WW2-Global

[krwhitinglaw]

Here are some observations I have from playing this scenario - understand I've only played it this one time and only part way as Japan, but I've played Civ III complete for a long, long time and I've played board strategy games since I was a kid - 30 years ago (mainly Third Reich but also many others - including the original board edition of Civilization from Avalon Hill).

Rocoteh, as for your wish that the carriers act with striking power appropriate to their real-world capabilities - I think you've done that and do not need to make any further changes to them (that includes to the aircraft). The Kates that Japan starts with and the carriers they have allow them to create what I consider the minimum striking power for a carrier task force (12 squadrons of effective bombers and 8 of fighters is what I consider a minimum to actually do serious damage and they start with 12 and 9). A typical BB in the game will average 11 hit points - 12 squadrons of Kates is sufficient to sink a single BB in most cases (usually 8 or 9 get it done). Also their range of 7 spaces allows them to be used against BBs that are more than 1 turn away while also allowing them to be able to conduct follow up attacks on wounded and fleeing BBs. The real destruction in major fleet actions is done in turns 2 and 3. The first turn is spent wearing down the health on the capital ships - the next 2 turns are spent finishing them off. While 3-week naval battles weren't common, they weren't unheard of either and the game can only do so much and I think the balance of power between BBs and carriers, heavy and light cruisers and destroyers and submarines is well done and closely represents historical valuations. When I read Churchill's memoirs of WWI and WWII, he was always seriously preoccupied with the location of enemy capital ships. This game's valuations for them makes clear why. The normal Civ 3 valuations make BBs almost pointless. This game makes them true capital ships that must be accounted for and feared, while also making the carriers the best tool with which to defeat them. Well done.

A possible modification here would be to allow for the targeting of ships in a stack by bombers. For instance, at Midway, the American bombers ignored the surrounding fleet and attacked the flattops. In this game you can't do that. You have to sink all the BBs and cruisers, etc. to get at them. Such a risk would also make fighter cover by your carrier air MUCH more critical (thereby forcing players to not stint on fighters to load up on bombers AND making an approach to an enemy coast much much more dicey a proposition for a carrier task force). Maybe modifying it to provide that you can't target carriers (or transports) until you have eliminated all the AA Cruisers would be good (like the suggestion below about submarines and DDs).

One major issue with naval stuff is the inability of submarines to target carriers or transports when stacked with any other ships. I think modifying that to allow the targeting of carriers and transports UNLESS destroyers are present would do the job. DDs primary role was to shield the others from submarines, but cruisers and BBs certainly didn't. That would force a wolf-pack to strip away DDs before it could attack transports and carriers, but they wouldn't have to go through BBs and cruisers to target the soft targets. It would also give a good reason for building a lot of DDs and using them as escort vessels - beyond their ability to see submarines. It would also lead to using DDs out as screens, well out from your transports and carriers to make sure you find the subs before they are within striking distance of your fleet. It should also increase the power and use of Germany's great u-boat fleet.

Basically, naval strategy is simple. You find the enemy's ships and you sink them. That's first. Everything else has to be second to that. Of course, in priority for targetting, carriers and BBs come first - and everything descends from there, but the principal is always the same - sink the enemy fleet and then you can project power into his lands and he can't yours (unless, of course, he's Russia and he shares a land border with you). Once you've defeated his fleet, then all kinds of options arise for the use of your naval power to alter strategic equations. You can cut off areas from help, bombard targets to aid in land fights, project power, etc. But none of that can be done well or consistently until his fleet is gone. I think this game accounts for that extremely well - but I don't think AI handles it well at all.

Though I complain about it, I actually think the change to the turns necessary to build RRs and to clear forest and jungle are good changes that make the game much better.

I'm not sure what I think about the lack of the ability of airports and harbors to import resources and luxuries without being connected to a specific city with a wonder. I suppose it makes some sense - given conditions in the real world (not all harbors are created equal or the allies wouldn't have cared to take Antwerp after Overlord). So I'm still undecided on this issue. It's a big issue though, as Napolean said, "Amateurs talk strategy: Generals talk logistics."

So far, I think the unit values given the ground units I've dealt with are appropriate (though this is less of an issue for Japan than it is for most others given their enormous reliance on naval and air power). I also think the air units and their valuations and capabilities are appropriate.

Other little things: the unit-producing wonders in china and australia need to be corrected so they don't keep producing units under Japanese (or others) control after they are captured. One of the wonders in india needs correcting - it gives its city a sam missile battery which actually works and did great execution to my air force when I ran onto it.

Modifications allowing Japan to build convoys and destroyer flotillas and to build nukes would be good and I see from Rocoteh's comments that the next version will allow them nukes and convoys. Destroyer flotillas would be handy too.

And, of course, the AI is an idiot - not just with fleets - but there's really no way around that.

Anyway, my comments should not be taken to, in any way at all, devalue the greatness of this game or the acheivement of its creation and distribution. It truly is the finest grand strategy game I've ever played and that's without any changes at all. My hat's off to all who had a hand in it. I've already spent many hours in great pleasure with it and expect countless more as I explore it in various difficulty levels as various nations.

Regards,

Kelly Whiting

 

[bobtdwarf]

Well I just got prompted to honor my defense pact with the Japanese... took roughly 11 weeks before it happened; but oh well..

Have retaken Plymouth, shelled and bombed New York, and have sent two American BB's to the bottom. I have also taken Cairo and Volosomethingorwhatsit in Russia and am proceeding nicely toward Baku after taking Sochi.

I have taken Tyver and have Moscow surrounded though I don't control more then two of the outlying fortifications, just a big old perimeter of PzIII'....

Sevastapol continues to hold out because I apparently have the most ******** group of artillery men in all of Germany outside it shelling the city... I have been at it for 10 weeks now with three units and have not scored a single hit.

 

[Tomislav]

Sevastapol continues to hold out because I apparently have the most ******** group of artillery men in all of Germany outside it shelling the city... I have been at it for 10 weeks now with three units and have not scored a single hit.

this must be very frustrating!

well, send these men to the eastern front!

ups, they are already there, right?

 

[Hornblower]

We call the arty boys "drop shorts" for obvious reasons. It could be considered overkill but I always build stacks of 10 artillery pieces and move them as an independant artillery battalion. With that stack comes the defensive infantry, flak and whatnot (and if you are german, 88's). With a group that size you can generally crack open a besieged city in 2-3 turns. It also means you don't suffer the high casualty rates or ridiculously long seige times.

 

[Rocoteh]

Kelly Whiting,

Thank you for your comments.

"Here are some observations I have from playing this scenario - understand I've only played it this one time and only part way as Japan, but I've played Civ III complete for a long, long time and I've played board strategy games since I was a kid - 30 years ago (mainly Third Reich but also many others - including the original board edition of Civilization from Avalon Hill)."
Kelly Whiting

Yes I remember the Avalon Hill and S.P.I.-era.
It was for sure great times.

"Rocoteh, as for your wish that the carriers act with striking power appropriate to their real-world capabilities - I think you've done that and do not need to make any further changes to them (that includes to the aircraft). The Kates that Japan starts with and the carriers they have allow them to create what I consider the minimum striking power for a carrier task force (12 squadrons of effective bombers and 8 of fighters is what I consider a minimum to actually do serious damage and they start with 12 and 9). A typical BB in the game will average 11 hit points - 12 squadrons of Kates is sufficient to sink a single BB in most cases (usually 8 or 9 get it done). Also their range of 7 spaces allows them to be used against BBs that are more than 1 turn away while also allowing them to be able to conduct follow up attacks on wounded and fleeing BBs. The real destruction in major fleet actions is done in turns 2 and 3. The first turn is spent wearing down the health on the capital ships - the next 2 turns are spent finishing them off. While 3-week naval battles weren't common, they weren't unheard of either and the game can only do so much and I think the balance of power between BBs and carriers, heavy and light cruisers and destroyers and submarines is well done and closely represents historical valuations. When I read Churchill's memoirs of WWI and WWII, he was always seriously preoccupied with the location of enemy capital ships. This game's valuations for them makes clear why. The normal Civ 3 valuations make BBs almost pointless. This game makes them true capital ships that must be accounted for and feared, while also making the carriers the best tool with which to defeat them. Well done."
Kelly Whiting

Thank you.
I am very glad to hear this.
Thus some of the aspects concerning naval warfare works well in
the scenario.
This is really positive since the the naval modul of Civ 3 is not a
strong part of the game-engine.

"A possible modification here would be to allow for the targeting of ships in a stack by bombers. For instance, at Midway, the American bombers ignored the surrounding fleet and attacked the flattops. In this game you can't do that. You have to sink all the BBs and cruisers, etc. to get at them. Such a risk would also make fighter cover by your carrier air MUCH more critical (thereby forcing players to not stint on fighters to load up on bombers AND making an approach to an enemy coast much much more dicey a proposition for a carrier task force). Maybe modifying it to provide that you can't target carriers (or transports) until you have eliminated all the AA Cruisers would be good (like the suggestion below about submarines and DDs)."
Kelly Whiting

Its a good idea but the game-engine will not allow it.

"One major issue with naval stuff is the inability of submarines to target carriers or transports when stacked with any other ships. I think modifying that to allow the targeting of carriers and transports UNLESS destroyers are present would do the job. DDs primary role was to shield the others from submarines, but cruisers and BBs certainly didn't. That would force a wolf-pack to strip away DDs before it could attack transports and carriers, but they wouldn't have to go through BBs and cruisers to target the soft targets. It would also give a good reason for building a lot of DDs and using them as escort vessels - beyond their ability to see submarines. It would also lead to using DDs out as screens, well out from your transports and carriers to make sure you find the subs before they are within striking distance of your fleet. It should also increase the power and use of Germany's great u-boat fleet."
Kelly Whiting

Again, the game-engine is the problem.

"Basically, naval strategy is simple. You find the enemy's ships and you sink them. That's first. Everything else has to be second to that. Of course, in priority for targetting, carriers and BBs come first - and everything descends from there, but the principal is always the same - sink the enemy fleet and then you can project power into his lands and he can't yours (unless, of course, he's Russia and he shares a land border with you). Once you've defeated his fleet, then all kinds of options arise for the use of your naval power to alter strategic equations. You can cut off areas from help, bombard targets to aid in land fights, project power, etc. But none of that can be done well or consistently until his fleet is gone. I think this game accounts for that extremely well - but I don't think AI handles it well at all."
Kelly Whiting

Agree.
AI is weak with regard to naval operations.

"Though I complain about it, I actually think the change to the turns necessary to build RRs and to clear forest and jungle are good changes that make the game much better.

I'm not sure what I think about the lack of the ability of airports and harbors to import resources and luxuries without being connected to a specific city with a wonder. I suppose it makes some sense - given conditions in the real world (not all harbors are created equal or the allies wouldn't have cared to take Antwerp after Overlord). So I'm still undecided on this issue. It's a big issue though, as Napolean said, "Amateurs talk strategy: Generals talk logistics.""
Kelly Whiting

The reason for the current system is to hold down loading time and
waiting between turns.

"So far, I think the unit values given the ground units I've dealt with are appropriate (though this is less of an issue for Japan than it is for most others given their enormous reliance on naval and air power). I also think the air units and their valuations and capabilities are appropriate.

Other little things: the unit-producing wonders in china and australia need to be corrected so they don't keep producing units under Japanese (or others) control after they are captured. One of the wonders in india needs correcting - it gives its city a sam missile battery which actually works and did great execution to my air force when I ran onto it."
Kelly Whiting

I will look these problems over.
Do you remember which city in India this was?

"Anyway, my comments should not be taken to, in any way at all, devalue the greatness of this game or the acheivement of its creation and distribution. It truly is the finest grand strategy game I've ever played and that's without any changes at all. My hat's off to all who had a hand in it. I've already spent many hours in great pleasure with it and expect countless more as I explore it in various difficulty levels as various nations."
Kelly Whiting

Thank you.
I appreciate your comments. They have been very interesting to read.

Welcome back.


Best Regards


Rocoteh

 

[Rocoteh]

Well I just got prompted to honor my defense pact with the Japanese... took roughly 11 weeks before it happened; but oh well..

Have retaken Plymouth, shelled and bombed New York, and have sent two American BB's to the bottom. I have also taken Cairo and Volosomethingorwhatsit in Russia and am proceeding nicely toward Baku after taking Sochi.

I have taken Tyver and have Moscow surrounded though I don't control more then two of the outlying fortifications, just a big old perimeter of PzIII'....

Sevastapol continues to hold out because I apparently have the most ******** group of artillery men in all of Germany outside it shelling the city... I have been at it for 10 weeks now with three units and have not scored a single hit.

bobtdwarf,

Sevastopol is a very strong fortress.

Loooking forward to hear how the naval campaign in America turns out.

Thank you and welcome back.

Rocoteh

 

[Rocoteh]

We call the arty boys "drop shorts" for obvious reasons. It could be considered overkill but I always build stacks of 10 artillery pieces and move them as an independant artillery battalion. With that stack comes the defensive infantry, flak and whatnot (and if you are german, 88's). With a group that size you can generally crack open a besieged city in 2-3 turns. It also means you don't suffer the high casualty rates or ridiculously long seige times.

The fact that AI is unable to use artillery for offensives is
for sure a major problem.
That is an important difference between a human player and AI.
I did not playtest Civ 4 many times, but this problem seems
to be present in that game-engine also.

Rocoteh

 

[dferrill]

Rocoteh is multiplayer version possible before the end of this year.?thanks in advance.

 

[bobtdwarf]

bobtdwarf,

Sevastopol is a very strong fortress.

Loooking forward to hear how the naval campaign in America turns out.

Thank you and welcome back.

Rocoteh

At the moment I am just keeping whatever is in Sevastopol bottled up in it and subjecting it to bombardment with artillery and aircraft till I wear down the special fortress. Then I will divert forces to taking that city.

As to the naval campaign in the Atlantic I have kept the KM as a single stack except for 3-4 detached surface units of new construction. So I have a pair Gneisenau class and a BismarckC and a couple of light cruisers that are not part of the stack in home waters. The rest of the mega stack is on a seek and destroy mission of any and all enemy surface units, and they have no stack capable of opposing me at the moment.

I will need to restock some aircraft on the two carriers to bring them to full strength but after that I should be able to slowly clear that ocean of anything not flying my flag. I have still not taken a major unit loss at sea since the war started, had them damaged sure, but nothing heavier then a destroyer has been sunk by the allies since '39. While at the same time I can and have destroyed their major surface combatants with near impunity.

I am at this point just continuing to play the game to give myself something to do as historically I would have already won the war by all measures I am aware of. I still can't believe I made a successful invasion of England, though admittedly it was a very near and quite costly thing in the short term; I must have caught England in a very bad way production wise is all I can figure.

 

[warmwaffles]

Now that I've come out of lurker mode after a few years and actually posted; I just have to say that these AAR's and responses from Rocoteh are great reading, keep em coming.

Where have you been the morgue? I'm too punny today! *bada da crash*

I can't really say welcome because you registered way back when

#######################################
# Week 46, 1943
# Germany
# Deity
#######################################

A lot has happened since I last posted which was about 23 weeks past in the game...not real life

I agree, once the Soviets start war against the world, Germany is in a good position for attack. I have taken more cities in such a short amount of time than I ever have.

- Riga:
Riga was easy to take, I just did a simple recon flight over the city and saw that only infantry were gaurding it, so I took a stack of 12 PanzerIIIH's and 4 StuG IIIG's and took it. Nothing entirely special.

- Sevastopol:
Sevastopol was a remarkably easy target, I simply moved a stack of 10 StuG IIIG's and 22 Panzer IIIH's and about 40+ artillery HQs and pounded like mad at their city and took their special fortresses down to one bar of health and since the artillery can't kill units I had to "waste" about 10 Panzers to just get rid of the fortresses and then I had to use the rest of the panzers to finish off the remaining infantry

- Astrachan
This one was funny because I was at peace with the Soviet's for about 4 turns and the British took this city, which sent a green light for me to send in 12 Panzer IIIH's and simply take the city.

- Damascus
I'm not sure if I said this before but I took Damascus because I was on a roll after operation Toppling Turkey, and I decided I would go ahead and start my African campaign and slowly take Africa. Though I am now starting to think it was a bad idea now because I have to watch 3 fronts closely now to make sure I don't get bum rushed.

- Kirkuk
After taking Damascus I began to think I needed to spread more to allow my army to grow more. The city was poorly defended and had 6 or 7 lancaster bombers that I took out.

- Jerusalem
Again poorly defended by the British and it fell within 1 turn. Oh and the muslims called...they want their land back

- Suez, Alexandria, Cairo
All three of these cities fell in one turn to my mighty PZIVf's. I had a stack of 20 and added 13 more Panzer IIIH's to the equation along with 10 StuG IIIG's. Now to start focusing on the Soviets because with every turn I stall and not take Stalingrad or Munich I begin to become over whelmed by the numbers of troops the Soviets put out.

 

[Hornblower]

Britain - SID - Wk 45 1940

Germany controls Western Europe. Spain has been crushed. Gibraltar has fallen and has been razed. The toll on the Wehrmacht was brutal though. They are extremely vulnerable with only 44 Infantry and 38 Pz III's. The Luftwaffe has also been almost totally destroyed thanks to a lure and destroy plan by the Royal Navy.
Two task groups are bombarding Antwerp and Amsterdam. The Antwerp task group is permanently in range of two airbases. The Amsterdam task group bombards and then retreats under the CAP umbrella. No less than 12 Hurricanes are providing CAP at all times. This has served two purposes. One is the suicide attacks of Luftwaffe fighters and bombers on my capital ships. The second draws out the Bismarck class BB's. They had some success early in the piece however my weight of numbers has told. The Germans have 5 Bismarcks however even if successful sinking one of my BB's they then retreat into port only to be bombarded to death. This tactic has also worked in Asia taking down no less than 5 Yamato's in the Dutch East Indies.

Italy declared war on the USSR at the worst possible time for the Axis however the Soviet AI did not capitalise. Instead I believe it sent its forces east to take on the much stronger Japanese. There was intense pressure from the Japanese as they pushed into Burma from French Indochina and from the north across the Himalaya from Lhasa. A few well constructed forts held them off until I could fly in Beaufighters and build Matilda's. The pressure from the Soviets has allowed me to build a large contingent of Matilda tanks ready for a push north. The island campaign will be much more difficult with four Japanese attack groups hunting this region. They each have two Yamatos, a destroyer and a transport. Both Australia and NZ have been scouted by these groups but large garrisons have discouraged attacks at this stage. My weaker naval forces will have to run a gauntlet to take back New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies. That will come later.

The situation for Britain has improved immeasurably economically and research wise with 20,000 gp's and an average research time of 8-10 turns. The better units will start to come soon.

The Japanese have also landed a probe in northern Canada near Prince Rupert. I will have to conduct a mad scramble to build some units in an attempt to hold them off.

 

[warmwaffles]

Interesting...I can't play as a big country to start off with...so much crap to do the first few 50 turns...how ever with germany its setup a few cities to get pumping out units and begin a massive world domination.

I think the next country I will play especially if 2.6 comes out is the Soviets. I have always wanted to be the iron curtain ^_^

 

[bobtdwarf]

week 28 1941...

Scotland has fallen. I am presently at peace with the Soviets after having taken several of their cities; basically I have Kazakhstan, the Caucasus oil fields and have pushed to the Urals while bypassing Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad.

I then moved against Persia and have all but the Afghan portion and their port on the Indian ocean. I have taken Kuwait and Baghdad, and have a sizable force moving on Kirkuk right now. I have taken Algeria and Morocco and still hold Egypt.

For about a month and a half the Soviets were at war with the Allies again because China declared war on them for some unknown reason. But they are now at peace and I suspect that Stalin is going to declare war upon me at any moment; he did give up 22 gold per turn in the peace deal along with 8 workers...

I am about to put another transports worth of heavy armor into Africa to heat up that front a bit and since I have Gibraltar and a right of passage with Spain and I have been building France up industrially I should be able to poor a sizable number of units into Africa by mid '42.

On the naval front I have still not lost a major surface unit since '39 and haven't lost a minor one in over a year except for subs which are sacrificial to be blunt. I have nailed 4 really juicy convoys just before they were to make landfall sinking their BB escorts and smaller craft along with the transport, so that puts another 6-8 allied battlewagons down. I have four H class building and 5 Gneisenau's along with 3 or perhaps 4 Bismarcks, probablly 3 I think I counted one twice. Two carriers operational and two more building so I am pretty confident in the ability of the KM at this point to bloody the nose of anyone foolish enough to come with in gun range.

After I get the Levant tied up I think I will turn East and India while sending a moderate force down Africa to keep the English and French off balance. That is if the Soviets don't get stupid and attack me again, which I am really not looking forward to as I have seen a few T-34/76's roaming about. I am pretty sure that IF they do I can throw enough stuff at Moscow to take her this time around and IF the artillery guys have pulled their heads out their butts then perhaps Sevastopol as well.

 

[warmwaffles]

Has anyone noticed this problem that the A.I. doesn't use their workers effectively. This whole time I look at Italy's terrain and not one single mine or irrigation or railroad has been lain.

Now I am going through and actually improving their terrain and attempting to make them better this late in the show.

Now the way we can combat this is make the cost of building worke rs high and the building rate the original way because the A.I. will only use workers in stacks of two's...and last time I checked railroads can't be built with just two workers in a time frame feasible.

 

[Aecon]

To Repeat my theory as follows from my last play test which failed;

"After play testing 2.3usa sid in a secondary role to The British Commonwealth, ie. Giving most of the financial resources of the USA to the Brits, I discovered that the AI made them more aggressive then I have ever seen the AI play in any game! In later turns as the USA infrastructure became even more powerful I applied the same economic support for China and they were able to take part in the offensives againest both Japan and the USSR. (They even held Warsaw for some time.) In other observed play tests, it is apparent that AI Germany handles their Navy and the assault for the USSR poorly. My new play test will be to artificially give AI Germany 500 to 1000 additional "gold" per turn to promote the aggressive behavior I believe will occur thus allowing players to adjust the aggressive behavior of AI opponents in a simple fashion instead of a whole new scenario for each of the major positions to be played. I will invent a resource called "platinum" and use it within the German Nation to increase the intrinsic income of that nation. So that I may carefully monitor this result I will play Italy (vanilla 2.4) with a new "mobile observer unit" in key locations to test the result."

My new changes are: 1) to stop AI production of 88's and Security Divisions and place them on autoproduction - 1 each per turn, 2) autoproduce two Type VII and one Type IX U-Boat every 2 turns, Allow Pz II Production until 12/41 (the AI seems to favor them) and allow Pz IIIe to upgrade to Pz IIIh, and Pz IIIg & Pz IIIh to upgrade to Stug III if any still survive that long. Remove "platinum" and place the "25 gold" on the "German" Resource giving the same amount of increase economy. Cosmetic change - Combat engineers to use the "Flamethrower" graphics. Italian Motorized Infantry to use the "Sdkfz251" Graphics.

On a sidebar--I do not use Caps Lock. I feel that after spending upwards of 3 hours per turn in the later stages I deserve a little entertainment; that is also my reason for the cosmetic graphic changes to the units mentioned above.


After 3 abortive attempts at Italy to effectively get past Week 9 with a navy I decided maybe a little more tweaking will be necessary in order to make the position playable on Deity. WW2_global 2.4 has maximized the use of the Civ3 engine so this is not really a different mod but perhaps a "beta" for the future production of Nation specific versions. I have usually played Italy on Deity and I have had very poor results. I must get past the first ten weeks with 3 BBs, half my cruisers, and 20 to 25 Subs and a similiar amount of Destroyers left to defend againest the possible amphibious assaults to make this a playable test.

NOTE: These small changes are to allow for Italy to survive in the secondary role as an active player:

1) Adding, with the spare city, the city of Massena at X197:Y109 (could also be named Salerno) size 2, 10 influence, Granary, Harbor, Walls, Temple; which allows for the transfer of split Naval forces to combine quickly.
2) Changing Gold to Gold 25 X196:Y98 and adding a Gold 25 at X195:Y97 in central Italy to allow some money to spend on technology.
3) Changing Fish to Fish 25 at X192:Y98 (Rome should have a larger population to allow for the quicker production of workers and later combat engineers.)
4) Special Fortresses as border guards in N Africa at X189:Y119 and X205:Y121 (speed bumps) to give the player a chance to reinforce N Africa if they want to make a fight of it.
5) Finally, Bringing the 2 Italian Inf Units in Addis Abeba to Veteran status.

Since my last abortive attempts (Germany was a highly aggressive AI in all!) Germany took London before Paris!!! I added a minefield to X181:Y65 and a Fortress unit in London to offset any possible naval bombardment forcing an aerial "Battle of Britain."

NOTE: Two map annoyances which I do not believe should affect gameplay or strategy but will allow the AI and the player less effort in balancing "food:" 1) to allow hills to be terraced (adding one food, and losing the ability to mine) and 2) the oasis resource raised or lowered by one to either 5 or 7 so to allow the cities affected not have to build and destroy workers during the game to keep the city "happy."

With these tweaks I am starting a playtest to Italy's bitter end (once my minimum survival requirements are met.) I am confident that the changes made to the Axis positions including Japanese changes (an extra eight "25 Gold" resource to Japan and only allowing autoproduction of 2 militia units per turn) will increase the production of offensive units and the AI aggression sufficiently thereby allowing only minor map adjustments to make "player positions" possible rather than wholesale player versions for each position.


Are there any suggestions about other ways to increase the AI Aggression?


September 1st 1939, The Polish Cavalry invades Germany!!! The 252nd and 257th National Guard put up a valiant resistance defending the Town and Airport of X205Y73 but to no avail. They are overrun by the bitter determination of this rogue nation to start a world war. Britain and France and their puppet the USA join in to destroy the successes Fascism has had in relieving the worldwide depression caused by the misguided democracies. So be it. 5 Destroyers sortie from Tunis and our Subs intercept and sink them with no losses. 3 Cruisers and destroyers from Marseilles receive the same fate. Another Mongrol nation of Slavs decides to criticize our willingness to fight for our ordered way of life and we assist the Croats and Albanian Brothers in their rebellion againest their Serbian oppressors. Zagreb and Dubrovnick rise up and welcome our troops of liberation. Croatia has also had a call to arms to join side by side with our armies in liberating Eastern Europe from the imposed economic woes heaped upon them by the strong arm tactics of Churchill, Petain and the cripple "what's his name" from the North American Nation of halfbreeds. The struggle will be long, but the might of the Righteous Providers of law and order will prevail!

To be continued...................

 

[slash667]

Hi guys!
After a break because my life went down the drain, i started playing this again, and now it is week 16 of 1941, as Germany on Sid level, and things are going great!
Not too much changes from the last time I posted however, because the Soviets were able to build up a massive military, and was at times as big as mine. Now a big part of the Wehrmacht is mostly engaging Soviet troops on the former Polish-Russian border, while in the north I was able to get up to Leningrad, and now am attacking Moscow from behind, as well as Minsk and other cities from the north, in order to cut off the hundreds of motorized infantry divisions, T34s and KV1s which keep rambling into New-Prussia. Thank god for bombers, they damage most of them, then the Ju87 go in and wreak havoc, and then my older Pz IIIes get the rest of them. But still, wave after wave, after wave keeps coming. It is incredible. Slowly but surely I am taking away their production capability, however, and hope to soon be able to start an offensive in South Russia, and have my soldiers rest at the shores of the Black Sea. During a quick peace of 4 or 5 weeks, I decided to get rid of the Spanish, who kept annoying me with their troops trying to get through Grossdeutschland to Russia. Sadly, the Spanish had gone on an ethnic rampage and completely destroyed the Portugese. Well, they paid bitterly for that, and now the entire Iberian peninsula is under German control, and Madrid is even building tanks. Except for in Iberia, and The British Isles, almost all cities are now connected to the Reichsbahn. Over a hundred workers, and a huge unknown amount of foreign workers did an incredible job for months, and are still working in the east, to improve roads and railroads to connect every newly conquered city.
In other news, the Japanese have completely eradicated the Chinese forces, and taken every city but one. When this city is taken, there will be no sovereign chinese government left, as the Soviets had destroyed communist china a year ago. As far as I can tell, the Japanese have now also started an offensive against Russia, but have not been too successful. Only one city has been taken in the last 10 weeks.
The Americans and British keep sending small taskforces with transports over the Atlantic, but Bombers, Uboats and Battleships have either damaged or sunk all of these vessels. The Atlantic is entirely under German control, with 25 Type IX and even more Type VII Uboats patrolling almost the entire northern part. Not to speak of the four Bismarck class battleships, which take care of the American Battleships.

Man, I really love this game. It is so much fun!
Again, I have to say that building a lot of workers at the beginning really helped me. Right now I have three cities that produce workers, but right in the beginning it was ervery single city for several weeks, and without these workers it would have been impossible to get where I am now. I seem to be behind a little technologically, but in the end my tanks are still better than the Russian's, and in two week production of Panzer IIIh will begin. I am not sure whether to research Panzergrenadiere, but they seem to be pretty powerful defensive units, so I think I might.
My total Panzer numbers seem to be pretty steady, I have about 90 Panzer IIIgs, and 48 Panzher IIIes left, while Soviet T34 numbers have been rising and falling at dramatic rates. 5 weeks ago there were 80 T34s, now there are only 45 left. Similar with the KV1s. However their ability to rebuild very quickly has already been demonstrated once, so we cannot relent on our attack. We hope to control Russian territory west of the Urals by the end of this year.

Es brausen unsere Panzer im Sturmwind dahin!

 

[friedonions]

Sry if this has been said already but, I have like 5 flak in london and all of the british bombers get through i only shoot down mabye 2 a turn anyone know why this is?

 

[Uncle_Ted]

Has anyone noticed this problem that the A.I. doesn't use their workers effectively. This whole time I look at Italy's terrain and not one single mine or irrigation or railroad has been lain.

Now I am going through and actually improving their terrain and attempting to make them better this late in the show.

Now the way we can combat this is make the cost of building worke rs high and the building rate the original way because the A.I. will only use workers in stacks of two's...and last time I checked railroads can't be built with just two workers in a time frame feasible.

My guess is that it because the AI is tying up its workers trying to build railroads. One more reason not to have them in this scenario.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Played through to 1944/45 as a continuation of my previous game (referred to in earlier posts).

I pursued an air offensive option against Germany, putting together a sizeable force of Lancasters (36+), and concentrating on one city each turn, along with Mosquitos and fighter escort. Very effective.

This was not the overall plan, though, as I had decided on the nuclear option. It took some time and a lot of cash, but I built up a goodly stock of atom bombs and their delivery systems. Then deployed them all in one turn. Every city in Germany got three in succession, except for Berlin, which was hit six times. German occupied cities were hit with the conventional bomber force

A small armoured force then rolled in from Italy and from a landing in the Netherlands, liberating occupied Europe, and razing every German city.

December 1945. Victory.

I may play on and take on the Soviets.

More updates to follow about matters in the Pacific.

 

[slash667]

Wow, you really don't like Germany, do you?