Well.....

[Bossy57322]

Three games in a row playing as the Central Powers against the AI and I have gotten crushed in all three games. In each game I DOW'd Belgium right out of the gate and pushed as far as Amiens before the Entente stopped me cold. It seems with the patch that France takes its right flank a lot more seriously - which makes things real dicey - but interesting. In the East I eliminate corps after corps of Russians but never seem to make any headway. The only place I manage real "success" is the Russian front in Austria and with the Ottomans in the Middle East - but that "success" is not having to retreat hundreds of miles. Even the Italians give me a hard time for crying out loud. On the seas I usually annihilate the Russian Baltic Fleet and take a bunch of British-French ships to the bottom - with me - not good enough to do anything but die with honor.

So, I stink.

Anyway, what am I doing wrong, if anything? Is the balance tilted so far in the Entente's favor that victory is impossible? Does a trench line really make a difference? It seems the French are able to walk thru my trenches at will at times. Is it worth it to reinforce or should I be pulling those units that have been depleted out of the line? Also, how does one get enough German units away from the Western front to make a difference in Russia?

Any advice would be appreciated. The Kaiser is ready to put me in front of a firing squad!

[WallysWorld]

Nope, you don't stink. The game is tough on the high levels.

I'm playing the game as the Central Powers on Hard in late 1914. The west has settled down to trench warfare in northern France while I'm really struggling to hold back the Russians in Galacia and even East Prussia. I'm finding the AI pretty darn good so far.

Even though I'm struggling in the game to win, I'm having a blast playing.

[Snowstorm]

If you are finding it impossible to win against the AI no matter what the strategy, just simply lower your setting against the AI until you finally succeed.

And if THAT still doesn't work...well....there's always the game editor as an (ahem) "equalizer". :eek:

[Bossy57322]

And if THAT still doesn't work...well....there's always the game editor as an (ahem) "equalizer". :eek:

Just started a game with the Triple Alliance scenario and stayed out of Belgium. I dunno, that almost seems like cheating. Half the front to defend in the West so I'm able to run wild against the Ruskies in the East.

Glad to hear you guys aren't cutting through the Entente easily - their material and manpower superiority is overwhelming. It seems to me, however, that German infantry is not strong enough vis-a-vis the French. Until 1918 the Germans should have some kind of defensive bonus.

Even though I'm struggling in the game to win, I'm having a blast playing.

Best game I've played in a loooong time.

[Wushuki]

The game should not be that hard and on the standard difficulty you can win fairly easily with either side unless you play at a higher difficulty.

One of the main contributing factors to winning is the investments you make in technology. Industrial technology gives you a massive income boost each level, which makes the investment back almost instantly. Next, infantry weapons make your entire army much stronger than the enemies. If the difference in infantry weapons is 2 levels, which is easy to achieve against the AI, you can overrun their lines completely unless they have a very high trench warfare, in which case you'll need artillery. So industrial technology and infantry weapons are of the highest priority and you should consider not spending any MPPs until you have 5 chits in industrial technology research. Shell production, intelligence, trench warfare and heavy artillery are also somewhat useful, all other technologies are secondary or useless.

If you find the enemy breaking your front line you should make sure that all your units of the front line are entrenched and commanded by a headquarters. You can put these on auto-assist to select the units you want to command. Units that are commanded will rarely drop below 50% readiness and that will ensure that they have a high damage reduction, which will make it very difficult to destroy them. Uncommanded or unentrenched units will die very quickly. Also pick your defensive line carefully behind rivers or on rough terrain.

[Bossy57322]

What exactly does shell production do? I've noticed that when I use the heavy artillery as the Germans, you get a bunch of shots against the target unit, but Austro-Hungarian heavy artillery gets just one shot. Is that the effect of leveling up?

I do need to keep an eye on my HQs as well but there are times a German unit who has not moved in several turns and is set behind a level one trench seems to get pounded down fairly easily by the French unit opposite.

Another question: When you guys get these hair-brain schemes like sending divers to sink battleships or starting domestic trouble with the British in India, do you usually pass? Seems I throw the money around on those but I don't see any benefit.

[Sergei]

Shell production means that each turn, your heavy artillery will add to its stockpile an amount of shots depending on the shell production. They will still have the same maximum stockpile limit. Shell production is essential if you want to use your artillery units effectively!

[Bill101]

Another question: When you guys get these hair-brain schemes like sending divers to sink battleships or starting domestic trouble with the British in India, do you usually pass? Seems I throw the money around on those but I don't see any benefit.

I always invest in the divers or torpedo boats. You need a little luck, but very occasionally they will cause a lot of damage to an enemy ship.

Causing trouble in India, well that depends on my mood at the time!

[Wushuki]

I do need to keep an eye on my HQs as well but there are times a German unit who has not moved in several turns and is set behind a level one trench seems to get pounded down fairly easily by the French unit opposite.

It is useful to understand the basics of combat, which can be found in the manual. It is not very complicated and it greatly helps you making decisions.

Shortly summarized, it works with the following three formulas:

1. Damage received = Damage done attacker - Damage reduction defender
   
2. Damage done attacker = (Attack value + (experience / 3)) * readiness
   
3. Damage reduction defender = (Defense bonus (comes from terrain/cities/trenches etc) + (experience / 3) + entrenchment) * readiness
   

The important thing to notice here is that readiness modifies the damage done and the damage reduction in a drastic manner. A unit with 50% readiness will only receive half defense bonuses and deal half as much damage. Thus a unit with low readiness (10%) receives almost no benefit from entrenchment, terrain and experience. If your units get destroyed easily, even when they are entrenched it is likely that you have a readiness problem. You can fix this by in the following manners:

1. Moving units with low morale out of combat for a while until their morale has restored
   
2. Keeping the strength of your units high
   
3. Keeping your units in good supply by moving HQs close
   
4. Having HQs lead the units
   

[Bossy57322]

It is useful to understand the basics of combat, which can be found in the manual.

Thanks for that. I skimmed the manual when I got the game and gave it a more thorough reading last night. Also read the strategy guide, which I should have done before. This game demands marathon instead of sprint thinking.

It is still extremely difficult (for me at least) for the Central Powers to allocate enough money on research AND maintain a defensive line in the west at a high state of readiness AND get enough units in the east to advance against the Russians AND to make sure the Austro-Hungarians don't fall apart too quickly, not to mention the Entente eating away at national morale through blockade. Amazing the Germans lasted 4 years and almost won the thing in real life.

Gonna have to prioritize I guess. And give up the Schlieffen thing in the west. Pretty much chose my defensive line before the war starts and ramp up on trench research right out of the gate. While that looks to be the way to maybe beat the game, it would be neat to see if the Schlieffen plan ever had a serious chance at success. Maybe in 1905 but not 1914 I'm guessing. Maybe not at all......

[Bill101]

You are 100% correct about "marathon instead of sprint thinking". Though at the start I think the Germans do need to act fast and boldly. Grab as much French territory as possible and if you've captured enough before you have to halt then you've a very good chance of winning the war.

There are lots of different opinions on whether or not the Schlieffen plan could have worked. It is also said that the Germans knew that it wouldn't knock France out of the war, but they hoped that it would give them a good and strong position in France, from which to either consolidate and slowly batter down the French, or to bring them to the negotiating table.

Who knows, maybe if French fighting spirit had been like it was in 1940 then it might well have worked, but the France of 1914 was a whole different matter...

[Bossy57322]

Typically I get as far as Abbeville-Amiens (which I usually pull back from) and rest my defense on that river line. Sometimes I will be in a position to threaten Le Harve but it is not a serious threat as I am to weak to take it when I get there. Then the front kinda does an "S" back down to the French border. If I'm lucky I can take Verdun as well. Did you guys give any thought to penalizing British morale/ supply if the Germans take those Channel ports?

But damn if it isn't hard to hold that river line in the north - even with my units entrenched. I'm guessing if I ramp up my trench levels and watch my HQs, it should be easier.

So I'm guessing you don't think it is a good idea to sit back and choose a line somewhere in Belgium?

[lettowvorbeck]

It's certainly possible. My CP pbem opponent is doing it quite well.

Thanks for that. I skimmed the manual when I got the game and gave it a more thorough reading last night. Also read the strategy guide, which I should have done before. This game demands marathon instead of sprint thinking.

It is still extremely difficult (for me at least) for the Central Powers to allocate enough money on research AND maintain a defensive line in the west at a high state of readiness AND get enough units in the east to advance against the Russians AND to make sure the Austro-Hungarians don't fall apart too quickly, not to mention the Entente eating away at national morale through blockade. Amazing the Germans lasted 4 years and almost won the thing in real life.

Gonna have to prioritize I guess. And give up the Schlieffen thing in the west. Pretty much chose my defensive line before the war starts and ramp up on trench research right out of the gate. While that looks to be the way to maybe beat the game, it would be neat to see if the Schlieffen plan ever had a serious chance at success. Maybe in 1905 but not 1914 I'm guessing. Maybe not at all......

[alicewei]

I am not seeing any replays at all in my WW1 PBEM games; just a blank screen saying "preparing replay" for 5 minutes or so, before jumping to my turn.

I am getting no feedback on enemy movements and attacks which is quite a disadvantage.

I get this with both 1.00 and 1.01, but only on my laptop running Win 7 64bit, not on my desktop running Win XP.

[Hubert Cater]

alicewei, I responded to this in the other thread.

[Bill101]

Typically I get as far as Abbeville-Amiens (which I usually pull back from) and rest my defense on that river line. Sometimes I will be in a position to threaten Le Harve but it is not a serious threat as I am to weak to take it when I get there. Then the front kinda does an "S" back down to the French border. If I'm lucky I can take Verdun as well. Did you guys give any thought to penalizing British morale/ supply if the Germans take those Channel ports?

I probably wouldn't pull back from the Abbeville-Amiens line unless it were really essential, because as long as you're there you can threaten Le Havre.

Capturing Le Havre does cause the British a bit of a problem because they'll then be obliged to use the next port along, Cherbourg, for sending troops to France. Once the British are relying on Cherbourg I usually find that they are effectively divided by geography from the French forces further south.

Putting a lot of chits in Trench Warfare early on really will help you to consolidate your positions, wherever they might be, and if you can take the triangle Le Havre-Rouen-Caen then Paris will almost be within your striking range. It certainly tends to make the Entente rather nervous!

But damn if it isn't hard to hold that river line in the north - even with my units entrenched. I'm guessing if I ramp up my trench levels and watch my HQs, it should be easier.

So I'm guessing you don't think it is a good idea to sit back and choose a line somewhere in Belgium?

I wouldn't, but I have to admit that I've always smashed through Belgium and into France as fast as possible, as frequently I am not stopped until my forces are near Paris, sometimes with my spearheads to the west of Paris when a mixture of the enemy and a lack of supplies will probably bring my advance to a halt. For a while anyway!

[Bossy57322]

Capturing Le Havre does cause the British a bit of a problem because they'll then be obliged to use the next port along, Cherbourg, for sending troops to France. Once the British are relying on Cherbourg I usually find that they are effectively divided by geography from the French forces further south.

Putting a lot of chits in Trench Warfare early on really will help you to consolidate your positions, wherever they might be, and if you can take the triangle Le Havre-Rouen-Caen then Paris will almost be within your striking range. It certainly tends to make the Entente rather nervous!

Well....

Mid-way thru 1916 on the "wimp mode" setting and I think I'm getting the hang of this. In France, I am anchored on that river (Somme?) just behind Amiens and have developed a real nice killing ground where the line makes its "S" back to the border. There are tons of Entente units but the line is a level 4 trench manned by mostly level 2 infantry backed up by artillery with HQs all over the place. Muuuhahaha!

But in the East, Russian morale is down to 35% and the Central Powers are advancing at will. Just a matter of time. Have crossed into North-eastern Italy effectively ending any Italian threat. Beating down Rumania and the Ottomans holding on nicely.

Will ramp up the difficulty again next game and give a deeper line in France a serious go. Cutting the Entente forces in 2 sounds like a great goal right off the bat.

Morale is the one aspect of this game I was not "getting," but now I understand. Once the Russians go under, I will go all out for Verdun and Belfort which should shake France to its core.

Just a blast to play this game. Great job those who put it together.