WW2-Global

[Bob1475]

Adler and Andis -

My proposals for reducing Germany power were based on making it a more difficult game at Emperor level as additional units did not have much of an effect. I don't make any historical or other arguments - just an attempt to help the AI.

As I stated Emperor is no longer a challenge for me so I am about to start my first SID level game (not the AI version since I need to better understand how things work at this level first).

[eaglefox]

Germany vs AI - Sid level
Week 29, 1940

A few things have happened since my last report. France has been removed from the continent. Only Corsica remains. I have taken Greece - only Crete remains. Now I am building up a force of 150 tanks to attack Russia. Italy has lost Libya to France, and it is only a matter of time before they lose Somaliland to the Brits and the French. No idea why the French are so strong in Africa in this game. They had also managed to take Milan earlier from the Italians, which has now been returned to them. I think my African campaign is going to be postponed indefinetly - atleast till I take care of Russia. Japan has taken all of Phillines from the Americans, and they have also taken Broneo and Calcutta. They have however lost Marcus Is. to the Americans and Sarmi to the Brits. Russia is very aggressive in this game for some reason. They now control all of Turkey and all of Norway. They have become an ally to me now actually, since they are at war with the Allies. This won't last very long though. Communism shall be crushed!

Bob1475 - I think it is a good idea that you have started to play at SID level. Emporer level really doesn't give any challenge. It is definetly more balanced in Sid level - the AI is atleast more productive compared to the human player.
More report will follow later.

[Adler17]

Turn 4, week 40:
31 French units and 1 British tank in German territory. I will beat them. Unfortunately I can´t use my Luftwaffe in combat very much until the British are repelled from the continent. So I have to attack these enemy units and then daring a panzer strike on the British airfield. I am able to destroy the French forces in my territory as well as the British. I am preparing for the battle of Paris in the next turns. Also my fighters were sucessfully taking down at leas 5 British fighters.
Luftwaffe planes and Uboats destroyed British convoy of 3 DD and a TR off of London.
The French attacking my foces planned for the attack with bombers as do the Brits. However 5 French and a British bomber are shot down by FlaK. A British convoy with some CL and TR appears in front of a Uboat (U 29).

Adler

[Adler17]

Turn 5, week 41 part 1:
U 29 sinks the convoy of 2 CL, 1 DD and 1 TR and becomes Elite. Japan took Wuhan and the next harbour city but that was razed. Italy declared war on Turkey!

Adler

[Bob1475]

Germany v. 1.8 Sid

Ok, I have taken the plunge and started my first SID game. Actually things are going fairly well. It is week 8 1940 and I have taken Poland, Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam and took a bunch of Russian cities. Current line is Riga, Minsk, Kiev and Sevastopol.

The Russians have started this twice and I won't turn down the strategic imperative to crush them before they get their production and tech moving forward.

The real question for me is what to do about research as I have never played at this level. Does it pay to build libraries, universities, research centers or should I take it as a given that the best way to proceed is by hoarding gold and using spies to steal techs? Input of those of you with SID experience in this scenario would be appreciated.

[eaglefox]

Germany vs AI - Sid level
Week 34 1940

Now Germany's real war has begun! The Russians took peace with the allies and the very next turn declared war on me. I lost most of my border forces to their T-34/76 but did not lose any city. In my turn I have taken Istanbul, Odessa, and Lublin from them and have inflicted severe losses to their forward positions, but I have also taken a few loses myself. I was not prepared for this war by any standards and if I can't take their forward cities upto Moscow fast enough, they might overwhelm me with their production. I won't be able to attack at all next turn as all my tanks have been used up and they need to be repaired. I wanted to wait till I got 150 tanks, but I was forced to push forward with only 56. Not a very satisfactory state of affairs. In the pacific, the Japs have taken Lauban from the Brits. Kuala Lumpur changed hands twice but is now back in Japanese hands. However the Americans have managed to take Kurile islands and now with Russia in the picture, the Japs are facing a war at two fronts. Don't know how its gonna go with them. The Italians have been kicked out of Africa, so I am going to scrap my African campaign at least till Russia is dealt with. Unfortunately I won't be able to post any pics because the internet is on a different comp. More reports will follow however.

[eaglefox]

Germany vs AI - Sid Level
Week 38 - 1940

Four turns of intense warfare with Russia has left me exhausted. After some bloody battles in which I lost 33 of my 56 original tanks (counting production in the war), about 15-20 aircraft, I managed to push back the Russians slightly taking Odessa, Sevastopol, Vilinus, Lublin, Kiev, Istanbul, and Lodz. I lost Iceland in the process and many of the above mentioned cities changed hands a few times. However, I was able to hold ground and managed to get peace with Russia and got Iceland back in the negotiations. Russia is at war with the Allies again so that helped. Hopefully that will give me some time to rebuild my forces but I think I will be facing another war with them very soon. I doubt I will be able to get back to my original strength before the renewal of hostilites. I lost Iceland to the British in the very next turn but I think I can get it back soon. Russian production massively outweighs Germany's very early in the war. I was only able to hold my ground because of superior weaponry, but I would have been broken in two different fronts (Istanbul and Kiev) had I not asked for peace. I don't know how this could be changed with the current game engine. However the game is definetly more challenging in its current form and very fun to play. I think Russia will turn out to be the strongest nation in my game if I don't act quickly. Japan lost one city to Russia on its front (one besides Chita - razed); apart from that nothing more happened. Italy couldn't contribute much - they did launch one attack in the 36th turn and managed to destroy some T-26's. But they lost all their forces in the very next turn. At least they kept some Russian forces occupied in that turn. The only way to defeat Russia now is to fight small wars and pray that even the Allies get into a war with them. Somehow though, I think they send the bulk of their forces towards Germany. I seriously doubt I am facing only half of thier forces. Cause if I am, and I am having enough problems keeping them at bay, then Germany is in trouble if it has to fight Russia alone. Another reason for my theory is that Finland did not lose any city in the whole war - meaning not too many resources were diverted there.
In the Pacific Japan has managed to take back Sarmi from the Brits - so at least I know they can still fight, and they still have some portion of their navy left. Italy no longer has the capacity to do anything, having lost all their African colonies.
I seriously hope I get enough time to build my projected army strength of 150 tanks before I go to war with Russia again. I will need it if I am to stand a chance. I am also building a huge airforce to try and wear down their's so that I can have air superiority - I did not enjoy that in this war - lost way too many aircrafts. All-in-all a tense but enjoyable fight and I am actually looking forward to the next war - not yet though.
Is Russia on the lowest aggressive level in the editor - they are way too aggressive in this game for some reason - its not Germany fighting the whole world right now - its Russia.

[Arvln]

Playing as USA in ver 1.8 I noticed that US heavy artillery is able to be loaded into Paratrooper plane.

[Adler17]

Turn 5, week 41 part 2:
The British offensive, if you want to call an attack with an infantry and a Flak offensive, was quickly terminated by me. I made a counterstrike with my Panzer and captured the British airfield in Northern France. They are no problem for the moment. I will now launch the offensive for taking Paris! My Panzer make an early assault. They are victorious! Paris is mine! Unfortunately I moved many infantry units so only few are left. Nevertheless "I" was promoted and "born" a new general myself! But perhaps Brest can be attacked. Yes! After a short but hard fight Brest is taken!

I have to stop here.

Adler

[skanar]

Originally Posted by eaglefox

Is Russia on the lowest aggressive level in the editor - they are way too aggressive in this game for some reason

If you are referring to the "AI Agression Level" setting on the front screen, I don't believe that that has any effect on AI behavior other than modifying the AI's friendliness on the diplomacy screen.

If there is another way to modify AI aggression (in the editor?) I would love to know...

[Bob1475]

I have noticed that we have cured almost all AI civs from rampant razing with the exception of the Japanese. In my current Germany SID game they have razed 8 Russian cities. A few affected their current city cultures but most would have been significant increases to their territory.

I have seen them do this to cities like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in another game.

Is it because the AI does not think it can hold the cities or what?

[Adler17]

Turn 5, week 41, part 3:

The French sink some Italian ships but lose at least 2 CL, 1 DD and 4 SS. The British ships bomb again my minefields. Perhaps they should be invisible????
Also the Spitfire are too strong, at least at the beginning.

Adler

[Snorken]

Originally Posted by Bob1475

Is it because the AI does not think it can hold the cities or what?

Maybe there's tons of resistors in those cities.

[Guitarkalle]

Is it just me, or does this scenario take like 25 min to load?

[skanar]

It's not just you; I believe a loading time of 25 mins. is extremely short. My computer generally takes several hours to load it. This scenario is HUGE, but it's worth the load times.

Or you can use the saved games on the first page of the forum. That's what I do most of the time.

[Rocoteh]

Originally Posted by P.S.Y.C.H.O.

I think you should make a new graphic expansion (including flag leaderheads) for the regular scenario before moving to the 1941 version, Rocoteh.

P.S.Y.C.H.O.,

Its possible. No decision yet though.

Rocoteh

[Rocoteh]

Originally Posted by eric_A

Rocoteh:

Something I have been working on, you may find this interesting:

"Hinge of Fate (HOF) is the title for my global WW2 scenario. The name
comes from the title of one of the five volumes of Winston Churchill's
war memoirs. That volume dealt with the events of the years 1942-43,
including such decisive battles as Midway, El Alemain and Stalingrad.

I had originally though of doing a mod on Rocoteh's WW2 Global scenario
adapting the naval-air system for my TOS scenario to WW2 Global. After
taking a long look at it I decided that map was just not what I wanted,
Europe is just too small. So I decided to use El Menecy's 362 by 325
world map. Although the map is larger than WW2 Global, there are fewer
cities and hence the game runs faster. There are no neutral countries
and where possible I used one very large city to represent 2 on more smaller
ones.

Also the political situation in 1939 was just too complicated so I decided
to start HOF in December 1941. That way every country is at war at the start
of the scenario. Russia can and sometimes does declare war on Japan on the
first turn, but those conflicts tend to brief and indecisive, more of a border
clash than a war."

eric_A,

My intention is still to complete the "huge" version of WW2-Global.

The recent news about CIV 4 was bad news to me.
It seems like Firaxis is moving away from the Strategy/Wargaming
aspects of CIV towards Role-playing games.
Combat have been simplified! Not what one had hoped for.

When CIV 4 is released, I will make an analyse to determine if
the editor offer any new important tools.
If not I will then complete the "huge" version as my last CIV-project.

Rocoteh

[Rocoteh]

Originally Posted by eaglefox

These are some interesting questions that you have asked.

1) I think you have made enough changes to the regular version of WW2-Global to make it as good as it can be with the limitations of the game engine. 8 versions are a lot for any scenario, in fact I don't think any scenario has had these many versions in such a short time. I actually haven't completed a full game in any of the versions. The closest I got to completion of my German game of ver 1.7. In that too, I had only managed to get to mid 1942.
2) I think the only way we can help WW2-Global now is to start working on the 1941 version. I have always held the view the Russia should be at war with Germany right from the start. Yes it would also put Russia at war with Japan but maybe you could put some special terrain along the Jap-Rus border and make it impassable. And the Himalayas could also be made impassable. Now that we also have the special AI version for Germany, you have a base to start making a special AI versions that start in 1941 itself, instead of making regular scenarios that start at 1941. This would definitely give the humans the challenge that we yearn for, and it will cut down your work somewhat, as you wouldn't have to make regular 1939 or regular 1941 versions.

So I suggest that you scrap verison 1.9 and just start work on 1941. We have already gotten as far as we could with the regular 1939 version. I think a 1941 version is now the way to go.

eaglefox,

Current plan:
(No decision yet)

1. June 22, 1941 version.

2. 1.9 regular version with graphic expansion.

3. "Huge" version of WW2-Global.

No target date yet since I will be away much of the days
the next 3 months.

Edit: Joint project WW3-Global with El Justo will have priority
before the above mentioned.

Rocoteh

[Rocoteh]

Originally Posted by allin1joe

I haven't played very much lately as life is VERY busy, and I'm waiting on my new computer. However, I would think that the regular version is as good as you are going to get it. A 1941 version would be very interesting for a couple of reasons:

1. The game should be faster as a lot of the little guys in Europe would already be gone (and even a "big guy" in France).

2. Russia would be in a locked war with the Axis. Right now, they are too much of a wild card. Also, if done right, they are too easy to beat since they start off pretty weak. It would definately make playing Germany more challenging, even with them not having a Western front.

3. The American Navy should be modelled post-Pearl Harbor. This would make America that much more challenging as the human player would have to worry about re-building the Pacific Navy on top of everything else.

So, my suggestion would be to move to the 1941 scenario. Once the "global" version of that is out, come up with AI versions off that scenario. This way, you don't have to maintain WW-II Global any longer in any form (unless any new bugs are found).

I also have never finished a game in any of your versions. So, seeing v1.8 become stable would be a nice thing for me. It was always troublesome trying to figure out if I should finish a game, or upgrade. If you make it so that we can have v1.8 and v2.0 (assumed version # for the 1941 version) installed at the same time, people wouldn't have that worry this time around.

Thanks again for all the hard work. Have a safe trip!!

1. Yes you are right. I will also reduce the nations in South America
to 2 Civs.

2. The June 22 Order of Battle for Soviet will be strong!

3. Yes, probably.

There will still be a version 1.9, but its several months away.

Thank you and welcome back.

Rocoteh

More comments on posts later today.

[Adler17]

Wellcome back Rocoteh.
I think it would be the best to make first 1.9 with graphics expansion. Then you have a good base for both 1941 and Huge. Before making 1941 you should make the huge version. So you have also the possibility to make 1941 out of the huge version, if there is interest.
Also will you include the Bismarck? I know she was sunk a few weeks before Barbarossa but will give Germany better room for using her navy.

Adler