps.

3 in IW

3-4 HT

3-4 in Production and IT and this is just barely holding my own against the Allied opponent

and 10 full chits in diplomacy. think I'll try convicing the Axis Minors sooner as suggested. Germany is very poor throughout '40......

P.S. if some people could give me their take on a Knockout Russian strategy I'd like their point of view. The bomber strategy sounds nice, I generally target the Caucasus though it's hard to take once those Siberians come in, it's hard to move with Partisans, Winter, Mud and the only factors in time to do the Neccessary Economic Damage to be a Decisive Factor. Just taking a huge Tract of land has a "small" impact on the Reds if they know how to use the defensive River Lines, Armor, IW and Heavy Tank... And put all their chits in the 1st year in Production and IT of the game

[ April 28, 2006, 03:44 PM: Message edited by: Liam ]

[Blashy]

Your investments are sound.

Spain is luck, it means you opponent(s) managed to put in 10 chits as well and have you blocked. It happens, it also means your opponents are weak in other areas, meaning UK had to invest 425mpps into diplomacy ASAP to try and block you and then USA ASAP as well. So D-Dday will be delayed.

The game does not favor the Allies, the UK/USA have ONE chance to start their offensive, if the Axis stops them, it can spell trouble for the Russians.

In Russia, you can not afford to let partisans pop up. Winter and Mud are your friends as Axis just as much as the Allies. When it comes, you reinforce and upgrade and wait it out. By spring you have better units and probably new units as well, you start again.

The good thing is with Bombers you can keep a city at 0 all winter long, that hurts the Russians. A couple of Bombers.

[Agamemnon]

In Russia, you can not afford to let partisans pop up.

Ok. How do you stop partisans? I searched the manual and it says nothing about stopping partisans.

Soviet Partisans – There will be a 20% chance per turn of partisan activity during Axis occupation of the USSR.

The manual also states

Partisans can appear anywhere except on impassable terrain.

So the old SC1 trick of placing a few units in a few places doesn't sound like it will work.

[Retributar]

Agememnon!

You cannot stop Partisan's from popping up, however, by Garrisonning every city and Mine you take, you can drastically diminish any damage that the Partisan's can do!.

I usually keep 2-3 strong units dispersed in the Soviet Union to help Rapidly React to Partisan activity!.

I also use as many Romanian, Hungarian & Bulgarian allied troops to help garrison these captured Cities as i can!.

You can also build some new units for these allies ... not many, but enough to help out!.

[Blashy]

Yes it does, you will have to read the scripts.

It tells you where partisans can appear and as usual if you have troops within 1 tile of these triggers partisans will not appear.

Partisans appear in cities or marsh locations.

NOTE: You'll have to read the scripts if you wish to fully comprehend all the triggers or just keep playing and find out through playing games.

[Agamemnon]

NOTE: You'll have to read the scripts if you wish to fully comprehend all the triggers or just keep playing and find out through playing games.

Thanks. Good idea, I think I will print out part of it. Trying to remember a bunch of coordinates is tough.

I also use as many Romanian, Hungarian & Bulgarian allied troops to help garrison these captured Cities as i can!.

Yeah, I noticed you could buy more troops for the minors. Haven't done it yet. I like the idea of keeping some good troops back. So far I have just tried to push forward with them and the partisans are doing a lot of damage.

Thanks

[Terif]

Hmm, Liam - seems it is time we play a game with me as Axis . In SC 2 version 1.0 the Axis is in a huge advantage, same as in SC 1 with the original Fall Weiss. You only need to be patient, not to waste mpps and know the basics, then Allies have no real chance .

1941/42 Axis is much stronger than Allies if you did it right. Sgainst an experienced Axis player, only when USA gears up and western Allies are able to start D-day, Allies can be able to strike back somewhere in 1943/44.

[Cheese Panzer]

Originally posted by Blashy:

It tells you where partisans can appear and as usual if you have troops within 1 tile of these triggers partisans will not appear.

Partisans appear in cities or marsh locations.

My best luck against partisans is: cover the cities, as mentioned above, make sure that the swamps are covered - this requires one unit to cover the swamps near Odessa (can be done by the Odessa garrison if they move NE one square), four units in the Pripyet marshes (the big swamp in the middle of the map) and three near Leninigrad.

Yugoslavian Partisans appear in Mountains and cities and thus require four units to completely cover the country. French, Egyptian, and Iraqi partisans will not attack a city/resource that is garrisoned. The Greeks will (which is REALLY annoying!).

Anyway, keep in mind that invading Russia means lots of extra back area troops to keep the Partisans out of your hair. You can use HQ's and airfleets to do the job in cities just behind the front lines but don't forget to garrsion them when they move away!

[Edwin P.]

In my mod, I gave partisans the ability to appear in mountain tiles, this aids the USSR in defending the Caucaus and Ural mountain area and forces the one to maintain more garrisions; historically guerilla forces were typically based in mountainous areas (Greece, Chinia, Yugoslavia). I also increased the number of partisan units to 10.