Jon Patrick Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 first, wow. the AI and gameplay are drastically improved! I started with my typical careless play as the axis in Fall Weiss, and found myself with the French attacking me while I seem to be bogging down with a reinvigorated Polish fighting spirit!! ARGH! Air units exposed to infantry attack are no longer able to sit there and 'take it' but fold up like a celebrity poker player. The italians in North Africa look menacing, right up until the first british unit attacks them and they begin to crumble... even WITH an HQ and air support! Good gosh, I ended up abandoning NA.!! I will not embarrass myself on this forum and let anyone know just HOW LONG it took me my first (and so far only) time to take france. But, while I'm playing around with diplomacy, upgrading units, maxing out research, and in general getting ALL pissed off that there's never enough MPP's left over to buy any new units... the friggin' russians are preparing for war. Yep, I conquer france, then as I'm healing and upgrading, the ruskies declare war. I have about 120 MPP's to my nane and no units in the pipeline other than ships and aircraft. Next turn, we're operationally moving units as fast as possible to the eastern front to try to form a line... but at least my allies are coming onboard thanks to my diplomacy. In short, this is an amazing improvement (if you call the AI kickign your ass an improvement!) over SC. much, much more dramatically so than expected, as my poor tactics and success display. Anyone gotten good strategy worked out yet for diplomacy? I'd love to sue for peace with UK, but if you pump chits into ussr or usa, is it really worth it? Finally, the suggestion. In research, it would be awesome, and appreciated for new buyers of the game, if you could either hover or click on the research topic and have a little 'help box' pop up explaining the difference. Even though last week I read the manual on Industrial Tech. VS production, etc... I still found myself this morning wondering which was what??!! Great, GREAT job. It's a much deeper, thought provoking game...but it has lost just a bit of that 'one more turn' feel to it. It's maturity has robbed (for me) just a bit of the 'lets sit down and just pound out conquering france really quick' fun. This is more like chess, whereas SC1 was more like checkers. Now, I'm off to buy a new video card to hopefully allow me a better resolution and better directx response. thank you all!!!!!!!!!!!! JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin P. Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 1. Diplomacy Strategy. As the Allied AI in the Med is relatively inactive - Try purchasing 5 Diplomacy Chits in Spain with Germany (25%) and 2 to 5 with Italy (10% to 25%). Spain just may join the Axis, if So then take Gibraltar and Sail the Spanish fleet into the Atlantic. Perhaps take Protugal on the first turn after you DOW Russia. You can also try this strategy with Turkey! 2. Yes, a help button and or pop-up box for research areas would be useful on the research screen. I too read the manual to see what the difference was between Production, Industrial and Infrastructure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 I too read the manual to see what the difference was between Production, Industrial and Infrastructure. In a nutshell, PT reduces unit costs, IT increases overall MPP production, and Infrastructure reduces transport and op move costs. There's some pros and cons for each relative to each other. It's probably more interesting to expect players to invest in a combination and then see how the random research results affect things, depending on which advances are made first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blashy Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Edwin, Italy is only 3% diplomacy per chit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timskorn Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Yes, popup boxes would be a great future addition to SC2. Nothing huge, but something to briefly explain certain buttons and features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codename Condor Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Originally posted by Blashy: Edwin, Italy is only 3% diplomacy per chit. ****, so i wasted my money for a ****ty 3%. Anyway, i bought 5 chits with germany and a couple or three with Italy, but HR bought 5 chits with allies (UK i guess) so --> that means 0% chance? unfair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blashy Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 No, each chit cancels the other. So you have more, hence your have a slight chance of increasing. I don't know if the a 3% chit cancels a 5% chit or simply reduces it to 2%. Something only Hubert can answer I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squonk Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Originally posted by Edwin P.: 1. Diplomacy Strategy. As the Allied AI in the Med is relatively inactive - Try purchasing 5 Diplomacy Chits in Spain with Germany (25%) and 2 to 5 with Italy (10% to 25%). Spain just may join the Axis, if So then take Gibraltar and Sail the Spanish fleet into the Atlantic. Perhaps take Protugal on the first turn after you DOW Russia. It seems Spain is an absolute must for the Axis player. It's quite easy to get Spain join relatively early if both Italy and Germany invest full chits on her. The Spanish navy is very useful in the Atlantic and I even put the Spanish HQ + 2 Armies, AF and the Panzer to good use in Russia. You could also attack Iran (after Iraq joins) with a combined Italo-Spanish force and head north to the Caucasus from there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 It seems Spain is an absolute must for the Axis player There's still randomness and risk to consider. If Axis is spending MPPs on diplomacy and it fails, then what? If this is known as an absolute, what are possible Allied counter-strategies? We debated a lot of this during playtesting and are interested in seeing what other players do with it. Especially in MP games against another person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin P. Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 In SC2 the Allied AI never counters an Axis investment in diplomacy chits with Spain. It should be noted that this can be done via the script editor and based on whether Spanish activation % has exceeded a specified value, thus indicating to the Allied AI that the Axis is investing diplomatic resources against Spain. It might be something to consider for the standard game. Also, after the USA enters the war, and on the turn Prior to D-Day, one might want to consider attacking and conquering Ireland or Liberating Norway to hurt Axis morale and reduce their readiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blashy Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Spain is indeed very attractive, but it can be countered by the Allies, I've done it twice and one other game I've it join the Allies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Why is Italy's diplo chits only 3% anyway? De Bono smell worse than Ribbentrop or sumfink? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blashy Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 It represents its influence in the overall picture. Just as USA is only 3% as well (for Europe). UK, USSR and Germany each have 5% on their European counterparts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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