arcseed
Posts: 11
Joined: 9/2/2003 Status: offline
|
Mr. Parker, I'm not quite sure you properly apprehend the situation the Axis forces are in in the early turns of the game. Your ai concerns are mostly that the Germans aren't aggressive enough, when being any less defensive would be a very bad idea. You complain that the panzer divisions don't attack west of Caen. There are, of course, three panzer divisions facing four infantry divisions, an armored division, and an airborne division. And any attack that would leave units in the clear terrain east of Caen is begging for an even more devastating counterattack. Besides, their objective is to defend Caen, and the city is very good defensive terrain. Once you did their job for them by retreating west of the Orne and blowing Pegasus Bridge, what do they really need to do? I will admit that te ai is not very good about attacking exposed units then retreating back to the safety of the city. But if you were careful about it, the Germans may just not have had any good targets. You complain that the German forces retreat across the whole front, when they really don't have much of a choice. The 352nd infantry at Omaha is facing two infantry divisions, soon to be three and probably 2nd armored as well. It can defend further forward than the computer likes to, but that needs to be managed very skillfully, or the division can be surrounded and eliminated. And why should it? The defensible position at the riverline is only an inconvenience, making the second wave come in at the far western side of the beachead to avoid damage. The weak 716th infantry can't do much of anything except slow down one of the British infantry divisions. The two infantry divisions that are activated at Utah can't do much against the airborne divisions-- establising a strong defence at Carentan and a weaker one in the direction of Cherbourg are about all you can hope for. You probably have a point about Bayeaux-- but I'm not sure. If the allied player is careless with the recon units on the first turn, there's a good chance he can't take Bayeaux on the second, and most of the 50th infantry can get to a position where it can attack units in Bayeaux, but not enter the city. It may just not be worth the damage the units in the city would take. And Bayeaux really isn't going to last past turn 3 anyway. Four if you're really unlucky, and that's not worth losing the units defending the city. The supply unit is disappointing-- but I've not seen it be that careless yet, and it was in an area of the front where the Germans just don't have the forces to protect much of anything. And probably there was interdiction either interfering with its movements, or that it was trying to supply past, no? And it's not like humans, and pretty good ones at that, haven't been known to make similar mistakes. As for how your game is going-- I think you'll find that once those two panzer divisions come in as reinforcements on turn four and you start running into supply problems south of Caen, things will be a bit more interesting. I won't say difficult, since the ai still won't provide much of a challenge to a good player, but it will play well enough to make for an interesting game. The basic fact of the matter-- you say the game is going really well for you and the ai has basically fallen to pieces on you, but, really, what have you accomplished? It sounds like you've picked up a lot of territory, but except for the doomed city of Bayeaux, none of it was worth anything. Carentan is still in enemy hands. Caen probably is-- I don't see it falling as easily as you think. Have you done much damage to the Axis forces? Eliminated the 716th infantry? Or a unit or two of the 352nd or 91st air landing? Picked off a recon unit or two? Because that's what matters at this point, and I think the ai does tend to do a fairly decent job of preserving its forces. (not wonderful, still, but what do you expect?)
|