CheerfullyInsane
Posts: 199
Joined: 12/5/2010 From: Birkerod, Denmark Status: offline
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ORIGINAL: Ole AHer I'm up to the first snow against Russkie AI on the easy setting [its a learning experience]. I've was able to take the last Leningrad hex [in the second mud turn - non-randomweather]. Eeerr..Why? With non-random weather, and assuming you had Leningrad cut-off from the rest of the front, why attack in Mud? There'll be 4 turns of Snow before the blizzard where the CVs return to normal, and once the RR link to the city is cut, replacements for the Russians have a hard time getting through. quote:
When its the Russkie AI turn, none of her aerial supply drops ever get shot down. I don't have a Partisan problem - I'm fully garrisoned, but is there something I can do to shoot down a couple of those transports? I feel completely out of it with the air war. Probably not. Supply-drops are done using night-flying, and IIRC there aren't any night-fighters available yet. Not sure though, since I don't really get the air-system either nor do I play the Axis very much. Hopefully one of the Teutonic Trackheads can answer that one. quote:
It seems to me that in this scenario the Kraut gets very little points for capturing key locations like Moscow, etc - everything is on kill counts. I suppose that's Ok, but it dictates how you would have to play. The strat-egery section in the manual sort of says that, but still, gaining important cities should count for more - or should it? Happens to be one of my pet peeves too, but it is what it is. And don't forget, even if you don't get the 290 points for an auto-victory (which you won't), taking cities cuts down the Russian manpower-pool. Losing Moscow might not cost the Russian the game, but it'll cost him around 30K replacements each turn.....It all adds up. quote:
I still don't have a decent handle on what to do with admin points. I've shuffled my command and reports, built a lot of fortified zones, and still have several hundred. I'm clearly missing the boat on this. The Russkie AI is using almost all hers up - but I'm not sure what she is actually doing with them. She (he?) is reorganizing the Red Army. Unlike the Wehrmacht the Red Army is a bloody shambles in ´41. Not only is it spread to hell and gone after the initial invasion, it also moves from Corps to Armies, and there are 2-3 new Fronts getting established in the first year. Then there's the leader-shuffle, trying to get rid of at least SOME of the crummy leaders that abounds, plus the total rebuilding of the Sov airforce. Suffice it to say that the Russians never have enough APs to do what is needed. On the other hand, once the German player has reorganized his army to his liking, there's very little to do with those APs aside from building fortification-lines. Again, I have limited experience with the Axis, but I don't think you're missing anything. quote:
A couple of observations. While true Grognards revel in micro managment, I have zero interest in building railroads [no Sid Meier Railroad Tycoon here] and keeping track of those 0-16 road gangs and moving them every turn. Ditto on sorting out HQs to maintain supply. ZZZZZZ. So, if GG and his buds want to make this more 'playable' for the non-hard core, mayhaps there should be a magic button that automatically optimizes that kind of stuff - rail, APs, HQs - maybe even between air-breather opponents if they so agree. I'm very ambivalent about WITE. I'm impressed with its technical virtuosity, but have huge doubts I want to spend the kind of time it demands. In some ways I'd like to check back to the old AH days, playing quick games of 3 to 5 hours across the table of Afrika Korps, Waterloo, Battle of the Bulge, my favorite, Stalingrad [which, BTW, between equal opponents, the Reds usually won...]. No comparability to the quality of this product, but those by-gone days were fun never the less. Well, it's a GG game....... So there's a ton of detail, most of it being kinda important. As to whether some of it could be automated for the non-hardcore, I think it's more a question of whether the non-hardcore should pick up this game. This isn't meant as any sort of slight to people who don't 'get' this game, just pointing out that people enjoy different things. Personally I still think that anyone who plays WITP:AE recreationally has a weird definition of 'fun' And I'll agree that the old D Elim games were fun, can't even count the number of times I've played AHs "The Russian Campaign". But given the capabilities of the modern PCs, this sort of over-simplification is probably gone for good quote:
Others sort of complain that in an 'even' game between 2 air breathers, the Russkies are very likely to win the larger scenarios/campaigns. Well, they did, didn't they? Underlying German real world strategic intelligence was awful, grossly underestimating CCCP resources and capacities - where did those T-34 and Siberians come from? - so they probably were doomed pretty much from the start. After all, the Krauts pretty much achieved their 1941 strategic objective by killing or capturing almost all the 3 million Reds lined up in the West on 22 June, and it got them nowhere. They kicked in the door, but the whole rotten ediface didn't come down. Too bad for you, 'dolph.. So, if an equal game between competent opponents comes out that way, doesn't it mean the game is really well designed? But if so, why play it? Because if I didn't play this game, I'd have to go about getting myself a life. Seriously though, you're right that the chances of changing history are (more or less) non-existant. The Auto-victory levels are well nigh impossible to achieve, so the war will take the usual route. Germanic mayhem in ´41, and most of ´42, after which the tide changes and the Red steam-roller goes to work. However, you're wrong in assuming that the Russians will win the larger campaigns. Yes, they'll win in the sense that they'll murder the Wehrmacht and take Berlin, given enough time......The question becomes if they can get through the early years with enough force to make it in time. All depends on what you consider 'winning'
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"Something is always wrong, Baldrick. The fact that I'm not a millionaire aristocrat with the sexual capacity of a rutting rhino is a constant niggle" - Edmund Blackadder
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