For the past two nights I tried out RtW and have enjoyed playing the accuracy mode as Germany in 1936 on Immortal (second from highest difficulty). I haven't played a lower difficulty, but I found that I couldn't carelessly blitz through anything past Poland; the combination of France/England/Norway/Low Countries definitely slowed me down, but ultimately the AI is just an AI and it wasn't too terribly difficult--they never once bombed Germany, even with a substandard fighter defense.
I didn't mind this, as I wanted to play as historically accurate as possible, hoping that Russia (which outpaced me most of the game, especially in techs--they had hordes of Heavy Tanks long before I even researched it) would eventually be able to push me back as I stretched out my three-pronged Barbarosa-attack through the winter. After their initial push into my territory, however, they just collapsed, and I knew there was no way the allies, even with the US, which I doubt would be effective under the guidance of the normal AI, could stop me. I highly doubt stepping up the difficulty one more notch will make much of a difference since once the AI is the AI.
What could really make the scenario more accurate and challenging would be to generate units or other advantages to the AI to simulate the tipping tide of the war. In the case of England, the US could produce a stream of units prior to entering the war and "gift" them along the lines of Lend-Lease. After they join, a large force could spawn in North Africa/Britain in preparation for invading Sicily/Italy/Normandy. For Russia, the effect of winter should probably be strengthened with many waves of defensive units spawning around specific cities, such as Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, etc., enough to really push back an offense. For the Axis, units could spawn with each event to help them blitz through. Maybe these benefits could even scale with the difficulty setting. I am not that experienced with scenario creation, so I don't know how feasible these examples are, but they seem like relatively simple ways to make the accurate mode come out with an accurate outcome. Or maybe I'm just strange for wanting to lose; I guess I'll just play Russia and simulate Barbarosa from the other side oO.
Also, I briefly tried playing the US. I'm assuming the pollution effects tied to nearly every improvement is meant to stabilize population growth, but I think this really puts the US at a disadvantage compared to the large European civs. I don't think the US really has much to offer in the scenario; to really make their late contribution to the war felt, large cities on the east coast could really help push forward Allied gold/research/reinforcements. Or perhaps their last Industry civic could provide a greater advantage than it currently does.
I didn't mind this, as I wanted to play as historically accurate as possible, hoping that Russia (which outpaced me most of the game, especially in techs--they had hordes of Heavy Tanks long before I even researched it) would eventually be able to push me back as I stretched out my three-pronged Barbarosa-attack through the winter. After their initial push into my territory, however, they just collapsed, and I knew there was no way the allies, even with the US, which I doubt would be effective under the guidance of the normal AI, could stop me. I highly doubt stepping up the difficulty one more notch will make much of a difference since once the AI is the AI.
What could really make the scenario more accurate and challenging would be to generate units or other advantages to the AI to simulate the tipping tide of the war. In the case of England, the US could produce a stream of units prior to entering the war and "gift" them along the lines of Lend-Lease. After they join, a large force could spawn in North Africa/Britain in preparation for invading Sicily/Italy/Normandy. For Russia, the effect of winter should probably be strengthened with many waves of defensive units spawning around specific cities, such as Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, etc., enough to really push back an offense. For the Axis, units could spawn with each event to help them blitz through. Maybe these benefits could even scale with the difficulty setting. I am not that experienced with scenario creation, so I don't know how feasible these examples are, but they seem like relatively simple ways to make the accurate mode come out with an accurate outcome. Or maybe I'm just strange for wanting to lose; I guess I'll just play Russia and simulate Barbarosa from the other side oO.
Also, I briefly tried playing the US. I'm assuming the pollution effects tied to nearly every improvement is meant to stabilize population growth, but I think this really puts the US at a disadvantage compared to the large European civs. I don't think the US really has much to offer in the scenario; to really make their late contribution to the war felt, large cities on the east coast could really help push forward Allied gold/research/reinforcements. Or perhaps their last Industry civic could provide a greater advantage than it currently does.