oljb007
Warlord
Rocoteh said:
that ends that discussion!
bummer
WW2-Global
- Thread starter Rocoteh
- Start date
that ends that discussion!
bummerChunky Kong
Warlord
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2004
- Messages
- 191
Oh, and can there be saves for easier levels?
allin1joe
Prince
Chunky Kong said:
Truthfully, there doesn't need to be saves at easier levels. I am a normal Emperor player, and I am kicking butt on Demi-God in this scenario. The difficulty factor mainly comes in during the build phase of a game. Since this game doesn't have one, it minimizes the effect of difficulty here.
allin1joe
Prince
As for the AA discussion, I was thinking about the AI version Rocoteh is currently working on. AA on regular units would be something only the AI would have.
oljb007
Warlord
allin1joe said:
thats a good point as german units are for the most part specific (as is most every other civs units) and the effect wouldn't be applied to them.
Rocoteh,
Final update on Ver 1.7 SID Britain
Week 6, 1943
It is allover but the shouting.
Britain continued its attack on Germany and has now reached the English
Channel. Germany has no chance of surviving.
The main problem for Britain was overcoming the Luftwaffe. Germany had
built a huge fighter force of 150 ME 262's, 100 FW-90's and 63He 219's.
Those fighters, combined with flak and anti-air defenses were able to almost
completely shut down my ability to bomb German territory without taking
staggering losses to the Royal Air Force.
This had severe consequences since I had placed a large percentage of
Britain's offensive combat power in the air force. I had to rapidly covert a lot
of prodcuution from Lancasters to Comet tanks and pay to rush production.
Here the economic advantage I had built up really paid off.
Since I could not use air power, I had to rely on artillery, armor, and
infantry ground attacks. I had a bit of luck when I found the German AI had
a lot of aircraft on those airfileds to the East of Warsaw. They were lightly
defended by ground units and I was able to destroy a not insignificat chunk of the
Luftwaffe on the ground at those airfields.
I also kept up constant Spitfire attacks around the perimeter of German
territory. It was basically attrition warfare. Britain had a bout 370 Spitfires
at the start of my offensive into Germany. By the time I reached the English
Channel I had 276 left, and that was with massive ongoing production of
Spitfires. By the last wo turns I had been able to suppress the Luftwaffe
enough to extensively bomb lines of communication in Southeastern Europe
to prevent German counterattacks from there. However, anti-air defenses in
German cities still prevented bombardment of the citeis.
I used workers extensively to build railroads and roads to support a rapid
advance and to build fortications wherever units ended their turn in
vulnerable positions. Workers also kept French untis off my main lines of
communication to the rear so I could move units forward.
Shortly after I began my attack into Germany, I lost my spy, so was flyhing
blind on what Germany had in each city. Berlin was the toughest with 2
armies and about 25 other divisions defending. Britain lost about 30 divisions taking Berlin.
The other cities were much easier than Berlin, but not easy. SS Panzer Divs,
Panzer Grenadier Divs, and Stug III's put up a tenacious defense augmented
by the large city populations.
I chose to invade across the North German plain because the terrain was
easier and offered the opportunity to take two or three cities per turn.
On this last turn I took 6 cities: Ruhr, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stuttgart, and
Munich, plus Bucharest off the the East.
I protected the Southern flank of my advance by building fortiifications along
the way to protect from attacks from the South. Although the further I
went, the less the German AI had the capacity to counterattack, especially since
I coutinually attacked with air and naval forces around the entire perimeter oif German territory.
Italy is incapable of anything, although there is a small remant of the Italian
airforce. And Italian infantry keep turning up in strrange palces like Siberia.
Japan is in bad shape, confined to its hoime island and bombarded by a
squadron of KGV BB's. The Dutch have made several attempt to invnvade
the Japese main island, and the US has taken 1 city on the Japanese main island.
No significant US forces have landed in Europe. The US took Sicily and
Taranto in Italy, but there wer no further attacks. There is one US HMG
division which has been wandering around Central Asia for some time. The
US has some B=29's at Taranto which have done some ineffectual bombing - nothing decisive.
This was a very challenging game at SID level and I had a lot of lucky breaks.
It was a very close thing on several occasions.
I'll post some thoughts on Britsih strategy and units I found most useful later.
Grizx
Final update on Ver 1.7 SID Britain
Week 6, 1943
It is allover but the shouting.
Britain continued its attack on Germany and has now reached the English
Channel. Germany has no chance of surviving.
The main problem for Britain was overcoming the Luftwaffe. Germany had
built a huge fighter force of 150 ME 262's, 100 FW-90's and 63He 219's.
Those fighters, combined with flak and anti-air defenses were able to almost
completely shut down my ability to bomb German territory without taking
staggering losses to the Royal Air Force.
This had severe consequences since I had placed a large percentage of
Britain's offensive combat power in the air force. I had to rapidly covert a lot
of prodcuution from Lancasters to Comet tanks and pay to rush production.
Here the economic advantage I had built up really paid off.
Since I could not use air power, I had to rely on artillery, armor, and
infantry ground attacks. I had a bit of luck when I found the German AI had
a lot of aircraft on those airfileds to the East of Warsaw. They were lightly
defended by ground units and I was able to destroy a not insignificat chunk of the
Luftwaffe on the ground at those airfields.
I also kept up constant Spitfire attacks around the perimeter of German
territory. It was basically attrition warfare. Britain had a bout 370 Spitfires
at the start of my offensive into Germany. By the time I reached the English
Channel I had 276 left, and that was with massive ongoing production of
Spitfires. By the last wo turns I had been able to suppress the Luftwaffe
enough to extensively bomb lines of communication in Southeastern Europe
to prevent German counterattacks from there. However, anti-air defenses in
German cities still prevented bombardment of the citeis.
I used workers extensively to build railroads and roads to support a rapid
advance and to build fortications wherever units ended their turn in
vulnerable positions. Workers also kept French untis off my main lines of
communication to the rear so I could move units forward.
Shortly after I began my attack into Germany, I lost my spy, so was flyhing
blind on what Germany had in each city. Berlin was the toughest with 2
armies and about 25 other divisions defending. Britain lost about 30 divisions taking Berlin.
The other cities were much easier than Berlin, but not easy. SS Panzer Divs,
Panzer Grenadier Divs, and Stug III's put up a tenacious defense augmented
by the large city populations.
I chose to invade across the North German plain because the terrain was
easier and offered the opportunity to take two or three cities per turn.
On this last turn I took 6 cities: Ruhr, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stuttgart, and
Munich, plus Bucharest off the the East.
I protected the Southern flank of my advance by building fortiifications along
the way to protect from attacks from the South. Although the further I
went, the less the German AI had the capacity to counterattack, especially since
I coutinually attacked with air and naval forces around the entire perimeter oif German territory.
Italy is incapable of anything, although there is a small remant of the Italian
airforce. And Italian infantry keep turning up in strrange palces like Siberia.
Japan is in bad shape, confined to its hoime island and bombarded by a
squadron of KGV BB's. The Dutch have made several attempt to invnvade
the Japese main island, and the US has taken 1 city on the Japanese main island.
No significant US forces have landed in Europe. The US took Sicily and
Taranto in Italy, but there wer no further attacks. There is one US HMG
division which has been wandering around Central Asia for some time. The
US has some B=29's at Taranto which have done some ineffectual bombing - nothing decisive.
This was a very challenging game at SID level and I had a lot of lucky breaks.
It was a very close thing on several occasions.
I'll post some thoughts on Britsih strategy and units I found most useful later.
Grizx
Attachments
eaglefox said:
eaglefox,
Unit-stats for armoured units are based on front armour, side armour,
rear armour and max penetration factor for the main gun.
Then I estimate troop quality, morale and so on for the combat formation
that the unit represents.
Thus stats are more than the sum of armour and gun.
When it comes to Panzer IVh and JS I the main gun of the German
tank was much better then one could think if one just compares mm:s.
Rocoteh
Grizx,
Thank you for the report and the screenshots.
"The main problem for Britain was overcoming the Luftwaffe. Germany had
built a huge fighter force of 150 ME 262's, 100 FW-90's and 63He 219's.
Those fighters, combined with flak and anti-air defenses were able to almost
completely shut down my ability to bomb German territory without taking
staggering losses to the Royal Air Force.
This had severe consequences since I had placed a large percentage of
Britain's offensive combat power in the air force. I had to rapidly covert a lot
of prodcuution from Lancasters to Comet tanks and pay to rush production.
Here the economic advantage I had built up really paid off." Grizx
I think this is interesting since its contradicts what have been
earlier stated by some: build a huge air-force and you will always defeat AI.
I have read your playtest-reports from start to the end and they
have all been very interesting. Thank you for them and the screenshots
that also were of high value.
Welcome back with more comments.
Rocoteh
Thank you for the report and the screenshots.
"The main problem for Britain was overcoming the Luftwaffe. Germany had
built a huge fighter force of 150 ME 262's, 100 FW-90's and 63He 219's.
Those fighters, combined with flak and anti-air defenses were able to almost
completely shut down my ability to bomb German territory without taking
staggering losses to the Royal Air Force.
This had severe consequences since I had placed a large percentage of
Britain's offensive combat power in the air force. I had to rapidly covert a lot
of prodcuution from Lancasters to Comet tanks and pay to rush production.
Here the economic advantage I had built up really paid off." Grizx
I think this is interesting since its contradicts what have been
earlier stated by some: build a huge air-force and you will always defeat AI.
I have read your playtest-reports from start to the end and they
have all been very interesting. Thank you for them and the screenshots
that also were of high value.
Welcome back with more comments.
Rocoteh
oljb007
Warlord
WOW!! I am amazed the AI built that much air power.
Did the AI use this air power against your ground units?
allin1joe
Prince
Well, I just ordered my new computer, so I'll be able to start REALLY play testing this in a couple of weeks. AMD Athlon64 3500+ CPU with 2 GB of RAM. This puppy should fly. I usually only have 1-2 hours to play, so now I can get more then 1-2 turns in at a time 
Not sure how much I'll be playing before I get the new computer, so my posts will decrease for a bit.
Not sure how much I'll be playing before I get the new computer, so my posts will decrease for a bit.
Cowabunga
Chieftain
Grizx,
"The main problem for Britain was overcoming the Luftwaffe. Germany had
built a huge fighter force of 150 ME 262's, 100 FW-90's and 63He 219's.
Those fighters, combined with flak and anti-air defenses were able to almost
completely shut down my ability to bomb German territory without taking
staggering losses to the Royal Air Force.
This had severe consequences since I had placed a large percentage of
Britain's offensive combat power in the air force. I had to rapidly covert a lot
of prodcuution from Lancasters to Comet tanks and pay to rush production.
Here the economic advantage I had built up really paid off."
It sounds to me like the AI knew what your strength was and reacted accordingly. Did you check to see if the German AI had planted a spy in Britain?
Very respectfully,
Cowabunga
"The main problem for Britain was overcoming the Luftwaffe. Germany had
built a huge fighter force of 150 ME 262's, 100 FW-90's and 63He 219's.
Those fighters, combined with flak and anti-air defenses were able to almost
completely shut down my ability to bomb German territory without taking
staggering losses to the Royal Air Force.
This had severe consequences since I had placed a large percentage of
Britain's offensive combat power in the air force. I had to rapidly covert a lot
of prodcuution from Lancasters to Comet tanks and pay to rush production.
Here the economic advantage I had built up really paid off."
It sounds to me like the AI knew what your strength was and reacted accordingly. Did you check to see if the German AI had planted a spy in Britain?
Very respectfully,
Cowabunga
allin1joe said:Well, I just ordered my new computer, so I'll be able to start REALLY play testing this in a couple of weeks. AMD Athlon64 3500+ CPU with 2 GB of RAM. This puppy should fly. I usually only have 1-2 hours to play, so now I can get more then 1-2 turns in at a time
Not sure how much I'll be playing before I get the new computer, so my posts will decrease for a bit.
allin1joe,
That is a computer with very good capacity!
It will be interesting to hear how much load and waiting time
is reduced.
Rocoteh
Rocoteh, oljb007, Cowabunga
Ill do this in two posts. First some observations.thoughts. In the second post some suggestions for consideration.
Some thoughts on air power in the scenario.
Air power can be decisive in this scenario and rightly so.
Air power is flexible. It can be quickly moved around the world to concentrate for an offense or for defense.
Air power is effective and almost essential for successful naval warfare.
Anti-air defenses and fighter defenses can be very effective in stopping enemy air attacks.
The AI has some obvious weaknesses in using air power, as it does with amphibious assaults and use of artillery.
However, I would be very cautious about making any changes to air and anti-air elements in the scenario. For those making such suggestions, I would strongly urge that you first play several games at SID level. (Apologies if you have already done so.)
As I have said before, I am not an expert Civ 3 player. In regular Civ 3 games I find SID level almost impossible. That is not true for this scenario. You are not building a civilization from scratch, which is where much of the difficulty resides in normal Civ 3 games. In this scenario, at Emperor, Demi-God, and Deity levels you will get a guaranteed early win over the AI that may well leave you either unsatisfied or convinced that elements of the scenario are unbalanced. At SID level you will still probably win, but it will be much tougher and the tipping point will come much later.
Most of you know what I mean by the tipping point where you know you have beaten the AI and it is just a matter of time before you roll right over the opposition. If that tipping point comes early, as it will with the easier game settings, it will mean that the AIs have not had enough time to develop their economies, conduct research for better units, and build strong forces. Beating the scenario at these levels with an early rush is easy and will give you a win, but not a very satisfying or challenging win. At Sid level you at least give the AIs a fighting chance..
I like to build large air forces. They are powerful and flexible. But I do not see a large air force as the cakewalk that some seem to make it out to be. At easier difficulty levels, it is possible to build huge bomber fleets early in the game (as I have done at easier levels) and send them off to bomb indiscriminately without worrying about heavy losses (as I have done).
But at SID level things get a bit more complicated.
Bombers need to be preceded by fighters to clear the air space of enemy fighters, or you lose your bombers. (Even the Italian air force can play havoc with unescorted bombers.) Since fighters have a shorter range than bombers, you need to plan where your fighters must be based to cover your bombers. Building airfields near the front lines may be necessary. Fighters get damaged, which means they can only fight or defend every other turn if they are to be repaired. Fighters cannot be repaired at airfields, so they need to be rotated out. Airfields need strong ground forces to defend them if they are near the front lines. Fighters, with their short range, have to move forward continually to keep up with the advance or you cant use your bombers.
I believe the AI does react to air attacks by building strong air defenses, flak, and large numbers of fighters. There have been many, many times in my games that I have not been able to use my bombers without risking unacceptably high losses from AI anti-air, flak, and fighter defenses.
Given the somewhat greater production constraints at SID level, you must also consider the mix of bombers, fighters, fighter bombers and flak that you produce in comparison to armor, artillery, infantry and naval forces. In my last game, I realized almost too late that I had built too many bombers and not enough armor. The AI had such strong fighter and anti-air defenses that my bombers were useless for a time.
Bombers can be really deadly when they attack enemy ground units that have moved out of the cover of their own fighter and anti-air defenses. This is why I like to use kill zones that the enemy cannot reach with his fighters. Draw an enemy attack into such a kill zone and you can do some real damage. If you go back and look at the screen shots of my last game, you will see that I used choke points and kill zones. For example, I made a strong defense at the Istanbul choke point and taught the German AI it was not useful to attack me there. (Yes the Ai does learn such things)
Since the German AI could not invade England because I also defended strongly there, all it could do was go through Russia to get at me. That meant that all German attacks through Russian territory were done without fighter cover, not to mention also being at the end of a long supply/reinforcement line through Russian territory. The result piecemeal attacks devastated by air power. Note that the Germans did send 88 type flak units with their panzers.
The same applied to the massive Soviet offensive in Manchuria (see screen shots posted earlier). Soviet cities there are spaced far apart, which means they cannot easily provide mutual supporting fighter defense. Nevertheless, Soviet fighters posed a big problem (90+ Mig 3s). I had to build a couple of airfields near the front and had to commit most of my fighters. Most of the damage my air power did was when Soviet forces left their fighter cover and entered my kill zone. Even then, one stack of Soviet units had 37 flak divisions (an AI stupidity) that could only be taken down by ground forces.
I still lost many, many fighters and bombers.
Another effective use of air power is to destroy road/rail networks. This works better on the defense than the offense, since if you are attacking you may well need those road/rail lines as you move forward. But isolating an objective by cutting its lines of communication before you attack will mean fewer enemy reinforcements. A large force of workers is then needed to rapidly rebuild roads and rail lines to keep your offensive moving. But on the defense, destroying roads/rail in fornt of your positions will slow the enemy advance and give you a couple of extra turns to bomb them or do hit and run attacks with armor and mobile artillery. Note that you should leave roads/rail in your own territory intact so you can do those hit and run attacks. Planting forests in front of your positions will also slow down an attacks but will also give the attacker some added defensive advantage against your counter-attacks.
Bombers are also very good for rear area security. Got pesky Italians, Russians, Finns or whatever showing up at inconvenient places in your rear? A few bombers helped I reserve will take care of them and allow you to keep your rear cities lightly garrisoned. Here again I am describing how bombers can be deadly against unescorted, unsupported units. That is not unrealistic.
One of the considerations limiting AI air power is the number of cities it owns. It must strike some sort of balance between air ground and naval production. A human player can influence that production. I believe that by not making any air attacks you can get an opposing AI to ignore air defenses (fighters) and concentrate on ground unit production. Conversely, frequent and persistent air attacks will cause the AI to build more fighters and fewer ground units. This offers the possibility of building a huge bomber and fighter fleet but not using it until you launch a massive surprise air attack to destroy what will be lesser air defenses and devastate an opponents economy. The down side will be that you will have many more enemy ground forces to deal with. Hordes of Japanese infantry is one thing, dozens of SS Panzer divisions is something else.
Japan is at a real disadvantage here because it must build powerful land, air, and naval forces from a very limited number of cities and those cities on its home island are closely spaced and so interfere with production capacity.. Plus Japanese expansion towards Australia means amphibious assaults and isolated cities which cannot support each other. A human player can overcome this, but the AI has a problem. So Japanese air power is usually not what it should be. Apart from getting rescouces, Japans best bet is to go for India, but there it is hindered by lack of good armor.
Russia has enough cities, but needs time to build its production capacity. Same with the US and Britain. Russia has a a problem in that its cities are far apart and fighters from one city usually cannot cover nearby cites so they can usually be taken in isolation. Germany and Italy, on the other hand have mutually supporting cities which makes air attacks on continental Europe more difficult.
Germany needs to attack early so it can capture more cities for production. France, Spain, Turkey, and Russia Westof the Ural mtns are the best bets for rapid German expansion. I f the German AI does not get at least two of those four then it is in trouble.
Cowabunga = The German AI may have had a spy, I never checked. But I think the real impetus to it prodicing so many fighters was becasue of my continuous use of air attacks on its units. Russia did the same.
olbj007 = Becasue Germany was so focused on fighter production, it did not build bombers and so I did not get bombed much. What bomber Germany sent wer shot down over England. German DDF's did more bombardment damage than bombers. Russia built some bombers but not enough to do damage. But then Russia too was building a lot of fighters - 93 Mig 3 at one point.
The US did build bombers, Used a fair number in Europe and Russia, but sent them without fighter cover so they died real quick
So my point is that the AI does pretty well with ant-air and fighter defenses, especially if you are not using an easy game level to conduct an early rush offensive.
Apologies for this being so long. Hope it is useful. And again this is just from my perspective. I dont pretend to have all the answers.
Grizx
Ill do this in two posts. First some observations.thoughts. In the second post some suggestions for consideration.
Some thoughts on air power in the scenario.
Air power can be decisive in this scenario and rightly so.
Air power is flexible. It can be quickly moved around the world to concentrate for an offense or for defense.
Air power is effective and almost essential for successful naval warfare.
Anti-air defenses and fighter defenses can be very effective in stopping enemy air attacks.
The AI has some obvious weaknesses in using air power, as it does with amphibious assaults and use of artillery.
However, I would be very cautious about making any changes to air and anti-air elements in the scenario. For those making such suggestions, I would strongly urge that you first play several games at SID level. (Apologies if you have already done so.)
As I have said before, I am not an expert Civ 3 player. In regular Civ 3 games I find SID level almost impossible. That is not true for this scenario. You are not building a civilization from scratch, which is where much of the difficulty resides in normal Civ 3 games. In this scenario, at Emperor, Demi-God, and Deity levels you will get a guaranteed early win over the AI that may well leave you either unsatisfied or convinced that elements of the scenario are unbalanced. At SID level you will still probably win, but it will be much tougher and the tipping point will come much later.
Most of you know what I mean by the tipping point where you know you have beaten the AI and it is just a matter of time before you roll right over the opposition. If that tipping point comes early, as it will with the easier game settings, it will mean that the AIs have not had enough time to develop their economies, conduct research for better units, and build strong forces. Beating the scenario at these levels with an early rush is easy and will give you a win, but not a very satisfying or challenging win. At Sid level you at least give the AIs a fighting chance..
I like to build large air forces. They are powerful and flexible. But I do not see a large air force as the cakewalk that some seem to make it out to be. At easier difficulty levels, it is possible to build huge bomber fleets early in the game (as I have done at easier levels) and send them off to bomb indiscriminately without worrying about heavy losses (as I have done).
But at SID level things get a bit more complicated.
Bombers need to be preceded by fighters to clear the air space of enemy fighters, or you lose your bombers. (Even the Italian air force can play havoc with unescorted bombers.) Since fighters have a shorter range than bombers, you need to plan where your fighters must be based to cover your bombers. Building airfields near the front lines may be necessary. Fighters get damaged, which means they can only fight or defend every other turn if they are to be repaired. Fighters cannot be repaired at airfields, so they need to be rotated out. Airfields need strong ground forces to defend them if they are near the front lines. Fighters, with their short range, have to move forward continually to keep up with the advance or you cant use your bombers.
I believe the AI does react to air attacks by building strong air defenses, flak, and large numbers of fighters. There have been many, many times in my games that I have not been able to use my bombers without risking unacceptably high losses from AI anti-air, flak, and fighter defenses.
Given the somewhat greater production constraints at SID level, you must also consider the mix of bombers, fighters, fighter bombers and flak that you produce in comparison to armor, artillery, infantry and naval forces. In my last game, I realized almost too late that I had built too many bombers and not enough armor. The AI had such strong fighter and anti-air defenses that my bombers were useless for a time.
Bombers can be really deadly when they attack enemy ground units that have moved out of the cover of their own fighter and anti-air defenses. This is why I like to use kill zones that the enemy cannot reach with his fighters. Draw an enemy attack into such a kill zone and you can do some real damage. If you go back and look at the screen shots of my last game, you will see that I used choke points and kill zones. For example, I made a strong defense at the Istanbul choke point and taught the German AI it was not useful to attack me there. (Yes the Ai does learn such things)
Since the German AI could not invade England because I also defended strongly there, all it could do was go through Russia to get at me. That meant that all German attacks through Russian territory were done without fighter cover, not to mention also being at the end of a long supply/reinforcement line through Russian territory. The result piecemeal attacks devastated by air power. Note that the Germans did send 88 type flak units with their panzers.
The same applied to the massive Soviet offensive in Manchuria (see screen shots posted earlier). Soviet cities there are spaced far apart, which means they cannot easily provide mutual supporting fighter defense. Nevertheless, Soviet fighters posed a big problem (90+ Mig 3s). I had to build a couple of airfields near the front and had to commit most of my fighters. Most of the damage my air power did was when Soviet forces left their fighter cover and entered my kill zone. Even then, one stack of Soviet units had 37 flak divisions (an AI stupidity) that could only be taken down by ground forces.
I still lost many, many fighters and bombers.
Another effective use of air power is to destroy road/rail networks. This works better on the defense than the offense, since if you are attacking you may well need those road/rail lines as you move forward. But isolating an objective by cutting its lines of communication before you attack will mean fewer enemy reinforcements. A large force of workers is then needed to rapidly rebuild roads and rail lines to keep your offensive moving. But on the defense, destroying roads/rail in fornt of your positions will slow the enemy advance and give you a couple of extra turns to bomb them or do hit and run attacks with armor and mobile artillery. Note that you should leave roads/rail in your own territory intact so you can do those hit and run attacks. Planting forests in front of your positions will also slow down an attacks but will also give the attacker some added defensive advantage against your counter-attacks.
Bombers are also very good for rear area security. Got pesky Italians, Russians, Finns or whatever showing up at inconvenient places in your rear? A few bombers helped I reserve will take care of them and allow you to keep your rear cities lightly garrisoned. Here again I am describing how bombers can be deadly against unescorted, unsupported units. That is not unrealistic.
One of the considerations limiting AI air power is the number of cities it owns. It must strike some sort of balance between air ground and naval production. A human player can influence that production. I believe that by not making any air attacks you can get an opposing AI to ignore air defenses (fighters) and concentrate on ground unit production. Conversely, frequent and persistent air attacks will cause the AI to build more fighters and fewer ground units. This offers the possibility of building a huge bomber and fighter fleet but not using it until you launch a massive surprise air attack to destroy what will be lesser air defenses and devastate an opponents economy. The down side will be that you will have many more enemy ground forces to deal with. Hordes of Japanese infantry is one thing, dozens of SS Panzer divisions is something else.
Japan is at a real disadvantage here because it must build powerful land, air, and naval forces from a very limited number of cities and those cities on its home island are closely spaced and so interfere with production capacity.. Plus Japanese expansion towards Australia means amphibious assaults and isolated cities which cannot support each other. A human player can overcome this, but the AI has a problem. So Japanese air power is usually not what it should be. Apart from getting rescouces, Japans best bet is to go for India, but there it is hindered by lack of good armor.
Russia has enough cities, but needs time to build its production capacity. Same with the US and Britain. Russia has a a problem in that its cities are far apart and fighters from one city usually cannot cover nearby cites so they can usually be taken in isolation. Germany and Italy, on the other hand have mutually supporting cities which makes air attacks on continental Europe more difficult.
Germany needs to attack early so it can capture more cities for production. France, Spain, Turkey, and Russia Westof the Ural mtns are the best bets for rapid German expansion. I f the German AI does not get at least two of those four then it is in trouble.
Cowabunga = The German AI may have had a spy, I never checked. But I think the real impetus to it prodicing so many fighters was becasue of my continuous use of air attacks on its units. Russia did the same.
olbj007 = Becasue Germany was so focused on fighter production, it did not build bombers and so I did not get bombed much. What bomber Germany sent wer shot down over England. German DDF's did more bombardment damage than bombers. Russia built some bombers but not enough to do damage. But then Russia too was building a lot of fighters - 93 Mig 3 at one point.
The US did build bombers, Used a fair number in Europe and Russia, but sent them without fighter cover so they died real quick
So my point is that the AI does pretty well with ant-air and fighter defenses, especially if you are not using an easy game level to conduct an early rush offensive.
Apologies for this being so long. Hope it is useful. And again this is just from my perspective. I dont pretend to have all the answers.
Grizx
eaglefox
Chhatrapati
Grizx said:
I must say I totally agree with Grizx with this point.
We have been making numerous changes to unit stats and have been changing the topography just to give AI that little production and economy advantage with the hope that the AI will become a better adversary.
For the most part our dissatisfactions and frustrations about AI performance have remained unchanged. Perhaps it is time to make the real change and that is increase the difficulty level of our games.
Rocoteh, I think its time we moved to a higher level. We have been playing at Emporer ever since the first version. I think most people are now ready to go up a notch or two. What do you think?
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