Guns or butter?

[John DiFool the 2nd]

In a recent test-game of my Fall Weiss mod, I finally managed to win as Axis (yah the experts here are undoubtedly going "beeg deal"). I am convinced that an early and heavy investment into both Industrial Tech and Production Tech managed to keep me in the game, esp. as the Russian AI somehow only had one upgrade in IT (I checked the scripts; it should have been much higher assuming even just a few chits invested). [i also cut the Siberian Reserves back to about half of what they are in vanilla, but IMHO they wouldn't have made a huge difference] If you as the Germans put 5 chits into IT, that's 375 MPPs-but at 15% per level for a country with a 105 MPP base, you'll get those MPPs back in a mere 5 turns if you get up to Level 5. In practical terms it is inevitable that you would have recouped the investment long before then of course.

Yet I've seen many posts here pooh-poohing any investment as Germany into IT. Do you pay a price by not getting quick unit upgrades if you go for the economy first? PT is also vital because it will become very expensive for the Germans to upgrade, reinforce, and replace units. Infrastructure helps to keep costs down too. What good are 5 level tanks if they cost close to 350 MPPs each?

[SeaMonkey]

Don't count me in the pooh-poohing crowd.......although after that last cup of coffee....I may join..for just a few minutes.

Of course IT and PT are important for Germany which has to build and maintain a large armed force.

Same can be said for USSR and USA, but it is questionable for the other majors since they are used in a more specific role, a support mechanism for the main belligerents, Germany, USA, USSR.