ww2 comparison game

[la fayette]

The greatest battle of all times, Stalingrad, ended in march 1943, exactly 60 years ago.
This induced me to start a ww2 comparison game (at Apolyton strategy forum) playing the ww2 scenario (that goes with the game) as the Russians.
Feel free to join (or even send your results here, if you prefer).

 

[Remorseless]

Good math la fayette -- Stalingrad was 60 years ago, not 40. Other wise, good game

 

[Smash]

Maybe,like me,he wishes it was 1983 again

That WW2 with the game has got to be my least favorite "scenario" of all time but it is good for comparison.

 

[Shahadet]

Sounds fun. I am game. If you want a real challenge though, I suggest playing the Neutrals (Spanish)! Now that is hard.

 

[la fayette]

Originally posted by Smash
Maybe,like me,he wishes it was 1983 again

.

You guessed right
(some people say there always is some sort of feeling hidden behind a typo; we call that 'un acte manqué' in french)

 

[la fayette]

Originally posted by Shahadet
I suggest playing the Neutrals (Spanish)! Now that is hard.

The current record with the Neutrals is held by Jaguar Warrior: all objective cities conquered in october 1958 (deity level, no caravan rehoming).

Here are the other records with smaller civs:
French: December 1951 (La Fayette)
Turks: December 1961 (Jaguar Warrior)
Spaniards: June 1953 (Jaguar Warrior)
... but the last one will be beaten soon (I hope) because I'm currently playing as Spanish leader.

Here is the thread where you can find the details:
http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2712

 

[Angry Roman]

The battle of Stalingrad ended the 2nd of February! Ah, feels good to get it out =) But, La Fayette, isn`t playing as the Russians a bit too easy with the Axis being so stupid? I don´t think I`ve ever lost a city to them. Might consider building roads to Germany so that perhaps they`ll be tempted to send a couple of tanks! Or perhaps if I keep my cities unoccupied, they`ll come...

 

[la fayette]

Originally posted by Angry Roman
The battle of Stalingrad ended the 2nd of February
La Fayette, isn`t playing as the Russians a bit too easy with the Axis being so stupid?

1) You are right: 2nd of February. My memory was one month late.
Let us hope it never gets worse than that
2) The fun with a comparison game is not winning the game. The fun is winning sooner than the others. This requires skill, even if the AI is not really clever.
(BTW I just finished: june 1944; have a try and let me know)

 

[cliff]

I started playing the WWII scenario playing as the Neutrals, not the Russians.

It is 1950 now and I am controlling Scandinavia and half of Britain. It is rather easy being at war with the Allies since they will sign a cease fire whenever I take one of their cities. My tactics was simply to send two transports loaded with Howitzers to England and take London. I thought the Allied civ would split when I took their capital but that didn't happen.

On the first turn I allied with all civs but the Axis, whom I signed a cease fire with after they took Amsterdam. The Allies gave me all their techs and the Russians gave me lots of cash every turn. Nobody researched Robotics when I needed it so I had to research it myself. I built Airports in Teheran and Stockholm and flew Irani freights to Scandianvia for further transportation to Britain. For that purpose I built a road to the Norwegian coast and founded a port city there. A ship chain of three transports was enough to get freights delivered to Britain in one turn. Add one turn for the airlift and one turn for the road transportation to that. I had to expereiment a little before finding out which commodity to build and where to deliver the freight in order to unblock the commodities in Teheran.

I sold off all city improvements in Belgrade since I figured the Axis would sneak attack soon. They did but at that time Belgrade was a lousy size 2 city with one rifleman and nothing more. It was destroyed in the attack.

Next goal in my game is to take all of Britain. By the way, the Allies moved their capital to Amsterdam (!) and I will let them keep it for a while. Unfortunately The Axis and Allies are allied so I cannot sign a cease fire with the Axis until Britain is mine. So far they haven't bothered me though. Noone has started building Manhattan Project yet and that is good to.

 

[la fayette]

cliff
IIRC your strategy with the Neutrals is close to the one used by Jaguar Warrior in his (her?) record game. He (she?) managed to conquer all objective cities by october 1958 (without rehoming freights). I bet you can beat that, since you seem to be making use of new discoveries by samson and solo in the field of trade.

Hang on !
(I think I shall manage to win the record with the Spaniards today ).

 

[cliff]

It will be tough to beat october 1958. Since the Allies didn't split when I took their capital i suspect it won't happen with the Axis either. Right now I make plans for the rest of the game. It is december 1951 and Britain is mine. I also captured Baghdad while I was at it. I have stolen espionage and stealth from the Allies and I have built some Stealth Fighters. My treasury has dropped from about 7,000 to 2,500 gold during this war and I have to do something about that. It doesn't help being stuck in Monarchy either with massive corruption.

One idea is to take America first. This would enable trading between big American and British cities to raise some money. If I manage to get a cease fire with the Axis I can fly freights safely between Tehran and America also which would give big payoffs.

When the trading system is set up I should be able to rush build and support a big army from the English cities and then when the time is right I will strike the Axis with howitzers and take as many cities as I can in one turn. Russia is not a problem unless they build Manhattan Project.

 

[la fayette]

cliff
There are 2 main conditions for a civ to split when you take the capital:
1) Empty slot (at least 1 civ must previously have been destroyed, so that its colour is available for the rebels).
2) The civ about to split must be higher than you are on the power scale.

I agree with you : trading between London and New York should be highly rewarding (remember though that we have played that kind of challenge without caravan rehoming up to now).

 

[cliff]

Yes of course! No civ had been eliminated yet so that's why they didn't split. I changed my tactics to kill of the Spanish first before I took Berlin. That caused the Axis empire to split.

It is now august 1954 and a new Aztec civ appeared in the Mediterranean area. Basically, the Axis empire was split in a northern and a southern part.

America was easy to take. I just sent a transport with Howitzers over there and took New York first, signed a cease fire, and took Washington next turn. The Spanish didn't put up much resistance either and it took just 3 or 4 turns to take all of their cities. Both the Allies and the French started building Manhattan Project (in Suez and Marseilles respectively) and the French started it first so I decided to take Marseilles while I was attacking the Spanish. Unfortunately it was the Allies who were the fastest builders and I had no forces near Suez to stop them so we now live in a world with nuclear weapons. Actually I was the first civ to build a nuclear missile and that enabled me to sign a peace treaty with the Axis and to get 850g in tribute from the Allies.

I have SDI defense in the most important cities and the Axis appear to have SDI's everywhere but the Russians haven't discovered the Laser yet so if they don't get it before it is time to kill them off I will use a massive one turn nuke attack on half of their cities or so. On the Axis I will use Howitzers on their cities and stealth planes on troops outside.

Here is a summary of the enemies:

Russians: 36 cities, 1917g, allied
Turks: 2 cities, no embassy
Axis: 13 cities, 6627g
Spanish: eliminated
Allies: 8 cities, 1632g
French: 6 cities, 1009g
Aztecs: 12 cities, 8593g

The Neutrals have 33 cities.

24 turns to go.

 

[cliff]

Neutral forces include:
16 Mech Inf
51 Howitzers
10 Stealth Fighters
3 Nuclear Missiles

 

[cliff]

Here is a map:

 

[cliff]

February 1956. Axis civilization was destroyed a year ago. I just started the war with the Russians and I use Nuclear missiles and spies with mini nukes as my main attack force. Dumb Russians haven't connected their cities with railroads so I have to build a lot of engineers to do their work.

I am supreme but my reputation is atrocious. Neutrals have 65 cities and the enemies have 48 cities and 20 of them are objectives. October 1958 appears to be within reach! There are 14 turns left.

Neutral forces include:
23 Engineers
29 Mech Inf
63 Howitzers
4 Nukes
30 Spies

Those spies are really powerful! I don't fear a major international incident since I'm pretty much at war with everyone already and the government won't collapse in Monarchy. There was something good with Monarchy after all!

 

[la fayette]

cliff
Yes, you seem to be going strong
I bet you will be able to beat Jaguar Warrior's record

(I just took Baghdad in december 1943 as the Axis )

 

[cliff]

Neutrals win in June 1956!

Finished! It was surprisingly easy to capture the last 20 objective cities. It only took two turns to do so and no city was lost to the ai on their turn though the Russians nuked one of my cities but never occupied it. Many tiles are polluted, especially around the Russian cities since I have used lots of nukes there.

Deity level, no government changes, no caravan rehoming.

Axis, Spanish and Turks eliminated, the others have a couple of small cities left. 2 objectives were destroyed by the AI.

Here is a summary of my strategy:

1. Ally with everyone except the Axis and ask for gifts. The Allies will give you techs and the others will give you money.

2. Send freights from Tehran to Britain for extra money and science. Get Robotics as soon as possible. Build Airports in Stockholm and Teheran and ship freights from Stockholm to Britain.

3. Build some Howitzers and capture Oslo and Bergen. Sign a cease fire with the Axis.

4. Ship Howitzers to Britain and take London. Sign a cease fire with the Allies, build more Howitzers and take the rest of Britain.

5. Send the Army to Spain and eliminate them.

6. Transport Howitzers on Axis rail to Berlin and take it. This causes the Axis empire to split.

7. Build lots of Howitzers and launch a blitzkrieg attack on the Axis and take as many cities as possible. I managed to kill 90 units and take 11 of their 12 cities on one turn.

8. Rush build barracks in all Axis cities and let the Howitzers heal.

9. Launch a new attack on the smaller civs such as France.

10. When there is not much opposition in Europe anymore, strike Russia.

Well, that's about it.

I only lost 52 military units in this game compared to the Russians who lost 530. Howitzers and a coordinated attack is really powerful and this is something that the AI is not capable of.

 

[cliff]

Here is a screenshot of the war with Russia. Engineers build railroads, spies plant nukes in distant cities (Kazan etc), mech inf occupies these cities.

Howitzers are transported on rail next to cities within reach of the rail system and kill the units inside (Rostov, Maikop). Unreachable cities (Sevastopol) are nuked and a paratrooper occupies the city.

Those are my high tech war strategies.

 

[la fayette]

Halleluyah!
cliff's name will be written in the Tiny Hall of Fame
(in my thread 'Arriba...' Apolyton's civ2 strategy forum)