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WW2-Global
- Thread starter Rocoteh
- Start date
Hornblower
Cry Havoc!
Sasebo said:With all the evidence of the AI being bad at naval invasion, I have a few counter arguments going. At one point there were FOUR amphibious task forces entering the Med, and if I was not doing well with the Navy I would be in big trouble by now. The AI does seem to love 3 escort/1 transport task groups, but lately these have included a lot of BBs.
I agree. It seems that the AI in most games I have played favours the 3 escort/1 transport model. Early on the convoys are with available resources and usually feature a lot of DD's. Of course these get sunk quite easily. By mid game the AI usually has capital ships in the escort mix and by late game the capital ships are the exclusive escorts.
In my current 2.1 Diety game as the Germans I have had a constant stream of UK convoys flowing down from Britain. The AI seems to have learnt that I will attack them every time and now are sending regular convoys of 3 KGV battleships and 1 transport. Having seen that the AI had upped the ante I sent a task group of 2 Bismarcks and 6 DD's out to knock them off. Intercepting off Spain I was faced with not one, but three KGV convoys travelling parallel to each other! I knew I should have conducted a better recon! When faced with 9 KGV's in close proximity to my now paltry looking double Bismarck task group I beat a timely retreat. Although the UK AI can temporarily send convoys out in safety they still only seem to be loading the transports with 1 matilda, 2 infantry and 1 of those funny but ultimately useless light tanks.
The Japanese AI in my current game also seems to have stalled. The Japs seem to start off well but they run out of land unit puff by mid 1941. They have total control of the sea with 22 Yamato BB's but don't have enough momentum on land. The Jap AI dispatched Communist China in late 1940 but the Nationalist Chinese are holding out particularly well not having lost a city for over 50 turns. Unfortunately Hong Kong was raised and the British counter attack has begun. It remains to see what will happen but I don't think that the Jap AI is too strong.
Bob1475,
Thank you for the report.
"Germany Emperor v 2.1
1942 Report
In 1942 we exceeded our original targets.
At the end of the year we are about to land our invasion forces on Saint Johns in prepartion for our attack on the mainland of North America."
That is an interesting alternate strategy!
"We began the year by continuing our pressure on Russia until peace was declared between Japan and Russia in week 15. We decided to accept that as the Russians were down to 22 cities - primarily in the East. Our forces have taken Taluma and we consider the Russian bear to be tamed."
Bob1475
Agree.
"In the West we launched Sealion in week 6 and by week 34 we had eliminated the British from both islands. As always, our rockets proved the difference along with total control of the seas by our Hindenburgs. Following this we took Reykiavik and continued preparations for the North American invasion. US Iowa class BBs are giving us some problems especially as our new bombers appear not to be able to sink any ships. By year end we have turned back four attempts by British and Americans on Reykiavik."
Bob1475
Its positive that Sealion no longer is a walkover victory.
"We eventually meet the Japanese in India. They took Lucknow, Benares and Calcutta and razed on city. We took the others."
Bob1475
It will be intersting to see where Japan-AI will focus after this.
"We hold the Northern half of Africa, approaching Dakar in the West, Kano in Central and Mombasa in the East. No real problems other than simple geography. Malta held out for a while but fell to Bismarck bombing."
Bob1475
I doubt Britain will be able to reinforce its positions in Africa.
"The Japanese hold Manila but the Americans hold Davao. It would appear there have been many battles here. Also the British hold three Dutch Indonesian cities so apparently the Japanes were here earlier. Japanese hold Guam so there would appear to be lots of Pacific naval action."
Bob1475
Its positive that no cities have been here razed despite that.
"1943 will see the eventual takeover of all of Africa. This is not a high priority but we want to secure our Southern flank."
Bob1475
Is sounds like a good strategy.
"Therefore 1943 will be the showdown with the North Americans. We have established an airbase on Greenland but the logistics for tanks requires long sea voyages. We have a number of task forces on the way.
We have landed 40 units on St Johns and will take the city first week of 1943.
Following that additional units will mass for about 250 units landing near Halifax. This will be bloody but we are determined to establish and gradually expand a foothold here."
Bob1475
This will be a hard battle!
"155 Mobile Rockets - Key to our victories!
10 Carrier C3 - CAP for our task forces
27 Hindenburg BBs
and of course hundreds of Panzers"
Bob1475
That is a huge force!
"Still the best scenario made!"
Bob1475
Thank you. I am glad to hear that.
Welcome back.
Rocoteh
Thank you for the report.
"Germany Emperor v 2.1
1942 Report
In 1942 we exceeded our original targets.
At the end of the year we are about to land our invasion forces on Saint Johns in prepartion for our attack on the mainland of North America."
That is an interesting alternate strategy!
"We began the year by continuing our pressure on Russia until peace was declared between Japan and Russia in week 15. We decided to accept that as the Russians were down to 22 cities - primarily in the East. Our forces have taken Taluma and we consider the Russian bear to be tamed."
Bob1475
Agree.
"In the West we launched Sealion in week 6 and by week 34 we had eliminated the British from both islands. As always, our rockets proved the difference along with total control of the seas by our Hindenburgs. Following this we took Reykiavik and continued preparations for the North American invasion. US Iowa class BBs are giving us some problems especially as our new bombers appear not to be able to sink any ships. By year end we have turned back four attempts by British and Americans on Reykiavik."
Bob1475
Its positive that Sealion no longer is a walkover victory.
"We eventually meet the Japanese in India. They took Lucknow, Benares and Calcutta and razed on city. We took the others."
Bob1475
It will be intersting to see where Japan-AI will focus after this.
"We hold the Northern half of Africa, approaching Dakar in the West, Kano in Central and Mombasa in the East. No real problems other than simple geography. Malta held out for a while but fell to Bismarck bombing."
Bob1475
I doubt Britain will be able to reinforce its positions in Africa.
"The Japanese hold Manila but the Americans hold Davao. It would appear there have been many battles here. Also the British hold three Dutch Indonesian cities so apparently the Japanes were here earlier. Japanese hold Guam so there would appear to be lots of Pacific naval action."
Bob1475
Its positive that no cities have been here razed despite that.
"1943 will see the eventual takeover of all of Africa. This is not a high priority but we want to secure our Southern flank."
Bob1475
Is sounds like a good strategy.
"Therefore 1943 will be the showdown with the North Americans. We have established an airbase on Greenland but the logistics for tanks requires long sea voyages. We have a number of task forces on the way.
We have landed 40 units on St Johns and will take the city first week of 1943.
Following that additional units will mass for about 250 units landing near Halifax. This will be bloody but we are determined to establish and gradually expand a foothold here."
Bob1475
This will be a hard battle!
"155 Mobile Rockets - Key to our victories!
10 Carrier C3 - CAP for our task forces
27 Hindenburg BBs
and of course hundreds of Panzers"
Bob1475
That is a huge force!
"Still the best scenario made!"
Bob1475
Thank you. I am glad to hear that.
Welcome back.
Rocoteh
Hornblower,
"I agree. It seems that the AI in most games I have played favours the 3 escort/1 transport model. Early on the convoys are with available resources and usually feature a lot of DD's. Of course these get sunk quite easily. By mid game the AI usually has capital ships in the escort mix and by late game the capital ships are the exclusive escorts."
Hornblower
That is interesting. Overall AI seems to be unable to deal
with a large scale transocean campaign.
Its a great problem in CIV III and I think its a problem in CIV IV also.
"In my current 2.1 Diety game as the Germans I have had a constant stream of UK convoys flowing down from Britain. The AI seems to have learnt that I will attack them every time and now are sending regular convoys of 3 KGV battleships and 1 transport. Having seen that the AI had upped the ante I sent a task group of 2 Bismarcks and 6 DD's out to knock them off. Intercepting off Spain I was faced with not one, but three KGV convoys travelling parallel to each other! I knew I should have conducted a better recon! When faced with 9 KGV's in close proximity to my now paltry looking double Bismarck task group I beat a timely retreat. Although the UK AI can temporarily send convoys out in safety they still only seem to be loading the transports with 1 matilda, 2 infantry and 1 of those funny but ultimately useless light tanks."
Hornblower
I wish there was a solution to this, but it seems almost impossible
to find one within the game-engine.
"The Japanese AI in my current game also seems to have stalled. The Japs seem to start off well but they run out of land unit puff by mid 1941. They have total control of the sea with 22 Yamato BB's but don't have enough momentum on land. The Jap AI dispatched Communist China in late 1940 but the Nationalist Chinese are holding out particularly well not having lost a city for over 50 turns. Unfortunately Hong Kong was raised and the British counter attack has begun. It remains to see what will happen but I don't think that the Jap AI is too strong."
Hornblower
Its possible placement of more victory-points in Australia can
force Japan-AI into more historical play.
I will try it in version 2.2.
Thank you and welcome back.
Rocoteh
"I agree. It seems that the AI in most games I have played favours the 3 escort/1 transport model. Early on the convoys are with available resources and usually feature a lot of DD's. Of course these get sunk quite easily. By mid game the AI usually has capital ships in the escort mix and by late game the capital ships are the exclusive escorts."
Hornblower
That is interesting. Overall AI seems to be unable to deal
with a large scale transocean campaign.
Its a great problem in CIV III and I think its a problem in CIV IV also.
"In my current 2.1 Diety game as the Germans I have had a constant stream of UK convoys flowing down from Britain. The AI seems to have learnt that I will attack them every time and now are sending regular convoys of 3 KGV battleships and 1 transport. Having seen that the AI had upped the ante I sent a task group of 2 Bismarcks and 6 DD's out to knock them off. Intercepting off Spain I was faced with not one, but three KGV convoys travelling parallel to each other! I knew I should have conducted a better recon! When faced with 9 KGV's in close proximity to my now paltry looking double Bismarck task group I beat a timely retreat. Although the UK AI can temporarily send convoys out in safety they still only seem to be loading the transports with 1 matilda, 2 infantry and 1 of those funny but ultimately useless light tanks."
Hornblower
I wish there was a solution to this, but it seems almost impossible
to find one within the game-engine.
"The Japanese AI in my current game also seems to have stalled. The Japs seem to start off well but they run out of land unit puff by mid 1941. They have total control of the sea with 22 Yamato BB's but don't have enough momentum on land. The Jap AI dispatched Communist China in late 1940 but the Nationalist Chinese are holding out particularly well not having lost a city for over 50 turns. Unfortunately Hong Kong was raised and the British counter attack has begun. It remains to see what will happen but I don't think that the Jap AI is too strong."
Hornblower
Its possible placement of more victory-points in Australia can
force Japan-AI into more historical play.
I will try it in version 2.2.
Thank you and welcome back.
Rocoteh
Hyperborean
Demiurge
Hi Rocoteh!
I've been away for awhile, but I've been keeping an eye on this thread, and when I saw that you had finished version 2.1 (new larger map) I had to try it.
I started as Germany (as usual), and have now reached week 25 1940, so I thought it would be a proper time to share some of my observations with you.
The map
I have mixed feelings about the map. On the one hand it's great with a bigger map so that there is more room to manoevre. But some areas of the world are disproportionate. For instance, Ireland is HUGE! The island is larger than Anatolia, but in reality Turkey is seven or eight times larger than Ireland. The same could be said for Java and Sumatra. In reality Sumatra is many times bigger than Java, but now the islands looks to be of equal size. And the island of Hainan should be as big as Taiwan, not significantly smaller. I could go on with more examples like this, and mention that southern Sweden looks a bit... anorectic when compared to Denmark, which in reality is smaller than southern Sweden.
Anyway, I'm just voicing a bit of frustration over these distortions as a person who is very interested in geography. I'm not saying I want the map to be redone, I'm just saying that the older map was more proportionate. But I can live with it as it is. I actually prefer the bigger map for this scenario, since it gives you more realistic distances. The Atlantic now takes a long time to cross, and that is as it should be.
Someone has already suggested that Verdun should be renamed Rheims, and I second that suggestion. If it wasn't for WWI no one would have heard of Verdun. It's just a small town where a big battle occurred. Rheims OTOH, is the city of kings. The French kings have been coronated there since the 13th century. Rheims is not just significantly larger than Verdun, but is also a historically more important city.
Groznyj is supposed to lie north of Caucasus, I suggest you either move it north of the mountains, or rename it Tbilisi (or maybe Jerevan).
The roads in Scandinavia are a bit wrong. To begin with I don't think there should be a road between Bergen and Trondheim, instead I would like to see a road between Oslo and Trondheim. In reality there is no road between Bergen and Trondheim even today (2006), unless you count the ten or twelve ferries you have to take across the fiords as "roads". And if you look at it historically the Germans marched from Oslo to Trondheim.
And there should be a road between Trondheim and Sundsvall, since there has been a road between those two cities since they were founded (and possibly even before that). It's an ancient path.
Movement
The new map is bigger than the old, but not that much bigger. When I crushed Poland and turned my attention to the West I noticed that I could take all 40+ infantry divisions involved in the invasion of Poland and transport them to the Belgian border in just two weeks. I think this is unrealistic. It gives the German player a chance to defeat France before the end of 1939. I don't think this is a good idea if you want to keep it realistic. So my suggestion would be to turn the movement points back to 3 for the infantry and 6 for the tanks. I would rather favour realism over a chance to make the world German in less than two years. As it is now I drove right through France, and took Paris before week 46 1939 (if I remember correctly). Of course, a part of the problem might be due to the French invasion of Italy. The French AI ignored my forces and tried to conquer Italy instead, but even if it hadn't, I would still have reached Paris very early in the game. BTW, this has already been pointed out by others, but Italy really needs some fortresses along the French border.
Since this is a bigger map there are also more cities, and since there are more cities there will be more units, so I think decreased movement rates will be balanced by a greater number of units. The movement restrictions would also bind a larger proportion of the player's forces along the borders (especially towards the Russians) since the threat of an invasion would be more serious if you cannot move your units as fast. The player would be forced to keep reserves along the borders and the coasts instead of throwing everything he has against one opponent (like I did against the French). I think this keeps the game more well-balanced and more realistic.
Over to the battle reports.
The war on land
Well, like I said, I crushed France, and then I proceeded into Spain. I had planned to invade Spain anyway, but Spain had already declared war on Italy at this time, so I just continued my victorious march through southern France into Spain, and I conquered Portugal and Gibraltar at the same time, and took Switzerland on my way home.
My only setback came when I took Antwerpen. I placed three German 88 there, and thought that my hold of the city was secure. However, I had not taken the British navy into account. They bombed the **** out of my defensive units, and then they sent a transport full of British infantry divisions and took the city from me. I lost several fighters and ships I had placed in Antwerpen.
Meanwhile I had initiated operation Weserübung, and took Denmark without much effort, and proceeded with an invasion of Sweden. Sweden, however, proved to be more than a match. I landed some infantry and thought I would take the country as easy as I did on the smaller map. I was wrong. It took a real effort to invade Scandinavia. I discovered in a very painful way that Sweden has tanks this time. Ouch.
So I had to rethink my strategy. I began building a fleet of transports and shipped every panzer division available to Scandinavia. In the end I think I had over 30 panzers there. My conquest of Scandinavia took an eternity to finish. I started in week 45 1939 (or so), and ended it with the conquest of Hammerfest in week 24 1940. Operation Weserübung lasted for more than 30 weeks. Next time I play I'll try to be more efficient.
Kiruna was hard to take since it's on a mountain, but worst of all was Trondheim. I lost eight panzers there, as well as two SS infantry divisions. The Norwegian resistance really pissed me off.![[pissed]](/images/smilies/pissed.gif "Pissed [pissed]")
Finland took Luleå, and I think I'll turn Hammerfest, Narvik and Kiruna over to them. I want to have a strong ally next to the Soviet border.
And speaking of the Soviets. They invaded Turkey, and attacked all those fortresses like maniacs, completely ignorant of their own losses (I'm certain the Russian AI can replace them easily).
Right now I'm a bit uncertain of what I should do next. I could initiate operation Seelöwe, and launch a historically correct invasion of Britain (with the exception that I'll win
), or I could conquer Yugoslavia and Greece, the only remaining neutral states in Europe. Considering how agressive the Russian AI has been I estimate that it will declare war on me soon, and I need to prepare for that. The question is whether I should wait for him to attack, or if I should launch my own surprise attack. The aggressive display of the Russian AI has forced me to reinforce my border-cities, but I think I'll have to send even more troops to the border. The disadvantage of attacking Britain is that I'll be vulnerable to a Russian surprise attack. 
The war in the air
Rocoteh, this is great! Absolutely fantastic! The British AI is wonderfully aggressive!
Just the way I want it. I remember I was so disappointed with the small map when the RAF never dared to attack me. Whatever you do, do NOT change anything. Keep it just the way it is. It is very historical, aside from the fact that it is me (the German) who should bomb him, not the other way around. 
When I took the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France I didn't place my fighters there at first, but when the British AI attacked I was forced to send Luftwaffe there to prevent him from bombing my units, but I didn't build any new planes, so gradually he wore me down, and I got really tired of the air raids, so I started building flaks for the first time ever (I never had any use of them on the smaller map), and placed them in the cities under attack. Then he started to find alternative targets, and bombed (among other things) my resource tiles inside Germany (around Hamburg, Copenhagen and Leipzig). And I was forced to build more fighters to protect those tiles. As it is now, I have 3-5 fighters in every city from Brest to Copenhagen, as well as flaks in almost every city that has been attacked. This is very realistic. I love it.
The war at sea
This area has also become much more exciting. I was planning to play cautious, as I knew Britain had a much bigger fleet than me. However, their ships were such an inviting target, so I had to engage them. And I sunk a lot of ships. The German and British fleets clashed all over the northern Atlantic, on all sides of the British isles, but in the end, even though I sunk more ships than he did, I pretty much lost all my capital ships except Gneisenau, Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein. And BTW, Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien have lethal land-bombardment again. I discovered this when I bombed the Polish infantry during the first turn.
My u-boats were also pretty much destroyed at this time, and I had to withdraw completely from the Atlantic and rebuild up my sub-fleet from scratch. When I returned to the seas I attacked several King George V, but my losses were so high that I had to stop. This is scary: Britain had nine KGV, and through continuous attacks I got the number down to four, but I ran out of subs, and he built new KGVs faster than I could sink them. After that I have avoided all contacts with the KGVs, and now Britain has 16 KGV!
I haven't figured out a way to deal with them yet.
And I noticed that after I had declared war on Portugal and conquered the country in the same turn the portuguese ships moved south directly into some british ships. And this caused the British AI to declare war on them. Could it be so that many of the irrational declarations of war we have observed in this scenario doesn't necessarily occur from sub-incidents, but might just as well be caused by surface ships bumping into each others like this?
Science
I have heard some complaints about the research rate, but I don't have a problem with it. I have built libraries, universities and labs in every city, and can now research one tech per 24 turn. I find this acceptable. The research rate is only a problem for the minor powers (France, Italy, etc.) I don't think it's a problem for Germany, the U.K., the U.S., Japan or the Soviets. So I think it's realistic: the major powers have a chance to develop quicker than the smaller nations, and this is as it should be.
Other news
At first nothing happened in Asia, then I forgot to check the map for a few turns, and when I glanced at the map the next time Japan had conquered all of southern China, as well as the northern Communist-held parts of the country. They have reached as far as Hanoi, but after that there has been no real change. Japan has no carriers, and has not conquered any islands.
The only cities it has razed are Hong Kong and Urumtsi.
Japan controls pretty much all of China except Chungking and Chengdu in central China. They have reached far to the west, and I think they are not so far from Srinagar now.
Italy has lost all African cities except Mogadishu.
List of units, week 25 1940
Workers: 12
Marines: 3
Paratroopers: 3
German security divisions: 5
SS infantry: 1
German infantry: 54
Hungarian infantry: 11
Slovakian infantry: 4
Romanian infantry: 20
Bulgarian infantry: 10
Motorized infantry: 1
Panzer II: 4
Panzer IIIe: 45
German 88: 8
Flaks: 7
German Army HQ: 5
Heavy artillery: 26
Gneisenau
Schleswig-Holstein
Schlesien
Light cruiser: 1
Heavy cruiser: 2
Special transport: 1
Transports: 9
Destroyers: 18
Romanian sub: 1
Coastal subs: 14
Type VIII: 8
Type IX: 40
Do-17: 2
Ju 87B: 15
Ju 88: 11
Heinkel-111: 4
Me-109: 48
Me-110: 4
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Germany Soviet U.K. U.S. Japan France Italy Finland
Workers:. . . . . . . 12 . . . . 123 . . 117 68 . . 29 . . 17 . . . 1 . . 5
Paratroopers: . . . . 3 . . . . . 1 . . . 1 . . 3 . . 1 . . . -- . . . 3 . . --
Marines: . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . 1 . . . 1 . . 34 . . 2 . . . -- . . . -- . --
Infantry: . . . . . . . 100 . . . 324 . 519 . 257 . 190 . 75 . . . 45 . 44
Motorized infantry: 1 . . . . . 246 . -- . . -- . . -- . . -- . . . -- . --
Tanks: . . . . . . . . 49 . . . . 188 . . 49 . 2 . . . 72 . . -- . . . 25 . 14
Artillery: . . . . . . . 31 . . . . 32 . . . 13 . 13 . . -- . . -- . . . -- . 2
Cavalry: . . . . . . . -- . . . . . 4 . . . 3 . . 1 . . . -- . . 18 . . -- . . --
Flak: . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . -- . . 8 . . -- . . . -- . . -- . . -- . . --
Planes: . . . . . . . . 82 . . . . 76 . . 91 . . 40 . . 55 . . 4 . . . 9 . . 2
Transports: . . . . . 10 . . . . 7 . . . 23 . . 6 . . . 6 . . -- . . . -- . 1
Submarines: . . . . . 63 . . . . 143 . 3 . . . 53 . . -- . -- . . . -- . . --
Destroyers: . . . . . 18 . . . . 29 . . 32 . . 28 . . 4 . . -- . . . -- . . --
Capital ships: . . . . 6 . . . . . 7 . . . 29 . 11 . . 27 . . 1 . . . -- . . --
Carriers: . . . . . . . -- . . . . . -- . . -- . . 2 . . -- . . -- . . . -- . --
Looks like I don't have the highest number of any type of unit, but at least I have a greater diversity than any other civs. The Soviet figures scares me. He's ready to attack at any moment.
Overall, I must say that I very much enjoy playing this scenario. This version (with the new map) is even more addictive than the last one. The larger map makes it even more realistic than before, and that is always a plus. With only some minor tweaking (like the fortresses in Italy) it would be almost perfect. I can tell you have put a lot of effort into this, Rocoteh, and you deserve an applause for it. Excellent work. And please don't quit, we need you. This is by far the best scenario I have ever played. Not that I have played that many to compare with, but I recognize a fantastic scenario when I see it, and this is simply the best.
I apologize for the long post, apparently I had more to say than I originally intended.
I've been away for awhile, but I've been keeping an eye on this thread, and when I saw that you had finished version 2.1 (new larger map) I had to try it.
I started as Germany (as usual), and have now reached week 25 1940, so I thought it would be a proper time to share some of my observations with you.
The map
I have mixed feelings about the map. On the one hand it's great with a bigger map so that there is more room to manoevre. But some areas of the world are disproportionate. For instance, Ireland is HUGE! The island is larger than Anatolia, but in reality Turkey is seven or eight times larger than Ireland. The same could be said for Java and Sumatra. In reality Sumatra is many times bigger than Java, but now the islands looks to be of equal size. And the island of Hainan should be as big as Taiwan, not significantly smaller. I could go on with more examples like this, and mention that southern Sweden looks a bit... anorectic when compared to Denmark, which in reality is smaller than southern Sweden.
Anyway, I'm just voicing a bit of frustration over these distortions as a person who is very interested in geography. I'm not saying I want the map to be redone, I'm just saying that the older map was more proportionate. But I can live with it as it is. I actually prefer the bigger map for this scenario, since it gives you more realistic distances. The Atlantic now takes a long time to cross, and that is as it should be.
Someone has already suggested that Verdun should be renamed Rheims, and I second that suggestion. If it wasn't for WWI no one would have heard of Verdun. It's just a small town where a big battle occurred. Rheims OTOH, is the city of kings. The French kings have been coronated there since the 13th century. Rheims is not just significantly larger than Verdun, but is also a historically more important city.
Groznyj is supposed to lie north of Caucasus, I suggest you either move it north of the mountains, or rename it Tbilisi (or maybe Jerevan).
The roads in Scandinavia are a bit wrong. To begin with I don't think there should be a road between Bergen and Trondheim, instead I would like to see a road between Oslo and Trondheim. In reality there is no road between Bergen and Trondheim even today (2006), unless you count the ten or twelve ferries you have to take across the fiords as "roads". And if you look at it historically the Germans marched from Oslo to Trondheim.
And there should be a road between Trondheim and Sundsvall, since there has been a road between those two cities since they were founded (and possibly even before that). It's an ancient path.
Movement
The new map is bigger than the old, but not that much bigger. When I crushed Poland and turned my attention to the West I noticed that I could take all 40+ infantry divisions involved in the invasion of Poland and transport them to the Belgian border in just two weeks. I think this is unrealistic. It gives the German player a chance to defeat France before the end of 1939. I don't think this is a good idea if you want to keep it realistic. So my suggestion would be to turn the movement points back to 3 for the infantry and 6 for the tanks. I would rather favour realism over a chance to make the world German in less than two years. As it is now I drove right through France, and took Paris before week 46 1939 (if I remember correctly). Of course, a part of the problem might be due to the French invasion of Italy. The French AI ignored my forces and tried to conquer Italy instead, but even if it hadn't, I would still have reached Paris very early in the game. BTW, this has already been pointed out by others, but Italy really needs some fortresses along the French border.
Since this is a bigger map there are also more cities, and since there are more cities there will be more units, so I think decreased movement rates will be balanced by a greater number of units. The movement restrictions would also bind a larger proportion of the player's forces along the borders (especially towards the Russians) since the threat of an invasion would be more serious if you cannot move your units as fast. The player would be forced to keep reserves along the borders and the coasts instead of throwing everything he has against one opponent (like I did against the French). I think this keeps the game more well-balanced and more realistic.
Over to the battle reports.
The war on land
Well, like I said, I crushed France, and then I proceeded into Spain. I had planned to invade Spain anyway, but Spain had already declared war on Italy at this time, so I just continued my victorious march through southern France into Spain, and I conquered Portugal and Gibraltar at the same time, and took Switzerland on my way home.
My only setback came when I took Antwerpen. I placed three German 88 there, and thought that my hold of the city was secure. However, I had not taken the British navy into account. They bombed the **** out of my defensive units, and then they sent a transport full of British infantry divisions and took the city from me. I lost several fighters and ships I had placed in Antwerpen.
Meanwhile I had initiated operation Weserübung, and took Denmark without much effort, and proceeded with an invasion of Sweden. Sweden, however, proved to be more than a match. I landed some infantry and thought I would take the country as easy as I did on the smaller map. I was wrong. It took a real effort to invade Scandinavia. I discovered in a very painful way that Sweden has tanks this time. Ouch.
So I had to rethink my strategy. I began building a fleet of transports and shipped every panzer division available to Scandinavia. In the end I think I had over 30 panzers there. My conquest of Scandinavia took an eternity to finish. I started in week 45 1939 (or so), and ended it with the conquest of Hammerfest in week 24 1940. Operation Weserübung lasted for more than 30 weeks. Next time I play I'll try to be more efficient.
Kiruna was hard to take since it's on a mountain, but worst of all was Trondheim. I lost eight panzers there, as well as two SS infantry divisions. The Norwegian resistance really pissed me off.
Finland took Luleå, and I think I'll turn Hammerfest, Narvik and Kiruna over to them. I want to have a strong ally next to the Soviet border.
And speaking of the Soviets. They invaded Turkey, and attacked all those fortresses like maniacs, completely ignorant of their own losses (I'm certain the Russian AI can replace them easily).
Right now I'm a bit uncertain of what I should do next. I could initiate operation Seelöwe, and launch a historically correct invasion of Britain (with the exception that I'll win
), or I could conquer Yugoslavia and Greece, the only remaining neutral states in Europe. Considering how agressive the Russian AI has been I estimate that it will declare war on me soon, and I need to prepare for that. The question is whether I should wait for him to attack, or if I should launch my own surprise attack. The aggressive display of the Russian AI has forced me to reinforce my border-cities, but I think I'll have to send even more troops to the border. The disadvantage of attacking Britain is that I'll be vulnerable to a Russian surprise attack. The war in the air
Rocoteh, this is great! Absolutely fantastic! The British AI is wonderfully aggressive!
Just the way I want it. I remember I was so disappointed with the small map when the RAF never dared to attack me. Whatever you do, do NOT change anything. Keep it just the way it is. It is very historical, aside from the fact that it is me (the German) who should bomb him, not the other way around. When I took the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France I didn't place my fighters there at first, but when the British AI attacked I was forced to send Luftwaffe there to prevent him from bombing my units, but I didn't build any new planes, so gradually he wore me down, and I got really tired of the air raids, so I started building flaks for the first time ever (I never had any use of them on the smaller map), and placed them in the cities under attack. Then he started to find alternative targets, and bombed (among other things) my resource tiles inside Germany (around Hamburg, Copenhagen and Leipzig). And I was forced to build more fighters to protect those tiles. As it is now, I have 3-5 fighters in every city from Brest to Copenhagen, as well as flaks in almost every city that has been attacked. This is very realistic. I love it.
The war at sea
This area has also become much more exciting. I was planning to play cautious, as I knew Britain had a much bigger fleet than me. However, their ships were such an inviting target, so I had to engage them. And I sunk a lot of ships. The German and British fleets clashed all over the northern Atlantic, on all sides of the British isles, but in the end, even though I sunk more ships than he did, I pretty much lost all my capital ships except Gneisenau, Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein. And BTW, Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien have lethal land-bombardment again. I discovered this when I bombed the Polish infantry during the first turn.
My u-boats were also pretty much destroyed at this time, and I had to withdraw completely from the Atlantic and rebuild up my sub-fleet from scratch. When I returned to the seas I attacked several King George V, but my losses were so high that I had to stop. This is scary: Britain had nine KGV, and through continuous attacks I got the number down to four, but I ran out of subs, and he built new KGVs faster than I could sink them. After that I have avoided all contacts with the KGVs, and now Britain has 16 KGV!
I haven't figured out a way to deal with them yet. And I noticed that after I had declared war on Portugal and conquered the country in the same turn the portuguese ships moved south directly into some british ships. And this caused the British AI to declare war on them. Could it be so that many of the irrational declarations of war we have observed in this scenario doesn't necessarily occur from sub-incidents, but might just as well be caused by surface ships bumping into each others like this?
Science
I have heard some complaints about the research rate, but I don't have a problem with it. I have built libraries, universities and labs in every city, and can now research one tech per 24 turn. I find this acceptable. The research rate is only a problem for the minor powers (France, Italy, etc.) I don't think it's a problem for Germany, the U.K., the U.S., Japan or the Soviets. So I think it's realistic: the major powers have a chance to develop quicker than the smaller nations, and this is as it should be.
Other news
At first nothing happened in Asia, then I forgot to check the map for a few turns, and when I glanced at the map the next time Japan had conquered all of southern China, as well as the northern Communist-held parts of the country. They have reached as far as Hanoi, but after that there has been no real change. Japan has no carriers, and has not conquered any islands.
The only cities it has razed are Hong Kong and Urumtsi.
Japan controls pretty much all of China except Chungking and Chengdu in central China. They have reached far to the west, and I think they are not so far from Srinagar now.
Italy has lost all African cities except Mogadishu.
List of units, week 25 1940
Workers: 12
Marines: 3
Paratroopers: 3
German security divisions: 5
SS infantry: 1
German infantry: 54
Hungarian infantry: 11
Slovakian infantry: 4
Romanian infantry: 20
Bulgarian infantry: 10
Motorized infantry: 1
Panzer II: 4
Panzer IIIe: 45
German 88: 8
Flaks: 7
German Army HQ: 5
Heavy artillery: 26
Gneisenau
Schleswig-Holstein
Schlesien
Light cruiser: 1
Heavy cruiser: 2
Special transport: 1
Transports: 9
Destroyers: 18
Romanian sub: 1
Coastal subs: 14
Type VIII: 8
Type IX: 40
Do-17: 2
Ju 87B: 15
Ju 88: 11
Heinkel-111: 4
Me-109: 48
Me-110: 4
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Germany Soviet U.K. U.S. Japan France Italy Finland
Workers:. . . . . . . 12 . . . . 123 . . 117 68 . . 29 . . 17 . . . 1 . . 5
Paratroopers: . . . . 3 . . . . . 1 . . . 1 . . 3 . . 1 . . . -- . . . 3 . . --
Marines: . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . 1 . . . 1 . . 34 . . 2 . . . -- . . . -- . --
Infantry: . . . . . . . 100 . . . 324 . 519 . 257 . 190 . 75 . . . 45 . 44
Motorized infantry: 1 . . . . . 246 . -- . . -- . . -- . . -- . . . -- . --
Tanks: . . . . . . . . 49 . . . . 188 . . 49 . 2 . . . 72 . . -- . . . 25 . 14
Artillery: . . . . . . . 31 . . . . 32 . . . 13 . 13 . . -- . . -- . . . -- . 2
Cavalry: . . . . . . . -- . . . . . 4 . . . 3 . . 1 . . . -- . . 18 . . -- . . --
Flak: . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . -- . . 8 . . -- . . . -- . . -- . . -- . . --
Planes: . . . . . . . . 82 . . . . 76 . . 91 . . 40 . . 55 . . 4 . . . 9 . . 2
Transports: . . . . . 10 . . . . 7 . . . 23 . . 6 . . . 6 . . -- . . . -- . 1
Submarines: . . . . . 63 . . . . 143 . 3 . . . 53 . . -- . -- . . . -- . . --
Destroyers: . . . . . 18 . . . . 29 . . 32 . . 28 . . 4 . . -- . . . -- . . --
Capital ships: . . . . 6 . . . . . 7 . . . 29 . 11 . . 27 . . 1 . . . -- . . --
Carriers: . . . . . . . -- . . . . . -- . . -- . . 2 . . -- . . -- . . . -- . --
Looks like I don't have the highest number of any type of unit, but at least I have a greater diversity than any other civs. The Soviet figures scares me. He's ready to attack at any moment.
Overall, I must say that I very much enjoy playing this scenario. This version (with the new map) is even more addictive than the last one. The larger map makes it even more realistic than before, and that is always a plus. With only some minor tweaking (like the fortresses in Italy) it would be almost perfect. I can tell you have put a lot of effort into this, Rocoteh, and you deserve an applause for it. Excellent work. And please don't quit, we need you. This is by far the best scenario I have ever played. Not that I have played that many to compare with, but I recognize a fantastic scenario when I see it, and this is simply the best.
I apologize for the long post, apparently I had more to say than I originally intended.
Hyperborean,
Welcome back to the thead!
Thank you for the report.
"I have mixed feelings about the map. On the one hand it's great with a bigger map so that there is more room to manoevre. But some areas of the world are disproportionate. For instance, Ireland is HUGE! The island is larger than Anatolia, but in reality Turkey is seven or eight times larger than Ireland. The same could be said for Java and Sumatra. In reality Sumatra is many times bigger than Java, but now the islands looks to be of equal size. And the island of Hainan should be as big as Taiwan, not significantly smaller. I could go on with more examples like this, and mention that southern Sweden looks a bit... anorectic when compared to Denmark, which in reality is smaller than southern Sweden.
Anyway, I'm just voicing a bit of frustration over these distortions as a person who is very interested in geography. I'm not saying I want the map to be redone, I'm just saying that the older map was more proportionate. But I can live with it as it is."
Hyperborean
Geography is also one of my interests.
Thus I am aware of the problems with the map.
When the huge map project started August 2005 I had only three
maps to choose between.
The main reason for choosing this one is that most of the areas where
the historical fighting took place are oversized.
With regard to placement and naming of cities.
My first priority is to have correct borders and cities that will not
starve to death! Sometimes the result will be cities that are not
100% correct placed.
The cities shall also reflect the economical strenght of a given nation.
"The roads in Scandinavia are a bit wrong. To begin with I don't think there should be a road between Bergen and Trondheim, instead I would like to see a road between Oslo and Trondheim. In reality there is no road between Bergen and Trondheim even today (2006), unless you count the ten or twelve ferries you have to take across the fiords as "roads". And if you look at it historically the Germans marched from Oslo to Trondheim.
And there should be a road between Trondheim and Sundsvall, since there has been a road between those two cities since they were founded (and possibly even before that). It's an ancient path."
Hyperborean
"Roads" in WW2-Global represents railroads and to some extent roads.
Thus in theory 80-90% of Europe should have "roads".
Now in reality to move large numbers of troops you must have
rolling stock. This fact made that for example Germany seldom
could move more then 6 divisions with rail during a given week during
WW2. The "true" railroads in WW2-Global then reflect heavy investments
in rolling stock.
For some reason Firaxis refuse to introduce a quantity aspect
when it comes to rail move.
That is: Civ X can only move a given number of units during a turn.
It does exist in other strategy games.
"The new map is bigger than the old, but not that much bigger. When I crushed Poland and turned my attention to the West I noticed that I could take all 40+ infantry divisions involved in the invasion of Poland and transport them to the Belgian border in just two weeks. I think this is unrealistic. It gives the German player a chance to defeat France before the end of 1939. I don't think this is a good idea if you want to keep it realistic. So my suggestion would be to turn the movement points back to 3 for the infantry and 6 for the tanks. I would rather favour realism over a chance to make the world German in less than two years. As it is now I drove right through France, and took Paris before week 46 1939 (if I remember correctly). Of course, a part of the problem might be due to the French invasion of Italy. The French AI ignored my forces and tried to conquer Italy instead, but even if it hadn't, I would still have reached Paris very early in the game. BTW, this has already been pointed out by others, but Italy really needs some fortresses along the French border."
Hyperborean
However many playtests show that the campaign in France in
most cases will end close to the historical date.
"Since this is a bigger map there are also more cities, and since there are more cities there will be more units, so I think decreased movement rates will be balanced by a greater number of units. The movement restrictions would also bind a larger proportion of the player's forces along the borders (especially towards the Russians) since the threat of an invasion would be more serious if you cannot move your units as fast. The player would be forced to keep reserves along the borders and the coasts instead of throwing everything he has against one opponent (like I did against the French). I think this keeps the game more well-balanced and more realistic."
Hyperborean
Its possible you are right, but I want more playtest-reports that confirm
before I make any changes.
"Well, like I said, I crushed France, and then I proceeded into Spain. I had planned to invade Spain anyway, but Spain had already declared war on Italy at this time, so I just continued my victorious march through southern France into Spain, and I conquered Portugal and Gibraltar at the same time, and took Switzerland on my way home.
My only setback came when I took Antwerpen. I placed three German 88 there, and thought that my hold of the city was secure. However, I had not taken the British navy into account. They bombed the **** out of my defensive units, and then they sent a transport full of British infantry divisions and took the city from me. I lost several fighters and ships I had placed in Antwerpen."
Hyperborean
Typical for the raid-strategy AI favours.
"Meanwhile I had initiated operation Weserübung, and took Denmark without much effort, and proceeded with an invasion of Sweden. Sweden, however, proved to be more than a match. I landed some infantry and thought I would take the country as easy as I did on the smaller map. I was wrong. It took a real effort to invade Scandinavia. I discovered in a very painful way that Sweden has tanks this time. Ouch.
So I had to rethink my strategy. I began building a fleet of transports and shipped every panzer division available to Scandinavia. In the end I think I had over 30 panzers there. My conquest of Scandinavia took an eternity to finish. I started in week 45 1939 (or so), and ended it with the conquest of Hammerfest in week 24 1940. Operation Weserübung lasted for more than 30 weeks. Next time I play I'll try to be more efficient.
Kiruna was hard to take since it's on a mountain, but worst of all was Trondheim. I lost eight panzers there, as well as two SS infantry divisions. The Norwegian resistance really pissed me off."
Hyperborean
Its possible that Sweden and Norway have become to strong.
"And speaking of the Soviets. They invaded Turkey, and attacked all those fortresses like maniacs, completely ignorant of their own losses (I'm certain the Russian AI can replace them easily).
Right now I'm a bit uncertain of what I should do next. I could initiate operation Seelöwe, and launch a historically correct invasion of Britain (with the exception that I'll win ), or I could conquer Yugoslavia and Greece, the only remaining neutral states in Europe. Considering how agressive the Russian AI has been I estimate that it will declare war on me soon, and I need to prepare for that. The question is whether I should wait for him to attack, or if I should launch my own surprise attack. The aggressive display of the Russian AI has forced me to reinforce my border-cities, but I think I'll have to send even more troops to the border. The disadvantage of attacking Britain is that I'll be vulnerable to a Russian surprise attack."
Hyperborean
I would go for Russia. Their power grows fast!
"The war in the air
Rocoteh, this is great! Absolutely fantastic! The British AI is wonderfully aggressive! Just the way I want it. I remember I was so disappointed with the small map when the RAF never dared to attack me. Whatever you do, do NOT change anything. Keep it just the way it is. It is very historical, aside from the fact that it is me (the German) who should bomb him, not the other way around."
Hyperborean
That sounds very good. I have no plans to change this.
"When I took the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France I didn't place my fighters there at first, but when the British AI attacked I was forced to send Luftwaffe there to prevent him from bombing my units, but I didn't build any new planes, so gradually he wore me down, and I got really tired of the air raids, so I started building flaks for the first time ever (I never had any use of them on the smaller map), and placed them in the cities under attack. Then he started to find alternative targets, and bombed (among other things) my resource tiles inside Germany (around Hamburg, Copenhagen and Leipzig). And I was forced to build more fighters to protect those tiles. As it is now, I have 3-5 fighters in every city from Brest to Copenhagen, as well as flaks in almost every city that has been attacked. This is very realistic. I love it. "
Hyperborean
Its very positive that AI sometimes manage to create such
a competent play as you descibe here.
"This area has also become much more exciting. I was planning to play cautious, as I knew Britain had a much bigger fleet than me. However, their ships were such an inviting target, so I had to engage them. And I sunk a lot of ships. The German and British fleets clashed all over the northern Atlantic, on all sides of the British isles, but in the end, even though I sunk more ships than he did, I pretty much lost all my capital ships except Gneisenau, Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein. And BTW, Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien have lethal land-bombardment again. I discovered this when I bombed the Polish infantry during the first turn"
Yes I hoped the naval aspect should be more interesting with
the larger areas.
On lethal land: OK I will check it.
"And I noticed that after I had declared war on Portugal and conquered the country in the same turn the portuguese ships moved south directly into some british ships. And this caused the British AI to declare war on them. Could it be so that many of the irrational declarations of war we have observed in this scenario doesn't necessarily occur from sub-incidents, but might just as well be caused by surface ships bumping into each others like this?"
Hyperborean
Its possible. However its also a fact that AI sometimes goes
to war without reason.
Science
"I have heard some complaints about the research rate, but I don't have a problem with it. I have built libraries, universities and labs in every city, and can now research one tech per 24 turn. I find this acceptable. The research rate is only a problem for the minor powers (France, Italy, etc.) I don't think it's a problem for Germany, the U.K., the U.S., Japan or the Soviets. So I think it's realistic: the major powers have a chance to develop quicker than the smaller nations, and this is as it should be."
Hyperborean
That is good news!
"At first nothing happened in Asia, then I forgot to check the map for a few turns, and when I glanced at the map the next time Japan had conquered all of southern China, as well as the northern Communist-held parts of the country. They have reached as far as Hanoi, but after that there has been no real change. Japan has no carriers, and has not conquered any islands.
The only cities it has razed are Hong Kong and Urumtsi.
Japan controls pretty much all of China except Chungking and Chengdu in central China. They have reached far to the west, and I think they are not so far from Srinagar now.
Italy has lost all African cities except Mogadishu."
Hyperborean
Probably the Japanese offensive will run out of steam soon.
On unit-stats: You have a well-balanced force!
AI seems to focus on infantry so far.
"Overall, I must say that I very much enjoy playing this scenario. This version (with the new map) is even more addictive than the last one. The larger map makes it even more realistic than before, and that is always a plus. With only some minor tweaking (like the fortresses in Italy) it would be almost perfect. I can tell you have put a lot of effort into this, Rocoteh, and you deserve an applause for it. Excellent work. And please don't quit, we need you. This is by far the best scenario I have ever played. Not that I have played that many to compare with, but I recognize a fantastic scenario when I see it, and this is simply the best."
Hyperborean
Thank you. I am very glad to hear that.
Welcome back with more comments and reports.
Rocoteh
Welcome back to the thead!
Thank you for the report.
"I have mixed feelings about the map. On the one hand it's great with a bigger map so that there is more room to manoevre. But some areas of the world are disproportionate. For instance, Ireland is HUGE! The island is larger than Anatolia, but in reality Turkey is seven or eight times larger than Ireland. The same could be said for Java and Sumatra. In reality Sumatra is many times bigger than Java, but now the islands looks to be of equal size. And the island of Hainan should be as big as Taiwan, not significantly smaller. I could go on with more examples like this, and mention that southern Sweden looks a bit... anorectic when compared to Denmark, which in reality is smaller than southern Sweden.
Anyway, I'm just voicing a bit of frustration over these distortions as a person who is very interested in geography. I'm not saying I want the map to be redone, I'm just saying that the older map was more proportionate. But I can live with it as it is."
Hyperborean
Geography is also one of my interests.
Thus I am aware of the problems with the map.
When the huge map project started August 2005 I had only three
maps to choose between.
The main reason for choosing this one is that most of the areas where
the historical fighting took place are oversized.
With regard to placement and naming of cities.
My first priority is to have correct borders and cities that will not
starve to death! Sometimes the result will be cities that are not
100% correct placed.
The cities shall also reflect the economical strenght of a given nation.
"The roads in Scandinavia are a bit wrong. To begin with I don't think there should be a road between Bergen and Trondheim, instead I would like to see a road between Oslo and Trondheim. In reality there is no road between Bergen and Trondheim even today (2006), unless you count the ten or twelve ferries you have to take across the fiords as "roads". And if you look at it historically the Germans marched from Oslo to Trondheim.
And there should be a road between Trondheim and Sundsvall, since there has been a road between those two cities since they were founded (and possibly even before that). It's an ancient path."
Hyperborean
"Roads" in WW2-Global represents railroads and to some extent roads.
Thus in theory 80-90% of Europe should have "roads".
Now in reality to move large numbers of troops you must have
rolling stock. This fact made that for example Germany seldom
could move more then 6 divisions with rail during a given week during
WW2. The "true" railroads in WW2-Global then reflect heavy investments
in rolling stock.
For some reason Firaxis refuse to introduce a quantity aspect
when it comes to rail move.
That is: Civ X can only move a given number of units during a turn.
It does exist in other strategy games.
"The new map is bigger than the old, but not that much bigger. When I crushed Poland and turned my attention to the West I noticed that I could take all 40+ infantry divisions involved in the invasion of Poland and transport them to the Belgian border in just two weeks. I think this is unrealistic. It gives the German player a chance to defeat France before the end of 1939. I don't think this is a good idea if you want to keep it realistic. So my suggestion would be to turn the movement points back to 3 for the infantry and 6 for the tanks. I would rather favour realism over a chance to make the world German in less than two years. As it is now I drove right through France, and took Paris before week 46 1939 (if I remember correctly). Of course, a part of the problem might be due to the French invasion of Italy. The French AI ignored my forces and tried to conquer Italy instead, but even if it hadn't, I would still have reached Paris very early in the game. BTW, this has already been pointed out by others, but Italy really needs some fortresses along the French border."
Hyperborean
However many playtests show that the campaign in France in
most cases will end close to the historical date.
"Since this is a bigger map there are also more cities, and since there are more cities there will be more units, so I think decreased movement rates will be balanced by a greater number of units. The movement restrictions would also bind a larger proportion of the player's forces along the borders (especially towards the Russians) since the threat of an invasion would be more serious if you cannot move your units as fast. The player would be forced to keep reserves along the borders and the coasts instead of throwing everything he has against one opponent (like I did against the French). I think this keeps the game more well-balanced and more realistic."
Hyperborean
Its possible you are right, but I want more playtest-reports that confirm
before I make any changes.
"Well, like I said, I crushed France, and then I proceeded into Spain. I had planned to invade Spain anyway, but Spain had already declared war on Italy at this time, so I just continued my victorious march through southern France into Spain, and I conquered Portugal and Gibraltar at the same time, and took Switzerland on my way home.
My only setback came when I took Antwerpen. I placed three German 88 there, and thought that my hold of the city was secure. However, I had not taken the British navy into account. They bombed the **** out of my defensive units, and then they sent a transport full of British infantry divisions and took the city from me. I lost several fighters and ships I had placed in Antwerpen."
Hyperborean
Typical for the raid-strategy AI favours.
"Meanwhile I had initiated operation Weserübung, and took Denmark without much effort, and proceeded with an invasion of Sweden. Sweden, however, proved to be more than a match. I landed some infantry and thought I would take the country as easy as I did on the smaller map. I was wrong. It took a real effort to invade Scandinavia. I discovered in a very painful way that Sweden has tanks this time. Ouch.
So I had to rethink my strategy. I began building a fleet of transports and shipped every panzer division available to Scandinavia. In the end I think I had over 30 panzers there. My conquest of Scandinavia took an eternity to finish. I started in week 45 1939 (or so), and ended it with the conquest of Hammerfest in week 24 1940. Operation Weserübung lasted for more than 30 weeks. Next time I play I'll try to be more efficient.
Kiruna was hard to take since it's on a mountain, but worst of all was Trondheim. I lost eight panzers there, as well as two SS infantry divisions. The Norwegian resistance really pissed me off."
Hyperborean
Its possible that Sweden and Norway have become to strong.
"And speaking of the Soviets. They invaded Turkey, and attacked all those fortresses like maniacs, completely ignorant of their own losses (I'm certain the Russian AI can replace them easily).
Right now I'm a bit uncertain of what I should do next. I could initiate operation Seelöwe, and launch a historically correct invasion of Britain (with the exception that I'll win ), or I could conquer Yugoslavia and Greece, the only remaining neutral states in Europe. Considering how agressive the Russian AI has been I estimate that it will declare war on me soon, and I need to prepare for that. The question is whether I should wait for him to attack, or if I should launch my own surprise attack. The aggressive display of the Russian AI has forced me to reinforce my border-cities, but I think I'll have to send even more troops to the border. The disadvantage of attacking Britain is that I'll be vulnerable to a Russian surprise attack."
Hyperborean
I would go for Russia. Their power grows fast!
"The war in the air
Rocoteh, this is great! Absolutely fantastic! The British AI is wonderfully aggressive! Just the way I want it. I remember I was so disappointed with the small map when the RAF never dared to attack me. Whatever you do, do NOT change anything. Keep it just the way it is. It is very historical, aside from the fact that it is me (the German) who should bomb him, not the other way around."
Hyperborean
That sounds very good. I have no plans to change this.
"When I took the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France I didn't place my fighters there at first, but when the British AI attacked I was forced to send Luftwaffe there to prevent him from bombing my units, but I didn't build any new planes, so gradually he wore me down, and I got really tired of the air raids, so I started building flaks for the first time ever (I never had any use of them on the smaller map), and placed them in the cities under attack. Then he started to find alternative targets, and bombed (among other things) my resource tiles inside Germany (around Hamburg, Copenhagen and Leipzig). And I was forced to build more fighters to protect those tiles. As it is now, I have 3-5 fighters in every city from Brest to Copenhagen, as well as flaks in almost every city that has been attacked. This is very realistic. I love it. "
Hyperborean
Its very positive that AI sometimes manage to create such
a competent play as you descibe here.
"This area has also become much more exciting. I was planning to play cautious, as I knew Britain had a much bigger fleet than me. However, their ships were such an inviting target, so I had to engage them. And I sunk a lot of ships. The German and British fleets clashed all over the northern Atlantic, on all sides of the British isles, but in the end, even though I sunk more ships than he did, I pretty much lost all my capital ships except Gneisenau, Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein. And BTW, Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien have lethal land-bombardment again. I discovered this when I bombed the Polish infantry during the first turn"
Yes I hoped the naval aspect should be more interesting with
the larger areas.
On lethal land: OK I will check it.
"And I noticed that after I had declared war on Portugal and conquered the country in the same turn the portuguese ships moved south directly into some british ships. And this caused the British AI to declare war on them. Could it be so that many of the irrational declarations of war we have observed in this scenario doesn't necessarily occur from sub-incidents, but might just as well be caused by surface ships bumping into each others like this?"
Hyperborean
Its possible. However its also a fact that AI sometimes goes
to war without reason.
Science
"I have heard some complaints about the research rate, but I don't have a problem with it. I have built libraries, universities and labs in every city, and can now research one tech per 24 turn. I find this acceptable. The research rate is only a problem for the minor powers (France, Italy, etc.) I don't think it's a problem for Germany, the U.K., the U.S., Japan or the Soviets. So I think it's realistic: the major powers have a chance to develop quicker than the smaller nations, and this is as it should be."
Hyperborean
That is good news!
"At first nothing happened in Asia, then I forgot to check the map for a few turns, and when I glanced at the map the next time Japan had conquered all of southern China, as well as the northern Communist-held parts of the country. They have reached as far as Hanoi, but after that there has been no real change. Japan has no carriers, and has not conquered any islands.
The only cities it has razed are Hong Kong and Urumtsi.
Japan controls pretty much all of China except Chungking and Chengdu in central China. They have reached far to the west, and I think they are not so far from Srinagar now.
Italy has lost all African cities except Mogadishu."
Hyperborean
Probably the Japanese offensive will run out of steam soon.
On unit-stats: You have a well-balanced force!
AI seems to focus on infantry so far.
"Overall, I must say that I very much enjoy playing this scenario. This version (with the new map) is even more addictive than the last one. The larger map makes it even more realistic than before, and that is always a plus. With only some minor tweaking (like the fortresses in Italy) it would be almost perfect. I can tell you have put a lot of effort into this, Rocoteh, and you deserve an applause for it. Excellent work. And please don't quit, we need you. This is by far the best scenario I have ever played. Not that I have played that many to compare with, but I recognize a fantastic scenario when I see it, and this is simply the best."
Hyperborean
Thank you. I am very glad to hear that.
Welcome back with more comments and reports.
Rocoteh
Sasebo
Prince
Hyperborean: 12 workers that late in 1940??? For shame!
What have you been doing, building radars?
I will have a big report in a few days, since I am just shy of week 1, 1941, and that will be a good time to report. I have a couple ideas though, I thought I would mention now.
First, Could you consider giving one wonder for each major power the ability to make settlers? Just one, and have it produce every 10-20 turns? It would fix that gaping hole where Bordeaux used to be. A very limited ability to replace razed cites would not hurt the AI and would help a player too, but not too much.
Also, the roads at 6 per might be too much, I would not mind going to 3-4 instead. Six per is rather fluid.
Research has only been at minimum for me, but this IS Italy, so that makes sense. I've been building a bunch of research building so we will see if I can improve it any.
More later. I know I am forgetting something...
What have you been doing, building radars?I will have a big report in a few days, since I am just shy of week 1, 1941, and that will be a good time to report. I have a couple ideas though, I thought I would mention now.
First, Could you consider giving one wonder for each major power the ability to make settlers? Just one, and have it produce every 10-20 turns? It would fix that gaping hole where Bordeaux used to be.
A very limited ability to replace razed cites would not hurt the AI and would help a player too, but not too much.Also, the roads at 6 per might be too much, I would not mind going to 3-4 instead. Six per is rather fluid.
Research has only been at minimum for me, but this IS Italy, so that makes sense. I've been building a bunch of research building so we will see if I can improve it any.
More later. I know I am forgetting something...
WVCivnut
King
Very nice report Hyperborean. What level are you playing?
I agree with the movement -- halving the movement would be a great idea. I have four groups of 12 workers building railroads and I only have one line so far stretching from Antwerp to Odessa. It is very time consuming to build. So mass producing a rail system will not likely happen -- I'm currently in 1942.
I will put out a full report this week sometime. I'm playing the Germans at Sid level. I control France, Denmark, Holland, Belgum, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Russia (east past the Urals), the British Isles, North Africa from the Atlantic to Bagdad, Afghanistan, Persia, and all the Mediterranian Islands.
On research -- I couldn't get the turns per tech below 40 until I conquered the British Isles and Moscow. I then put many cities on wealth and am now able to research a tech every 12 turns. The Germans have researched only three techs in three years so far -- but things are looking up. It's probably just the level I'm playing at though.
In this game, Japan has eliminated China (both halves), Manilla and the French colonies. Italy still holds two cities in Africa on the east coast and it's home lands (I have their borders with me blocked by Infantry to keep them from getting in my way). Finland lost one city to Sweden but still holds all others. Russia is almost eliminated.
I'll post numbers later in the week from home (I'm at work now )
A very fun scenerio and I get some evil stares from my wife.
I agree with the movement -- halving the movement would be a great idea. I have four groups of 12 workers building railroads and I only have one line so far stretching from Antwerp to Odessa. It is very time consuming to build. So mass producing a rail system will not likely happen -- I'm currently in 1942.
I will put out a full report this week sometime. I'm playing the Germans at Sid level. I control France, Denmark, Holland, Belgum, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Russia (east past the Urals), the British Isles, North Africa from the Atlantic to Bagdad, Afghanistan, Persia, and all the Mediterranian Islands.
On research -- I couldn't get the turns per tech below 40 until I conquered the British Isles and Moscow. I then put many cities on wealth and am now able to research a tech every 12 turns. The Germans have researched only three techs in three years so far -- but things are looking up. It's probably just the level I'm playing at though.
In this game, Japan has eliminated China (both halves), Manilla and the French colonies. Italy still holds two cities in Africa on the east coast and it's home lands (I have their borders with me blocked by Infantry to keep them from getting in my way). Finland lost one city to Sweden but still holds all others. Russia is almost eliminated.
I'll post numbers later in the week from home (I'm at work now
)A very fun scenerio and I get some evil stares from my wife.
circumpolar
Chieftain
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2005
- Messages
- 12
Week 1, 1942 - Continued Report
Current situation in Europe:
We, the Germans control all of continental Europe, except for Scandinavia, Italy and the Italian possessions of Barcelona and Tirana. Turkey, the Middle East, Persia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Morocco are German by now as well. In the last few months, Great Britain and Ireland have been conquered. Next will be an expedition to Iceland, then the rest of Africa.
With this huge industrial base, production is very strong, and, at last, research times have become quite fast, only about 8-10 turns now per tech.
Operation Seelöwe:
In Mid-1941, the Germans invaded the British isles. The reason was to put an end to the continuing British air raids of Germany and the German Netherlands. These attacks had become so strong that at one time there were some 10 Lancasters attacking per turn, every turn (which were mostly shot down, but still...). Also, the Brits had become too fast in their research, we felt, they were employing some Churchill (?) tanks already.
Operation Seelöwe was conducted mainly by landing Mobile Rocket batteries from Brest near Plymouth, from where they started to roll up England. The key to success was the Kriegsmarine's undisputed rule of the English channel, where a dozen Bismarcks provided cover for a dozen transports, shielded by some carriers with fighters to provide aircover. These carriers were also very useful in covering the newly conquered cities of Portmouth and London, befrore sufficient fighters could be brought forward there.
The Luftwaffe was completely absent from this battle, because all those Spitfires (some 12 per English city!) made German bombing missions suicidal. On a sidenote: Those Spitfires strangely never ever attacked the vulnerable stacks of Mobile Rockets right next to their base, but let themselves be rolled over by the German ground forces. Conquering all of the British Isles and Ireland took some 10 turns and required some careful planning and huge logistics, tying up some 150 units, I guess. So, difficult enough, and rewarding enough, I guess.
Russian front
So far, we the Germans have deliberately refrained from an aggressive campaign of conquest against Russia. The Russians seem to be very slow in research. Only in the second half of 1941 the T-34s have started to appear. So far, the Germans have conquered the Baltic coast up to Riga, Minsk, and the entire Ukraine including Kiev and Rostov, and Baku and Grozny south of the Caucasus.
The Italians have lost huge numbers of infantry, which they keep sending up, but they actually managed to conquer and hold Sochi on the Black Sea (OK, the German aircover helped a lot, shielding them from counterattacks).
The frontline has been static now for months, with the Russians sending wave after wave of tanks and infantry. Their order of battle averages some 400+ Infantry, and about 50 of each tracked/tank unit. The Russian onslaught is renewed each turn by some 50 tanks, but these armoured spearheads are annihilated by the Luftwaffe alone every time. The Luftwaffe is concentrated on the Eastern front, and it is the key to success here: Me-110 own the skies, the Russian fighters west of the Urals seem to have been wiped out, and the Luftwaffe operates some 100 bombers of all types with absolute impunity. The German tactic is to bomb certain important road links in the Russian hinterland, thereby creating kill zones were advancing Russian armor is left out in the open, to be devastated by the Stukas and JU-88.
The Russians have conquered the northern half of each Finland and Sweden, but don't seem to make any further progress, probably due to their huge bloodletting on the German front.
The Russian final fight will be spared for later, to let them get better tanks, and to have a huge armageddon clash...
Rest of world
The Japanese have eliminated both Chinas, and they have taken two cities in British India, coming down from the Himalaya, but they seem to be stalled there now. Indonesia is still much contested between Japs and Allies. A scouting U-Boat (Suez is in German hands now, remember) has witnessed a strange deployment of Japanese naval forces: 6 big Shokaku (?) carriers full of dive bombers (Kate?) are moving not in stack, but spread out individually, right next to each other, each with varous excorts. They camp right between (Japanese) Singapore and (Dutch) Java, bombing the sh** out of half a dozen American and British BB/BB/BB/transport groups in the area. Lots of fun to watch.
The Italians, after having been kicked out of Africa late in 1940, and losing enormous amounts of infantry on the Eastern front, have recently recovered some of their naval strength, they are pumping out BBs like crazy. I have just seen 4 BBs head across the Atlantic in the general direction of New York, and, even more impressive, a strong Italian battle group of 4 BB, 2 DD, 1 Carrier (!) and 1 Transport leave the straits of Gibraltar, obviously heading to Iceland (I haven't decided yet whether I shall try to beat them there or just watch from the sidelines...)
Still haven't seen anything of the Americans in our parts of the world, ever since they spent their original fleet. Their OOB is pretty big now, with lots of Infantry, but no real technological breakthroughs yet. They have recently decided to take Mexico, and they did after some 5 turns...
On a side note: Brazil and Argentina have made peace after a prolonged war with no real results (except for two razed cities).
City razing:
Good news: No further city razing, just those mentioned in my earlier posts: Hongkong, two Mongolian cities, one Communist Chinese (next to Urumtchi), all by the Japs, and Montevideo and Paraguay in Brazil, by the Argentinians.
Great Game
circumpolar
Current situation in Europe:
We, the Germans control all of continental Europe, except for Scandinavia, Italy and the Italian possessions of Barcelona and Tirana. Turkey, the Middle East, Persia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Morocco are German by now as well. In the last few months, Great Britain and Ireland have been conquered. Next will be an expedition to Iceland, then the rest of Africa.
With this huge industrial base, production is very strong, and, at last, research times have become quite fast, only about 8-10 turns now per tech.
Operation Seelöwe:
In Mid-1941, the Germans invaded the British isles. The reason was to put an end to the continuing British air raids of Germany and the German Netherlands. These attacks had become so strong that at one time there were some 10 Lancasters attacking per turn, every turn (which were mostly shot down, but still...). Also, the Brits had become too fast in their research, we felt, they were employing some Churchill (?) tanks already.
Operation Seelöwe was conducted mainly by landing Mobile Rocket batteries from Brest near Plymouth, from where they started to roll up England. The key to success was the Kriegsmarine's undisputed rule of the English channel, where a dozen Bismarcks provided cover for a dozen transports, shielded by some carriers with fighters to provide aircover. These carriers were also very useful in covering the newly conquered cities of Portmouth and London, befrore sufficient fighters could be brought forward there.
The Luftwaffe was completely absent from this battle, because all those Spitfires (some 12 per English city!) made German bombing missions suicidal. On a sidenote: Those Spitfires strangely never ever attacked the vulnerable stacks of Mobile Rockets right next to their base, but let themselves be rolled over by the German ground forces. Conquering all of the British Isles and Ireland took some 10 turns and required some careful planning and huge logistics, tying up some 150 units, I guess. So, difficult enough, and rewarding enough, I guess.
Russian front
So far, we the Germans have deliberately refrained from an aggressive campaign of conquest against Russia. The Russians seem to be very slow in research. Only in the second half of 1941 the T-34s have started to appear. So far, the Germans have conquered the Baltic coast up to Riga, Minsk, and the entire Ukraine including Kiev and Rostov, and Baku and Grozny south of the Caucasus.
The Italians have lost huge numbers of infantry, which they keep sending up, but they actually managed to conquer and hold Sochi on the Black Sea (OK, the German aircover helped a lot, shielding them from counterattacks).
The frontline has been static now for months, with the Russians sending wave after wave of tanks and infantry. Their order of battle averages some 400+ Infantry, and about 50 of each tracked/tank unit. The Russian onslaught is renewed each turn by some 50 tanks, but these armoured spearheads are annihilated by the Luftwaffe alone every time. The Luftwaffe is concentrated on the Eastern front, and it is the key to success here: Me-110 own the skies, the Russian fighters west of the Urals seem to have been wiped out, and the Luftwaffe operates some 100 bombers of all types with absolute impunity. The German tactic is to bomb certain important road links in the Russian hinterland, thereby creating kill zones were advancing Russian armor is left out in the open, to be devastated by the Stukas and JU-88.
The Russians have conquered the northern half of each Finland and Sweden, but don't seem to make any further progress, probably due to their huge bloodletting on the German front.
The Russian final fight will be spared for later, to let them get better tanks, and to have a huge armageddon clash...
Rest of world
The Japanese have eliminated both Chinas, and they have taken two cities in British India, coming down from the Himalaya, but they seem to be stalled there now. Indonesia is still much contested between Japs and Allies. A scouting U-Boat (Suez is in German hands now, remember) has witnessed a strange deployment of Japanese naval forces: 6 big Shokaku (?) carriers full of dive bombers (Kate?) are moving not in stack, but spread out individually, right next to each other, each with varous excorts. They camp right between (Japanese) Singapore and (Dutch) Java, bombing the sh** out of half a dozen American and British BB/BB/BB/transport groups in the area. Lots of fun to watch.
The Italians, after having been kicked out of Africa late in 1940, and losing enormous amounts of infantry on the Eastern front, have recently recovered some of their naval strength, they are pumping out BBs like crazy. I have just seen 4 BBs head across the Atlantic in the general direction of New York, and, even more impressive, a strong Italian battle group of 4 BB, 2 DD, 1 Carrier (!) and 1 Transport leave the straits of Gibraltar, obviously heading to Iceland (I haven't decided yet whether I shall try to beat them there or just watch from the sidelines...)
Still haven't seen anything of the Americans in our parts of the world, ever since they spent their original fleet. Their OOB is pretty big now, with lots of Infantry, but no real technological breakthroughs yet. They have recently decided to take Mexico, and they did after some 5 turns...
On a side note: Brazil and Argentina have made peace after a prolonged war with no real results (except for two razed cities).
City razing:
Good news: No further city razing, just those mentioned in my earlier posts: Hongkong, two Mongolian cities, one Communist Chinese (next to Urumtchi), all by the Japs, and Montevideo and Paraguay in Brazil, by the Argentinians.
Great Game
circumpolar
hey Rocoteh, i played this WAY back in 1.3 or maybe 1.5, i cant remember... And i cant beleive how much it looks to have changed for the good... I mean it was great back then, but seems perfect now!!!
However i do not have Civ3 anymore... So im wondering if you have had a mess around with Civ4 yet?
However i do not have Civ3 anymore... So im wondering if you have had a mess around with Civ4 yet?
Sasebo,
"I will have a big report in a few days, since I am just shy of week 1, 1941, and that will be a good time to report. I have a couple ideas though, I thought I would mention now."
Sasebo
I am looking forward to read the report.
"First, Could you consider giving one wonder for each major power the ability to make settlers? Just one, and have it produce every 10-20 turns? It would fix that gaping hole where Bordeaux used to be. A very limited ability to replace razed cites would not hurt the AI and would help a player too, but not too much."
Sasebo
OK I will consider it, but there will soon be many settlers and no
cities to build, since the limit is 512 cities.
I think there are 510 or 511 cities placed now...
"Research has only been at minimum for me, but this IS Italy, so that makes sense"
Sasebo
Agree.
Rocoteh
"I will have a big report in a few days, since I am just shy of week 1, 1941, and that will be a good time to report. I have a couple ideas though, I thought I would mention now."
Sasebo
I am looking forward to read the report.
"First, Could you consider giving one wonder for each major power the ability to make settlers? Just one, and have it produce every 10-20 turns? It would fix that gaping hole where Bordeaux used to be. A very limited ability to replace razed cites would not hurt the AI and would help a player too, but not too much."
Sasebo
OK I will consider it, but there will soon be many settlers and no
cities to build, since the limit is 512 cities.
I think there are 510 or 511 cities placed now...
"Research has only been at minimum for me, but this IS Italy, so that makes sense"
Sasebo
Agree.
Rocoteh
WVCivnut,
"I will put out a full report this week sometime. I'm playing the Germans at Sid level. I control France, Denmark, Holland, Belgum, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Russia (east past the Urals), the British Isles, North Africa from the Atlantic to Bagdad, Afghanistan, Persia, and all the Mediterranian Islands."
WVCivnut
It sounds like a invasion of North America will finish the Allies.
Looking forward to read the report.
"On research -- I couldn't get the turns per tech below 40 until I conquered the British Isles and Moscow. I then put many cities on wealth and am now able to research a tech every 12 turns. The Germans have researched only three techs in three years so far -- but things are looking up. It's probably just the level I'm playing at though."
WVCivnut
Yes I think its related to the high level.
"In this game, Japan has eliminated China (both halves), Manilla and the French colonies. Italy still holds two cities in Africa on the east coast and it's home lands (I have their borders with me blocked by Infantry to keep them from getting in my way). Finland lost one city to Sweden but still holds all others. Russia is almost eliminated."
WVCivnut
The same pattern as in other playtests with regard to Japan.
Rocoteh
"I will put out a full report this week sometime. I'm playing the Germans at Sid level. I control France, Denmark, Holland, Belgum, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Russia (east past the Urals), the British Isles, North Africa from the Atlantic to Bagdad, Afghanistan, Persia, and all the Mediterranian Islands."
WVCivnut
It sounds like a invasion of North America will finish the Allies.
Looking forward to read the report.
"On research -- I couldn't get the turns per tech below 40 until I conquered the British Isles and Moscow. I then put many cities on wealth and am now able to research a tech every 12 turns. The Germans have researched only three techs in three years so far -- but things are looking up. It's probably just the level I'm playing at though."
WVCivnut
Yes I think its related to the high level.
"In this game, Japan has eliminated China (both halves), Manilla and the French colonies. Italy still holds two cities in Africa on the east coast and it's home lands (I have their borders with me blocked by Infantry to keep them from getting in my way). Finland lost one city to Sweden but still holds all others. Russia is almost eliminated."
WVCivnut
The same pattern as in other playtests with regard to Japan.
Rocoteh
circumpolar,
Thank you for the report.
"Current situation in Europe:
We, the Germans control all of continental Europe, except for Scandinavia, Italy and the Italian possessions of Barcelona and Tirana. Turkey, the Middle East, Persia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Morocco are German by now as well. In the last few months, Great Britain and Ireland have been conquered. Next will be an expedition to Iceland, then the rest of Africa.
With this huge industrial base, production is very strong, and, at last, research times have become quite fast, only about 8-10 turns now per tech."
circumpolar
An interesting situation with many options.
"Operation Seelöwe:
In Mid-1941, the Germans invaded the British isles. The reason was to put an end to the continuing British air raids of Germany and the German Netherlands. These attacks had become so strong that at one time there were some 10 Lancasters attacking per turn, every turn (which were mostly shot down, but still...). Also, the Brits had become too fast in their research, we felt, they were employing some Churchill (?) tanks already.
Operation Seelöwe was conducted mainly by landing Mobile Rocket batteries from Brest near Plymouth, from where they started to roll up England. The key to success was the Kriegsmarine's undisputed rule of the English channel, where a dozen Bismarcks provided cover for a dozen transports, shielded by some carriers with fighters to provide aircover. These carriers were also very useful in covering the newly conquered cities of Portmouth and London, befrore sufficient fighters could be brought forward there."
circumpolar
Its interesting that AI is so aggresive when it comes to the air-war.
It seems like the prize for this is that it builds a to weak defense
against invasions.
"The Luftwaffe was completely absent from this battle, because all those Spitfires (some 12 per English city!) made German bombing missions suicidal. On a sidenote: Those Spitfires strangely never ever attacked the vulnerable stacks of Mobile Rockets right next to their base, but let themselves be rolled over by the German ground forces. Conquering all of the British Isles and Ireland took some 10 turns and required some careful planning and huge logistics, tying up some 150 units, I guess. So, difficult enough, and rewarding enough, I guess."
circumpolar
Its very positive that AI builds air-units. However its not very clever
in creating a good balanced build-policy.
"Russian front
So far, we the Germans have deliberately refrained from an aggressive campaign of conquest against Russia. The Russians seem to be very slow in research. Only in the second half of 1941 the T-34s have started to appear. So far, the Germans have conquered the Baltic coast up to Riga, Minsk, and the entire Ukraine including Kiev and Rostov, and Baku and Grozny south of the Caucasus."
circumpolar
I doubt Russia will be able to launch an effective counter-strike
from these positions.
"The frontline has been static now for months, with the Russians sending wave after wave of tanks and infantry. Their order of battle averages some 400+ Infantry, and about 50 of each tracked/tank unit. The Russian onslaught is renewed each turn by some 50 tanks, but these armoured spearheads are annihilated by the Luftwaffe alone every time. The Luftwaffe is concentrated on the Eastern front, and it is the key to success here: Me-110 own the skies, the Russian fighters west of the Urals seem to have been wiped out, and the Luftwaffe operates some 100 bombers of all types with absolute impunity. The German tactic is to bomb certain important road links in the Russian hinterland, thereby creating kill zones were advancing Russian armor is left out in the open, to be devastated by the Stukas and JU-88."
circumpolar
This should be a very effective and lethal strategy.
"Rest of world
The Japanese have eliminated both Chinas, and they have taken two cities in British India, coming down from the Himalaya, but they seem to be stalled there now. Indonesia is still much contested between Japs and Allies. A scouting U-Boat (Suez is in German hands now, remember) has witnessed a strange deployment of Japanese naval forces: 6 big Shokaku (?) carriers full of dive bombers (Kate?) are moving not in stack, but spread out individually, right next to each other, each with varous excorts. They camp right between (Japanese) Singapore and (Dutch) Java, bombing the sh** out of half a dozen American and British BB/BB/BB/transport groups in the area. Lots of fun to watch"
Incredible!
I am very surpised that AI is able to actions like the one you describe.
"The Italians, after having been kicked out of Africa late in 1940, and losing enormous amounts of infantry on the Eastern front, have recently recovered some of their naval strength, they are pumping out BBs like crazy. I have just seen 4 BBs head across the Atlantic in the general direction of New York, and, even more impressive, a strong Italian battle group of 4 BB, 2 DD, 1 Carrier (!) and 1 Transport leave the straits of Gibraltar, obviously heading to Iceland (I haven't decided yet whether I shall try to beat them there or just watch from the sidelines...)2
circumpolar
Again, this scenario is full of surprise-actions from AI!
"City razing:
Good news: No further city razing, just those mentioned in my earlier posts: Hongkong, two Mongolian cities, one Communist Chinese (next to Urumtchi), all by the Japs, and Montevideo and Paraguay in Brazil, by the Argentinians."
circumpolar
That is very good news.
Thank you and welcome back.
Rocoteh
Thank you for the report.
"Current situation in Europe:
We, the Germans control all of continental Europe, except for Scandinavia, Italy and the Italian possessions of Barcelona and Tirana. Turkey, the Middle East, Persia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Morocco are German by now as well. In the last few months, Great Britain and Ireland have been conquered. Next will be an expedition to Iceland, then the rest of Africa.
With this huge industrial base, production is very strong, and, at last, research times have become quite fast, only about 8-10 turns now per tech."
circumpolar
An interesting situation with many options.
"Operation Seelöwe:
In Mid-1941, the Germans invaded the British isles. The reason was to put an end to the continuing British air raids of Germany and the German Netherlands. These attacks had become so strong that at one time there were some 10 Lancasters attacking per turn, every turn (which were mostly shot down, but still...). Also, the Brits had become too fast in their research, we felt, they were employing some Churchill (?) tanks already.
Operation Seelöwe was conducted mainly by landing Mobile Rocket batteries from Brest near Plymouth, from where they started to roll up England. The key to success was the Kriegsmarine's undisputed rule of the English channel, where a dozen Bismarcks provided cover for a dozen transports, shielded by some carriers with fighters to provide aircover. These carriers were also very useful in covering the newly conquered cities of Portmouth and London, befrore sufficient fighters could be brought forward there."
circumpolar
Its interesting that AI is so aggresive when it comes to the air-war.
It seems like the prize for this is that it builds a to weak defense
against invasions.
"The Luftwaffe was completely absent from this battle, because all those Spitfires (some 12 per English city!) made German bombing missions suicidal. On a sidenote: Those Spitfires strangely never ever attacked the vulnerable stacks of Mobile Rockets right next to their base, but let themselves be rolled over by the German ground forces. Conquering all of the British Isles and Ireland took some 10 turns and required some careful planning and huge logistics, tying up some 150 units, I guess. So, difficult enough, and rewarding enough, I guess."
circumpolar
Its very positive that AI builds air-units. However its not very clever
in creating a good balanced build-policy.
"Russian front
So far, we the Germans have deliberately refrained from an aggressive campaign of conquest against Russia. The Russians seem to be very slow in research. Only in the second half of 1941 the T-34s have started to appear. So far, the Germans have conquered the Baltic coast up to Riga, Minsk, and the entire Ukraine including Kiev and Rostov, and Baku and Grozny south of the Caucasus."
circumpolar
I doubt Russia will be able to launch an effective counter-strike
from these positions.
"The frontline has been static now for months, with the Russians sending wave after wave of tanks and infantry. Their order of battle averages some 400+ Infantry, and about 50 of each tracked/tank unit. The Russian onslaught is renewed each turn by some 50 tanks, but these armoured spearheads are annihilated by the Luftwaffe alone every time. The Luftwaffe is concentrated on the Eastern front, and it is the key to success here: Me-110 own the skies, the Russian fighters west of the Urals seem to have been wiped out, and the Luftwaffe operates some 100 bombers of all types with absolute impunity. The German tactic is to bomb certain important road links in the Russian hinterland, thereby creating kill zones were advancing Russian armor is left out in the open, to be devastated by the Stukas and JU-88."
circumpolar
This should be a very effective and lethal strategy.
"Rest of world
The Japanese have eliminated both Chinas, and they have taken two cities in British India, coming down from the Himalaya, but they seem to be stalled there now. Indonesia is still much contested between Japs and Allies. A scouting U-Boat (Suez is in German hands now, remember) has witnessed a strange deployment of Japanese naval forces: 6 big Shokaku (?) carriers full of dive bombers (Kate?) are moving not in stack, but spread out individually, right next to each other, each with varous excorts. They camp right between (Japanese) Singapore and (Dutch) Java, bombing the sh** out of half a dozen American and British BB/BB/BB/transport groups in the area. Lots of fun to watch"
Incredible!
I am very surpised that AI is able to actions like the one you describe.
"The Italians, after having been kicked out of Africa late in 1940, and losing enormous amounts of infantry on the Eastern front, have recently recovered some of their naval strength, they are pumping out BBs like crazy. I have just seen 4 BBs head across the Atlantic in the general direction of New York, and, even more impressive, a strong Italian battle group of 4 BB, 2 DD, 1 Carrier (!) and 1 Transport leave the straits of Gibraltar, obviously heading to Iceland (I haven't decided yet whether I shall try to beat them there or just watch from the sidelines...)2
circumpolar
Again, this scenario is full of surprise-actions from AI!
"City razing:
Good news: No further city razing, just those mentioned in my earlier posts: Hongkong, two Mongolian cities, one Communist Chinese (next to Urumtchi), all by the Japs, and Montevideo and Paraguay in Brazil, by the Argentinians."
circumpolar
That is very good news.
Thank you and welcome back.
Rocoteh
Overlag said:
Overlag,
Thank you.
On CIV IV and WW2-Global:
My impression is that without a scenario-editor it will take time
x50 or x100 (compared to CIV III) to build WW2-Global for CIV IV.
This assume of course that one can write code.
It is also unclear if it is possible to create a huge scenario as WW2-Global
within the limits for CIV IV.
It would be an interesting project though.
Only time can tell if it will be possible.
Rocoteh
Sasebo
Prince
Rocoteh: Wel then make it the longer interval, or even longer. It was only a stopgap idea to 'fix' a little of the razing problems.
Current units report, Items in parenthesis are just the largest single type, or something I thought might be interesting.
.........Italy....................Japan.................Germany...............Total
Inf.....105(8 Mtn).............210.......................88.................= 403
Tank..8(1 PzIIIe)..............20(T97).................24(PzIIIg).......= 52
Def....36(19 SFort)...........39.........................225(122 88Fk).= 300
Ftr. ...20.........................22........................49..................= 91
Bomb..20(13 Breda)...........25........................6...................= 51
L.navy.80(61 39DD)...........29........................14.................= 123
Cap.sh.14........................28(14 Yamato)........4(Bismarck).....= 46
Worker.38........................38........................35..................=111
Artillery.19........................0..........................8...................= 27
Trans....4.........................9..........................1...................= 14
Totals=328.......................422.......................454...............= 1,222
............UK..........US..........France..........China.........USSR........Total
Inf.......200.........241............48...............35.............384.......= 908
Tank....90...........26.............1.................0...............218.......= 335
Def......195..........11.............19...............2...............84........= 311
Ftr.......56............9..............0.................0..............13.........= 78
Bomb....20............20............1.................0...............0..........= 41
L.Navy..18............65-63sub...0.................0...............120.......= 203
Cap.sh...9-KGV......2..............0.................0...............3..........= 14
Worker...75...........66............1.................6...............113.......= 261
Artillery..14...........14............0.................0...............18........= 44
Trans.....13...........7..............0.................0...............3.........= 23
Total = 688.........461...........70...............43..............956.......= 2,218
Could not fit in a couple of notes on that chart: USSR has 90 T26 & 128 39 Motor Rifle divs. UK has 51 Spitfires, definitely the class of the air. UK has 79! Matilda2, and I put the 25 US Marine1939 under the 'tank' section.
Axis has slight edge in numbers in air units, and a pronounced edge in capital class ships--thanks to me. can't tell you how many BBs I've killed. At least a dozen KGV, and most of the allied initial fleets. Japan now has more Yamato Class then the Allies have BBs, and 21 total BBs. Nasty! Also note the IAxis now has the only CV fleet in existance. Japan has those two B class carriers still afloat.
The Med has been Clear of Allied Invasion attempts for several weeks now--they appear to have lost steam,or at least escorts. I did manage to kill the fort on Malta with massive naval bombard, and amphibious invasion. Malta will soon fall, Nicosia soon after, as the last UK presence in the Med. Yes, you read that right.
The big news for Italy has been the overrunning of Upper Egypt,Jerusalem, and Damascus. All our cites are now connected by land route via friendly Turkish roads.I am currently aiming for the UK city east of Damscus.
Is there some sort of 'trigger' for AI units to go after a certain city? ALL of the allied naval invasions have been aimed at Sicily so far, ignoring Algiers, etc.. Also, when I took Cairo an absolute deluge of UK units came at me trying to take it back. I had to kill 17 of those little tank brigades on one turn to save Suez. It has been very bloody for the allies over here. You might note from the chart that I have increased Italy's bomber fleet a LOT...they have been key to Italy's fortunes. Breda on CVs are actually very powerful with good range.
I just signed a peace with USSR to get the axis out of war with them; Germany had 50+ Panzers when this latest round started. They did manage to take four northern cities in Russia, so better to quit while we are ahead. Finland and Japan didn't lose anything in either war with the Soviets.
I am currently in the midst of cleaning up a few small problems. That small city south of Rabat on the coast, Malta, and Nicosia. I was toying with getting an Exp. Corps going in Russia, but my success in the Middle East has made me change gears. I now plan on taking as much of the area as I can, and try to threaten USSR in the next war from the south into the Caucasus. Might be able to divide their forces. I also want to get a small secondary offensive going to nibble at Africa. I want to link up with East Africa soon. If things stay quiet on the naval front, when I am built up I may try a raid on England, or maybe dash through the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean. I need to be sure of my security in the Med though, so I need more ships before I go adventuring. I think things are going pretty well for now.
Japan just took Hanoi, and china is reduced to Chengdu and Kunming as their big cities. Japan did raze Hong Kong unfortunately. They also took back Truk! I was pleasantly surprised by that. The finally got that dutch city south of Borneo with the air wonder, so they have oil & rubber now; so far Japan is doing pretty good. I think the fact they didn't lose their bombers has helped them do all this. Plus, I am definitely hurting the allied navies. USSR navy is weak and bottled up, so their numbers are inflated in those categories. Now if only Germany will build more tanks and less 88 flaks... Forgot that Germany also razed Edinburg, I'm sure it was because they would not be able to hold it. Brest has been at size 1 forever, so I suspect it has been getting bombed/shelled into the stone age every turn. US also razed the city south of Kyoto, which has been the only sign of activity over there that I can see.
Current units report, Items in parenthesis are just the largest single type, or something I thought might be interesting.
.........Italy....................Japan.................Germany...............Total
Inf.....105(8 Mtn).............210.......................88.................= 403
Tank..8(1 PzIIIe)..............20(T97).................24(PzIIIg).......= 52
Def....36(19 SFort)...........39.........................225(122 88Fk).= 300
Ftr. ...20.........................22........................49..................= 91
Bomb..20(13 Breda)...........25........................6...................= 51
L.navy.80(61 39DD)...........29........................14.................= 123
Cap.sh.14........................28(14 Yamato)........4(Bismarck).....= 46
Worker.38........................38........................35..................=111
Artillery.19........................0..........................8...................= 27
Trans....4.........................9..........................1...................= 14
Totals=328.......................422.......................454...............= 1,222
............UK..........US..........France..........China.........USSR........Total
Inf.......200.........241............48...............35.............384.......= 908
Tank....90...........26.............1.................0...............218.......= 335
Def......195..........11.............19...............2...............84........= 311
Ftr.......56............9..............0.................0..............13.........= 78
Bomb....20............20............1.................0...............0..........= 41
L.Navy..18............65-63sub...0.................0...............120.......= 203
Cap.sh...9-KGV......2..............0.................0...............3..........= 14
Worker...75...........66............1.................6...............113.......= 261
Artillery..14...........14............0.................0...............18........= 44
Trans.....13...........7..............0.................0...............3.........= 23
Total = 688.........461...........70...............43..............956.......= 2,218
Could not fit in a couple of notes on that chart: USSR has 90 T26 & 128 39 Motor Rifle divs. UK has 51 Spitfires, definitely the class of the air. UK has 79! Matilda2, and I put the 25 US Marine1939 under the 'tank' section.
Axis has slight edge in numbers in air units, and a pronounced edge in capital class ships--thanks to me. can't tell you how many BBs I've killed. At least a dozen KGV, and most of the allied initial fleets. Japan now has more Yamato Class then the Allies have BBs, and 21 total BBs. Nasty! Also note the IAxis now has the only CV fleet in existance.
Japan has those two B class carriers still afloat.The Med has been Clear of Allied Invasion attempts for several weeks now--they appear to have lost steam,or at least escorts. I did manage to kill the fort on Malta with massive naval bombard, and amphibious invasion. Malta will soon fall, Nicosia soon after, as the last UK presence in the Med. Yes, you read that right.
The big news for Italy has been the overrunning of Upper Egypt,Jerusalem, and Damascus. All our cites are now connected by land route via friendly Turkish roads.I am currently aiming for the UK city east of Damscus.Is there some sort of 'trigger' for AI units to go after a certain city? ALL of the allied naval invasions have been aimed at Sicily so far, ignoring Algiers, etc.. Also, when I took Cairo an absolute deluge of UK units came at me trying to take it back. I had to kill 17 of those little tank brigades on one turn to save Suez. It has been very bloody for the allies over here. You might note from the chart that I have increased Italy's bomber fleet a LOT...they have been key to Italy's fortunes. Breda on CVs are actually very powerful with good range.
I just signed a peace with USSR to get the axis out of war with them; Germany had 50+ Panzers when this latest round started. They did manage to take four northern cities in Russia, so better to quit while we are ahead. Finland and Japan didn't lose anything in either war with the Soviets.
I am currently in the midst of cleaning up a few small problems. That small city south of Rabat on the coast, Malta, and Nicosia. I was toying with getting an Exp. Corps going in Russia, but my success in the Middle East has made me change gears. I now plan on taking as much of the area as I can, and try to threaten USSR in the next war from the south into the Caucasus. Might be able to divide their forces. I also want to get a small secondary offensive going to nibble at Africa. I want to link up with East Africa soon. If things stay quiet on the naval front, when I am built up I may try a raid on England, or maybe dash through the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean. I need to be sure of my security in the Med though, so I need more ships before I go adventuring. I think things are going pretty well for now.
Japan just took Hanoi, and china is reduced to Chengdu and Kunming as their big cities. Japan did raze Hong Kong unfortunately. They also took back Truk! I was pleasantly surprised by that. The finally got that dutch city south of Borneo with the air wonder, so they have oil & rubber now; so far Japan is doing pretty good. I think the fact they didn't lose their bombers has helped them do all this. Plus, I am definitely hurting the allied navies. USSR navy is weak and bottled up, so their numbers are inflated in those categories. Now if only Germany will build more tanks and less 88 flaks... Forgot that Germany also razed Edinburg, I'm sure it was because they would not be able to hold it. Brest has been at size 1 forever, so I suspect it has been getting bombed/shelled into the stone age every turn. US also razed the city south of Kyoto, which has been the only sign of activity over there that I can see.
Rocoteh, et. Al.,
I have been following the forums and have been playing WWIIGlobal for sometime. I actually have yet to install CivIV (sitting on my shelf) because I was waiting and am currently playing 2.1. Needless to say, I am quite grateful to Rocoteh for his efforts. I have never posted for various reasons, the two most prominent are likely that a) Im lazy, and b) someone usually said what I was going to say anyway. But my current 2.1 game has been so glorious I had to submit something (plus it is high-time I thank Rocoteh!).
So I am playing the Brits at Sid difficulty level and it is currently mid-41. I feel pretty good about myself, but total victory is not nearly as certain to me as in past versions of the game and it will take way more effort to achieve than past versions. Here are a few bits of my game history:
1) Germany did take out much of Europe in good time. France fought a good fight (good for me-see below), but was booted from the continent. In my game, France did not seem to fiercely attack Italy, they took one city (Milan) which German forces promptly took away. The German forces did raze a French city bordering Spain. Since its defeat, France has been seemingly as much of an ally to the Axis as they are to us. They placed a single light cruiser on the one tile between Tunis and Sicily that allows access to the Eastern Med. So until very recently, I have not been able to send any naval forces through the Suez to the Pacificthey have had to take the long way (very long given the map size!). I finally brought the allies into a war with Greece in order to get the French cruiser to move to fight the greek navy (I tried this with Turkey but it did not work). They also put a land unit on the single tile that allows access to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore--now I have to keep a transport nearby to send units to those cities! In addition, their units are frequently clogging _my_ lines of transportation in Africa and Asia. I will say that it does add a bit more challenge to the game.
2) Given the significant change in map size, I was determined to give it my all to hold on to Gibraltar. To me, it was never feasible or practical in past scenarios, every attempt I made resulted in failure (usually with the city being sacked-either by the Germans, or later on by allies like the US). This time I thought I had a chance because the Germans would have to march through Spain, slow even with a RoP, and would have no air support whatsoever. So as Germany was taking Europe, I focused most of my production efforts toward the defense of Gibraltar. It was a long campaign that I ultimately won for a number of reasons. First, France held on for a good amount of time. Second, somehow the French brought us all into a war with Spain, so I promptly bombed out their road system to the French border and took the city bordering Gibraltar (Cordoba?). Third, these delays to the German army allowed me to ship units (infantry, Matildas, bombers, and heavy artillery) to Gibraltar and build fortifications around the cities. When the German army finally came (being bombed all the way through Spanish territory by Armstrong-Witworths and Skuas) the battles were tough. I was forced to abandon Cordoba (I know, breaks a house rule, sorry, it was impulsive), lost the fortress unit defending Gibraltar, and almost lost the city until the Finns brought the Axis into a war with Russia! I have held to the city ever since, and the Germans have not returned.
3) I was not so lucky with Hong Kong. Given the distance from the UK, my obsession with holding Gibraltar, and the lack of strength in Asia, the Japanese swept in and burnt the city to the ground. Fortunately, that is the only city I have lost to the Japanese. I am please with their aggressiveness. They took Hanoi, and all of the eastern Chinese cities. They continue to send waves of tank divisions into India forcing me to remain on the defensive (the lack of roads gives my RAF plenty of time to destroy them before they threaten any cities). In the Pacific, things have been interesting. Guam has exchanged hands between the Japanese, Americans, and I at least six times. I now hold it and am confident I wont lose it again. The city in Java has exchanged hands between the Dutch, Japanese and Americans several times as well. Somehow, the Japanese snuck an invasion force down there and took it away from the Americans (in spite of my screen of destroyersmust have fortified them rather than putting them on sentry)! What concerns me most is the number of Yamatos they are producing. Nothing creates more fear than seeing three Yamatos and a transport heading your way! After successfully defending Gibraltar, I built the Intel Agency and discovered they had 18. Now they have 24 and I have been trying to sink them as best as I can (with my two BCs and about 10 Lancasters)! Luckily, my Pacific Fleet has arrived from its ridiculously long voyage. I have taken Manilla and will move northward.
4) I noticed that the Americans have been aggressive with amphibious operations too. They razed two cities on the Japanese mainland (maybe the Russians did it, though they were on the east coast). They also took Corsica from the Italians. As with past versions, the Americans have this weird urge to send inordinate numbers of land forces into Canada for no apparent reason. . . Thank god for locked alliances, still, it makes me nervous-we dont want to be the 51st state!
5) It did not take long for the Soviets to become incredibly aggressive. I mentioned that their war with the Axis contributed significantly to my holding Gibraltar. Well, I can thank the Russian bear for rendering Italy nearly nonexistent. Probably because of the weaker forces, the Russians swept through Hungary, Austria and right into northern Italy. They sacked Rome and stopped because, tragically, they declared war on the Allies.
6) This has been a huge turning point in the game. After defending Gibraltar, I decided to solidify my defensive posture and mount only a few offensives. I took Sicily because I thought (correctly) that I could defend it well. I massed forces in SE Asia so I could take Hanoi, but then we found ourselves at war with the Soviets. In short time Persia (and my transcontinental railway) was in grave danger. What has happened over the last several turns can only be described as a brutal melee in the Middle East. Tehran (sp?) and the city south of it have changed hands several times. The flood of Soviet Armor into the area was incredible (and fearful given my self-imposed house rulessee below)! As things stand now, Persia lives with its three southern cities, I hold its two NW cities, and Russia holds the northern city near its border. I would love to take that city, but I just cant face the Russian armour. . . yet. Convoys from the UK and Canada keep coming in.
7) This war with Russia has prevented me from doing anything else. I intend to take Italys remaining two cities, but face Russian controlled Northern Italy after that. If I can contain things in the middle east, I might begin an aggressive move against Japan.
8) It may not seem like it, but I have imposed some personal house-rulesthough I have not been 100% faithful. First, capital ships have only been produced in the UK. I did produce two Hvy Cruiser C2s in Australia but all Heavy Carriers and KGVs have been made at the Isles. Second, I have not produced a single unit in a city on the African continent. Once they have completed production of buildings, I shift them to producing wealth. Third, unit production in India/Asia is limited to four cities. One city builds air units, another Indian Infantry, the remaining two build armour and/or artillery. I broke this rule substantially and repeatedly during my war in the middle east. The rules have been nice because they have helped me take things slowly and really think through the use of my units. Plus all those cities producing wealth has boosted my science research significantly.
So that is how things stand in mid-41. It has been the most entertaining scenario by farI have no intention of installing CivIV in the near future. Thank you very much Rocoteh!
I have been following the forums and have been playing WWIIGlobal for sometime. I actually have yet to install CivIV (sitting on my shelf) because I was waiting and am currently playing 2.1. Needless to say, I am quite grateful to Rocoteh for his efforts. I have never posted for various reasons, the two most prominent are likely that a) Im lazy, and b) someone usually said what I was going to say anyway. But my current 2.1 game has been so glorious I had to submit something (plus it is high-time I thank Rocoteh!).
So I am playing the Brits at Sid difficulty level and it is currently mid-41. I feel pretty good about myself, but total victory is not nearly as certain to me as in past versions of the game and it will take way more effort to achieve than past versions. Here are a few bits of my game history:
1) Germany did take out much of Europe in good time. France fought a good fight (good for me-see below), but was booted from the continent. In my game, France did not seem to fiercely attack Italy, they took one city (Milan) which German forces promptly took away. The German forces did raze a French city bordering Spain. Since its defeat, France has been seemingly as much of an ally to the Axis as they are to us. They placed a single light cruiser on the one tile between Tunis and Sicily that allows access to the Eastern Med. So until very recently, I have not been able to send any naval forces through the Suez to the Pacificthey have had to take the long way (very long given the map size!). I finally brought the allies into a war with Greece in order to get the French cruiser to move to fight the greek navy (I tried this with Turkey but it did not work). They also put a land unit on the single tile that allows access to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore--now I have to keep a transport nearby to send units to those cities! In addition, their units are frequently clogging _my_ lines of transportation in Africa and Asia. I will say that it does add a bit more challenge to the game.
2) Given the significant change in map size, I was determined to give it my all to hold on to Gibraltar. To me, it was never feasible or practical in past scenarios, every attempt I made resulted in failure (usually with the city being sacked-either by the Germans, or later on by allies like the US). This time I thought I had a chance because the Germans would have to march through Spain, slow even with a RoP, and would have no air support whatsoever. So as Germany was taking Europe, I focused most of my production efforts toward the defense of Gibraltar. It was a long campaign that I ultimately won for a number of reasons. First, France held on for a good amount of time. Second, somehow the French brought us all into a war with Spain, so I promptly bombed out their road system to the French border and took the city bordering Gibraltar (Cordoba?). Third, these delays to the German army allowed me to ship units (infantry, Matildas, bombers, and heavy artillery) to Gibraltar and build fortifications around the cities. When the German army finally came (being bombed all the way through Spanish territory by Armstrong-Witworths and Skuas) the battles were tough. I was forced to abandon Cordoba (I know, breaks a house rule, sorry, it was impulsive), lost the fortress unit defending Gibraltar, and almost lost the city until the Finns brought the Axis into a war with Russia! I have held to the city ever since, and the Germans have not returned.
3) I was not so lucky with Hong Kong. Given the distance from the UK, my obsession with holding Gibraltar, and the lack of strength in Asia, the Japanese swept in and burnt the city to the ground. Fortunately, that is the only city I have lost to the Japanese. I am please with their aggressiveness. They took Hanoi, and all of the eastern Chinese cities. They continue to send waves of tank divisions into India forcing me to remain on the defensive (the lack of roads gives my RAF plenty of time to destroy them before they threaten any cities). In the Pacific, things have been interesting. Guam has exchanged hands between the Japanese, Americans, and I at least six times. I now hold it and am confident I wont lose it again. The city in Java has exchanged hands between the Dutch, Japanese and Americans several times as well. Somehow, the Japanese snuck an invasion force down there and took it away from the Americans (in spite of my screen of destroyersmust have fortified them rather than putting them on sentry)! What concerns me most is the number of Yamatos they are producing. Nothing creates more fear than seeing three Yamatos and a transport heading your way! After successfully defending Gibraltar, I built the Intel Agency and discovered they had 18. Now they have 24 and I have been trying to sink them as best as I can (with my two BCs and about 10 Lancasters)! Luckily, my Pacific Fleet has arrived from its ridiculously long voyage. I have taken Manilla and will move northward.
4) I noticed that the Americans have been aggressive with amphibious operations too. They razed two cities on the Japanese mainland (maybe the Russians did it, though they were on the east coast). They also took Corsica from the Italians. As with past versions, the Americans have this weird urge to send inordinate numbers of land forces into Canada for no apparent reason. . . Thank god for locked alliances, still, it makes me nervous-we dont want to be the 51st state!
5) It did not take long for the Soviets to become incredibly aggressive. I mentioned that their war with the Axis contributed significantly to my holding Gibraltar. Well, I can thank the Russian bear for rendering Italy nearly nonexistent. Probably because of the weaker forces, the Russians swept through Hungary, Austria and right into northern Italy. They sacked Rome and stopped because, tragically, they declared war on the Allies.
6) This has been a huge turning point in the game. After defending Gibraltar, I decided to solidify my defensive posture and mount only a few offensives. I took Sicily because I thought (correctly) that I could defend it well. I massed forces in SE Asia so I could take Hanoi, but then we found ourselves at war with the Soviets. In short time Persia (and my transcontinental railway) was in grave danger. What has happened over the last several turns can only be described as a brutal melee in the Middle East. Tehran (sp?) and the city south of it have changed hands several times. The flood of Soviet Armor into the area was incredible (and fearful given my self-imposed house rulessee below)! As things stand now, Persia lives with its three southern cities, I hold its two NW cities, and Russia holds the northern city near its border. I would love to take that city, but I just cant face the Russian armour. . . yet. Convoys from the UK and Canada keep coming in.
7) This war with Russia has prevented me from doing anything else. I intend to take Italys remaining two cities, but face Russian controlled Northern Italy after that. If I can contain things in the middle east, I might begin an aggressive move against Japan.
8) It may not seem like it, but I have imposed some personal house-rulesthough I have not been 100% faithful. First, capital ships have only been produced in the UK. I did produce two Hvy Cruiser C2s in Australia but all Heavy Carriers and KGVs have been made at the Isles. Second, I have not produced a single unit in a city on the African continent. Once they have completed production of buildings, I shift them to producing wealth. Third, unit production in India/Asia is limited to four cities. One city builds air units, another Indian Infantry, the remaining two build armour and/or artillery. I broke this rule substantially and repeatedly during my war in the middle east. The rules have been nice because they have helped me take things slowly and really think through the use of my units. Plus all those cities producing wealth has boosted my science research significantly.
So that is how things stand in mid-41. It has been the most entertaining scenario by farI have no intention of installing CivIV in the near future. Thank you very much Rocoteh!
Bob1475
Prince
Sasebo -
I have noted the Americans go after islands - probably because of their marine units. Actually this is not that bad an idea since AI cannot perform mass invasions.
Rocoteh - My invastion of North America has started but it will be a while before I can make a report. Turns now take about 35 minutes with all the units to move and all the rocket/bomber attacks to execute.
A few items I have failed to mention for many months in the event there is a 2.2 which I doubt. However, you should be very proud that so many of us are sticking with the scenario despite CIV 4 being out.
1. LightLand2 tech is supposed to enable radar towers yet it does not appear to be a real requirement for this. Either this needs to be fixed or the tech should be eliminated.
2. Air1 1945 tech is supposed to reveal uranium but this actually happens at Air2 1944. Probably should be put to the 1945 tech.
3. Ju-488 not set for Lethal bombardment which I presume is an error. Let me know your intent.
4. HE-177 set for Lethal land but not Lethal Sea - was this your intent?
5. A Bomb transport plane not necessary as other late era planes set for tactical missile transport. You may want to remove that ability from the other bombers.
Most of these items are late-game issues and unlikely to be experienced by most players.
By the way - a settler option might be interesting but it would have to be limited to 1 per 50 turns or something like that. In general I oppose it.
I have noted the Americans go after islands - probably because of their marine units. Actually this is not that bad an idea since AI cannot perform mass invasions.
Rocoteh - My invastion of North America has started but it will be a while before I can make a report. Turns now take about 35 minutes with all the units to move and all the rocket/bomber attacks to execute.
A few items I have failed to mention for many months in the event there is a 2.2 which I doubt. However, you should be very proud that so many of us are sticking with the scenario despite CIV 4 being out.
1. LightLand2 tech is supposed to enable radar towers yet it does not appear to be a real requirement for this. Either this needs to be fixed or the tech should be eliminated.
2. Air1 1945 tech is supposed to reveal uranium but this actually happens at Air2 1944. Probably should be put to the 1945 tech.
3. Ju-488 not set for Lethal bombardment which I presume is an error. Let me know your intent.
4. HE-177 set for Lethal land but not Lethal Sea - was this your intent?
5. A Bomb transport plane not necessary as other late era planes set for tactical missile transport. You may want to remove that ability from the other bombers.
Most of these items are late-game issues and unlikely to be experienced by most players.
By the way - a settler option might be interesting but it would have to be limited to 1 per 50 turns or something like that. In general I oppose it.
Hyperborean
Demiurge
Well, this is a problem. When you cannot simulate something properly within the game perimeters you have to find an alternative solution. On one hand we have unlimited movement for an unlimited amount of units via railroads, and on the other hand we have a near infinite number of units you can build. This is hardly realistic. That is why I suggested a decreased movement rate, to counter-balance the amount of units you build. It doesn't really solve the problem, but with a more restricted movement you can at least compensate the quantity over quality philosophy that permeates this game.
I know that it took time for the Wehrmacht to move from Poland to the Western front. And then back from France to Poland for the invasion of Russia in 1941. I have not yet begun to build railroads, but I understand that it has become more costly to do so, and that is good. I think that it shouldn't be too easy for the player to move around a massive amount of troops hither and thither through Europe, and fight against the Spaniards one week, and against the Greeks the week after. If the player wants to connect all cities with a railroad he should have to work hard for it.
Also, if the movement rates are halved it should give some weight to logistical problems, and force the player to think more strategically. No matter how many units you have you could still over-stretch yourself if you for instance blitz your way through Ukraine, and discover that your reserves cannot reach the frontlines quick enough. It lends some excitement (and realism) to the game if you know that your reinforcements cannot reach the front in an instant. I think its worth taking this into consideration.
Yes, a little bit perhaps, but personally I don't mind since I like the challenge, and it gives me something to think about for the next time I invade Scandinavia. But historically the Scandinavian countries were not prepared for war. Even if you exclude the German surprise attack, their armies were in no condition to face a full-scale invasion. Denmark gave up without a fight, Norway could only slow down the German advance, and there is no reason to believe that Sweden would have fared any better than Norway if it had been invaded too. I don't know how many units they start with, but perhaps you could remove a couple of starting units. But I don't mind if you keep it as it is, for this is a what if?-scenario after all, and both Norway and Sweden could potentially have had very strong armies if they only had had more time to prepare for an invasion.
Yeah, I've noticed. I think I'll postpone Operation Seelöwe and begin the preparation for Operation Barbarossa instead. But I think I'll wait for him to attack me first. I want to come as close to the historical date for the invasion of Russia as possible. I'm trying to emulate history as far as possible, but I'm afraid I've messed things up by invading France in 1939, and Spain directly after. Besides, I enjoy my air- and sea-battles with Britain, and I don't want it to end too quickly. The British Isles are not going anywhere; I know exactly where I have them... They are close to Cuba, right?
Sasebo
Nope. I follow a strict list of priorities. To begin with I don't build workers in German cities, only in occupied cities, and only after I have built all improvements I need. As it is now I have only begun to build workers since only Paris, Namur and Lyon have finished the reconstruction programme. The number of workers should drastically increase before the end of the year, when all my cities in France and Spain are ready to build units. The reason I only build workers in occupied cities is because I want to replace the natives with Germans (it decreases the number of discontent citizens).
Plus, I have a few captured workers too. So in total I have over 20 workers.
WVCivnut
Sid. I have discovered that difficult levels doesn't matter much in WW2-global. So I might just as well play on the hardest level.
Sasebo,
Thank you for the report.
"Rocoteh: Wel then make it the longer interval, or even longer. It was only a stopgap idea to 'fix' a little of the razing problems."
Sasebo
OK I will consider it.
Comment on the stats:
Very interesting stats! For some reason AI does only seldom
build light ships.That is an disturbing fact.
"Axis has slight edge in numbers in air units, and a pronounced edge in capital class ships--thanks to me. can't tell you how many BBs I've killed. At least a dozen KGV, and most of the allied initial fleets. Japan now has more Yamato Class then the Allies have BBs, and 21 total BBs. Nasty! Also note the IAxis now has the only CV fleet in existance. Japan has those two B class carriers still afloat."
Sasebo
Overall I do not think AI is competent when it comes to naval production.
"The Med has been Clear of Allied Invasion attempts for several weeks now--they appear to have lost steam,or at least escorts. I did manage to kill the fort on Malta with massive naval bombard, and amphibious invasion. Malta will soon fall, Nicosia soon after, as the last UK presence in the Med. Yes, you read that right. The big news for Italy has been the overrunning of Upper Egypt,Jerusalem, and Damascus. All our cites are now connected by land route via friendly Turkish roads.I am currently aiming for the UK city east of Damscus."
Sasebo
This means heavily improved positions since the last report.
"Is there some sort of 'trigger' for AI units to go after a certain city? ALL of the allied naval invasions have been aimed at Sicily so far, ignoring Algiers, etc.. Also, when I took Cairo an absolute deluge of UK units came at me trying to take it back. I had to kill 17 of those little tank brigades on one turn to save Suez. It has been very bloody for the allies over here. You might note from the chart that I have increased Italy's bomber fleet a LOT...they have been key to Italy's fortunes. Breda on CVs are actually very powerful with good range."
Sasebo
Very strange! I can not explain it.
"I am currently in the midst of cleaning up a few small problems. That small city south of Rabat on the coast, Malta, and Nicosia. I was toying with getting an Exp. Corps going in Russia, but my success in the Middle East has made me change gears. I now plan on taking as much of the area as I can, and try to threaten USSR in the next war from the south into the Caucasus."
Sasebo
A very good idea!
"Might be able to divide their forces. I also want to get a small secondary offensive going to nibble at Africa. I want to link up with East Africa soon. If things stay quiet on the naval front, when I am built up I may try a raid on England, or maybe dash through the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean. I need to be sure of my security in the Med though, so I need more ships before I go adventuring. I think things are going pretty well for now."
Sasebo
Yes maybe this is a time to consolidate postions.
"Japan just took Hanoi, and china is reduced to Chengdu and Kunming as their big cities. Japan did raze Hong Kong unfortunately. They also took back Truk! I was pleasantly surprised by that. The finally got that dutch city south of Borneo with the air wonder, so they have oil & rubber now; so far Japan is doing pretty good. I think the fact they didn't lose their bombers has helped them do all this."
Sasebo
Interesting to see where they will go from here.
"Forgot that Germany also razed Edinburg, I'm sure it was because they would not be able to hold it. Brest has been at size 1 forever, so I suspect it has been getting bombed/shelled into the stone age every turn. US also razed the city south of Kyoto, which has been the only sign of activity over there that I can see."
Sasebo
Edinburgh and Kyoto are not protected due to the "wonder-limit"
that game-engine sets.
Thank you and welcome back.
Rocoteh
Thank you for the report.
"Rocoteh: Wel then make it the longer interval, or even longer. It was only a stopgap idea to 'fix' a little of the razing problems."
Sasebo
OK I will consider it.
Comment on the stats:
Very interesting stats! For some reason AI does only seldom
build light ships.That is an disturbing fact.
"Axis has slight edge in numbers in air units, and a pronounced edge in capital class ships--thanks to me. can't tell you how many BBs I've killed. At least a dozen KGV, and most of the allied initial fleets. Japan now has more Yamato Class then the Allies have BBs, and 21 total BBs. Nasty! Also note the IAxis now has the only CV fleet in existance. Japan has those two B class carriers still afloat."
Sasebo
Overall I do not think AI is competent when it comes to naval production.
"The Med has been Clear of Allied Invasion attempts for several weeks now--they appear to have lost steam,or at least escorts. I did manage to kill the fort on Malta with massive naval bombard, and amphibious invasion. Malta will soon fall, Nicosia soon after, as the last UK presence in the Med. Yes, you read that right. The big news for Italy has been the overrunning of Upper Egypt,Jerusalem, and Damascus. All our cites are now connected by land route via friendly Turkish roads.I am currently aiming for the UK city east of Damscus."
Sasebo
This means heavily improved positions since the last report.
"Is there some sort of 'trigger' for AI units to go after a certain city? ALL of the allied naval invasions have been aimed at Sicily so far, ignoring Algiers, etc.. Also, when I took Cairo an absolute deluge of UK units came at me trying to take it back. I had to kill 17 of those little tank brigades on one turn to save Suez. It has been very bloody for the allies over here. You might note from the chart that I have increased Italy's bomber fleet a LOT...they have been key to Italy's fortunes. Breda on CVs are actually very powerful with good range."
Sasebo
Very strange! I can not explain it.
"I am currently in the midst of cleaning up a few small problems. That small city south of Rabat on the coast, Malta, and Nicosia. I was toying with getting an Exp. Corps going in Russia, but my success in the Middle East has made me change gears. I now plan on taking as much of the area as I can, and try to threaten USSR in the next war from the south into the Caucasus."
Sasebo
A very good idea!
"Might be able to divide their forces. I also want to get a small secondary offensive going to nibble at Africa. I want to link up with East Africa soon. If things stay quiet on the naval front, when I am built up I may try a raid on England, or maybe dash through the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean. I need to be sure of my security in the Med though, so I need more ships before I go adventuring. I think things are going pretty well for now."
Sasebo
Yes maybe this is a time to consolidate postions.
"Japan just took Hanoi, and china is reduced to Chengdu and Kunming as their big cities. Japan did raze Hong Kong unfortunately. They also took back Truk! I was pleasantly surprised by that. The finally got that dutch city south of Borneo with the air wonder, so they have oil & rubber now; so far Japan is doing pretty good. I think the fact they didn't lose their bombers has helped them do all this."
Sasebo
Interesting to see where they will go from here.
"Forgot that Germany also razed Edinburg, I'm sure it was because they would not be able to hold it. Brest has been at size 1 forever, so I suspect it has been getting bombed/shelled into the stone age every turn. US also razed the city south of Kyoto, which has been the only sign of activity over there that I can see."
Sasebo
Edinburgh and Kyoto are not protected due to the "wonder-limit"
that game-engine sets.
Thank you and welcome back.
Rocoteh
Akrasia,
Thank you for the report.
"So I am playing the Brits at Sid difficulty level and it is currently mid-41. I feel pretty good about myself, but total victory is not nearly as certain to me as in past versions of the game and it will take way more effort to achieve than past versions. Here are a few bits of my game history:"
Akrasia
Very interesting!
British playtests only appear seldom.
"1) Germany did take out much of Europe in good time. France fought a good fight (good for me-see below), but was booted from the continent. In my game, France did not seem to fiercely attack Italy, they took one city (Milan) which German forces promptly took away. The German forces did raze a French city bordering Spain. Since its defeat, France has been seemingly as much of an ally to the Axis as they are to us. They placed a single light cruiser on the one tile between Tunis and Sicily that allows access to the Eastern Med. So until very recently, I have not been able to send any naval forces through the Suez to the Pacific—they have had to take the long way (very long given the map size!). I finally brought the allies into a war with Greece in order to get the French cruiser to move to fight the greek navy (I tried this with Turkey but it did not work). They also put a land unit on the single tile that allows access to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore--now I have to keep a transport nearby to send units to those cities! In addition, their units are frequently clogging _my_ lines of transportation in Africa and Asia. I will say that it does add a bit more challenge to the game."
Akrasia
When playing Britain I think its best to only fight delaying actions
on the continent 1939-1940.
"2) Given the significant change in map size, I was determined to give it my all to hold on to Gibraltar. To me, it was never feasible or practical in past scenarios, every attempt I made resulted in failure (usually with the city being sacked-either by the Germans, or later on by allies like the US). This time I thought I had a chance because the Germans would have to march through Spain, slow even with a RoP, and would have no air support whatsoever. So as Germany was taking Europe, I focused most of my production efforts toward the defense of Gibraltar. It was a long campaign that I ultimately won for a number of reasons. First, France held on for a good amount of time. Second, somehow the French brought us all into a war with Spain, so I promptly bombed out their road system to the French border and took the city bordering Gibraltar (Cordoba?). Third, these delays to the German army allowed me to ship units (infantry, Matildas, bombers, and heavy artillery) to Gibraltar and build fortifications around the cities. When the German army finally came (being bombed all the way through Spanish territory by Armstrong-Witworths and Skuas) the battles were tough. I was forced to abandon Cordoba (I know, breaks a house rule, sorry, it was impulsive), lost the fortress unit defending Gibraltar, and almost lost the city until the Finns brought the Axis into a war with Russia! I have held to the city ever since, and the Germans have not returned."
Akrasia
I think what you describe here is a very good British strategy and realistic!
Gibraltar was a real key city during WW2.
"3) I was not so lucky with Hong Kong. Given the distance from the UK, my obsession with holding Gibraltar, and the lack of strength in Asia, the Japanese swept in and burnt the city to the ground. Fortunately, that is the only city I have lost to the Japanese. I am please with their aggressiveness. They took Hanoi, and all of the eastern Chinese cities. They continue to send waves of tank divisions into India forcing me to remain on the defensive (the lack of roads gives my RAF plenty of time to destroy them before they threaten any cities). In the Pacific, things have been interesting. Guam has exchanged hands between the Japanese, Americans, and I at least six times. I now hold it and am confident I won’t lose it again. The city in Java has exchanged hands between the Dutch, Japanese and Americans several times as well. Somehow, the Japanese snuck an invasion force down there and took it away from the Americans (in spite of my screen of destroyers—must have fortified them rather than putting them on sentry)! What concerns me most is the number of Yamatos they are producing. Nothing creates more fear than seeing three Yamatos and a transport heading your way! After successfully defending Gibraltar, I built the Intel Agency and discovered they had 18. Now they have 24 and I have been trying to sink them as best as I can (with my two BCs and about 10 Lancasters)! Luckily, my Pacific Fleet has arrived from its ridiculously long voyage. I have taken Manilla and will move northward."
Akrasia
India and the Pacific must be a nightmare for a human British player!
I mean: Its huge areas and only very limited resources can be allocated.
The US-AI is also of not very high value.
The Japanese naval production is also to count with.
"4) I noticed that the Americans have been aggressive with amphibious operations too. They razed two cities on the Japanese mainland (maybe the Russians did it, though they were on the east coast). They also took Corsica from the Italians. As with past versions, the Americans have this weird urge to send inordinate numbers of land forces into Canada for no apparent reason. . . Thank god for locked alliances, still, it makes me nervous-we don’t want to be the 51st state!"
Akrasia
This type of actions from AI are really confusing!
"5) It did not take long for the Soviets to become incredibly aggressive. I mentioned that their war with the Axis contributed significantly to my holding Gibraltar. Well, I can thank the Russian bear for rendering Italy nearly nonexistent. Probably because of the weaker forces, the Russians swept through Hungary, Austria and right into northern Italy. They sacked Rome and stopped because, tragically, they declared war on the Allies."
Akrasia
It bad news they could advance so far. Here I must consider changes
with regard version 2.2.
"6) This has been a huge turning point in the game. After defending Gibraltar, I decided to solidify my defensive posture and mount only a few offensives. I took Sicily because I thought (correctly) that I could defend it well. I massed forces in SE Asia so I could take Hanoi, but then we found ourselves at war with the Soviets. In short time Persia (and my transcontinental railway) was in grave danger. What has happened over the last several turns can only be described as a brutal melee in the Middle East. Tehran (sp?) and the city south of it have changed hands several times. The flood of Soviet Armor into the area was incredible (and fearful given my self-imposed house rules—see below)! As things stand now, Persia lives with its three southern cities, I hold its two NW cities, and Russia holds the northern city near its border. I would love to take that city, but I just can’t face the Russian armour. . . yet. Convoys from the UK and Canada keep coming in."
Akrasia
Its frustrating that AI acts in this unhistorical way!
I wish there was a way to stop it.
"7) This war with Russia has prevented me from doing anything else. I intend to take Italy’s remaining two cities, but face Russian controlled Northern Italy after that. If I can contain things in the middle east, I might begin an aggressive move against Japan"
Akrasia
I think that sounds like a good idea.
"8) It may not seem like it, but I have imposed some personal “house-rules”—though I have not been 100% faithful. First, capital ships have only been produced in the UK. I did produce two Hvy Cruiser C2s in Australia but all Heavy Carriers and KGVs have been made at the Isles. Second, I have not produced a single unit in a city on the African continent. Once they have completed production of buildings, I shift them to producing wealth. Third, unit production in India/Asia is limited to four cities. One city builds air units, another Indian Infantry, the remaining two build armour and/or artillery. I broke this rule substantially and repeatedly during my war in the middle east. The rules have been nice because they have helped me take things slowly and really think through the use of my units. Plus all those cities producing wealth has boosted my science research significantly."
Akrasia
I think its realistic house rules.
For example: with the exception of 2 Infantry divisions no British units
were produced in Africa (South Africa not included) during WW2.
"So that is how things stand in mid-41. It has been the most entertaining scenario by far—I have no intention of installing CivIV in the near future. Thank you very much Rocoteh!"
Akrasia
Thank you for the positive words.
Welcome back with more reports and comments.
Rocoteh
Thank you for the report.
"So I am playing the Brits at Sid difficulty level and it is currently mid-41. I feel pretty good about myself, but total victory is not nearly as certain to me as in past versions of the game and it will take way more effort to achieve than past versions. Here are a few bits of my game history:"
Akrasia
Very interesting!
British playtests only appear seldom.
"1) Germany did take out much of Europe in good time. France fought a good fight (good for me-see below), but was booted from the continent. In my game, France did not seem to fiercely attack Italy, they took one city (Milan) which German forces promptly took away. The German forces did raze a French city bordering Spain. Since its defeat, France has been seemingly as much of an ally to the Axis as they are to us. They placed a single light cruiser on the one tile between Tunis and Sicily that allows access to the Eastern Med. So until very recently, I have not been able to send any naval forces through the Suez to the Pacific—they have had to take the long way (very long given the map size!). I finally brought the allies into a war with Greece in order to get the French cruiser to move to fight the greek navy (I tried this with Turkey but it did not work). They also put a land unit on the single tile that allows access to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore--now I have to keep a transport nearby to send units to those cities! In addition, their units are frequently clogging _my_ lines of transportation in Africa and Asia. I will say that it does add a bit more challenge to the game."
Akrasia
When playing Britain I think its best to only fight delaying actions
on the continent 1939-1940.
"2) Given the significant change in map size, I was determined to give it my all to hold on to Gibraltar. To me, it was never feasible or practical in past scenarios, every attempt I made resulted in failure (usually with the city being sacked-either by the Germans, or later on by allies like the US). This time I thought I had a chance because the Germans would have to march through Spain, slow even with a RoP, and would have no air support whatsoever. So as Germany was taking Europe, I focused most of my production efforts toward the defense of Gibraltar. It was a long campaign that I ultimately won for a number of reasons. First, France held on for a good amount of time. Second, somehow the French brought us all into a war with Spain, so I promptly bombed out their road system to the French border and took the city bordering Gibraltar (Cordoba?). Third, these delays to the German army allowed me to ship units (infantry, Matildas, bombers, and heavy artillery) to Gibraltar and build fortifications around the cities. When the German army finally came (being bombed all the way through Spanish territory by Armstrong-Witworths and Skuas) the battles were tough. I was forced to abandon Cordoba (I know, breaks a house rule, sorry, it was impulsive), lost the fortress unit defending Gibraltar, and almost lost the city until the Finns brought the Axis into a war with Russia! I have held to the city ever since, and the Germans have not returned."
Akrasia
I think what you describe here is a very good British strategy and realistic!
Gibraltar was a real key city during WW2.
"3) I was not so lucky with Hong Kong. Given the distance from the UK, my obsession with holding Gibraltar, and the lack of strength in Asia, the Japanese swept in and burnt the city to the ground. Fortunately, that is the only city I have lost to the Japanese. I am please with their aggressiveness. They took Hanoi, and all of the eastern Chinese cities. They continue to send waves of tank divisions into India forcing me to remain on the defensive (the lack of roads gives my RAF plenty of time to destroy them before they threaten any cities). In the Pacific, things have been interesting. Guam has exchanged hands between the Japanese, Americans, and I at least six times. I now hold it and am confident I won’t lose it again. The city in Java has exchanged hands between the Dutch, Japanese and Americans several times as well. Somehow, the Japanese snuck an invasion force down there and took it away from the Americans (in spite of my screen of destroyers—must have fortified them rather than putting them on sentry)! What concerns me most is the number of Yamatos they are producing. Nothing creates more fear than seeing three Yamatos and a transport heading your way! After successfully defending Gibraltar, I built the Intel Agency and discovered they had 18. Now they have 24 and I have been trying to sink them as best as I can (with my two BCs and about 10 Lancasters)! Luckily, my Pacific Fleet has arrived from its ridiculously long voyage. I have taken Manilla and will move northward."
Akrasia
India and the Pacific must be a nightmare for a human British player!
I mean: Its huge areas and only very limited resources can be allocated.
The US-AI is also of not very high value.
The Japanese naval production is also to count with.
"4) I noticed that the Americans have been aggressive with amphibious operations too. They razed two cities on the Japanese mainland (maybe the Russians did it, though they were on the east coast). They also took Corsica from the Italians. As with past versions, the Americans have this weird urge to send inordinate numbers of land forces into Canada for no apparent reason. . . Thank god for locked alliances, still, it makes me nervous-we don’t want to be the 51st state!"
Akrasia
This type of actions from AI are really confusing!
"5) It did not take long for the Soviets to become incredibly aggressive. I mentioned that their war with the Axis contributed significantly to my holding Gibraltar. Well, I can thank the Russian bear for rendering Italy nearly nonexistent. Probably because of the weaker forces, the Russians swept through Hungary, Austria and right into northern Italy. They sacked Rome and stopped because, tragically, they declared war on the Allies."
Akrasia
It bad news they could advance so far. Here I must consider changes
with regard version 2.2.
"6) This has been a huge turning point in the game. After defending Gibraltar, I decided to solidify my defensive posture and mount only a few offensives. I took Sicily because I thought (correctly) that I could defend it well. I massed forces in SE Asia so I could take Hanoi, but then we found ourselves at war with the Soviets. In short time Persia (and my transcontinental railway) was in grave danger. What has happened over the last several turns can only be described as a brutal melee in the Middle East. Tehran (sp?) and the city south of it have changed hands several times. The flood of Soviet Armor into the area was incredible (and fearful given my self-imposed house rules—see below)! As things stand now, Persia lives with its three southern cities, I hold its two NW cities, and Russia holds the northern city near its border. I would love to take that city, but I just can’t face the Russian armour. . . yet. Convoys from the UK and Canada keep coming in."
Akrasia
Its frustrating that AI acts in this unhistorical way!
I wish there was a way to stop it.
"7) This war with Russia has prevented me from doing anything else. I intend to take Italy’s remaining two cities, but face Russian controlled Northern Italy after that. If I can contain things in the middle east, I might begin an aggressive move against Japan"
Akrasia
I think that sounds like a good idea.
"8) It may not seem like it, but I have imposed some personal “house-rules”—though I have not been 100% faithful. First, capital ships have only been produced in the UK. I did produce two Hvy Cruiser C2s in Australia but all Heavy Carriers and KGVs have been made at the Isles. Second, I have not produced a single unit in a city on the African continent. Once they have completed production of buildings, I shift them to producing wealth. Third, unit production in India/Asia is limited to four cities. One city builds air units, another Indian Infantry, the remaining two build armour and/or artillery. I broke this rule substantially and repeatedly during my war in the middle east. The rules have been nice because they have helped me take things slowly and really think through the use of my units. Plus all those cities producing wealth has boosted my science research significantly."
Akrasia
I think its realistic house rules.
For example: with the exception of 2 Infantry divisions no British units
were produced in Africa (South Africa not included) during WW2.
"So that is how things stand in mid-41. It has been the most entertaining scenario by far—I have no intention of installing CivIV in the near future. Thank you very much Rocoteh!"
Akrasia
Thank you for the positive words.
Welcome back with more reports and comments.
Rocoteh
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